I visited Nablus for the last two days hence the lack of posting as I didn't have access to Internet there. Nablus and the Old City are incredibly beautiful and the people are incredibly friendly as always. The main job of internationals here has been to pick olives and protect Palestinians from Settler attacks.
However the Olive Harvest is now over so I was just visiting. The city is often invaded by the army, in fact pretty much nightly, who tend to kill fighters in the town and throw sound bombs. Whilst this is happening the Palestinians would rather we were safe and to be honest there wouldn't be much point hanging around the streets. You can achieve nothing and just likely to get killed as the army can be trigger happy.
The contacts we have there showed us around including the candy factory, and we were pretty much force fed candy. Tea was provided pretty much everywhere we went as was cake and for those who smoke, cigarettes. You can pretty much spunge off the Palestinians here if you so choose!
Anyway after that I've returned to Jerusalem, its taken about 4 hours and that's lucky. We were stopped at one checkpoint for ages. I was asked if I had a bomb in my bag (despite temptations to make a stupid joke I said no) and was told that this area was not safe and we should not visit. The soldier also told me that Palestine wasn't worth a visit and told us to go to Haifa.
At which I did innocently reply, oh no I've heard its not safe.
Anyway during this time my bag was searched, I had to walk through the metal detector a number of times. Then finally let through. Whats interesting is that me and a friend ended up in two different queues, he got through in 5 minutes. I had about 25 minute wait; random decisions about which line to take can hold you up for ages. Of course this wasn't the first checkpoint, we were then stopped again (briefly) and then crossing the wall. Which again took ages. I don't know how much longer this adds to the journey but it is well over an hour. I know people though who have been held up for 4 hours at one checkpoint. It also increase the cost of the journey: instead of just one bus, you have to take taxis to one checkpoint, then switch, then switch again.
How many 'terrorists' has this stopped? Not many I imagine as there are plenty of back roads left and the army believe there are lots of fighters in Nablus but manage to kill people off at quite a rate. How many 'terrorists' are created through the daily grind and humiliation of these checkpoints? Probably a considerable number. I'm cold tired hungry, it issnowing here, and I'm really pissed off by the soldiers stupid attitute. I can't imagine putting up with it daily
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Monday, December 25, 2006
Bethlehem and Jerusalem
Hello there
Well I went to Bethlehem for Christmas Carols with my church. Abbas, President of the PA was there which was very interesting. The service was in both Arabic and English and was also a half political rally.
The Bishop told us about his meeting with the Archbishop and the Prime Minister of England - this land has been ravaged by Herods of the past, and is now attacked by the Herods of today. Peace is not the absence of war and conflict and he spoke about his desire to see not just co-existence but co-living. He also made an attack on the war in Iraq saying that the easiest route to democracy in Baghdad, is through Jerusalem and for this to happen we need to see the outbreak of collective common sense. We should stop building walls and instead build bridges. It was all pretty stirring stuff. The church I'm a member of is very very pro-Palestine.
I then went on to midnight mass in Jerusalem were we said prayers for those humiliated at checkpoints, those who had lost family and friends and those who had been killed in this conflict. And today I've just been to the morning service, a slightly bizarre mix of Arabic and English were people say the prayers in their own tongue and sing the songs in their own tongue at the same time, which makes for some interesting sounds! It all fits together remarkably well.
Going to Bethlehem has been one of the best experiences here but also one of the most depressing. Bethlehem is through a checkpoint but we were waved through, the soldiers gave us sweets and wished us a merry Christmas. They were incredibly polite and we were through the checkpoint in less than 5 minutes. Incredibly different to the experiences I have had and seen in Ramallah, Hebron, Jerusalem and the experiences I know others have had in the North. If one had never visited the West Bank one could wonder what all the fuss was about at the checkpoints. I was half tempted to give my seat on the coach to a Palestinian who have been denied entry to Jerusalem as they would have got straight in.
Bethlehem is a town that has been economically depressed by the Israelis, as with the rest of Palestine no wages have been paid to any government staff for 10 months now as the EU and USA withhold their former contributions due to the democratic election of Hamas. I've not seen begging before in Palestine, one or two kids have asked for a shekel but this was very different and quite depressing. This is pretty much the one time of year that they make any money and you can't blame them for begging or trying to force you to buy things off them.
Anyway I hope everyone at home is having a great Christmas. If you are reading this on Christmas day have a look at this.
Well I went to Bethlehem for Christmas Carols with my church. Abbas, President of the PA was there which was very interesting. The service was in both Arabic and English and was also a half political rally.
The Bishop told us about his meeting with the Archbishop and the Prime Minister of England - this land has been ravaged by Herods of the past, and is now attacked by the Herods of today. Peace is not the absence of war and conflict and he spoke about his desire to see not just co-existence but co-living. He also made an attack on the war in Iraq saying that the easiest route to democracy in Baghdad, is through Jerusalem and for this to happen we need to see the outbreak of collective common sense. We should stop building walls and instead build bridges. It was all pretty stirring stuff. The church I'm a member of is very very pro-Palestine.
I then went on to midnight mass in Jerusalem were we said prayers for those humiliated at checkpoints, those who had lost family and friends and those who had been killed in this conflict. And today I've just been to the morning service, a slightly bizarre mix of Arabic and English were people say the prayers in their own tongue and sing the songs in their own tongue at the same time, which makes for some interesting sounds! It all fits together remarkably well.
Going to Bethlehem has been one of the best experiences here but also one of the most depressing. Bethlehem is through a checkpoint but we were waved through, the soldiers gave us sweets and wished us a merry Christmas. They were incredibly polite and we were through the checkpoint in less than 5 minutes. Incredibly different to the experiences I have had and seen in Ramallah, Hebron, Jerusalem and the experiences I know others have had in the North. If one had never visited the West Bank one could wonder what all the fuss was about at the checkpoints. I was half tempted to give my seat on the coach to a Palestinian who have been denied entry to Jerusalem as they would have got straight in.
Bethlehem is a town that has been economically depressed by the Israelis, as with the rest of Palestine no wages have been paid to any government staff for 10 months now as the EU and USA withhold their former contributions due to the democratic election of Hamas. I've not seen begging before in Palestine, one or two kids have asked for a shekel but this was very different and quite depressing. This is pretty much the one time of year that they make any money and you can't blame them for begging or trying to force you to buy things off them.
Anyway I hope everyone at home is having a great Christmas. If you are reading this on Christmas day have a look at this.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
merry christmas
Hope everyone has a good christmas. I hope everyone has a great day, please spare a thought for the Palestinian children who will continue to be harrased and those who cannot be with their family because of Israeli border restrictions
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Happy Hanukkah
Hanukkah has passed off without incident here! Thank goodness, was worried about it for a while but apart from the usual it was OK.
A few police tried to move us on and a few soldiers told us we weren't allowed to be here and a few got annoyed when I attended a detainment but it has been fine. The weather was also bad which perhaps kept them inside!
Am excited to be going to Bethlehem and Jerusalem tomorrow, sit down and have a drink and spend time with people who aren't liable to throw stones and shoot at me will be welcome. A proper hot shower as well!
If you discount the flight here I think my carbon emissions are much lower here without having to do much at all. Although there is a lot of litter and no recycling available (it still breaks my heart to throw glass in a bin etcetera) life here is much better. Apart from one or two things like lack of my own room etcetera Iits much easier to live a sustainable lifestyle without even really noticing. It certainly doesn't impact much on how I see my quality of life.
A few police tried to move us on and a few soldiers told us we weren't allowed to be here and a few got annoyed when I attended a detainment but it has been fine. The weather was also bad which perhaps kept them inside!
Am excited to be going to Bethlehem and Jerusalem tomorrow, sit down and have a drink and spend time with people who aren't liable to throw stones and shoot at me will be welcome. A proper hot shower as well!
If you discount the flight here I think my carbon emissions are much lower here without having to do much at all. Although there is a lot of litter and no recycling available (it still breaks my heart to throw glass in a bin etcetera) life here is much better. Apart from one or two things like lack of my own room etcetera Iits much easier to live a sustainable lifestyle without even really noticing. It certainly doesn't impact much on how I see my quality of life.
Friday, December 22, 2006
bilin continued
See a report of today here. A few kids in hospital, which hasn't happened in a while
sound bombed
Went to Bilin demo as most internationals do pretty much every Friday. It was slightly more aggressive than usual recently, the soldiers had already come over the fence in order to take on the Palestinians who arrived and started pushing them around straight away and even a few internationals were pushed and shoved.
The Palestinians made their protest, a few people who threw rocks were quickly told that this was a peaceful demonstration and that they should stop immediately. The Palestinians then attempted to cross the barbed wire fence in order to get right up to the 'security' fence which they managed in one or two locations. The soldiers were quick to come and soon the Palestinians were spread out along the wall.
I went with one or two in order to make sure they were OK with one or two Israelis and as the barbed wire was being pulled a sound grenade was thrown and exploded quite close to me as I was moving away. However its pretty pathetic and didn't create much noise and my ears rang for a bit but that was all. One Palestinian actually managed to get trough the fence which caused the soldiers to get really annoyed and started to push and attack various people who were not involved with that. At this point the demonstration was called off and we returned around the village with tear gas and rubber bullets being exchanged with stones in the village.
All in all this was the most aggressive demonstration I've been on. You were never expecting the soldiers to do anything too stupid though a few people have cuts and bruises but you never feel completely safe.
There are some South African activists here at the moment who say that Apartheid in South Africa is child's play to the scenes the witness today. This is interesting as people often say that calling the wall an apartheid wall does a disservice to the South Africans who lived through the apartheid there.
On our journey back to Tel Rumeida an Arab who was sharing our taxi - he had tried to go to Jerusalem with his wife and children and they had all been allowed through but he had not been. When we got to his destination he jumped out of the car and returned with about 20 oranges for us, for no reason whatsoever!
Hanukkah tomorrow in Tel Rumeida, likely to be very quiet or very rowdy. I'll take this chance to wish a happy Hanukkah to any Jews who may be reading this!
؛PS a sound bomb is a grenade that on impact makes a large noise and releases some smoke, its designed for crowd dispersal
The Palestinians made their protest, a few people who threw rocks were quickly told that this was a peaceful demonstration and that they should stop immediately. The Palestinians then attempted to cross the barbed wire fence in order to get right up to the 'security' fence which they managed in one or two locations. The soldiers were quick to come and soon the Palestinians were spread out along the wall.
I went with one or two in order to make sure they were OK with one or two Israelis and as the barbed wire was being pulled a sound grenade was thrown and exploded quite close to me as I was moving away. However its pretty pathetic and didn't create much noise and my ears rang for a bit but that was all. One Palestinian actually managed to get trough the fence which caused the soldiers to get really annoyed and started to push and attack various people who were not involved with that. At this point the demonstration was called off and we returned around the village with tear gas and rubber bullets being exchanged with stones in the village.
All in all this was the most aggressive demonstration I've been on. You were never expecting the soldiers to do anything too stupid though a few people have cuts and bruises but you never feel completely safe.
There are some South African activists here at the moment who say that Apartheid in South Africa is child's play to the scenes the witness today. This is interesting as people often say that calling the wall an apartheid wall does a disservice to the South Africans who lived through the apartheid there.
On our journey back to Tel Rumeida an Arab who was sharing our taxi - he had tried to go to Jerusalem with his wife and children and they had all been allowed through but he had not been. When we got to his destination he jumped out of the car and returned with about 20 oranges for us, for no reason whatsoever!
Hanukkah tomorrow in Tel Rumeida, likely to be very quiet or very rowdy. I'll take this chance to wish a happy Hanukkah to any Jews who may be reading this!
؛PS a sound bomb is a grenade that on impact makes a large noise and releases some smoke, its designed for crowd dispersal
Thursday, December 21, 2006
More Tel Rumeida
I'm a little jumpy at the moment with Hanukkah on its way. It could be either very quiet or very problematic, depending. I don't know if there are likely to be attacks or not but we shall see. There are lots of foreign Jews in the area, who in the experience of those who have been here a while, tend to be quite aggressive. There are lots of Hanukkah celebrations going on and fireworks which make me jump.
It has been a quiet day however here with no real problems. A bunch of soldiers were going around with a sledgehammer and originally I thought they were going to push into a house or do a raid but they were practicing. This basically involves going up to a house, cocking their rifles and then standing around. I followed them around for a bit and then left it.
On the roof I saw the secret military cameras filming me, goodness knows what for. I find doing my laundry incredibly boring, I can't imagine that watching me do it is any more exciting. Later on played football again with some other internationals versus some Palestinian kids- aka Brazilian football side.
Been thinking about that article about the increased level of stress, violence amongst children here and talking to other people about it. A lot of kids have counselling and are very aggressive and show signs of stress. And with no school recently due to the lack of funds there are problems seeing it. I spoke to someone who is involved with after school activities and they have to spend a lot of time trying to tell the kids what is 'normal.'
Had dinner at a Palestinian house, someone who is not anything to do with the project here but decided to invite us along to say thank you! We hadn't done anything for him directly, he doesn't live in the Israeli controlled area but we had more food than we could eat over 3 or 4 meals and they kept almost shoving it down our throats. Political discussions inevitably ensued and again the people were well-informed, non-violent. I really love the culture over here, the idea of extended family, the friendliness of it all. The only things I don't like are
They were interested in the culture in the West and were quite shocked at the amount of single mother families that don't get help from the extended family or the father amongst other things. I'm not a self hating westerner but I think there is a lot to be said for the culture of extended family over here and the level of friendliness. If at home if someone invited me randomly to their house I would probably think they were a bit weird or some kind of stalker. I can see why some activists come back again and again and again.
A few days of demonstrating to follow I think followed by Christmas!
It has been a quiet day however here with no real problems. A bunch of soldiers were going around with a sledgehammer and originally I thought they were going to push into a house or do a raid but they were practicing. This basically involves going up to a house, cocking their rifles and then standing around. I followed them around for a bit and then left it.
On the roof I saw the secret military cameras filming me, goodness knows what for. I find doing my laundry incredibly boring, I can't imagine that watching me do it is any more exciting. Later on played football again with some other internationals versus some Palestinian kids- aka Brazilian football side.
Been thinking about that article about the increased level of stress, violence amongst children here and talking to other people about it. A lot of kids have counselling and are very aggressive and show signs of stress. And with no school recently due to the lack of funds there are problems seeing it. I spoke to someone who is involved with after school activities and they have to spend a lot of time trying to tell the kids what is 'normal.'
Had dinner at a Palestinian house, someone who is not anything to do with the project here but decided to invite us along to say thank you! We hadn't done anything for him directly, he doesn't live in the Israeli controlled area but we had more food than we could eat over 3 or 4 meals and they kept almost shoving it down our throats. Political discussions inevitably ensued and again the people were well-informed, non-violent. I really love the culture over here, the idea of extended family, the friendliness of it all. The only things I don't like are
- The pushing and shoving that often happens for the bus
- The one or two occasions someone has tried to short change me
- Bartering - I'll never be any good at it
- Spitting on the street - horrible
- And something else that I can't remember now
They were interested in the culture in the West and were quite shocked at the amount of single mother families that don't get help from the extended family or the father amongst other things. I'm not a self hating westerner but I think there is a lot to be said for the culture of extended family over here and the level of friendliness. If at home if someone invited me randomly to their house I would probably think they were a bit weird or some kind of stalker. I can see why some activists come back again and again and again.
A few days of demonstrating to follow I think followed by Christmas!
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