Day 1 - 10/30/07

October 30^th was our first full day in the West Bank. We spent the first half of the day with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICHAD). We were taken on a tour of Palestinian neighborhoods in and around Jerusalem and of areas where Israeli settlements have been built / expanded or are planned. These settlements (which are illegal under international law and sometimes even Israeli law) are built on land confiscated from Palestinians. A myriad of arbitrary and confusing regulations and permitting systems are used to take the land. We also learned how restrictions on movement and lack of services are used to ‘encourage’ Palestinians to leave their homes.

Most striking to me was the planned development of Nof Zion; it is a project of an American developer. Even though construction of new settlements is prohibited, there is a billboard advertising the settlement with a phone number for the American sales office. There is also a project map that shows the layout of the new community, including condos, a country club, and shopping malls and supporting infrastructure.

We also saw Ma’ale Adumin. It is an Israeli settlement that is slated to be the largest city in Israel (it is located within the West Bank and its charter extends nearly all the way to the Jordan River). While most of the West Bank is struggling with water shortages, Ma’ale Adumin has lush green landscaping and swimming pools. An Israeli prison has been built just beyond the settlement. Of course there are wide roads, sidewalks and other supporting infrastructure.

We also had our first “up-close” visit to the Wall. It is huge, it is ugly, it is omnipresent - there is no escape from it. Much of the wall is twice the height of the Berlin wall. Calling it a wall just isn’t adequate. I have walls in my house but they divide room from room – not friend from friend.

After lunch Ray Dolphin, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, explained the system of closures and checkpoints within the West Bank used by the Israeli government to control the movement of Palestinians. The majority of checkpoints are inside the West Bank. It is impossible to make an appointment with any certainty of being on time – it could take minutes or hours to get through the checkpoints between you and your destination. Of course there are Jewish only lanes through checkpoints and roads that enable the settlers to avoid the “inconvenience”.

Later we walked to the old city. It is hard to describe the sights and the smells. It was sensory overload, but we were very rushed as we went through the city so it was hard to absorb anything. I was sure that if I went back that I would not be able to find my way around. Luckily I had taken my GPS with me and I was able to mark several areas around the city – this proved to be a good idea later in the trip.

With several others, I spent some time at the Western Wall after we finished our tour. I had very mixed feelings about being there. I am not sure if it was because of the separation of the men from the women (isn’t that one of the thing Moslems are criticized for?); or if it was that the wall is venerated as a holy place by people that are using a wall to control a whole population. After what I had seen that day, it was a strange irony. I had expected to feel more awe in a place of such history, but all I felt was sad.

America, which is less than 300 years old, is a land of mobility. Most of us have moved several times before graduating from high school. As a culture, we do not understand the strong emotional tie to the land the Palestinians feel. I stayed with a family near Bethlehem that can trace their family’s connection to that land over 400 years. Much like the lament of Native Americans pushed onto reservations, we heard Palestinians ask “the land is like our mother; how can you sell your mother?”

This must not become just a memory!

Well I am back, safe and sound. I have been spending the last week trying to figure out how to integrate what I know now, and how to go forward. I feel a sense of urgency, and a feeling of ‘displacement’ – a sense of being out of place and out of time that has nothing to do with jet lag. I have the strong urge to run up to perfect strangers and tell them “You need to know what I know!!”, but I do not want to be arrested or committed, so I don’t. Prior to leaving I said I felt like I had two jobs – my real job and the job of getting ready to go. I still feel like I have two jobs - my real job and the job (the responsibility) to tell everyone the story – the truth that is Palestine. I am afraid that I will let down all the people I met there, that just asked us to tell the truth. But there is so much to tell.

I think I will start with general impressions that I have taken away from the experience. Then in further posts I will go through our itinerary to give you a deeper look at what I saw.

The first thing I should say is that although I am not optimistic for the future of Palestine, I am hopeful. Jean Zaru, the clerk of the Ramallah Friends Meeting differentiates hope from optimism this way – optimism is based on facts; hope is based on faith. And the people I met are filled with faith and hope. There is also a sadness that is inescapable, and of course anger. But the people I met have found a way to move beyond that and try and cultivate hope for their community. So how can I be anything but hopeful?

With that said, the “two state solution” is all but dead. It is not possible to see the facts on the ground, to read the maps, to experience the military presence, to navigate the maze of ‘walls’, fences and checkpoints and the “Israeli only” infrastructure with out knowing that the Israeli government never intends to leave the occupied territories.

It is hard to watch the news now that the West Bank is so familiar to me. Someone that I met in Bi’lin has been arrested. I fear what Annapolis will bring. The rumors we heard while in the West Bank have broken into the American media – that the Israeli government is planning for a crackdown after the talks. And America continues to sleep.

Truth to Power

It has been several days since I have had the opportunity to write. In that time I have experienced such a wide range of emotions – it has been a very fast rollercoaster ride. I have seen the prison that the West Bank is, I have listened to very angry Palestinians (some who are committed to non-violent resistance, some who push that boundary), I have been to the Martyrs Cemetery in Jenin Refugee Camp, experienced openly hostile students at Birziet University and ate lunch with students that were so happy that we had come to see them. I have waded in the Mediterranean, listened to Quakers that are facilitating amazing projects with Palestinian youth, stayed at the home of a Fattah leader and his family (including a nephew with Hamas sympathies who wanted an explanation of US farm policy). I have cried at the Friends meeting house in Ramallah and protested at the Mukata as Condoleezza Rice was preparing to leave (timing is everything!). I cried with the Palestinian Coordinator of Combatants for peace, whose ten year old daughter was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier less than six months ago and I was amazed by his continuing commitment to non-violence. I have listened to and questioned the representative of the Hebron Settlers movement (fascism exits everywhere that hate lives), received a better understanding of the area’s history from members of the Christian Peacemakers Team and had tea with a Hebron family that lives with the harassment from the settlers. I have had the experience of walking through the Qualandia checkpoint and “zooming” along very bad roads and brand new Israeli only bypass roads. I have debated the boundaries of non-violence with other delegation members (I seem to hold the minority view) and the value (or lack of) of “anarchist” tactics in non-violent resistance. I have maps and books and pictures and information overload. Some moments give me great hope – the young man that after being beaten by soldiers decided that his resistance would be gathering children of the village and painting peace – love on their faces while Israeli soldiers watched. Some have left me shaken and sad – the university students (Israeli and Palestinian) that are so angry they can not / will not talk to each other. The next three days promise to be just as intense, but then soon I will be home and left to figure out how to integrate this knowledge and these thoughts into my life, and how to bring the truth to people that don’t want to hear it.