Daily Indignities, Daily Injustices

 Sadly, it is just another day. Just another day of monitoring Checkpoint 56 to see whether Palestinian children and teachers are allowed by Israeli soldiers to get to school in the morning and home in the afternoon. Just another day of watching boys and girls in their own hometown, laughing and carrying backpacks full of books, suffer the regular indignity of passing in and out of a heavily militarized, barricaded, monstrous gate, at times being stopped and questioned by heavily armed soldiers who hold their fate in their hands. Somebody shared with me their old photos of checkpoints in Hebron since taking a picture of this scene would get me immediately deported, so while the words are mine, the photos are not my own.

 

School in Hebron - or Al Khalil, as Palestinians call it - is currently only in session three days a week due to lack of funding to pay teachers. Last week, because of anticipated violence by illegal Israeli settlers and the soldiers who protect them, Palestinian schools in Al Khalil were cancelled. Next week, school may be cancelled again due to a teachers' strike. The checkpoints are frequently closed by Israeli military for random reasons. Going to school is definitely not a daily or even regular occurrence for children in Al Khalil.

As we watch the checkpoint, we notice we are being watched by at least five cameras and two soldiers with their fingers on the triggers of their automatic weapons on the rooves above us. Children - sometimes a dozen at a time - are excited to see foreigners in a place where many assume they have been abandoned by the outside world. Seemingly unfazed by the backdrop of violence, they surround us and chat with us excitedly, using the little English they remember from school: "Where are you from?" they ask over and over again. "What is your name?"

We answer back in the little broken Arabic we know. "How old are you?" "What is your name?" we respond. For the most part, the children - ranging in age from 2 to 12 - are delighted by our banter. They ask whether we love Israel or Palestine. "We love Palestine!" we say, and the children are visibly relieved, assured now that we will not attack them. One of them announces with all seriousness, "We don't love Israel because Israel kills children."

Thinking we are done for the day, grateful that there were no major incidents at either the morning or afternoon checkpoint watch, we go and have tea and sage - chai wa maramiya - at a local, mostly empty, coffee shop. Discussing which produce we'll purchase at the local market, we begin the 40-minute walk home.

Suddenly, six Israeli soldiers all armed with live ammunition - one carrying what appears to be a rocket-propelled grenade launcher on his back and another a machine gun - march out of the military base gate and begin parading menacingly down the Palestinian streets of the Old City. They stop at least three Palestinian cars at random, checking IDs and searching trunks. We follow them and film as the soldiers make a loop around the entire market, making their presence known through intimidation and rude remarks.

While we are horrified at this display of violence and abuse, we notice that the local Palestinians do not seem phased. Children continue riding their bikes near the soldiers. Couples continue to shop together for produce. Drivers shut the trunks of their cars after they are searched and drive away.

After about 20 minutes, the soldiers return to the Israeli military base located across the street from the shops of some of our friends. We go to check on them, to see if they are OK. It seems we are more shaken than they are. While they have gathered in our friend's shop to wait out the incident, they are not shocked or even surprised. Ready to move on with their day, they hastily offer us their business card and offer for us to come visit. "This is what we go through every day," they seem to say. Just another day.

Hebron: A city divided

Hebron, a city of about 150,000 in the south of the West Bank, is a city unlike all others in Palestine; it is the only city where illegal Israeli settlements are actually located in the city itself. About 20% of the city is designated as “H2,” which means it is under the control of the Israeli Army. The rest is controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Palestinians cannot drive cars in H2, but Israelis can, and certain roads are closed even for walking to all but Israelis. Settlers have been in Hebron for 40 years, and they have created a particularly hostile environment, especially for Palestinians living near the settlements.

Settlement placed directly in Palestinian community of Tel Rumedia.

Until recently, settler violence and incidents were particularly violent and vicious. Former MPT team members, as recently as November 2007, report being called names and spit on by settlers. However, B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, has distributed video cameras to some Palestinian families (visit: http://www.btselem.org/english/Video/Shooting_Back_Index.asp), and after some incidents caught on tape appeared on Israeli TV and sparked much conversation and controversy, settlers seem to have become more wary of how they act when internationals and/or video cameras are present.. Even so, just last Wednesday, members of the German parliament were threatened and attacked by settlers while touring Hebron. Locals say they saw large stones being thrown at the caravan, though MPT could find no reports of this in the media (see http://www.thelocal.de/11369/20080417/ and http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/976056.html).

Wire barriers hung up to protect Palestinian merchants and shoppers

hold debris thrown by settlers living above the market.

On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights, Eric and Walt slept in Qurtuba School, a school for about 120 girls located directly across the street from a settlement apartment building and school. In August 2007, the school was burned by a large mob of settlers during a holiday celebration, but the building was refurbished and reopened in November. In March of this year, during another holiday, another group of settlers came to the school looking to damage or burn it, but internationals staying there were able to call police who came and dispersed the gathering before any damage was done. The principal was hesitant to add taller walls and make the building feel more “like a prison,” but taller walls were added after the continued threats. Also, because of the school’s proximity to the settlement, Internationals daily monitor the children going to and from school to prevent attacks by settler children. Even so, according to the principal, 8 girls from the school were attacked last week alone. The principal voiced her concern about the girls ability to concentrate with this uncontrolled hostility from settler children.

Qurtuba School

MPT team members accompany children home from school.

There are many horrific stories that could be told about the situation in Hebron that the team has witnessed and heard during their stay:
-- a local Palestinian activist detained and searched for no reason by a group of soldiers, only to be released 20 minutes after MPT members arrived and began to observe and video the scene.
-- a settler child chasing Palestinian children walking past “The Occupied House,” a home owned by Palestinians that was being built when settlers illegally moved in one night and have been staying since.
-- Palestinian boys and men are often stopped at multiple random checkpoints, merely causing another hassle for their movement in the area.

Soldiers surround and detain Palestinian without cause.

Soldiers go through the bag of a boy on his way to school.

Sunday morning, after their first night in the school, Walt and Eric met with the principal in her office to check in. (Qurtuba school runs Sunday – Thursday. In Palestine, Friday is the day of rest, but this school recently decided to also take Saturday off because of attacks by settler children. Settler children do not attend school on Saturdays, and so they are free to take up other pursuits.) A girl of maybe 8 came to the office and shared a story in Arabic with the principal and then began to cry. The principal explained to MPT team members that the girl wanted to go home to be with her mother because the girl’s 13- and 14-year-old brothers had been taken away by police the night before after some settler girls had told soldiers the boys had been throwing stones at them.

Later that night, Walt, Eric, seven other Internationals, and three Palestinian organizers were invited to the family’s house to talk with them and the two boys, who had since returned. Their story, as told by the younger boy, was that the boys were collecting wood for a fire when the settler girls came up. The boys ran away and soon were detained by soldiers and then taken from one checkpoint to a second checkpoint where they were detained for an hour until the police arrived.

The two boys were then taken to the police station (which is located in a local settlement) where they were handcuffed and blindfolded from midnight until 6AM, at which time they were transferred to a jail in the northern part of the West Bank. In the morning, the father went to the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), trying to get his sons released. In the afternoon, a call was made to return the boys to Hebron where the family then had to sign a paper promising to pay 1500 Israeli Shekels (about $430 US Dollars, or a month’s wage for the boys’ father) for their release. The boys had to return to the police station the next morning for questioning even though no formal charges or a complaint had been filed. According to locals, the large fee is assessed in an attempt to drive families out of the area (even to the point of bankrupting them), thus making way for settler expansion.

Boys detained without charges (with parents).

Even amidst all the horrors, on Friday night Walt and Eric were able to witness 6 Palestinian boys playing soccer on a street corner near a checkpoint, in sight of a settlement, where a soldier stood by and kicked the ball back to the boys if it came his way. One must take solace in the small things that make one believe that peace, even amidst the current situation, is still possible.

MPT Returns to Palestine: Checkpoints, Training and the Wall

Seeing the segragation wall in person, it is bleak and grey and unexpectedly huge. In the areas we have travelled so far, it is much more than a “security fence” (an Israeli term). It is 25 feet high, made of thick slabs of cold, grey concrete and it is as much a barrier to the livelihood of the Palestinians as it is a physical borderline. In fact, this "border" continues to creep further and further into Palestinian lands as Israel expands.

As you travel along the wall you can see graffiti and art that has been created on the Palestinian side. In one of the pictures below, you can see a representation of one big hand with five of the world’s religions, each an equal “finger.” We also saw some other notable art and commentary on the wall, including the message “ctl+alt+delete,” and a drawing of Gandhi. Both are near Ramallah (pictures above). There is controversy over art on the wall; many Palestinians question whether it is good to make such a thing “beautiful” in any way.

Outside the Gilo 300 Checkpoint at 7:00am... hundreds in line...

At their first crossing from Palestine into Israel proper (at Gilo/Checkpoint 300) on Monday, Martha and Nicole waited in a terminal to cross from Bethlehem to Jerusalem for 1 hour and 20 minutes, along with hundreds of Palestinians. Many Palestinians must do this daily to get to work or family. The Israeli guards noticed the international team members and motioned them up to cut to the front of the line. From what Palestinian men waiting at the checkpoint said and the experience of previous teams, it is common to allow internationals to skip the line—or allow them to cross even when Palestinians are being held back. (MPT team members declined the invitation and waited in solidarity, refusing to accept the Israeli military supervisor’s invitation—while timing the hold-up and documenting the situation as best they could.)

On Wednesday and Thursday, the team completed a two-day training in Ramallah given by Palestinians and Internationals. The training reinforced our commitment to Palestinian-led action. We received good information about current situations and ongoing actions, had a chance to review nonviolence techniques, and met several dedicated people.

There are over 600 checkpoints, including those at the wall, fixed military roadblocks, are also “flying” roadblocks which can pop up at any time and place. At least twice on our trip between Ramallah and Bethlehem, our service (group taxi) joined lines of cars stretching as far as we could see. There was no way for the team to know for sure what the hold up was, since traffic was moving again by the time we got close enough to see the military jeep (and once we saw an ambulance, so there may have been an accident). However, checkpoints often result in long unexpected delays in the area and are another impediment to the movement of Palestinians in their own land.

Also on the ride to and from Ramallah, the team saw several Bedouin tent and shanty villages (pictured above) with sheep, goats, donkeys, and poultry. One effect of Israeli illegal settlements/expansion is that the historically nomadic Bedouins are forced off their traditional grazing land, and their nomadic travel routes are cut off. There is concern over a particular lack of provision for schooling, job training, electricity, water, sewage, or housing for these displaced people. International peaceworkers have been taking action to do what they can to support some Bedouin groups.


Finally, the trip also allowed us to see acres of devastated olive groves, some stretching far into the distance. (You can compare the devastated fields in the picture below with the ancient preserved olive tree shown above.) As shown in the movie Bil’in Habititi, Israeli forces have cut down countless olive trees on Palestinian land, destroying the livlihood of families who rely on olive oil harvests—as well as an important environmental, historical and agricultural resource.

Of course, since our arrival we have also been thoroughly cleaning the apartment, settling in, and learning to get around by group taxi and bus—oh, and of course on foot! We’ve also been meeting some of the Palestinians we work with, as well as our neighbors. Grocery shopping is a great chance to learn about Palestinian food, take advantage of lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, use some of our Arabic words, and get familiar with the money and prices. Here in Bethlehem, Israeli goods dominate the marketplace (perhaps in part due to the checkpoint at Jerusalem limiting any influx of Palestinian goods). We are doing our best to support Palestinian products, brands, and shops! The picture below is a busy shopping area in Ramallah, a much larger and busier area than the small town near Bethlehem where we live.

Check back in a few days for a report on our first demonstration as a team, and more...