A Fraught and Beautiful Pilgrimage

 Since we have been on the ground, our team of four has been split in half, serving at two very different sites, experiencing different faces of the same genocide. Two have been in Masafer Yatta, the South Hebron Hills, staying with families who are under daily threat of expulsion, forced removal, and vicious attacks by illegal Israeli settlers. That team sleeps in tents, simple one room houses, or caves at night and keeps watch over the hills by day, looking out for possible attacks or theft of livestock.

The other two have been assigned to Al Khalil, the city of Hebron, where we have been asked to monitor checkpoints and be present during the weekly settler incursions into the city. This team has also been asked to participate in some of the ongoing month-long olive harvest, traveling to various locations around the West Bank where villages are organizing large group harvests in order to support families who are vulnerable to attacks (which is pretty much everybody now).

Wanting to reunite and reconnect with each other and see some of the sites of Palestine, our team recently took a two-day break together to Nazareth and Taybeh. Nazareth, while technically inside the nation-state of Israel (which many Palestinians refer to as '48 - the year that much of Palestine was stolen and taken over by settler colonialists) is still very much a Palestinian town. It's just that the Palestinians here - 20% Christian and 80% Muslim - also have Israeli citizenship. According to the Gospels, Nazareth is the place where the angel Gabriel asked Mary if she would be willing to be the mother of God. It is the place where Mary, herself living under the occupation of an outside colonizing force, said, "yes." 

To get to Nazareth and to visit the Sea of Galilee, our Palestinian friend recommended that we rent a car, which we did. Half of our team picked up the car in Jerusalem and drove to Ramallah to meet the other half - an enormous lesson in the occupation's tactic of restriction of movement. Though Ramallah is only 10 miles away from Jerusalem, it took our team 3 hours and many frustrated attempts at navigating roads closed by military checkpoints and other military roadblocks to get there. Neither google maps or the Israeli app "Waze" would navigate us inside the Palestinian civilian-controlled Areas A or B, and so we had to rely on calling Palestinian friends and getting various pieces of advice before finally driving through the massive and intimidating Qalandia checkpoint. The next morning, thinking we had solved the issue, we attempted to leave Ramallah (area A) and travel to the Israeli controlled territory toward Nazareth. Once again, it took us 2 hours just to leave the Palestinian city, encountering more road closures and checkpoints enforced by the Israeli military.

We were lucky. As internationals in a rental car, we had the yellow "Israeli-only" license plates, basically a free ticket to travel through checkpoints in a special, speedier lane. Palestinians with green and white license plates are under much more scrutiny when traveling into Jerusalem; and most Palestinians are not allowed into Jerusalem at all, though it is their capital and only mere miles away.

Once inside '48, we drove along modern highways lined with both Israeli and U.S. flags - the close relationship of these colonizing forces on display for all to see. We felt relief entering the more Palestinian town of Nazareth, exploring the Church of the Annunciation, and eating a lunch of falafel, hummus, bread, and veggies before putting our bags down at a quaint hostel inside the Old City. After a nap, we headed out to the Mount of Beatitudes where we drank wine and read aloud the Sermon on the Mount before traveling to the Sea of Galilee. There, we reveled in a gorgeous waterfall and sat on the rocks while noticing Palestinian men nearby fished from the same body of water where Jesus called his disciples.

 

The next day, Monday, was a joyous one for so many. With the signing of the peace deal, 20 living Israeli hostages were released from captivity in Gaza, and the bodies of those hostages who had been killed (most by Israeli fire) began to be released as well. In turn, 1700 Gazans who had been kidnapped by the Israeli military were also released and reunited with their families, as well as 250 Palestinian political prisoners. Sadly, 150 of those released were immediately deported to other countries and not allowed to reunite with their loved ones.

We traveled back into the West Bank to the Christian village of Taybeh (an Arabic word meaning good or delicious), to visit the only craft brewery in the Middle East. It was easier to get back into the West Bank this time, as we were driving through Area C. (Fully controlled by the Israeli military, Area C constitutes 60% of the West Bank and is likely to be annexed by Israel soon). Still, the Israeli app "Waze" would only direct us to the outskirts of the village, where we encountered a huge red sign warning us that entering a Palestinians village would be "Dangerous" to our lives (example pic here).

We got to spend a few hours at the brewery, sipping different types of delicious beer and enjoying the stunning view. We got a tour by the owner, Madees, and listened to the story about her Palestinian father who moved back from Boston to Taybeh after the Oslo Accords of 1994 to start a family business, believing peace was on its way. We learned that each year since 2005, Taybeh Brewery has hosted an Octoberfest Weekend with live music, food, beer, and fellowship.

For almost twenty years, Octoberfest in Taybeh was a huge event, attended by people from all around the West Bank and a boost to the local economy. Unfortunately, since the start of the war in Gaza two years ago, Octoberfest has been cancelled. "People don't feel like celebrating right now," said Madees. "Also, with security so tight, people have lost their jobs and don't have the money."

Though we had been planning to move on to Ramallah that night in order to be closer to the car rental return, we learned that there were extra road closures and settler attacks on the roads due to the prisoner release. And so after wandering around Taybeh, we decided to stay the night at a guesthouse and go to Monday evening mass, having missed it the morning before due to our delays.

Unfortunately, the road closures still had a huge impact on our evening. The owner of our guest house - unbeknownst to us - had been working in Ramallah that day and was stuck for 2 hours at a checkpoint, unable to return to Taybeh until 8 pm to get our rooms ready. Unsure of what to do after Mass, we were so grateful to be invited by two Palestinian women (neighbors, one of them a relative of our guest house owner) to their home for tea while we waited.

One of the women had lived in Australia for 35 years with her husband, but had recently moved home to Taybeh to retire. "See how they treat us here?" she asked. "Nobody in the whole world would stand to be treated this way." When I asked her whether she ever considered returning to Australia or to another country where one of her three children lived she immediately replied, "Never. This is my home."

We met Abu Jaber (name changed for safety), the husband of the other woman and the owner of the house where we had tea. Abu Jaber is originally from Gaza, and was watching on his TV news of the ceasefire and the joyous reunion of political prisoners with their families in Ramallah. Noting this, I asked him if he still had family in Gaza. "Yes," he replied. "Is your family OK?" I asked. "Nobody in Gaza is OK," he replied.

When the owner of our guesthouse finally arrived, he joined us for tea before taking us to his newly completed guest house where he brought us to our rooms for the night. We were the first guests! Since the start of the war, Abed's (name changed for safety) employment had decreased from full to part time. And so he spent his free time fixing up his grandfather's old house in the beautiful village of Taybeh. It was stunning and welcoming. He and his wife cooked us an incredible, traditional Palestinian meal of maqluba, using herbs from their garden. We awoke to a gorgeous spread of bread, hummus, yogurt, beans, cucumbers, olive oil, za'tar, coffee, and eggs from their hens - a delightful meal to send us on our way back to our placements for our remaining two weeks.

Nowhere on earth have I experienced such amazing hospitality or stayed in such beautiful hostels as in Palestine. And yet, their economy is struggling because nobody is visiting. Israelis tell the world that it is dangerous to enter a Palestinian town or village, though it is only dangerous because they make Israelis make it so.

If you ever feel so inclined, I highly recommend you to visit. My prayer is that Christians from around the world travel here in such droves that it becomes impossible for Israel to continue to lie about the reality of this oppressive occupation. My prayer is that Christians from around the world travel here so often that it becomes normal for us to together marvel at the beauty and the deep Christian history of this Palestinian place. My prayer is that Christians from around the world stand in solidarity with their Palestinian sisters and brothers and demand an immediate end to Israel's brutal ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

 

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.

Oppression Without Bloodshed

November 21, 2015 | Meta Peace Team, Phoenix Jones | Occupied Huwwara 

On a daily bases, Human Rights / Occupation Laws are being broken, by the Occupying Israeli government. One of which is the function of farmers requiring a permit to tend and harvest from their orchards.  A second are settlements erected on Palestinian land.

Act 46: Family and rights, the lives of persons and private property, as well as religious conventions and practice must be respected. Private property cannot be confiscated.

Act 49: The Occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.

On Wednesday and Thursday last week, Scott, Bud and myself accompanied a Palestinian farmer to his olive orchard in Occupied Huwwara, near the Huwwara checkpoint.

checkpoints are composed of two elements - an infrastructure which impedes vehicular  and pedestrian traffic and permanent presence of Israeli security personnel (e.g. the IDF, the border police, the civil police, a private security company). Security personnel usually check the documentation of persons crossing the checkpoint and conduct searches on their vehicles and their belongings. (United Nations definition)

 Below the Brakha- Samiratian Settlement (Israeli settlements are Israeli civilian communities built on lands occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.)

On Wednesday, while harvesting a military van parked and the soldiers called the farmer that owns the land down. They spoke to one another.  The farmer returned from the conversation with the solider.  We then, all notice soldiers standing above us on a hill.  The Farmer is called back down by the soldiers to talk.  This time a Jewish - Israeli woman went down with him to try to talk with the soldiers.  As they spoke, we all exchanged glances, aware of the soldiers still standing above us.  As the farmer made his way back up, with the jewish - Israeli woman behind him and the Israeli military behind her.  We were all there standing between the olive trees.  I then came to the understood that the military was saying we had to go, more specifically the farmer had to vacate his land.  How is it that  this farmer could be forced off of his own land.  Israel has made it an illegal act to harvest, prune trees or tend to your land without a permit.  The farmers permit was for Thursday, not Wednesday.

We returned to the farm on thursday, not long after starting to harvest an Israeli truck pulled up, he was speaking to an Israeli settler.  myself along with Bud began taking pictures.  The Israeli soldier called us all down.  With broken english and signals he told those that have reached the gate between them, no pictures.  The Israeli settler is there with the soldiers, telling Bud that he cannot take pictures and he must erase the pictures he took.  I never completed the walk down to the fence.  We all made our way back up to the orchard.  soon after we resumed working, we saw soldiers above us, closer than the previous day. we harvested the whole day with exception to a coffee break and lunch. As the day began to wind down (because the permit was for morning to 4pm) the soldiers became more visually closer.  About 2 hours before the permit expired, the soldiers yelled down from their hilltop in hebrew, I am sure rushing us along.  Maybe an hour before the permit expired the soldiers yelled down to us, once again.  The farmer asked what time is it, when we answered his hands moved a little faster.  The farmers are required to be completely off of the land when the permit expires.  with some minutes to spare the farmers had packed up their supplies and olives and we were headed down the hill.

This is not an isolated incident, nor is it close to being the most overt.  This is what Israel has created, illegally.  All over Palestine laws are being broken by the Israeli government and the human rights of Palestinians are being ignored.  It is the job of the outside nations to hold Israel accountable for their crimes.

Our liberation is bound together, and your solidarity is mandatory!

anyone wishing to host a presentation on Meta Peace Team members experience in the West Bank, please contact www.metapeaceteam.org.