Al Walaja renamed - All Wall Around Ja

The village of Al Walaja has a very unique situation. Located near to and west of Behtlehem and south of Jerusalem, Al Walaja has the misfortune of being located near the green line and the route of the separation barrier, aka the Wall. The original village site was taken over by the Israeli forces in 1948. Googling “Al Walaja” will provide the reader with much background information. A recent review of the situation can be found at:

http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1805

In brief Al Walaja lost it original village site and was reestablished nearby. The continuing construction of the wall will greatly reduced the village’s access to land, water, and the rest of Palestine. Al Walaja will be completely surrounded by a prison like wall with only one access road connecting them to the rest of the West Bank.

On our last day of functioning as the MPT Fall Team we visited Al Walaja and participated in their weekly demonstration. Meeting at the village Mosque we had a chance to speak with other activists.

As prayers ended we walked downhill to see the construction route that has been cut through the olive groves. It was a damp day and a muddy walk. For most of the route there was no sign of the military or police

We moved onto a restricted road and were told that only cars with yellow plates (those originating in Israel) could use this road. At one point Palestinians began to place rocks on the road. The crowd’s presence slowed traffic allowing them to drive carefully around the rocks. There were no rocks thrown and no threatening gestures. Many activists were uncomfortable with the rocks on the road. Indeed they did present a considerable hazard to cars moving at normal speed. A short debate started with statements like: “This is a serious hazard; we are here to protect from violence and thus should remove the rocks.” Others said: “We are to be Palestinian led; this is their demonstration.” The discussion was friendly with most of us having very mixed feelings. As we were causing traffic to slow down there was no serious danger at the time. Within minutes one of the Palestinian leaders came over and began to kick rocks out of the road. Activists immediately began to help him. Police arrived shortly thereafter but the rocks were gone by the

The police did try to stop our movement but were greatly outnumbered. The demonstration just moved around them. They followed along behind in their jeep. We approached an entrance to a restricted area and found a line of soldiers waiting for us. After some talking and mutual picture.taking, the demonstration took a side road back to the Mosque.

No rocks thrown, no arrests, no tear gas or the like which led to a jubilant mood of having achieved some success – at least a chance to express our displeasure, have it heard and return home without injury. We were mindful that such demonstrations are a weekly occurrence in parts of Palestine. They are indeed so common that they seldom make the news anymore. But Palestinians risk arrest and injury on a regular basis to protest the injustices of the occupation.

Israel's unknown border

It looks like a border but is it really Israel on one side and Palestine on the other?

Someone stated recently that Israel is the only country that does not know where its border are. If Israel says, “the Green Line is our border”, then they have to admit that their many settlements in the West Bank are actually in a foreign country. If they say ”the barrier wall is our border”, then they have to admit that they have annexed part of a neighboring country while at the same time admitting that many of their settlements are in a foreign country. If they say “there is no Palestine, it is all Israel from the sea to the Jordan River”, then they have annexed a foreign country and will not have a Jewish majority. It is an interesting dilemma. We would like to research the idea more and that will probably need to happen after our team time is over. Interested readers (who might like to comment, who have knowledge to share on this topic or who could point the team to resource materials) are encouraged to email the team at mpt.wb.office@gmail.com

We were reminded of this concern today during a flying check point stop on the road from Nablus almost to the village of Jit. We were traveling to a demonstration at Kafr Qaddum with other activists. It seemed obvious that the soldier knew we were not tourists going to Qalqiliya as was our agreed upon story. Everybody knows the game and they were pleasant enough and ended the stop by saying, “Welcome to …..(awkward delay)…Israel” It was like he knew how ridiculous and untruthful this would sound to a bunch of activists. I thought “You are a representative of the government of Israel. Are you indeed claiming that this is part of your country?”