Sunday, February 28, 2010

Best laid plans go awry......

I finally got away for my placement visit to Jayyous on Saturday and was to be picked up by Muawya in Ramallah, but unfortunately, he got picked up by the Israeli police the night before, arrested and eventually, 8 hours later, was released. However, his taxi, So Far So Good, was not released and kept in prison. Apparently, there is a discrepancy between what his paperwork for the car says and what the Israeli computers say. After he had been hand-cuffed, leg shackled, paid a 2000 NIS fine ($556.00), produced all the required paperwork, he was let go but his car was not. He can ill afford the fine and the loss of income while his taxi is in prison. He takes all this in his stride and with good humour – he said that the worst part was he couldn’t smoke for the first 5 hours. Then the policeman invited him outside for a cigarette, so he showed how he waddled across the floor with his legs bound. He said when they gave him his phone back to call Sewar, his brother, to bring him the money, he first took a picture of his feet! He later told me that he will be secretly very worried until So Far So Good is back home.



I can’t imagine how it must have felt to be treated like this for some kind of alleged traffic infraction. A little overkill, I think!

I continued on my journey by taking a service to Tulkarm and visiting a friend, Samar, who I missed the last time I was there. Muawya borrowed his brother’s taxi and drove me to Jayyous about 7 p.m. One of my colleagues, Sophie, cooked a vegetarian Thai dinner – the last thing I would have expected in Jayyous – which was fabulous! She had invited two of the locals, Noor and Mufaq, to join us but they had great difficulty with the spicy-ness. It was quite funny to watch them trying to be polite, as we are often called on to do in Palestinian homes.

As I sit writing this with my headphones on listening to John Mayer, I keep turning up the volume to drown out the Muzeen hollering from the mosque and a very loud donkey outside my bedroom window. Needless to say, I did not sleep very well last night. There is no glass in the windows of my room, just a screen and some type of plastic shutters. Between heavy rain and wind, thunder and lightening, Muzeens and donkeys, sleeping is just one of the many West Bank challenges we EAs face.

Today, I went with Sophie to the South Gate in Jayyous, which opens between 8:00 and 8:15 to let the farmers get to their land and tomorrow, we will go to the North Gate. David, the other Canadian EA and I left for church in Nablus about 9:00 arriving late in Nablus about 11:00, missing the sermon but just in time for communion. Of course, we followed church with lunch at the Yasmine Hotel in Nablus, an activity which I loved doing during my first stay. On the way back, we got out of the service at the village of Azzun to visit Afaf, a lady who is a good friend to EAs. She insisted on feeding us more but I was able to convince her I was very full from lunch and only had room for dessert, which Sophie had already warned me about – some brown wobbly stuff of unknown origin. David obliged by eating nearly another whole meal.

Tomorrow, I will go back to Bethlehem – not sure how I will travel. Today was the Jewish holiday of Purim so all the CPs from the West Bank to Israel were closed to West Bank ID holders. Not sure about tomorrow!

Friday, February 26, 2010

Farmer Susan enjoying herself!

As with my last journey to the West Bank, one of our biggest challenges is teamwork. Each member of the Bethlehem team comes from similar but different backgrounds. One, whose first language is not English, claims that his frustration with trying to speak and write English leads to not doing the dishes????? I don’t quite get it. Can someone explain? I also would have thought that when learning a second language ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ would be high on the list of necessary words but apparently not. When we arrived home from our mid-term break, we had to address these issues. Now, we have all said our piece/peace, a bit of a gang-up situation but it was done in a caring way and we go on from here. Nothing has changed but at least its out there. When I was with Group 29, there were several teams which were struggling and I did a lot of listening but with Group 34 either they don’t exist or I’ve just not heard about them.

Hatem Sabbah, the mayor of Tu’qu, invited us to a meeting to explain issues which exist in his village. We were aware of some of the issues and agreed to meet him in front of the schools where the IDF jeep sits. There appears to be no reason for the jeep to be there and is it felt that its presence, in some part, is to provoke students of the boys school to throw stones, which they do. Some 1000 students from kindergarten to Grade 12 pass here every day on their way to three different schools, all within a stone’s throw (no pun intended – well, maybe a little pun intended!) of each other. Israeli cars from Tekoa settlement, as well as Palestinian cars, drive at breakneck speed through the gaggle of children – a scary sight. There are no sidewalks, no school zones with reduced speeds, no sleeping policemen (as speed bumps are called here). The mayor explained that he has approached the Israeli Civil Administration, who has the jurisdiction for 70 metres on either side of the road, to make it safer for the kids, but to no avail. The rest of the village is Area B – joint Israeli/Palestinian Authority (PNA) controlled – but the road is Area C – full Israeli control.



It’s a very complicated business, one I’ve been trying to understand for 5 months now, what is Area A, B or C. Bethlehem is Area A which is controlled by the PNA but the Israeli army can and does come in to Bethlehem any time it wants. It simply declares an area to be a ‘closed military zone’ a term which means no one has any right to be there. In theory, the IDF should be able to present a piece of paper indicating an area is a closed military zone but, in practice, we can’t read the Hebrew so the paper could be a prescription for eye glasses or a child’s homework page and we would be none the wiser. However, we do ask to see the paper.

A morning visit to Jubbet adh Dhib was delightful after we got past the desperation experienced by the village when their water was cut off by the Israelis due to an archeological dig at Herodion. Hamza, the leader of the 176 village people, told me, “we can live for 200 years without a road into the village and no electricity, but we cannot live without water!” We called the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to see if they could help. We were told that it was a temporary measure and the water will be restored but the villagers are afraid that these are empty words and they will be forced to give up their land.



Once we had done what we could about the water issue, we were shown how their morning bread was baked in a taboun which is an oven in the ground. There is a receptacle of some sort which they fill with sheep dung the night before and which is just hot coals by morning. Hamza’s wife tossed the dough like a pizza guy tosses his dough and laid it on the coals, covered it with a lid over which she threw more hot ashes. Ten minutes later, she uncovered it, removed the bread and handed it to us. Delicious, with a glass of goat’s milk fresh from the herd. I had trouble downing the goat’s milk which was more like natural yoghurt but my colleague, Sabine, came to my rescue by finishing her glass and switching glasses with me. We do a lot of glass and plate switching here with the sugared tea, coffee and other delicacies, especially when we don’t know what we’re eating. Some of us, like Sabine, are used to these epicurean delights.



Before we left we visited the animals and a couple of shepherd ladies in the fields. Sometimes I wonder what the animals survive on because the fields are mostly dirt and rock with the odd sprig of green. I also wonder why there is so much conflict over this tiny little area of the world. I do know the answer to that (historical significance and all that) but when you walk to this little village in the shadow of Herodion, it does give you pause to say, “and they are fighting over this?”

This little guy in the picture is 10 days old. His coat reminded me of my grandmother’s fur coat – the kind of fur with the tight curls, the name of which escapes me at the moment. But I am really not much of a farmer if I can't down a glass of goat's milk!



Last evening, Phil and I attended a Board of Director’s meeting at the Bethlehem Roots Society for a brainstorming session on future projects the Society could undertake. They were interested in hearing any ideas we had. They run successful projects such as an after school program for underprivileged Christian children, an exchange program called Peace in Music, language lessons, etc. They are interested in a program for young university graduates to assist them in finding work and as well, further exchange programs. The President of BRS, Saliba Zelfo, is a sincere, hard-working translator who we felt deserved our support and we felt privileged to be invited.

This morning I was scheduled to go on a placement visit to Jayyous and to visit my friend, Milena, from my previous team, who lives in Bet Yehoshua in Israel. But the weather is horrendous here! Horizontal, torrential rain, thunder and lightening on and off all day long. Getting to Milena’s would involve a complicated plan ending with Muawya driving me to a village with a ‘settler-only’ road on which Milena can drive and pick me up – not a plan for bad weather! I will have to skip the visit to Milena’s this time and try for Jayyous tomorrow.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

So would you like to know what you missed?

I am referring to those of you who chose to lie on a southern beach and sip martinis instead of joining me and my colleagues on this exclusive, exotic tour of Israeli settlements, kibbuztimes and villages of the West Bank!

Last week, we had a ‘mid-term break’ – not sure why ‘break’ is associated with this particular week as it was anything but a ‘break’! We were on the go from sun-up to sun-down. Many relatives and friends (about 15 extras) of Group 34 joined us in Jerusalem on Sunday and participated in most events with the exception of Group meetings. Many of the visitors finished their journeys in the West Bank placements with whomever they had come to visit.

First stop on Monday morning was at Efrat Settlement where we were invited the home of ‘Settler’ Bob Lang, the Public Relations man for the settlement, who told us his story. He was born in the US but came to Israel as a young man, married and had four children. He has lived in Efrat Settlement for about 35 years where he and his family live a good life – upper middle class. He sees nothing wrong with the Israeli government policies which have allowed settlements to dot the West Bank to the detriment of the Palestinians. He was quite passionate about the fact that he has every right to live in a settlement and categorically stated that UN Conventions are simply wrong. He was convincing in some ways; however, went over the top with extreme statements.

This is Bob, the Efrat settler, walking with my colleague, Sabine. That's my Canadian colleague, David 'made in Taiwan' Pan, from Toronto in the hat in front. Great guy.



Efrat settlement has 9000 residents 60% of which are native born Israelis and 40% have immigrated from all over the world, according to Bob. He said that the residents of the settlement have a good relationship with their Palestinian neighbours – two small villages – but the route of the proposed Wall will separate them. He said that both the villages and the settlers have petitioned to stop the building of the Wall which has not yet been completed. Bob stated that it is the desire for good relations which caused them to petition but one has to question whether that is the real reason or could it be that it would limit the expansion of the settlement. Who knows?

He will not refer to the West Bank as the West Bank but calls it ‘Judea-Samaria’, a term coined by the Jordanians at the time that they ruled the west bank of the Jordan River. A few quotable quotes from Bob: “Israel has lost the PR War”; “the Israeli army is the most humane army in the world”, “there will be no peace in the Middle East until all the dictatorships of the Arab countries are replaced by democracies” and “settlements in Judea-Samaria are not obstacles to peace to rather they are bridges to peace”. He ought to share this notion with the armed settlers of Hebron and elsewhere in the West Bank!!!!

The week continued with a visit to Yad Vesham, the Holocaust Museum, led by Tamar Avraham. She is a very impressive, soft-spoken woman who is a member of the EAPPI local reference group and an Israeli peace activist.

On Wednesday, we left for Sderot, the Israeli city which was the favoured landing pad for Qassam rockets launched by Hamas from Gaza. There we were addressed by Nomika Zion who lived on the ‘urban’ Kibbutz (a kibbutz in the city) of Migvan in Sderot and founded a grassroots organization called Other Voice which seeks to bring people from Sderot and Gaza together, promoting dialogue and creating relationships. She told us that from 2001-2008, with the exception of a 5 month cease fire, Hamas was launching between 5 and 60 rockets per day into Sderot. All the residents were traumatized, victims of shock and anxiety. She said that all houses built bunkers where families slept, disrupting private life completely. Schools had to re-inforce their roofs, playground equipment creatively became bomb shelters.



Nomika told us that the focus Other Voice (http://www.othervoice.org/welcome-eng.htm) has three parts: 1) Speak to ourselves about seeing each other as people, not Palestinians or Israelis 2) Try to influence public opinion in this way and 3) Try to influence decision makers in the same way. She wrote an article which was published in the main stream Israeli daily, Ha’aretz, and translated and published around the world about the bombing of Gaza. She pleaded with her government – “not in my name” and “not for my security” – referring to the bombing. She was ready to pay the price of social isolation but the response was overwhelmingly supportive. She said that since the bombing of Gaza in late December 2008 and January 2009, things have been quiet in Sderot with only occasional Qassams being fired.

From Sderot we went on to Zikim Kibbutz, also on the border of Gaza. There we met with Arieh Zimmerman, who told us that there have only been 12 Qassams land in the Kibbutz and even though the Israeli government provided each family with a bomb shelter, he has never been in his. We were about 1 km from the Gaza border and could see the Gaza Strip very clearly in the distance. He said that the Qassam is a very primitive weapon, which, over the years, injured one child on Zikim and killed seven cows.

That's Gaza in the background. (Apologies for the poor quality, hazy day, lousy camera.)


In Kibbutz Zikim, they got creative with the Qassams which landed there and built a menorah out of them.





Arieh did not speak well of his own government’s policies, which he compared to an Israeli driver saying, they are “aggressive, impolite, bumbling, stupid”. He continued, “they break the law and get angry if reproached”. He favoured a boycott suggesting that our countries should boycott the Israeli population by not allowing them into our countries. More of Arieh’s views can be found at http://www.ariehzimmerman.net/. Interesting guy!

It was then on to Haifa for one day of work and finally, a day off! Our bus was taking a group to Akka for the day off but those of us who wished to remain in Haifa, could. Since I had gone to Akka in December 2008, I chose to go shopping with two EAPPI staff, Anya and Pauline, at the Grand Canyon Mall in Haifa. No different from Bayshore or Rideau Centre, except for Hebrew being spoken. I was still managed to extract some cash out of an ATM in Hebrew – where there is a will there is a way!

Lunch at 'Faces' in Haifa'



So folks, that’s what you missed! Bet you’re sorry, right? Or maybe you are nodding off from boredom.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Third try at reconstruction!

Last Saturday, we were invited to the village of Al Walaja for breakfast by two contacts, Basil and Machmud, two young men in their 20’s. We got our signals crossed, of course, as often happens between our Arabic and their English, with us waiting for them at the Ansar community center where Machmud works and them waiting for us at Basil’s house. We were not surprised when they did not turn up at 9:00 as arranged – we just assumed they were operating on ‘Palestinian time’ as opposed to ‘Westerners’ time’. When I called Basil at 9:30, they scurried down to the centre, breakfast in hand. Machmud operates the Ansar centre and his salary is paid by Oxfam and Basil just got a job as a pharmacist in Shufat Refugee Camp after spending two years looking for work, or as he says “talking to Machmud”. Both these young men are highly opinionated, well-read, and well-informed in current events from all around the world. We were so engrossed in the conversation that 2 hours passed before anyone even mentioned the reason that we had travelled to Al Walaja.



Al Walaja is set in beautiful rolling terraced hillsides which slope down into a deep valley. This beauty as well as its proximity to Bethlehem makes it attractive to Israeli’s plan to extend the settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo. The village has about 2500 residents and is located in the Bethlehem Governorate. Thirty Al Walaja houses have demolitions orders on them because they block the view from the new buildings in the settlement or are in the way of further development of same or of the Separation Barrier route which eventually completely surround the village. Hard to believe! (I just realized I wrote a bit about this village earlier when we visited Abed, the man who lived in the cave.) This time we visited another remarkable individual named Seham Salm, her father-in-law and two of her three sons.



Seham told us her story. She and her immediate family had moved from country to country before eventually settling where her mother’s family had lived, in Al Walaja. In 2003, they built a family home but did not have the proper paperwork (i.e. title to the land), so not only did the Israeli government order the house to be demolished but also ordered them to pay a fine of 70,000 NIS as well as the cost of the demolition. On January 31, 2006, the IDF arrived at the house with bulldozers, ordered the family out and gave them just enough time to collect their ID’s and money before the bulldozers went to work. It is common for the people whose houses are being bulldozed by the IDF to have to bear the cost. Some of the family went to live with other relatives in Al Walaja and her two oldest sons lived in a tent. The community rallied and help them rebuild another house, albeit smaller than the first.

In November 2006, the bulldozers and the IDF arrived again, unannounced and flattened house number two. This time the Holy Land Trust intervened and assisted with financing a third house, with help from international and even some Israeli organizations.



As we sat in the small but cozy house enjoying Seham’s Palestinian hospitality, the view from the window is a pile of rubble from the demolitions and in the not-too-far distance, the ever-approaching settlement of Gilo. She said, “the first two houses were bigger” and it “hurts her heart to think about it”. Her eldest son, Mu’taz, told us of being approached in CPs by soldiers wanting to befriend him, but with the hidden agenda (not too hidden), to become a collaborator with the army. Many generous offers and large promises are made to young Palestinian men to turn on their fellow Palestinians.

Now Seham and many other Al Walaja residents just wait for the next time. The demolition order is still in place.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Getting behind

I realized today that I am about a week behind in writing my blog. I will try to catch up!

We have been told that there are some 500 NGOs in Bethlehem and right now it feels like we have visited most! Both the Bethlehem and Jerusalem teams are charged with keeping abreast of what is happening in the world of NGOs in their respective placements, which means visiting many of them and getting an update or a briefing on activities. The Wi’am Centre for Conflict Resolution, founded in 1995, was one which caught my eye. We have met with Zoughbi Zoughbi, the founder, and Lucia Talgeih, one of the employees. This centre began with dreams of addressing issues of peace and reconciliation within the Palestinian/Israeli conflict but soon began to change its focus to a more local level and addressing some of the needs within the Palestinian societal context. They train mediators to work in domestic disputes and community disputes. I was very impressed with the level of knowledge, training and education of the staff.

I hosted an interesting delegation of church people, Americans and one lone Canadian, who were here to examine corporate complicity in Israel’s military occupation and the economic impact of the occupation. In particular, they were interested in the biometric hand scanners made by EDS, a subsidiary of Hewlett Packard and used by the Israelis in Gilo CP. The Palestinian workers we see every morning are mainly blue collar workers traveling from Bethlehem to work in Jerusalem. They are often turned back at these scanners and are not allowed to go through the CP to get to work because their hand is not recognized from one day to the next. Of course, working manual labour does not help and damage to their hands happens fairly frequently. This delegation was meeting with EDS/HP later in the day and wanted to see first-hand how these machines were contributing to constant and gross violations of human rights in the CPs.

I gave them our best Gilo CP tour at 5:45 a.m. and was able to find an appropriate time to take them through the CP. It is interesting that after a few short weeks in the placement, going through the Gilo nightmare, becomes second-nature. All these gentlemen (with one exception) were very ill-at-ease and uncomfortable. I was unsure of how much time they had and kept asking if they should be getting back to the hotel. The leader of the group (who was the only one who had experienced a CP before) said that they had lots of time but the others couldn’t get out of there fast enough! I do hope they reported their discomfort with the experience to Hewlett Packard in the afternoon.

This picture is of poor quality (I have a lousy camera) but if you look closely you can see men running on top of the CP queue and then dropping into the line further up. This is extreme queue jumping.



In Tu’qua, a small Palestinian village with a big Israeli army problem, our job is to be there in the morning as the children of Tu’qua are traveling to school. We wait at the side of a very busy road as 1000+ students approach two schools, kind of criss-crossing in the middle of the road. The army is always present, sitting in their vehicles, watching. There does not seem to be any reason for their presence, except maybe to provoke or antagonize the village folk. Unfortunately, it is often too much of a provocation for the Palestinian youth (usually males) and they throw stones, setting about the much choreographed response from the army – tear gas, sound bombs and rubber bullets, if necessary. The day we were there was particularly quiet but we will continue to monitor the situation.



An Nu’man is another village where we perform the same function but in this case the children must pass through a CP and it is reported that they have been harassed and abused by the military. We usually monitor CP as the children return home and then follow them into the village for visits to families. Last week, as we approached the CP, the soldier was shouting at us from his watch tower to stop. We tried to ignore him but it became obvious we should stop because we were really irritating him. No sense in getting ourselves detained or arrested! The children passed and we wanted to follow them into the village but the soldiers would not allow us through the CP. This was something new for us as we had always been able to pass through. It turned out that an Aljazeera TV news team had preceded us to the CP and we surmised that their presence spoiled our chances of going through. Anyway, all was not lost because the TV crew asked my colleague, Phil, if he would do an interview with them. Great for the EAPPI program.



A friend from Tulkarm, Abdul Karim Sadi, visited me in Bethlehem and said I could travel back with him on Wednesday for my postponed placement visit to Tulkarm. However, his plans changed and I found myself heading out to Ramallah by Servis – Oh, happy day - my favourite mode of West Bank public transportation. By chance, a friend and driver, Muawya, was heading to Ramallah to pick up another fare and I was able to tag along with them back to Tulkarm. We were waiting for him in a coffee shop in Ramallah for quite some time because there had been a problem in Za’tara CP on his (Muawya’s) way to pick us up. A Palestinian police officer stabbed and killed an Israeli soldier in the CP and it had been closed for a long time. Unfortunately, that is the only way to return, so it was a long time getting to Tulkarm. We read later in Ma’an news that the stabbing appeared to be a random act by Palestinian who just snapped. Not surprising – I’m only surprised that it does not happen more often!

I had a totally wonderful, magical couple of days in Tulkarm. Re-connecting with the farmers and donkeys of Deir Al Ghusun, Suzanne and Jamal Hamed in Shoufeh, Adbulkarim and Basma Dalbah and of course, Muawya, Ismat, their three boys, and all his extended family. I had lunch with them on Friday and walked new baby, Omar, until he fell asleep. When it came time to leave, Muawya insisted on driving me back to Bethlehem (2 hours each way) and then, his father said he wanted to go too and then his mother said she wanted to go too and then Yousef (8yrs) said he wanted to go too, at which point Muawya drew the line, saying he would need to drive a bus to fit everyone in. So he and his parents drove me back. Fortunately, it was smooth sailing for most of the way and a CP, called the Container CP, was not busy. We had many calls from the locals in Bethlehem recently about this CP; it can be backed up for hours at a time. A driver called to ask us to go to the CP the next morning (Saturday) to see if we could do something because it was closed for 2 ½ hours. We called our contacts in Machsom Watch who said that they were on the case and we needn’t go.

How cute is Omar?



There is speculation that the IDF are tightening up on Internationals in the West Bank for some reason - not sure why – but we have noticed this in Gilo. On Sunday morning, my colleague, Phil, and I were doing our usual thing in the CP and Phil went to go through the hall from the metal detectors to the ID booths, something we do 4 mornings a week. Normally, we don’t take off our shoes, belts, vests, etc, but we simply show our passports and even though we beep, they allow us through. But on Sunday, they sent Phil back through the metal detector four times, each time having him remove more items of clothing but he was still beeping. Someone suggested it may be his glasses, so he took those off and finally went through. Unfortunately, at the end of it all, either the machine ate his glasses or the next person picked them up by mistake and he lost them. Later that afternoon we had to pass through Gilo to come into Jerusalem for our mid-term (Israeli exposure) week, and the four of us all received the same thorough treatment. Once again, who knows why, maybe to keep us off-balance just like they do the Palestinians.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

101 Ways to Jump a Queue

Picture loading problems again! You will have to imagine!

So, by Saturday, I had beaten the angry flu bug into submission and was able to get back to my duties. I thanked God ‘big-time’ and I think it carries far more weight when you live amid the roots and ancestors of his humble servants because I have stayed well without relapse. He must have appreciated my words of praise.

We had a simple hour-long meeting with a local contact, Basil Araj, at lovely Sima’s lovely cafe, a short walk from our house. Sima is a Cordon Bleu trained chef who returned to Bethlehem after her training to open a cafe. For the first three weeks we were here, Sima was on vacation but returned last week. The atomsphere is gentle and calm with Sima and Hind, her mother, circulating in the shop after they have served you wonderful Quiche, soup and sandwiches or just a fine filter coffee. Unfortunately, I discovered the other day that in the making of the fine filter coffee, they use the plastic filters for each cup only once and then off they go to landfill. So much for enjoying filter coffee! My environmental-conscience will not allow it – I’ll drink tea with mirameya and save the planet some grief.

Saturday’s supper was a fund-raising event at the Lutheran School in Beit Sehour. We were treated to an entertaining evening with a choir, Dakba dance troup, an instrumental group followed by a light supper of falafel, hummus, olives etc. The evening ended with a massive bingo game and door prizes, not our lucky night. This Christian community in Beit Sehour is quite affluent with many Christians send their children to private schools rather than to the government-run schools. We have been getting tidbits of anecdotal evidence that the government schools do not measure up to the standards of the private schools, which is not surprising, and if you want your child to get into a good university, private is the way to go.

A word about Christians in the West Bank – their numbers are dwindling. We have been trying to get an accurate figure but suffice to say that the numbers have dropped significantly over the years from 1987 until now. We have heard from a high of 90% to today at 2.1%. Only 16% of the population of Bethlehem is Christian. Bethlehem University, which is a Christian Catholic institution, now has a largely Muslim student body. Many young people speak of a widening gulf between the young Muslim and Christian youth due to the relative freedom the young Christian women enjoy as compared to the Muslims. It is hoped that the Kairos document will be widely adopted as the way forward by Christians around the world. Yesterday, we met with Nidal Abu Zuluf, who runs the Joint Advocacy Initiative (JAI) under the auspices of the YM-YWCA at Shepherds’ Field in Beit Sehour. He worked with Rifat Kassis on the presentation of the document and again stressed its importance to us.

Sabine and I drew the long straws on Sunday morning when we hosted a delegation of 2! Most of our delegations so far have been Swedish and our colleague, Gunnar, joyfully has jumped at the chance to speak to his countrymen in his own first language. We accompany him with the large delegations (up to 35) to corral the stragglers, camera-buffs and lolly-gaggers who lag behind. On Sunday while Gunnar was doing his usual Swedish thing with a group of 13 and 14 year olds, Sabine and I met two Brits, the President, Rev. David Gamble and Vice-President Dr. Richard Vautrey of the Methodist Church in England. We met them at the Bethlehem Inn and accompanied them to the Gilo CP where they experience the look and feel of the CP. Each delegation asks for different activities and we were not sure what they wanted to do, so, planned to take them to the Christmas Church to worship. Once in the old city, they decided it would be preferable to stop at John’s shop for souvenirs and tea, to visit the old market, to eat falafel and call it a morning. On the way back, Magdi, another shopkeeper, offered to drive them to the CP while Sabine and I tended his shop and made more tea (no fear of a customer needing the shopkeeper – no customers!). They seemed to be pleased with their visit to Bethlehem.

Human nature being what it is and CP duty being what it is, leads one’s mind to wander while on duty even though we are strongly advised to be ever vigilant while on duty. After 4 hours of angry soldiers yelling at even angrier Palestinians, I begin to study the antics of the participants. Queue jumping is a refined Palestinian art and one day I think I’ll write a book about it. For now, I think I have witnessed 100 of the 101 ways it can be done: from the subtle side-winder; to the not-so-subtle climb over the shoulders of the person ahead of you; to peeling back the plastic of the CP roof and come down through the razor wire; to trying to get through the humanitarian lane; to spotting a “friend” further up the line than you and joining him; to stepping out of the line for prayers and jump back in farther ahead after prayers – a fascinating study, really! And when they all stop for prayers, they put their black plastic lunch bags down and I wonder how it is that they get their own back when they pick them up. Now I have concluded, it doesn’t matter because the bags all contain the same lunch – falafel and hummus!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Not much to sing about!

I have succumbed to a wretched flu bug. This morning is the first morning that I have felt somewhat human for the last three days. On Wednesday, I came down with a gastro-intestinal bug which sent me to bed until this a.m. The timing of the bug was good, coinciding with very bad weather. Thursday, we had a planned tour of the South Hebron Hills with the group called Breaking the Silence but it was cancelled because of the weather. Our activities on Friday didn’t pan out either; activities were cancelled. So I neither felt that I missed anything nor let my teammates down.

I hope everyone at home is enjoying the winter. I have left my Ottawa CTV home page on my computer and I see the weather and headlines every day, -14C today. I also try to tune in the National with Peter every couple of days but the connection can be frustrating at times. It seems to be a very good winter for Winterlude and Tyson’s backyard rink.

Our team is continuing to function well, a blessing, really. We pulled some Taize songs from the internet and made some music together. I find it amazing how a person from Sweden (or Switzerland or Scotland or Canada) can start singing something that we all know in our various languages and cultures and can join in. We are in bad need of a soprano though. We have two altos, a tenor and a bass. Anyone is welcome to come and join us! Any takers?

Our team received the permission of the program to venture into an Israeli settlement, Har Homa, which we can see from our house but is located, of course, on the other side of the wall in West Jerusalem. Even though the weather was miserable, Sabine and Gunnar ventured forth on Thursday evening, expecting to find a lively vibrant community of shopping malls, playgrounds and people. What they found reminded them of a ghost city! There were no shops to speak of, lots of playgrounds (but empty probably because of the weather), and no one in the streets. We will return or perhaps go to another settlement, Har Gilo, to check it out again. This was our effort to speak with every day Israeli settlers, living their normal lives and ask what they think of the occupation situation. Maybe next time....

The Italian Prime Minister Berlesconi visit Bethlehem on Wednesday and it was reported in Ma’an News that he really hadn’t noticed the 26’ high Wall that his motorcade had driven through (a gate) to get here. He apologized to the Bethlehemites, saying he was preoccupied with what he was going to discuss with Abu Mazen.

Off to a meeting now, hoping that breakfast will stay with me!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Keep Them Guessing!

January 30th



4 a.m., 5 a.m., 4 a.m. 5 a.m.???? Is it strategy of the Israeli army to keep Palestinians guessing and off balance or is it a decision made by the Gilo army unit commander based on whether he stayed out late partying the previous night? If you are deathly bored reading about Gilo CP, think about how Palestinians feel trying to get to work every day. Or think about we poor little EAs trying to second guess whether to be there at 4 a.m. on the off-chance that the CP may be open only to stand for an hour unable to do anything but wait. At least, we don’t run the risk of losing our jobs if we are late (as the Palestinians do) based on a CP opening.

These pictures don't translate very well but if you double click them you may be able to enlarge them. I can't seem toTwo are the empty CP and two are what we usually experience.



















My teammates and I are now getting anxious to hear the other side of the story. We have heard many stories, visited several families and met with many, many NGOs but now we feel a need to meet with some Israelis (other than soldiers). We have asked the Jerusalem staff if we would be able to go and visit Har Homa or Har Gilo, two rather large settlements, within a stone’s throw (no pun intended) of our apartment. Har Homa looms large over Bethlehem with construction proceeding at a brisk rate. From our vantage point, we certainly see absolutely no evidence of the freeze on settlement construction talked about in the Western press. We know that, in two weeks time, EAPPI has arranged a week out of the West Bank, to visit Israel, however, my recollection from my first stay here is that the week was carefully orchestrated visits to kibbutizimes, settlements, Yad Vesham, Hebrew University and other places. We would like to be slightly more spontaneous and simply walk around a settlement, visiting coffee shops and talking to people. We have heard, and would like to confirm, that many settlements are more than half empty of residents but the settlement provides a footprint on prime real estate for Israel’s expansion into the West Bank. EAPPI staff has not responded to our request yet but we have an all-day meeting booked with them on Wednesday and will ask again.

We attended our second peaceful demonstration in Umm Salamone with many more local villagers participating this time. There were as many cameras as there were people. The Palestinian press was out in full force photographing the soldiers and in turn, the soldiers were photographing us. It would be really quite funny if it was not so serious. If you are Palestinian participating in the demonstration, it may be your house that the army comes to in the night. Sometimes, it is just for questioning but sometimes it is to arrest you.

Notice the nice soldiers with the cameras and cell phone. All in a day's work, I guess.






A visit to the family of Ameen (our morning coffee maker) closed out our week. His wife had prepared, what else, Maqlubbah, an upside down rice, cauliflower and eggplant delicacy which we have enjoyed in many homes throughout the West Bank. Ameen has a mobile stand from which he sells coffee to the throng gathered to go through the CP. He charges 2 NIS (about 70 cents) for tea or coffee and he told us that on a good shift from 2 a.m. to 9 a.m. he can earn up to 120-150 NIS ($40 to $50) clear, after paying transportation. He, his lovely wife, four children and extended family live in the village of Tu’qua about 1/2 hour from Bethlehem. On this income, he supports his own family, his parents, his brother, who is unable to work due to a disability and his sister and her family, whose husband married another wife because the first wife had produced (presumably not by herself) a disabled child. His mother is in need of a back operation (he showed us the x-rays!) but they cannot afford it. They have a handful of sheep, goats and chickens which help sustain the family producing eggs and cheese. He took us to his sister’s house to introduce us to her 28 yr-old disabled son. Things we take for granted, like a wheelchair, is out of reach for this family. He sits all day in a corner of the living room covered with a blanket but on the cold tile floor. There appeared to be many brothers around to assist the mother with his physical needs such as lifting him into and out of his bed. Ameen knows the limits of our program well and knows that we cannot give the family money but nonetheless, it was a bit uncomfortable for us.

I did find a baby to cuddle, Maice, Ameen's youngest daughter.






Holy passion for their work! We met two of our main contacts, albeit a little later than we or they wanted, to be briefed on village situations. Marwan Al’ Fararja at the Holy Land Trust and Hamed Qawasmeh, our UN contact, are two of the most passionate men we have met so far (and we have met many). They both pour themselves into their work and talked to us non-stop for many hours about villages surrounding Bethlehem which we visit. Marwan informed us about about military incursions into various places and Hamed dealt with issues such as the need for electrical power, a road, a nursery etc. We were exhausted listening to these men but they were very impressive.

Our team has now started to host visiting EAs on Placement visits and go on visits to other placements ourselves. I am excited to be traveling to my old home in Tulkarm for the weekend although there won’t be too much time for visiting friends because we are expected to participate with the team when we go on placement. I’m sure I’ll be able to slip away at least for coffee with AKS, AKD, Samar and maybe, Muawya.

One member of Group 34 has had to leave the program due to the fact that she has health issues which prevent her from participating in team activities, such as walking – a lot! She has breathing difficulties. Another Group 34 member seems to be easily disoriented and his team has concerns about him. Both of these participants were on the Jerusalem team where they could/can be monitored by our staff. It really puts quite a stress on a team when they have members who need taking care of; it’s difficult enough doing the work we do without that additional stress. C’est la vie, these things happen!

Today was a 12 hour day starting at the CP and continuing with visits to two Christian families in Beit Jala (a suburb of Bethlehem); sandwiched in the middle was a visit to an old-age home. There is not the need that we, in the West, have for such homes here because the elderly are usually cared for by family members until they die. However, this home has 11 beds for elderly residents, with walkers, wheel-chairs, well-equipped bathrooms, etc. and an addition is planned.

As usual, the taxi drivers find us very frustrating because crazy EAs walk everywhere. They tell us that they thought we came here to help the Palestinians, so why won’t we support them by taking taxis? We have our favourite, trusted drivers whom we call when we need them.

Fatigue is not a favoured friend when doing this job. So off I go to bed.