world traveller (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} jenkasjournal) wrote,@ 2005-01-02 17:00:00 |
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new years resolution: free palestine?
1/1/2004
beit sahour
palestine
my latest audio reports:
weekly report 12/24-31:
http://www.imemc.org/audio/2004/decembe
special report on election campaign:
http://www.imemc.org/audio/2004/decembe
pictures of palestinian family life:
http://www.jenkasjourneys.org/pal_p
I'm living with a family here in the Bethlehem area, and I want to describe them a bit so you know a little about a typical Palestinian family. They have four children -- three are grown, and the youngest is a teenager living with them in the house. The teenager, Ghassan, is retarded, and is included in every part of the family life -- he even helps in the woodshop, which is the family business. Being Christians, they go to church on Sundays, and in their family woodshop, produce hand-carved Christian icons to sell to tourists. Unfortunately, due to the onset of the current intifada over the last four years, there have been very few tourists, and the business is not doing very well at all. The family's home is built, like most of the homes here, with cement and cinder blocks -- local materials, strong and lasting. None of the homes here are built with wood -- it's too impractical in this climate. Their living room is wide and spacious, shared with the dining room. Most Palestinian homes I have been in share this feature -- even the most modest homes crowd in lots of luxurious sofas, cushions, long curtains on the walls, and high ceilings. I think the saying 'My home is my castle' is appropriate for Palestine, because even the smallest home, while appearing plain from the outside, is a virtual palace in its living areas. All the homes I've been in have lots of sofas -- always ready for visitors, and long nights of visiting with neighbors and friends. And friends often come over, sharing tea and coffee and talking in loud, raucous tones about the issues of the day. They watch tv shows that come in from Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia....soap operas, comedies and news shows -- there's even a news show from Jordan in english that the family likes to watch to brush up on their english skills...
The family I stay with take care of their grandson in the mornings -- their daughter goes to work early, and drops off her 3 year old at 5:30 am. He's a very active kid (most 3 year olds are), and loves exploring and getting into things. In the early pre-dawn hours, I often awaken to the sound of "Simon! Put that down!"....but a delightful child nonetheless.....we share bread with olive oil and thyme for our breakfast. After breakfast, I go next door to my co-worker's home, the nephew of the family I stay with (many families live this way, with extended families often taking up whole neighborhoods of a town, with everyone knowing which family lives where). We try to start up his jalopy, often having to recruit another family member or two to help push -- a routine that reminds me of my days in high school, driving my dad's 1973 dodge dart.
The homes around here all have vegetable gardens -- people grow what they can in the arid climate -- spinach, greens, cabbage, potatoes and okra are common. and many families also have olive trees -- not like in the countryside, where families build their whole livelihood on growing olives, but a few, for the family to have fresh olives through the year.
water conservation is a part of life -- people don't use more than is necessary for washing up... the toilet handles have two flush handles, which give less or more water as needed, so you don't have to use five gallons every time you flush. rainwater collection barrels are common in the villages, and virtually every home is built with a solar hot-water system on the roof -- water runs through pipes under glass casing to heat up, then is piped into the house. they generally only use the electric hot water heaters in the winter, when the solar heating system doesn't provide enough hot water. (the average palestinian uses ten times less water than the average israeli -- since israel was formed, the sea of galilee has gone down five feet! -- water is a political issue here, and control of the water sources and wells is something the israeli government is scrambling to do by building the annexation wall in the west bank in such a way that it annexes those resources for israel)
the local internet provider is a resident who bought a high-speed line from israel, then attached it to a wireless transmitter on his roof. the neighborhoods can receive it at one house in their neighborhood (preferably high on a hill), then connect the other homes around them with cables. as I mentioned, families tend to cluster together in neighborhoods, and so the families can organize together their internet plan, and how to pay for it. hundreds of people can get high-speed internet, for very little money, in this way. very different from the monopolized huge corporations that are trying to control internet access in the US.
I've described the town as it is without Israeli military incursions. unlike other towns in the west bank and gaza, bethlehem isn't undergoing daily invasions and week-long curfews right now -- but the occupation is still very visible in a number of ways.
first, through the total lack of tourists -- there were some here for christmas, but other than that they are few and far between. the streets are eerily empty, in a town that was described as 'bustling with activity, of both tourists and pilgrims' in a tour book from the year 2000, just before the current intifada began.
second, and connected, are the checkpoints guarding every entrance to the town -- menacing and foreboding, they intimidate tourists from entering and forbid palestinians of this area from going out (even to another part of the palestinian land, let alone into israel). very few palestinians are able to get permission to enter jerusalem, and if you are denied permission once (the Israeli authorities never tell you why, just 'security reasons'), you will never get permission again. Whole families are denied, simply by their last name -- and if you know anything about how Palestinian families work (ie. there are _large_ groups of hundreds of people with the same last name), you realize very quickly this is another form of collective punishment for the Palestinian people.
third, the military invasions that do occur -- several times since I've been here -- usually to make an arrest. the usual method of making an arrest is to invade the town with 30 or more vehicles, surround the home of the person who is 'wanted' (no warrant necessary, suspicion is more than enough -- and administrative detention without charge or trial is given out in six-month stints). if the person doesn't come out, loudspeakers blast noise and commands at the home and soldiers fire at the building until the 'wanted' man (very few women are pursued in this way by the army) surrenders. Last week in Nablus, soldiers shot up a building with a 'wanted' man inside until the building collapsed, crushing the man underneath. now, just because someone's name is on a wanted list does not mean they are guilty of anything at all -- it's quite easy to get one's name on a wanted list.....sometimes palestinians who are tortured in israeli prisons will just start saying names to make the torture stop -- maybe people they have a family feud with, maybe associates or someone they don't like -- people will say anything under torture (unfortunately for those running guantanamo bay detention camp, torture is not a reliable way of extracting information). but israel has some kind of immunity to rules that other nations are supposed to uphold, so they use methods of torture and interrogation in their prisons for which other nations would be condemned for even _thinking_ about trying. so, someone gets their name on a wanted list, and the army comes after them in a full-scale invasion. the town turns into a war-zone.....teenage boys come out and, in their bravado, think they are somehow a match for the tanks and the armored hummers -- they throw stones and shout "get out!" at the israeli soldiers, who respond with gunfire. i saw a young guy get shot in the leg in this way the last time the army was in town.
the fourth way the occupation is visible in the life of palestinians in bethlehem is through the encroaching israeli settlement activity -- most notably on the mountain known as abu ghneim. i sent a link with pictures in my last journal entry -- it shows the mountain going from a wooded park to a fortress -- all of the trees are gone, and the mountaintop itself has been chopped off, there are huge gashes around the sides of the mountain to make room for the highway and the wall that annexes this land as part of Israel, and keeps the Palestinians out. and the top of the mountain is covered in buildings -- all built exactly the same, filled with new Israeli settlers. the mountain can be seen from virtually anywhere in bethlehem (itself located high on a hill), reminding the palestinians that live there that they cannot escape this creeping presence of Israel, that is growing slowly (and not so slowly) outward, taking more and more Palestinian land. why? because they _can_......Israel has the sixth largest army in the world, while the palestinians have only stones (true, there are a few guns and even mortars in southern gaza, but still they are no match for the military power of israel, which has chemical, biological and nuclear weapons at its disposal). israel has the might (and the money, and a powerful propaganda machine), and so .... it seems that might makes right in this place.
if only somebody out there would care enough to challenge this idea. then _maybe_ there would be some hope for the palestinian people. christians? muslims? buddhists? caring individuals? who? will stand up against this injustice? I _know_ that these religions all teach love, and not hate, in their texts. i know, in my heart, that 'might makes right' is a philosophy that kills. so why do people still not take action??? how can we let an injustice like this continue unabated??? will we keep wringing our hands and putting it off til tomorrow -- until the time comes when it's too late?
1/1/2004
beit sahour
palestine
my latest audio reports:
weekly report 12/24-31:
http://www.imemc.org/audio/2004/decembe
special report on election campaign:
http://www.imemc.org/audio/2004/decembe
pictures of palestinian family life:
http://www.jenkasjourneys.org/pal_p
I'm living with a family here in the Bethlehem area, and I want to describe them a bit so you know a little about a typical Palestinian family. They have four children -- three are grown, and the youngest is a teenager living with them in the house. The teenager, Ghassan, is retarded, and is included in every part of the family life -- he even helps in the woodshop, which is the family business. Being Christians, they go to church on Sundays, and in their family woodshop, produce hand-carved Christian icons to sell to tourists. Unfortunately, due to the onset of the current intifada over the last four years, there have been very few tourists, and the business is not doing very well at all. The family's home is built, like most of the homes here, with cement and cinder blocks -- local materials, strong and lasting. None of the homes here are built with wood -- it's too impractical in this climate. Their living room is wide and spacious, shared with the dining room. Most Palestinian homes I have been in share this feature -- even the most modest homes crowd in lots of luxurious sofas, cushions, long curtains on the walls, and high ceilings. I think the saying 'My home is my castle' is appropriate for Palestine, because even the smallest home, while appearing plain from the outside, is a virtual palace in its living areas. All the homes I've been in have lots of sofas -- always ready for visitors, and long nights of visiting with neighbors and friends. And friends often come over, sharing tea and coffee and talking in loud, raucous tones about the issues of the day. They watch tv shows that come in from Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia....soap operas, comedies and news shows -- there's even a news show from Jordan in english that the family likes to watch to brush up on their english skills...
The family I stay with take care of their grandson in the mornings -- their daughter goes to work early, and drops off her 3 year old at 5:30 am. He's a very active kid (most 3 year olds are), and loves exploring and getting into things. In the early pre-dawn hours, I often awaken to the sound of "Simon! Put that down!"....but a delightful child nonetheless.....we share bread with olive oil and thyme for our breakfast. After breakfast, I go next door to my co-worker's home, the nephew of the family I stay with (many families live this way, with extended families often taking up whole neighborhoods of a town, with everyone knowing which family lives where). We try to start up his jalopy, often having to recruit another family member or two to help push -- a routine that reminds me of my days in high school, driving my dad's 1973 dodge dart.
The homes around here all have vegetable gardens -- people grow what they can in the arid climate -- spinach, greens, cabbage, potatoes and okra are common. and many families also have olive trees -- not like in the countryside, where families build their whole livelihood on growing olives, but a few, for the family to have fresh olives through the year.
water conservation is a part of life -- people don't use more than is necessary for washing up... the toilet handles have two flush handles, which give less or more water as needed, so you don't have to use five gallons every time you flush. rainwater collection barrels are common in the villages, and virtually every home is built with a solar hot-water system on the roof -- water runs through pipes under glass casing to heat up, then is piped into the house. they generally only use the electric hot water heaters in the winter, when the solar heating system doesn't provide enough hot water. (the average palestinian uses ten times less water than the average israeli -- since israel was formed, the sea of galilee has gone down five feet! -- water is a political issue here, and control of the water sources and wells is something the israeli government is scrambling to do by building the annexation wall in the west bank in such a way that it annexes those resources for israel)
the local internet provider is a resident who bought a high-speed line from israel, then attached it to a wireless transmitter on his roof. the neighborhoods can receive it at one house in their neighborhood (preferably high on a hill), then connect the other homes around them with cables. as I mentioned, families tend to cluster together in neighborhoods, and so the families can organize together their internet plan, and how to pay for it. hundreds of people can get high-speed internet, for very little money, in this way. very different from the monopolized huge corporations that are trying to control internet access in the US.
I've described the town as it is without Israeli military incursions. unlike other towns in the west bank and gaza, bethlehem isn't undergoing daily invasions and week-long curfews right now -- but the occupation is still very visible in a number of ways.
first, through the total lack of tourists -- there were some here for christmas, but other than that they are few and far between. the streets are eerily empty, in a town that was described as 'bustling with activity, of both tourists and pilgrims' in a tour book from the year 2000, just before the current intifada began.
second, and connected, are the checkpoints guarding every entrance to the town -- menacing and foreboding, they intimidate tourists from entering and forbid palestinians of this area from going out (even to another part of the palestinian land, let alone into israel). very few palestinians are able to get permission to enter jerusalem, and if you are denied permission once (the Israeli authorities never tell you why, just 'security reasons'), you will never get permission again. Whole families are denied, simply by their last name -- and if you know anything about how Palestinian families work (ie. there are _large_ groups of hundreds of people with the same last name), you realize very quickly this is another form of collective punishment for the Palestinian people.
third, the military invasions that do occur -- several times since I've been here -- usually to make an arrest. the usual method of making an arrest is to invade the town with 30 or more vehicles, surround the home of the person who is 'wanted' (no warrant necessary, suspicion is more than enough -- and administrative detention without charge or trial is given out in six-month stints). if the person doesn't come out, loudspeakers blast noise and commands at the home and soldiers fire at the building until the 'wanted' man (very few women are pursued in this way by the army) surrenders. Last week in Nablus, soldiers shot up a building with a 'wanted' man inside until the building collapsed, crushing the man underneath. now, just because someone's name is on a wanted list does not mean they are guilty of anything at all -- it's quite easy to get one's name on a wanted list.....sometimes palestinians who are tortured in israeli prisons will just start saying names to make the torture stop -- maybe people they have a family feud with, maybe associates or someone they don't like -- people will say anything under torture (unfortunately for those running guantanamo bay detention camp, torture is not a reliable way of extracting information). but israel has some kind of immunity to rules that other nations are supposed to uphold, so they use methods of torture and interrogation in their prisons for which other nations would be condemned for even _thinking_ about trying. so, someone gets their name on a wanted list, and the army comes after them in a full-scale invasion. the town turns into a war-zone.....teenage boys come out and, in their bravado, think they are somehow a match for the tanks and the armored hummers -- they throw stones and shout "get out!" at the israeli soldiers, who respond with gunfire. i saw a young guy get shot in the leg in this way the last time the army was in town.
the fourth way the occupation is visible in the life of palestinians in bethlehem is through the encroaching israeli settlement activity -- most notably on the mountain known as abu ghneim. i sent a link with pictures in my last journal entry -- it shows the mountain going from a wooded park to a fortress -- all of the trees are gone, and the mountaintop itself has been chopped off, there are huge gashes around the sides of the mountain to make room for the highway and the wall that annexes this land as part of Israel, and keeps the Palestinians out. and the top of the mountain is covered in buildings -- all built exactly the same, filled with new Israeli settlers. the mountain can be seen from virtually anywhere in bethlehem (itself located high on a hill), reminding the palestinians that live there that they cannot escape this creeping presence of Israel, that is growing slowly (and not so slowly) outward, taking more and more Palestinian land. why? because they _can_......Israel has the sixth largest army in the world, while the palestinians have only stones (true, there are a few guns and even mortars in southern gaza, but still they are no match for the military power of israel, which has chemical, biological and nuclear weapons at its disposal). israel has the might (and the money, and a powerful propaganda machine), and so .... it seems that might makes right in this place.
if only somebody out there would care enough to challenge this idea. then _maybe_ there would be some hope for the palestinian people. christians? muslims? buddhists? caring individuals? who? will stand up against this injustice? I _know_ that these religions all teach love, and not hate, in their texts. i know, in my heart, that 'might makes right' is a philosophy that kills. so why do people still not take action??? how can we let an injustice like this continue unabated??? will we keep wringing our hands and putting it off til tomorrow -- until the time comes when it's too late?
