Ordinary People

AT-TUWANI URGENT ACTION: Contact Israeli military regarding failure of soldiers to protect schoolchildren from settler attack.

2009-09-24T12:17:00.000-04:00

The school year in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) for 2009-2010 began on Tuesday 1 September. The school children, who walk from the nearby villages of Tuba and Maghayir-al-Abeed to At-Tuwani's elementary school, continue to require a military escort in order to ensure their safety. On every day during the first three weeks of this new school year, the Israeli army has failed to complete the escort as agreed in 2004, leaving the children to walk alone in an area where they have been attacked by Israeli settlers. Instead, they complete only a little over half the distance of the escort.

Of the twenty-six journeys to and from school, soldiers have only walked with the children on six journeys, the other journeys they have remained in their vehicle. The soldiers have never completed the escort by escorting the children to and from the end of the Ma'on chicken barns. Remaining in their vehicle and not completing the escort leaves the children vulnerable to settler attacks and harassment. On one third of the journeys, the army escort has been late, resulting in the children being late for school or having to endure a long wait after school.

The shortest route to school for the Tuba and Maghayir al Abeed children is a public road that passes between the Israeli settlement of Ma'on and the outpost of Havat Ma'on. For years, armed Israeli settlers have attacked, threatened, and harassed the children along this road. In 2004, the Israeli District Coordinating Office (the branch of the Israeli military that deals with civilian matters) agreed to provide the children with an armed escort. The Israeli Knesset (parliament) Committee for Children's Rights endorsed the agreement.

ACTION

The team now requests that concerned people make calls to the Communications office of the Southern District Commander of the Israeli Military, phone number (+ 972) 2 996 7200. * Request that Commander Ben Moha instruct the soldiers who perform the escort of the Tuba and Maghayir-al-Abeed school children to accompany the children all the way to the end of the Ma'on chicken barns and past any settlers present. Stress that this protection is particularly necessary because of the repeated presence of settlers in this area at the time of the children's walk home. Remind the commander that settlers used violence against the school children on ten occasions in the 2008-09 school year and that already during this school year a settler has threatened the children in the area of the Ma'on chicken barns.

If you have difficulty reaching Commander Ben Moha's office, try the following numbers:

IDF Public Appeals Fax: +972-3-569-9400*

IDF Public Appeals Phone: +972-3-569-1000*

In addition to phone calls, the team asks that people send the Israeli military's Public Appeals office a simple message by clicking on this link: http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/Contact+US/ Please include Commander Ben Moha's name in the subject line.

Sample message (no more than 75 words):

Subject: Request to Commander Ben Moha

Palestinian school children from Tuba and Maghayir-al-Abeed must walk past militant settlers from Ma'on and Havat Ma'on to attend school in At-Tuwani. The Knesset recommended in 2004 that the IDF escort these children. In order to ensure the children's safety, soldiers must accompany them all the way past the Ma'on chicken barns and past any settlers present. Currently soldiers are not escorting the children far enough to ensure their safety.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

• This school year, the children have been late for school on three mornings out of thirteen.

• This school year, on nine of the thirteen school days, the children have had to wait after school for twenty minutes or more for the escort. On three days, they had to wait a little over half an hour, on two days forty-five minutes, and on one day nearly an hour.

• On the morning of Thursday 10 September 2009, the children had to wait twenty minutes at the Ma'on chicken barns because the army escort vehicle left the children to chase Palestinian shepherds from a nearby valley. The children were late for school.

• On the morning of Monday 7 September 2009, at the end of the Ma'on chicken barns, an Israeli settler came towards the children yelling at them. The children ran part way to school.

• During the 2008-2009 school year, settlers used violence against the children ten times; two of these times the settlers threw rocks at the children.

• For a complete report on the school escort in 2007-2008, including maps, photographs and interviews with the children, please see "A Dangerous Journey" at www.cpt.org/files/Dangerous-Journey-Summary-2008.pdf

•A report for the school year 2008-2009 will shortly be available.

*Please check your own country's dialing prefix for international calls.

Israeli military delivers demolition orders for six Palestinian houses

2009-09-14T10:59:00.000-04:00

RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

At Tuwani: Israeli Military Delivers Demolition Orders for Six Palestinian Houses
13 September 2009

[Note: According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Settlement outposts are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

In the afternoon of 13 September, members from the Israeli District Coordinating Office (DCO), accompanied by Israeli soldiers, delivered demolition orders for six Palestinian houses near the village of At-Tuwani.

The houses were recently built on privately-owned Palestinian land in Humra valley. On the night of 16 July, while some of the houses were still under construction, one building was destroyed and a nearby olive tree was damaged. The Palestinian family suspected the house had been destroyed by Israeli settlers from the nearby settlement Ma'on or the outpost Havat Ma'on. The family began rebuilding their house the next day.

On 20 July 2009 the Israeli military delivered stop work orders on the houses and two other structures, including a cistern. Now that demolition orders have been issued the families fear the Israeli military will soon destroy the houses.

The Israeli military severely restricts Palestinian building in the South Hebron Hills area, designated Area C under the Oslo Accords and under full Israeli control. However, the nearby Israeli settlements of Ma'on and Carmel and the outposts of Avigail and Havot Ma'on continue to expand. Members of Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove have documented continuous settlement expansion since 2004.

Photos from the day are available at: http://tinyurl.com/kkb4ez

Israeli settlers build new caravans in Ma'on settlement

2009-09-13T10:56:00.002-04:00

RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Israeli settlers build new caravans in Ma'on settlement
10 September 2009

At a time when the international community is calling for a freeze on new building in settlements and the disbanding of settlement outposts, the settler community of the South Hebron Hills is continuing its expansion unabated.

Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement on Ma'on, in the South Hebron Hills area, are constructing at least five new caravans on the south-west side of the settlement. Internationals based in the nearby Palestinian village of At Tuwani first observed building preparatory work in Ma'on a few days ago. Today, as the new caravans were being built, settlers began preparatory work on a nearby hilltop for further settlement expansion. Over the past three months, internationals have also observed settlers constructing numerous new buildings in the nearby illegal Israeli outposts of Havat Ma'on (Hill 833) and Avigail.

Since its establishment in 1981, Ma'on settlement has been a source of violence towards local Palestinians. The agricultural orchards of Ma'on are cultivated on private land belonging to a family from the nearby Palestinian village of At Tuwani. By 1997, ongoing settler violence forced the Palestinian inhabitants of three nearby villages (Sarura, Humra and Kharoubeh) to abandon their homes.

The original outpost of Havat Ma'on was established in July 1999, but was dismantled in September of that year by the Israeli military. The following year, the outpost was re-established on a nearby hilltop, Hill 833, and has remained and grown since then. Avigail outpost was established in 2001.

Settlers from Ma'on and Havat Ma'on attack and harass Palestinian children from Tuba and Maghayir al Abeed traveling to and from school in At Tuwani. In 2004, following two attacks on internationals accompanying the children, the Israeli Knesset Committee for Children's Rights affirmed the need for a military escort for the school children. The escort continues five years later. Settlers from Avigail and Havat Ma'on outposts also regularly attack Palestinian shepherds grazing their sheep.

For photos of new buildings in Ma'on go to: http://tinyurl.com/mj9fmw

Exhibit A: Israeli Settlers Throw Stones at Palestinian Shepherds

2009-09-08T12:45:00.004-04:00

Sometimes the Israeli occupation of Palestine is simply too difficult for me to capture in words. So I develop a (two month!) long writing block, trying to decide on what to say and how to communicate well to those far away. Recently my team posted a new video on YouTube, documenting Israeli settlers throwing stones at Palestinian shepherds.

So, this is one example of what a settler attack looks like:

People around the world can watch a settler attack on Palestinian shepherds. This video shows the images. What the video cannot capture the daily hardship, the act of being repeatedly pushed off one's land. It does not demonstrate the fear, the uncertainty of what will happen next when settlers appear: they may simply yell and shout or they may shoot at the shepherds' flock. Or they may throw stones and injure people or sheep.

The video also cannot capture the courage and endurance of the Palestinian community here in the South Hebron Hills: the daily nonviolent resistance, the commitment to remain on one's land no matter what the cost.

More from I Saw it in Palestine: Top Ten Reasons Ma'on and Havot Ma'on Have Got to Go

2009-07-03T17:04:00.000-04:00

Reason Number Three: Settlers Harass and Attack Palestinians on a Daily Basis

The settlers of Havot Ma’on and Ma’on are waging a campaign of intimidation and violence aimed at driving Palestinians off of their land. In addition to attacking school children, settlers have insulted and threatened Palestinian farmers, as well as throwing stones, beating, and shooting them. This violence makes the daily tasks of living – everything from agricultural work to walking home through the hills – dangerous and terrifying for Palestinians. Here is an incomplete list of acts of violence settlers have perpetrated against Palestinians over the last two years...

Read the whole article here.

A picture is worth a thousand words

2009-06-30T16:27:00.000-04:00

Take this one, for example:

I started seeing these posters -- outside Jerusalem, near the Israeli settlements of Ma'on and Efrata (near Bethlehem) -- around the time of President Obama's Cairo speech.

I find this most disheartening primarily because Obama has not called for radical actions from Israel. He has asked that Israel stop settlement growth. No mention of dismantling settlements, the final status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees' right of return, an end to the occupation, etc.

If Obama is an "anti-semitic Jew-hater" now, what are ordinary people who call for actions that will promote a real peace with justice?

AT-TUWANI: Israeli Police Detain Palestinian Children While Grazing Sheep

2009-06-25T18:33:00.005-04:00

An Open Letter to President Obama from Christian Peacemaker Teams: Call on Israel to Stop Its Violence against Palestinians

2009-06-24T14:44:00.002-04:00

An Open Letter to President Obama from Christian Peacemaker Teams: Call on Israel to Stop Its Violence against Palestinians

Dear President Obama,

On Tuesday June 15th, you said of the protests in Iran, “When I see peaceful dissent being suppressed, whenever that takes place, it is of concern to me and it is of concern to the American people.” For the last 13 years, Christian Peacemaker Teams have witnessed the brutal suppression of peaceful dissent here in Palestine. In the city of Hebron and the village of At-Tuwani, CPT supports vibrant Palestinian nonviolent resistance to Israel’s military occupation. Every day, Palestinians hold nonviolent demonstrations and defy curfews and closed military zones. They rebuild demolished homes and work their land despite the threat of
arrest and attack. Though their struggle is largely ignored by the media, we find inspiration in the way Palestinians are working for justice and peace.

We are deeply troubled by the way Israeli authorities respond to this nonviolent resistance. On April 22, 2006, Israeli police beat and arrested the mayor of At-Tuwani village and his brother for doing no more than holding a peaceful demonstration against the illegal Israeli wall. CPT has documented the Israeli army demolishing the homes of nonviolent resistance leaders, harassing them at checkpoints, and targeting them for arrest.

Too often, Israeli forces respond to nonviolent resistance with lethal force. In the past nine months, Israeli soldiers have killed four residents of the village of Ni’lin during demonstrations against the Israeli wall. Ahmed Mousa, age 10, was shot in the forehead with live ammunition on July 29, 2008. Yousef Amira, 17, was shot twice with rubber-coated steel bullets in next day. On December 28th 2008, 22-year-old Arafat Rateb Khawaje was shot in the back with live ammunition. The same day, Mohammed Khawaje, 20, was shot in the head with live ammunition. On March 22nd 2009, American demonstrator Tristan Anderson was shot in the face with a tear gas canister. He still lies in the hospital in critical condition. Each of these incidents raises a simple question: why do Israeli soldiers respond to unarmed protesters with deadly force?

When Israel arrests, attacks and kills Palestinians who practice nonviolent resistance, it is saying to the Palestinian people, “No matter your methods of struggle, no matter the justice of your cause, we will not share power with you.” In this context, it is a grave mistake to call, as you did in your Cairo speech, for Palestinians to abandon violence without calling on Israel to do the same. To speak as though there is no Palestinian nonviolent resistance movement is worse than naïve; it gives Israel permission to continue to ignore their cries for justice and freedom.

In his recent speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined his conditions for peace with Palestine. He described a future Palestinian state that would not be a state at all. Its borders and airspace would be controlled by others. It would be demilitarized while Israel remained free to continue building a nuclear arsenal. This is not a plan for peace. It is a demand that Palestine submit to Israeli domination.

As Prime Minister Netanyahu makes these demands, his government continues to suppress Palestinian nonviolent resistance. Unarmed demonstrators in N’ilin are still met with tear gas and live bullets. In Hebron and At-Tuwani, children on their way to school are still attacked by Israeli settlers and settlements continue to grow. We ask you, President Obama, to demand that Israel stop its campaign of violence against the Palestinian people. We echo the Palestinian nonviolent resistance movement’s calls for justice and human dignity. Only justice will lead to
peace.

In Hope,
Christian Peacemaker Teams-Palestine

HEBRON RELEASE : Israeli Civil Administration, military, and police destroy cisterns in Beqa'a Valley

2009-06-14T04:06:00.000-04:00

The following release is from CPT's project in the city of Hebron, located north of At-Tuwani.

9 June 2009
HEBRON RELEASE : Israeli Civil Administration, military, and police destroy cisterns in Beqa'a Valley

by Donna Hicks

HEBRON, Palestine In the early morning hours of 8 June 2009, the Israeli Civil Administration, police and military, along with bulldozers and heavy equipment arrived in the Beqa'a Valley situated east of Hebron, and between the Israeli settlements of Givat Ha Harsina and Kiryat Arba.

When CPTers Donna Hicks and Barbara Martens arrived around 9:00 a.m., heavy equipment was lined up along the bypass road running through the area, and bulldozers, civil administration representatives, soldiers and police were at several sites destroying cisterns and pulling up irrigation pipes from Palestinian farmland, preparatory to hauling the pipes away. The work continued throughout the morning and afternoon, concluding around 3:00 p.m.

The Israeli military injured five people, including two Palestinians wounded when a mother intervened in the beating of her son. Jeff Halper of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions was arrested when he protested the actions of the Israeli military at one of the sites.

In total, the Israeli military destroyed six cisterns, hauled away many feet of irrigation pipes from Palestinian fields, and took down an electricity pylon and power pole. Palestinian farmers build cisterns to collect rainwater to supplement irrigation of their crops. The area is suffering from a multi-year drought. Stop work orders and demolition orders are frequent, because this area is under total Israeli control and it is nearly impossible for Palestinian residents to get permits for building and improvements.

From I Saw it in Palestine Blog: Ten Reasons that Havot Ma'on Outpost and Ma'on Settlement Have Got to Go

2009-06-12T05:14:00.001-04:00

Lest there is any question in your minds, Israeli settlements and outposts are bad. They slow the peace process and are an impediment to the creation of a Palestinian state. They often steal privately owned Palestinian land, ever expanding while the amount of land which Palestinians have access to shrinks smaller.

But these reasons are political, and not personal. But the fact of the matter is, these settlements and outposts affect the lives of Palestinians in real, concrete ways. So, as promised in my previous post, I want to share with you a list my friend and teammate is writing, Ten Reasons that Havot Ma'on Outpost and Ma'on Settlement Have Got to Go.

At present, she has two, which are:

Reason one: As long as Havot Ma'on and Ma'on remain, school children from Tuba and Mayger Al Abeed can't get to school in a safe and timely fashion.

Reason Two: As long as Havot Ma'on and Ma'on remain, Palestinians in the village of Tuba have no usable road to their village.

Click on the links to read the whole articles -- they're good stuff.

When listening to the media and politicians, it is easy to forget that these things that seem so abstract and far away have real human consequences. These are a few of them in the area of At-Tuwani. There are many, many more settlements and outposts, with just as many repercussions for the Palestinain communities whose land they are confiscating.

Stop the Settlements -- What ordinary people can do

2009-06-10T03:38:00.001-04:00

We are just ordinary people. Sometimes it feels like we are powerless, voiceless, and helpless to change the movements of the Powers that Be.

I don't believe it. I believe that the Powers that Be know the masses have power, but if we feel silenced, unheard, then maybe we won't do anything in our despair.

Below is a way to stick it to 'em! It is a petition calling for the end to the settlements, which a big obstacle to the way to peace. Settlements cut through Palestine, making it more like Swiss cheese than contiguous land.

Please read the message below, and sign the petition.

Coming up in blog posts: Reasons why an Israeli settlement, Ma'on and the nearby settlement outpost, Havat Ma'on, located near At-Tuwani, have got to go.

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Dear friends,

Obama is challenging Israel's right-wing government to stop its settlements, which are killing prospects for peace -- let's raise a massive global chorus to help him overcome powerful opposition in Israel and the US:

President Obama just made a remarkable speech in Egypt, committing personally to building peace in the Middle East. Unexpectedly, his first move is to directly challenge the new right-wing government of America's ally Israel -- actively pressing them to stop their self-destructive policy of settlements (illegal colonies set up on Palestinian lands).

There's widespread support for stopping the settlements, including among ordinary Israelis -- even George W Bush paid lip-service to it -- but this new move looks like it could finally get traction. Obama is facing powerful opposition, so he’s going to need help around the world in the coming period to strengthen his resolve. Let’s start right now -- by raising a massive global chorus behind Obama’s statement that the settlements must stop.

We’ll advertise the number of signatures in key newspapers in Israel, as well as in Washington DC (where some are trying to undermine Obama in the US Congress). Read Obama’s words now and add your signature to them at the link below, then forward this email to friends and family so they can do the same:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/obama_stop_settlements

Most diplomats and experts agree that the settlements are a significant barrier to peace, as a silent majority of the Israeli public also know. Combined with a network of roadblocks and barriers, these colonies now blanket the West Bank, seizing territory and forcing Palestinians to live effectively as prisoners in smaller and smaller pockets.

Until this problem is tackled, it seems impossible to build a viable Palestinian state or any kind of lasting peace. For Arab states deciding what more they themselves can do for peace, stopping the settlements has become a crucial test of Israel’s seriousness.

We’ll need to urge the other parties to take bold steps too. If we can help Obama to stay the course on settlements, shift Israeli policy and encourage the Palestinians and key Arab states also to stretch out their hands, a new beginning for the Middle East is possible.

But none of this will happen without a growing global movement of citizens taking action to support it. Read Obama’s words, add your signature and spread the word today:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/obama_stop_settlements

With hope and determination,

Paul, Raluca, Ricken, Brett, Paula, Graziela, Rajeev, Iain, Taren, Milena, Luis, Alice and the whole Avaaz team

President Obama's speech (full text):
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/politics/04obama.text.html?_r=2

Heading More on Israeli Settlements:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/story/1070944.html

Israeli Settlement Growth Must Stop:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/world/middleeast/28mideast.html?bl&ex=1243656000&en=b27e2280187214a9&ei=5087%0A

Israel Hopes for Arab Reconciliation:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hIeUqCAozK3Ibhbxa86Ur6mL3Tsg

Obama Seeks New Start with Muslims:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/20096492421821542.html

Ministers Split Over Obama's Cairo Speech
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3726367,00.html

Bin Laden Attacks Obama Policies:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/200963123251920623.html

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Blessed are the peacemakers

2009-06-07T06:41:00.002-04:00

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." - Jesus

When accompanying Palestinian shepherds, one can never know what to expect. Israeli soldiers might arrive and attempt to drive the Palestinian and his flock off his land. Israeli settlers might arrive, masked and armed with slingshots, and use violence to deter Palestinians from asserting their right to access their land.

Or, nothing happens, and one spends a lot of time watching sheep and goats, making small talk with teammates and shepherds, or playing little games to pass the time: How far can a person flick a pebble from between their thumb and forefinger? How does one make a propeller from a thorn, a twig, and some dried grass? (These games are always concocted by the shepherds, and enthusiastically participated in by us foreigners.)

Or we, the internationals, learn lessons about peacemaking and the kingdom of God.

It was a quiet, hot day not too far from At-Tuwani. My teammate and I were accompanying a Palestinian shepherd whom I will call Kareem, which means "generous." Kareem is goofy and playful, whose face often breaks into broad, childlike grin. He is brilliant in his nonviolent resistance, using creativity and play to run mental circles around Israeli soldiers attempting to drive him off his land.

We were sitting on a hill, talking about the situation here in the South Hebron Hills. Kareem turned thoughtful, and he began speaking about peace. He was imagining a life of coexistence, between Muslim and Jew. He began dreaming of a day in which children from the Israeli settlement of Ma'on and the Palestinian children of At-Tuwani would go to school together.

Kareem - who knows well the violence of the Israeli settlers of Ma'on and Havat Ma'on, who knows that these people from the Israeli settlement and the outpost have attacked Palestinian children time and again as the children were on their way to school and summer camp - had the generousity to imagine a day in which the Israreli childern of Palestinian children's attackers would go to school with Palestinian children in peace. Kareem has no illusions about the current situation, the violence, and the oppression here in the South Hebron Hills. Yet he has the audacity to dream of a different world.

Kareem is, undoubtedly, a greater peacemaker than I. I, who frequently struggles to subdue my rage and hopelessness over the situation here in At-Tuwani. And as I sat and listened to him on that day, I had the sensation that I was blessed, because I was sitting in the presence of a true peacemaker, who is called a child of God.

A message to Pope Benedict XVI from Jerusalem Christians

2009-06-03T07:39:00.000-04:00

I know this is rather belated, but you may have heard that Pope Benedict XVI was in the Holy Land recently. Nora Carmi, CPT Steering Committee member, was chosen to present the following statement to the Pope on behalf of the Christians in Jerusalem.

I think it is a powerful statement and worth sharing:

Your Holiness,

We, the indigenous faithful Christians of Jerusalem, join our voices to those of our Palestinian Muslim and Christian brothers and sisters in the West Bank and Gaza to welcome you on your much desired pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Your Holiness, your pilgrimage for peace, comes at a very critical moment in the history of the Palestinian people. For this reason, religious institutions and members of the civil society have communicated to Your Holiness, their concerns and aspirations prior to your arrival in the country. We, “the little flock” of Jerusalem would have loved to celebrate with joy your presence among us, but as your experience in Jerusalem in the past few days has proved, we are not free and our rights are denied.

We are pleased that you have insisted on coming at this time to give spiritual support and guidance to the steadfast Christians of Jerusalem, the resilient faithful witnesses to Jesus Christ and His Church established in this city over 2000 years ago. Sad to say, there are only about 9000 Christians of various denominations left but they form an integral part of the rich fabric of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, the city of peace anxiously awaiting a just peace for all.

Your Holiness, you have in the past two days, observed the ramifications of the 42-year old military occupation of this city significant to all faiths. Christians and Muslims suffer the same violations of human and national rights because Jerusalem is under occupation. As the Vatican has recognized: “the part of the city militarily occupied in 1967 and annexed and declared the capital of the State of Israel, IS OCCUPIED TERRITORY (as recorded and confirmed by the United Nations) As such, all Israeli measures which exceed the power of a belligerent occupant under international law are therefore null and void”. This courageous stand of the Vatican should be upheld and prayerfully acted upon in order to end the illegal monopolization and the unilateral judaization of Jerusalem, strangulated by settlements, divided by road blocks and checkpoints. Families are separated because of the wall; residents lose their residency rights; married couples are denied family reunification and homes are demolished! Young people who raise their voices against injustice are thrown into prison and the sanctity of life is desecrated. The beautiful mosaic of Jerusalem is shattered under oppression and injustice.

How can your flock be spiritually empowered and guided when faced with the violation of their rights to worship, to move, to learn, and to return home. How can your flock remain steadfast and continue resisting non-violently? How can we secure jobs and housings for the young people so that they will not lose hope and emigrate? How can we encourage our children in exile to risk coming back to their country and contribute to maintaining the uniqueness of the Christian presence without being denied entry?

Your pilgrimage to the sites made holy by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, not only
constitutes a rich spiritual experience, but, is made especially meaningful through the sharing of the sufferings of the people who also make this land holy. We count on Your Holiness, to proclaim anew to the world the teachings of our Savior “to bring good news to the poor…release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of God’s favor.”(Luke 4; 18-19)

Your Holiness, you come as a peacemaker to promote tolerance and reconciliation. We urge you to continue following in the courageous footsteps of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in daring to raise a prophetic voice and to state clearly that:
• Jerusalem must remain an open city to all faiths and be the shared capital of the two states.
• The occupation has to end.
• Israel has to abide by International Law, implement UN resolutions and be held accountable for all violations especially the most recent brutal onslaught on Gaza.

Two thousand years ago, from the Mt. of Olives overlooking Jerusalem, Jesus wept over the city, under occupation and torn apart by violence and dissent. “You do not know the things that make for peace!” That cry resonates in Jerusalem to-day, still under occupation and shattered by the absence of tolerance, respect and love.

We trust that your prayers and your genuine desire for peace in Jerusalem will drive Your Holiness and the world that looks up to your leadership to work for a just peace for all. Only then can Christians, Muslims and Jews live in freedom and in harmony in the promising land for all. Only then can the inhabitants of this blessed land enjoy a just peace that they very much deserve.

In closing, we welcome Your Holiness with the Arabic greeting “Ahlan wa Sahlan” which literally means you are among family and that your stay goes smoothly.

All the Israeli settlements + "Natural growth" = 26 Outposts . . . Wait, what?

2009-05-31T07:22:00.000-04:00

International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) reports:

Israel is planning to offer dismantling 26 illegal settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank in exchange for American approval that Israel keeps all of its settlements and expands the existing settlement blocs though all settlements are illegal under the international law.

It seems that according to Israeli Occupation mathematics, demolishing 26 outposts (which are generally smaller in size, and demolished outposts are often rebuilt a short time later) is a good exchange for Israel keeping all the of the settlements, plus allowing for settlement expansion.

Wait . . . What?

It is worth mentioning that Israeli settlements in the West Bank, are a violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Conventions, which states that an occupying power cannot move its civilian population into its occupied territories -- which is exactly what Israeli settlements are.

In addition, outposts are usually illegal under Israeli law, so by demolishing outposts Israel is simply upholding its own laws.

Is this a peace deal, or a farce?

AT-TUWANI URGENT ACTION: Demand that Israeli occupying forces allow At-Tuwani to bring electricity into their village

2009-05-29T06:38:00.001-04:00

[Note: According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) are illegal. Most settlement outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.]

At-Tuwani, Palestine On Monday, 25 May 2009, members of the Israeli District Coordinating Office (DCO)—the branch of the Israeli army that administers civilian affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT)—entered the Palestinian village of At-Tuwani and ordered villagers to halt construction work on new electricity pylons.

Currently At-Tuwani receives only four hours of electricity a day, supplied by a diesel generator operated and paid for by the villagers. The Israeli settlement and outposts of Ma’on, Havat Ma’on, and Avigail, located within two kilometers of At-Tuwani, receive electricity from the main Israeli power grid.

International Humanitarian law (1907 Hague Regulation and 1949 Fourth Geneva Conventions) obliges occupying powers to ensure the welfare of the occupied population. Israel is thus responsible for the general welfare of the occupied Palestinian civilian population. However, it fails to supply electricity and water to Palestinian towns and villages, even though it is providing these services to settlements and outposts in the same vicinities. In this most recent move, the Israeli military is denying the villagers of At-Tuwani the opportunity to improve their living conditions.

After the DCO’s orders, the chair of the At-Tuwani village council told At-Tuwani team members, “It is 2009. And still we do not have electricity.”

On 19 March 2009, Tony Blair, special mid-east envoy of the Quartet, visited At-Tuwani. (See 20 March 2009 CPTnet release, “AT-TUWANI: At-Tuwani hosts former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair to address Israeli occupation and violence in the southern West Bank.”) He supported the villagers’ desire to improve their living conditions, saying, "… without a new and different system applying in [the area in the West Bank under Israeli military and civilian control, … it is very hard for Palestinians to enjoy the standard of living that they should enjoy and be able to develop their land as they should be able to develop in freedom." When asked what he could do to address the hardships inflicted on residents of the South Hebron Hills by settlers and the army in the region, he said, "It's got to be stopped, hasn't it? This is what should happen. But it needs to be done in a systematic way so that the whole way this area is looked at and administered is changed to make it fair." The Palestine National Authority and Tony Blair assured villagers at the time of the visit that the DCO had given oral permission for the electricity construction work. The work on the new pylons, to connect At-Tuwani to the main Palestinian electricity grid, began earlier this month.

ACTION

Please contact The DCO and demand that they grant permission for the village to receive basic services
• from Europe 00 972 29977097
• from North America 011 972 29977097 (for other world areas please check relevant country code +972 29977097)

Please send copies of your correspondence to Tony Blair:
The Office of Tony Blair
P.O. Box 60519, London,
W2 7JU
info@tonyblairoffice.org

At-Tuwani in The Guardian

2009-03-31T08:57:00.000-04:00

As we hauled our tired bodies across miles of rock-strewn fields, our human cargo skipped effortlessly ahead of us, seemingly untroubled by either the exertion of the hike or the relentless heat of the mid-morning sun. The excitement of a day off school had lifted their spirits, as had the prospect of their weekly football practice in the village to which we were heading.
The children flew along the torturous gradients as nimbly as the gazelles we'd encountered earlier on the trail, and – to the untrained eye – the walk through the stunning South Hebron Hills would have appeared utterly calm and carefree. However, that the pre-pubescent players required our accompaniment at all belied the seemingly benign nature of our journey. Were it not for the presence of the international activists, the likelihood of the children coming under attack from nearby [Israeli] settlers would have been too high to risk them setting off for Tuwani from the neighbouring hamlet of Tu'ba.
... Grown men attacking defenceless children on their way to school is the stuff of nightmares, yet is a waking reality for dozens of youngsters forced to run the settler gauntlet every day.

Seth Freedman, writer for a UK newspaper called The Guardian, visited At-Tuwani recently. A friend kindly forwarded me the link to the full article he wrote. He provides a fresh perspective to the situation here in the South Hebron Hills. If you're interested in a clear, concise description of the Israeli Occupation in At-Tuwani and the surrounding villages, you would do well to read the full article.

AT-TUWANI RELEASE: Palestinian shepherds resist settler violence and disruption

2009-03-30T08:37:00.000-04:00

In three recent incidents Palestinian shepherds asserted their right to graze their sheep on their own land, despite Israeli settlers' attempts to
intimidate the Palestinians and disrupt their agricultural work. Palestinians in the South Hebron hills have responded to recent violence
and incursions on their lands with a law suit and a nonviolent grazing action.

The morning of March 22, as shepherds from the village of At-Tuwani grazed their sheep in nearby Humra valley, a settler brought his flock to the
area from the Israeli settlement outpost of Havot Ma'on. The settler called the police and army, claiming that one of the Palestinians had
thrown a stone at him. When the police arrived, they detained the accused Palestinian and took him to Kiryat Arba police station. Internationals
who had been present and videotaped the scene showed the police video and pictures demonstrating that the shepherd had not thrown stones, and the
man was released. The following day the Palestinian shepherd returned to the police station with papers proving his ownership of the valley. He
has filed a suit against the settler for trespassing.

On March 25, while Palestinian shepherds grazed their sheep on land belonging to the village of Juwayye, twenty Israelis approached from the
settlement of Ma'on and shot at the shepherds. Despite the presence of Israeli soldiers and the Ma'on settlement security guard at the time of
the shooting, no Israelis were arrested. Palestinian shepherds continued to graze their sheep for two hours after the shooting, but were then
forced from the land by soldiers claiming they were too close to road 317.

On March 28 shepherds from Tuwani and other villages in the South Hebron Hills responded to recent harassment by gathering peacefully with their
families to graze sheep in Khoruba valley near Tuwani. After they had been in the valley for about an hour four settlers, two with their faces covered, walked out from Havat Ma'on outpost into the flocks and among the
shepherds and their children. In response, Palestinian shepherds sat down and refused to remove their sheep from the area. Israeli soldiers,
police, and border police arrived but did nothing to prevent the settlers from disrupting the grazing sheep.

Palestinians in Tuwani and the surrounding villages face continued threats of violence and intimidation from setters. With the start of the grazing
season, villagers say they expect the actions of the settlers will become increasingly disruptive, but that the villages remain committed to
nonviolence as they confront the incursions.

Lunch as Palestinian Nonviolent Resistance

2009-03-21T15:06:00.000-04:00

Recently, my teammate Jan and I were accompanying some Palestinian shepherds from the village of Tuba, one of the many villages in the area committed to nonviolent resistance against the Israeli occupation. The shepherds were a man and his nephew; I’ll call the man Samoud, which means “steadfastness,” because that is what he embodies.

Samoud, his nephew, Jan, and I were eating a picnic lunch when an Israeli settler security guard from Ma’on settlement appeared on a nearby hilltop, along with Israeli soldiers. Jan and I prepared for “action”, dropping our food and grabbing our video cameras and binoculars.

Samoud, however, reclining on a nearby rock, was entirely unperturbed. He told us to stop. “Eat,” he said, “and then maybe video them.”

While the settler security guard and the soldiers looked at Samoud, his nephew, and us through their binoculars, we continued our picnic. Samoud was not about to be intimidated by these men, their guns, and the state legitimizing their violence. In fact, it was not even worth interrupting his lunch.

Such an attitude typifies resistance here in the South Hebron Hills; Palestinians know they are stronger than the Israeli occupation, and they prioritize their lives accordingly. Are Israeli soldiers in the village? Fine – finish drinking tea, and then go meet them. Are Israeli authorities attempting to intimidate Palestinians off Palestinian land? It will not work. Palestinians will stay, and eat lunch on their land as an act of resistance instead.

AT-TUWANI RELEASE: At-Tuwani hosts Tony Blair to address Israeli occupation and violence in the southern West Bank

2009-03-20T05:48:00.005-04:00

Tony Blair, representative of the Quartet on the Middle East, speaks with Saber Hereni, the mayor of At-Tuwani

19 March 2009
Photos available at http://cpt.org/gallery/album275
At-Tuwani, West Bank

On 19 March 2009, Tony Blair, representative of the Quartet on the Middle East, visited the Palestinian village of At-Tuwani, located in the southern West Bank. His reason for visiting, he stated, “is really to draw attention to the fact that without a new and different system applying in Area C [the area in the West Bank under Israeli military and civilian control], then it is very hard for Palestinians to enjoy the standard of living that they should enjoy and be able to develop their land as they should be able to develop in freedom.”

Mr. Blair met with the mayor of At-Tuwani as well as members of Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove, who described the attacks and harassment Palestinians experience from Israeli settlers and soldiers when Palestinians attempt to access their land. The conversation also highlighted Israeli government inaction toward settler aggression, exemplified by the government’s failure to follow through with the demolition orders on the illegal Israeli outpost of Havat Ma’on. When asked what he will do about this situation, Mr. Blair answered, “It’s got to be stopped, hasn’t it? This is what should happen. But it needs to be done in a systematic way so that the whole way this area is looked at and administered is changed to make it fair.”

Under the Oslo Accords, the village of At-Tuwani is in Area C, leaving it under Israeli military and civilian control. Israeli authorities have refused to provide electricity and running water to the village, despite the fact that the Israeli settlement of Ma’on, less than a kilometer away, has access to these utilities. In addition, the Israeli government refuses to grant building permission to Palestinians in At-Tuwani and surrounding villages.. Consequently Palestinians frequently face the threat of demolition on their houses, mosques, schools, clinics and wells. In contrast, Ma’on and Havat Ma’on and other settlements and outposts in the area continue to expand outside of regulations.

Over recent years, At-Tuwani has received increased media attention due to the people’s commitment to nonviolent resistance. Palestinians in the area have had success using nonviolence to reclaim their land and freedom of movement and to highlight the violence they experience under the Israeli occupation.

Background information is available on Christian Peacemaker Teams' website, http://www.cpt.org/work/palestine/tuwani

At-Tuwani Release: Israeli Court Releases CPTers Arrested While Accompanying Palestinian Landowners

2009-03-12T05:30:00.002-04:00

At 2:30 pm, on Monday, 9 March, a Jerusalem court released two Christian Peacemaker Teams members (CPTers) who were arrested while they accompanied 19 Palestinians trying to access their land near the Bedouin village of Um al-Kheir. The CPTers were charged with trespass and obstruction of construction work, despite being invited to the land by the Palestinians landowners and being at least 10 meters away from the work zone. Israeli police arrested the CPTers on Sunday, 8 March, at 11:30 am, when
Palestinian landowners asserted their right to visit their land. Palestinians from Um al-Kheir observed workers using road-building equipment on Palestinian-owned land near the adjacent Israeli settlement of Karmel. When the Palestinians and CPTers approached the work area, an Israeli settlement security guard began to shout, demanding that they leave. When they remained on their land, the guard contacted the Israeli army and police. At 12 pm, Israeli police detained the Palestinians at the scene for 45 minutes. They also arrested the CPTers and transported them to Kiryat Arba Police Station outside Hebron. Neither the army nor police asked the Palestinians for papers to ascertain the true ownership of the land.

Um al-Kheir villagers report that the work they observed is expanding Karmel settlement and stealing their land and livelihood.

At-Tuwani Release: Video Available of Israeli Army Harassment

2009-02-27T07:48:00.001-05:00

The following video has been posted by CPT on YouTube. It documents an incident of Israeli army harassment in the village of Mufaqara. (see At-Tuwani Release: Soldiers Kill Palestinian Migrant Worker, Increase Harassment of Villagers in South Hebron Hills, February 12, 2009). Mufaqara is a Palestinian village in the South Hebron Hills in the occupied West Bank.

The video documents Israeli army harassment of local Palestinians as well as the soldiers' dismaying attitude toward the widespread killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. A soldier says, in full view of the camera, that the children killed in Gaza "will be terrorists in about 20 years anyway."

Israeli Settlers Kill Donkey in the South Hebron Hills

2009-02-15T21:15:00.000-05:00

Dear readers, as you may (or may not) have noticed, I'm catching up on some blogging backlog that occurred during some months that I spent away from At-Tuwani. In my 2 February post "At-Tuwani = Palestinian Nonviolent Resistance = An Amazing Village", I referred to Israeli settlers killing a Palestinian's donkey, which happened last November. My teammates created a video from the footage they captured.

Sometimes describing these situations in writing is not quite horrific enough.

At-Tuwani Release: Soldiers Crack Down on Palestinian Migrant Labor

2009-02-11T09:19:00.002-05:00

6 February 2009
At-Tuwani Release: Soldiers Crack Down on Palestinian Migrant Labor

Three incidents in recent days indicate that Israeli occupation authorities are stepping up their aggression in the South Hebron Hills, particularly in response to Palestinian migrant laborers.

Since Israel's sealing of the West Bank behind a separation barrier and subsequent destruction of its economy (unemployment is currently around 20%), growing numbers of Palestinian men travel to Israel for work. Israeli army and police are increasing mobility restrictions and arbitrary arrests of Palestinians, chasing vehicles, and even shooting them.

Under Israeli law it is illegal for Palestinians to cross the 1949 Green Line (the internationally recognized border between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories) without a permit, which is extremely difficult to obtain.

Along part of the West Bank's border near the Israeli town of Be'er Sheva, the barrier is not yet completed, and instead is heavily enforced by armed Israeli patrols. At-Tuwani, 5km north of the border, lies directly on the primary route traveled by Palestinian workers. For a map of this area see <http://tinyurl.com/bt629r>.

On the morning of Monday, 2 February, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian man on the Israeli side of the border near the Palestinian village of Jinba and the Israeli settlement of Beit Yatir. Taysir Manasra, 27, from the Hebron-area village of Bani Na'im, was attempting to travel into Israel for work.

CPTers, along with other human rights workers, arrived on the scene at 1:30 pm to find a bullet-riddled car, a puddle of blood, and soldiers and police detaining about 10 Palestinian men. A corpse had just been removed from the scene.

The Palestinians told the internationals that they had already been detained when Manasra drove his car through an army ambush. The soldiers ordered them to lie face-down before they shot at Manasra's car and killed him.

The same morning, Israeli soldiers set up a checkpoint on the Palestinian road from at-Tuwani to al-Birkeh. They stopped two Palestinian vehicles, removing and physically assaulting the drivers.

One of the men was delivering goods to at-Tuwani. Although he showed valid documents, both for his van and the road he was using, the soldiers removed and confiscated his license plates. The man was indignant and told CPTers, "The soldiers asked to see my papers, so I showed them. I have the correct papers, but they punched and shoved me. I am an older man, and I showed them my papers, but they still hit me."

The other man transports Palestinian schoolchildren daily between at-Tuwani and the village of Susiya (3km southwest). He also showed the soldiers valid papers. One of the soldiers grabbed and struck him repeatedly on the face and upper body, before letting him go.

The following day, 3 February, Israeli soldiers arrested a Palestinian at his home in Mfagara, 1km southwest of at-Tuwani. They claimed that the van parked outside his home was not correctly registered. CPTers videotaped him as he showed the soldiers his documents, which they confiscated. The man, a well-known local peace activist, calmly agreed to go with the soldiers in order to settle the dispute. The soldiers handcuffed him, placed a black hood over his head, and drove him away in an army humvee.

For images of these incidents, go to <http://tinyurl.com/cgkqll>.

At-Tuwani = Palestinian Nonviolent Resistance = An Amazing Village

2009-02-02T18:42:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow I go back to my work in the Palestinian village of At-Tuwani. I am incredibly excited. I am going back to *amazing* teammates, a village of incredible people, and work I love so dearly. In the months that I have been away, Tuwani has continued in its nonviolent resistance. And the village has succeeded in gaining dozens of small victories that feeds into this beautiful, replenishing cycle of nonviolent resistance --> small victories ---> life gets just a little bit better in the South Hebron Hills --> the movement for Palestinian nonviolent resistance grows, little by little. Every year, the village gains access to more land; valleys that were once perpetually declared a closed military zone by the Israeli military are now in frequent use by Palestinians. Every year, through the power of nonviolence, Palestinians gain victories over the violent Israeli settlers who are trying to force Palestinians off their land.

Of course, these victories do not come without great sacrifice, courage, and commitment. For example, Israeli settlers from Ma'on and Havot Ma'on have stolen property, shot at Palestinian flocks (wounding three. One sheep died from its wounds), and killed a donkey while shepherds were grazing their flocks on their land. (To name just a few violent incidences.)

And yet, Palestinians in At-Tuwani and the surrounding villages persist in their commitment to nonviolent resistance. For instance, less than a week after Israeli settlers killed the Palestinian donkey, the Palestinian villagers organized and successfully used the land on which the attack occurred. Instead of driving Palestinians off their land, the Israeli settler violence only strengthened Palestinian nonviolent resistance and commitment to their land.

This -- the strength of Palestinian nonviolent resistance -- is one of the many reasons why I am thrilled to be going back to Tuwani. Also, I can't wait to see the Palestinians I have missed while I was away. I am excited to play with the village children, with whatever book or toy is most taking them at the moment (last summer, the fad was spending hours paging through "Where's Waldo?"). I look forward to being in the beautiful South Hebron Hills once again, working with beautiful, amazing people.

Electricity for Flowers, Not People

2009-01-31T05:21:00.002-05:00

The Jordan Valley is a place where Israeli flowers have electricity and Palestinian people do not.

Located in the east, along the Jordan River, the Jordan Valley comprises approximately 25 percent of the land in the West Bank or Occupied Palestine. In previous times, landowners were known as “princes”, because of the availability of water and the fertility of the land.

Today, the Jordan Valley is a land of contrasts. There are Israeli settlements and farms that exist side-by-side (and sometimes through) Palestinian villages and farms. Israeli settlements have homes made of stone or concrete, with space to grow. Palestinian villages are often filled with homes made of tarp and scrap metal (making the homes cold in the winter and hot in the summer.) In some areas electric lines crisscross Palestinian villages, and water pipe lines run through them. But often Palestinians have no access to this infrastructure; they are for the Israeli settlements nearby. The Israeli authorities have fenced in the water pumps, so Palestinians can’t “steal” the water beneath their villages. However, the most striking example of racist distribution of resources is the Israeli flower plantations next to Palestinian villages. Flowers have rows of lights hanging over them, to make them bloom earlier for export to Europe. Yet the Palestinians living next to these farms cannot tap into these electric lines.

In sum, Israel encourages the growth of the Israeli settlement population. At the same time, the Israeli government attempts to force Palestinians living in the Jordan Valley off their land through the demolition of Palestinian homes, refusal of permission to build new homes and fix roads, and the control of water, electricity, transport of produce to markets. Additionally, the Israeli government refuses to allow Palestinians who do not have an address in the Jordan Valley to visit there.

Yet as in the rest of Palestine, the Israeli occupation does not have the final word. Palestinian communities are organizing in nonviolent resistance to Israel’s systematic oppression. By building schools for their communities (sometimes in defiance of the Israeli government), and providing electricity for themselves, by insisting on their right to remain in the Jordan Valley, some Palestinian communities are nonviolently resisting the forces of the Israeli Occupation intent on removing them.

For more information, please see the Electronic Intifada report: Israel Plundering the Jordan Valley.

Palestinian Nonviolent Resistence to the Israeli Occupation in Palestine

2009-01-29T20:56:00.000-05:00

It has been quite some time since I have highlighted Palestinian nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Lest you, dear readers, begin to form an inaccurate perception of the role of Palestinians in their struggle for justice (through nonviolent resistance), I present to you this video for your viewing enlightenment. It is about At-Tuwani, the village in which I work with Christian Peacemaker Teams. Villagers from At-Tuwani daily practice committed, disciplined, stratigic, nonviolent resistance. This video tells the story of the situation in Tuwani and gives an overview of the village's nonviolent struggle.

Way to Go, 60 Minutes! -- A Beginner's Guide to the Israeli Occupation

2009-01-27T20:40:00.002-05:00

On Sunday, 25 January, CBS 60 Minutes (a U.S. news broadcast)aired "Exposing Israeli Apartheid", an excellent (and accurate!) segment reporting on Israel's occupation of Palestine. Check it out:

And now act! Write to CBS 60 Minutes to thank them for their accurate portrayal of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation. The Gaza Justice Action Center makes it easy to do. I am so grateful that CBS had the courage to air this segment. Let them know you're grateful, too!

The "Numbers Game" Part 2

2009-01-17T01:30:00.000-05:00

The numbers game will always bother me.

The world keeps insisting that human lives are valued on a sliding scale. Not all people are created equal in the image of God.

Listen to the media. I recently read "Off the Charts: Accuracy in Reporting on Israel/Palestine: The New York Times" by If Americans Knew. (They also produced a report on TV media coverage, but I haven't had the chance to read it yet.) The report focused on the New York Times' coverage of Israeli and Palestinian deaths during two years of the Second Intifada. A synopsis from the report:

In the first study period The Times reported Israeli deaths at a rate 2.8 times higher than Palestinian deaths, and in 2004 this rate increased by almost 30%, to 3.6, widening still further the disparity in coverage. The Times’ coverage of children’s deaths was even more skewed. In the first year of the current uprising, Israeli children’s deaths were reported at 6.8 times the rate of Palestinian children’s deaths. In 2004 this differential also increased, with deaths of Israeli children covered at a rate 7.3 times greater than the deaths of Palestinian children. Given that in 2004 22 times more Palestinian children were killed than Israeli children, this category holds particular importance.

This report covered data from 2000 and 2004. Yet even now the media plays the numbers game. "Israel has the right to protect its civilians." Three Israeli civilians have been killed in this recent war on Gaza. How many Palestinian civilians has the Israeli military killed? (To date, the death toll in Gaza is 1,188 Palestinians -- approximately a third of whom are children.) Where is the international outcry?

Then I remember: To the world, the death of a Palestinian is not worth the same as the death of an Israeli. I watch, horrified, on the news as the Palestinian death toll climbs. And I keep wondering: when will the scale tip? At what Palestinian-to-Israeli death-toll ratio will the world say, "Enough! A life is a life. And every death is a crime against humanity."

When will we end this spiral into madness? When will we hold sacred every human life -- regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion -- and treasure it as our own?

The "Numbers Game"

2009-01-16T08:44:00.000-05:00

It happens. Often.

When I am speaking (or writing) about Israel's military occupation and Palestinian nonviolent resistance, people frequently ask me: "But Palestinians are violent! They're the ones killing civilians!"

I had this experience recently in chatting with a neighbor about the situation in Gaza. "Palestinians are the violent ones -- they're firing rockets!"

This comment -- and Western media coverage of Israel's military assault on Gaza -- astounds me. Since the beginning of Israel's assault on Gaza until now (27 December 2008 to 16 January 2009), the Israeli military has killed 1, 133 Palestinians. According to If Americans Knew, 300 of those casualties were children. In contrast, 13 Israelis have been killed in this war on Gaza. Three of them were civilians.

The media portrays Palestinians as the aggressors, the abusers of violence. Yet after looking at the numbers, one is left wondering: Who are the violent ones?

Gaza Action in 30 Seconds

2009-01-15T16:07:00.002-05:00

A co-worker directed me to this website as a way to act in response to Israel's military assault and blockade on Gaza. The site's format makes it easy send a statement to President Bush, President Elect Obama, and the Senators and Representative from your state. (The statement is pre-written, but editable, for anyone like me who always develops writer's block when writing to government officials.)

It is fast, simple, and advocacy. So, all you busy (and concerned) citizens, give it a whirl -- you have time to do this.

P.S. To readers outside the U.S. -- Apologies for being U.S. centric. If any of you know of a similar site for your respective countries, please let me know, and I will be happy to post them.

Christian Peacemaker Teams in Palestine Release Statement on War in Gaza

2009-01-14T16:02:00.002-05:00

Christian Peacemaker Teams deplores the use of violence, stands with the oppressed, and supports all nonviolent efforts to build justice and peace. We believe God loves both Palestinians and Israelis and regards every person's death a tragedy. With this in mind

-We call on all armed groups to cease killing and traumatizing the children of God.

-We implore our governments to do more to end this massacre in Gaza, including demanding that Israel immediately remove its forces from Gaza and cease aerial bombardment.

-We ask our government representatives to insist that Israel conform to International law in its dealings with the Palestinians.

- We urge our governments and media outlets to press beyond surface explanations as to the cause of this recent conflict between Hamas and Israel and address the 'root' problems (i.e. the systemic oppression and domination of the Palestinian people).

Report, "A Dangerous Journey: Settler violence against Palestinian schoolchildren under Israeli military escort"

2008-11-06T22:03:00.002-05:00

CPTnet
15 October 2008
AT-TUWANI: Report, "A Dangerous Journey: Settler violence against Palestinian schoolchildren under Israeli military escort" by Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove now available

"The beginning was worse, but after today it seems harder than the beginning. The settlers are still beating our children." Mother of South Hebron Hills student after settlers stoned children on 27 July 2008 and inflicted head wound requiring hospitalization on CPTer accompanying them.

A new report by Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove about the Israeli military escort of Palestinian children to school in At-Tuwani during the 2007-2008 school year records a catalogue of violent settler attacks on the children and the Israeli military's complacent attitude regarding these attacks.

The military escort began in the fall of 2004, following attacks by settlers on the schoolchildren and internationals accompanying them on the public road that passes between Ma'on settlement and Hill 833 (Havat Ma'on) settler outpost. In November 2004, Israeli Knesset Committee for Children's Rights affirmed the initial verbal agreement for military accompaniment of the children between the At-Tuwani mayor and the Israeli District Coordinating Office (DCO), the section of the army that coordinates civilian affairs in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories.

The report "A Dangerous Journey: Settler violence against Palestinian schoolchildren under Israeli military escort" describes the daily journey of the children from the villages of Tuba and Maghaer al-Abeed to and from their school in At-Tuwani under Israeli military escort. It highlights how settler threats and violence during the journey undermine the children's safety and documents the Israeli military's violations of its legal obligations to ensure the children's safe passage and right to education.

A comparison of the data collected during the 2007-08 school year and the 2006-07 school year shows a constant level of settler violence against the schoolchildren for these two years. Data also confirm that in the 2007-2008 school year the tardiness of the army caused the children to miss 25.32 hours of classes, compared to 10.47 hours in the previous school year.

During the first two months of the 2008-2009 school year, the children made sixty-eight journeys to and from school. On fourteen of these sixty-eight occasions (21% of journeys) the children had to wait, either before or after school, for over half-an-hour for the Israeli military escort to arrive. On four of these occasions, the children had to wait for over an hour, and one morning had to wait for one hour and forty minutes for the escort to arrive.

The report concludes, "Nearly four years after the Israeli military's agreement to provide an escort, and the affirmation of this agreement by the Knesset Committee for Children's Rights, the situation of the children … has worsened. The children continue to be harassed and attacked by Israeli settlers … The Israeli military, which was given a mandate to ensure the safety of the children, has consistently failed to do so."

The report is available at:
http://cpt.org/files/Palestine-School-Accompaniment-Report-2006-2008-Dangerous-Journey.pdf
and contains maps of the region and of the routes the children take to school. It is illustrated with photos of the children, settlers, and significant locations the children pass on their journey to school.

AT-TUWANI URGENT ACTION: Ask Israeli authorities why the Israeli military demolished homes in Um al Kher, South Hebron Hills

2008-11-02T01:45:00.002-04:00

Please see the following Urgent Action, and respond: contact the authorities listed below. The demolition of Palestinian homes is inexcusable any time of the year, but at the beginning of the cold, rainy winter season is nothing other than a human rights abuse.

CPTnet
30 October 2008
AT-TUWANI URGENT ACTION: Ask Israeli authorities why the Israeli military demolished homes in Um al Kher, South Hebron Hills

[Note: According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.]

At 9:10 a.m. on the morning of Wednesday 29 October 2008, the Israeli military demolished ten Palestinian dwellings in the South Hebron Hills village of Um al Kher, leaving around sixty people, including young children, homeless.

The military arrived without warning shortly after 9:00 a.m. Soldiers gave the villagers little time to remove their possessions before demolishing four stone homes and six metal dwellings with a bulldozer. Um al Kher is situated close to the Israeli settlement of Karmel and the demolished homes were those closest to the settlement.

Palestinians and internationals from At-Tuwani attempted to reach Um al Kher in order to prevent or at least witness the demolitions. The Israeli military stopped their vehicle on Route 317, and told them the area was a closed military zone. However, Israeli vehicles were allowed to travel freely in both directions.

By 11:00 a.m., the military finished its destruction of the homes. At 11:40 villagers rushed to move their possessions into the cover of their friends tented homes when a heavy downpour of rain began.

A villager told CPTers, "The children are not here, they were frightened and ran away." Another villager, a twenty-one-year-old woman with a social work degree told how relieved she was that her mother had been out with the goats when the soldiers came so she did not have to witness the demolition of their home. The young woman had complained to an Israeli military officer that a soldier threatened to hit her. The officer's response was, "If he went to hit you that's
nice. If he hit you, it's very nice."

A young mother, holding her baby as she sat outside a neighbour's tent, told CPTers, "My baby in rain. Where my baby sleep?"

Within an hour of the army's departure, assistance arrived in the form of CARE International, International Committee of the Red Cross and United Nations Works and Relief Agency (UNRWA). UNRWA will supply blankets and kitchen utensils. At present, the villagers know of no organization able to help them rebuild their homes.

ACTION

The Israeli military demolished these homes in violation of article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory. We urge you to write to the Israeli Embassy or Consulate in your home country, reminding the diplomatic staff of this fact, and demanding that the authorities answer the following questions:

· Why did the Israeli military demolish these homes?
· Why did the military choose to demolish them at the start of the winter rain season?
· Where will the young woman's baby and the other villagers sleep?

Contact information for embassies and consulates
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Sherut/IsraeliAbroad/Continents

Photos of the demolished homes can be viewed at
http://cpt.org/gallery/Israeli-military-demolish-Um-al-Kher-homes

Letter writers are encouraged to share these photos with the embassies/consulates they contact.

Blogging break?

2008-10-05T07:03:00.000-04:00

Dear readers:

Just a note that I will be doing some traveling in the next months, and I don't know how much I will be able blog during that time. But do check back here from time to time, because I'll update as soon as I am able.

Peace (I hope)!

Same Story, Different Voices

2008-10-05T06:23:00.000-04:00

Not too long ago I came across this article from the UK news source The Guardian. It contains the reflections and stories from a Jewish man's time spent in the Israeli military. Here's just one story:

My friend Shai, who was assigned to accompany two prisoners en route to Shin Bet interrogators, told me that the interrogators ordered the soldiers to finish their meals and put the remains from the plates into a sandwich for the Palestinians. Shai refused - "Are we Nazis?" - and gave them half his meal. He also told me that when the Palestinians offered some of the food back to the soldiers, the Shin Bet men tossed it out the window, saying, "Don't eat food after an Arab's touched it."

This is mild as far as stories go, but it reveals the depth of racism inherent in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

It was an interesting article to me, because I find myself often wondering what is going through the minds of these Israeli soldiers as they force Palestinian shepherds off their land, harass Palestinians at checkpoints, and refuse to escort Palestinian children to school (and the children are attacked by Israeli settlers as a result.)

If you're interested in leaning more in the same vein, I'd highly recommend you visit the website of Breaking the Silence, an organization of veteran Israeli soldiers that collects testimonies of soldiers who have served in Israeli military in its occupation of Palestine.

The amount of good documentation and information of human rights abuses committed by Israeli occupation of Palestine is incredible. This information comes from such a variety of sources, as well: Palestinian, Israeli, and international. Yet the world continues to turn a blind eye and stand idly by in the face of such incredible injustice.

This fact so deeply troubles me. But I suppose it's best not to think about it too much.

What does a nonviolent resister look like in At-Tuwani?

2008-09-22T00:55:00.000-04:00

Nonviolent resisters in the Palestinian villages of At-Tuwani come in all sizes, ages, and genders. One happens to be a little girl. My friend and teammate Sarah writes about her in a Bittersweet Memory: “She’s driving me crazy, but this girl is going to make a great resister.”

For those of you who may read my friend and teammate Joy's blog, you may have already come across this reflection. But really, it is too lovely not to share.

On Politics and Nonviolence

2008-09-01T22:53:00.003-04:00

A friend pointed me in the direction of this article a couple days ago. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared recently that "Greater Israel [from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea] is over. There is no such thing. Anyone who talks that way is deluding themselves." Apparently there's an evacuation-compensation bill being proposed, which would pay compensation (approx. 1.1 million shekels) to Israeli settlers who are willing to leave their settlements in Palestine. (Never mind the Palestinian refugees who had fled their homes, with fear for their lives, who are still waiting for compensation, or the recognition of their right to return.)

I'm not hopeful that this, or any such bill, will be passed or enforced to make any meaningful change in the short term (say, the next five years). For any bill like the one being proposed there is also the problem of the settlers who will not be willing to leave -- and I am certain that the settlers from the Israeli settlement of Ma'on and the illegal settlement outpost Havat Ma'on, outside of At-Tuwani, are among them.

In fact, the longer I am in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills, the more I am convinced that the real power to make change lies in the Palestinian people and their commitment to nonviolent resistance. I have seen "success" and hope in the nonviolent organizing of Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills. As bad as the military occupation is in Palestine, I find it impossible to lose hope in Tuwani, thanks to the villages' commitment to nonviolent organizing.

Yes, the Israeli government needs to commit itself to making justice, and I will be ecstatically happy for that day. In the meantime, my hopes are in the Palestinian nonviolent organizers, embarked on the serious, holy endeavor of living, striving, yearning, working for justice and peace.

A Festival, a Closed Military Zone, and Lots of Dancing

2008-08-14T06:11:00.002-04:00

On Sunday, 9 August, the village of At-Tuwani organized a joint festival and press conference. The festival was to celebrate the end of Tuwani’s annual summer camp. The press conference was going to address the issues that the Israeli occupation creates for people in this area, not the least of which being the issue of the threat of violence Palestinian children face on their way to school and summer camp.

The festival was just beginning when the team received a call that the Israeli military had set up a checkpoint on the road to Tuwani, stopping anyone except Palestinians from At-Tuwani from entering the village. We discovered later that this was one of at least three checkpoints preventing people from entering the area. The military also declared the area a closed military zone until mid-afternoon (when the festival was scheduled to end.)

Needless to say, no media managed to come to the press conference.

Nevertheless, the Palestinian villagers continued with their festival. There was music, dancing, and a skit about life in Tuwani. People were clapping and laughing, and I have never seen such beautiful debka dancing, in spite of the military’s efforts to hinder the festival from going forward.

I am dumbfounded by the Israeli military and amazed and inspired by the Palestinians here in the South Hebron Hills. The event on Sunday was not a demonstration; yet the military was intent on preventing people from coming. The villagers here are committed to nonviolence, and they are courageous and steadfast – and the military knows it. There is nothing more dangerous to a violent regime than nonviolence and declaring the truth.

The villagers know this, and they were not going to allow the military to hinder their celebration or break their spirits – they went ahead with it anyway and had a mighty fun festival, living out the hope that someday their nonviolence will prevail.

And that, my friends, is far more powerful than any checkpoint or closed military zone.

At-Tuwani Urgent Action

2008-08-05T08:51:00.001-04:00

At-Tuwani: Urgent Action Update
3 August 2008

On Sunday 3 August 2008, human rights worker Kristin Anderson was released from Israeli police custody, but the Israeli police have taken no steps to prevent setter violence in the South Hebron Hills. CPT urges you to contact the Israeli police at Kiryat Arba and demand immediate action to prevent further setter attacks on Palestinian school children. Over the last two weeks settlers have attacked Palestinian children on their way to summer camp four times. Settlers continue to yell, chase, curse, and throw rocks at the children, while Israeli police refuse to apprehend perpetrators. In November 2004 the Israeli Knesset declared that the Israeli police are responsible for apprehending violent settlers.

Please call the police and demand justice:
Kiryat Arba Contact Numbers:
972-2996-9444
972-2996-9494
972-2996-9424
(Add your applicable country code first)

Summer Camp in At-Tuwani (Part Two: Nonviolent Resistance a Success!)

2008-08-05T08:33:00.000-04:00

So, the Palestinian villagers in the South Hebron Hills responded to the frequent Israeli settler attacks on the Palestinian children, and the Israeli military’s refusal to ensure the safety of these children.

They responded nonviolently. They organized a march.

They, the Palestinians, walked their children home from camp.

Here is an excerpt from the release we sent out about the march:

“On August 2nd, more than one hundred Palestinian children and their parents from the South Hebron Hills marched from the village of At-Tuwani to Tuba, calling for an end to settler violence and expansion in the area. In a major success for the area, the children and their parents took the most direct path to the village of Tuba. For the past eleven years, school children escorted by the Israeli military have been the only Palestinians able to use this road. Palestinians parents organized the march to call attention to the violence faced by schoolchildren, the failure of the Israeli army to protect them and the effects of Israeli settlement expansion. The march was a part of the annual South Hebron Hills summer camp for children.

The march initially attempted to take the path that children use when unaccompanied by the Israeli military, around the illegal Israeli settlement outpost Havot Ma’on. The Israeli military declared the whole area a closed military zone and restrained the march with force, targeting leaders. Soldiers attacked and tried to arrest a Palestinian man. When a CPTer intervened, they knocked them both down and started choking the CPTer, but marchers nonviolently intervened and stopped the attack. One Israeli and one international member of Operation Dove were arrested. Palestinian organizers negotiated with the Israeli military and it was decided that the Israeli military would accompany the children and parents on the short path, using the road between Ma’on settlement and Havot Ma’on. A large group of settlers left Ma’on and harassed the marchers. A smaller group of settlers followed directly behind the marchers, but Israeli military and police prevented them from attacking the group. One village elder accompanying the children walked this road for the first time in years. Surprised by the settlement expansion, she shared with a soldier about how she plowed this land years ago.

Participating in the march were children from the villages of Tuba and Maghaer Al-Abeed who have been regularly attacked by Israeli settlers as they walked to primary school in At-Tuwani.”

P.S. What did you do when you were in summer camp? Was participating in nonviolent resistance part of camp?

I love the Palestinians here. They are some of the most amazing people. Ever.

Summer Camp in At-Tuwani (Part One)

2008-08-05T07:50:00.002-04:00

For two weeks, the village of At-Tuwani has been conducting its annual summer camp. For two weeks, Palestinian children from the villages of Tuba and Maghaer Al Abeed have been harassed and attacked on their way to summer camp in At-Tuwani. The Israeli military, which has been charged with escorting the Palestinian children to and from school (and summer camp), has been refusing to do the escort, resulting in a number of attacks on the children in recent weeks.

Here is a chronology of the children’s journey to summer camp in the last weeks:

23 July – The military refused to escort the children. On their way to At-Tuwani, the children were chased by three settlers, one of whom was masked and carrying a stick.

26 July – At least four settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement outpost Havot Ma’on threatened the children on their way to summer camp. The children and my teammate and I had walked to the area where the Israeli military escort is meant to meet the children on their way to At-Tuwani. Israeli settlers walked towards the children, shouting and jeering. I called the military, explaining the dangerous situation. The military escort personnel told me the military was not coming. We then ran with the children all the way to Tuwani, fearing a settler attack.

27 July – Israeli settlers attacked the children and two of my teammates as they were walking in a valley south of Havat Ma'on. One masked settler came down the hill, hurling stones with a slingshot. The children and one teammate ran ahead, but saw other stone-throwing settlers approaching them from the opposite side of the valley. None of the stones struck the children, and they were able to run to safety.

When the masked settler saw my teammate Joel filming the attack, he began directing his stones at Joel. The settler hit him in the leg with a rock, inflicting an injury that made it impossible for Joel to run away. The settler then wrested the camera from him, and began beating him with a rock and the camera. After that, the settler ran off with the camera.

30 July – Five settlers hid themselves along the route of the children and waited for them as they were coming home from camp. When the children approached, the settlers began yelling, swearing, and throwing rocks at them. One settler jumped over the settlement fence and chased the children on a path leading to the village of Tuba. The Israeli soldiers assigned to protect the children abandoned the children approximately 500 meters earlier, thereby failing to complete the escort of the children as ordered by the Israeli Knesset.

The father of five of the children from Tuba told us, "The settlers must leave. If the settlers are here, there is no safety, only fear."

In 2004, the Israeli Knesset recommended that the Israeli military carry out a daily escort of the children of Tuba and Maghaer Al-Abeed to their school in At-Tuwani because settlers repeatedly attacked them. In 2006, Israeli Minister of Defense stated Havot Ma’on outpost should be dismantled because of the settlers’ violence towards school children. During the 2007-2008 school year, settlers used violence against these children on at least for fourteen occasions.

That has been the last two weeks in a “nutshell.” More or less. But, as always, the Palestinians here in the South Hebron Hills are not helpless victims. They responded to these settler attacks. Nonviolently.

To be continued.

(For more images of the children's journey to and from At-Tuwani, visit http://cpt.org/gallery/album252)

Summer Days in the South Hebron Hills

2008-07-19T10:15:00.000-04:00

What are summer days like here in the South Hebron Hills? It depends.

On a good day, we sit with Palestinian shepherds as they nonviolently resist Israeli settlers, who have tried to violently seize land. The Palestinians graze sheep on lands where Israeli settlers have attacked, stoned, shot at, and threatened Palestinian shepherds. We sit, listen to the shepherds tell us stories of life on the land before the Israeli occupation. We laugh together, and the shepherds teach us how to flick tiny pebbles between our two index fingers.

On a bad day, the Israeli military builds a roadblock on the main road to Yatta, the nearest city in the area – a crucial road for medical services, education, and water aid in a year of severe drought.

On a good day, the Palestinian villagers work together to remove the roadblock.

On a bad day, Israeli settlers, sometimes masked, come to land where Palestinian shepherds are grazing, and they throw stones, or attack and hospitalize, the shepherds.

On a good day, we join Palestinian children as they graze their sheep – and then the children climb up fig trees and throw to us their delicious fruit. We join their family for a fabulous lunch of bread, eggs, and olive oil, followed by juicy slices of watermelon. And we laugh and joke and have lessons in Arabic, English, and Italian.

On a bad day, the Israeli military issues demolition orders on five homes in the area, and the village cistern in At-Tuwani.

On a good day, we sit and talk late into the night with our Palestinian friends, laughing with the funniest women in At-Tuwani, and listening to ways in which the village is organizing its nonviolent resistance.

These days blur together – they are often sweet and bitter simultaneously. Yet, on good days – I renew my belief that children and stories, love and watermelon, courage and nonviolence, will eventually triumph over military and propaganda, hate and weapons, cowardice and violence. On good days, I am amazed and inspired by the strength and devotion to nonviolent resistance of the Palestinian villagers here in the South Hebron Hills. And, on good days, I know that, no matter what happens, the Palestinian people are more powerful than the Israeli occupation.

And these good days are every day.

"Occupation Humor"

2008-07-17T08:47:00.000-04:00

Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote an update. Recently, it has been difficult for me to decide what to write . More and more often, it feels like simply a matter of asking myself, “What sad story do I tell about the violence, racism, and injustice that my Palestinian friends experience at the hands of the Israeli occupation?”

There are many, many stories.

Palestinian friends chased by Israeli settlers throwing stones. Israeli military creating roadblocks to our village, making it impossible for vital water aid to reach At-Tuwani in a year of severe drought. Watching the effects of the Israeli occupation on the Palestinian children in the village, whom I love so dearly and bring me so much joy.

Yet I feel telling these stories do not quite capture the heart and spirit of my Palestinian friends, who are so strong, joyful, and committed to nonviolent resistance. Last week I went to a party. Afterwards, I thought, “This is what I want to write home about.”

Some of my favorite Palestinian women from the village gathered at a Palestinian friend’s house to dance. These women are warm, strong, hilarious, and overall just some of the most beautiful people that I know. We had a fabulous time at the party. I tried to feel insecure with my dance (in)ability, but I couldn’t help but relax as women started making up silly “At-Tuwani” dances. And then, in turn, they wanted to see “American” dancing. So my teammates and I did disco.

When everyone was hot and exhausted from dancing, we gathered around, drinking cups of coffee and telling stories. These women are some of the funniest women I’ve met, and that evening they were in rare form. They did impersonations of people from the village. They talked about children in the family (who are also very clever and entertaining.)

And they talked about the Israeli occupation.

One has to have some kind of experience living in Palestine to fully appreciate what I have come to call “occupation humor,” so I won’t bother retelling the jokes. But it is satirical, in the highest degree. And it is very, very funny. We laughed late into the night as these women cracked jokes at the Israeli occupation, Israeli soldiers, and crazy Israeli settler “security” guards. That evening (as they so often do), they laughed in the face a system of violence and oppression that attempts to crush their people.

This is the point: The Palestinians here in At-Tuwani are committed to nonviolent resistance. They resist with their lives, their land, and their sheep. And nobody – not even the Israeli occupation – will take away these folks’ love, laughter, and spirit. It is moments like these that give me hope, and something to write home about.

Israeli military issues demolition orders and again blocks main access road in South Hebron Hills

2008-07-06T08:10:00.001-04:00

Israeli military issues demolition orders and again blocks main access road in South Hebron Hills:

On 26 June, 2008, the Israeli military issued a demolition order on the partly constructed water cistern in the village of At-Tuwani. The cistern is being built with financial support from a Spanish NGO. If completed the cistern will provide a vital additional water source in the arid
region of the South Hebron Hills.

Also on 26 June, the Israeli military issued a demolition order on a home in At-Tuwani and on four homes in the nearby village of Umm Faggarah.

The following day, 27 June, 2008, at 9 am, the Israeli military returned to the area and blocked the road between At-Tuwani and Yatta. A bulldozer massed a four-foot-high mound spanning the width of the road using boulders and earth. The roadblock not only prevents vehicular access, but also makes movement by foot and donkey extremely difficult. The same
bulldozer also closed several tracks used by tractors and trucks to access nearby small dwellings.

Besides being the main economic hub for the region Yatta is also the principal provider of critical services such as hospitals, secondary schools, public administration offices.

Several communities in the South Hebron Hills are again cut off from basic supplies such as water and animal feed, as this road is the main artery for the supply of water to the South Hebron Hills, which is currently experiencing a severe drought. According to Palestinian residents of the area, roadblocks have doubled the commercial price of water. A UN worker
reported that roadblocks on this road will increase by 30 percent the cost of transporting essential water aid to the area.

The new roadblock is the latest in a series of roadblocks erected by the Israeli army. The most recent, on the same site of today's roadblock, was removed by the army on 12 June. Previous roadblocks were removed by the local population through nonviolent direct actions.

See http://cpt.org/gallery/27-June-2008 for images.

To a Palestinian Child--Instructions for Living in the South Hebron Hills

2008-07-06T07:54:00.000-04:00

By CPTer Laura Ciaghi

Do not go into nearby orchards to steal cherries. Twenty-five heavily armed adults from the neighboring Israeli settlement may attack your village, screaming, pushing and threatening your parents while soldiers and police stand and watch.

Make sure to have unarmed internationals with you on your way to school. When adult settlers attack you, the internationals might end up as battered as you, but their injuries will give you your only chance to have the media tell your story.

Do not get sick (or try to be born) at inappropriate times such as nights, Jewish holidays, U.S. presidential visits-or when the local military commander has planned a checkpoint between your house and the hospital for no particular reason. You will make the soldiers feel uncomfortable when, following mandatory security policies, they refuse to let you pass by foot or in your parent's arms, because they suspect you may have swallowed a bomb. If you cough, vomit or look sad, you might confirm their suspicions.

Learn by heart some good invocations to chase away bad dreams. When soldiers come to your house in the middle of the night, aim their rifles at your elder brothers whom they have pushed against the wall, and then detonate sounds grenades as a way of saying "goodbye," you will fall asleep again afterwards and wake to be a cute, joyful, polite child the following morning.

Israeli Settlers Attack and Hospitalize Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills

2008-06-21T05:50:00.000-04:00

. . . And, incredibly, it made BBC news. Check it out:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7458926.stm

These attacks occurred in the Palestinian village of Susiya (though the village name is not mentioned in the article), not too far from us in At-Tuwani.

Two editorial comments:

1.) It is interesting to observe the language that is used to describe these attacks: "an apparent assault", and "[police] were inquiring into the whether there had been any 'provocation' for the apparent attack and whether all the Palestinians in the footage where indeed shepherds." I wonder how this article would have been written, if it was about Israelis attacked by Palestinians? Would it have been an "apparent assault", and would police be asking whether the Israelis provoked the attack?

Somehow I doubt it.

Which leads to my second comment:

2.) The article states: "Human rights groups say the Israeli police and the judiciary often show leniency towards the settlers, who live on land captured by Israel in the 1967 war with support from the Israeli state. The authorities deny such accusations."

My experience affirms the former statement, regarding leniency towards Israeli settlers.

Here end my editorial comments. Do research, come to Palestine and see the situation for yourself, and come to your own opinion.

"Joy! How are you?"

2008-06-10T02:00:00.000-04:00

We received a call a few days ago from a Palestinian friend who lives in a nearby village. He was passing through At-Tuwani on his way home with his family (his wife, adolescent daughter, and two very young children, who were riding with him on his donkey.) For them, the journey home is dangerous, because they must pass in view of the Israeli settlement of Ma’on and the illegal Israeli settlement outpost* of Havat Ma’on. Israeli settlers might attack, harass, throw stones, or shoot at Palestinians passing this way. (Incidentally, the man who called us on this particular day was Shanti. A few months ago, settlers shot at him and his flocks in a valley not too far from where he and his family was going to walk. I wrote about his experience in my previous post, “Shanti’s Shot Sheep”.)

So Shanti called to ask us to accompany his family and himself on their way home. Away we all went, joking, laughing, and having little races along the way. We walked approximately a third of the way without incident. Then Shanti asked us to stand on a hill nearby and watch as they continued home; if we saw settlers coming their way, we were to call them to let them know.

Not long after they left us, we saw a car traveling from the illegal Israeli settlement outpost of Havat Ma’on in the direction of Shanti and his family.

I was standing next to my teammate, Joy, who called Shanti to tell him settlers were on their way. I could hear most of their conversation, which went something like this:

Joy: There are settlers.
Shanti: Where?
Joy: On the road. Going to where you are.
Shanti: Ok. (In the background, people saying, “Quickly, quickly!” and “Run!”) By the way, who is this?
Joy: This is Joy.
Shanti: Joy! How are you?

As he and his family were running (for their safety, possibly for their lives), Shanti was genuinely interested in Joy’s well being.

Shanti and his family arrived home safely, thank God. When Joy called him to see if they made it home, his wife insisted on speaking with Joy. She, too, very sincerely inquired after Joy’s welfare (never mind having just run home with her children and husband, fearing for their safety.)

These sorts of things – the constant threat of people following, harassing, or attacking other people – shouldn’t happen to anyone. But to know this happens regularly to such lovely people, so deeply committed to nonviolence and concerned for the people around them (even as they themselves are running for safety) somehow makes this unjust situation worse. To know that in the States, people believe the lie that Palestinians equals terrorists, when nothing is farther from the truth – it seems an unthinkable, racist crime.

“Joy, how are you?” Such a genuine, other-centered question in the midst of so much violence. It is a question I’ll never forget.

*According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Settlement outposts are illegal according to Israeli law.

Christian Peacemaker Teams announces publication of "118 Days," book detailing Iraq hostage crisis

2008-06-10T00:27:00.000-04:00

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) has announced the 5 June 2008 release of 118 Days: Christian Peacemaker Teams held hostage in Iraq, a book about the hostage crisis endured by the organization and its team members in Iraq, beginning in November 2005. Editor Tricia Gates Brown has compiled chapters written by members of CPT and CPT sympathizers actively involved with securing the release of Harmeet Singh Sooden, Jim Loney, Tom Fox, and Norman Kember, as well as by family, friends, and others whom the crisis profoundly affected.

"These honest and sobering reflections help all of us committed to the work of peace better understand the world in which we live. I hope this book will be widely read," writes theologian Stanley Hauerwas.

The book contains first-hand accounts of what led the four men to Baghdad, where their paths crossed with armed militants who did not understand their mission. It also provides insight into the daily lives of CPT delegations and teams, who risk all on their path to peace. The chapters weave a story of hope, friendship, fear, courage, and forgiveness, describing the daily sacrifices of the four hostages. In particular, readers will understand better the rich, textured life of Tom Fox, a CPTer who found a new calling late in life, leaving behind his careers in music and organic grocery retail to die in the streets of Baghdad. His bullet-ridden body was found two weeks before his colleagues were freed from captivity.

"God created us to form the human family. The Christian Peacemakers went to Iraq to help build that family. They went to work with their sisters and brothers for justice and peace. They are an example for Christians everywhere in their commitment to the Lord's ministry of reconciliation," Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote after reading 118 Days.

Visit http://www.cpt.org/118days to learn more, purchase a copy, and help spread the news!

Israeli military again blocks main access road in South Hebron Hills

2008-06-10T00:20:00.000-04:00

At 11:00 a.m. on 5 June 2008, the Israeli military again blocked the road between At-Tuwani and Yatta. A bulldozer massed a six-foot-high mound spanning the width of the road, using concrete slabs, boulders, and earth. Several villages in the South Hebron Hills are again cut off from secondary schools, hospitals, and basic supplies such as water, firewood, and animal feed, because this road provides the primary vehicle access to Yatta, the region’s economic hub.

The new roadblock expands a pile placed by the Israeli army on 28 May. It is the largest in a series of obstructions erected over the past three months. Unlike previous roadblocks, the new blockage not only prevents vehicle access, but also traffic by foot and donkey. (Recently, closures and rising fuel prices have forced increasing numbers of Palestinians to use donkeys for travel throughout the Palestinian Territories.)

The road between At-Tuwani and Yatta is the main artery for the supply of water to the South Hebron Hills, currently experiencing a severe drought. According to Palestinian residents of the area, roadblocks have doubled the commercial price of water. A U.N. worker reported that this roadblock will increase by thirty percent the cost of transporting essential water aid to the area.

For photos go to http://cpt.org/gallery/Israeli-military-erect-roadblock-on-5th-June%2C-2008

Update

2008-06-10T00:08:00.000-04:00

So a lot has happened during two months of my personal blogging black hole. (Oops.) One of the big changes being that I am now at Christian Peacemaker Team's (CPT) project in At-Tuwani, a tiny Palestinian village of approximately 100-150 people. Some of my previous posts ("A Little Girl's Story" and "Shanti's Shot Sheep") have been a little about the absolutely amazing, fantastic Palestinians living there.

Anyway, more about At-Tuwani in the posts to come -- I live in the most fantastic village ever!

A Little Girl’s Story

2008-04-09T23:52:00.001-04:00

by CPTer Maureen Jack

6 April 2008

.
There is a little Palestinian girl called Maha* who lives next door to us. She is six and bright as a button. We like her a lot, which is just as well as she loves to spend time with us. She likes doing things like helping us to clean the floor or rinse our hair when we wash it. Also, she helps us with our Arabic. She is an exacting teacher and our efforts to pronounce words correctly often meet with a firm ‘No.’ But she is patient, and when she speaks to us her Arabic is slow and clear. She has taken us to visit her mother and be served tea with bread and freshly-made butter. Sometimes we spend less time with her than she would wish, because we have to accompany shepherds with their sheep and goats. So three days ago she asked two of us to go with her and her mother with their flock of sheep. On our way out of the village we bumped into her mother who told us that the sheep were safely tucked up at their house and were staying there for the rest of the day. We await Maha’s next strategy with interest!

So, Maha is a sturdy, resourceful little girl. But a few days ago she was terrified. My teammate Jessica and I saw her set off with her younger sister and an adult relative. They were going to Yatta (a nearby city) for the day and Maha was very excited. They headed off to cross the Israeli road to walk on the Palestinian track to Yatta. Suddenly Maha was running back towards us in tears, crying, ‘Miriam, Miriam!’ (This is what some of the younger children call me.) A car was sitting beside the turn-off to Yatta and an Israeli man was outside speaking on his phone. Maha’s words tumbled out among her tears and all we could make out was ‘Settlers!’ She gripped my hand tightly as we walked with them across the road and saw them off on their way to Yatta.

Now, I don’t know whether the men in the car were settlers or simply Israelis driving from Jerusalem to Beersheva.. Maybe Maha’s fears were not justified. But they were understandable. In the last few days adult Israeli settlers have thrown stones at her schoolmates as they played in their own garden area; they have assaulted the father and grandfather of one of her classmates; and a settler and his three sons have chased after and yelled at her schoolmates as Israeli soldiers escorted them home from school.

Maha is a great kid. I’m sad and angry that she was scared yesterday. If you knew her you would be too.

* not her real name

Shanti's Shot Sheep

2008-04-07T06:17:00.000-04:00

One of the shepherds here in the South Hebron Hills reminds me of a prophet from biblical times. I’ll call him Shanti, and he is a Palestinian shepherd from a village near At-Tuwani. His beard is dark and bushy, his hair wild.

And, like the prophets, he is fearless in nonviolent witness of truth to the Powers that Be.

On Wednesday, 26 March, Shanti was grazing his sheep in the Mashaha Valley. Settlers in the illegal Israeli settlement outpost of Havat Ma’on frequently harass Palestinian shepherds as they graze their sheep in this area. On this particular day, while his flock grazed, Israeli settlers shot two of his sheep and a billy goat.

For over six hours, Shanti told and re-told his story, with relentless passion and animation. To Israeli police; to Israeli military; to the Israeli police (again); to armed Israeli settler security agents (who were suspiciously vague about their identities and their interest with Shanti’s shot sheep.)

A few times, standing near an unsuspecting Israeli soldier, he would launch into his story (whether the soldier wanted to hear it or not!) As Shanti recounted the violence done to his flock, soldiers shifted uncomfortably or became very interested in the rocky ground beneath them. Shanti’s story rendered soldiers defenseless. Their guns and army gear could not protect them from the truth of his account.His persistence in telling the story of the violence done to his flock was powerfully reminiscent of the of the fearless and truthful witness of the biblical prophets’ speaking Truth to Power.

The next day, in response to the shooting, Palestinians from around the South Hebron Hills came together to graze in the valley where settlers had shot Shanti’s sheep. Shepherds, sheep, and goats dotted the valley and the hills in the Meshaha valley.

Despite the trauma of the day before Shanti joined them. Of all the shepherds in the valley, Shanti was the shepherd grazing his sheep nearest to the illegal Havat Ma’on settlement outpost, nearest to the risk of danger and attack from settlers. Like the prophets of old, on that day (and in the days that have followed), Shanti put himself in a place of danger in an act of nonviolent resistance.

The Palestinians here in At-Tuwani and the surrounding villages are my mentors on my journey of nonviolent response to structures and situations of oppression and injustice. Shanti’s fierce courage and persistence in response to violence around him nurtures me. To me, he is like a modern-day prophet, stepping out of the pages of the biblical witness.

For photos, visit CPT At-Tuwani's photo album.

"Way of the Cross, in Occupied Palestine" Continued

2008-03-24T04:21:00.001-04:00

Happy Easter Monday! In a stroke of liturgical backwardness, I wanted to link readers to the rest of CPT Palestine's "Way of the Cross, in Occupied Palestine". Posted there are each of the fourteen Stations of the Cross, with reflections on those stations from life in Palestine.

Apologies that I'm posting this link *after* Lent. Life here has been very busy for the past couple of months.

"He was attacked, so they arrested him."

2008-02-19T12:43:00.001-05:00

In a rational world, this statement is mind-boggling at best. During this past month, I feel as though I have heard this story far too often: "He was attacked, so they arrested him." After living in Palestine for a while, this sentence is far too conceivable. For example:

A few teammates and I recently went to visit a Palestinian deeply committed to nonviolence, on whose lands we regularly have nonviolent actions -- harvesting olives, tilling the fields, etc. He has the misfortune of living between two Israeli settlements, and this is vulnerable to settler harassment and attack. So every week (weather permitting), Palestinians, internationals, and (sometimes) Israeli activists gather to work the fields. Sometimes Israeli military and police come. Sometimes Israeli settlers stop to watch or verbally harass the workers.

Only during our recent visit, did we hear part of this man's story. He told us about his upcoming trial. In July, he was shepherding his land when Israeli settlers attacked him and members of his family, and the settlers fired some shots. When he attempted to defend himself, Israeli military arrested him and two of his sons. However, the Israeli authorities did not inform him of his arrest. They told him, “Come to [the police station] to make a complaint.” When he went to the station to file a complaint, they arrested him, and he and one of his sons spent 14 days in jail. They had to pay a fine of 2,000 shekels. His other son spent one month in jail and had to pay at 3,050 shekel fine. His trial is in military court. Settlers accuse him of throwing stones at settler guards. An Israeli activist present at the time of the attack can witness to the fact that settlers attacked this man. Regardless, the settlers are asking for a three year sentence, and the court has not yet ruled on his case.

And then we heard another story, on the same night:

In January, Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian family living in the valley below the Kiryat Arba settlement, and the family recorded the attack on video. The Israeli military did little to prevent settlers from throwing stones (the one instance in which they intervened, a soldier got between a settler boy and the Palestinian home and said simply, “Go back”) but physically restrained Palestinians from throwing stones. The settlers surrounded the house on three sides. Twelve family members were injured and four taken to the hospital. Two family members were hurt seriously and required stitches (one person needed four and the other five stitches.) Two of the four seriously injured were arrested first and the military denied them medical treatment. The Israeli police held one of the Palestinian men for four hours and then released him. Only then did he receive necessary medical treatment.

"He was attacked, so they arrested him." Is this justice?

The weekend, in brief

2008-02-10T02:13:00.000-05:00

Israeli settlers have been regularly attacking Palestinians in the Wadi Al Nassara ("wadi" means "valley"; it is a valley in Hebron). While having dinner in a Palestinian home yesterday, the woman was telling us that settlers have been preventing Palestinians from walking on the road, telling them that they will only let the Palestinians pass if they pay a thousand shekels. After that the settlers beat the Palestinians. In addition, settlers have been throwing stones at the Palestinians living in the wadi.

There have been regular (practically daily) Israeli military incursions into Beit Ummar, a village not far from Hebron (it is on the way from Hebron to Bethlehem). Last night, Israeli authorities shut off power to half the village, and then invaded. They shot two Palestinian men, and then arrested them, denying them medical treatment.

Finally, the Israeli government issued home demolition orders on nine Palestinian homes and a health clinic that is being built that would serve about 600 women and children. These homes and clinic are in the Beqa'a valley, between two Israeli settlements outside of Hebron (one can see the two settlements expanding. It is the theory that they will one day join and become one. The Beqa'a valley is right between the two settlements, so it would seem the Israeli authorities want to take over the Beqa'a -- hence all the demolition orders.) I slept last night a cell phone by my bed, ready to dash out the door if one of our friends called to tell us that the demolition crews had arrived (the demolition crews generally arrive at dawn, before the Palestinian community can get mobilized.) My first thought this morning was, "Did the demolition crews come?" I can hardly imagine what I would be thinking and feeling if it was my home at risk of being demolished.

"Way of the Cross, in Occupied Palestine"

2008-02-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

In honor of the Christian season of Lent, which began on Ash Wednesday (6 February), Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in Palestine has decided to introduce the "Way of the Cross, in Occupied Palestine" campaign, to encourage international churches, communities, families, and individuals to reflect and raise awareness of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. As part of this, we are publishing a number of reflections that follow the Stations of the Cross. Recently, my teammate Jean Fallon wrote the following reflection, for the first station of the cross:

Lenten Stations of the Cross: The First Station

By Jean Fallon

The First Station – Jesus stands condemned by Pilot by the word of his enemies

As we recall Jesus standing before Pilot, who represents the Occupying Roman Forces, and the full weight of the Roman Empire, let us meditate on a scene happening now in Hebron.

Six Palestinian youths, around 15 or 16, the oldest 18 and 19, stand before the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) … accused by a settler woman of breaking and entering her home. Not knowing what would happen to them, they stand with their arms raised, hands on metal doors, legs apart and some of them still in the thin clothing they were wearing at home when the IOF came to arrest them,. For close to four hours of standing in the cold, they endure a heckling crowd of settlers, being blindfolded, handcuffed and finally taken away to the police station where police continued to question and finally released them after midnight. At a checkpoint on their way home, a soldier tore up one of their IDs.

Six teenagers… whose actual ‘crime’ was discovered to be; breaking through a fence into an open square near the settlers’ housing area to look for scrap metal. Even though their Palestinian families gave witness on their behalf they were condemned by the word of a settler, with two now facing a hearing and the rest with their names on the Israeli police list of potential ‘terrorists’.

"This is a New Gift"

2007-12-13T13:51:00.000-05:00

Hi, friends. I have written about three or four blog posts in my head in the last week. I need to remember that people who read blogs are not telepathic – they don’t know about posts I write in my head. Either I have to write more, or folks need to learn telepathy. After giving it much thought, it seems the former is perhaps the more practical option. :o) So, here we go:

Last Saturday -- December 8 -- some teammates and I spent an afternoon in Bethlehem. It was supposed to be some time to relax and get away from the ways in which the military occupation of Hebron manifests itself. In Hebron (or Al-Khalil, in Arabic,) the sights of any given day are checkpoints, metal detectors, turnstiles, and Israeli soldiers (who sometimes patrol through the Old City.) And, of course, there are the settlement enclaves, some of which are planted directly on top of Hebron's Old City.

In Bethlehem, the occupation is different. Instead of soldiers and checkpoints, the occupation of the Palestinian territories manifests itself in the wall surrounding the city on three sides and in the settlements perched on the Bethlehem hillside.

So, between a stick in the eye and a stranglehold, a stranglehold is a nice change of pace.

We arrived in Bethlehem and looked around some souvenir shops. One of the store owners was giving us an update on Bethlehem’s situation. Right now, it is a 10 km journey to ship goods (such as olive wood carvings, found in many tourist stores) from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. Here is an oversimplified map of the journey:

(On this map, the line from Bethlehem to Jerusalem is straight. In reality, Palestinians often need to travel on long circuitous routes – there are roads on which Palestinians, if they are able to on them at all, need a special permit on which to travel.)

But, the storeowner told us, this is changing. Israeli authorities are soon going to require goods from Bethlehem to go through the checkpoint at Tarqumiya – southwest of Bethlehem – now making the journey 60 km. Here is the new (again, oversimplified) route that goods will have to take to get to Jerusalem:

Of course, this increases the price of shipping for shops, an added financial burden Palestinians who already bear too much as a result of the occupation. After explaining these new travel restrictions, my teammate commented, "So much for Annapolis [peace summit]." The store owner chuckled and replied, with typical dry Palestinian humor, “This is a new gift.”

This is life here. I wanted to scream (or cry.)

A teammate once told me that Palestinians, after hearing him talk about CPT’s work, would often ask, “Wein salaam?” – “Where is peace?”

That’s what I’m wondering, too.

-----------

(The above maps are edited from those produced by UN OCHA – United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. For a the full map, click here.)

Waiting for rain

2007-12-04T18:00:00.000-05:00

Being raised in a part of New York where we get approximately 100 clear, bright, sunny days, I grew up hearing (and saying), "I hope it doesn't rain." Rain meant the cancellation of fun, outdoor events. Rain meant gloomy weather (though, I always found the dark, brooding clouds beautiful in a mysterious, 19th-century novel sort of way.) Rain was undesirable.

Now, living in a dry, dry region, we hope and pray for rain. "Enshallah (‘God willing’), it will rain tomorrow,” we say. Here, rain means new life. Rain means full cisterns. Rain now means the provision of a resource necessary for life. We need the rain now, during the wet season, to sustain us through the months of dry weather that follows.

"I hope it rains." I mean the sentence with all my heart, but it still rings funny in my ears.

I have another reason for wanting rain. Deep in my fanciful, childish heart, I wonder if the rain has cleansing capacities for this land. Water cleanses people; can it cleanse lands, too? Maybe if it rained enough, it could wash away the grief, displacement, and oppression permeating this land. Could torrents of rain sweep away racism? Could a downpour erase enmity? Could a deluge cleanse the land, making it new, readying it for peace?

Will you join me in praying for rain?

On respectablility and white-washed tombs

2007-12-02T16:10:00.000-05:00

One more post on our settler neighbors. There are pictures on their website from their "Hebron Fund" fund raising dinner in NYC recently. I perused the photographs last night. What struck me was how lovely and respectable everything appeared. Everyone looks lovely in their fine attire. The hall in which the dinner looked big and elegantly decorated. There are photos of people giving speeches and the presentation of an ornate glass plaque (speeches and plaques -- the event must be respectable, right?). There are even pictures of people dancing, which looked like a whole lot of fun. I'm sure the folks in attendance had no question that they were contributing to a good and noble cause, because the dinner had all the trappings of respectable, noble events.

Yet this lovely event stands in stark contrast to the reality of the settlements here in Hebron. The economy in the Old City of Hebron (okay, throughout the whole of the occupied Palestinian territories)is very poor. People are afraid to come to the Old City, because of the presence of soldiers that came to "protect" the settlers living literally on top of the Old City. So instead of fine banquets, here most Palestinians get food from the local soup kitchen. Instead of dancing, Palestinians mourn when the Israeli military beat and arrest Palestinian youth for "security." Instead of the privilege of being able to get on a plane and fly from Tel Aviv to NYC, most Palestinians are rarely even allowed permission to travel to Jerusalem, only approximately 20 miles away.

Would people still give money to this cause if they knew the ramifications of these settlements? If they knew what harm comes from them? I honestly don't believe so. But from a distance, it probably all looks so respectable.

I think Jesus had something to say about this. It was something about whitewashed tombs, and how the outside looks beautiful, but inside there is nothing but death(Matthew 23:27).

And, lest I become too proud, I know I am not immune to this failing. Jesus' words are for me, too. As I was looking at these pictures, I wondered how often I was complicit with the workings of the "powers that be," because the powers decked themselves in respectable attire. When have I been blinded to injustice, because of the power I have inherent in my race, class, and (worldly) citizenship? When have I foolishly been taken by the beauty of a whitewashed tomb, ignoring the death within?

More from our settler neighbors

2007-12-02T14:41:00.000-05:00

A few posts ago, I quoted one of the articles distributed on the Hebron Israeli settler's mailing list. One of the newest articles is also blog-worthy, I think. The author of the piece wrote about Annapolis. To put this quote in context, he is talking about what would make the Annapolis agreement fall apart (which would be a good thing, in his opinion.) He decides Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, is the necessary piece to this puzzle. He writes:

"But if [Abbas] should disappear from the scene, the deal's off. So, maybe we should pray that Hamas get to him ASAP. They know how to do the job and he's more than likely in their sights. Why should the Jews of Hebron have to be the first sacrifice of Annapolitics?"

Again, I'm speechless.

Blogging: A Team Effort!

2007-11-16T11:01:00.000-05:00

One of my teammates, who works at CPT's project in At-Tuwani (a small agricultural village located in the South Hebron Hills), also has a blog. She's pretty fantastic, and a good writer. Read all about the situation in Tuwani in I Saw it in Palestine.

One of my favorite posts is "A day in the life of a CPTer living in At-Tuwani." I like her pictures, and the little cartoon bubbles adding the CPTers' conversations. I laughed when I saw them, because they are funny, in a dry, tongue-in-cheek sort of way.

Enjoy!

"We talk about compromise and they speak of justice"

2007-11-14T18:00:00.000-05:00

The subject of this blog entry comes from an article in Haaretz, about the Negotiations Support Unit (NSU), a Palestinian organization that has been working on negotiations for the past 10 years. It was a senior Israeli official that stated, "We talk about compromise and they speak of justice." The article goes on to state that the organization is very focused on Palestinian rights. This is a concern to Israeli authorities, that it might "increasingly [become] an obstacle with regard to progress after the Annapolis conference."

Asking for justice and recognized rights hinder peace talks?

In addition, the article states that the NSU does not deal in reality, because it ignores the Hamas takeover in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority's (PA) lack of power in the occupied Palestinian territories. The latter statement is of particular interest to me. It doesn't make much sense until one has lived in the occupied Palestinian territories for a while. Technically, there are sections of the occupied Palestinian territories that are under "full Palestinian control." But Palestinian government and authority are only as powerful as Israel allows. These territories are non-continuous clumps of land in the occupied territories. (This map gives an idea of what I'm talking about. "Area A" is under full Palestinian control. "Area B" is under joint Israeli/Palestinian control, and "Area C" is under full Israeli control. Settlements are sometimes also called "colonies" -- areas in which Israelis live in the occupied Palestinian territories.)

Needless to say, I would imagine such a political landscape would make governing difficult.

In other news, soldiers denied Ahmad Qurai',a head of the Palestinian negotiating team for the Annapolis conference, entry into Jerusalem on Sunday. He was on his way to a scheduled meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams. The soldiers that turned him away did not give him a reason for his denied entry. Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni is said to have called Qurai' and apologized.

What strikes me about this incident is the power imbalance it reveals. Something must be wrong when one of the negotiators cannot get to the table because of the systems and structures set in place by those with whom they are trying to negotiate. How can negotiations occur with such an uneven playing field?

We're all in this together: CPT Colombia calls for Urgent Action to ask Colombian government to investigate threats against CPT partners

2007-11-10T18:48:00.000-05:00

Most of the time, when I blog, it is about Palestine. However, recently a good friend and an amazing woman with whom I did CPT training sent out the following e-mail. She works with in Colombia with CPT's project there. Peacemaking is connected across the globe, so I thought it appropriate to post her e-mail and urgent action (with her permission, of course.) Her e-mail is below.

----------
Dear Friends,
Sunday was a really rough day. I was thinking of how to share it with you all, when a coworker posted these photos. Please check them
out. While I have heard many difficult stories here, and seen the results of violence and fear, Sunday was the first time I felt so
intimately connected with the reality of violence here in Colombia. I spent the whole day with this woman, and her coworkers.
http://www.cpt.org/gallery/album225
We (CPT Colombia) have an urgent action release ready, asking you to call and contact local officials to make sure that this woman who was threated Sunday will be taken care of, and the incident truly investigated. Colombia is different than the US, in that often when i
call elected officials in the US i feel like nothing will be done. In the case of Yolanda, the paramilitaries who are strongly believed to
be the men that broke into Yolanda's house, pushing her, holding a gun to her head and telling her "the story is over," are directly tied to
the government. Showing the government and elected officials that she would be missed and there would be international recognition is
essential to her safety. The organization she works for has done incredible work for 35 years, Organizacion Feminina Popular (The
Popular Women's Organization- check it out www.ofp.org.co). Please call, send an email or fax. All the information is included below in
the release CPT has sent. Feel free to email with any questions.

Thanks for your support! Sitting in the meeting of human rights workers in the city Sunday night after the threat and break-in I was
amazed how many times it was repeated that international presence and solidarity has been essential to protecting them and there work in a region where human rights workers are targets of violence.

THANK YOU!
Peace,
Rachel

CPTnet
7 November 2007
COLOMBIA URGENT ACTION: Ask Colombian government to investigate threats
against CPT partners in Barrancabermeja

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) asks for your help in demanding a full investigation into the threats made against Yolanda Becerra Vega and Jackeline Rojas, members of the leadership team of the Popular Women's Organization (OFP Organización Femenina Popular). The Popular Women's Organization is one of CPT's most important partners in Barrancabermeja.

On 4 November 2007, at approximately 7:30 a.m., two armed, masked men entered Yolanda Becerra Vega's apartment in the city of Barrancabermeja. Several minutes earlier, two women from the OFP had left Yolanda's home, so when the armed men knocked on the door she thought that the women had returned and opened the door. The men pushed open the door, pinning Yolanda against a wall. One of the men pointed his gun at her, called her an obscene name, and told her "Time is up. You have 48 hours to leave or else we will
finish off your family and you will not escape us."

During the next fifteen minutes, the two men ransacked Becerra's residence, destroying many items. As they left, they were going to take her computer but in the end left it in the entrance of the house. The guards at the front gate of the residential complex declared that they had not seen the two armed men enter the area. [see pictures: < http://www.cpt.org/gallery/album225>]

That same morning, Jackeline Rojas Castañeda found that someone had jammed a foreign object in the lock of her third-floor apartment, preventing those inside from opening the door, and that the security gate on the second floor had been opened by unauthorized persons.

Before these incidents, OFP had sent a document to the national government--with a copy to the different government authorities and to the international community--detailing incidents that put Yolanda Becerra others of the OFP at risk. The OFP demanded immediate action from the Colombian government. These new events illustrate the gravity of the danger that Yolanda Becerra, her family, and the entire team of the OFP are facing.

Please write (Sample letter bellow) or call the different offices listed below, demanding:

1. Protection for Yolanda Becerra Vega, the members of her family and all the members of the Organización Femenina Popular including Jackeline Rojas.

2. An investigation into the above mentioned events leading to the prosecution of those involved. (One of these events includes the kidnapping of Katherine Gonzalez Torres, sister of an OFP member. See 15 March 2007 CPTnet release, "COLOMBIA URGENT ACTION: Call for full investigation into kidnapping of Katherine Gonzalez Torres.")

Addresses: Álvaro Uribe Velez, President of the Republic, Cra. 8 # 7-26,
Palacio de Narino, Santa Fe de Bogotá, Fax: 011-57-1-566-2071, E-mail:
auribe@presidencia.gov.co

* Sr. Francisco Santos, Vice President of the Republic, Tels:
011-57-1-334-4507, 011-57-1- 772-0130, E-mail: fsantos@presidencia.gov.co;
buzon1@presidencia.gov.co

* Human Rights Program of the Vice Presidency:
ppdh@presidencia.gov.co

* Dr. Volmar Antonio Perez Ortiz, Office of the National Human
Rights Ombudsman, Calle 55 # 10-32, Bogotá, Fax: 011-57.1.640.04.91,
E-mail: secretaria_privada@hotmail.com; agenda@agenda.gov.co

* Doctor Mario Hernán Iguaran Arana, Attorney General,
Diagonal
22-B # 52-01, Bogotá, Fax: 011-57-1-570-2000; 011-57-1-414-9000,
Extensión:1113, E-mail: contacto@fiscalia.gov.co;enuncie@fiscalia.gov.co

* Dr. Edgardo Jose Maya Villazon, Prosecutor General, Cra. 5#,
15-80, Bogotá, Tel: 011-57-1-284-7949, Fax:011-57-1-342-9723, E-mail:
cap@procuraduria.gov.co; quejas@procuraduria.gov.co;
webmaster@procuraduria.gov.co ;reygon@procuraduria.gov.co;
anticorrupcion@presidencia.gov.co

* Dr. Juan Manuel Santos Calderon, Minister of Defense, Avenida
El Dorado con Cra. 52 CAN, Bogotá, Fax: 011-57-1-222-1874, E-mail :
siden@mindefensa.gov.co; infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co ; mdn@cable.net.co

* Dr. Carlos Franco, Director of the Presidential Programe for
Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, Calle 7 N° 5-54 Bogotá,
D.C., Fax: 011-57-1-337-4667, E-mail: cefranco@presidencia.gov.co

* Dr. Carlos Holguin Sardi, Minister of Internal affairs and
Justice, Avenida El dorado con carrera 52 CAN Bogotá D.C., Fax:
011-57-1-222-1874, E-mail ministro@minjusticia.gov.co

Please send copies of your messages to: Popular Women's Organization
(Organización Femenina Popular) E-Mail: femenina@colnodo.apc.org
telephones:
011-577-622-6625

Sample letter in Spanish: Respetado Dr. ______________: Reciba un saludo cordial de ____(your name)____ de ___(your state or province and country)___ Escribo a usted con una gran preocupación por la situación de YOLANDA BECERRA VEGA, quien recibió amenazas en Barrancabermeja el 4 de noviembre de 2007. A través de mi apoyo a los Equipos Cristianos de Acción por la Paz, conozco algo del trabajo de la Organización Femenina Popular, y me preocupa la situación de seguridad de las mujeres de la OFP y de sus familias.

Muchas gracias por la atención prestada,

___(your name)____

Send the letter in Spanish. But the letter's translation is as follows:

Respected D:
Cordial greetings from your name and state. I write to you with great concern for Yoland Becerra Vega´s situation, who recieved threats in Barrancabermeja the 4th of November at 2007. Through my support for Christian Peacemaker Teams I have become familiar with the work of the Popular Women´s Organization and I worry about the security of the
women who work at the Popular Women´s organizations and their families.

Thank you for your attention,

___(your name)____

ADDENDUM: (Correction to urgent action)

Some of the e-mails provided by a Barrancabermeja human rights organization for the Urgent Action that posted on 7 November 2007 (Ask "Colombian government to investigate threats against CPT partners in Barrancabermeja) were outdated. The following contact information does work, and if you have been unsuccessful getting your letter to other addresses, CPT urges you to send it immediately to

Doctor Mario Hernán Iguarán Arana, (Attorney General)
Fiscal General de la Nación, Diagonal 22-B # 52-01, Bogotá. Fax: +
57.1.570.20.00 ; +57.1.414.90.00 Extensión 1113, E-mail:
denuncias@fiscalia.gov.co denuncie@fiscalia.gov.co>

Regarding our Israeli settler neighbors

2007-11-08T17:49:00.000-05:00

One of my teammates printed off "An open letter to Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice," signed by representatives of the Israeli settler community here in Hebron. The settlers here live right in the midst of -- in some places, literally on top of -- Palestinian neighborhoods. They tend to be the most ideologically radical of settlers in the occupied Palestinian territory. Which means . . . well, lots of things. They openly state they want to clear Hebron of its Palestinian inhabitants and make it an exclusively Jewish city. Currently, there are somewhere between 400-800 settlers (depending on what source one consults) living in a city of approximately 120,000.

Anyway, back to this letter. It is very interesting. I'm thinking I might post it later (right now I only have a hard copy), but one sentence in the letter jumped out at me. I have read the sentence read several times, mostly out of incredulity:

"Even if Arabs have personal human rights, they have never had any collective national rights in this country."

"Even if Arabs have personal human rights"? I'm hoping desperately that this is simply a poorly chosen word, that the authors really meant, "Even though". (Though, frankly, I would still disagree with the statement, even if this is what the authors really meant.)

But, from this letter and the interactions my teammates and I have had with the settlers, I'm skeptical that this was a slip of the tongue. Earlier in this letter, the authors write that "[t]he Arabs . . . never contributed a thing to [Israel's] development. Under Arab rule, most of the country was unpopulated and desolate . . ."

Near one of the schools in Hebron, there is settler graffiti that says, "Gas the Arabs," and "Arabs are sand nigg**s."

"Even if the Arabs have personal human rights." That phrase knocks the mental "wind" out of me, like someone hit me too hard in the chest.

Participate in some holy mischief this Advent and Christmas!

2007-11-08T17:41:00.000-05:00

Life here in Hebron has been busy these past few days. A number of folks have cycled off team (traveling to go to meetings, going home, etc.), so our team is smaller, which has kept us busy. And I've picked up a number of responsibilities on the team, which have been taking up additional time, as well. But it is the good kind of busy: productive, but not overwhelming. And one of the projects I'm spending some time organizing is our Advent/Christmas campaign: "No Way to the Inn: Bethlehem behind the Wall."

Israeli authorities are building a separation barrier within the occupied Palestinian territories, in effect annexing approximately 12 percent of the land in the Palestinian territories. This separation barrier affects Palestinians in a number of ways, including dividing villages, restricting travel, and threatening Palestinian homes with demolition, to name a few. This separation barrier currently surrounds Bethlehem on three sides -- if Mary and Joseph were traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem today, they would encounter the separation barrier. Therefore, this Advent and Christmas, we are asking folks to set up a wall around their nativity sets to raise awareness about the situation in Bethlehem and the occupied Palestinian territories in general. It probably seems far too early to start talking about Advent and Christmas already, but we're sending this out now so that churches (and individuals, too!) have some time to plan how they will participate in this action. I invite you (or your churches, small groups, etc.) to consider participating in this action to raise awareness of the separation barrier going up in Palestine. The official "action alert" we sent out on CPT's mailing list is as follows:

ACTION ALERT

31 October 2007

HEBRON ACTION ALERT: CPT Palestine announces “No Way to the Inn: Bethlehem behind the Wall” Campaign

If the Christmas story were to happen today, Mary and Joseph would have a hard time getting to Bethlehem.

Since 2002, Israeli authorities have been building a separation barrier snaking through the occupied Palestinian territories, in effect annexing valuable Palestinian land and water resources. To clear the way, Palestinians living near the security barrier often face the threat of home demolitions. According to Israeli human rights monitoring organization B’Tselem, the separation barrier affects nearly half a million Palestinian residents, and currently the barrier separates almost 12 percent of the land within the 1967 Green Line from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories. When completed, the barrier will be 780 km long (for more statistics, visit: http://www.btselem.org/english/Separation_Barrier/Statistics.asp .)

The separation barrier surrounds Bethlehem, located in Palestine, on three sides and cuts off the city from Jerusalem only six miles away.

ACTION

During the seasons of Advent and Christmas, erect a wall around nativity sets in your homes and churches to raise awareness of the separation barrier the Israeli authorities are erecting in the occupied Palestinian territories. Inform local media and use this action as an opportunity to spread the word about the separation barrier. After erecting your wall, take pictures of the nativity, and send them as attachments to cptheb@palnet.com. The team will compile the pictures for broader distribution (more details to come.)

CPT Palestine will also be producing related worship materials for reflection during Advent.

For questions and concerns, contact the CPT Palestine team at cptheb@palnet.com

For photos of the separation barrier, visit http://www.cpt.org/gallery/album224

BACKGROUND

The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem writes about the separation barrier: “In June 2002, the government of Israel decided to erect a physical barrier to separate Israel and the West Bank in order to prevent the uncontrolled entry of Palestinians into Israel . In most areas, the barrier is comprised of an electronic fence with dirt paths, barbed-wire fences, and trenches on both sides, at an average width of 60 meters. In some areas, a wall six to eight meters high has been erected in place of the barrier system. . . The construction of the barrier has brought new restrictions on movement for Palestinians living near the Barrier's route, in addition to the widespread restrictions that have been in place since the outbreak of the current intifada. Thousands of Palestinians have difficulty going to their fields and marketing their produce in other areas of the West Bank . Farming is a primary source of income in the Palestinian communities situated along the Barrier's route, an area that constitutes one of the most fertile areas in the West Bank . The harm to the farming sector is liable to have drastic economic effects on the residents - whose economic situation is already very difficult - and drive many families into poverty.” (To read this article in full, visit http://www.btselem.org/english/Separation_Barrier/Index.asp)

For a range of information about the separation barrier, visit:

http://www.nad-plo.org/news-updates/wallmapoct07.pdf

http://www.stopthewall.org/downloads/pdf/NewWallFactSheet.pdf

http://www.arij.org/index.php?option=com_cases&Itemid=27&lang=en (contains articles regarding separation barrier – also known as the segregation wall – in addition to general information about the Israeli occupation of Palestine)

-----

I am so excited about this campaign, because it carries about it an air of holy mischief. I think many times the work of the prophets was (and is!) to "tell it like it is," sometimes in surprising and unexpected ways. I hope you'll consider joining us in this campaign.

All right, dear ones. That's all for now -- as always, there is so much to write, and not nearly enough time! To be continued.

Israeli Higher Education: sans Palestinians

2007-11-04T16:15:00.000-05:00

Came across this article today in Haaretz (an Israeli newspaper.) The Israeli High Court of Justice is reviewing the current policy that "even if a Palestinian's entry is not deemed a security risk, the IDF [Israeli Defense Force] will determine whether he gets to study in Israel, and in which program, while the universities will have to provide a rationale for accepting him." Currently according to this criteria, Palestinians seeking their undergraduate degree are not allowed to study in Israel. Graduate students may be permitted to study in Israel, only if their subject is not available for study in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In the United States, wouldn't this be called segregation?

How freely were people of color allowed to study in "white" universities in the United States during its practice of overt segregation?

When I was here in Palestine on my CPT delegation, a speaker commented, "Israel is the only country without borders." When I see maps of Israel from Israeli sources, oftentimes includes the occupied Palestinian territories as part of its territory. Yet in cases like these, Israel behaves as though the occupied Palestinian territories are a different country.

Israel, what are your borders? When will you realize this isn't in your best interests? When will you realize these games are not sustainable?

Does Israel hope to make peace, endear itself to the Palestinians, by limiting their educational opportunities?

Furthermore, I desperately wish Israelis and Palestinians could study side by side -- part of the problem with the current situation is that Israelis and Palestinians have so few opportunities to interact. If Israelis and Palestinians never get to know each other beyond stories and stereotypes, how will there be peace?

A "holy day" in Hebron

2007-11-02T17:07:00.000-04:00

Today is a big day for Hebron.

I mean "today" in the Jewish sense of the word, meaning sunset today until sunset tomorrow. Today is the day Jews will be reading Genesis 23, in which Abraham purchases the Cave of Machpelah, in which he buried Sarah. Later, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their wives were supposedly buried there (and some folks throw in Adam and Eve for good measure.)

This cave is located in Hebron; we live about ten minutes' walk away. Now the Cave of Machpelah is half synagogue and half mosque (called the Ibrahimi Mosque), sacred to both Jews and Muslims (and Christians.)

I can imagine how exhilarating it would be to be Jewish and spend this Shabbat -- Hebrew for "Sabbath" -- here in Hebron. To celebrate in the very place where the "action" takes place in this week's Hebrew Scripture reading. I wish, with all my heart, we were living in a world where I could be genuinely happy for those Jews celebrating their holy day here.

But I can't, because I know what the celebration means for my Palestinian friends.

It means the checkpoint near the Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of Machpelah -- one of the commonly used gateways into and out of the Old City -- is closed to Palestinians. It means Tel Rumeida, not far from the Old City, where we have Palestinian and international friends and colleagues, has been declared a "closed military zone."

Translation: Because of this Shabbat, Palestinian travel is restricted.

It means that Israeli military are everywhere in and around the Old City. It means Palestinians more likely encounter harassment, either verbal or physical, from Israeli settlers or Israeli soldiers. It means that already, Israeli settlers are throwing stones at the home of one of our Palestinian friends -- who is committed to nonviolence, and for the past three weeks we have been helping him with his olive harvest.

All this, because of this Jewish festival. I wish with all my heart I could rejoice that Jews were able to celebrate in this place. Instead, I know the price my Palestinian friends are going to pay.
Instead, it makes me want to cry.

Please, remember Hebron in your prayers today and tomorrow, as tensions will likely be high. Pray for the safety of the Palestinians. And pray for the day to come soon when Jewish festivals can be celebrated in peace, without restrictions and threats to the Palestinians.

I dream of a day when Jews, Muslims, and Christians can observe their faiths together in this land: being happy at one another's holy days, weddings, and births; and mourning at one another's funerals and solemn holy days. Enshallah ("God willing" in Arabic), it will happen
in my lifetime.

Night Sky

2007-10-27T18:18:00.000-04:00

Our office/kitchen/living area apartment opens to a lovely patio, with a beautiful view of the city of Hebron. The building continues to either side, framing the view and commanding the observer to look up into the clear blue Middle Eastern sky. At night, I look up to see the constellation of Orion -- brighter and clearer and more prominent than I've ever seen in the States, I think.

The old adage that the stars connect folks who are far away is true, I think. Looking up from our patio, I am connected to folks back in the States. We share the night sky (even if it comes hours later to the States.)

Being in Palestine is wonderful -- I am falling madly in love with this place. If only I could bring all the beautiful people that I know onto the same continent. :o)

Next time you see Orion out at night, say a prayer for me, the team, and Palestine. I'm thinking of and praying for the beautiful folks in the States.

Anything but ordinary

2007-10-20T16:02:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, a teammate and I helped Palestinian friends harvest their olives. For the most part, it was all very ordinary (I am speaking from my copious month's experience. :o) ) A group of Palestinians, three international organizations, and a couple of freelancing international activists were present.

It was a beautiful Palestinian "autumn" day: the sun was shining, the sky was beautiful, and the air was pleasantly warm. We got to work, picking the olives out of the trees. They weren't ripe yet, but our friends decided to harvest now, because Israeli settlers, who live on the top of the hill, have begun helping themselves to the olives. A path to the settlement runs through our friend's land, and the olive trees are located on either side of the path.

While we were harvesting, my teammate suggested I intentionally keep an eye out for settlers. I was also the one with the video camera. So I was harvesting olives with one hand and holding a camera ready with another.

We internationals were present because it is not safe for Palestinians to harvest their land, especially when their land happens to be in the shadow of a settlement, as in our friend's case. Settlers may come and attack, or soldiers might arrive and tell them they do not have the right to harvest their crops. Even our presence does not prevent this from happening, though anecdotal evidence suggests that we are a deterrent, as most folks do not want the negative international press.

Though one never knows how one of these actions will go, this harvest was quite ordinary, to my understanding. We harvested in peace for a while. Members of the media arrived. Israeli settlers, Israeli police, and Israeli soldiers arrived, none of whom did much but stand around and watch. A couple of settlers tried to instigate some trouble, but it all fizzled out relatively quickly.

All very ordinary.

And it hit me: it shouldn't be. No one -- regardless of nationality -- should need to be accompanied on their own land. An international presence while one harvests one's own crop on one's own land to possibly reduce the threat of violence or removal -- it should be anything but ordinary.

If I had a shekel for every tourist . . .

2007-10-19T17:41:00.000-04:00

The other day, I mentioned my teammates and I took some time off and traveled in Palestine and Israel. Instead of writing about everything we saw and did, I figured I would indulge in a little "show and tell." I'll let the pictures I look tell some of the stories from our time off.
This is in Jerusalem. Camels make me so darn happy.

This is the mouth of a camel that is the descendant of a camel David rode. The camel was sitting on a spot where a biblical event of your choice occurred.

Just kidding. I just took a silly picture.

This is the Church of All Nations, in Jerusalem. I am a sucker for mosaics.

The Mount of Olives. All those grayish stones are grave markers. It is a Jewish cemetery.

A picture of the wall surrounding the Old City Jerusalem.

The Mount of Olives, looking onto Old City Jerusalem. (The huge gold dome is the Dome of the Rock, a holy site for Muslims.) While on the Mount of Olives, we wandered about and found this beautiful little chapel marking the site where (tradition has it) Jesus wept for Jerusalem.

Jesus said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" (Luke 13: 34-35.)

After Jerusalem, we went to Qumran, where (or near where) the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. We wanted to hike up to one of the caves (see the one on the right?), but we unfortunately did not have enough time.

After Qumran, we went to Massada. The short story of this place: It is on top of this very high, and very steep, hill/plateau. It was once the palace getaway for King Herod -- the guy in the New Testament. Then, when the Jews revolted against Roman rule, rebels took it over to make it one of the last strongholds of the Jewish rebellion. The Romans held Massada under siege. When it was clear a Roman victory was near at hand, the leader of the Jews urged them to choose death over slavery under the Romans. So folks drew lots, and ten men killed everyone in the community. Then they drew lots again, and one man killed the other nine and then himself. The history of Massada is more fully explained here.

This is a picture of the storehouses -- fit for a king, as it were. They were huge, suiting the purposes of royalty (to cater to a life of luxury) and rebels (to sustain life during a siege) alike.

This is the area which the Jews used as a synagogue during the revolt. It was not a synagogue during the time of Herod -- I want to say it was a stable, or something like that, but now I don't remember. But I was inspired by these folks' creativity in making a sacred space in this complex.

Me in the Dead Sea! I knew all the salt in the water made a person extremely buoyant, but I never guessed how buoyant. I am quite convinced one would have to exert a considerable amount of effort to drown in the Dead Sea -- as in, hold one's head under water and breathe very deeply. Otherwise, I don't know that it is possible, because it is so easy to stay afloat. One does not even have to think about it. Here, treading water is completely superfluous.

And, with all the salt, the water had a bizarre texture. It felt thicker.

On my first visit to Palestine/Israel, I was shocked to see civilians openly carrying guns -- sometimes big ones, too. While we were in Jerusalem, walking from the Mount of Olives to the Old City, we passed what looked like a tour group on the road below us. At first glance, it looked very ordinary.

Then we looked again.

A number of the tour's participants were armed. They were far enough away that I couldn't get a good picture of the group and their guns, but one can see them, if one knows where to look. I've circled in white the two most visible guns in the group.

I live in Hebron. Every day, I pass through turnstiles and metal detectors at checkpoints. On Thursday, I watched Israeli soldiers search the backpacks of twenty Palestinian children over the course of forty minutes. A metal fence, a concrete barrier, and a smattering of razor wire separates the street on which I live -- it used to be part of the bustling marketplace, but it is empty now -- from Shuhada Street, which used to be one of the main roads in Hebron. Now the road is closed to Palestinians, with the exception of a couple of Palestinians who can travel on the road, because they have special permits. Of course, permits don't protect them from Israeli settler harassment.

All this is the fruit of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank/Palestine. This "Go in Peace" sign as one is exiting a beach on the Dead Sea is quaint, and unspeakably ironic.

"So you're leaving the country."

2007-10-17T18:02:00.000-04:00

Two teammates and I took some time off team on Sunday and Monday to spend some time in Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. With our small overnight bags, we walked through the Old City towards the Bab iZaweyya, where we would catch our transportation that would take us to Jerusalem. On our way, we ran into a good friend of the team.

This man is simply lovely. With a smile as bright as day, he always has a warm hello and a friendly Arabic phrase to greet me, and he is patient as I fumble around in my head for the appropriate Arabic response. The other day he appeared in CPT's apartment, as I was in the middle of two or three different tasks (with two or three others in my mental "to do" list) when he greeted me with "marhaba" ("hello".) I stared at him blankly for a few seconds, blurted out something in Arabic (which may or may not have been "marhaba" or "marhabteen" -- both appropriate responses), and muttered something apologetic about my inability to think quickly enough in Arabic. Ever smiling, he accepted my greeting and began chatting with other teammates as I continued about my work. All this is to say, this man is a good friend of the team, and he is one of the many beautiful folks I have met since coming to Palestine.

Back to the story: my teammates and I ran into him on our way to Jerusalem. We exchanged greetings. Seeing our bags he asked, "Are you leaving the country?"

"No," I said, "we're just going up to Jerusalem."

"So you're leaving the country."

At that moment, I felt a pang of grief stab my heart. I remembered: This man -- a beautiful person, father, friend -- cannot go into Jerusalem. He is a Palestinian. He needs a special permit from the Israeli authority -- a very difficult thing to attain -- to enter the city.

Talking about it with my teammates later, one reflected, "I suppose Jerusalem might as well be another country."

But for many Palestinians, the gap between Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank is greater than that of two different countries. For U.S. citizens, there is no comparable equivalent. The travel restrictions between the United States and Cuba is the closest parallel my teammates and I could identify, but most U.S. citizens do not have the same emotional, religious, and/or familial ties to Cuba that many Palestinians have to Jerusalem.

When will Jerusalem cease to be another country for so many of the Palestinians living in the West Bank?

In the words of a friend, "Enshallah bukrah!" ("God willing, tomorrow!")

Playing in Palestine

2007-10-12T11:33:00.000-04:00

One of my team members drew my attention to this video filmed by one of the CPTers at our other project in Palestine/the West Bank. I live in Hebron, and the other CPT Palestine team is in At-Tuwani, a small rural village located in the south hills of Hebron. The CPTer filmed the video with At-Tuwani kids dancing to the ring tone on his cell phone. It is great fun -- check it out!

I treasure these moments of play here in Palestine. The presence of the Israeli army and Israeli settlers here is so constant and pervasive. The daily reality of the Occupation-- going through checkpoints, being surrounded by razor wire, and interacting with soldiers -- gets tiring. Yet -- this is one of the things I love about the people I meet here -- folks still play, joke, and laugh. Not even the Israeli occupation of the West Bank/Palestine can stop that.

The other day, one of my teammates and I were walking through the market, and my teammate stopped at a shop to buy a new cane. As she was pulling canes out of their display and examining them, this lovely Palestinian man with a cane, dressed in traditional Arab garb, tapped his cane against the cane she was examining. And there, right in the middle of the souq (Arabic for "market"), they had a brief, playful "duel" with their canes. We were all laughing and enjoying the play.

Thank God for laughter and the strength of the human spirit! It gives me hope and joy.

Welcome to the West Bank!

2007-10-11T10:22:00.000-04:00

Came across this article today -- very good. Also thought it was timely (and very good, too), in light of my "Through the Looking Glass" post about land. It talks about an Israeli grab of Palestinian land in the West Bank.

Also, the article says, among other things, "According to a recent UN report, an increasingly separate road system is being built by Israel in the West Bank. About 1,660km of West Bank roads are for mainly for Israeli use, while Palestinian access is restricted by military checkpoints." To clarify: this means there are some roads that are for cars with Israeli license plates only. (Cars have either Israeli or Palestinian license plates.) Some Palestinians do have cars with Israeli license plates, but Palestinians with Palestinian license plates cannot travel on these "bypass" roads (which, compared to Palestinian-only roads, are generally in better condition and take a more direct route from one city or place to the next.)

I comment on this because I have seen (and traveled on) both the bypass roads and the roads for Palestinians. Just think -- segregated roads. They exist here.

I say Sermon on the Mount, and you say . . .

2007-10-09T17:32:00.000-04:00

I discovered this in the CPT apartment today:

"God has asked me to do nine things:
1. To be sincere inwardly, and in outward expressions
2. To do justice in happiness, and in anger
3. To be moderate when rich, and when poor
4. To forgive the one who takes my rights
5. To visit the one who stops visiting me
6. To give to the one who deprives me
7. Whenever I speak, speak as if I were speaking to God
8. Whenever I am silent, be thinking
9. Whenever my eyes are open, be learning."

Made me reflect on the teachings of Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount.

At the top of the page with this writing were the words: "A word from God to Mohammed." This message is posted in the right front corner of the Glassmaker's Mosque in the Old City of Hebron.

Interesting, n'est pas?

Through the looking glass

2007-10-06T16:39:00.000-04:00

I feel as though I have heard a proverb (though I can't remember it exactly) that we see ourselves most clearly by looking at others. If no one has said it before, then someone should have. Coming to Palestine, I see the United States and its history more clearly than I ever have before.

I grew up fed on a diet of quaint European American vocabulary of conquest: "pioneers" and "settlers" filled my history books with paintings of open -- uninhabited, of course -- prairie. Certainly, we learned about the horrendous things done to First Nations people/Native Americans, but the story of genocide was kept tucked safely in the history books. The political climate in which I was raised covertly taught me: "This was a sad chapter of our country's history that -- thank goodness -- is now over. Now, why do the Native Americans get so upset about treaty violations? Why can't they just get over the past?"

I see now that settlement and conquest is not so sterile. I see myself and the United States' history very differently now that I have have spent some time in Palestine. I feel as though I am watching my history unfold in a time warp, in the present day. I see the process of settlement and colonization. I see settlers and settlements as Israelis take more and more land in the West Bank. (This map shows the area to which I am referring -- the West Bank is land on which Israelis are currently settling.) And it is not a quaint, picturesque image of folks moving onto uninhabited land. The land was inhabited, and this process of settlement causes daily and very real pain to people, created in God's image. Many Palestinians have been made refugees and many Palestinians in the West Bank have suffered as a result of the lack of recognition of the fact that people were living on the land prior to the establishment of Israel as a country in 1948.

Slowly, over the last few months (I started to think a bit about this after I was last here in June), I am beginning to think of owning up to my country's history. When I traveled across the United States last month, I saw the hundreds of miles of land stretching on either side of the highway. After being here in Palestine, I couldn't just watch the land pass by anymore. It made me feel sick. I see now I was traveling on stolen land, that was taken through force, genocide, and human rights violations. And I wonder: if this is how the United States gained its land, what spiritual scars has it left on the country? How does such a bloody history shape the spiritual wellness (or lack thereof) of the nation?

It is uncomfortable to see myself and my country in such sharp focus. But, I think as people of faith, we are called to engage this world, in the words of a good friend, "with eyes wide open."

And this is what I see, on this side of the looking glass.

Tower of Babel, Revisited

2007-10-04T17:29:00.000-04:00

Greetings from Hebron, the West Bank! The last month has been a whirlwind of activity. Between my last post and today, I have driven clear across the United States (from New York to Washington) and back, moved from one state to another, and moved again from the United States to Israel/Palestine. The road trip was amazing (I'll try to remember to post some pictures when I return to the US), I feel at home in two separate states (which is not anything new), and I am thrilled to be with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) working in Hebron. I joined the team in Hebron this week, and I feel as though my learning curve is through the roof. There is so much to learn: language, culture, friends of CPT, the history of Hebron, the general layout of the city, CPT Hebron team life and work (CPT training prepared me for life on team, in general, but every team is different, given the unique cultural context of each), and so on. I am deeply enjoying my time here; right now I would not want to be anywhere else. I only wish I could somehow take all my beautiful friends and family, living far away, and move them *here*.

Dear friends and family: don't you feel called to work with CPT, particularly the Hebron team? :o)

I miss the wonderful people at home, but I love the people I am meeting and working with here in Hebron. My experience with some wonderful young women last night might give you an idea of the beautiful people here. I met them at a break fast party. Hebron is a predominently Muslim city, and almost all the Muslims here fast during the month of Ramadan. They neither eat nor drink during daylight hours, so after the sun sets, families and friends gather to break the day's fast together. A good friend of CPT decided to organize a huge break fast party -- perhaps roughly the equivalent of a neighborhod block party? Only this was bigger -- for folks in the Hebron community. She invited CPT join in the meal. We went, and I was very excited for an opportunity to talk to some of the women and children from the community.

Well, in my excitement, I had forgotten to calculate my minimal (actually, "non-existent" is a more accurate description) Arabic conversation skills. Yet a fellow teammate, who also does not speak Arabic, and I found ourselves in conversation with three wonderful young women.

I never cease to be amazed at how much conversation one can have with another person, when neither speaks more than a rudimentary level of the other's language. As far as I could tell, we each asked each other for names, and they asked us where we were from. This I was able to manage to answer, very haltingly and with a lot of thought, in Arabic. The next thing I know, the young women were asking me what I was doing in Hebron, what I thought of Israel, who were Christian Peacemaker Teams, and something about the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) -- to which my fellow teammate responded, "Um . . . Jesus?"

It was the Tower of Babel all over again.

One of the three young women was very intent in the conversation, and she was leaning far into our little circle gathering. I, too, was really excited, and I was leaning deeply into the circle. She was speaking Arabic, with a little English, and I was speaking English, with a little . . . well, English.

I still smile to think of our conversation. From our nonverbal communication, we both made it clear that we wanted desperately to communicate with each other. I think, buried in my subconscious, was this desperate belief that if we both wanted badly enough and tried hard enough to speak in our own languages, we would somehow be able to understand each other fully.

Then again, when I think about how much we did communicate to each other, I would say our efforts were not too shabby. I had a friend who would always say, "Care and compassion transcends every racial and cultural boundary."

Perhaps it applies, on a limited level, to language, as well. In any case, it seems the language of peace and love translates easily to any tongue.

On "Objectivity" and Active Peace Work

2007-09-07T20:07:00.000-04:00

I've been spending a lot of time organizing the last few days: organizing my room from the past four years of using it as a launching point between college, home, and wherever I was spending the summer; organizing what is staying in at my home in New York, what is coming with me as I move to Pennsylvania, and what is coming with me when I go to Hebron; trying my best to keep my scattered thoughts organized as they constantly fly about in a dozen different directions at any given time (that is perhaps the hardest task.)

In any case, in the midst of all this organizing, I came across a poem a good friend sent to me this past spring. A friend of hers wrote it. I thought it was very powerful and eloquent, so I printed it out and taped it to my computer at the time. I came across it once more during the course of all this recent organizing. I thought it was appropriate to post in a blog about nonviolence, active peacemaking, and work for social justice. My hope is that is provides food for thought in a culture that crowns "fair and balanced" as an ultimate virtue. Of course, a level of objectivity is vital and necessary for critical thinking and situation analysis. Yet that objectivity should be a tool to aid us in making moral decisions guiding how we live in relation to our brothers and sisters in humanity, and how to live as followers of Jesus. The poem is as follows:

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” ~Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Both Sides

“Both sides,”

they argue,

“I try to see both sides,” –

as if uttering those words

wraps them in the furs

and purples

of automatic and indisputable

authority;

as if their non-committal stance

raises them

to new and exclusive heights

conferring

a superior breadth of view

and bequeathing a 3-D vision

unattainable

to those who say

that taking sides

matters.

Both sides –

as if the elephant and the mouse are equal:

Colonist and Native American

Turk and Armenian

Nazi and Jew

White Afrikaaner and Black South African

Rapist and Raped

American and Iraqi

Israeli and Palestinian.

Both sides –

as if the violence of resistance

weighs ounce for ounce

the same

as the violence and murder

carried out in the name of the State

and the powerful.

Both sides –

as if

in the realm of Legitimacy

victim and victimizer

rule co-equally.

And I have to wonder –

if they were the mouse –

just how quickly

they would rush to remind us

to be sure to see

Both Sides.

Interesting, n'est-pas? I find it to be like a breath of fresh air, a window thrown open in a stuffy room of "fair and balanced" morality that avoids naming the imbalance and abuse of power where it exists.

--------

"Housekeeping" note: This blog, like me, is a work-in-progress. So I figured out how to change my "comment" settings so that anyone can post a comment -- you don't have to be a Gmail or Blogger user to comment now. Now, regardless of your e-mail or blogging persuasion, you can comment away!

This is just in case you folks without Gmail or Blogger were losing sleep over the fact that you couldn't comment on my blog of epic proportions -- all three posts of it. :o)

Thanks for your patience as I learn this newfangled blog technology.

I like Arabic Music.

2007-09-04T14:35:00.000-04:00

For the folks who are interested in hearing some of the sounds that fill the market in the Old City of Jerusalem, I thought I would share this site with you:

http://www.listenarabic.com/nancy-ajram-mp3.php

This will take you to the music of Nancy Ajram, a Lebanese pop singer. I enjoy her music. My favorite on this site is track 16, "Ya Salem." From my really limited Arabic skills, I think she's singing about peace -- at least, "salaam" means "peace" in Arabic.

But then again, I could be wrong -- my Arabic is pretty much limited to "Hello", "Good morning", "Good night", "How are you?", "I'm good, praise God", "Goodbye", "God willing", "yes", "no", and "maybe".

Oh, and I can count to ten.

Anyway, this site has a whole bunch of Arabic music, with musicians from all over the Middle East: Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, etc. I will forever associate some this music with the Old City of Jerusalem, where music stores would play it loudly, filling the marketplace with their enchanting sounds.

I go to this site whenever I need my Arabic music "fix."

Enjoy!

Salaam Alaykum! ("Peace be with You!", in Arabic)

2007-09-03T03:01:00.000-04:00

Hello friends, and welcome! I'm new to this whole "blogging" business, but an important part of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) work is telling the stories that CPTers see and experience -- to be an alternative voice, telling stories that otherwise wouldn't be told in America. (For example: oftentimes people are shocked to hear that, in Israel/Palestine, there are roads, called "bypass roads", on which Palestinians are not allowed to travel. The roads for Palestinians are not as direct or as well made, and oftentimes have checkpoints on them.) I thought blogging would be a helpful way of telling these stories. Also, some of you folks expressed interest in reading what I'm up to via blog, rather than (or in addition to) e-mail -- so this will be another way for me to keep in touch with you beautiful folks back home while I am "in the field" in Israel/Palestine. I have a little less than a month before I leave, but I established this blog now so that I can get in the habit of writing in it every now and again before I am "on team" -- I'll have enough to get used to when I first arrive, I'm sure, and I'd rather not have blogging be one of them.

Oh, and for those of you who haven't yet seen any photos from my training with CPT this July/August, I thought I would share a few of them (I took these photos myself! You don't understand how rare this is. It is hard for me to view life through a camera lens. I would much rather be present and engaged in the moment than capture it in a picture. Yet picture-taking is also an important part of CPT documentation work, so here I am, learning to take -- and enjoy taking -- pictures.):

This was a cloth/tapestry that hung in my room at the Darst Center -- the urban Catholic retreat center where we stayed during our month in training. I loved this cloth; I spent many a night looking at and meditating on it. I thought it was beautiful to see Mary and Jesus portrayed as not white, and I thought a lot about Mary's risky and radical obedience to God. To be pregnant out of marriage -- that would have been dangerous for her, given her culture, but she said "yes" anyway. What does her modeling mean for my life of faith? Mary's courage so inspires me and encourages me to say "yes" to God when I feel God's guidance, even if that guidance leads me to places and situations where I'm less than comfortable.

The red "flowers" hanging around the tapestry were lights, actually, courtesy of Rachel, whom I love dearly, and who was my amazing roommate for duration of the training. The artificial flowers that surrounded these lights were supposed to replicate the flowers that were from the tree where the Buddha -- found? sought? -- enlightenment.

One day, we talked to the Bible, as one would talk to another person. Ask me about it sometime. Or maybe I'll write about it later; I think folks should do it more often. It was such a freeing and profound experience, I took a picture. This was the Bible we talked to. And the Bible talked back!

This was at our training's graduation. These are some of the fantastic people who make up CPT's Support Team. Someone said, "Make a silly face!" So they all did.

While playing with my camera, I've learned I do much better taking pictures of inanimate objects than of people. I'm working on getting better.

I didn't take this picture -- because I'm in it! That's me giving Kryss, our training coordinator, a big hug after she gave me my diploma at graduation. (How about that -- I had two graduations in one year!)

This picture amuses me, because -- I don't know if you can see it clearly when the picture is this size -- I'm definitely up on my toes as I'm hugging Kryss. This is how I hug everybody, unless, of course, the hugee is someone else who is short, or if I am hugging another person around his or her waist.

This is my CPT diploma, mug, and shirt (in the lower left corner) I received at graduation.

This is me in my new, bright red CPT hat that serves as CPT's "uniform." I took this picture of myself as I was packing to leave the Darst Center and Chicago. Emotionally, I was excited and completely exhausted. I've never worked so hard for a hat before in my life! ;o)

Speaking of exhausted, that's what I'm going to be if I don't make myself go to sleep pretty soon. So with that, my friends, I will bid you good night. As they say in Arabic: Masalaamei! (Goodbye, or literally, "peace go with you")

Note for those less used to computers/the internet: Anything in this blog is underlined, and written with white lettering, is a link. If you click on it, it will take you directly to the website of the organization. For example, you can click on this: Christian Peacemaker Teams. It will take you directly to CPT's website. Anything else in this blog that looks like the above link works the same way.