Palestinians are People Too...

Here I am again, trying to decide which stories to relay, what parts of my days I should share with all of you to give you the best taste of life here. Words always fail though, to understand you have to come here and live among the Palestinians for a while. Before I forget, I put up new pictures. We spray-painted the wall near the Bethlehem checkpoint on Wednesday, not to make it pretty but to make a point. We did it right along the main road that the tour buses will use to drive the tourists to see the Nativity Church, and we took over a large portion of the wall. It felt really, really good to make a statement. I wrote, "United in justice, this wall will not stand, and peace like a river will roll through this land." Also, "It's cool to care," which is for my big brother, so spread the word. Last night we had a farewell party for those participants who came for the first two months or just the second month (the second session ends this weekend). It was a blast, lots of food and music, as usual. My Arabic dancing abilities are kind of lacking, however. There are some other random pictures in a "Good times..." album where you will see how a shopkeeper insisted on dressing us in some traditional Arabic clothing. Finally, there are the pictures from Hebron.
Hebron is the southern-most district of Palestine, and also the name of the largest city in that district. It is a very, very sad place. I visited with my non-violence training camp, first stopping in an old village called Tuwani. The houses are all built of stone, the village has been populated for hundreds of years. Now, however, it is being surrounded by Jewish settlements and outposts. All of the settlements within the West Bank are illegal, although the Israeli military is still charged with providing security for the settlers. An outpost is also illegal, but much smaller than a settlement, as few as ten people even. In Hebron, the settlers are ultra-orthodox and ultra-violent. For example, a volunteer in Tuwani took us to the school and proceeded to describe some events that have occurred recently. The school in Tuwani, which to runs to grade nine, serves children from a few nearby villages. The fastest way to get to school is to walk the main road for about twenty minutes. The road runs alongside settlements. The students are in serious danger if they walk this road, because they are often attacked and beaten by the settlers. The students, the children, are attacked and beaten by grown-ups, because they are Palestinian. The settlers are not punished, not brought to justice, no matter how many complaints are filed, which is dangerous to do in itself because it is dangerous to get to the police station because it is in an Israeli controlled neighborhood in Hebron. An international volunteer organization learned of the attacks, and decided to escort the children to school every day and keep them safe. Instead, the settlers attacked all of them. One volunteer had his arm broken, another had her internal organs damaged because she was beaten with a club. By grown adults, because they volunteered to escort children to school. This happened repeatedly. Finally, they attracted just enough media coverage to force the Israeli military to start escorting the children to school three days a week and the Israeli police to escort them two days a week. The military was given orders to not touch the settlers. Thirty settlers planned and successfully carried out an ambush before the end of the school year, while the children were being escorted by the army. No settler was punished, no soldier was allowed to interfere, and their presence didn't stop the settlers. It's hard to believe, isn't it? The mind wants to pretend that I am somehow making this up, that things like this can't happen, don't happen. Especially because these are children, some as young as six years old. Children just like the ones in America, like my cousins. Exactly the same. Except they are Palestinian, and are therefore attacked by adults on their way to school. The final proposal, to allow these kids to get to school which gives them a chance to escape the terrible poverty that has engulfed them since the settlers came and made it impossible for their families to provide for them, is to build a road that skirts outside the settlements and outposts. The children would have to walk for over an hour to get to a school that is twenty minutes away to avoid being violently attacked by grown adults. This is happening, right now, all over Palestine. Senseless oppression and violence unto an entire group of people because they are Palestinian. Period. Not terrorists, or revolutionaries, or security threats. Just the "wrong" race or religion.
Within the city of Hebron, settlers have established four settlements, taking over entire blocks of the city. Where there are settlements, the streets are abandoned and often barricaded shut. Where settlements are alongside market streets, the streets have to be given ceilings of chain-link fence to protect the people as they do their shopping because the settlers throw bricks and bottles at them. Look at my pictures, you can see it. There are a few hundred settlers in Hebron, there are literally a few thousand Israeli soldiers there to protect them. I could go on about Hebron but how much more can be said? And I have other stories I'd like to tell.
One exercise we did at the non-violence camp is to break into small groups and share stories of how violence has affected our lives. One girl in my group, 19 years old, had her arm broken last year by an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint who swung a gun at the man in front of her, who ducked. One girl told us of a woman in her village who for years had been trying to have a child and finally invested her savings into fertilization treatment. She had a healthy pregnancy until the ninth month, when she was stuck at a checkpoint that had closed, inexplicably, for hours. She went into labor and because the checkpoint was closed an ambulance wasn't allowed to come, and her son died. The girls told us how soldiers will make the Palestinians line up against the wall and play "Simon says" with them, make them dance, sing, get down and bark like a dog. Another time, a soldier forced two strangers to kiss each other. Many of their fathers won't travel at all if it means having to pass through a checkpoint, because they are ashamed to be harassed by the young soldiers. Soldiers younger than myself. Men my father's age, old men my grandfather's age, humiliated at checkpoints. The checkpoints, by the way, are often between two West Bank cities, not only along the borders with Israel. While I'm on the topic of checkpoints, when the Wall around the West Bank is complete, the existing checkpoints will be turned into permanent buildings and gates, directly paid for by foreign aid to Palestine from the United States. They are taking aid money from Palestine to put checkpoints on an apartheid wall.
I apologize if I seem angry, but I am. I'm angry that it is happening, and I'm ashamed that no one knows about it, or talks about it. And it isn't as if this is some country where we aren't obligated to get involved. The US gives the Israeli government billions of dollars. It is literally our tax dollars at work. There is just no way that I can come here and see these things and not do something about it, even if the only thing I can do is share their stories.
I love this land, I love these people. I found a home in Palestine and in four weeks I am going to leave. The children are always asking me to take their picture, and the adults are always telling me their stories. I am handing this to you now, so that you can know what it is like to live in the only nation recognized by the UN that has no official borders. Palestine is getting a border now though, and it is 8 meters high and ugly and racist and illegal according to international law, and the Palestinians are the ones building it because hey, everybody has to make a living and support their family.
I'm off to nap before a fantastic dinner with my family out on the breezy balcony where we can watch the stars come out as we eat. In peace and with love from Palestine.