FEB 2
This morning Jenny and her guy friend from Israel and I went with
Abu Azzam to Qalqilya. We shopped for some olive seedlings but were
not able to strike a deal for the 300. We ate some Palestinian sweet
dessert at a shop and then went to visit the acting mayor. The elected
mayor and deputy mayor are in jail in Israel. At the last city council
election 14 of 15 winning candidates were Hamas and 5 of them are in
jail and the others are waiting to see who is next. Of course since
Qalqilya is surrounded by the wall except for one checkpoint in and
out, it´s not hard to see why the citizens were/are a little
disenchanted with the regular politicians (Fatah). Their economy is
pretty well strangled since it´s now illegal for Israelis to come there
(*and Palestinians cannot freely travel). Both Jewish and Palestinian
Israelis used to trade in Qalqilya. Yes, there is a significant
presence of Palestinian villages in northern Israel where they were
somehow bypassed in 1948 expulsion. The Jewish and Arabs seem to get
along ok there.
Just read an IPF (Israel Policy Forum) article about presidential
candidate positions on Israel-Pal Vol 353 (author M.J. Rosenberg). It
says everybody knows what the real score is and that mainstream Jews
don´t really want to hear the same old Pro-Israel BS. That candidates
should level with everybody. I hope some of them get the word.
(*here’s the link http://www.ipforum.org/display.cfm?id=6&Sub=15)
We´re having a YMCA group of 13 students from Scandinavia
tomorrow. We´ll show them around Jayyous, have lunch here at the house
and meet with Abu Azzam then give them a tour of Qalqilya.
Wonder of wonders Guilliam from Tulkarem brought my packages a
couple days ago when our internet was down (*Christmas gifts). Please
tell Paul I really like the reading light and will bring it home for
emergency use. Thank you for the healthy snacks and good coffee, which
I´ve already started drinking.
FEB 3
It´s about 6:00pm Sunday and we entertained a group from Norway
today. Thirteen boys and girls between high school and college and a
teacher and guide. We showed them around Jayyous and Abu Azzam brought
a big lunch prepared by a poor family here so they could make some
money. Two large trays of rice with almonds, two trays of chicken (one
with potatoes), a big pan of green beans and a big pan of carrots and
peas. Bananas and apples for dessert. Then Abu Azzam spoke about the
land and wall situation and Mohammad spoke about his Stop the Wall
Campaign. Then Tzegha and I rode along for their tour of Qalqilya.
FEB 3 *message from Hedy Epstein,
friend and activist, with further information regarding the Gaza convoy
from a prior update, and what happened to the donated supplies that
were denied entry:
Dear Andrea,
Thank you, as always for sharing
Douglas' interesting diary entries. I felt especially connected when
reading about his participation in the Gaza Relief Convoy & his
comments about Al Tuwani. Why & how?
Re: the convoy: St. Louis Women in
Black collected/donated at least $2,000 for the purchase of water
filters, etc. Some of the donations were sent directly & so I
don't have a good handle about how much more was actually donated.
Here's an update on the delivery of the 5 tons of rice, flour, lentils
salt, etc. & water filters: Delivery was denied on 1/26.
Everything was stored in a warehouse in a nearby kibbutz. Another
attempt to deliver was made on 1/28 - it too was not allowed..
After intense lobbying in the
Knesset, ministries by phone, FAX & in person & a lot of
protest mail from all over the world, attorney Oma (?) Cohen of
Adallah, received by FAX a permit for the convoy goods to enter Gaza.
Yakov Manaor is coordinating on behalf of the Convoy Coalition with the
IDF for a day & time for delivery.
FEB 5
*Doug this day is in Jerusalem to talk to some Lutheran bishops. I
was able to call him, and asked why the days off since it seems
difficult not to be busy. He said it’s due to the stress of being on
site, that all the EAs are made to take regular days off. He gives this
example:
A few days ago the Jayyous team invited some Israeli men students
that we met at Israeli Exposure Week to visit us in Jayyous.
The first was named Gil, born in US, studies philosophy, political
science and economics; and is an officer in IDF (Israeli Defense
Force). He serves a month a year on active duty and served extensively
in the West Bank. However he said at the Exposure Week meeting he was
no longer willing to serve in the West Bank and that caught my
attention. On the afternoon when he came Jenny went to the crossing
and drove back with him in his car. The yellow Israeli license plates
caused him some concern that his car might be damaged.
He parked in front of our EA house in Jayyous and came in for a
look at our humble abode. Then the three of us took him for a walk
through the village and he admitted feeling apprehensive. He is about
six foot three and looks American or European but was definitely
noticeable as a stranger to the Palestinians who are used to us three
EAs. We introduced him as a friend of ours to several people alongthe
route.
First stop was the nearby South Gate where mainly sheep cross and a
Bedouin family lives in the seam zone on the other side of the fence.
The fence is a complex about 50 yards wide involving coils of razor
wire, a ditch 5 or 6 feet deep, a gravel shoulder, a chain link fence
with razor wire on top, another gravel expanse to a tall fence with
electric signal wire in it and strands of razor wire on top, more
gravel shoulder for footprint detection, an asphalt road for military
vehicles, another shoulder, ditch and coiled razor wire. Gil was quite
familiar with this and commented that the fence was too close to the
village to be really efficient as there should be more open area
between fence and village.
As we neared the far end of town rifle shots rang out and we
looked toward the fence near that point. A Border Police jeep was
stopped two or three hundred yards away next to the fence and seemed
the source of firing. I could hear the bullets strike about forty
yards from us before the sound of the rifle reached us. I moved so
that a house shielded me from the jeep and told the others to do so as
well. Gil was quite interested and didn't seem in a hurry to get out
of the way. I thought how ironical if their careless fire killed one
of their own officers.
After maybe five shots it stopped and we continued walking while
looking back over our shoulders. While we showed Gil the view of the
surrounding hilltop villages a small herd of sheep with two older boys
and an older shepherd approached us. Tzegha and I talked with the
shepherd while Jenny conversed with Gil twenty feet away. The older
Palestinian told us his son had been killed by the Israeli military two
years ago. He said he wished all the Israelis dead because their
occupation had resulted in the loss of his son.
Gil ate a spaghetti dinner with us. While I washed dishes the
two younger EAs questioned him about his reactions to the whole
situation. Then Jenny rode back with him to the border crossing.
I forgot that the shepherd told us the soldiers or border police
were shooting toward some boys in the trees (probably olive trees).
Don't know if the boys had actually done anything such as throw stones
at the fence, and if the shots were being fired over their heads as
warnings.
FEB 7
Today Tzegha went to Hebron and Jenny is in Jerusalem so I went to
the Falamya gate early and in the late afternoon went to the North and
South gates. Never had been to watch the Palestinians cross back over
at the end of their workday. The Border Police checked the papers
again and probably compare them with who crossed over to the land
(*Palestinian land) this morning. Everything went smoothly and I had
the thought while watching the young men in uniform that there but for
the grace of God could be me. Basically which side you´re on is an
accident of birth.
FEB 10
We´ve had some excitement in Azzoun, the village next to us and
where our road passes. Yesterday we went there to visit a Palestinian
nurse that Sybille befriended a year ago. The woman, about 42, was in
pain and holding her ribs under her left arm. She told us that a night
or two before an Israeli soldier had struck her hard with his rifle
butt. She had tried to help a youth that the soldiers had on the
ground. I´m not clear if he had been wounded or was just handcuffed.
She also told us the soldiers had closed the roads the night prior with
earth moving equipment. We had seen mounds eight feet high of large
rocks and earth cutting the road to the main highway nearby on our way
in. A settler car going by had been attacked with a molotov cocktail
a couple days before resulting in minor injuries. So now the whole
village of 10,000 was being collectively punished.
It´s quite possible that the attacker wasn´t even from Azzoun.
This morning at 3:15 three of us took our usual taxi toward
Qalqilya. We had to pass through Azzoun and the only way was on a
gravel road so rough and hilly that I didn´t know if the taxi could
make it. I was concerned about how much wear and tear the car was
taking. The only good thing was the streets were empty of soldiers.
But on the way back at 7:00 there were army vehicles and troops all
over the place. They would not allow me and the two older Swiss ladies
to pass on foot. So we were forced to walk down the highway a quarter
mile and down a very steep and boulder strewn embankment. At one place
I had my back turned to Sybille and she fell amid the boulders. I was
scared she would be seriously hurt and mad at myself for not being more
helpful to her.
Thanks be to God she was only a little shaken up but not injured.
She and Lea and I proceeded down and through an olive grove to the road
to Jayyous. I called our taxi in Jayyous and he picked us up and took
us home.
Yes, to answer your question, Jenny and Lea returned safely; the
soldiers had arrested three boys (youths), probably just for being
out.
Abu Azzam had a dinner tonight for activists helping plant olive
trees tomorrow. Several had trouble getting to Jayyous because of the
Azzoun blockage. We three EAs will go on the planting. Sybille and
Lea leaving tomorrow for Nablus.
FEB 11
We three EAs crossed at an agricultural gate at 7:35 this
morning. the Border Police didn’t give us much trouble, however Abu
Azzam and four Americans were too late for that gate. The Falamya
guards wouldn't let the Americans pass. So we three walked a mile into
the agricultural land and found it very beautiful. Orange and lemon
trees and olive trees and long views. Unfortunately the views included
2 nearby settlements.
We called Abu on the cell phone and he told us he was trying to
arrange for permission for the Americans to cross. These folks are
progressive Jewish and one couple had been to the Boston Sabeel
conference. The woman, Linda, had been brought up in Fairway and
Overland Park (*suburbs of Kansas City). Her father had been head of
the KU (*U of Kansas) Social Worker Dept in the 50's. Now she's
married to a man named Stephen and they live in Cambridge, Mass. He has
Lutheran and Jewish background and they raised their kids Jewish but go
to a progressive synagogue where they have some kinds of peace groups.
Another woman, Hana, is in Jewish Voice for Peace and the other man seems a good friend of Abu Azzam.
Finally they all came across in a wagon behind Abu Azzam's old
tractor and picked us up. He took us bouncing along a farm road to his
shed, which is kind of a rustic two-room cabin. He had to give us
brunch and tea before we could go to work. Then another rough but
scenic ride to a high hillside where holes for olive seedlings had
already been dug. Tzegha and Jenny left to do some computer work back
at the EA house before the planting began but I went to the field. We
unwrapped the plastic from the two foot olive seedlings and placed them
in the holes. Someone then took heavy hoe-like tools and filled in the
holes. We did fifty or sixty trees in a couple of hours. More
seedlings had been planted
by other farmers, maybe 300. The Jewish groups paid for some and my
church (*Broadway United Methodist in Kansas City) paid for some, and
we shared a warm, beautiful day together.
Forgot to mention that we saw many fruit trees in bloom. It's
been warm and springlike the past week—but the farmers have not had
enough winter rains.
Tomorrow afternoon we're heading into Jerusalem. I am scheduled
to meet with David Wildman's group on Thursday. (*David Wildman,
Executive Secretary, Human Rights & Racial Justice, General Board
of Church and Society United Methodist Church, is leading a group of 60
United Methodists on a tour of Palestine and Israel at this time).
FEB 13 (Jerusalem)
Probably won't go anywhere today. Need to handle a few things
here, and there is a problem near the Old City with archaeological digs
under Palestinian houses. The Israeli police arrested five
Palestinians for protesting damage or potential damage to their homes.
What a system where the victims get arrested by the state. The Rabbis
for Human Rights have put out a call for people to come to the
neighborhood and join the protest so I plan to do that pretty soon.
At dinner last night a Palestinian TV cameraman dining with us
received a call that his coworker had just been beaten up by settlers
for filming at that location and was hospitalized.
*For United Methodists (and anyone interested) here is a link to
information about Palestine from the General Board of Church and
Society. The page includes links to various excellent resource
organizations, including Jewish Voice for Peace that Doug mentioned:
http://www.umc-gbcs.org/site/c.frLJK2PKLqF/b.3813309/k.DD9F/IsraeliPa...
