For the next 15 days, if we have the time, using a computer with a strange keyboard, we’ll be sharing our adventure with you (whatever they will be…) and, above all, the essential – that of the Palestinians we will be meeting (and the Israelis if the occasion comes up).

We’re sending these eyewitness accounts as they happen – To be polished up later (because it’s not easy to recount everything, to get all our stories sorted out among us…), to be debated later, especially when we get back… Photos will be following.

We passed the border controls at the airport with no problems (J. tried, without success, to explain to the frozen-faced young lady, in French, his excessive passion for hiking and for the Holy Places…), we survived a crazy taxi driver and his wild taxi ride from the airport to Jerusalem and an extremely hot night (more than 30°C here [86°F]) at the New Imperial Hotel, strategically situated right next to one of the entrances to Old Jerusalem – the Jaffa Gate.

This is an incredible hotel, 1,600 m² (17,222 ft.²) of nooks and crannies, of hallways, of oriental rugs and paintings etc., with images of Jerusalem and of orthodox patriarchs. The reason is because this hotel is owned by the Greek Orthodox Church who has been renting it to a Palestinian refugee family, the Dajanis, since 1949.

Walid Dajani explains to us that the Orthodox Church, which has been fairly neutral up until now concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, owns almost 35% of Old Jerusalem, the Catholic Church owns 30%, the Arabs around 10% and the Jews around 7%... which is not very much considering stakes the Old City represent for Israel. Thus the pressure put on to recuperate these lands at any price.

We found out that the word “settler”, colonist, is used here also, behind these thousands of years-old ramparts, still occupied in majority by Arabs. Thus the pressure put on the Orthodox Church – up until one day in 2003 when a shady individual among those close to the patriarchy signed, just before disappearing, a 99-year renewable lease with a Jewish association… A lease for the property where the hotel is situated. Sometime during this year, a court case will decide who has the lease, a court where the judge is Jewish but with political actors such as the Orthodox Church, Tony Blair and the King of Jordan – and when Walid fights for his hotel with a thousand nooks and crannies, he fights heart and soul, against the progressive nibbling away of the Old City. The hotel where we sleep has become a center of Palestinian resistance.

That first night we met Tina, who is the friend and ex-colleague of E. Coincidence of dates, she is just finishing a three-year mission with Doctors for the World, in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank, working in the public hospitals. It’s time for her to leave, she explains, because she’s been here so long that she’s starting to find “normal” habitual things such as the arbitrary decisions at the checkpoints, the body searches etc. – when these things are not normal at all and one must continue to affirm it.

Just like many Palestinians, but much more quickly, she feels used up, tired from constantly struggling – for the Israeli strategy wears one down and devours one progressively – she notices this in her work, particularly in the Gaza Strip, where the lack of spare parts makes for many broken down medical apparatus, the blockade keeping these parts from entering – to the point where, when this situation risks to spark off a revolt or to tarnish the image of Israel in other countries – Israel graciously makes a concession and lets one or two spare parts through.

Tina is also without ambiguity concerning the attack on Gaza. It really was an attack – two months before, everything was blocked – reporters, humanitarian workers – everyone knew what was going to happen, even if some didn’t think Israel would dare to do it.

And it certainly was not a war – the forces were so lopsided, and the civilians couldn’t escape. Tina doesn’t understand, by the way, why Israel has so much power, how so much flagrant injustice can exist… But with such power in Israel’s hands, she’s not optimistic for the future – why would the Israelis renounce now? She is however sure of one thing, being Spanish and after having spent three years in the country – the European’s support for the Palestinians is more effective at the exterior, in Europe, through political pressure, because in Palestine everything is besieged…

Eyewitness account 3, East Jerusalem

Everything is political also in the case of Nasser Ghawi, in East Jerusalem, a part of occupied Jerusalem… Everything is political, even justice.

In 1972, Nasser’s family, refugees from 1948, renounced its status and compensation as refugees in exchange for a house in the Palestinian zone of Jerusalem. A neighborhood that still contains 36% of Arabs – a proportion that Jerusalem displays the objective of reducing.

To do this, Nasser explains, there are only two ways – open war or evictions. They chose eviction in the case of Nasser’s family. Suddenly, one day, the State of Israel declared their property as owned by Israel. They never either deigned to or could they legally prove this. On the other hand, their lawyer produced documents proving Arab ownership of this property – but they were too old and came too late in the court case… Nevertheless, the procedure lasted 36 years. And then, one morning at 5 AM, 1,000 policemen came and evicted the 37 members of the family and the 25 internationals present on the scene who were supporting them. All the furniture was destroyed, the people thrown out on the street. They are still there today, under a tent, in front of their house, with a car full of policemen parked next to it, to protect the colonists who have taken over the house. For the moment, this has happened to only two families in the neighborhood but the other families know what they’re in for – unless – Nasser is leaving the day after tomorrow with a small delegation from his neighborhood to testify before Congress and at the White House, in the United States. A trip organized by the UNPD (United Nations Project for Development), at the demand of Obama… A glimmer of hope before winter arrives? In any case, Nasser remains a pacifist even after this aggression, with one single objective – to live in peace, with the Israelis, in spite of all, in the city he loves.

Tomorrow we leave Jerusalem, this city of contrasts between an apparent touristy tranquility (which becomes tarnished at night by the deployment of military forces) and concealed acts of colonization.

Tomorrow we’re going to participate in a discussion group at Ramallah with Palestinian farmers, on GMOs. To be continued…

A stop in the Jordan Valley…

by Jean-Francois and Alain

Bound between predatory colonists and the urgent need to rebuild, lives a people excluded from all humanity, and the international community has to answer for this.

Two hours after having left the Golan Heights, we descend into the Jordan Valley which appears fertile but where rocky ground verges on greenery. In an apocalyptic countryside, one sees irrigated fields where, after every harvest, the plastic has been meticulously shredded. Some of the plots of land resemble nothing recognizable – half dirt and half multicolored plastic, where an environmental drama rubs shoulders with societal misery and living conditions almost like in the slums. The Jordan Valley makes up 30% of the West Bank. The Israelis occupy 93% of this land, misappropriate 98% of the water resources and have left the Palestinians with the worst lands and without access to water. They cannot therefore work their lands except during fall and winter, if it rains. In between the Agrexco conditioning factories and the plantations are the Palestinian villages, modern-day “country slums” where water pipes pass underground and electrical wires overhead and they cannot use them. Recently, colonists destroyed three houses which have been rebuilt, Fathi explains to us. Fathi gets people together to inform them of the farmer’s living conditions in the Jordan Valley. He explains to us, in front of a house painted green, that this is the home of a young couple, just married, and that this house has been destroyed 18 times during these last years. It was rebuilt each time thanks to international solidarity, with light, cheap building materials because the Israelis come regularly and, for no reason, destroy the house again and again. I don’t understand the logic behind terrorizing the Palestinians working at the colony and I ask our interlocutor. The answer is simple – the Israelis want to empty the Jordan Valley of Palestinians, who numbered 200,000 in 1947, 60,000 today, and are looking for workers who are paid even less and, above all, who don’t make claims to the land – Filipinos and other foreigners. The stakes in the valley are multiple:

1. Here the soil is excellent for agriculture. 2. Here is the principle underground freshwater resource in Israel. 3. Here is the point of access to Jordan. 4. Here is the only area where East Jerusalem can spread out and, 5. without this valley, the return of the 1948 refugees is impossible.

To justify the pressure put on by the Army and the colonists, the Israeli Prime Minister said last week that, by working in the Zone C (the Jordan Valley), the Palestinians are violating the Oslo Accords, just forgetting to specify that they are on their own lands… Politically, the Palestinian Authority is not very interested in the Jordan Valley, even if debates on the boycott of products coming from here are starting to stir things up.

Impressions of Jordan

by Jean-Francois

Coming back from the Golan Heights with Zafer, the minibus driver and musician who just spent 10 years in New York and who tells us he went to Paris once. What joy he expresses! What hope! He loves everything – flowers, people, odors, even the rocks. Luckily there’s someone like Zafer in this despoiled, befouled valley where the scorn and the obliviousness for the future are always excused by the same refrain, again and again – “Promised land, Chosen people”, a pitiful excuse of a people without a past and without a future, schizophrenia in a historical-religious delirium. Without Zafer, tonight I would have been ashamed of this humanity, even if it’s not mine. But then I remembered a phrase spoken by a doctor we met in the Golan Heights this morning; we asked him why he wants to rub shoulders with the Israelis and he answered that the most important thing for him is to get along with his neighbors because he sees them every day.

On the side of the road

by Estelle

In front of us, fields as far as the eye can see, some Palestinian farmers still working in spite of the sun setting… A little greenery, lots of pieces of white plastic and lots of dust – the Palestinians are waiting for the rain to be able to plant. What beats all is that the water from the Jordan River passes under these fields. Farther on, the striking green of Israeli orange groves and vineyards, the “Jaffa” brand, irrigated and closed in behind electric fences; later the oranges and grapes will be taken to the Agrexco hangers 500 meters away. Overlooking the valley, on the crest of a hill, is an Israeli colony. Right next to it is a Palestinian village, with electrical lines strung up overhead and water pipes going through the ground under their feet – not for them… Behind us is another Palestinian village of corrugated iron, of concrete and traditional carved white stones on a bed of dust, destroyed again and again by the Israelis, rebuilt the next day with help from associations of solidarity. The exploitation of the workers, added to the occupation, is forcing these people who have been the landowners for thousands of years, to flee this coveted land. This is the worst we’ve yet seen, by the side of a Palestinian road, at sunset.

The Jordan Valley

Bt Jaume and Jacques

Carmel/Agrexco has taken over the best lands. Our contact, Fathi, explains the situation to us (see above). Three children, his children, two boys and a little girl, whose face seems to be just two wide eyes, come and nestle between his legs as do all young children all over the world with their papa. I’m thinking that the Israeli children must seek security in the same way, between their father’s legs. And yet, probably, tomorrow these same three children will be fighting the Israeli children who, yesterday, like them, hung onto their father’s legs.

A demonstration at Al Massara

by Raymond

By coincidence, we find ourselves at Al Massara for the third anniversary of the first demonstration against the Wall.

Every Friday at 11 o’clock, after the morning prayers, part of the population of the village goes to where the Wall is being built, to express their indignation against this fait accompli, against apartheid, against the ghettoization of a people.

The young children (7 and 8 years old, mostly boys) are the first ones to take a stand in front of the armed soldiers; some consider that this is not their place, but here the war concerns all generations.

Iron spikes are set up at the emplacement of the Wall, separating the village population from the soldiers. Internationals are here, and also Israeli anarchists, everyone is loudly expressing their disagreement, demanding the soldiers why they’re here, reminding them of other walls, other ghettos; the only response is a heavy silence. The tension is thick.

We traverse the village to get to the Wall – here, nobody joins us – the local potentate who hires most of the village workers collaborates with the State of Israel.

When we arrive, the soldiers are deployed on the surrounding hills; armored vehicles are blocking the road. We can tell they’ve done this many times – the youngsters attach a cord to the stakes and try to pull them away; the soldiers hold them back by stepping on them with their rangers. The soldiers are surprisingly young. It would seem that the Army would select their young recruits for situations where sangfroid is needed. Are they looking to provoke an incident? Or maybe it’s that older soldiers would be more open to reason.

The mayor of Al Massara did not come with us. He’s already spent three weeks in prison after having been arrested during a similar demonstration. He was charged with violence and inciting violence, although the scenes filmed by foreign television stations proved just the opposite. Here, every single family has one of its members in prison.

Israeli justice = colonial justice – all the ingredients are assembled here to remind us what our memories would like to forget.

An afternoon to jog our memory…

by Estelle

That day, at 3 PM, after the demonstration, the entire village of Al Massara, several internationals and some Palestinian Authority officials gathered in the school courtyard to remember…

To remember that it’s been three years now that, every Friday, a handful of villagers, youngsters in the forefront, defy the Israeli soldiers in a peaceful manner.

To remember especially one of their own, Caher, a young schoolteacher 31 years old, who died a month and a half ago in a car wreck.

We are starting, little by little, as happens often since we came here, to realize that everything is political, even a car wreck.

Caher was one of the most committed of the village activists. He represented the relief. He was accompanying that night a young French lady, a maker of documentaries who was making a film of the village. Suddenly, a car passed them where there was no room, forcing them off the road.

An Israeli ambulance arrived immediately and took the French woman to the best hospital in Jerusalem, in 20 minutes, using the roads reserved for Israelis. No one paid the slightest attention to the Palestinian next to her, no one called an ambulance. Finally, 30 minutes later, a Palestinian ambulance made it to the scene and left, using Palestinian roads, much longer, and took him to a Palestinian hospital, much less equipped. Caher died several hours later of internal hemorrhaging.

The paroles we heard were in Arab but we could feel much more than chagrin in the intonations in the voices of Caher’s father, his brother, of Mahmoud, the mayor and of the French documentary maker.

Three days of peace – an illusion?

by Estelle

After several days of visiting, of meeting people, of analyzing, of demonstrating, of dropping olives on a tarp under the instructions of a Palestinian child perched on a branch in the olive tree, of sitting on the tarp with the Palestinian women, separating the leaves from the olives then sharing tea with them and their families, just changing regards with them, all this has something infinitely soothing to us. The exchange of words is missing, of course, to understand how everyday life in this village goes on, a village right next to the Ariel Colony, one of the biggest in the West Bank (someone said there are 30,000 people in the colony, mostly from Russia). We’re not able to find out if the colonists come and sabotage the olive picking, as often happens in other areas.

We will not be able to realize, through our experiences in this village, what peace in Palestine could be like. Here, life is often difficult (day after day of picking olives, long, endless days of work…), but anchored in a land, in a community; for us, Westerners, the separation between the men and the women is deranging, but it’s coupled with a strong family solidarity… The images, the sentiments, the gests… My right hand still has traces of the henna flowers that Haifa and Enas drew on it; it carries above all the memory of Selima’s tightly grasping hand when she accompanied us, the last night, for a kilometer, in spite of her long day, just to share for a moment encore this illusion of peace…

Impressions of an olive picker

by Jean-Francois

What peace in this country covered with olive trees! Our team is bustling around the several thousand year-old olive trees in a country dry as a bone. Mahmoud and Salima are busy also, her all smiles, him a serious man, thin as a rake, dry as his country, dressed as we would be in the winter in France. Next to an olive tree is a small fire – Salima, with gests as old as the world, heats up the bread and fries eggplants in olive oil. They offer us, using the ground as a table, a meal of simplicity close to perfection – cucumbers with oil and vinegar dressing, fried cabbage and olives, seasoned with a local condiment called zatah. Tea is served to us accompanied with lemon juice. Under this tree, I discover true human beings, their land, their culture, their magnificent smiles, handshakes that say more than a thousand words. These three days calm me, allow me to relativize the rest, the colonies, the checkpoints, the harassing… It is no doubt from this land that the Palestinians draw their force of resistance. The farmers here remain kings on their lands and their sparing movements and limited means reveal volumes of wisdom. I believe the future of this country is here.

Three more days here before leaving for France…

Much more still to live…

What I felt my first morning in Jerusalem

by Jean-Francois

I got up very early in the morning after my first night, to see how Jerusalem lives. Already at 6:39 AM, there are pilgrims, each one concentrated in his songs and his rites… and I discover a city that is supposed to be universal but where its universality is being lost. I don’t know if it’s because I’m tired from the voyage but it seems to me that they’re all closed off in their retreats, their rites, their taboos. The thing that is everywhere in this city is the taboos – the wine, the pork, the uncovered head, the access to non-Jews, the access to non-Muslims etc. The only place where life explodes with liveliness and color is the souk, the old marketplace, the kindness of the people, their smiles, their pressed fruit juices…

And at the gates of all this is the New Imperial Hotel where Abul Walid Dajani welcomes us in the name of eight centuries of presence in Palestine, recounts to us his life story, his studies in Switzerland, the founding of the Ber Sheih University, and his brother’s succession at this hotel, the key that opens Jerusalem.

And of our first night, with Nasser

by Jaume and Jacques

the Shekh Jarah neighborhood

The image stays in our minds of this man surrounded by his close ones and who recounts to us, in English, rolling his “r”s, as if he’d like to plant his words in this soil to mark his attachment to it, this man who radiates an impression of solidarity that nothing can wear down.

He is installed under a fig tree that has managed to separate the stones of the wall bordering the sidewalk to make place for its magnificent trunk. I cannot help myself from paralleling the force of life, the deep-rooted tree and the determination that this man, beefy with dark eyes and a black beard, communicates. He recounts his story, which dates from 60 years ago, to us – the lands stolen, the refugee camps, his house – which is in front of the fig tree on the other side of the street – and which has just been stolen from him. We’re invited to have tea. A hastily strung-up tent is shouldering the fig tree, under it the bedding is isolated from the ground by makeshift pieces of wood set down on pallets, the bluish light from the television is quivering, and the women are either serious or smiling. Across the street, the armed guard watching the stolen house checks us out. The teenagers hassle him, beaming green laser lights at him. The tension is thick as glue. We’re going to have to leave, so as not to make things worse. As we’re leaving, Nasser tells us, as if he were giving proof that his determination will bear fruit, that he’s going to be heard at Congress and by President Obama, as part of a commission of investigation.

Discussing GMOs in Palestine…

by Estelle

This Tuesday October 20th, we meet up with our companions – some of them part of the farmer’s union – from the 155th mission, at Ramallah, which serves as a sort of capital for Palestine, in the West Bank. No problem at the checkpoint going there, our passports were not even checked; apparently, Israel is a lot less worried by people leaving than by people coming in… this will confirmed tonight when we come back.

The French farmers have been invited by the UAWC, the Palestinian farmer’s union, to give testimony on the international struggle against the use of GMOs – It’s Michel who will be intervening for the Confederation at the assembly.

On arriving, we’re a little surprised by the Red Crescent building – brand new (it was destroyed when Ramallah was bombed at the beginning of 2000) and very, very luxurious. There is surely lots of money at this level, and also for the discussion group – nice classers, video recording system, buffet, translators… all this with the aid of Oxfam and cooperation from Belgium. The public is composed of students in biotechnology, which is very interesting (the same questionings as in France!). As contributors, there is a scientist, one of the UAWC leaders in charge of the assembly, and another scientist – the analyses are similar to those of the Confederation but not exactly in the language of farmers… And above all, the analyses are taken completely out of context- in the end, the same conference could have taken place in France. Not exactly a response to the question of GMOs in relation to agriculture in Palestine (what plants could be concerned?). Hardly the slightest mention of Israel (which is nevertheless a major actor in biotechnologies), no mention of the programs of seed distribution by the NGOs (risk of them introducing GMOs…). We have the impression that the scientists and officials participating would like to “normalize” GMOs – other countries are doing it, we must get together on this also, with the idea of recuperating a little money for research (tools for detection) and for the organizations… There is undoubtedly nothing wrong with this – scientists and officials have the right to carry out “normal” activities, as in France – but I leave the discussion group with the same feelings I had when I came – I’m not at all sure that all this has the slightest importance for Palestinian farmers…

I had a very interesting discussion with the Palestinian in charge of Oxfam – Palestine is an important market in Israel for seeds– as for all the rest. By the way, even if it’s important to boycott Israeli products in Europe, a general boycott by Palestinians would have more effect – the Palestinians are a captive market and are not aware enough of the boycott question… For the seeds, Israel is a leader in biotechnologies (30% of their fruits and vegetables are GMO) so the question is pertinent. This is why Oxfam has implicated itself in the creation of a seed bank of local Palestinian seeds, which was inaugurated last week.

Alain adds a little thought on the discussion group – the production of OGM plants has higher stakes for a country like Israel than for Palestine. Besides the OGMs, it’s the very idea of practicing intensive farming that must be brought into question, as this could be dangerous for the health of the Palestinian population.

Palestinian cages

by Estelle

At Ramallah, we meet Khitam Saafia, the coordinator for a “progressive” woman’s organization that intervenes in the West Bank as in Gaza. A double front of struggles for women, a double wall, takes shape before our eyes – on one side, the Israeli occupation that, every day, becomes more oppressive, especially in Gaza under the blockade. Their husbands dead or in prison, women have the entire charge of their families in a difficult economic context… On the other side, the Islamic religion that’s expanding, the hijab progressing permanently, the Hamas and the traditionalists trying to force men and women to live in different worlds… The legal age for marrying is 13 years old in Gaza and 15 in the West Bank with, on the other hand, an authorization is required for a man to marry, whatever his age… A small measure that ties in these two problems – at Gaza, after the December-January Israeli attack, the Hamas offered $3,000 to any man accepting to marry a martyr’s widow – two fronts of struggles that close in like a cage on Palestinian women.

When we come back from Ramallah towards Jerusalem, we go through a sort of cage. It’s only 18 km (a little over 11 miles) between these two cities, but it took two hours traveling time that night. When we reach the control point, they tell us to get off the bus, which is parked in a sinister area, and to pass through a prefabricated corridor – wire fencing, turnstiles, aggressive passport and visa control, before arriving at the other end, the Israeli side. 20 minutes trying to find another bus. Luckily, we don’t go through this every day – us, that is…

Leaving for the Golan Heights, meeting or driver

by Estelle

We rented a sort of small bus for the long journey we’ll be having going to the Golan Heights, which is a Syrian zone controlled by Israel. Our driver, Safer, will become much, much more than just a driver for us – a companion for us as we continually cracked up laughing during the six hours traveling time (and during a few hassles, lost on the desert roads of the Golan Heights). This is an incredibly warm and hearty man, delighted to leave his problems behind in Jerusalem and rediscover his country. A professional musician who accompanied Sting for several concerts, he just got back from 10 years living in New York. A bad surprise when he got back – they told him that because he’d been gone for more than three years, he’d lost his Israeli Arab identity card and cannot stay longer than for short tourist visits. He also took us to the neighborhood where his parents live, just under the Wailing Wall. This is a place extremely important for the Israelis, who consider it as the emplacement of the ancient city of David and who have the same strategy of evictions there as in other neighborhoods… Safer explains this to us, before breaking out again in one of his numerous laughing fits…

Arriving at the Golan Heights

by Jean-Francois

At the end of a road bordered by the desert then by water is a village at the far side of the Golan Heights, at the end of nowhere, where a party is in full swing to welcome two prisoners from the Syrian resistance movement of 1984, who were sentenced to 25 years in prison. And in the middle of this nowhere, Shifa, a young Syrian Druze woman, who recounts to us her country, cut off from its roots where the population is split apart and only able to see the others from the two sides of a valley with a border running along the bottom, surrounded on each side by minefields and where they call to each other from the two opposing hills, the shouting hills. Shifa speaks for a long time of the Druze culture, which is so different from the rest of the Muslim world; she speaks also of stolen water, of lands despoiled by the Israeli colonists and how, in spite of all this, there is no anger but rather hope that in the end things will fall into place and the families will be able to live normally.

a day in the Golan Heights, continued…

by Colette

A short foray into the Golan Heights this Wednesday, a territory belonging to Syria and annexed by Israel in 1967, definitively in 1982.

On this territory lived 220 villages, 96% of the population has been evicted, 5 villages are left composed of 21,000 persons. Israel has annexed the Golan Heights, officially for security reasons but in truth what interests them is the water resources – 25% of Israel’s water resources come from the Golan Heights.

The population, essentially Druze, have resisted, refusing to take Israeli citizenship; a 6-month long strike in 1982 resulted in 200 people being arrested. There is still one single person imprisoned; two activists were released the day we came, after 24 years in prison. The Hamas is taking credit for this liberation of prisoners.

This crime against humanity has separated families on each side of the border, people communicate by shouting to each other; for 10 years, the shouting hills were the only means of communicating; today, they get together by going to Jordan even if this remains very expensive. Some have the possibility of studying in Syria. Since 1967, there are still landmines as close as 100 meters from the houses, very dangerous for the children.

These populations therefore find themselves foreigners on their own land.

We meet with Doctor Taiseer, in charge of the Agency for Development for the Arab villages on the Golan Heights, who shares with us his vision for the future – Israel is not able to control a state in which half of the population has no rights, he believes in one single secular state where all religions cohabit. This non-violent vision is well-anchored in the Druze community.

Two modes of occupation

by Estelle

The situation of the “Syrian” population is undeniably much better than that of the Palestinians that we’ve met. No controls, the opportunity to work as they like, and they’re relatively well off financially. While Israel practices a strategy of evictions in Palestine, for the Druze in the Golan Heights, their strategy is one of “seduction” so they can claim, diplomatically, that the habitants of this occupied province are happy with the situation… However, even if many of them are hardly drawn to the present political situation in Syria, they remain loyal to their home country and resistance is very present – every day they assure that their children are aware of what’s happening and they practice a radical boycott of the few who’ve accepted Israeli citizenship. For the habitants of this region are not dupes – they know very well that Israel is only interested in the lands and the water, nothing else. Israelis have come in at night and ripped up apple trees to recuperate the land, replanting them the next day. They have rerouted all the water for their colonies (the 18,000 colonists use annually 34 million cubic meters of water; the 21,000 habitants, who pay four times the price charged to the colonists, use 3.4 million cubic meters annually…). The habitants built hundreds of reservoirs to catch rainwater, until Israel started demanding authorization to build them and also taxing the water recuperated (because everything that falls on the territory of Israel belongs to Israel). People like Doctor Taysseer have developed local services especially for the population (medical, cultural etc.) which keep them from having to depend on services proposed by Israel (which are tied with political conditions). The situation here is certainly easier than in Palestine but there are just as many strategies for resisting… By the way, the two people work together…

Three days plunged into everyday Palestinian life

by Colette

Three days plunged into everyday Palestinian life, to the rhythm of the five muezzin’s prayers, family life divided into everyday chores, the women taking charge of day-to-day living, very few consumer products, very little coffee, no football (rugby) fields, very few social gathering places; life is organized around prayers, work in the olive orchards, and schooling for the children. Very few men are able to find work on the outside, traveling is a real problem; the Palestinians cannot go to Israel before they reach 50 years of age, except for urgent medical reasons and sometimes they’re able to procure a limited work permit.

Salima and Marmout and their six children live in the little village of Zeita. Their days are divided into work on the olives, taking care of their animals – goats and sheep – bread making and the mosque. They welcome us simply within their home; the women and children take their meals separated from the men. Communication is difficult, the men are not very talkative, the women and young girls are more open, some of them study at the university. We know little of their difficulties, the pressures put on them by the neighboring colonies; in this case Ariel is the largest one. Probably to protect us, they say they don’t have very many relations with the colonists. The ambiance is muted and tense; it seems to us that all cheerfulness has left this haven of tranquility and that their bodies and souls are invaded by weariness.

Their religion is highly visible, sonorous; loudspeakers shout out torrents of sourates (prayers) all day long, like an irreversible conditioning. We share their feelings of being imprisoned, their lack of liberty in their souls and their impossibility of fleeing all this.

After three days, we return to Jerusalem with the urgent need to convey their story. The taxi that takes us from Zeita stops at the gates of the West Bank.

A political visit to the Old City of Jerusalem

by Estelle and Jean-Francois

We’ve already encountered, and, through the accounts of Walid and Nasser, you’ve already read about, the policies of colonization in Jerusalem. Mahmoud, a tall, strapping man, around fifty years old, offers us his vision of “a human being born in Jerusalem”, a rather particular guided visit during which historical, social, architectural and political reflections are jumbled together. For all is jumbled together in the heart of these 4 kilometers of ramparts, which surround the two square kilometers of the most revered and problematic land in the world. Today there are 24,000 Musilms, 7,000 Christians and 3,000 Jews here with, as neighbors, the rest of the world. In the space of two hours, we traverse Indian, Afghani, Gipsy, French, Italian and African territories… Somewhere between the 7 Gates of Jerusalem and the 14 Stations of the Cross, Mahmoud shows us an Arab sports ground coveted by the Israelis for the construction of a colony… He explains to us the ways and means used to achieve this, the most commonly used being blocking building permits (for Arabs, an average of a 10 year wait and a cost of $35,000 for 100² meters) plus exorbitant taxes on pain of expropriation.

We finish our visit at his house, in the African section, just in front of one of the entrees to the Esplanade of the Mosques. Here we meet his old friend Ali, whose richness of parole and whose analyses reflect a life of commitment paid for with 17 years of prison. He is without illusions concerning present French and European politics, and is rather disappointed in Obama… and convinced that the third Intifada is not far off, in two or three years he says, because the Israelis are stupid enough to provoke the Palestinian’s despair. And despair is dangerous. Mahmoud also shares this idea, based on facts – yesterday, right here, in the street in front of his house, youngsters affronted Israeli soldiers – shots were fired, people were wounded… We leave Mahmoud’s house. In the neighboring street, groups of tourists tranquilly pass by, totally oblivious.

In the everyday Hell that’s Hebron…

by Estelle and Jean-Francois

Our group is a bunch of chatterboxes. Nevertheless, yesterday, coming back from Hebron, nobody opened his mouth. We were all of us reliving a hard, hard day.

And yet we arrived relaxed in this West Bank city, at around 11:30, with no other program than to meet a certain Hashem Al-Azzeh, who we knew nothing about, at 1:30. So we had plenty of time to wander around the souk (the old marketplace). However, as soon as we set foot in the Old Town, a certain Saïd came up to us and proposed to show us the true face of this city. Following him up to the top of an old stone building where he lives with 10 other families, we discovered, in fact, a completely different city. On this roof, the water tanks, which are so very important for the families, are all shot full of holes or filled with dirt. On the rooftops of several neighboring buildings, Israeli soldiers are on the lookout. The house is surrounded.

On the street level, Saïd shows us also the reality of the omnipresent checkpoints (a total of 700 in the city), the extremely numerous streets blocked off with barbed wire, the netting strung up over our heads to protect the pedestrians from rocks and garbage thrown down by the colonists living in the buildings on the upper floors… Even the very touristy “Tomb of the Patriarchs” has now two entrees – one for Jews and one for Muslims. This is the reality of colonization in the very heart of the city, established progressively since the end of the seventies, legitimized by the Oslo Accords in 1993. Effectively, from this date, the city is officially divided into two zones – H1 under Palestinian administration, H2, Israeli – knowing that, since then, Israel is keen to increase the security of the accesses to the H2 zones by nibbling away little by little at the strategic points in the H1 zones.

Hashem lives in one of the H2 zones, a neighborhood where 350 families once lived. From 2000 to 2003, seeing as many families refused to leave this zone in spite of the pressure put on them, a generalized curfew was organized. The families cannot go out from their houses for more than one hour per MONTH (authentic; I verified this) to do their shopping. Today, there are only 50 families left. Entire streets are empty, the entranceways to the shops welded shut.

Hashem’s family has the misfortune to live 10 meters away from the house of Barukh Merzel, the international leader of the Jewish Defense League, an extremist movement that covers the walls of Hebron with the slogan “Gas all the Arabs”. 600 colonists live in Hebron. 4,000 military troops of the Golani regiment, one the most radical in the Israeli Army, assure their security. Hashem shows us a video of young colonists, barely older than children, attacking, first verbally, and then throwing rocks, at a group of Arab schoolchildren on their way to class. The only thing the army, which was there watching, did was to push away the schoolteacher. He also showed us the film of 50 families being attacked last December – hordes of colonists attacking their houses under the complaisant eye of the army, burning them down, bashing out teeth. He shows us also his house, just under the extremist colony. The barbed wire, the washing machine thrown into his garden, his grapevines and his olive trees sprayed with toxic substances, the extremely steep path he’s forced to take now that the street to his house has been closed off. He recounts to us how the colonists are menacing his family, how they’ve attacked his wife twice, while she was pregnant, causing two miscarriages; how his nephew, who was caught by a band of colonists, had his teeth bashed in with rocks. We’re all sickened and have tears in our eyes.

When we ask him what makes him keep going on, his answer is direct – “I believe in my rights, I lost everything already in ’48, and I don’t want to lose what I’ve rebuilt”. He believes also in peace, with one single laic State, open for all but expelling from its borders those who, like his extremist neighbor, want to establish their religion as a universal standard. Effectively, Hashem is well-placed to measure the impossibility and the abuses of the two-state solution, advocated by the Oslo Accords. To put forward this idea of a unique and laic State, in 2006 he founded, with 10 other activists, a “Party for Peace and Justice” which today has 15,000 members. One day, maybe, the voice of this party will be heard along with the Hamas and the Fatah.

But for now, Hashem needs support. The support of internationals who, by their very presence, have saved lives and homes several times. The support – he insists heavily on this point – of human rights organizations which, by their presence and by daily reports of a delegate – and not quick visits every six months – can help them expose these violent acts to the International Court of Human Rights. He is willing also, with some financial help for the voyage, to give testimony in France… Because he wants to be able to testify in front of all the world to what many people have no idea of, to what certain people don’t want to see and to what, this night, we have a very hard time supporting – that, in this autumn, Hell is surely situated in Hebron.

A quick visit to the Union of Agricultural Workers Committees offices

The UAWC is not a union but an NGO created by agronomists. They have constituted local agricultural committees. They are working on:

 regional development
 jobs and working conditions for women
 training classes for farmers
 raising the farmer’s incomes, notably for those working on dehydrated medicinal plants, olive oil and a fair-trade network

 a tree nursery and a work station for tractors

Meeting with an Israeli anti-colonialist activist

by Raymond

This Friday October 30th, the two CCIPPP missions, the 156th and the Agrexco mission, were received at the offices of the AIC (Alternative Information Center) for a reunion with Michel Warchawsky, before leaving for Bil’in.

To expand our knowledge on three subjects:

  The currant political stance of Netanyahu and his relations with the U.S. and especially with Obama.

  The evolution of the Israeli anti-colonialists vis-à-vis the BDS Boycott Disinvestment Sanctions campaign.

  AGREXCO and its repercussions.

The Israeli government is opposed to any transfer of occupied territory, therefore no question of returning to the 1967 situation. During these last 15 years, the neo-conservatives in the U.S. have been merging their politics with the neo-conservatives of Israel.

Bush has oriented U.S. foreign affairs headlong into considerable problems, sparking off wars that can only multiply. For the U.S., it is worth it to occupy Iraq because this pleases Iran. The U.S. cannot, for the moment, but have an aggressive discourse towards Iran. This country is in a strategically key position – it can block petroleum products in the Red Sea and has the capability to strike Tel Aviv, and it has a worldwide support network.

It would be difficult for Israel to beak off relations with the U.S.; nevertheless, Netanyahu dreams of attacking Iran but he doesn’t have general agreement either with the military or with the politicians.

But Israel seems pressed for time; Obama symbolizes the defeat of the American neo-conservatives. There is therefore a conflict between these two men, who don’t like each other. For Obama, Netanyahu is a carbon copy of Bush.

Israel is looking to destabilize Obama, using as a pretext his family affairs.

The American neo-conservatives want to return to power; they’re ready to make alliances with the fundamentalists, notably the evangelists.

However, with the economic crisis, everyone wants to put a stop to this unbridled neo-liberalism.

If relations between the U.S. and Israel are at a low point, they still have a strategic alliance that will continue for a long time.

When Washington gave the order to suspend the colonization, Netanyahu refused and didn’t even bother with negotiating. Netanyahu believes Obama will be gone in three years; he’s even taking the risk of displeasing the American people.

At this moment, Obama is showing weakness; after having surged ahead, he is retreating, he’s lost much of his confidence. He’s rapidly lost many gains he made with the Arab states, the hopes he aroused with the tone of his Cairo speech. We are thus going to be able to measure the puissance of the Israeli lobby, which is not as strong as what people think.

For Michel Warchawsky, the BDS campaign is one of the best things that have come about since a long time; it’s the first offensive strategy.

The BDS campaign actually started in 2007, and in two years it’s taken on an international dimension. The Palestinian Authority, however, is still not conscious of its potential influence. There is therefore no national strategy. The national leadership is not offensive; as a result they don’t take advantage of this campaign. The civil society can make use of it – this is the first phase of the campaign.

The BDS campaign is now established; it must be improved – there is a need for international exchanges, also for the means of bringing it into public consciousness and of how to make it heard. Agrexco, for example, is not just French. The call for boycotting, for disinvestment and for sanctions dates from 2005 and is Palestinian. The Palestinians claim their responsibility to head it. But any initiative is welcomed. The debates have changed since Seattle and the first social forums.

We must expect a counteroffensive be ready for it. There is a need to let the successes be known.

The BDS campaign in Israel is slow to get started, it is difficult to boycott here. Israeli activists can be spokesmen, they give legitimacy to the movement, and they cannot be accused of anti-Semitism. There’s a small problem with certain Israelis who would like to take control of the movement; but it’s not for them to fix the agenda.

Such a campaign has to be supple and must welcome any and all initiatives.

The AIC can help the campaign concerning the Agrexco Company, as it has experts that can enable us to have a better understanding of the company.

The Intifada of the Wall

by Jaume

The Damas Gate, bus #18 (we’re starting to know how to get about).

We pass through the checkpoint with no difficulty – we’re not controlled going through in the Israel-Palestinian Territories direction – it’s logical, Israel is “protecting itself” from Palestinians entering on “its” territory.

Ramallah – everybody off the bus. To get to Bil’in, we negotiate with the taxi drivers – this is a habitual ritual – they discuss among themselves before proposing a taxi with 8 places when we’re 9 of us and bigger taxis are parked right next to them. The taxi drivers must have relations among themselves which obey obscure rules that escape us.

It’s raining! Since we arrived here, this is the first time it’s really rained. We are very happy for the soil, which is surely extremely thirsty.

After several stops to ask directions because obviously our driver doesn’t know where the village is, the road comes out onto a hillcrest. We have a dominant view; we can see in all directions – the barbed wire serpent snaking around on the hillside, the army vehicles, the soldiers, their silhouettes thickened by their bulletproof vests and the teenagers broken up into several groups, throwing rocks. There’s no lack of rocks in this countryside, just as there’s no lack of anger on the part of the rock-throwers. Derisory rocks against an over-equipped army.

Most of the people assembled, at least a hundred demonstrators, mostly young folks, with a good number of internationals, are massed in front of the iron wall that blocks off the road. Grenade-launchers blasting away, the projectiles are flying everywhere, we’re coughing and we’re crying rivers of tears. Some of us better equipped (glasses, gas-masks, handkerchiefs etc.) throw the smoking grenades back where they came from. Slogans are shouted out – “Israel assassin”, “Israel terrorist”, “Free Palestine”, “Israel apartheid” etc.

It’s raining rainwater and tear-gas grenades. For more than five years now, every Friday, this confrontation is repeated at Bil’in.

They call it the “the Intifada of the Wall”.

October 30th 2009. Here is our fourth and last message for our stay in Palestine

Here’s hoping you’ve appreciated sharing this voyage with us a little, not always exactly cheerful but so very “stirring”…

Tomorrow, we’ll be doing a little touristy side trip to wet our feet in the Dead Sea and then, again, we’ll be experiencing the joys of passing through paranoiac Israeli border controls. See you all soon!

The six of us from Mission 156

Translated from french by William PETERSON