Palestine: The Return
Last winter I spent 5 weeks in the occupied West Bank, monitoring and reporting on human rights abuses, accompanying farmers picking their olives (and picking some myself!), attending demonstrations and learning more about what life is like under an occupation. Oh, and learning some VERY useful Arabic along the way (e.g. "mish moshqilla, ankaboot" - "no worries, spider"). I found it...captivating. Unfortunately, Palestinians find it literally captivating and while I was free to leave after five weeks, they remained under Israeli Occupation.
Because of this, it seems that the five weeks merely whetted my appetite to learn more (about human rights and occupation, not JUST slightly useless Arabic) and to try to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. I therefore find myself at this moment full of falafel, listening to the the call-to-prayer from a Mosque nearby and feeling the rather sweltering heat of Ramallah in the summer-time.
I will be here for three months - during the first, I have the excellent company of GB*. We will be spending this time with the International Solidarity Movement. ISM is a non-violent Palestine solidarity activist group, led by Palestinians, working in areas like Hebron and Nablus. After this month, GB will continue his travels outside of Palestine, and I will continue mine here in the West Bank - up to Deir Istiya to volunteer again with the excellent International Women's Peace Service. I'll be blogging along the way.
I'm not going to write a whole history of the Occupation here, so if you want some background information on the situation, you can have a look at the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions page here, and Amnesty International's human rights reports on Palestine here for starters. Rest assured that (unfortunately) I'm preeeeeetty sure I'll be talking about specific examples of abuses, the history and the Occupation in future blogs.
I'm not going to write a whole history of the Occupation here, so if you want some background information on the situation, you can have a look at the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions page here, and Amnesty International's human rights reports on Palestine here for starters. Rest assured that (unfortunately) I'm preeeeeetty sure I'll be talking about specific examples of abuses, the history and the Occupation in future blogs.
So - experiences on the journey so far. On Monday, we flew into Ben Gurion airport and got through border control with no trouble except some rather scathing looks ("yeaaaah, we're really looking forward to the beaches. Yeaaaah." - seriously, we are excellent dumb tourists.) Israel has a policy of interrogating and deporting anyone they suspect of being a Palestine solidarity activist, so we were quite lucky with this.
Stayed one night in Tel Aviv. The hostel was full of tourists who seemed to be totally ignorant to the fact that they are visiting a place which has been compared to visiting South Africa during Apartheid (maybe they have also invented time machines and this is next on the hols list??). I find this particularly hard to deal with, but with a major lack of accurate, unbiased and from-the-ground reporting on Palestine, the Pro-Israeli stance that many news outlets take, and Israel's own propaganda machine, it's actually hardly surprising that some people think that partying in Tel Aviv is an acceptable way to spend their summer.
Next had an amble about Jerusalem. Palestinians from the West Bank need an Israeli permit to visit the city and the Muslim holy site there, Al-Aqsa mosque - however, these are rarely granted by the Israeli government, and when they are, it seems to be kind of at random. Being an International here makes me realise again and again my privileges and freedoms - I remember speaking to a Palestinian man last time I was in the West Bank - he told me that he had been granted permission to go to Jerusalem once, many years before, and had never allowed to visit since. He told me that instead, he would purposefully drive down a particular road in the West Bank and get out of his car at a particular point where he knew he could catch a glimpse of Jerusalem in the distance. A rather poor replacement.
Stayed one night in Tel Aviv. The hostel was full of tourists who seemed to be totally ignorant to the fact that they are visiting a place which has been compared to visiting South Africa during Apartheid (maybe they have also invented time machines and this is next on the hols list??). I find this particularly hard to deal with, but with a major lack of accurate, unbiased and from-the-ground reporting on Palestine, the Pro-Israeli stance that many news outlets take, and Israel's own propaganda machine, it's actually hardly surprising that some people think that partying in Tel Aviv is an acceptable way to spend their summer.
Next had an amble about Jerusalem. Palestinians from the West Bank need an Israeli permit to visit the city and the Muslim holy site there, Al-Aqsa mosque - however, these are rarely granted by the Israeli government, and when they are, it seems to be kind of at random. Being an International here makes me realise again and again my privileges and freedoms - I remember speaking to a Palestinian man last time I was in the West Bank - he told me that he had been granted permission to go to Jerusalem once, many years before, and had never allowed to visit since. He told me that instead, he would purposefully drive down a particular road in the West Bank and get out of his car at a particular point where he knew he could catch a glimpse of Jerusalem in the distance. A rather poor replacement.
Then on to Ramallah, for the ISM training to prepare us for the month ahead, as well as much falafel. I have also FINALLY learned the numbers 11-20 in Arabic (thanks GB) and therefore will no longer have to only purchase things which cost less than 10 shekels. EXCELLENT. Tomorrow we plan to go to the regular Friday demonstration of the village of Nil'in - in solidarity with their struggle against The Wall cutting into their land, and to document any human rights abuses.
So, to bed for me, and over and out for now.
So, to bed for me, and over and out for now.
*For the purposes of not being caught by Mossad, 'GB' shall be known by this very sneaky nickname.
big hello to GB enjoying the code name might get one in the UK just for funsies x
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