Report on the last few days in Palestine
Friday July 13: Most of the day was spent at Siraj Center where we met a lot
of active volunteers as well as visitors and participants in the Palestinian
Summer Celebration (see http://www.sirajcenter.org/). We also started to
plan the projects and schedules for the next three weeks. We did take time
to visit Bethlehem University ( http://www.bethlehem.edu/) established by the
Catholics in Palestine but open to people of all faiths. A majority of its
students are Muslim and it has over 50% female students. We stopped by to
visit research and teaching centers. As a medical geneticist, I was
impressed that it was able to accomplish much in the fields of molecular
biology, biotechnology, and genetics all despite the occupation, the
limitations on movements etc.
Saturday July 14: Jet lag made us wake up early at 4 AM and we watched a
documentary broadcast on Palestine TV on the life and struggles of famed
Palestinian writer and artist Ghassan Kanafani done for the 35th anniversary
of his assassination (see http://www.qumsiyeh.org/ghassankanafani/ ). We
then toured my hometown of Beit Sahour meeting many old friends and family
members, eating some great Palestinian food at my sister's home. We stopped
by Maan News agency (http://www.maannews.net/) and we will be developing
some collaborative media projects. They have a huge collections of
photographs and video of life and of events in Palestine. In the evening we
attended a program at the Palestine Heritage Center (see
http://www.palestinianheritage center.com/ ). The center was established in
1991 by Maha Saca who is doing a great work in promoting awareness of the
rich Palestinian heritage that goes back thousands of years. Visitors
experience traditional embroidery that is unique to many localities to music
to food to folkloric dances to Zajal (Palestinian Arab melodic poems) and on
and on. In attendance at this event were many members of the Bethlehem
Association (http://www.bethlehemassoc.org/) from the US. Palestinian
Children from Dheisheh Refugee Camp danced the dabka. Village women cooked
classic Arabic Shrak Saj (thin bread on metal over fired coals), Arabic
Coffee, thyme, olive oil and on and on. Poets and artists played classical
instruments, improvised musical poetry (Zajal, in one poem about the need
for those in exile and diaspora to return). It was a beautiful evening and
we made lots of new friends as well as renewing acquaintances with older
friends. Later at night we went to a wedding party which had over 200 people
packed in a hall with good food, drinks, music, and dancing.
Sunday July 15: Still got up early at 4 AM (Jet lag) but managed to go back
to sleep a couple of hours. Then on to visit the abandoned Israeli military
camp in Beit Sahour that is now being developed into a community area for
the town that when finished will house a playground (already partially
built), a nature center, a restaurant, an outdoor theater, a public garden,
and much more. (We need to raise funds for this). Then we visited the
Palestine Wildlife Society for conversation about their previous great
projects that involved education and conservation. Visit their website to
see http://www.wildlife-pal.org I was particularly impressed with their
impact on the Palestinian curriculum. The "Health and Environment" track is
taught in all public schools and it includes things almost like classic
social science classes in the US but a lot more practical things that helps
people survive, know more about themselves and their environment (and here I
use this term in the widest possible sense). In terms of future projects,
we talked about expanding programs of bringing Palestinian children
awareness of their heritage and their environment. We talked about bringing
US students to Palestine and we talked about networking with the Wheels of
Justice (see http://justicewheels.org ). Late afternoon was spent in
conversations with locals (political and other issues) and night at a social
gathering in the "Tent Restaurant" (yes it is under a very large tent). Then
a formal wedding ceremony in Bethlehem.
Monday July 16: We went back to Bethlehem University and discussed more
details with the Dean of Science possible project development. My wife also
talked with the Business school about getting a job there although we are
still unsure how we can get her to stay here as the Israeli occupation
forces are making life very difficult for souses of Palestinians to live
here (they gave her a three month "tourist visa" last time and a one month
visa this time). We then went to visit Hebron old city. Along the way from
Bethlehem to Hebron we witnessed the extent of the growth of the illegal
colonies of the Gush Etzion block (Gilo, Har Gilo, Efrata etc), which now
slice up and destroy the ancient landscape. The ugly concrete buildings,
modernized highways and bypass roads (not open to Palestinians) create a
surreal situation where native Palestinians and Israeli settlers live in two
different worlds yet share the same tiny landscape. A settler can literally
live in subsidized western style house built on stolen Palestinian land less
than a mile from the poor native neighborhoods and villages of places like
AlKhader and Beit Ummar (and that settler can do so and drive to Western
Jerusalem without ever seeing the victims or noticing their plight). This
is the season of fruits and vegetables in Palestine. Many of the villagers
still try to sell the products from their dwindling lands on the side of the
roads or in shops. But this brings much less money than in the old days
when they were free to move and sell their products in large cities like
Jerusalem or Jaffa or Nablus (or even to other countries). Life is slowly
being squeezed out of these areas while the cancer of the settlements built
on Palestinian lands grows ever more destructively. The old city of Hebron
near the Ibrahim Mosque (the mosque of Abraham) is just as abandoned as it
was last year. Most shops are closed. Tens of thousands of local
Palestinians (and thousands of foreigners) used flock to this busy
commercial district until the few extremist Israeli settlers (with Israeli
government support and protection) literally just moved in uninvited. They
took over whole buildings or in some cases upper floors. They go on
rampages making life impossible for the native Palestinians. From the upper
story rooms they squat in, they through trash at shops and pedestrians
below. They routinely shot and destroyed shops. Thus some 400-500 colonial
racists (under the protective eye of over 5000 Israeli occupation soldiers,
many of them from the settlements) control the lives and destroyed the
livelihoods of tens of thousands of native Palestinians. It is as if
400-500 KKK members where put in the middle of Harlem and were given
permission and protection (with 5000 White soldiers) to do what they want
with the black population. Anyway, we were successful to cross one
checkpoint (with two metal turnstiles and metal detectors) but not allowed
into the Ibrahimi mosque at the second checkpoint by a squad of Israeli
soldiers. We went back to the old alleys of Hebron (the ones with mostly
closed shops) did some shopping at the few open shops to encourage their
trades and witnessed an aggressive squad of soldiers file through the narrow
ally pointing their guns at people (including us) as they moved briskly
towards the mosque.
Later, I gave a talk to some Palestinians in Hebron on the situation in the
US, on BDS (Boycotts, Divestments, Sanctions) and we exchanged views on what
can and should be done to bring peace with justice. 80% of the males and
30% of the females in this audience did time in Israeli jails (political
prisoners, many without ever being charged with any crime). Statistics
show that > 1 million Palestinians have served time in Israeli jails (in
Gaza and the West Bank half the people between ages 25-55 served jail time).
Anyways, one of the ideas the audience came up with is organizing a summer
camp for young Palestinians to include half from the occupied areas and half
from Palestinians in diaspora.
As I sit and write this, the sounds of the call to evening prayers and other
people hustle in the streets to go home for family and dinners reminding us
that despite all difficulties, life goes on and opportunities abound.
To be continued later this week.
Mazin Qumsiyeh
http://qumsiyeh.org
"Assay the power you have; our doubts make traitors of us all."
Shakespeare
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