Well, here I am back in Brooklyn, trying to readjust to American society. I am newly appreciative of the privileges of my life, like how my pipes are better than those in the West Bank so I can flush toilet paper instead of putting it in a trash can next to the toilet, and like how I have enough water to take as many showers as I want and do my laundry whenever. But even though I am enjoying these things, I am unsettled. Everyone should have these things. Water is not a luxury. Electricity is not a luxury. Safety and freedom of movement should not be a luxury.
Coming back into my everyday life means that I am no longer surrounded by people who agree that Palestinians are experiencing huge injustices and that something must be done to change this. I look forward to engaging with people and being challenged on my beliefs, but I am not coming away from this trip with a sense of authority. I do not think that I have all the answers; I just know that I saw unspeakable injustices, dehumanization, and racism and that there is a power imbalance between Israelis and Palestinians that is unconscionable. I am coming away with Dunya's (a leader of the trip) words in my head: "There can't be peace without justice."
I am reentering my life with the knowledge that my government funds the occupation of Palestine and that the tax dollars and complacency of me and my communities makes this occupation possible. I feel a responsibility to the dozens of people who took time out of their lives and opened themselves and their families up in order to show me the injustices being done in Palestine. I owe it to them and to myself to do something with this knowledge. Some projects I plan to work on are to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel, continue educating myself and my community, fundraise for groups working against the occupation, and learn Arabic. I also plan to keep working against injustice here in the US because it is easy to criticize a society and a government that is not my own, but there are so many injustices going on within this country that I am also implicated in... If anyone wants more info on Palestinian solidarity projects in the US or wants to work together on anything with me, let me know.
There are many things that happened on my trip that I did not get a chance to email about. I'll give a short description of one here:
We had a teleconference with Gaza Community Mental Health Program. They talked about the trauma that their community and especially the children in their community are experiencing because of the terrible conditions there. Since Israel pulled out of Gaza it has been like prison, with Israel and Egypt not allowing people to cross freely through their borders, around 65% of people living in poverty, 40-65% unemployment (different numbers from different sources), and most people relying on international aid which has now been cut off. A women who works for the Mental Health Program told us some heartbreaking stories which have really stuck in my mind. She told us about a child in Gaza who asked his parent, "Please hide me back in your abdomen. Can I get back in your womb?" She described how when there is danger you have to move people to safety, but there is nowhere safe to move people to in Gaza. She said that she can't tell the children she meets with that they will be safe because she does not know that they will and she cannot give them false assurances. The mental health workers sounded like they felt so isolated and deserted; when I asked what they wanted from us listeners one employee said, "Just tell the truth. That's all. Tell the truth about what you have heard." This is what I am trying to do.
I plan on doing a report back where I talk a bit about my trip, answer questions, and have some discussion of these issues, so look out for that soon. Also I have posted my emails on a blog at http://mytriptopalestine.blogspot.com if you want to forward it to anyone. Thanks a million to everyone who read my emails and to everyone who wrote me responses. As always, I'm open to your thoughts and criticism. Take care,
<3 rachel
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Email #5: Growing up
Wow. I have seen so much and I want to take everyone of you and to listen and see and participate in it all. I cannot yet wrap my head around the information and stories that I have been so lucky to hear, so instead of trying to give you a sense of everything, I will tell you the story of yesterday.
We drove from Ramallah to the Sulfit district of the West Bank. On the drive we saw the wall snaking through farmland and we saw the way that it was being constructed in order to grab as much land and water as possible, rather than to separate Israel from the West Bank.
In the morning we met with Issa Suf, a non-violent activist who was shot 6 years ago and paralyzed from the waist down. He had left his house to warn the children of the village that soldiers were coming and was shot in the back. Today he works to stop violence within the Palestinian community and to promote non-violent Palestinian activism. He talked about how living under occupation has caused an increase in stress and psychological problems for Palestininians and has increased violence within the community. Some of his words really stuck with me: "It is a time to build justice, not peace. Peace must be built on justice or it will not work."
He, as well as the other activists I have met talked about acknolwdging Israeli and Jewish rights as well as Palestinian rights. He talked about equality.
Later we went to visit the house of Munira and Hani Amer. I have never seen anything like this house. It is located in the village of Mas'ha. The Israeli army built the separation wall (also called the apartheid wall, the separation barrier, the fence, depending who you are talking to) between the Palestinian village of Mas'ha and the neighboring Israeli settlment. Keep in mind that this settlement is illegal under international law, as I was talking about in my last email.
Anyways, the settlers did not want the wall too near to their houses because, of course, the wall is very ugly, so the army decided to build it on the other side of Munira and Hani's house, thus putting their house on the side of the settlement. Palestinians are not allowed on most roads that settlers use, and are prevented from entering settlements, so the army planned to destroy the family's house that Hani had built himself and lived in for over 30 years with his family.
International activism and the family's resistance resulted in the house not being demolished, but the wall was still built so as to cut off Hani and his family from their village, and the house was completely surrounded by fencing, the wall, and barbed wire. He was, after much effort, given a key to get through the wall and onto the side that the village is on, but there is a constant presence of soldiers and settlers around his house and they often harrass the family. The most heartbreaking thing to me was that his children are growing up literally fenced in on all sides, afraid to move around when the soldiers are there, and afraid to leave the house at night. His young son is traumatized by the situation and cannot interact normally with people. One day he ducked under the soldiers gate and started running towards the settlement. His mother yelled and yelled for him to come back but he wouldn't and the soldiers would not let her go get him. When eventually the soldiers returned him to his family they blamed Hani for letting his son run through the gat.
It broke my heart. No one should grow up like this. This is not childhood.
I have to run. I love you all.
Rachel
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Email #4: Here I am in Bethlehem
Hello friends and family! I am sorry that it has been so long since I have written. I am now on the Birthright Unplugged trip (http://www.birthrightunplugged.org/), which has been intense and amazing but which has left me with no time. Rather than trying to tell you everything that has been going on I will just tell you about part of the past few days and some things that have really made me think.
I spent the past two nights staying with a family from the Daheisha refugee camp which is located in the West Bank near Bethlehem. They now live across the street from the camp in the Doha neighborhood. I stayed there with my new friend Deb and from the minute that we walked in the door they were so welcoming, making us the most delicious food, showing us wedding pictures, showing us pictures of Zakariyya (the village that their grandparents are from and were expelled from in 1948), and playing with their children together.
Despite the good times we had and the generosity of the family, their lives are hard. The father used to work in '48 (Israel), but his now no longer able to travel there. They say that it is hard for their kids because they cannot take them on trips; they just go back and forth between Daheisha and Doha, which are across the street from each other. Not to mention that they live under occupation with over crowded schools, curfews at the whim of the Israeli military, checkpoints, no playgrounds or sports fields...the list could go on and on.
A big problem is that the family often times does not have water. Israel controls all of the water delivery in the West Bank and there are no pipes to people's houses in Daheisha and Doha. This means that water must be delivered to large water containers on roofs by trucks. The Palestinian Authority delivers the water but it comes from the Israeli government and it is often not delivered on time.
The family ran out of water the first night that we were there. They had some jugs full of water but the water was not nearly adequate for the bathing, drinking, cooking, cleaning, and showering needs of the family. Also, keep in mind that this is a desert, with very hot weather. Despite the little water the family offered that we could take showers from buckets, which we of course refused.
This morning we exchanged some gifts (I got some hot pink pants which i wore today) and said our goodbyes. The Birthright Unplugged group then headed to the Ma'ale Adummim settlement. This a Jewish settlement in the middle of the West Bank. The West Bank is Palestinian land which is currently occupied by the Israeli army. It is illegal according to international law for civilians to settle on occupied land, but there are hundreds (I will get back to you with an exact number-I am in a rush) of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. These settlements come are under the security of the Israeli army and have special roads connecting them that Palestinians are not allowed to use. They thus not only take over Palestinian land, but also divide the West Bank and limit the movement of Palestinians.
Being in Ma'ale Adummim blew my mind. I had just left a place where there was not enough water to flush the toilet regularly and now I was in a place nearby where there were palm trees lining the road, green grass, flowers, shopping malls. THIS IS A DESERT! WE ARE IN THE WEST BANK! Palm trees usually grow next to an oasis in the desert because they use so much water; grass has no natural place in the desert; the people I had just been staying with had no space for a garden, but here I saw illegal settlers using 40 times more resources than the people who rightfully live on the West Bank. I was outraged.
This is just one small part of the things I am seeing and learning. I will send more later. There is also much hope and positive action. I love you all and hope all is well for you.",1]
The family ran out of water the first night that we were there. They had some jugs full of water but the water was not nearly adequate for the bathing, drinking, cooking, cleaning, and showering needs of the family. Also, keep in mind that this is a desert, with very hot weather. Despite the little water the family offered that we could take showers from buckets, which we of course refused.
This morning we exchanged some gifts (I got some hot pink pants which i wore today) and said our goodbyes. The Birthright Unplugged group then headed to the Ma'ale Adummim settlement. This a Jewish settlement in the middle of the West Bank. The West Bank is Palestinian land which is currently occupied by the Israeli army. It is illegal according to international law for civilians to settle on occupied land, but there are hundreds (I will get back to you with an exact number-I am in a rush) of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. These settlements come are under the security of the Israeli army and have special roads connecting them that Palestinians are not allowed to use. They thus not only take over Palestinian land, but also divide the West Bank and limit the movement of Palestinians.
Being in Ma'ale Adummim blew my mind. I had just left a place where there was not enough water to flush the toilet regularly and now I was in a place nearby where there were palm trees lining the road, green grass, flowers, shopping malls. THIS IS A DESERT! WE ARE IN THE WEST BANK! Palm trees usually grow next to an oasis in the desert because they use so much water; grass has no natural place in the desert; the people I had just been staying with had no space for a garden, but here I saw illegal settlers using 40 times more resources than the people who rightfully live on the West Bank. I was outraged.
This is just one small part of the things I am seeing and learning. I will send more later. There is also much hope and positive action. I love you all and hope all is well for you.
xo, Rachel
I spent the past two nights staying with a family from the Daheisha refugee camp which is located in the West Bank near Bethlehem. They now live across the street from the camp in the Doha neighborhood. I stayed there with my new friend Deb and from the minute that we walked in the door they were so welcoming, making us the most delicious food, showing us wedding pictures, showing us pictures of Zakariyya (the village that their grandparents are from and were expelled from in 1948), and playing with their children together.
Despite the good times we had and the generosity of the family, their lives are hard. The father used to work in '48 (Israel), but his now no longer able to travel there. They say that it is hard for their kids because they cannot take them on trips; they just go back and forth between Daheisha and Doha, which are across the street from each other. Not to mention that they live under occupation with over crowded schools, curfews at the whim of the Israeli military, checkpoints, no playgrounds or sports fields...the list could go on and on.
A big problem is that the family often times does not have water. Israel controls all of the water delivery in the West Bank and there are no pipes to people's houses in Daheisha and Doha. This means that water must be delivered to large water containers on roofs by trucks. The Palestinian Authority delivers the water but it comes from the Israeli government and it is often not delivered on time.
The family ran out of water the first night that we were there. They had some jugs full of water but the water was not nearly adequate for the bathing, drinking, cooking, cleaning, and showering needs of the family. Also, keep in mind that this is a desert, with very hot weather. Despite the little water the family offered that we could take showers from buckets, which we of course refused.
This morning we exchanged some gifts (I got some hot pink pants which i wore today) and said our goodbyes. The Birthright Unplugged group then headed to the Ma'ale Adummim settlement. This a Jewish settlement in the middle of the West Bank. The West Bank is Palestinian land which is currently occupied by the Israeli army. It is illegal according to international law for civilians to settle on occupied land, but there are hundreds (I will get back to you with an exact number-I am in a rush) of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. These settlements come are under the security of the Israeli army and have special roads connecting them that Palestinians are not allowed to use. They thus not only take over Palestinian land, but also divide the West Bank and limit the movement of Palestinians.
Being in Ma'ale Adummim blew my mind. I had just left a place where there was not enough water to flush the toilet regularly and now I was in a place nearby where there were palm trees lining the road, green grass, flowers, shopping malls. THIS IS A DESERT! WE ARE IN THE WEST BANK! Palm trees usually grow next to an oasis in the desert because they use so much water; grass has no natural place in the desert; the people I had just been staying with had no space for a garden, but here I saw illegal settlers using 40 times more resources than the people who rightfully live on the West Bank. I was outraged.
This is just one small part of the things I am seeing and learning. I will send more later. There is also much hope and positive action. I love you all and hope all is well for you.",1]
The family ran out of water the first night that we were there. They had some jugs full of water but the water was not nearly adequate for the bathing, drinking, cooking, cleaning, and showering needs of the family. Also, keep in mind that this is a desert, with very hot weather. Despite the little water the family offered that we could take showers from buckets, which we of course refused.
This morning we exchanged some gifts (I got some hot pink pants which i wore today) and said our goodbyes. The Birthright Unplugged group then headed to the Ma'ale Adummim settlement. This a Jewish settlement in the middle of the West Bank. The West Bank is Palestinian land which is currently occupied by the Israeli army. It is illegal according to international law for civilians to settle on occupied land, but there are hundreds (I will get back to you with an exact number-I am in a rush) of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. These settlements come are under the security of the Israeli army and have special roads connecting them that Palestinians are not allowed to use. They thus not only take over Palestinian land, but also divide the West Bank and limit the movement of Palestinians.
Being in Ma'ale Adummim blew my mind. I had just left a place where there was not enough water to flush the toilet regularly and now I was in a place nearby where there were palm trees lining the road, green grass, flowers, shopping malls. THIS IS A DESERT! WE ARE IN THE WEST BANK! Palm trees usually grow next to an oasis in the desert because they use so much water; grass has no natural place in the desert; the people I had just been staying with had no space for a garden, but here I saw illegal settlers using 40 times more resources than the people who rightfully live on the West Bank. I was outraged.
This is just one small part of the things I am seeing and learning. I will send more later. There is also much hope and positive action. I love you all and hope all is well for you.
xo, Rachel
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Email #3: My time at Daheisha continues
Hello again friends and family! I have made my emails into a blog in case you want to send this info to others or in case you don't want to be overwhelmed with a lot of long emails
http://mytriptopalestine.blogspot.com/
Today was the second day that I taught in the Circus camp. I am getting better at getting the kids to follow directions and it is great to get the kids working together. Also, it is really good that the camp is happening because there is little else for the kids here to do here. As my friend Rosi pointed out, there are no playgrounds, no sports teams, and no sports fields.
I could write so much more but it has been a long day and I want to spend some time with the family instead of just being glued to this computer screen. I am sending my love to you all,
Rachel
http://mytriptopalestine.blogspot.com/
Today was the second day that I taught in the Circus camp. I am getting better at getting the kids to follow directions and it is great to get the kids working together. Also, it is really good that the camp is happening because there is little else for the kids here to do here. As my friend Rosi pointed out, there are no playgrounds, no sports teams, and no sports fields.
I could write so much more but it has been a long day and I want to spend some time with the family instead of just being glued to this computer screen. I am sending my love to you all,
Rachel
Email #2: Circus Camp and Privilege
Hey all, I get a little rambling and philisophical in this update; let me know if it is too much and in the future I do intend to stick more to the facts.
Well, here I am in the Daheisha refugee camp outside Bethlehem in the West Bank. I arrived two nights ago, walking past rubble, trash, make-shift stores, and concrete houses to reach the home of Abu Rabee, whose family I am staying with. I was immediately welcomed in and offerred food and tea, as I have been in every Palestinian home that I have visited. The family also welcomed me to stay there for three nights (I am paying SHIRAA for the place to stay but I am sure they would have welcomed me to stay in their home regardless). Abu Rabia's daughter, Leyana set up a mat for me in her room, which she was already sharing with another American visitor, Rosi. Abu Rabee and his wife, Najah, live with their four children in a three bedroom house, and the night I arrived, along with Rosi and me, they also had another overnight guest sleeping in the living room. The generosity and the huge amount that people here do with so few resources has completely blown my mind and has made me think differently about my own life and the ways that I can be more welcoming and generous to people.
Abu Rabia is a leader of the SHIRAA organization in the Daheisha camp, which is an amazing organization and their website is http://shiraa.org/index.htm in case you want to learn more about them or donate money to them. I have spent the past two days working at the circus summer camp that SHIRAA is running for around 50 9-15 year-old youth. There are circus trainers from Holland here and I have been helping one of the trainers teach groups of kids acrobatics which is fun and challenging. The kids are also learning to ride unicycles, use a trapeze, walk on stilts, and juggle. The kids are excited to learn, want a lot of attention, and all want to be the first to try anything.
Staying at the camp is a strange experience because the situation is so messed up here; with 87% unemployment, often no water for much of the camp, no garbage collection, poverty, few resources, restrictions on peoples' ability to travel.. but the impression that I am getting of the camp is not a depressing one because I am around amazing people doing great work here. The situation is terrible but the people I have met are doing an incredible job of trying to make their lives and the lives of those around them livable, and on top of that they are still open, generous, and welcoming to me, an American Jew.
Yesterday after the circus camp Rosi, who is from Philiadelphi and who I love already, took me to a meeting of Rabbis for Human rights in Jerusalem. In order to get there we passed through the checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. This was my first time walking through this checkpoint because until now I have taken services (like busses) the long way around to avoid going through it. It was a maze of metal gates and there were Israeli soldiers everywhere who looked to me like children carrying automatic weapons. They took one look at my US passport and waved me through. Meanwhile, Palestinians passing through needed to show visas and id cards, as well as having their hands scanned in a machine.
Rosi and I had met up with a group called Rabbis for Human Rights with the intention of helping them take profiles of Palestinian families in order to try to help stop their homes from being demolished by the Israeli army. Let me explain what I mean by this. After Israel took control of Palestine in 1948 Jerusalem was divided into two parts: West Jerusalem was mainly populated by Jews and East Jerusalem was mainly Muslim and was ruled by Jordan. In 1967 the Jerusalem municipality took over East Jerusalem but it is still moslty Palestinian.
The Jerusalem municipality and some right-wing Israeli organizations have been trying to make life as difficult as possible for Palestinians in East Jerusalem. One group, El Ad, buys up Palestinian homes and tries to bully Palestinians into selling their homes in order to move Jews into the neighborhood. People need permits to build, and the municipality rarely to never grants permits for Palestinians. Meanwhile, the Palestinian population in East Jerusalem is increasing and as people marry and have children, they need a place to live. This causes people to build without permits. The Jerusalem municipality's response is to issue home demolition orders for houses with no permits. They also issue demolition orders arbitrarily for houses that do have permits. A demolition order for a person's house means that the army could come with Catapillar tractors and destroy families homes, which often happens.
Spending time with the Rabbis for Human Rights was informative but also upsetting. Instead of taking profiles we were taken by the group to visit the Bustan Center, a Palestinian community center being built in Silwan, which is a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem. The center seems like an amzing project, but basically what the organization I was with did was stand around and make one of the leaders of the Bustan Center answer all of the group's questions about how home demolitions worked- which did not seem to be what the Bustan Center had signed up for in a visit. The whole experience seemed so exploitative, with internationals asking a barrage of questions. I tried to intervene during and also tried to talk to the people involved after, but I was left with such a disturbed feeling. The group felt like a charitable organization, not a solidarity organization, and the power dynamics had felt so imbalanced and racist to me.
On the way back to Daheisha Rosi and I had a long talk about solidarity verses charity and why we do the work that we do. I often find charity to be patronizing and exploitative and I try to do my work because I want to do it, because I have a personal stake in its success, and because I do not like things being done in my name that I do not agree with (ie US support of Israel and a state for all Jews-including me-that I see as racist).
It is so easy to write off activist organizations like Rabbis for Human Rights because I think that they are fucked up in some way or because I disagree with their politics, but if we don't make alliances how will we ever win? And if I am not the one to talk to predominately white and Jewish peace organizations like this, then who is? I want to do this work somehow without being self-righteous and also without being complacent in racism.
My experiences yesterday made me think a lot about my privileges and how to deal with them. Being able to pass so simply through the checkpoint, a barrier which my host family is not ever allowed to pass through (because they are Palestinian and above the age of 15 so are therefore not allowed into Israeli territory), made me so uncomfortable and seemed so unfair. I can walk around Jerusalem at will, I can go home to my beautiful one bedroom apartment that I live in alone, I can enter and leave this area at will, I can afford luxeries, I can see my family whenever I want.. The list could go on for pages. But what do I do with these privileges? I am still thinking about this question.. I do not want to reject these privileges; instead I want to use them carefully and hopefully use them for good. I want to influence my community and my country's goverment to help stop the injustice that I am seeing all around me. I want to make myself happy and be a productive and whole person who has the energy to fight injustice in order to make this world better for myself and others. And I want to keep learning and being challenged to live the best way that I can.
Today has been another day, with a million other things in my thoughts and I will send off this email and start the next! As always, I welcome thoughts and criticism.
Love from Palestine,
Rachel
Also, the organization I was travelling with earlier and will be travelling with later is http://www.birthrightunplugged.org/ if you want more info on that or want to donate to them.
Well, here I am in the Daheisha refugee camp outside Bethlehem in the West Bank. I arrived two nights ago, walking past rubble, trash, make-shift stores, and concrete houses to reach the home of Abu Rabee, whose family I am staying with. I was immediately welcomed in and offerred food and tea, as I have been in every Palestinian home that I have visited. The family also welcomed me to stay there for three nights (I am paying SHIRAA for the place to stay but I am sure they would have welcomed me to stay in their home regardless). Abu Rabia's daughter, Leyana set up a mat for me in her room, which she was already sharing with another American visitor, Rosi. Abu Rabee and his wife, Najah, live with their four children in a three bedroom house, and the night I arrived, along with Rosi and me, they also had another overnight guest sleeping in the living room. The generosity and the huge amount that people here do with so few resources has completely blown my mind and has made me think differently about my own life and the ways that I can be more welcoming and generous to people.
Abu Rabia is a leader of the SHIRAA organization in the Daheisha camp, which is an amazing organization and their website is http://shiraa.org/index.htm in case you want to learn more about them or donate money to them. I have spent the past two days working at the circus summer camp that SHIRAA is running for around 50 9-15 year-old youth. There are circus trainers from Holland here and I have been helping one of the trainers teach groups of kids acrobatics which is fun and challenging. The kids are also learning to ride unicycles, use a trapeze, walk on stilts, and juggle. The kids are excited to learn, want a lot of attention, and all want to be the first to try anything.
Staying at the camp is a strange experience because the situation is so messed up here; with 87% unemployment, often no water for much of the camp, no garbage collection, poverty, few resources, restrictions on peoples' ability to travel.. but the impression that I am getting of the camp is not a depressing one because I am around amazing people doing great work here. The situation is terrible but the people I have met are doing an incredible job of trying to make their lives and the lives of those around them livable, and on top of that they are still open, generous, and welcoming to me, an American Jew.
Yesterday after the circus camp Rosi, who is from Philiadelphi and who I love already, took me to a meeting of Rabbis for Human rights in Jerusalem. In order to get there we passed through the checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. This was my first time walking through this checkpoint because until now I have taken services (like busses) the long way around to avoid going through it. It was a maze of metal gates and there were Israeli soldiers everywhere who looked to me like children carrying automatic weapons. They took one look at my US passport and waved me through. Meanwhile, Palestinians passing through needed to show visas and id cards, as well as having their hands scanned in a machine.
Rosi and I had met up with a group called Rabbis for Human Rights with the intention of helping them take profiles of Palestinian families in order to try to help stop their homes from being demolished by the Israeli army. Let me explain what I mean by this. After Israel took control of Palestine in 1948 Jerusalem was divided into two parts: West Jerusalem was mainly populated by Jews and East Jerusalem was mainly Muslim and was ruled by Jordan. In 1967 the Jerusalem municipality took over East Jerusalem but it is still moslty Palestinian.
The Jerusalem municipality and some right-wing Israeli organizations have been trying to make life as difficult as possible for Palestinians in East Jerusalem. One group, El Ad, buys up Palestinian homes and tries to bully Palestinians into selling their homes in order to move Jews into the neighborhood. People need permits to build, and the municipality rarely to never grants permits for Palestinians. Meanwhile, the Palestinian population in East Jerusalem is increasing and as people marry and have children, they need a place to live. This causes people to build without permits. The Jerusalem municipality's response is to issue home demolition orders for houses with no permits. They also issue demolition orders arbitrarily for houses that do have permits. A demolition order for a person's house means that the army could come with Catapillar tractors and destroy families homes, which often happens.
Spending time with the Rabbis for Human Rights was informative but also upsetting. Instead of taking profiles we were taken by the group to visit the Bustan Center, a Palestinian community center being built in Silwan, which is a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem. The center seems like an amzing project, but basically what the organization I was with did was stand around and make one of the leaders of the Bustan Center answer all of the group's questions about how home demolitions worked- which did not seem to be what the Bustan Center had signed up for in a visit. The whole experience seemed so exploitative, with internationals asking a barrage of questions. I tried to intervene during and also tried to talk to the people involved after, but I was left with such a disturbed feeling. The group felt like a charitable organization, not a solidarity organization, and the power dynamics had felt so imbalanced and racist to me.
On the way back to Daheisha Rosi and I had a long talk about solidarity verses charity and why we do the work that we do. I often find charity to be patronizing and exploitative and I try to do my work because I want to do it, because I have a personal stake in its success, and because I do not like things being done in my name that I do not agree with (ie US support of Israel and a state for all Jews-including me-that I see as racist).
It is so easy to write off activist organizations like Rabbis for Human Rights because I think that they are fucked up in some way or because I disagree with their politics, but if we don't make alliances how will we ever win? And if I am not the one to talk to predominately white and Jewish peace organizations like this, then who is? I want to do this work somehow without being self-righteous and also without being complacent in racism.
My experiences yesterday made me think a lot about my privileges and how to deal with them. Being able to pass so simply through the checkpoint, a barrier which my host family is not ever allowed to pass through (because they are Palestinian and above the age of 15 so are therefore not allowed into Israeli territory), made me so uncomfortable and seemed so unfair. I can walk around Jerusalem at will, I can go home to my beautiful one bedroom apartment that I live in alone, I can enter and leave this area at will, I can afford luxeries, I can see my family whenever I want.. The list could go on for pages. But what do I do with these privileges? I am still thinking about this question.. I do not want to reject these privileges; instead I want to use them carefully and hopefully use them for good. I want to influence my community and my country's goverment to help stop the injustice that I am seeing all around me. I want to make myself happy and be a productive and whole person who has the energy to fight injustice in order to make this world better for myself and others. And I want to keep learning and being challenged to live the best way that I can.
Today has been another day, with a million other things in my thoughts and I will send off this email and start the next! As always, I welcome thoughts and criticism.
Love from Palestine,
Rachel
Also, the organization I was travelling with earlier and will be travelling with later is http://www.birthrightunplugged.org/ if you want more info on that or want to donate to them.
Email #1
Hello friends and family! I love and miss you all. I will try to keep my updates as brief and interesting as possible. I will also trying to not assume that anyone knows too much about Palestine and the situation here, but if I write something that you do not understand please write back and ask me. Lastly, I am writing about my experiences and opinions but I do not pretend to be an expert. If you believe something I write is incorrect or if you disagree with something that I say I would love it if you would email me back so we can talk about it (or we can talk in person when I get back to the states).
The first few days of my trip I spent helping to chaperone a trip called Birthright Replugged. We took about 20 kids from the Jenin refugee camp to Jerusalem, Haifa, and to the villages their families are from, which were taken over by Israelis in 1948. Just the fact that we were taking the kids on this trip is amazing. Palestinians are not allowed to travel freely when they pass the age of 15, which means that their families cannot take them to these places. Some had been to Ramallah and Jerusalem, but few had been inside of what was declared the state of Israel in 1948.
When we arrived at the camp the kids had been waiting excitedly for over an hour. A few hours after we had settled into the camp and gotten to know the kids a little, we heard people firing guns into the air. Car tires screeched into the parking lot of the house we were in and Mohammed, the leader of the youth program, came running into the building. Mohammed told us that a man had just opened fire at the check point which we needed to go through to leave Jenin and that the shooter was dead and the checkpoint was now closed. It began to look like our trip would not happen and there would be 20 very disappointed kids.
Checkpoints are run by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) in order to limit the movement of Palestinians. They are located within the West Bank, which is supposed to be Palestinian territory but is currently occupied by Israel. In order to pass through checkpoints a person must wait in line and show identification to the Israeli soldiers. The soldiers then arbitrarily decide whether or not the person can pass through. Some checkpoints are in permanent locations, other checkpoints are known as flying checkpoints and can be set up anywhere. Checkpoints make it very hard for Palestinians to get around for work, school or any other reason and they can make a journey which is only a few miles take hours. They can also be closed without warning or reason.
We went to bed Saturday night unsure about the future of Birthright Replugged. The next morning we started out in three separate vans hoping for the best. We passed through one flying checkpoint and soon approached the permanent checkpoint near Jenin. There was a long line of cars waiting and I crossed my fingers that we would make it through. When we finally got to the front of the line Dunya, one of the leaders of our trip, approached the solders and spoke to them for a while. She came back smiling; we had made it through! We left the vans, carrying our things through the checkpoint to the bus which was waiting for us on the other side. As we drove away people said that this was the first bus to be able to leave from Jenin since 2002. In 2002 there was a battle in the camp and many Palestinian civilians were killed as well as some Israeli soldiers (there is a much longer and more complex history about this that I encourage you to read about online- just search "Jenin"). Since this time the movement of people out of the camp has been very limited and the Israeli army has had a big presence within the camp.
We had another major checkpoint to pass through, and we luckily made it through this one without incident. I'm sure that the fancy bus and the presence of internationals in the front seats helped to make this possible. As we headed to Jerusalem the kids were so excited, druming, clapping, snapping pictures, and taking videos the whole way. In Jerusalem we took the kids to the Dome of the Rock mosque and then to lunch. Many of them bought "free Palestine" shirts and presents for their families and teachers. Then we headed to Haifa.
When the ocean first came into view on the way to Haifa the kids started yelling, pressing their faces against the window, and taking pictures like crazy. Most had never seen the ocean before even though they only lived a few hours drive away. We met a youth group of Palestinian kids who live in Haifa and all headed to the beach.
The kids were overjoyed to be at the beach, but as we were walking onto the sand we were immediately harrassed by Israeli soldiers. They saw that some of the girls with us were wearing hijab (a scarf many Muslim women cover their head with) and began questioning us about who we were and why we were there. I was shocked and upset, but I guess that I should have expected the racism since Israel is a state founded on racism (it gives rights to Jews, but not Palestinians). We still managed to have a nice day playing at the beach and spending time with the kids from Haifa.
We woke up the next morning and split into three different groups to go visit the children's villages. The children's families have different stories, but they were pushed out of or fled their villages in 1948. At this time they thought that they were just leaving for a little while until the violence was over and that they would later be able to return home. This "right of return" was recognized by the UN, but Israel has never allowed it to happen.
The kids in my group were from four different villages and we set off with a guide to try to find them or what was left of them. We visited Abed's village first. He had family there who he had never met before and we spent a while in their house. Another of the boys in our group got to see his sister there whom he had not seen in five years (thus you can see how limited the movement of Palestians is).
The second village was even more disturbing to me. There is now a Kibbutz there (owned by Israelis). The kids were so excited to see their grandparents' land and were jumping and begging to get off the bus but there was a crowd of people from the Kibbutz staring at us and were not allowed to be there and so could not let the kids leave the bus. The third village was now fenced, empty land and the kids took pictures of the hill which used to have the village's well on it.
When we reached the fourth and last village there were signed everywhere saying "WARNING: DO NOT ENTER. FIRING ZONE." The village's land was now an Israeli army base. We drove onto the land anyway an searched for remains of the village. All we could find were white stones left over from the houses which were destroyed in 1948.
We met the other groups at the new Ayn Hawd. Ayn Hawd was also a Palestinian village until '48; when the fighting started many of the residents fled up a hill to a place where they could still see their houses. They settled on this hill, expecting to be able to return home, but were never granted the right of return. Instead, a Jewish Dadaist artist colony moved in, taking over the Palestinian houses. The original inhabitants of Ayn Hawd now live in the new Ayn Hawd, a Palestinian village where we all ate dinner.
One of our kids family was from Ayn Hawd and she found her grandparents' house (I was not with this group but heard about it at dinner). The group knocked on the door of the house and were let in by a Dutch artist. He spoke to the group for a while, and at one point she walked to a corner and started to cry. The artist said, "Don't worry, you can come back anytime." One of the boys in the group answered him, "No, actually she can't. Next year she will be 16 and will no longer be allowed to travel."
After dinner we parted ways; I had really bonded with some of the girls and we exchanged emails and I love yous. I will never forget them and hope to see them again someday.
I know that this email is long but I left out so much!! I hope it was interested and I would love to hear your thoughts. I am now in the Deheisha refugee camp near Bethlehem and will write soon about this. Take care!
<3 rachel
The first few days of my trip I spent helping to chaperone a trip called Birthright Replugged. We took about 20 kids from the Jenin refugee camp to Jerusalem, Haifa, and to the villages their families are from, which were taken over by Israelis in 1948. Just the fact that we were taking the kids on this trip is amazing. Palestinians are not allowed to travel freely when they pass the age of 15, which means that their families cannot take them to these places. Some had been to Ramallah and Jerusalem, but few had been inside of what was declared the state of Israel in 1948.
When we arrived at the camp the kids had been waiting excitedly for over an hour. A few hours after we had settled into the camp and gotten to know the kids a little, we heard people firing guns into the air. Car tires screeched into the parking lot of the house we were in and Mohammed, the leader of the youth program, came running into the building. Mohammed told us that a man had just opened fire at the check point which we needed to go through to leave Jenin and that the shooter was dead and the checkpoint was now closed. It began to look like our trip would not happen and there would be 20 very disappointed kids.
Checkpoints are run by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) in order to limit the movement of Palestinians. They are located within the West Bank, which is supposed to be Palestinian territory but is currently occupied by Israel. In order to pass through checkpoints a person must wait in line and show identification to the Israeli soldiers. The soldiers then arbitrarily decide whether or not the person can pass through. Some checkpoints are in permanent locations, other checkpoints are known as flying checkpoints and can be set up anywhere. Checkpoints make it very hard for Palestinians to get around for work, school or any other reason and they can make a journey which is only a few miles take hours. They can also be closed without warning or reason.
We went to bed Saturday night unsure about the future of Birthright Replugged. The next morning we started out in three separate vans hoping for the best. We passed through one flying checkpoint and soon approached the permanent checkpoint near Jenin. There was a long line of cars waiting and I crossed my fingers that we would make it through. When we finally got to the front of the line Dunya, one of the leaders of our trip, approached the solders and spoke to them for a while. She came back smiling; we had made it through! We left the vans, carrying our things through the checkpoint to the bus which was waiting for us on the other side. As we drove away people said that this was the first bus to be able to leave from Jenin since 2002. In 2002 there was a battle in the camp and many Palestinian civilians were killed as well as some Israeli soldiers (there is a much longer and more complex history about this that I encourage you to read about online- just search "Jenin"). Since this time the movement of people out of the camp has been very limited and the Israeli army has had a big presence within the camp.
We had another major checkpoint to pass through, and we luckily made it through this one without incident. I'm sure that the fancy bus and the presence of internationals in the front seats helped to make this possible. As we headed to Jerusalem the kids were so excited, druming, clapping, snapping pictures, and taking videos the whole way. In Jerusalem we took the kids to the Dome of the Rock mosque and then to lunch. Many of them bought "free Palestine" shirts and presents for their families and teachers. Then we headed to Haifa.
When the ocean first came into view on the way to Haifa the kids started yelling, pressing their faces against the window, and taking pictures like crazy. Most had never seen the ocean before even though they only lived a few hours drive away. We met a youth group of Palestinian kids who live in Haifa and all headed to the beach.
The kids were overjoyed to be at the beach, but as we were walking onto the sand we were immediately harrassed by Israeli soldiers. They saw that some of the girls with us were wearing hijab (a scarf many Muslim women cover their head with) and began questioning us about who we were and why we were there. I was shocked and upset, but I guess that I should have expected the racism since Israel is a state founded on racism (it gives rights to Jews, but not Palestinians). We still managed to have a nice day playing at the beach and spending time with the kids from Haifa.
We woke up the next morning and split into three different groups to go visit the children's villages. The children's families have different stories, but they were pushed out of or fled their villages in 1948. At this time they thought that they were just leaving for a little while until the violence was over and that they would later be able to return home. This "right of return" was recognized by the UN, but Israel has never allowed it to happen.
The kids in my group were from four different villages and we set off with a guide to try to find them or what was left of them. We visited Abed's village first. He had family there who he had never met before and we spent a while in their house. Another of the boys in our group got to see his sister there whom he had not seen in five years (thus you can see how limited the movement of Palestians is).
The second village was even more disturbing to me. There is now a Kibbutz there (owned by Israelis). The kids were so excited to see their grandparents' land and were jumping and begging to get off the bus but there was a crowd of people from the Kibbutz staring at us and were not allowed to be there and so could not let the kids leave the bus. The third village was now fenced, empty land and the kids took pictures of the hill which used to have the village's well on it.
When we reached the fourth and last village there were signed everywhere saying "WARNING: DO NOT ENTER. FIRING ZONE." The village's land was now an Israeli army base. We drove onto the land anyway an searched for remains of the village. All we could find were white stones left over from the houses which were destroyed in 1948.
We met the other groups at the new Ayn Hawd. Ayn Hawd was also a Palestinian village until '48; when the fighting started many of the residents fled up a hill to a place where they could still see their houses. They settled on this hill, expecting to be able to return home, but were never granted the right of return. Instead, a Jewish Dadaist artist colony moved in, taking over the Palestinian houses. The original inhabitants of Ayn Hawd now live in the new Ayn Hawd, a Palestinian village where we all ate dinner.
One of our kids family was from Ayn Hawd and she found her grandparents' house (I was not with this group but heard about it at dinner). The group knocked on the door of the house and were let in by a Dutch artist. He spoke to the group for a while, and at one point she walked to a corner and started to cry. The artist said, "Don't worry, you can come back anytime." One of the boys in the group answered him, "No, actually she can't. Next year she will be 16 and will no longer be allowed to travel."
After dinner we parted ways; I had really bonded with some of the girls and we exchanged emails and I love yous. I will never forget them and hope to see them again someday.
I know that this email is long but I left out so much!! I hope it was interested and I would love to hear your thoughts. I am now in the Deheisha refugee camp near Bethlehem and will write soon about this. Take care!
<3 rachel
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