I had the privilege of spending 2 weeks in Palestine with a fantastic group of people and for all of us it was a journey of discovery.

I saw Palestine through the eyes of Palestinians living under occupation.

I saw Palestine through the eyes of Sana, Ali, Sami and Sahar, born in Palestine and planning their right of return.

I saw Palestine through the eyes of Souzan, Sharyn and Dana, Palestinians visiting Palestine for the first time and discovering what it means to be Palestinian. Like being an extra in an episode of “Roots”.

I saw Palestine through the eyes of a caring, fun group of non-Palestinians, ages ranging from 15 years to 63 years old. This is what I saw by my own eyes:

Entering Palestine

Crossing the border from Jordan into Palestine was a gruelling, frustrating, confusing experience. Designed by the Israelis to show who is in control from the moment of entry. We were delayed there all day on the pretext of security, while they checked and interrogated mostly the Palestinians in the group. The border guards we dealt with were mostly young women who had they been my daughters I would have slapped for their disrespectful ignorant behaviour. Israel is creating a generation of racist youth who believe they are superior to everyone else and investing them with the power over others, which includes them being heavily armed. This glimpse of their behaviour reminded me of the behaviour of the Afrikaaners in South Africa towards the black population under apartheid.

The border controls, check points and road blocks are effective on several levels:

• as a physical reminder that Palestine is occupied
• as an effective block to Palestinians organising their daily lives, for example going to school, farming their fields, visiting their families
• as a prevention of movement of goods, therefore ensuring that Palestine has no economic development
• as a way of psychologically controlling Palestinians through humiliation and intimidation.

Already I had seen by my eyes the intent and power of the Israelis.

Jenin

In contrast, we arrived in Jenin as volunteers for Cinema Jenin Project. Here the Palestinians opened up their homes for us and welcomed us to share their lives. A delicious meal was waiting, called Mssakhaman, a delicious Palestinian dish of bread, oil, nuts, chicken etc.

We responded towards the Palestinians quickly, feeling we were part of a large family, in solidarity.

Jenin is in the north, with a population of 50, 000 people. The nearest city is Nablus, , 40 kilometres away with 140, 000 people. The northern region is isolated on all levels, economic, social and cultural. The area has suffered greatly through Israeli aggression and oppression. Unemployment is high and there is a lot of poverty. This was apparent in people attending the eye clinics that Ali had organised. Some problems were simply that people could not afford glasses. Others had not had access or money to have their eyes screened. It was now too late for many to rectify problems.

Some of us stayed at the home of Fakhri Hamad. He is the Project Manager of Cinema Jenin. He showed us a mirror into the soul of Palestinian people. His home was our home. He was committed to the principles of the cinema – the principles of peaceful conflict resolution, co-existence and acceptance of others, by denouncing all forms of violence and fanaticism.

He had been greatly influenced by working with the father of a child who had been shot by an Israeli soldier and who had agreed to donate the child’s organs to Israeli children. This story is told in a DVD – “The Heart of Jenin” – which we saw at Fakhri’s house.

The problem for me with this story was that there was talk of peace with Israelis but no talk of justice. There can be no peace without justice. As another Palestinian said to me, the Israelis’ notion of peace is a tiny piece for you and a big piece for me.

There are very few possibilities of people enjoying leisure activities and the hope is that the cinema could open a window to the outside world in times of occupation and siege and that it could create job opportunities.

Palestinians including Fakhri love to enjoy themselves and yet in a moment can appear very sad. Fakhri told us that the first word his daughter said was “shooting” and at the time he felt he could not bring up a child in Palestine, knowing the life she would face. When any Palestinian thinks about the future for their children, the horrors of the occupation are overwhelming.

We visited the Freedom Theatre in Jenin refugee camp. The theatre is developing the only professional venue for theatre and arts in the north of occupied Palestine. It runs an extensive programme of theatre and multimedia activities for children and youth including a professional acting school.

We watched a performance of “Fragments of Palestine”, stories gathered, written and performed by the acting students. I found it to be a powerful and disturbing performance of life under occupation and oppression and individual resistance. Talking to one of the actors afterwards she said that the actors put together their own impressions and interpretations but felt that young people experience their lives as facing violence and control. Yet another insight as to how the Israeli occupation is distorting the lives of Palestinians.

Nablus

Nablus is the nearest city to Jenin and like Jenin life seemed hard. Nablus refugee camp has 23, 000 people inhabitants, at least 8 people to a room. We visited Al Najah university and met with Ala the public relations co-ordinator at the university. Ala together with others working, or students of the university, acted as our guides. They described how they had to go through hard harassment at check points to get to educational establishments and how these difficulties had impacted on educational standards of Palestinian children.

Land had been taken by settlers resulting in loss of work and income. In April 2002 the whole city was under curfew for 112 days. No one was allowed to leave their homes except for 4 hours a week. The curfew was renewed each day by 2-3 soldiers with microphones. Imagine each day people would wake and wonder if today they could resume their lives, the psychological torture. Alan described how he reached the stage where he did not wash or shave or get out of his night clothes. He was so depressed. He described another time when one soldier had come to the university and told everyone to leave and all the students evacuated the premises.

I could not understand how 2-3 soldiers could control a city and the university. It is difficult to comprehend what a devastating effect 60 years of occupation can have on a people. There has been no let-up in Nablus. The Israelis only 15 hours before our visit had invaded homes and evacuated people. They can enter homes at any time. The people we met did not appear defeated but were tired as things just got worse. They were putting their faith in international visitors changing the policies of their government towards the Palestinian people. They also put their faith in God.

Ala took us to visit the Palestinian Samaritans. There are 700 Samaritans in Palestine and 350 in Nablus on Mount Gerizim[just outside Nablus]. To get there they had to go through a check point which closes at 9pm, as there is an Israeli settlement nearby. Their religion is very close to Judaism. What was most interesting to me about this visit was the camaraderie between Palestinians of different faiths, religion is not a barrier for Palestinians to live in peace.

Ramallah

Our next stop in the West Bank was Ramallah. This appeared a much wealthier city. More middle class and international population. The Palestinian Authority has their base here in grand looking buildings guarded by Palestinian armed guards. Restrictions have apparently been relaxed recently in Ramallah, giving more freedom of movement; but concrete blocks are visible on the road sides to be moved into place at the will of Israeli soldiers. Currently this propaganda move suits the Israelis and Palestinian Authority.

No one I had spoken too so far had any faith in the Palestinian Authority who they saw as corrupt and more interested in fighting Hamas than Israel. There was a sense that many had lost faith in political parties which has problems because it leaves Palestine leaderless and divided. Despite the appearance of less poverty, many people are unemployed and families struggle to manage.

Women Entrepreneurs

Linda and myself were taken to women who have a cottage industry of making embroideries at home. We were buying goods to bring back here and sell, as part of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign stall activities, where we sell goods brought from Palestine and any profit is sent back to organisations active in Palestine. We were taken by workers of Palestinian Business Women’s Association. This is an NGO whose aim is to empower Palestinian women entrepreneurs, encouraging their successful participation in economic activities. These are micro finance projects, women are loaned money which they pay back, and are supported in their marketing by the organisation.

The problem with micro finance projects is that they rely on international funding and is an idea developed by funders. Rather than giving grants or any political economic support, they came up with the idea of loans. The administration of this internationally costs a lot of money, like all development projects. The countries involved in lending make more out of it than the recipients. The local NGO is doing good work, on behalf of the women. But they have to spend a lot of time applying for funding and satisfying their funders, who set the agenda. The women who benefit from these loans work hard for a small amount of money, which to them is better than nothing.

One woman we visited was now supporting the whole family, as her son had become unemployed due to the recession and her husband, who worked for the government, did not receive wages for a long time, because when Hamas got elected, Israel withheld the money that should have gone to the Palestinian Authority to pay wages and run services. She said she averaged 300 shekels a month profit.

Another woman we visited wanted us to take a present back to England to send to Cherie Blair, who had visited her when in Palestine, showing interest in the micro finance projects. The politics of this request were lost on the woman. We had to explain that we weren’t in contact with Cherie Blair.

Birzeit University

In Ramallah there is Birzeit University. We met Anan, who was active in Action Palestine in Manchester University, and who has now returned home and is working at Birzeit University on the Right to Education Campaign. right2edu.birzeit.edu

This campaign was set up by Birzeit University to reach out to students, teachers and campaigners worldwide, to support the right to education in Palestine.

The obstruction of Palestinian education by the Israeli military occupation not only violates the human rights of individuals, it is an attack on the development of Palestinian society as a whole.

The campaign provides legal representation for Birzeit University students and faculty arrested, detained or deported by the Israeli military authority.

The obstacles across Palestine, including Gaza, include closure of educational institutions, their physical destruction and the injury or arrest of students and teachers. More commonly, it is Israel’s policy of internal sieges, closure of cities and curfews that have together made access to the classroom by students and teachers a daily challenge and have severely disrupted the education process.

In Birzeit University, no societies are allowed. Every time a society was set up, the leader of the society was arrested by the Israelis. 83 students are in prison. While we were there, there were Fatah students running a welcoming stall, opposite Hamas students running a welcoming stall, for new students.

Palestinian Peoples Party

We went to visit the PPP headquarters, where we were given t-shirts and scarves with Che designs on them. The PPP are trying to work hard on the ground with agricultural projects and support people in Ramallah Refugee Camp. When asked about their role in creating unity, they said they do try to work with political parties in the West Bank, and with Palestinian citizens living in Israel and Gaza.

They accept a two state solution.

They accompanied us with people from the refugee camp who showed us round again. They were poor, the accommodation was cramped, there were poor living situations. We saw a project that provided space for children and communal events.

Bethlehem

Bethlehem has been destroyed by the wall surrounding, which cuts people off from each other, services and farm land. Most of the Palestinian Christians have left. The owner of one shop we went in said he was the only Christian left trading around Nativity Square.

The group’s main focus here was Al Shurooq School for the Visually Impaired.

www.nsfvh.org

Ali was assessing all the children’s sight and creating medical records for them as the only records of their visual problems were in social services records saying they were blind.

Three art students from our group were volunteering at the school to create a garden, the rest of us helped them a little.

The school building was open and safe and had a joyful feel to it. Strange - here was a school for the blind which felt like an oasis of light and hope in a land of despair.

I sat in and observed an English lesson. There were five children in the class. The teacher read Braille, they repeated and spelt words, listened to tapes and sang songs helping them to learn about months and also about friends. I did not realise until someone told me later that the teacher was a volunteer who was blind herself and had been a pupil at the school.

There is so much talent, creativity and caring possible in Palestine, even under occupation. Imagine what would be possible if the occupation ended.

Hebron

Hebron is a city of 220, 000 inhabitants located 1000m above the Mediterranean sea level. This area is very rich agricultural land.

Between 1948 and 1967 Hebron was under Jordanian administration. Since the Israeli invasion in 1967 the Israeli Government’s aim has been to establish a Jewish community in the Old City by creating settlements.

With that aim, Israeli occupation forces have persisted in their abusive measures such as long term curfews, barring access routes, physical aggression and terrorizing civilians whether by the military or by mobs of settlers. The plan is to join the settlements with a road for Israelis only, which the Municipality displays a red line on the map dividing the old city.

Hebron Settlers

We saw photos of a female settler and her young child kicking a Palestinian woman while the Israeli soldiers watched. If she had retaliated she would have been shot or arrested.

There are 400 settlers in the old city, protected by 1500 Israeli soldiers. There are six settlements, a settlement seems to consist of Israeli settlers taking over some houses, shops, the market place, schools or Government buildings. They throw all Palestinians out and raise an Israeli flag.

One settlement is called Gutnic, a multi-millionaire who lives there and funds the settlement. The settlers in Hebron are mostly fascist Jews from Chicago. Their behaviour is disgusting, they set fire to houses, throw rubbish, sewage and empty water tanks onto the Palestinian homes, shops and streets.

Four Israeli children passed us when we were going to the mosque, they were holding their noses and smirking. It is so sad and pathetic to see children behaving with such little respect. They will become vile, vicious adults full of fear and hate. How can the Palestinians make peace with such people?

Our guide, Walid, told us that before 1967 there was a good relationship between Jews and Palestinians living in the old city. He differentiated Jews and Israelis. The Jews he says hated the settlers (Israelis) and moved out.”People say that a Jewish person would not live near the settlers if you paid them.”

There is a court case concerning a shop in old Hebron. The shop was owned by a Jewish person who had moved and rented it to a Palestinian. The military ordered the Palestinian to move as it was Jewish property. The Jewish owner in court said he preferred to rent to a Palestinian rather than a settler. The court case is not complete and meanwhile the settlers stay in the property.

The court processes are another way of denying Palestinians their rights. Also the Palestinians only have 30 days to complain if a house or shop is taken over by settlers. The problem is that people may not realise for months when this happens in buildings in military zones.

In old Hebron, within one square kilometre, there are: 17 check points 7 inner city gates 9 iron fences 29 concrete blocks 12 barrels 14 iron gates Wire mesh Watch towers surrounded by cameras.

Children go through metal gates to get to school. If there is no electricity, they are personally checked. Every day this causes the children stress and reduces their learning capacity. Sometimes lessons are held at check points.

Our guide in Hebron was Walid S Abu Alhalaweh. His enthusiasm, commitment and love of Hebron brought the city and its possibilities alive. Walid works for Hebron Rehabilitation Committee. He showed us the darkness and sadness caused by the Israelis in the old city, a city which was first created more than 5, 500 years ago and has historic and religious importance.

The old city is entered by tunnels. The Israelis put gates on these entrances and cloe them between 6pm and 6 am as part of their plan to empty the old city. The Palestinians went to court to stop this but still 3 gates remain. The old design of housing is to enter through a Hosh which is one entry to a community of houses. The Israelis do not allow anyone to drive in the old city. Israel uses its army to prevent reconstruction. They bomb buildings and military orders stop reconstruction in areas where Israel plans to expand settlements. Israel has created two zones, H1 and H2. H1 is under Palestinian Authority control and H2 under Israeli control.

45, 000 people live in H2 zone.

Ibrahimi Mosque

The spiritual centre of the town is the Ibrahimi Mosque, the place where the prophet Ibrahim, his wife Sara, as well as Isaac, Jacob and their wives are buried.

To enter the mosque, Palestinians have to go through 3 checkpoints and cameras record all those that enter. This is to deter Palestinians attending the mosque. Bags are checked before entering. Walid shouted to us all where to “put our bombs for checking”, showing open resistance and making fools of the Israelis so called security precautions.

The Israeli settlers have free access.

In 1972 Moshe Dayan closed the entrance to the cave under the mosque and one entrance on the Israeli side is permanently closed. In 1994 an extremist settler massacred 29 Muslim worshippers after which the Israelis imposed an internal division in the mosque. 65% of the mosque has been turned into a synagogue. The Israelis show no religious respect. While we were looking at the tomb of Ibrahim, Israeli children in their side of the mosque were looking through a window and making faces and obscene signs.

There are Israeli cameras inside the mosque so everyone inside can be observed and monitored.

Hebron Rehabilitation Committee [HRC]

Despite all the problems, I found more hope of the Palestinians’ ability to defeat the Israelis here in Hebron than anywhere else I had yet seen in Palestine. Here on display for all to see was Israeli terror at its worst in all its manifestations. In the light of this, the achievements of the Rehabilitation Committee were wondrous to behold.

Israelis had made the old city a ghost town. Only 500 poor Palestinian residents remained. Now due to the work of the Rehabilitation Committee there are 5000 residents. Their hope and challenge is to preserve, maintain and revive the old city. The buildings were in poor repair, 900 apartments have been restored, revealing the beauty and architectural splendour of the buildings. Despite the difficulties the HRC is renovating the Islamic Shrine of Abraham. Much of the renovation has been in secret, because as quickly as they build, the Israelis destroy.

The HRC use horses and donkeys to bring in material. Israelis have detained a donkey for 3 hours. The Palestinians have produced a great poster which pokes fun at the Israelis, showing them guarding a donkey.

People have been encouraged to move back into the old city by the offer of free housing, insurance, money for food, access to health (including mental health), social and legal services. They cannot ensure security. For this, people have to agree to live there for at least 5 years. Now the demand is greater than the supply of accommodation, due to the fact that they care for the people. Most houses were privately owned, so the owner is contacted and if they do not want to move back, the agreement is that the house will be renovated and cared for in return for newcomers living there rent free.

The commercial life of the city is dead, they offer business people in maintenance grant to move back but this does not answer the question of customers. Some shops have opened but they are still looking for hope. The main funders are the Palestinian Authority and international donors.

Hebron could thrive if the occupation ended – with their potential of textiles, leather goods, glass, pottery and agriculture.

Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC)

We visited the South Branch of this NGO in Hebron. The general goal is “to contribute in achieving sustainable and integrated rural development”. We were taken to the town of Beit Ommar where PARC work with the farmers to promote income generating projects, construction of rural roads and retaining walls, land reclamation and job creation. Unfortunately the work is dependent on international funding which comes with strings and does not allow for the fact that this situation is due to Israeli occupation. Prior to occupation the land sustained its people and provided work; but land has been neglected because farmers have not been allowed access and therefore now needs “reclaiming”.

Beit Ommar

We were warmly welcomed by the Mayor and other Council members. It is a friendly, tight knit community. Everyone seemed to be enjoying a joke with one another. They wanted us to stay with families in the village and invited us to a wedding. The plan had been for us to volunteer to help pick plums as the summer policy of the Israelis is to prevent crops being harvested and sold. Unfortunately we had run out of time so they showed us the problems for them of the occupation.

Beit Ommar is a municipality of 16, 000 people. 52% are women, and there are 3000 children. It is an agricultural community with 75% farmers. They are introducing co-educational schools. Youth clubs and sports facilities have been opened to both sexes, including football and basketball. It appears to be a progressive Council.

The town was occupied in 1967. Since then the residents have suffered constant attacks from the Israeli army, many have been killed, hundreds wounded and arrested, mostly children. They confiscated more than 8000 acres for settlements.

The town is surrounded on 3 sides by settlements plus an Israeli highway and gate. The proposed path of the separation wall will destroy 800 acres and will isolate 7200 acres of the most fertile land behind the wall, preventing hundreds of farmers from access to their land. The people taking us round described how day and night soldiers and settlers destroy trees. In Suffa Valley 500 trees have been cut by settlers, guarded by soldiers.

The Palestinian farmers obviously were at one on their land and in contrast the encroaching settlements were a blot on the landscape, which they blighted with a prison and watch towers and large ugly buildings for battery chickens. They are in the process of building separation highways and planning their wall. We could see how Israelis were creating hell in a once beautiful landscape.

The Mayor said that he believed in peace for both peoples, 2 states for 2 nations. But he was not hopeful as he feels the world has lost interest, as shown by the media. He attended talks in 2002 in front of hundreds of journalists. In 2009 hardly any journalists turned up.

Palestinian Citizens of Israel

To get a complete picture of the situation for Palestinians, we visited Nazareth, Haifa, Yafa and Jerusalem at different times. These cities are classed as being in Israel and it was important to meet Palestinians living in Israel to find out about their situation.

Our first trip into Israel was from Jenin to Nazareth. We had to go through Jelame checkpoint where Palestinians go every day to work on their own land. This was the worst checkpoint I experienced because of its design. The minute I entered I felt alone and vulnerable. You first go through a turnstile and individually wait until called. Then a second turnstile between rolls of barbed wire fences. You see this is a military compound. You then walk through a caged tunnel and go through a third turnstile into a warehouse-like building. Then a fourth turnstile and into separate interrogation rooms 1 to 4. By this time I expected to go into George Orwell’s Room 101 and face my worst nightmare (which was rats but now Israelis). This was probably the same process that the Jews went through when admitted into the concentration camps.

There are signs to “Keep the Terminal Clean” and “No Guns”, with a picture of a gun with a red line through it. The irony is that the place is full of armed Israelis. The Israeli use of the word “terminal” for “checkpoint” is clever, as it gives the outside world the impression that it is like an airport, not a high security prison.

Still not through, we then gave in our passports for inspection and waited two hours more before getting through. This is daily life for Palestinian people. Intimidation, frustration and a sense of powerlessness.

The land occupied on the Israeli side was fertile. Israel continues to use security as an excuse for grabbing the fertile land and water.

There was a big billboard advertising Veolia Environmental Services – these obviously must be targeted as part of the international boycott and disinvestment campaigns.

Nazareth

We were met in Nazareth at the Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA) by Klute who volunteered there and acted as our guide around Nazareth.

Nazareth is an Arab city, 70, 000 population, half Muslim and half Christian. People pay the same taxes as Israelis but the budget for services is decided by Israel and Palestinians are discriminated in education, health, access to jobs and university. They cannot own property. They have Israeli passports which identify them as Arabs by the number of the passport and of course their names and appearance. Some Palestinians are bribed into going into the Israeli army, because they get good wages, opportunities and benefits; but this cuts them off from the Palestinian community.

Klute said that the third generation of Palestinians are more educated about their rights and will not leave the land. Their fightback is through literature, media, challenges on human rights, all legal avenues. Women’s issues get neglected because of the over-riding main issue of occupation. Klute was in modern western dress, but said that some of the resistance to the occupation had the consequence of Palestinian men forcing women into more fundamental dress and behaviour. She said that she thought liberation was what she thought, not how she looked, and she would wear the hijab if it became her choice. She said many women are becoming more aware of their rights.

Her experience is that she is able to go around in Nazareth and Ramallah, because there is no physical presence of Israeli oppression.”But you just feel it all the time.”

Some Jewish Israelis do come to Nazareth and Ramallah as tourists, and also because goods are cheap, and shops are open on Friday and Saturday. She thinks they are hypocrites.

We were shown around Nazareth and visited various sites. We were then given a talk from the Director of HRA. There are over a million Palestinian citizens of Israel. This is 20% of the population. These Palestinians have been left out of the peace negotiations, which they are now glad about, because they have no intention of leaving their homes to move into a so-called “Palestinian State”.

Citizenship is a major issue, as the main criterion for Israeli citizenship is to be Jewish. There is no Israeli nationality, only Jewish nationality. Therefore if it is decided as part of the peace process that Israel is a Jewish state, then this is accepting the racism and discrimination which affects the Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Between 1948 and 1966 two legal systems operated. One was for Jews, one for Arabs. It was an apartheid system, with a totally different legal system for the same crime. All rights were restricted – including freedom of movement, formation of political parties. 60% of Palestinian land was confiscated in the first 18 years and the social structure of communities was changed and controlled. The population of Nazareth was 14, 000 before 1948 and 28, 000 after that, due to refugees from other Palestinian villages that had been destroyed. These refugees created ghettoes – East Nazareth is unplanned like the refugee areas in the West Bank.

Israel controls 93% of land, which is in state hands. 17% is national fund land, therefore the property of Jewish people. Israel gets tax benefits from Britain because of this. Any Jew around the world has rights on this land and now it is big business with billionaires contributing. Tony Blair for example is a patron of the national fund.

Since 1966 there has been one legal system, but the discrimination and racism continues. There are four categories of discrimination.

First is legal/direct discrimination, in which you have to prove you are Jewish to get citizenship. There is other discrimination as a result of the law. Second is legal but indirect. This does not use Jewishness as a reason, but uses criteria of military service. The law calls on all citizens to serve in the army. The Ministry of Defence can exempt people and all Palestinian people are exempt from serving in the army. All other ministries then punish people who do not serve in the army, so they do not get housing, benefits, etc. [Palestinians who do serve are said to have volunteered. ] Jewish orthodox people do not serve, but they still get all their rights.

Third is as a result of policy. This includes for example distribution of funds. Palestinians have poor housing, poor roads. There is institutional discrimination in jobs and services.

The fourth is in the public sphere. The first three categories are in relation to the state. The public sphere is the daily life Palestinians face in the culture of racism created. They face abuse and personal attacks, on the bus, in public spaces, in university.

67% of Israelis believe in population transfer of Palestinians. The culture of racism from government to public life is growing, and this is the greatest threat to Palestinians and any possibility of peace. This racism created by the government makes Israelis fearful of their own security and jobs. It implies that there is demographic pressure upon them. In actual fact, the percentage has remained the same since 1948, around 20%, because Palestinian families in Israel are smaller and there has been increased immigration of Jews.

Haifa

Because of our delay at the checkpoint, we arrived too late to visit the Human Rights organisation here, but members took us out to eat and discussed the situation with us. They also had to organise accommodation for us as no transport was willing to go back to the West Bank in the evening and anyway the checkpoint would be closed.

Haifa felt an uncomfortable place to be, because it felt more like a European city, therefore alien in Palestine. The Palestinian area was a poor ghetto. There were few job opportunities for Palestinians except with NGOs or Palestinian businesses. Although the Palestinians appeared better off than those in the West Bank, they still suffer racism, discrimination and eviction, which have increased recently.

The Human Rights lawyers take up cases which will create a precedent or involve whole communities, in order to maximise their scarce resources. They believe the fight of the Palestinians should be for equal rights and cultural minority rights. They do not support the two state solution and fear that Palestinian citizens in Israel will be forced to move into whatever form the Palestinian state takes. Currently Israel is trying to take all residency rights from Palestinians living in Jerusalem. This is done through the Ministry of the Interior which invents restrictions. Palestinians need to prove residence yearly and checks are made on their homes.

The main area of expertise needed by Human Rights lawyers here appears to be corporate law as most disputes are over land rights. Again the young Palestinian activists in Israel do not look to political parties for solutions. No one here mentioned the occupation or right to return, maybe it is just understood.

Yafa

Here we met with the Yafa Arab Committee, heard from the headmistress of an Arabic school, and toured old Yafa.

Yafa is a coast town on the Mediterranean Sea. Tel Aviv has expanded to engulf the town which is now a suburb of Tel Aviv. To get there we had to take a train to Tel Aviv, no signs to Yafa.

The Israeli government want to gentrify the area by evicting Palestinians, build expensive sea view houses to encourage tourists and Israeli second homes. The Palestinians left in Yafa after the Israeli occupation were poor and had no choice but to stay despite the intimidation. All professionals and academics left, leaving only one academic. Poverty among the Palestinian youth has led to drug problems, violence and crime. The Israeli government ignores these problems as long as only Palestinians are affected. The work of the Arab Committee is to conserve Arabic culture and language and to help Palestinian youth to take responsibility and develop pride and leadership.

The Arabic language is being corrupted because people try to blend into the multicultural society, so Hebrew and English words are being mixed into the language.

The Israeli state schools for Palestinians are sub standard and poorly resourced. Hebrew is compulsory and Israel set the curriculum which says nothing about Palestinian history. The Arab League runs an Arab school which it has to find funds for. The Municipality wants the school closed. Teaching is in Arabic. Hebrew and English are also taught. The school has 145 pupils and is run democratically, involving pupils and teachers in decision-making through a school parliament. Children are educated in their human rights, parents are also being involved. Extra curricular teaching includes Palestinian culture, art, poems, texts. The school is now getting good exam results. There is also a kindergarten for children between 2 and 4 years old. This work of maintaining cultural identity is an important component of resistance. Yafa also needs to encourage more middle class Palestinian professionals and academics to live there.

Jerusalem

My childhood was imbued by images of this holy city. The hymn I always find stirs my atheist heart is “We will build Jerusalem here in England’s green and pleasant land”.

I first visited Jerusalem in 1970 and remember it as an old walled city standing on a hill surrounded by olive groves. Once inside, it was teeming with life with people of all religions intermingling, with a sense of history and spirituality.

Now from the outside I had no idea this was Jerusalem, surrounded as it is by highways teeming with traffic and buildings that look out of place, including high rise apartments which are all settlements.

The only buildings that look as if they belong are abandoned Arab homes where people have been forced to move. The Israelis have managed to change the area around the old city into a corporate, money-making mess with “Golden View Hotels”.

The Judaization of Jerusalem is engulfing the city. We entered by the Damascus Gate where the Israelis plan a road from the gate to the Wailing Wall for Jews only. The Israelis have been buying property strategically in places to justify the need for the road. Palestinian shops have been heavily taxed to force them out of business.

There are 35, 000 people in the old city, only 3000 Israelis and the rest mostly Palestinians. Many Christians have left. There is no hospital in the old city, the Israelis closed the only one on the pretext of it not being of good standard, it was not replaced. The services are poor, people pay some taxes for substandard services. For example, old garbage cans are brought to be used in East Jerusalem when they are replaced in Israeli areas.

Palestinians are being removed through intimidation, having homes and shops occupied or being offered lots of money, resulting in Israeli settlers living on second floors above Palestinian shops or between houses. All are guarded with guns. In 1978 the Israelis created a small wailing wall, not on religious grounds but in order to expand the Jewish hold on Jerusalem. 20 families are trapped behind this wall and have to pass through guarded caged gates. There are plans to build a synagogue at this site and evict the families.

There is a Muslim African community of 200 people living in poor conditions in the old city. They consider themselves part of the Palestinian community. Many came from different areas to fight against the British Mandate. But others were in the British army. They cannot afford to move out and their homes are under a demolition order.

It costs any non-Jew $30, 000 to apply for permission to build a house. Mostly permission is refused. When permission is given, part of the land has to be given to the Israeli state.

There are now four quarters in the old city – Jewish, Armenian, Palestinian and Christian. Iron gates between areas are closed at night. The Israelis are always expanding.

In the Jewish Quarter the buildings are modern, well kept. There is obvious wealth with gold doors on houses. The synagogue is being renovated to make it higher than the Dome of the Rock. The area around the Mosque and Wailing Wall is being excavated to find links with mythical Jewish Heritage. Honest archaeologists have reported that only remains of Byzantine and Roman times have been found. Others have said they have found proof of Jewish history. This is not about religion but to give Israel more excuses to build and destroy other religions’ holy sites.

Having taken over most of Jerusalem and forcing Palestinians into East Jerusalem, the Israelis are now dividing East Jerusalem into north and south by occupying the valley with settlements. Israel says it want to plan for natural expansion of settlers. This means that the Palestinians have to shrink. There are now 280, 000 settlers around Jerusalem and more houses are being built even though there are not enough Jewish people willing to live here.

Many Palestinians were tricked by the Israeli state into giving up their refugee cards in return for citizenship. This is now being taken away, their homes are demolished and they have no international protection as refugees. Palestinian families living in UN built refugee camps are now being targeted. Families are being evicted and settlers are moving in. Yet the UN says that it is helpless to do anything except help people relocate. How can this be? They own the buildings!! How many blind eyes do the international bodies have? Perhaps they need some rehabilitation time in Al-Sherooq School for the Visually Impaired.

The evictions in East Jerusalem are increasing daily. People told us they are after the refugee camps, one woman told her stories how hundreds of soldiers came to throw her, her sick husband and five year old child out of their home. Her husband had a heart attack during the eviction and the army would not let the ambulance through until the next day. He has now died. She was a refugee from Yafa. Now they want her to go to Ramallah. Her daughter who saw everything is still suffering.

People say they are left with no choice, they have nowhere to go. Their only choice is to die with their homes. When the bulldozers come they will have to bulldoze the people with them.

One man said “What the Israelis are doing is more than ethnic cleansing, more than genocide, it is spaciacide” [spaciacide is a made-up word to try and describe how the Israelis are trying to annihilate and erase the very existence of Palestine].

We visited tents that have been set up by Palestinians as a focus of resistance to show international visitors what is happening. In one area, Busten, part of the old village of Silwan, the Israelis have municipal plans to develop King David Park by demolishing homes. The plans are on display for anyone to see.

Settlers in the area show no shame in the fact that people are being made homeless. Orthodox Jews wander around the protest site blatantly without care, knowing that the police will arrive in minutes to protect them. The Palestinians ask how can people not realise what is happening when the Israelis are so open about it.

The houses in Busten have had demolition orders since 2005. There are 89 homes housing 1300 people affected. People here go back 9 generations. People do not sleep at night for fear of the bulldozers. Children refuse to eat or go to school as they live in fear of coming home to find their house and family gone.

Without warning, the Israelis close areas and bring in the bulldozers. All the people have deeds for their homes, but their only right is through the law which is the same as petitioning the enemy to solve the problem. The municipality has numbered the homes, one man said when number 59 is called it will be him, yet another tactic of the Nazis to number their victims.

The tactic is not some big attack that would get media attention, but to move from house to house, village to village, very quiet.

www.standupforjerusalem.org

The situation for young Palestinians in Jerusalem is bad. Money can be made from dealing drugs, children as young as 10 years old are known to be dealing and the Israeli soldiers do nothing. Use of hard drugs has increased and exam results have been poor for the last 5 years since the erection of the wall and checkpoints separating pupils and teachers from their schools.

Dar Al-Tifel Al-Arabi Institute

We visited this institute in East Jerusalem, which was founded in the ancestor’s home of Ms Hind as an orphanage, and which then became a charitable association to provide a suitable life, a safe shelter, good upbringing, education, medical and social care for the children. Although the number of orphans in Palestine has tripled in recent years, the number at the Institute has decreased due to the closure of Gaza, West Bank and now Jerusalem. The institute now provides care for 40 orphans and a school for 1171 girls.

The President of the Board of Trustees, Mahira Dujani, was a very dignified lady, who was a refugee from West Jerusalem, now in East Jerusalem. She felt the tragedy of Palestinians keenly. At the school they have to teach Hebrew which is compulsory. She said she cannot hear the language, just saying Israel is like plunging a dagger into her heart.

Anyone visiting Jerusalem and opening their eyes to what is happening would feel that same dagger in their heart.

Right of Return

On our last night all together we attended a performance of El-Funoun at the Right of Return International Art Festibal 2009 organised by Al-Doha’s Cultural Centre in Bethlehem.

El-Funoun is a popular Palestinian dance troupe. The performance we saw was “Images Remembered” and had four scenes:

First Scene: Curfew is Imposed [Ottoman Era]
Second Scene: Curfew is Imposed [British Mandate]
Third Scene: Curfew is Imposed [Israeli Occupation]
Fourth Scene: Determination

This performance epitomised all I had seen during the visit. The horror of occupation and to realise that for the Palestinians it did not start with the Israelis, there is a long history of occupation and resistance. The themes of the dances illustrate the resurfacing images reminding us of the weariness of a past and present that does not foresee a different future.

However, as they resurface, these images work to confirm the determination of the Palestinian people to live on, steadfast, and resist the tyranny from which suffering emanates, and as such hope and resistance is renewed, giving the resilient power and strength to go on in defending the identity and struggle for independence.

The dance symbolises the will of Palestinian people in keeping the memory alive despite all schemes to annihilate them from history. The final set is “Compelled to Live”.

Conclusion

All of what we saw and experienced is well documented and known to the international community. The vicious nature of Israeli occupation in all its forms and the quiet resilience of Palestinian people in the face of this oppression is there for all to see.

To see by your eyes brings the reality into your heart. Israel is destroying Palestine not just for the Palestinians but for themselves. Their development is not sustainable in that land and the ugly prison serves to imprison both Palestinians and Israelis. The saving grace for Palestinians is that they are maintaining their humanity whereas the Israelis are becoming a people full of fear and hate. It is difficult to envisage a future of peace with justice developing from a two state solution. The road to peace lies in fighting for one secular state for all its citizens. This of course is the choice of the Palestinians.

For me, I will continue to protest about the Israeli occupation and educate people to “see by your eyes”, so that they join the campaign for peace and justice for Palestine.

Zyara is a positive way for people to find their own way of supporting Palestinians. When faced with the welcome, dignity and humanity of the Palestinian people I met, it has helped me to express my own humanity. In contrast, when faced with the racism and arrogance of the Israelis I felt such anger that I wished ill even towards Israeli children that I saw. Hate breeds more hate and somehow despite what they are enduring Palestinians I spoke to did not hate – and in this lies the hope for Palestinian people.