Home again

Dear Friends,

I wanted to send a short note to let you know that I arrived home safely late Wednesday afternoon and am now mostly readjusted to Toronto time! I headed to the airport in the early hours of the night, needing to be there no later than 2:30 a.m. for my 5:30 a.m. flight. I had left Hebron at 11:00 a.m. that morning to meet a friend for a parting lunch in Jerusalem and then went on to Tel Aviv for the evening with a friend from DC I ran into on this past Sunday.

I got to the airport, which was quite busy as there are multiple 5:30 a.m. flights out and security was intense, which is usual. I spent about an hour with security, being questioned - not about my activities, but about who I'd met and stayed with and why I wasn't willing to give their names. My response to the officers (about 5 or 6 who took turns questioning me) was simple, I did not wish to share information about anyone other than myself without their express permission, which I did not have. As I was leaving the country I did not see how this information was relevant and as they kept saying they were worried about someone passing me something dangerous without my knowing, I invited them to search my bags. When this ended I was escorted to have my bags searched by officer Roy (not one of the one's who'd questioned me), then I was taken by a female security officer for a more thorough wand search and full body pat down. Officer Roy then escorted me to the KLM counter for check in and then turned me over to officer Seth, who escorted myself and another passenger to passport control, after which I was free to go. All of the officers were kind and professional and I am grateful for that.

On Monday, my last full day in Hebron, I accompanied (together with a few other CPTers) a tour of Israeli-occupied Hebron, together with a group of visitors who were part of a work group with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, led by Yehuda, a founder of Breaking the Silence, former Israeli Defence Forces soldiers who give tours from their perspective after having served in Hebron during the second Intifada. Having walked on these streets and learning a lot of the history, it was a very different experience to hear his story. A the end of our tour CPT led the group to celebrate a 16th birthday party. This birthday party was significant in that CPT had celebrated the girls 6th birthday 10 years ago and had planned this party in part to try to keep the road to the family home open. Other activists, including Palestinians and Israelis and members of the International Solidarity Network joined us for the procession up to the home's gate. For the ISM report on this action, visit
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/07/25/birthday-circus/.

Basically, the family home is now flanked by an illegal Israeli settlement on one side and multiple soldier posts and a military base on the other and on the road up to the houses entrance gate. It has been like this for 10 years and the street which ends at the home's gate has been declared a closed military zone and only settlers and the father of the household are allowed to use this road. The rest of the family must go out through the back of the house, through the olive orchard and through other backyards, then through the cemetery before coming out on the same road further down the hill. Celebrating the party was an act of resistence which eventually all were allowed in to celebrate, but not without soldiers attempting to block access.

I want to thank all of you for your support during my weeks in Hebron and my travels throughout the West Bank. It was greatly appreciated and I would not be able to do this type of work without your support.

I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Access Denied

Some examples of the different types of barriers used to limit access and and control movement of Palestinians in the Israeli controlled area, including the old city. As of January 2006 there are 187 road closures in Hebron, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. A very simple map of Hebron and the division of Palestinian/Israeli control follows the photos. I'll be bringing maps with much more detail home with me for those who like maps!

This checkpoint is one of several surrounding the Ibrahimi Mosque - the burial site of Abraham, among others

Concrete road blocks

Concrete filled oil barrels also block what were once through streets and alleys

Earthen mounds and broken concrete piled up as barriers

Partial checkpoints (the tower is just behind me as I take the picture) that are used periodically by the military

This is a heavily traffic gate and is the main exit from the Old City into the rest of Israel controlled Hebron. Dozens of Palestinian school children pass through here daily during the school year. Soldiers are posted on either side after passing through. The Ibrahimi Mosque is through the gate and to the left, so this is also the gate all residents of the Old City must use to go to the Mosque.

This checkpoint requires you to enter the hut and go through a metal detector. Physical searches are conducted in the right side of the hut and are supposed to be conducted by someone of the same gender.

Tensions rise and repercussions begin to intensify...

Sundays are usually our day off and after traveling for a good portion of the week I was ready for a quiet day and my plan went well initially with a quiet morning, some time for meditation and tea and then in the early afternoon I watched "Spanglish" on one of the laptops. Relatively fluffy in terms of film so not a bad choice. I definitely wasn't up to watching anything about this or any other conflict as I really was needing a temporary escape.

My quiet day ended and the day is only now finally quiet again.

First, we had two young Palestinian men come to our door, asking for help to get out of the country and to any safe country in the world. One inquired about asylum possibilities in Europe and I plan to follow up with him this week to explain to him the basis of asylum and things he should know.

Next, we got a call from our neighbour that she'd just received a call about a problem at one of the checkpoints near the Ibrahimi Mosque and could we go and take a look. She told us that men were being detained longer than usual and being beaten. Three of us headed out but found nothing when we got to the checkpoint. We remained in the area for a little while, before heading back to the apt. On our way back a police jeep pulled up next to us and asked one of the men, an Italian with Operation Dove (www.operationdove.org) who was staying with us, for his passport and questioned him on what was and wasn't in his passport and after carefully examining the photopage - he looked like he was trying hard to find something wrong with it - finally he said 'have a nice day' and let him go.

Not an hour later one of my team mates and the Operation Dove friend headed out to the market to pick up some food for dinner. They weren't five minutes from our door when they came upon six soldiers marching a Palestinian man, cuffed and blindfolded up the street. They followed the soldiers - who told them that this man was a terrorist who had killed many people. The two followed the soldiers for over 20 minutes while they walked and made a sort of loop through the streets until they ended up at Gates 4&5 (at left) - a very restricted and isolated entrance to the Old City. The soldiers said they were going to release the man but not in the presence of internationals. The two men backed up a few meters but kept the group in sight, worried that the soldiers were going to beat the detainee. At this point the two called me to tell us about the situation, but while on the phone the soldiers released the young man.

Lastly, just after 10, our neighbour came to our door to tell us of another incident which she had just witnessed, which involved an 18 year old Palestinian man (in the area of the same checkpoint we'd been at earlier) being pulled down the street by a rope around his neck, before being kicked and stepped on by the soldiers. His entire family as well as others witnessed this. An older brother who tried to intervene was detained and taken away by the police. An ambulance took the young man to the hospital. We called the hospital to ask about his condition, which wasn't critical.

To me it seems like the soldiers here are taking out their frustrations over what is going on in Gaza and with Lebanon on the vulnerable people over whom they have control. Tension is palpable and we will increase our presence at the checkpoints and on the streets in the days ahead.

I'm looking forward to going home soon though not without conflicted feelings about whether or not to stay longer. What is it that we really do? What does our presence show? I think about these questions and am continually affirmed by people I meet, who are grateful that I have come to visit them, their city, their country. Do I like it? Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it horrible what's happening? I have met the most hospitable people, people to whom this is daily reality and to many who have never known anything else. And I think that for myself when I look at everyone I meet, I try to see them as a child of God. This is difficult for me, but it helps me to see the human being in each person. Soldiers are taught to dehumanize - shooting at targets not people - this is what helps them carry out their orders. The very least I can do is to remember that we are all human, we are all fallible, we are all vulnerable and in another day it could be one of us as the oppressor or the oppressed. What would we do then?

For now, I bring my eyes to witness, my ears to hear the stories and my voice to share them with you and others when I return.

Prayer as Protest

Yesterday, as I walked with two of my Canadian friends who are also in the region, from the bus station in Jerusalem towards the large Damascus Gate of the Old City (where we planned to take a taxi to join a weekly demonstration/vigil held by the Women In Black) we came across a temporary checkpoint on the street, through which we were motioned to the front of the line and waved through, (this always makes me feel guilty), then not 50 meters away, another two checkpoints had been set up to control entry into the Old City, at the top of the steps leading down to the gate. Puzzled, we turned the corner to stop in and pick up some falafel before heading to the demonstration, when we came to a full stop at the scene ahead of us. The Israeli military and police were in full force, some on horseback, some in riot gear and they flanked a large gathering of Muslims sitting in neat rows, listening to someone making an impassioned speech.

What was going on?

It turns out, and I’m not sure exactly why, that Palestinian males under 45 years old are not allowed into the Old City (to their mosques) on Fridays, their holy day, and thus to pray. To protest, they gather non-violently and have their prayers across the street from the gate. I was humbled. We had arrived during the sermon and observed quietly as they prayed.

High Court of Justice

This morning I attended a hearing at the High Court of Justice in Jerusalem, the highest court in Israel. The hearing, presided over by three justices, was regarding the expansion of the security fence around Carmei Tzur, an Israeli settlement just north of Hebron, where it has encroached on the small farming village of Beit Ummar. The villagers launched a lawsuit to block the expansion, which would effectively cut them off from a large portion of their land. The hearing of course was in Hebrew so I of course could not follow the arguments, though the Justices peppered the Israeli attorneys with questions, which at times appeared to thoroughly stump the attorney. Many charts and maps and photos were shown by both sides to supplement their oral arguments. I still don’t know what the main arguments were. I was impressed however, that over a dozen farmers from this small village attended the hearing, though they, like me, couldn’t understand any of it. There were a number of internationals there to provide a presence in the courtroom, like myself, and a representative from the US consulate also attended. I’d be curious to know what his interests were.

There are many lawsuits of this nature throughout the West Bank, yet victory is rare and the fence in this case, 8-meter concrete wall in others, continues to be built. The path of the wall in many cases prevents Palestinian farmers from accessing their fields – to plant, prune, harvest – and shepherds from taking their flocks to graze. In some cases the wall (being built for security purposes) divides villages in half and frequently, if not in all cases, the main water sources of the villages end up on the Israeli side of the wall and is then sold back to the village. Access to water is a significant humanitarian concern in the region.

civilian or military?

What are your rights as an Israeli, Palestinian or International in the Palestinian territories?

There is no simple answer to these questions. Today I attended a lengthy training conducted by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) about some of the legal issues that we, as internationals, should be aware of and I hoped to find answers. There are some rights, yes, but observance of these rights, or enforcement of laws for that matter, remains an ongoing issue, particularly if you are a Palestinian.

There are two legal systems to in Israel and the Palestinian territories, civilian law – which applies to Israeli’s (regardless of whether their physical residence is in Israel or the Palestinian territories), internationals like myself, temporary residents and settlers, and military justice, which applies to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The differences that I note are frightening. I will not get into all the details here but just briefly: there are drastic differences in the length of time someone can be held without charge or trial, in administrative detention, often based on secret evidence of a nature relating to national security – sound familiar? There are currently 8-900 Palestinians under administrative detention.

Palestinians are rarely told that they have the right to remain silent (though this is required by military law) and the instructions that what they say may be used against them are never given. Torture, increasingly psychological in nature, is used routinely to elicit confessions or statements, upon which a charge will then be laid and become the basis for a conviction. Between 95-97% of confessions lead to convictions and it’s believed by legal rights groups that over 90% of confessions are obtained through the use of torture.

Military court, like Israeli civilian court, is conducted in Hebrew. Few Palestinians can afford representation. When they can, finding someone who speaks Hebrew is extremely difficult. Understanding the hearings or charges against them, unlikely as interpretation is not provided.

A suggestion by another NGO at the training was to create ‘know your rights’ cards to hand out or have available. While the lawyers present said this wasn’t a bad idea, the difficulty with someone then maintaining his right to remain silent or refusal to sign a statement, would likely lead to an increased probability of torture or torture being prolonged. What’s the detainee to do? The problem is much bigger than a few well meaning NGOs can take on.
Another issue of significant concern is minors. Under civilian law you are considered a minor under the age of 18. In military law, a minor is under the age of 16. The military system does not have a separate juvenile court and juveniles are detained with adults. Children under 12 are not to be held in detention, yet frequently they are (keep in mind that most of this applies primarily to boys). Parents or guardians are required to be present for any official interaction under the Israeli law, yet this does not apply to Palestinians under military law and the boys are for all intensive purposes on their own. If convicted, a Palestinian minor is transferred to a juvenile facility within Israel, where, due to the permit system, family members can only visit through special arrangement of the Red Cross and subject to security clearance required to enter Israel. Due to the current situation in Gaza and with Lebanon visitation has been suspended for Palestinians. Families, in addition to visiting their children, are also the sole suppliers of hygiene items, underclothing and other basic necessities.

Hebron Pottery & Glass

Amidst the tension of living in a highly secured and monitored area, I took some time to visit one of the small local pottery factory just a short walk from our apt and a glass blowers further out in the Palestinian controlled portion of Hebron. Historically, Hebron has been known for it's pottery and glass. Here are just a few pictures I took and although business is not great, the creative process continues and beauty surrounds us.

"We are not peace soldiers, we are real soldiers."

Late last week as my teammate and I were hanging laundry to dry on the roof of our apt (the sun is so intense here that everything dries very quickly), the soldier from the outpost on the roof across from ours shouted over to us to stop. His initial shouts were in Hebrew and he then asked if we spoke English and then switched over. He told us to take down our laundry. When I shouted back why? he answered that it was not allowed. My teammate shouted back that we've been doing this for 10 years and that we've never encountered a problem. The shouting back and forth continued and finally he said okay - we'd explained we weren't trying to harm anyone and that it would only be a few hours. Just as this exchange was over, we looked down into our blocked street below to see six soldiers around one of the 'chicken boys' (there are a couple of boys who help tend the chickens and turkeys that are housed two doors down from us). I went down to the office to fetch the team's camera and my cell phone and also alerted our third teammate to keep an eye on the situation. We were four floors up so shouting down to the soldiers would be difficult so we decided to just observe. The building they are standing in front of is abandoned and the boys in the neighbourhood have vandalized it numerous times, mostly scavenging for metal which they could sell. It was unclear what this particular situation was (soldiers had not come before when the boys were there) and so we called down to our third teammate to go out and ask what was going on. By the time she was outside, the boys had been allowed to leave and when she asked what was going on the commander said that they would not talk to her and he shouted up at me not to take any pictures or he'd come up to take the camera. This was when he told our teammate that "We are not peace soldiers, we are real soldiers" after which the group left the street.

The following day we saw the Muslim cemetery across Shuhada Street (the street which we are walled off from and which is an Israeli only street - limited to Israeli cars and pedestrians, and internationals) on fire. We have no way of knowing if the fire was set intentionally by Israeli settlers, which has happened in previous years, or if it was a brush fire. Everything is very dry right now. Regardless of how it began, we called the fire department, which is Palestinian, and they responded fairly quickly and put out the fire on the far side of the cemetery (accessible by Palestinian streets). When this part of the fire was out, one of the two trucks drove around to come down Shuhada Street to put out the fire that was still burning brightly on our side of the cemetery. However, to get onto an Israeli only street took some time. The truck was stopped at a checkpoint for over 20 minutes before Israeli police arrived and allowed access, and then followed, at first at a distance, before closely monitoring the firefighters until the fires were all out.

The lack of freedom of movement is clear and in cases like this seems absolutely absurd. Yet, keeping Palestinians limited in their ability to move freely within their own city, makes it safer for the Israeli settlers, so the settlers think.

More to come...

In peace,
Andrea