jewish voice for peace elul flipbook

8/4/2019 Jewish Voice for Peace Elul Flipbook

1/62

ELUL 1

Tel Aviv Cafe

What is hidden is what has been lost

beneath this stubborn temple of sunlight

I rinse my feet in the sea as it soaks the sand

But this too is lost within the tattered pages

Over the hills of pines

and under the sunset

There is another golden city

it is in motion

but it settles

as the evening sun sets.

All is at peace,

but nothing is at peace at all.

Rebecca ArianMarch 27, 2010


2/62

ELUL 2

A blog post from Avital Aboody, May 9, 2010

http://avitalaboody.blogspot.com/2010/05/hebron-from-all-angles.html

HEBRON FROM ALL ANGLES

For the past three Saturdays I have attended the new wave of weekly Hebron protests

in the Casbah (Old City). The protests are intended to disrupt army-accompanied settler

tours that pass through the Casbah each week, and demand the re-opening of Shuhada

Street and an end to the occupation of the city. Although for the past two weeks the

settlers have changed the time of their tour to avoid encountering our protest, we

decided to continue with the protests as planned to assert the Palestinians' right to

move freely within their city. So, each week a group of between 50-70 Palestinians,

Israelis, and Internationals gather in front of the gate which blocks entrance to Shuhada

Street. We stand with signs in Arabic, Hebrew, and English and pass the megaphone

around as different people lead the protesters in a series of call and response chants in

all three languages. Some activists take the opportunity to give short impassioned

speeches, sometimes by Israelis who speak directly to the soldiers and settlers peering

down on us from the Beit Romano Yeshiva rooftop, saying that these unjust policies will

not be carried out in our name. In contrast to the first week when the protest ended in a

series of unwarranted arrests, the protests now conclude now with a march through theCasbah which is met by an onslaught of dirty water thrown down on us from the settlers'

homes situated above the Palestinian shops. For the past two weeks there has been no

direct confrontation with soldiers or settlers, but we always close with a promise that we

will continue to protest every week until racism and separation are abolished in Hebron

and all of Palestine.

This past week, just a few days after standing in solidarity with the Palestinians of

Hebron, I decided to take a step that I believe very few political activists ever take. I put

on a long skirt, tucked my dreadlocks away, and joined the settlers on their tour of the

Jewish Community of Hebron. After having been to Hebron many times and heard the

story of the Palestinians and the ex-soldiers of "Breaking the Silence" I figured it was

time to come face to face with the settlers themselves and hear how they justify their

presence in Hebron to the many thousands of Jews that they've taken on tours there. I

came with the intention to listen, to observe, and to maybe understand their conviction.
http://avitalaboody.blogspot.com/2010/05/hebron-from-all-angles.htmlhttp://avitalaboody.blogspot.com/2010/05/hebron-from-all-angles.htmlhttp://avitalaboody.blogspot.com/2010/05/hebron-from-all-angles.html


3/62

So on Wednesday morning I found myself sitting on a bullet proof bus with a group of

40 other American Jews about take a day-trip to Hebron, a city that I was assured by

the tour guide is just like any other old city in Israel. Even before the tour had officially

started, I already began to feel uncomfortable and almost teary eyed due to the

realization that all the other tour participants really had no idea (and really didn't carethat they didn't) about the world beyond this Jewish exclusivity. Little did I know that that

this initial reaction of discomfort and sadness was to remain with me and only intensify

throughout the course of the day.

Our first stop was the matriarch Rachel's tomb which is just outside/technically inside

Bethlehem. To reach the tomb we drove through an unbelievably surreal corridor in the

concrete wall that circumvents Bethlehem. Since Israelis are not allowed to enter

Bethlehem, this access road, entirely surrounded by the wall, has been created for Jews

to visit and pray at the tomb. As the tour guide told the story about a time when the

grave was closed to Jewish access and how women from Hebron set a precedent by

coming anyways and demanding to be let in until the government agreed to re-open the

site to Jewish visitors, I realized that all this effort to keep people separate and

relegated to only certain areas is futile because people will continue to find ways to be

where they believe they ought to be, or at least struggle for that right with all of their

being as I've seen with the Palestinians in Hebron. For some reason, being there only

made me think more and more about how this land cannot be divided. Of course I don't

mean undivided in the way that the settlers refer to Greater Israel, but rather that in thatmoment it just seemed so apparent to me that drawing up borders and erecting walls

cannot actually lead to real justice or peace; they merely restrict essentials freedoms

such as access and movement, and furthermore will never suppress the people's desire

to return to areas that they have been barred from. Religious Jews will never give up

their ancestral connection to and right to access these holy sites, and I don't believe that

they should have to, but this privilege must come with the equal recognition of the

Palestinian claims to this land and their legitimate right to live here and move about

freely.

Loaded with these thoughts I got back on the bus headed to Hebron. I listened as the

guide told the familiar story of Hebron that began 3700 years ago when Abraham laid

down roots in the city and purchased the Cave of the Patriarchs as a burial site for his

wife Sarah, and the forefathers and mothers that followed. Later, King David made

Hebron the capital of his kingdom for 7 years before moving it to Jerusalem. The phrase


4/62

that repeated itself throughout the tour was "this is where it all began", which later fused

into the story of Jewish contiguity in Hebron, and finally the conclusion that the Jewish

presence in Hebron will be eternal. When we arrived in Hebron we were greeted by our

tour guide for the next leg of the journey, Rabbi Simcha Hochbaum, originally from New

York but for the past 14 years he has made his home in the Hebron Jewish community.The tour started in Tel Rumeida, a hilltop overlooking the heart of the city of Hebron

where a few of my Palestinian friends/colleagues live. The guide explained the way the

city had been divided in the "Y Accords" which created H1 (80% of the city under

Palestinian Authority control) and H2 (20% of the city under Israeli military control and

Palestinian municipal control). He continually referred back to the 80/20 split to

emphasize what he believed to be inequality and discrimination against the Jews who

are not allowed to walk or drive in the majority of the city. In fact, after reading a

pamphlet I picked up later in the tour which purports to give the "real factsin contrast

to the false anti-Jewish and anti-Israel propaganda," I was expected to understand that

Jews are only allowed to enter 3% of the municipal area; never mind that that 3% area

was once the center of Palestinian social and economic life and the gateway to the rest

of the city, and never mind that that statement is actually inaccurate because it is not

Jews but Israelis that are prevented from entering H1 (according to the Oslo

Agreement) and Israelis are in fact allowed to be anywhere in H2 (the 20% mentioned

above). This important distinction between Jews and Israelis was intentionally blurred

by the tour guide in order to stress his point that anti-Semitism is what lies at the root of

all criticism towards the Hebron Jewish community. When, in reality, the disputes inHebron are entirely political and not based on religious identity. Israeli soldiers patrol H2

constantly, practicing the official policy of "making their presence felt," and it is certainly

felt as they are seen constantly peering down, guns at bay, into Palestinian

neighborhoods from rooftops (sometimes Palestinian homes that have been taken over

and converted into army posts) and pillboxes throughout the city. Of course, this is all

information that I learned on the "Breaking the Silence" tour and was not dealt with in

any capacity on the settler tour. The tour guide praised the soldiers for their incredible

self-sacrifice, but the impression of the soldiers that I get, from starting directly into their

eyes as they push my friends and I during protests and from the many testimonies that

I've heard from members of "Breaking the Silence", is one of a group of painfully

confused and uncomfortable 18-21 year olds who are stuck in positions of power and

aggressiveness that throw their concept of right and wrong into a blender, leaving them

hardened and numb.


5/62

Back on the tour, I was told that I would experience holy people in Hebron. The 1000

Jews that live there believe themselves to be the ones who have taken on the essential

responsibility of carrying the eternal Jewish flame in Hebron in the name of our ancient

historical connection to the city. Of course learning about and appreciating this history is

important, but Hebron especially is a place that cannot be understood separately fromits current political context. Referring to the 80% of Hebron that is under PA control as

land that was "given away" and the remaining 20% as land that "unfortunately is shared

with 15,000 Palestinians" is simply a discursive tactic to confuse the tour participants

and make them forget that Hebron is (and has been) a city of several thousand

Palestinians living under military occupation. Throughout the tour, the only time

Palestinians are mentioned or even acknowledged as part of the story is when they are

referenced as "unfriendly neighbors", murderers/terrorists, or hookah smoking couch

potatoes. Furthermore, talking about the restrictions on further building and expansion

in the settlement cannot simply be received as a baseless effort to discriminate against

Jews, but rather must be situated in the context of the larger West Bank settlement

issue, namely that the settlements are illegal under international law, some (especially

Hebron) are notorious for violence and extremism, and they are a growing thorn in any

attempt towards a peace agreement.

Perhaps the most interesting and telling part of the tour for me was when we went into

the settlements themselves, which basically consist of just a few blocks of buildings that

families have made into living spaces, synagogues, and a museum documenting thepresence of the Jews in Hebron. In all my previous tours in Hebron I had never had the

opportunity to actually go into their community so I was quite excited to step just a few

more meters from where I had always stood, on the Shuhada "ghost street" and see

how Hebron looks from this vantage point. On my other visits I was not allowed into the

settlements because the large police escort that is mandated to accompany Breaking

the Silence tours (supposedly to protect us from settler harassment and prevent friction)

had placed strict restrictions on where we can go and when. But this time, with not a

single police officer in sight, I found myself on the other side of barriers that I previously

had only peeked into through cracks in walls and metal gates. The museum, located on

the ground floor of the former Beit Hadassah hospital, was quite impressive and most

importantly, effective in conveying the message that Jewish groups respond to best: the

message of ultimate victimhood. As I looked at the pictures on the wall depicting the

infamous massacre of Jews in Hebron in 1929, I felt a sort of dj vu sensation and

realized that the story being told was the nearly the same story that I had heard


6/62

countless times growing up and visiting holocaust museums. It was the fear-mongering

story of anti-Semitism, complete with the moral imperative "never again." And in that

moment, instead of being able to let myself grieve for all the bloodshed in Hebron, I

found myself shaken by the realization that this story is entirely believable for a Jewish

American audience and, had I not been exposed to other credible accounts of Hebron, Itoo could come away from this tour thinking that the settlers really are the ones in need

of my sympathy. But then I remember the accounts of settler abuse and complete

disrespect for Palestinian human and civil rights and I start to feel ill. I understand that

this mentality does not exist in a vacuum, but rather is steeped in real and troubling

consequences that play out on the ground, such as the closure of roads and shops, the

disproportionate army presence, the lawlessness of the settlers, and the will of the

Israeli government to continue supporting the settlers perhaps for fear of being

perceived as part of the cycle of Jewish persecution. I think about the Jewish residents

of Hebron pre-1929 who once lived relatively peacefully alongside their Palestinian

neighbors, unlike the settlers of today who make every effort to create a situation in

which Palestinians essentially cease to exist. I happen to know that some of the

survivors of the 1929 massacre or descendents of the former Hebron Jewish community

have actually disassociated themselves with the Hebron settlers and do not support

their efforts to reclaim the city on their behalf. Yet this Jewish lineage continues to justify

the settlers' presence and forceful methods of establishing themselves in the city.

The tour continued with a visit to the guide's home, the old Sephardic temple, and a finalstop at the Tomb of the Patriarchs where we were given time for prayer. After spending

the day in what often felt like an alternate universe I didn't feel quite able to ascribe the

proper holiness to the site and submit myself to any prayers aside from my deep

yearning for universal empathy and for at least some of their tour participants to feel

confused enough to then seek more information, step outside of their frame of

reference, and think beyond the simplistic rhetoric of pamphlets espousing hatred and

resentment. I went on this tour out of genuine curiosity and a desire to understand a

people that are often (in my circles) written off as crazy and irrational. But after

participating on the tour, it wasn't so much what they said that troubled me, but rather

they way that the story fits into a worldview based in fear that is held by so many Jews

and that has only resulted in generations of bitterness and divisiveness. I want to

believe that Hebron can again live up to its name (meaning friendship), but this tour

gave me no such illusion.


7/62

ELUL 3/ Shabbat

Photo by Margaret Holub

In a living room in Beit Ummar:


8/62

ELUL 4

Photo by Diane Tracht.

I took the first picture with the doll in Hebron in early June last summer.Jewish settlers live above the row of Palestinian shows, and the settlerswould throw this and that down onto the Palestinians below, so they

installed the fencing.


9/62

ELUL 5

Photos by Stefan Strassfeld

This is a series of photos from Beilin in the West Bank in July '06.They show a lovely bride and groom after vows, coming into the streetsto celebrate - a party which then becomes part of the weeklynon-violent protests at the Separation Wall which has cut off thecommunity from it's agricultural land and de facto given it to anearby Israeli settlement (seen in the distance beyond the Wall). Atthe Wall (which was a tall fence at the time) there was singing andchanting and then the Israeli army had enough and started firingrubber bullets and tear gas, going into the town in armored jeeps. Oneman's leg was injured badly by a rubber bullet - he's pictured under atree - I (a registered nurse) wanted to stop to help him, but could

barely breathe from the tear gas and was scared away by screamingIsraeli soldiers firing towards me. I got lost in some residentsbackyards - they had all shut windows and doors against the gas whichpervaded their town every Friday afternoon, but smiled at me throughwindows and tried to point me in the right direction. Eventually ayoung kid waved for me to follow him and led me back to the town'scenter. There I was relieved to see that others more courageous than Ihad stayed and helped the man with the injured leg to a Palestinian ambulance.

Stefan Strassfeld


10/62


11/62


12/62


13/62

ELUL 6

Blog entry from Alice Rothchild.

http://alicerothchild.com/category/blog-entries-2011/

The dangerous qanun and the intoxication of power

We leave the taxi at Qalandia checkpoint and for 50 shekels grab a ride in the back of a

truck with Israeli license plates. The truck doors advertise flooring and construction,

three scruffy men sit in the front seat, and soon we are staring through dusty windows at

the imposing separation wall, massive amounts of construction and garbage, new

cream white apartment and office buildings, and a disarray of cars all heading in

opposing directions. In Ramallah, people do not give you their addresses; we are insearch of Supermarket Baghdad. After a dizzying tour of the rainy, foggy city (it seems

that men in this culture do not ask for directions easily), we find the supermarket and

discover that Israeli Orange phone cards are no longer sold in the West Bank, (first sign

of boycott). After a quick call on the one remaining functional phone, Ali Amr, a student

at Berklee College of Music in Boston who is home to see his family after a year, meets

us a block from the market. The son of a Moroccan mother and Palestinian father and a

talented musician, Alis journey home was infinitely more torturous than ours.

He explains, as a Palestinian he has to enter through Jordan via the Allenby Bridge. He

is required to renew his Jordanian Military service papers annually in Jordan, in order to

enter Palestine or travel back to the US. Arriving several days ago, he and his father

headed to the border from Amman at 4 pm, got through the Jordanian border without

difficulty after a brief interrogation. It seems that studying music in the US is not an

entirely legitimate excuse for avoiding the military, but Ali was armed with paperwork

from the music school. They then waited in line for an hour to get on a bus to the Israeli

border. Half an hour later, squeezed together with other travelers, like they do for

animals in a cage, Ali and his father reach the line for the soldiers. I should mention

that Alis father is a law professor at Al Quds University; he usually dresses formally in a

suit and tie, and when I met him I was struck with his dignity as well as good humor.

After half an hour, the soldiers checked Alis bags and threw his bags and qanun, an

Arabic lap harp with 72 strings and delicate inlaid carvings, onto the x ray machine.

Everyone was allowed to pass but Ali and he was separated from his father.
http://alicerothchild.com/category/blog-entries-2011/http://alicerothchild.com/category/blog-entries-2011/


14/62

Ali was interrogated for a second time, Where they asked me just the same

questionsSeems like they have a list of questions that if you answer one wrong,

trouble. Ali remembers his rising fear and nervousness, and finally stepped outside. It

felt just like I got out of prison. They let him go with papers that me the 19 year old kid

thats coming from America is clean and not terrorist, but then the terror began. His

luggage arrived, but no qanun. After endless waiting, Ali asked for his musical

instrument and was told to come for further questioning. The soldiers knew the qanun

was from Syria, (imported to the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music when Ali

was a student there) despite no evidence on the instrument, and insisted that Ali pay a

large tax to bring it back into Palestine. Ali and his father where shocked. Ali has

traveled all over the world with his qanun and come back home and has never been

asked to pay.

The soldiers insisted that he planned to sell it in the West Bank, despite the certificate

confirming Ali as a student at Berklee College of Music, his work as a professional

musician, and his instrument. He pleaded, he argued, the soldiers started threatening

him. You wanna pay to take it or we take it. They took his ID and told him to wait. More

pleading and arguing and then the soldier yelled, Its your decision. He grabbed the

qanun and threatened to smash it if they did not pay. At this point, Alis father said,

Wait! He asked for the bill and the soldiers came back, 866 shekels ($220). Ali

remembers sweating with fear and then took out his emergency money that was

supposed to pay for his travel expenses and for repairs on the qanun, and handed it all

over. The two hour incident left Ali shaken, fearful, and crying. But the situation is that

there is no way we can get the money back from themThere is no one to talk to. No

one to sue. The only paper I have is the receipt that they will never consider when I visit

again and they will make me pay again and put it in their pockets and go get drunk with

it in some Israeli bar. They are all 19 20 years old kidsholding guns. And so one of

Ramallahs most talented young musicians is welcomed home.

Alice RothchildJanuary 03, 2011


15/62

ELUL 7

Photo by Gerson Robboy.

These first few are from Abu-Dis, suburb of E. Jerusalem, where the wallwas being built, Feb. 25, 2004. This was right next to where the newPalestinian parliament building was under construction at the time. Thisfirst picture shows the wall passing between the houses. The parliamentbuilding was right behind where I was standing.

Here is a close-up of the wallconstruction.


16/62


17/62

We drove past this portion of the Barrier Wall. It was near this portion of theWall that I was asked, "How long will you be staying in Israel?"

The insensitivity started almost immediately. In talking with one of the pastors on thetour bus, he asked me, How long will you be staying in Israel? I was surprised.Bethlehem is not in Israel, as any of its residents will tell you. Not one country in theworld considers Bethlehem to be in Israel. Not even Israel itself, which has built amassive Separation Barrier through Bethlehem for the specific purpose of separatingthe vast majority of the city from Israel.

This question was odd not only because the tour had just passed through this Barrier atthe checkpoint in northern Bethlehem, which required everyone to have their passportsavailable for inspection, since they were leaving territory administered by the Israelimilitary occupation and entering territory administered by the Palestinian Authority. (Ifyou are interested in the technical language for this: the passports had to be ready forinspection because they were leaving Area C of the West Bank and entering Area A.) Itwas also odd because, at the moment that I was asked the question, the Barrier was inview outside the bus window. (Even though the bus had driven a little bit south at thispoint, the Barrier was in view because of the tortuous route that it takes as it cutsthrough the northern part of the city.)

I was surprised that tour leaders (who had months to learn about the places to whichthe tour would be going) could have missed this. However, this insensitivity was veryminor compared to what was to follow.

The Church of the Nativity


18/62

The bus drove to Manger Square, where we met the Palestinian tour guide who wouldshow us around the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Roman CatholicChurch of the Shepherds Field in nearby Beit Sahour (the suburb of Bethlehem inwhich I was living).

I will call this guide Akram (not his real name). Akram himself is a Christian from BeitSahour. By this point, I had met other tour guides (and many other people) from BeitSahour. I chatted with Akram a little, and it was clear that he knew the families of someof the people I knew, though perhaps not the individuals themselves. As it happened, allof the mutual contacts that we discussed were also Christians.

Akram (with Williams help) showed us through the Church of the Nativity. The group, asmay be expected, had a wonderful time viewing one of the holiest sites in the Christianworld, built over the traditional birthplace of Jesus himself. (For more pictures of thechurch, see here and here.

Notice all the gunfiredamage to the upper

wall, clearly visible nextto the windows just underthe roof of the Church of

the Nativity. Nothing

about this wasmentioned as part of thetour.

What was a little troubling was that, at one point, we went into the courtyard in front of

St. Catherines Church (the Franciscan church that is part of the Church of the Nativitycomplex). Akram talked about Jerome, who completed the Vulgate (a translation of theBible into Latin) while living in Bethlehem around the year A.D. 400. What Akram did nottalk about was the mass of bullet holes plainly visible from the courtyard, damage fromwhen the Israeli army shot up the Church of the Nativity during its 38-day siege of thesanctuary in 2002. I spoke to Akram briefly about this. It was very clear that he knewexactly where the gunfire damage was and what had caused it. It was also clear that
http://andrewsbethlehemblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/daily-life-in-bethlehem/http://andrewsbethlehemblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/the-first-day/http://andrewsbethlehemblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/the-first-day/http://andrewsbethlehemblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/daily-life-in-bethlehem/


19/62

this was not something that our tour wanted him to talk about. (For more information onthe siege of the Church, see here.)

It bothered me that our tour group had decided that we did not want to hear about this.The siege of the Church of the Nativity is now part of its history, albeit a tragic part, andit is a part that is hugely significant for Akram and for virtually every other Christian whoactually lives in the Bethlehem area. Why should Christians visiting Bethlehem not wantto hear about this from local Christians who live there? I did not understand.

However, the insensitivity got worse. Much worse.

The Latin Shepherds Field

As happens so often in the Holy Land, there are two sites that claim to mark the locationof the fields where the angels appeared to the shepherds to announce the birth ofJesus: a Roman Catholic (or Latin) one and a Greek Orthodox one. At the risk of beingcontroversial, one can say that the Greek Orthodox site has a greater chance of beingauthentic, but the Latin site is more picturesque. Therefore, most tour groups visit theLatin site.

The church at the Latin site is simple but attractive, and a number of caves in thehillside on which the church is built do indeed seem to be places where shepherdswatching their flocks may have taken shelter to sleep. The landscape is also beautiful.

Latin Church ofthe Shepherd's

Field, in BeitSahour.

The problem is that the landscape has a recent history, a meaningful story to tell. Theproblem is also that the leaders of our tour either chose to ignore that history, or elsehad not learned about it. We therefore behaved offensively towards Akram (whoaccompanied us) and towards many other residents of Beit Sahour.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/siege/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/siege/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/siege/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/siege/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/siege/


20/62

After visiting the church and one of the caves, William and the pastors took us to ashady place on the hillside below the church to have a worship and prayer service. Wehad a great view of the countryside. We had a great view of some other things, too.

Directly in front of us, a paved road with an electrically charged fence separated BeitSahour (where we were) from hillside fields, some of them planted with olive groves.The fenced road is part of the Separation Barrier built by Israel several years ago. Thefields and the olive groves belong to the residents of Beit Sahour and used to be tendedby them, but now residents of Beit Sahour cannot access them without a permit fromthe Israeli military occupation to go to Jerusalem. Such permits are incredibly difficult toobtain. Of course, Akram knew the details of the confiscation of the land that we staredat for over an hour. But Akram was not invited to say anything about this to us.

A little to the left, still on the other side of the Separation Barrier from us, was the newsettlement of Har Homa. Har Homa is built on a large hill. When I first visited Bethlehemin 1994, this hill was covered by a forest and was called Jabal Abu Ghneim by theresidents of the Bethlehem area. It was a community property to which the residents ofBethlehem and Beit Sahour went with their families to have picnics in the shade on hotsunny days.

Shortly thereafter Israel declared the forest off-limits to Palestinians and revealed itsplan to build a settlement there. The forest was razed, and settlement constructionactually started, in 1999. (For the U.N. General Assembly Resolution condemning thedecision to construct this settlement, which passed by a vote of 130 to 2, see here. Oneof the two countries voting against this resolution was the United States, whichnevertheless severely criticized the plans to construct the settlement during thediscussion after the votesee here. The other country voting against this resolution
http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/3D0FCEBC00371DBB80256479002E42C8http://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/a06f2943c226015c85256c40005d359c/980c32a3b984695105256562006765f4?OpenDocumenthttp://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/3D0FCEBC00371DBB80256479002E42C8http://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/a06f2943c226015c85256c40005d359c/980c32a3b984695105256562006765f4?OpenDocumenthttp://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/a06f2943c226015c85256c40005d359c/980c32a3b984695105256562006765f4?OpenDocumenthttp://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/3D0FCEBC00371DBB80256479002E42C8


21/62

was Israel.) During our prayer and worship service, we had an excellent view of thissettlement.

Between us and Har Homa, on the same side of the Separation Barrier that we were on,was another hill with an apartment complex built on it. This is the Orthodox Housing

Project (for someinformation on thehistory of this project,see here). Constructionon the project started in1995. In reply to aquestion that I askedAkram privately, he toldme that the projecthouses mostly youngcouples and their newfamilies. There is littlenew housing availablefor them elsewhere inBeit Sahour.

On the hill at the left in the background, one can see the Israeli settlement ofHar Homa. On the hill between us and Har Homa is the Orthodox Housing

Project. The Separation Barrier runs between Har Homa and the Project. TheIsraeli occupation has placed a standing demolition order on buildings in the

Project; members of our tour blew their shofar horns at these buildings.

In 2002, when Israel started constructing the Separation Barrier through the West Bank,it fixed the route of the Barrier as following the road that we could see. (It built theelectrically charged fence around this road, and declared the road off-limits toPalestinians living in the West Bank, shortly thereafter.) The Israeli military then decidedthat the Project was too close to the Barrier (i.e., the road), and issued demolition orderson all of the buildings in the Orthodox Housing Project. (Just in case you didnt catchthis: The buildings had been standing, and had been housing Christian families, foryears before Israel decided to build the Separation Barrier that it now claimed thesebuildings were too close to.)

Did our tour know what we were looking at (and forcing Akram to look at) for over anhour? No. Neither was the village of Al-Numan, across the Separation Barrier to theright, pointed out to us.
http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=452http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=452http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=452


22/62

When Israel unilaterally annexed what it called Greater Jerusalem in 1967, it decidedthat Al-Numan was a part of Greater Jerusalem. However, it did not give the residentsof the village Israeli ID cards (which would have given them the right to live in GreaterJerusalem). Rather, it gave them West Bank ID cards. In effect, Israel created a legaltrap in which the villagers of Al-Numan are illegal residents in their ancestral homes.

Since the construction of the Separation Barrier, this has turned daily life into hell for theresidents of Al-Numan. To visit friends and relatives in the Bethlehem community, andto access essential services (health care, schools, etc.) there, they must cross theSeparation Barrier. To return home, they must re-cross the Separation Barrier and re-enter Greater Jerusalem, which (according to Israel) they do not have the legal right todo. One suspects that the only reason that the Israel military has not started refusing tolet these people back into their own village is because the Bethlehem community (andits international friends, including many tens of thousands of Christians) are watchingthe situation very closely. One suspects that the demolition orders on the OrthodoxHousing Project buildings have not yet been carried out for the same reason.

We sat in full view of the entire scene described above for more than an hour. From myconversation with Akram, I knew that he was well aware of everything that we wereforcing him to look at. I therefore felt awful; I can only imagine what he felt. I do notunderstand the kind of Christianity that can go to the site of ongoing discrimination andinjustice (as the residents of that site see it) and seek to have a nice spiritual experiencethere. But this is the kind of Christianity that we were practicing.

At the far right of

this picture on thetop of the hill, one

can see thePalestinian village

of Al-Nu'man,now on the Israeli

side of theSeparation

Barrier (in thispicture, the

electrically fenced

road).Unfortunately, we

did not take notice of this village. We did, however, notice the few sheep thatcan be seen next to the olive grove in the valley close to the Separation Barrier.

We made Akram sit through all of this for over an hour while we had the prayer service.We could easily have chosen for our prayer service a different hill-side that was not


23/62

quite so loaded with the memory of recent perceived injustice. Or we could have letAkram tell us everything he knew about the recent history of the landscape at which wewere looking, and allowed that history to be one of the subjects of prayer. We didneither.

All of this, by itself, was an insult to Akram, however unintentional. But it got evenworse.

At the end of the service, a few of the pastors stood up and blew shofar horns as loudas they could in the direction of the Orthodox Housing Project.

On June 7, 1967, the extremist rabbi Shlomo Goren blew a shofar in the Old City ofJerusalem to celebrate its conquest, and shortly thereafter suggested that the Israelimilitary blow up the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque. For this and other reasons,

Goren has been an embarrassment to Israel ever since, and the shofar horn hasbecome a symbol of perceived Israeli oppression to Palestinians.

One may have different opinions about Israels conquest of Jerusalem. Personally, I amthrilled that Jews now have complete freedom to pray at the Western Wall. Regardless,it is insulting for American Christians to blow a shofar horn in front of a Palestinian theyrecognize as a brother in Christ. But what we did was worse. We made a Palestinian, afellow believer, sit with us for over an hour in full view of what to him was a scene ofinjustice and oppression, while we had a nice religious experience there. Then some ofus blew a symbol of this injustice in front of him, and blew it in an apparent effort to be

heard by other Palestinian Christians living in homes marked by the Israeli military fordemolition.

Next steps

It would be hard to imagine a situation in which visiting Christians could do more tooffend a local Christian than we did to offend Akram. I think we owe him an apology.

First, I think that the leaders of the tour need to contact Akram. They need to let him

know that our behavior was inappropriate, and whyit was inappropriate. I am quitecertain that William (at least) has the resources to do this.

Second, I think that the leaders of the tour need to contact everyone who was on thetour, let them know that we are apologizing to Akram, and let them know why. Since theoffense to him (and to the people he knows who live in the Orthodox Housing Project)was quite public, the apology needs to be public as well.


24/62

To be clear: I did not speak to Akram after the shofar horns were blown towards theOrthodox Housing Project, except to tell him good-bye. He did notask me to write thispost, nor verbally express his thoughts on the shofar horns to me. But I dont think heneeds to. After living with Palestinian Christians for close to a month, one learnssomething of the perspective that they share. Moreover, since I was part of the tour

when all of this happened, I feel as responsible as anyone.

One can have different views of the justifiability of some of Israels actions (landconfiscation, building of the Separation Barrier, home demolitions, etc.). The point of thispost isnt that all Christians should agree with Akram. The point is that AmericanChristians visiting Bethlehem for religious reasons should at least have a minimalawareness of what the views of Christians like Akram are, and they should (at the veryleast) respect these views while visiting, whether or not they agree with them.

We flagrantly violated these principles. I am sure that we were not the first, and will not

be the last, to do so. But we should make an effort to make amends.

I am sure that at least some of the leaders of our tour group will see this post. I willupdate this post to take into account their reactions to it.

One final point: since the events of Wednesday, June 8, more than one of the pastors inmy moms tour group have made extraordinary efforts to befriend and encouragePalestinian Christians. That is wonderful, and nothing I have written in any way seeksto minimize this contribution. But neither does this make our behavior on that

Wednesday any less publicly offensive. Given the circumstances, apologies such asthose I have suggested above are a necessary means to encourage PalestinianChristians who have been insulted. And to love them, as we as Christians arecommanded to do.


25/62

ELUL 9

From David Chadwick:

I am part of an EC project to transfer knowledge and skills to Palestinian universities, soI travelled there in fall 2010. On our way to and back from the West Bank (you have tofly into Israel in order to get to the West Bank as all transfers are tightly controlled byIsrael) we travelled on local buses in order to appreciate how life is for commuters andPalestinians wishing to travel to Jerusalem.

The attached picture shows (part of) the checkpoint that West Bank workers with jobs inJerusalem have to go through each day. Picture taken on 13 Nov 2010.

It took us over an hourjust to get through the

check point to leaveJerusalem in theevening of our transferto Ramalah. In fact the

journey from Jerusalemto Ramalah took overtwice as long as our

journey from theJordanian border toJerusalem, which istwice the distance. Theborder crossings couldnot be starker. IntoJerusalem by Jewishtaxi (the car numberplates differentiate

between Jewish ownedcars and Palestinian owned ones, which is all part of the apartheid regime) we used theJewish only crossing, with no queues, a quick show of the passports and in we went - aminute at the most. Leaving Jerusalem on the Palestinian bus, we crossed via the"arab" crossing, with hour long queues, then everyone off the bus, to walk across theborder, with inspection by armed guards, then back into the bus on the other side. Thesame happened when coming back into Jerusalem, only this time everyone left the busexcept ourselves (the foreign tourists) and armed guards with machine guns came ontothe bus and inspected everywhere and our passports. It was very intimidating. Thewhole exercise seems designed to make life as difficult and inconvenient as possible forPalestinians working in Jerusalem, presumably so that they will give up their jobs to thenew Jewish arrivals from Eastern Europe, who immediately upon arrival have more


26/62

rights than the non-Jewish people who were born there. Its quite distasteful the wholeapartheid regime.


27/62

ELUL 10

from Susannah Nachenberg:

As a young Jew that grew up in the Zionist movement but has gone through a

transformation of consciousness and as a new member of JVP, I have many reflectionson my three times living in the region. However, I think one of the most powerful is areflection I wrote while on an Interfaith Peace-builders' delegation last fall. I broke downcrying an entire night after realizing that as someone taught to love Israel, I am soashamed to see what it has become as an occupier and undemocratic ethnocracy.

(Left to right: Susannah,Olah and delegate Alex)

My Community

I dont know where to begin. Driving through the West Bank past endlesssettlements to get to the North was overwhelming. Even after having traveled inthe West Bank previously, this was the first time that the utter unfathomableinhumanity of the situation really sunk in, weighing heavy in my heart. I did notrealize the extent of occupation until this dreary yet scenic drive, marked by hills,olive trees, walls, settlements, and mapped out military zones.

In Jenin, we drove past a memorial made from rubble that had been blown up inthe shape of a horse, the symbol of bravery. Fifty-nine people were killed in aretaliation attack from the IDF after some Jenin suicide bombers had killed 29people in the Israeli town of Netanya.

When you hear of this exchange of life for life, it begs the questions, why did thiscircle of violence begin in the first place? What could make someone so angryand full of despair that they would want to take others lives along with their


28/62

own? This is when you realize, as a witness traveling throughout this cagedland, seeing all of impostures and enclosures, this is just too disturbing, tooinhumane and unjust to ignore any longer.

And then I think of Ola, my hero, the dim light at the end of a dark, dark tunnel.

Ola, a 21-year-old Palestinian woman who has never left her home town ofNablus and openly tells our group of 28 that she never had a childhood.Generations of children have lost their childhoods, subjected to traumatic nightraids, housing demolitions, arrests and murders in front of their eyes, causingpsychological effects that seem irreversible. And yet, Ola, having grown up inviolence devotes her time to the Human Support Association, not to rescue theyounger generation from this reality, but to merely help them cope with it. Butwhat is so incredible about Ola is the aura of hope, and vitality that radiates whenshe walks in a room and fills my heart with a solemn happiness. How is it thatOla, who has lived through atrocities unfathomable to me is able to maintain such

strength, and compassion for humanity?

It is when I think about Ola and her community, walking through the streets ofNablus and looking at the posters of different people killed in each neighborhoodthat I feel overwhelmed, ashamed and even appalled by my own AmericanJewish community. Much of my community travels to Israel in great numbers toenjoy all the tourist sites, contributing millions to the economy without so much asblinking an eye towards the immense suffering of those in the West Bank, only ashort distance away. How can my people not only apathetically allow thecontinuation of such mistreatment and injustices of fellow human beings, but

actually fund and support the very regime that perpetrates the crimes?My soul aches when I look into the eyes of an old grandmother in the SheikhJarrah neighborhood who tells us she was violently thrown out of her houseduring an eviction process, or when a young, bright Palestinian universitystudent says that his mind has become a prison from the psychological weight ofthe endless borders, barriers, and checkpoints.

The magnitude of violence, trauma, pain and suffering that the Palestinian peoplehave been subjected to for over 40 years has become a great weight that Icannot easily shake. Ive lived in Israel several times, enjoying spending time

with friends in Tel Aviv and Yaffa, going to bars, moving freely without eventhinking about the people only about an hour away from me who live in a wholeother reality, a place which feels like an inescapable imprisonment.

In all, what hurts the most is that, I really love Israel, as a place, a people, aculture and what it symbolizes as the center of my deeply loved heritage. When Istand in the walled-in West Bank, with its settlements, demolitions, and refugee


29/62

camps, my soul weeps to understand that that same Jewish nation, that I hold sodear to my heart, is capable of such.


30/62

ELUL 11

from Joel Beinin:

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/415/a-day-in-the-wilderness-of-judea_

Photo: Keren Manor/ ActiveStills.org

Lets say that you have a plot of land in Germany, and you dont work it. Someone elsedoes. You dont pay attention because you arent using it. Then you return and claim the

land. When the German legal authorities look into it they will say it is no longer your

land. It belongs to the one who worked the land for ten years.

This is how Yochanan, a resident of the unauthorized outpost of Mitzpe Yair explains

why he has the right to put a fence in the middle of an agricultural field owned by Faysal

Said Hushiyya and his relatives in the hardscrabble, semi-desert South Hebron Hills

near the southeastern edge of the West Bank (or Masafir Yatta, as the area is known in

Arabic). There is only one problem with Yochanans argument. Not a word of it is true.

Before Mitzpeh Yair was established in 1998, the Hushiyya clan owned and farmed the

entire barely arable valley between the outpost and the authorized settlement of Susya

(pop. ca. 750) established in 1983. In November 1999 the Israeli army closed off a large

tract of land in the South Hebron Hills, dubbed Firing Area 718, and announced it

would be used for military target practice. The army and Civil Administration authorities
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/415/a-day-in-the-wilderness-of-judea_http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/415/a-day-in-the-wilderness-of-judea_http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/415/a-day-in-the-wilderness-of-judea_


31/62

expelled most of the Palestinian inhabitants, among them about 1,000 cave dwellers.

Their property was confiscated; the caves were sealed; their water wells and outhouses

were destroyed.

For nearly a decade, Israeli activists organized by Taayush (Living Together) and

internationals have worked with the inhabitants of the South Hebron Hills to maintain

their precarious hold on their lands based on sheep and goat herding, unirrigated winter

agriculture, and sparse olive groves. The presence of Israelis and internationals has

sometimes also provided some degree of protection from the arbitrary orders of the

army. Christian Peace Maker Teams and Italians from Operation Dove have maintained

a constant presence in the village of Tuwani, which has been subjected to the

depredations of settler fanatics who have poisoned their flocks and attacked children

from neighboring villages on the way to school. Throughout the area, settlers have

frequently uprooted olive saplings planted by Palestinians with the help of Taayush and

stoned or shot at farmers attempting to work their lands.

The Israeli Supreme Court ruled that since some of the settler outposts were built in

Firing Area 718 this proved that the army did not really need the area as a target

range. The court ordered the army to allow the Palestinians to return. Despite many

obstacles, the area has gradually been repopulated. However, the Palestinians have not

been given permission to construct any buildings. A school and a medical clinic built in

the village of Tuwani have been issued demolition orders. Despite another court order

directing the army to permit the Palestinians to carry out their agricultural work, the army

often obstructs them from plowing and harvesting their fields.

The army prevented Faysal Said Hushiyya and his partners from plowing their fields for

five years during which Mitzpe Yair flourished despite its unauthorized status

according to Israeli law. The Hushiyyas have filed a claim in an Israeli court to establish

their ownership rights. But the case has dragged on for years. Enter Yochanan of Mitzpe

Yair.

Israeli law requires a property owner who claims that someone has infringed on his

property rights by building a structure on it, must, within thirty days, assert his rights by

attempting to remove the structure. Otherwise, the interlopers claim is consideredvalid. On Christmas Day 2010 some twenty Israelis and internationals organized by

Taayush come to witness and provide assistance and protection as five members of the

Hushiyya family attempt to dismantle the fence built by Yochanan on their lands.

Two dozen soldiers and two policemen have beaten us to the scene. They have already

taken the ID cards of the Hushiyyas, although they are not charged with any crime or


32/62

security violation. Nor has the army directly ordered them not to dismantle the

fence. But since they must have their ID cards to do anything, the Hushiyyas are afraid

that if they go ahead with their plan, the army will invent some offense and detain them.

Jamal Hushiyya addresses the commanding officer on the scene saying, Isnt Israel a

state of law? We are only asking that you apply the law. All present know very well that

in the West Bank there is a different law for Jews and Arabs, to the extent that any legal

norms applied at all to limit the hooliganism of the settlers. The standoff ends when the

Taayush legal staff informs us that documenting the Hushiyyas attempt to assert their

rights satisfies the requirements of Israeli law. Some of us are not very confident that

the Israeli courts will affirm the property rights of the Hushiyyas any time soon.

And Yochanan? He is a German convert to Judaism relying on the power of the Israeli

army to assert that his right to the land he has confiscated supersedes the rights of the

Hushiyyas who were there for hundreds of years before him. Another wrinkle according to a report by Nissim Mosek for Israeli Television Channel 1, a very high

percentage of the Palestinians living in the South Hebron Hills are of Jewish

origins. Until two generations ago this was widely known and acknowledged. Many,

especially in town of Yatta, maintain crypto-Jewish ritual practices to this day.
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-393977http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-393977


33/62

ELUL 12

From Palestine the Beautiful, photos by Liza Behrendt

A house demolition in Silwan, East

Jerusalem, August 14, 2009.

Neighbors, family and media watched

the demolition but were unable to have

any effect.


34/62

When the bulldozer left

there was an explosion of

grief and anger.

Kids climbed around the leftover rubble.


35/62

Parents tried to comforttheir children.

This demolition was so

disturbing to watch that,

combined with

dehydration, I actually

fainted. Thank you

Paraska, for catching me!


36/62

ELUL 13

Photos by Lois Pearlman

Children near Rafah.

Radio Station Rafah.


37/62

ELUL 14

Photos by Diane Tracht

The next three pictures are from Jerusalem, the Friday after the Flotilla. The army

forbade Palestinian men between a certain age (something like 16 and 35) fromentering the old city to pray because they feared demonstrations. So these men prayedoutside the old city walls, fathers and sons, on cardboard or rugs placed on the sidewalkand cigarette butts, and across from a row of soldiers. On that day I'd just returned fromYad Vashem, which presents Jerusalem and the state of Israel as the answer to theHolocaust. Seeing this sort of discrimination based on ethnicity by a state that claimsfreedom of religion broke my heart.

There was both the old search for meaning in the Holocaust, and the newerconsciousness of Palestinian life. I can't imagine being forced to pray on the sidewalk

and not in my synagogue (much less a synagogue as special as al-Aqsa), with a row ofsoldiers just watching and waiting.


38/62


39/62

ELUL 15

Poem and notice from Jean Carr.

Wheelchair victim ofFriday faithfulnessreturns always.

Support our friend Rani Burnat

Rani Burnat has been wheelchair-bound since being shot in the neck by a sniper in

2000. The shooting occurred during a demonstration in Ramallah on the second day of

the second intifada. The injury has left him paralyzed from the chest down, with a head

wound from which he is still recovering. Despite the difficulties, Rani now 30 years

old has since started a family and is the proud father of triplets.

In spite of his severe handicap, Rani continues to attend demonstrations against the

separation wall in his village of Bilin on a regular basis. Over the years of protest Rani

has been beaten and shot numerous times by the forces of the occupation, and his

wheelchair has sustained repeated damage. Ranis medical equipment demands

constant care and gets worn down quickly. Every several years he needs to replace his

worn out wheelchair. He further lacks basic items such as a special mattress to prevent

pressure sores and a standing unit. These problems unfortunately worsen his condition.


40/62

ELUL 16

Photos by Margaret Holub

Roadblocks and closures in Area One, center city of Hebron, winter 2007. There were, Ibelieve, 56 closed roads in the one square mile district.


41/62


42/62

The guy in the red capis Rich Meyer of theChristian peacemakersTeam. I love that group!


43/62

ELUL 17

From Rich ForerAccounts from my time as part of the Interfaith Peace Builders Delegation

June 1, 2010

This evening I left my hotel in East Jerusalem to meet my ultra-Orthodox relatives inWest Jerusalem. As I walked up the street looking for a taxi, I met a friendly, olderPalestinian gentleman. We talked for a bit and I told him I was going to the JaffaGate. He asked if he could join me and I agreed. We walked along until we were able tohail a cab. The driver was a real character, very animated and very funny. He remindedme of a Palestinian Don Rickles. As soon as I got in the cab, I told the two men that Iwas Jewish. They had no negative reaction at all. For the next twenty minutes the threeof us discussed the Israel-Palestine problem. Both men said the issue was not aboutJew or Muslim, Israeli or Palestinian; it was about human beings. We all agreed that thePalestinian Authority was ineffective and the Israeli Government dishonest. Therecertainly was no animosity toward me in particular and I detected none at all towardJews in general. We reached our destination. As I got out of the taxi, I saw my nieceand her two kids waiting for me inside the gate.

I took my niece, her husband and the kids out to dinner. Afterwards, we spent sometime at their apartment. Around 9 pm, feeling like it was time for me to go, we walkedoutside and my nephew hailed a taxi. The driver was a man who appeared to be in hismid-30s. I was sure he was Jewish. He began to talk. He said he had many Jewishfriends. He also said that 90% of Palestinians disliked the Palestinian Authority. He then

told me he was Palestinian. Naively, I told him I was Jewish. Considering the fact thathe had picked me up in an orthodox area of West Jerusalem he probably already knewthat. I asked him what he wanted to see happen between his people and theIsraelis. He said I want my home back. He then told me a story about one of hispassengers:

One day he picked up a woman at a hotel, obviously a tourist. She told him whereshe wanted to go. He began driving and she began to talk very animatedly about theIsrael-Palestine conflict. She told him that the solution was to kill all Palestinianmen. The driver did not interrupt. He let her continue. At one point during her soliloquy,she commented that he was Jewish. He did not correct her. He simply let her keeptalking. When they arrived at the destination she paid the fare and gave him a very

generous tip of thirty Shekels, about eight dollars. The driver then told her that thingswere not always what they seemed, that, for example, he was not Jewish. He wasPalestinian. She was speechless. Then she turned and walked away.

In her mind the woman had likely conceived of Palestinians as pathologicallyviolent. Perhaps, because of the drivers lack of anger combined with her probableembarrassment at being seen as a supporter of genocide, the incident may havespurred her to see Palestinians and herself in a different light.


44/62

ELUL 18

Recipe for a Suicide Bomber

Combine:One older brother shot to death while washing the family car.A house demolished, rebuilt, and demolished again.Your father detained in prison without charges.Checkpoints where soldiers make you wait all day in the hot sun just becausethey can.

Fold in:

A barbed wire fence that cuts off your village from its fields andorchards.A university degree with no way to find a job.Standing in line all night for a permit to work.Streets strewn with rubble, garbage and leaking sewage, which is the only placewhere you can play.Soldiers taking over the top two floors of your home, forcing yourFamily to sleep huddled together in a single room.

Season with:

Falling behind in your classes because you can't go to school duringcurfew.Panicking because you forgot your identity card, so you can't pass the checkpointto go home.Losing your job, your arm, your baby, your sister, your hope for thefuture, your will to live.

Bring the ingredients to a boil. Garnish with shattered dreams.Serves nobody.

Lois Pearlman


45/62

ELUL 19

Photos by Stefan Strassfeld.

The first picture is, I believe, a new apartment building in MaalehAdumim, a large Israeli settlement in the West Bank. The second is ofthe hills surrounding it. I took these photos because of all the newplantings going in around the building and the irrigation systemrequired to maintain them (which I could see but is not so visible). Ihad never questioned the Zionist mantra of "make the desert bloom"until I saw that land: it's beautiful, arid, and...a desert -wonderful unto itself.


46/62


47/62

ELUL 21

A poetic response to Bilin

God sees. Bassem killedat close range at realwailing wall: Bilin.

(Bassem Abu Ramah killed by a tear gas canister, at close range, by an Israeli soldierwhile protesting the wall at Bilin.)

- Susanne Methven


48/62

ELUL 22

January 06, 2011 How I became a human smuggler

Alice Rothchild

I have to confess, we were not prepared. We were not even aware of the white-faced

American mostly Jewish privileged skin in which we were living. Our bus left the tiny

village of Masha, heading past Ariel to the municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffo, or Jaffa as our

Palestinian friends say. We had a yellow license plate, the seats were comfortable and

the seat belts functional. Life was good.

In a smaller car, 3 Americans (one tall bearded guy who could be mistaken for a settler

and one very blond woman) and 2 Palestinian women, university students, who had not

successfully obtained permits to leave the West Bank and were passing as Americans,drove in front of us. One of them had done this several times before without getting

caught. The other had never seen the Mediterranean Sea. You might call this an

exercise in human smuggling Israeli style.

A private security company pulls the two vehicles over at a checkpoint near the

settlement of Ariel for a routine security check. I wonder, is it the obvious Arab face of

our driver or just part of the mechanics of control. Why would a group of non-settlers be

driving down this highway? We watch with trepidation as our friends get out of the car

and are led into the checkpoint. A smiling woman in uniform enters our bus, Who is the

tour guide?

Me (gulp).

What are you doing?

Tourism.

Where have you been?

Nablus.

What did you do?

We like old things, we toured the Old City.

Where did you stay?
http://alicerothchild.com/2011/01/january-06-2011-how-i-became-a-human-smuggler/http://alicerothchild.com/2011/01/january-06-2011-how-i-became-a-human-smuggler/http://alicerothchild.com/2011/01/january-06-2011-how-i-became-a-human-smuggler/


49/62

I know I cannot say the Balata Refugee Camp. Yaffa Guest House.

OK, passports, come with me.

I step out of the bus and a snarling dog, a Belgium malinois known for good scent

detection, is chewing on the leash with its handler next to the bus. I discover that thislittle checkpoint, is fully equipped with x ray equipment, FAX machines, and computers.

All our bags are x-rayed repeatedly as suspicious items like books, notebooks, tape

recorders, etc. are removed and re x-rayed. The questioning keeps up and I have no

idea if the group will keep its story straight. I am acutely aware that in my bag are BDS

stickers (we all have them), materials about BDS, brochures from the Palestinian

Agricultural Relief Committee and two copies of my book which would instantly get me

in trouble. I keep turning them over so the title is not visible. And then there are pages of

incriminating notes and hundreds of easily accessible photos. Usually before anysecurity check, I cleanse my belongings and make the evidence difficult to find. I have

been careless. The other wild dynamic I observe is the white, clearly Ashkenazi woman

who is in charge, and the younger Ethiopian woman who receives her barking orders

and unpacks and repacks our bags obediently: race and class in action.

As anxious as we are, our main focus is on the two Palestinians who are insisting they

are from the US, have quickly made up names and fake histories, and are acting their

parts flawlessly. They are aided by the performance of our group leader who plays the

innocent but helpful Jewish tourist, so apologetic about the forgotten passports. The

main problem is of course the issue of identities. Oh we forgot our passports in our hotel

in Tel Aviv, we didnt know we had to have them, etc, etc. A quick phone call to a fellow

activist, Hello, so wonderful visiting you in Ariel, would you talk to security about our

visit.The story is being fabricated in real time and the fear and anxiety in the group for

the two brave Palestinian women is gripping us all. As we sit in the waiting room, we

pretend we do not know each other as that would definitely blow our cover. While

maybe I might face an angry security guard, a fine or deportation, these two women

could get arrested and go to jail for the crime of visiting Jaffa with a group of activists.

The bus finally passes inspection and we have to drive off not knowing the fate of our

friends. After a prolonged interrogation and much dancing around, I think the head

security woman knew something was not right, they are turned back. We all cheer when

we learned by cell phone that they sailed through Hizma checkpoint without being

stopped.


50/62

When the group is finally reunited for a tour of Jaffa, one of the Palestinian women runs

down the beach and into the water, soaking her boots and pants, crying, breathing in

the smell of the sea for the first time in her life.


51/62

ELUL 23

Photo by Gerson Robboy

Residents of Beit Surik and international protesters, 2/25/04, protesting the

construction of the wall separating the village from its fields. As theyapproach closer to the soldiers, the soldiers will shoot tear gas at them.


52/62

ELUL 24/ Shabbat

One piece of my stay [at the Christian Peacemakers Team house in Hebron] was along, ongoing conversation with [CPT member]Dianne Roe about her current passion. For 450

years Jews and Moslems lived intermingledpeacefully in Hebron. In 1929 that changed.There was a massacre, in which Arabs killed 47or 49 Jews. This is a central rallying point forpresent-day settlers, who have a museum aboutthe massacre (and spray paint nkamah revenge all over the place.) A piece of the storythat is little-told is that many Jews were savedby their Arab neighbors. And many of thoseArab families who saved Jews in 1929 are thevery ones who are being terrorized today. The

landlords of the CPT house, and of the vacanthouse across the street, are Shaheens, whosaved the Mizrahi family in an extraordinaryway. Nineteen Mizrahis were hidden in thehouse. When the killers came to the door, theMizrahis tried to run them off. Failing this, thehajah, the oldest woman in the family, went upon the roof, took off her scarf and shook out herhair, then opened the front of her dress,exposing her breasts. She said, I swear beforeAllah that there are no Jews here. Because itis a sin to look upon a naked woman, themarauders fled.

Above, the Shaheen home in

Hebron, where the hajah

saved her Jewish tenants in

1929, now empty. Below,

Dianne Roe (left, with video

camera) and CPT colleaguesat checkpoint.

Margaret Holub, January 2007


53/62

ELUL 25/ Selichot

From Andrews Bethlehem Blog, by Andrew Miller

http://andrewsbethlehemblog.wordpress.com/

The Driver

3:00 is really early. I had managed to sleep for about three hours when my driver (whom

I will call George 2, to preserve continuity with this post) arrived.

A Palestinian Christian who lives in Bethlehem, George told me that he is able to hold

an Israeli ID (which gives him the right to drive through checkpoints and to the Israeli

side of the Separation Barrier) because he

was born in Jerusalem, in the Christian

Quarter of the Old City. His family still owns

the house in which he grew up.

The walls of Jerusalem in the Christian

Quarter. The Citadel and Jaffa Gate are in

the background. (Note the water tanks at thelower right. Even in the Christian Quarter,

Israel imposes water rations on

municipalities that have mostly Palestinian

residents. One does not see rooftop tanks in

municipalities populated by Israeli Jews.)
http://andrewsbethlehemblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/on-the-road-and-in-the-air/http://andrewsbethlehemblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/on-the-road-and-in-the-air/http://andrewsbethlehemblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/on-the-road-and-in-the-air/http://andrewsbethlehemblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/on-the-road-and-in-the-air/


54/62

When the government of Israel annexed what it defined as Greater Jerusalem in 1967

after the Six Day War, it offered Palestinians living in the annexed territories Israeli

citizenship. They refused, partly because Israel would have required them to take a

loyalty oath, and partly because they refused to recognize the fact of annexation. (It is

perhaps worth mentioning that the whole rest of the world refused to recognize the fact

of annexation, too. Not one other country recognizes Israels sovereignty over all of

Greater Jerusalem.) To avoid the appearance of discrimination as much as possible,

Israel therefore gave them what are called Israeli ID cards. These cards allow much

greater freedom of movement than the West Bank ID cards that my Palestinian friends

in Bethlehem carry.

George 2!s father was living in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem in

1967, one of the thousands of Palestinian Christians who lived (and still live) in East

Jerusalem. He therefore has an Israeli ID card, although he is not an Israeli citizen. He

currently lives in Bethlehem, but has managed to renew his Israeli ID by using his

parents address in the Christian Quarter as his official address. Otherwise, he would be

in the same position as my Palestinian friends who live in Bethlehem: he would not be

allowed to go Jerusalem (five miles away) under normal circumstances.

To the airport

George 2!s father picked me up in Beit Sahour at the ungodly hour of 3:00 AM. Near

Beit Sahour, part of the Separation Barrier is defined by an Israeli road that only Israelisand those with an Israeli ID can use. We drove on this road, passed Har Homa, and

then made a right turn into the Palestinian village of Beit Safafa. This was a short cut

that allowed us to take the main road through West Jerusalem, which is a little faster

than driving next to the Old City.


55/62

Less than forty years ago, Beit

Safafa was part of the greater

Bethlehem community, and

residents from the two towns often

went from one to the other. Today,

Beit Safafa has been cut off from

Bethlehem by several new Israeli

settlements and the massive

Separation Barrier. It is not

inappropriate that, during my

departure from Bethlehem, I be

reminded of all this. But it was sad.

After driving through West

Jerusalem, we drove north on route

404, which turned first into highway

45, and then turned into route 443.

More sadness. This road goes

passes dozens of settlements in the

West Bank. In order to protect these

settlements, Israel has completely

walled in the Palestinian villages of

Bir Nabala, Al-Jib, and Al-Judeirah, among others, into what is called the Bir Nabalaenclave. We drove past that.


56/62

Map courtesy of B'Tselem. http://www.btselem.org/separation_barrier

We also passed the massive Modiin settlement bloc and the Palestinian village of Nilin.

In order to allow the expansion of the Modiin bloc and of neighboring settlements, Israel

is in the process of taking land from Nilin, Bilin, Deir Qaddis, and other Palestinian

villages. (Taking land, by the way, here includes demolishing some of the villagers

homes and burning some of their olive trees. You can Google the names of these

villages for more information if you are interested.)

So it was not the most cheerful ride early this Thursday morning. But eventually we

made it to Ben-Gurion Airport.
http://www.btselem.org/separation_barrierhttp://www.btselem.org/separation_barrierhttp://www.btselem.org/separation_barrier


57/62

ELUL 26

Photo by Lois Pearlman.

Checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah:


58/62

ELUL 27

Photos by Rebecca Arian.

Kill Arabs


59/62

ELUL 28

Accompaniment -- Margaret Holub 2007

That night we were invited to abirthday party for Mary, a 76-year old Australian woman whohas been here living andworking with the young radicalsof the International SolidarityMovement. It was a charmingparty, and a chance to meet abunch of the internationals,mostly young people workinghere in various capacities to

monitor the scene and in somecases to agitate for change.The party was hosted by Issa, ahandsome young Palestinianman in his twenties. We sat inchairs around the walls of anempty back room, with a tableset up with some cakes andfruits (and a Palestinian flag for a table cloth.) Issa said, Okay, we will begin the party,and he turned on some loud, crackly Arab/techno fusion of some kind that includedhappy birthday. He offered his hand to Mary, and the two of them danced in front of all

of us, while we clapped. Then Ead, another cute young guy, with glasses and a big,toothy smile, tapped Issa on the shoulder and took over. Like a cotillion.

I mention this because the nextday was one of the weeklyactions being organized by Issaand Ead and some of theinternationals. This one wasbilled as a conference. SoThursday at 1:30 my CPT palsand I walked over to the

appointed place, where indeedthere was a big stack of whiteplastic chairs, some bannersand a loudspeaker and PAsystem. Issa and Ead andsome others set up the chairs inthe street (which was blocked bya checkpoint at the other end,


60/62

so there was no traffic to worry about.) The checkpoint was about a half a block away,and the chairs faced away from it.

Someone handed around plastic Palestinian flags on little sticks. The crowd grew.There were dozens, maybe

more, kids of all ages,mostly boys, carrying onwith the flags and bannerswhile stuff got set up.There was a good bit ofpress. At the appointedmoment, more eardrum-breaking music was put on.A woman in anembroidered gown andhead scarf got up and

started the proceedings.There were speakers oneafter the other, with themusic in between each. Itwas really very exciting maybe 200 people, lost ofenergy. Bob from CPT atone point said into my ear,Lets cross the street,because otherwise wellhave to duck into one of

these stores when theystart teargassing.

At that point I got tense. Icould see kids and teensadvancing a bit towardsthe checkpoint. At onepoint a soldier opened thegate, and we could see the

jeeps and soldiers behindit. Someone explained that

at these things, eventuallysomeone will throw a rockor something, and all hellwill break loose. I hope they wont shoot, I struggled with myself about whether to stayor to just leave. I decided to linger on the edge for awhile, at least until my nerves toldme to go.


61/62

Meanwhile I saw Issa andEad both carefully,energetically moving thecreeping kids away from thecheckpoint, kind of herding

them down the streettowards the chairs. Theywere quite something towatch. I also saw one of theinternationals, a glamorous,kind of icy-looking woman(who should be played byNicole Kidman in the movie,)do a beautiful thing. She ispart of EAPPI (theEcumenical Accompaniment

Program in Palestine andIsrael, an CPT knock-off runby the World Council of Churches.) Accompaniment, I learn, is a term of art, for whatall these folks do, standing in hot spots and trying to bring a little cool. So this verypretty woman was standing right inside the metal detector at the checkpoint, her hipcocked casually, holding a baby in her arms. It was a truly disarming sight.

While all this was going on,the music and the speakerscontinued. And then theyended. Issa and Ead started

collecting the banners andthen the chairs. It was over.The last thing I saw before Iasked Bob to help me find ataxi to leave Hebron was anold man and a young boy ona heavily-laden donkeystopped at the checkpoint.The soldier made the guycompletely unpack thedonkey, including its raggedy

saddle, and hand each piecethrough the metal detector.He did it resignedly. Thistook a good bit of time, asyou might imagine. Then I saw the guy and finally the donkey walk through thecheckpoint. Bob laughed and said, Were you just accompanying a donkey?


62/62

ELUL 29

Photo by Liza Behrendt

Beit Jala: An interfaith protest against the fence, with activists and religious figures coming from

the Israeli and Palestinian side to pass symbolic objects between the fence.

August 14, 2009!!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1122511786092&set=a.1122494345656.2019584.1326000108&type=1&l=7548ec8848http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1122511786092&set=a.1122494345656.2019584.1326000108&type=1&l=7548ec8848

jewish voice for peace elul flipbook

Documents