<  Reflection Four: So Much I Didn't Know  >

November 2015 Delegation to Palestine/Israel
Co-Sponsored with American Jews for a Just Peace/Jewish Voice 
for Peace Boston's Heath and Human Rights Project

 

Overview:   The delegation sent the reflections in this fourth collection prior to returning to the United States. they include powerful concluding remarks from several participants, including Kathleen D., Celeste A., Sandra Y., Kristen M., and Wendy L.

Other delegates write of some of the many examples of Palestinian resistance they witnessed during the delegation: John C.'s reflection on creative nonviolence in the West Bank is poignant, while Virginia C. writes about the example of Susiya in the South Hebron Hills.

Dee R. writes about encounters with Palestinian youth; Mary L. speaks of Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish; Allie P. reflects on a meeting with Nora Carmi of Kairos Palestine; and Renee K. details the plight of the Palestinian refugees.

This set of reflections also features several video clips, including Issa Amro discussing his commitment to nonviolent action; Palestinian refugee youth playing music; and Nora Carmi of Kairos Palestine.



 


SO MUCH I DIDN’T KNOW   |  Kathleen D. - San Francisco, California

Prior to this trip I had no idea of what life was like for a Palestinian.  I knew nothing about how big and intricate the web of laws is or the practices governing nearly every aspect of a Palestinian's life. 

Laws and practices governing, for example, when and for how long Palestinians can have water, when and for how long they can work their own land, where they can live, which roads they can drive on and when and where they can go to school, who they can marry -- if they want certain rights. 

I had no idea that settlers would feel free to walk through Jerusalem with their rifles swinging from their shoulders - with the protection of the Israeli military and police and private security. 

I had no idea that a lot of settlers came from the United States. 

I didn't know that Israel would insist on taking a family's land even when the family still has the papers from 1916 demonstrating their ownership. 

I had no idea of how dehumanizing it is to constantly go through military checkpoints.

I couldn't have guessed that in one city alone (Hebron) there would be over 1,000 military orders and 18 military checkpoints. 

I couldn't have imagined how moving it would be to listen to Palestinian children play music on beautiful instruments despite having to wipe tear gas from their eyes. 

I really couldn't have imagined walking under nets that Palestinians have had to attach from one side of their street to another so that garbage thrown at them would be prevented from striking their heads -- and have that be part of daily life. 

I wouldn't have guessed that a Palestinian woman born and raised in Detroit and who wants to live in the West Bank would be subject to these same laws and practices because they trump her US citizenship.  

I couldn't have envisioned the joy and pride in a Palestinian mother's face as she watched and listened to her young daughter read to me in English, as I witnessed during one home stay. 

I could return to San Francisco feeling sad and disturbed by how horribly human beings will treat others and leave all this at that. 

But knowing how much money the US government gives to the Israeli military and government points otherwise. It is time to boycott, divest and sanction.



 


CREATIVE NONVIOLENCE IN THE WEST BANK  |  John C. - Winchester, Virginia

During our visits to Bil’in and to Hebron, I was impressed with the creativity and courage of those committed to nonviolent resistance to the occupation. In Bil’in we met with Iyad and ten of us stayed overnight in his home. Having taught a university course in the philosophy of nonviolence, the way he described his work struck me as solidly in the tradition of Gandhi and King.  Every Friday for over ten years, he and others have led nonviolent demonstrations against the wall built on occupied territory that separates Israelis and Palestinians, and that isolates Palestinian communities from one another. 

Iyad led creative protests and direct actions against the building of the wall that cut off the village from their olive trees. Some protesters chained themselves in metal cages along the construction line to delay construction. Others linked people in metal containers that took soldiers a long time to dismantle. When soldiers came to destroy the village’s olive trees, some chained themselves to the trees. After the wall was completed they continued the demonstrations. The land near the wall and along the road to the village is littered with tear gas canisters used against the demonstrators. Soldiers killed one protester, Bassem, by firing a tear gas canister at close range that hit him in the chest. Surprisingly, given the impunity with which Israelis make decisions, the demonstrations, accompanied by lawsuits, succeeded in Israel moving the wall back from Bil’in by 500 meters.

As the wall continues to isolate them and to cut them off from some of their orchards, they continue to demonstrate every Friday. Iyad travels frequently outside of the West Bank to speak about the nonviolent resistance in Bil’in.  Three weeks ago, a week before a scheduled trip, the IDF set a trap for him and attacked him breaking two ribs. He could not make the trip.  The night before we arrived, soldiers tear gassed his house.  He told our group.  "We do not have a problem with the Jews, or the Jewish people, but with the occupation. Religion is not the issue."

More recently we visited Hebron and spoke Issa Amro, founder of Youth Against the Settlements. When we arrived in Hebron the streets were eerily quiet and deserted because of the recent violence. We passed a street where Palestinian children were throwing rocks at soldiers. We saw many Israeli soldiers--one group of soldiers blocked a street with a mobile tanker filled with “skunk water” that is used to coat demonstrators with a foul-smelling liquid that takes several days and many baths to remove. The tension in the city was palpable and most of the shops were closed and shuttered as collective punishment for the unrest.

Issa explained that at first he adopted nonviolence as a tactic in resisting the occupation, but later he adopted nonviolence as a principle. He said he believed that using violent methods would continue the violence. Furthermore, he believed that nonviolent resistance developed the character of those who practice it.  It was inspiring to witness the commitment, courage, and creativity of these peacemakers.



 


VIDEO: ISSA AMRO DISCUSSES HIS COMMITMENT TO NONVIOLENCE  |  Mike D. - New York, New York

Issa Amro, of Youth Against Settlements in Hebron, discusses his understanding of active nonviolence and his commitment to nonviolent action and civil disobedience.

Click here for more videos from the 2015 Olive Harvest Delegation



 


STRONGEST MEMORY  |  Celeste A. - Carmel, California

The strongest memory that I will carry home with me from our two-week-long trip with Interfaith Peace-Builders to Israel-Palestine, my very first one, is the stark contrast between the welcomes we received at each side of the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron, the scene of a tragic massacre in 1994.

We left our hotel in East Jerusalem very early that morning, because our leaders and able guide knew the possibility of our encountering problems in either entering the "ghost town" or moving around on Shuhada Street once we arrived. We were all a bit worried about what we had committed to in hopping on the bus or perhaps even joining the group! Reality had set in that morning.

As we departed the bus at the site, we went first to the Jewish side where we passed through metal detectors and then climbed stairs up to the entrance. I don't remember if there was anyone at that entrance, but I do know that we had no idea where we were going or what we were seeing. When we finally arrived at the back of the synagogue, on one side we saw men studying or praying with little regard to our presence. On the right hand side we found, what we finally realized thanks to a pamphlet available at the door, were the tombs of the religious patriarchs Sarah and Abraham behind bars. With those quick sightings, we figured we'd seen it all and left.

Then we descended the same stairs and went around the front of the building to the other entrance. As we approached it, one delegate mumbled under his breath, "OK, we're going to the dark side now," or something to that effect.  Almost immediately afterwards we saw smiling faces of men and women welcoming us to the mosque. We entered, women donned the appropriate garb, and we walked to an area to remove our shoes. We then entered a beautiful room, which photos do not do justice.

Admittedly, our guide led us on this portion of the tour; however, the stark contrast between the two places of worship and the ways in which we were greeted will stick with me forever, as will the shocking tour we took of Hebron's souk afterwards where settlers, strategically living on the second floor of a stretch of the market, have thrown their refuse, apparently for years.



 


SUSYA   |  Virginia C. - Bedford, Massachusetts

On Wednesday, November 11, we drove to Susya, a Palestinian farming village south of Hebron. It was hard to believe that box-like structures are places where people live.  

In 1986, the military ordered the villagers to relocate from an area nearby their present location.  A few months later their homes were destroyed because the Palestinian villagers were living on the site of Roman ruins, which must be preserved as a heritage site. It is now home to Israeli settlers. 

The present village is not hooked up to electricity or water. The villagers are not allowed to build permanent homes. Military harassment is common. We heard stories of soldiers cutting olive trees in the middle of the night, killing sheep with their cars and on another occasion killing four residents. In the middle of the night soldiers went into a home and ordered the inhabitants outside for no given reason. While we were there, we observed soldiers with guns stalking the land, and frightening the children. 

Despite their hardships and continued military harassment the residents of this village are resilient and determined to remain on the land that they consider rightfully theirs.  

The women have started a Rural Woman's Cooperative and are making needlepoint and other items for sale.  Germany has made a gift of solar panels, which provides needed electricity to the village. Yet, one has to wonder why these people are denied the same protection and services as those provided to neighboring Israeli settlements.



 


THE PALESTINIAN CHILDREN  |  Dee R. - Bedford, Massachusetts

Friday night we stayed in Burqin, near Jenin, with our host family in a modest house. The children, ages 11, 7, and 5, were a bit shy at first but quickly became friendly as we gave them small toys.

The children and our group had so much fun playing with puppets, playdough, and yo-yos. They were proud to show off all the English words they knew and teach us a few words in Arabic. On Sunday as we toured the village, many children came running up to greet us in English. All were smiling and laughing. Other children peeped around walls and fences to wave and said hello, then hid again giggling.

Wednesday we visited Palestinian Susya, a village of residents displaced from their homes there in 1986, after Israel declared the area an archaeological site. They now live in makeshift tents because they are forbidden to build. They get water from a well and have some electricity, thanks to solar panels donated by Germany. The children were shy at first but quickly warmed to us. They laughed as they ran around, braving each other to run up to one of us and say “I love you,” then collapsed giggling. Suddenly all the children came running towards their parents with fear on their faces. The youngest boy was crying. Five Israeli soldiers, fully armed, were walking down the road. They had just investigated why our large bus was there. The parents reassured the children and in a couple of minutes they were playing and laughing again.

Friday we visited Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. As we walked through the camp to the Lajee Center for our meeting, we passed a child here and there. I smiled and waved, but got no response.

Each child just stared without moving, without smiling. At the center, we heard a music program by seven children ages 11 to 14. Each child played a song on the instrument he or she selected to learn. The music touched my soul. The teacher informed us that they all dream of playing on the stage to let the world know about Aida, about Palestine. There was no laughter, no giggles. I caught the faintest smile on two of the children’s faces.

These are the images I believe I will remember the most vividly. To me, they represent all the hope and despair that I saw in Palestine.



 


VIDEO: YOUTH MUSIC PROGRAM AT LAJEE CENTER, AIDA REFUGEE CAMP  |  Mike D. - New York, New York

The Lajee Center in Aida Refugee Camp near Bethlehem runs a music program for Palestinian refugee children. While Israeli soldiers launched an incursion into the camp, these children came to the center to meet the delegation and play a little music.

Click here for more videos from the 2015 Olive Harvest Delegation



 


ENCOUNTERING DARWISH IN PALESTINE  |  Mary L. - Rome, Georgia

While preparing for our delegation, I read and absorbed much information that was new to me. Most of it was dismal, grim, and heartbreaking. To take a break, I often turned to Mahmoud Darwish's poetry. Listening to his lush Arabic voice reciting, while I read what he was saying in English.

So I was heartened to encounter him in Palestine, twice. The first time was upstairs at The Educational Bookshop near our hotel in Jerusalem. A westernized and friendly place, the bookstore provides wi-fi and snacks. As I worked on my diary, Darwish smiled at me from a large portrait painting on the upstairs wall.

The next sighting was in a very different setting and in this large full length portrait, he was glum.  He was on the wall of the Lajee Center in the middle of Aida Refugee Camp.

On the top of the Center, as we viewed the rooftop gardens initiative, we were shocked by very loud blasts of multiple teargas volleys and then the sounds of ambulance sirens. The gas cascades seemed far away but soon drifted to us as we scuttled away inside the building. We were then treated to a performance by a few children. Their musical director duly noted that many of her students were unable to attend the performance "because of the gas".

Then of course, a delicious lunch was served to us and we sat there, considering our privilege and the horrors of being a child forced to live in a prison of a refugee camp that our government enables and funds.  Darwish would understand it well, because he too as a child was a Palestinian refugee.



 


YOU ARE CHOSEN IF YOU DO THE WILL OF GOD   |  Allie P. - New Haven, Connecticut

After hearing Nora Arsenian Carmi from Kairos Palestine speak, one IFPB delegate, Steve Low, observed, “We heard a sermon today.”  Indeed we had.  She was inspiring, challenging, passionate, and crystal clear about the need to act in love to challenge injustice.  

A Palestinian Christian, Nora has been a peace activist since 1967 and exemplifies yet another Palestinian who persists and resists relentlessly.  She shared with us that her heritage is Armenian.  “I know,” she said, “what being the descendant of genocide means.”  In 1948 her parents were driven out of their home in Palestine.  “I know what suffering is,” she told us, “and what it takes to get over it.  But you can’t get over injustice.”  Injustice has to be named, confessed, and confronted.

I have been very familiar with the Kairos Palestine document.  It names Israel’s occupation of Palestine as a sin, and it promotes Palestinian civil society’s boycott, divest, sanctions movement as a nonviolent strategy, motivated by the “logic of love,” not revenge.  The document was written by a group of 15 Palestinian Christians, including the Rev. Mitri Raheb who preached this past summer at the General Synod of the United Church of Christ, when the UCC considered and, with over 75% of the votes, passed a resolution which supports the BDS movement and which urges all UCC members and congregations to study the Kairos Palestine document. Denominational heads . . . patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops from a variety of Christian expressions in Palestine . . . endorsed the document, which was first released on Human Rights Day (December 10th) in 2009.  The church leaders, Nora explained, couldn’t have written the document themselves. The initiative had to come from the grassroots; it wasn’t going to come from the hierarchy.  But they were able to approve it.  

And what a gift the document has been.  As we know too well, criticism of the state of Israel receives resistance and resentment in the United State.  Some, especially Christians, are cowered by accusations of being anti-Semitic, or of imperiling interfaith dialogue.  Like the 1985 South African Kairos, Kairos Palestine is speaking directly to the churches.  It asks us to come and see and to act against the injustice of Israel’s sustained occupation and collective punishment of Palestinians. In a real way the document provides the backbone for people like myself who for far too many years avoided the issue or remained silent.  Here are the pleas of our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters, urging us, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, to have eyes to see and ears to hear, and then to have voices to speak.  

I can’t do justice to Nora’s presentation, but here are a few of the gems of wisdom and insight that she shared with us:  

Nora expressed her deep concern about escalating global violence, specifically naming her fear of a third world war.  “It will not to be as simple as the others,” she said.  “We do not have the right to destroy this beautiful creation.”  She went on to say, “The key to peace and war is in DC.”

She also shared a lovely story about the bar mitzvah of Aaron, the son of Marc Ellis (a close friend of Nora's, Jewish theologian, and an outspoken critic of Israel).  She asked Marc what he would tell his son on that occasion.  Marc’s response?  “You are chosen if you do the will of God.”  In sharing this story, Nora was completely debunking and delegitimizing any claims to inherent chosenness, special status, or exceptional ism. The bottom line is this: all human beings are equal, none better than another, and we distinguish ourselves by being fully human, as God intends for us, by expressing, through all we do, faith, hope, and love.   Now that will preach, as they say and so Nora did for us.



 


VIDEO: NORA CARMI OF KAIROS PALESTINE SPEAKS OF OUR SHARED HUMANITY  |  Mike D. - New York, New York

The Kairos Palestine document is a call from the Palestinian Christian community. In this video, one of the document's creators, Nora Carmi welcomes the delegation and speaks to the power of the land of Palestine/Israel and introduces the Kairos framework for Palestine.

Click here for more videos from the 2015 Olive Harvest Delegation



 


MYTH OF A LAND WITHOUT A PEOPLE FOR A PEOPLE WITHOUT A LAND  |  Renee K. - Cambridge, Massachusetts

The Palestinians are the largest and longest-standing displaced population in the world, explains Lubnah Shomali who works for Badil in Bethlehem. 

Badil is an educational center that researches refugees and internally displaced Palestinians. Two out of every three Palestinians, or 66 percent of the population, have been forcibly displaced.

Between 1948-1967, more than 500 Palestinian communities were razed to the ground as a result of a deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing. It began with Plan Dalet, which transferred the indigenous people in 1948 off their land.

Our delegation was led by our guide Umar Al Ghubari of Zochrot to one of these Palestinian villages, Lifta, located by the gate of Jerusalem. Wealthier Palestinians living there were displaced in 1948. Palestinians refer to this as the Nakba - referring to the memory of their expulsion from their lands. It brought tears of sadness to witness this large village standing deserted. The houses were fairly large. At the bottom of the village were two pools of water that were being used by Israeli Jewish young men who lived in the area and seemed oblivious to its historical significance.

And this brings us back to one of the main issues of this conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. To the Palestinians, their story began in 1948 with the Nakba, their explosion and subsequent destruction of their indigenous culture. According to the Israeli narrative, they began on an empty land thankful for a new beginning.  The tragedy is that to this day Israelis refuse to acknowledge the Nakba.

It's no wonder that Palestinians feel invisible and angry. Israeli law makes it illegal for Palestinians to teach about the Nakba in their own separate classes and this history is totally absent in Israeli textbooks. As an educator, this deliberate obliteration of a people's history is dishonest and infuriating. An honest acknowledgment of the Nakba by Israelis needs to be the beginning of any settlement that would put an end to an ugly occupation and begin a path toward respect of another's humanity.



 


MAN’S INHUMANITY TO MAN  |  Sandra Y. - Durham, New Hampshire

It is hard to witness first-hand what one people will do to another in order to have what their religion, their God has said is theirs. I am referring to the belief that God has given the Jews the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.  The deep ironies of Israel/Palestine left me questioning my basic beliefs about the nature of our species.  

How can Israel, whose people have suffered so much, inflict so much suffering on the Palestinians?  How can a government weave a web of laws that discriminate against non-Jews, so injustice that they are considered illegal by international law, illegal under the Fourth Article of the Geneva Conventions?  These international laws were written after WWII so there would never be another holocaust.

What our delegation saw and learned about was how Palestinians are forced to live in a coercive environment, which limits their choices and undermines their wellbeing.  This coercive environment is considered a human rights violation under international law, equal to violent force.  

Palestinians under Israeli and military law are denied freedom of movement, denied the freedom to marry whom they choose without risking that their children will have no country or services, denied the ability to build an addition on their house without risking a demolition order of their whole property, denied the right to cultivate their land, denied the right to collect and store rainwater. The list goes on.  There are 51 laws that discriminate against non-Jewish citizens of Israel, which does not include laws for Palestinians living in the West Bank or Gaza.

In the face of all this, the vast majority of Palestinians remain non-violent and hopeful about their future.  As one Palestinian activist told us, "I choose non-violent resistance even though international law allows violence against an occupying force because I want to keep my humanity."



 


HOW WAS PALESTINE?  |  Kristen M. - Owings Mills, Maryland

When I was in Palestine I tried to think of ways I would answer this question. I wanted to come up with something like an elevator pitch that was both engaging and work appropriate, something that would make people want to hear and learn more. I thought of some words and feelings I had that could be used to describe my experiences- intense, emotional, exhausting, inspiring, messed up, depressing, hopeful.

The first day back to work, and no one asked me "How was Palestine?" Rather, I was asked "How was it?", "How was your trip?", "How were your travels/ time away?". I went to a place that is unknown to many and too controversial to mention for others. It's like I went to a place that didn't even exist, I have no passport stamp from Palestine and no flight ticket that landed in Palestine. I traveled to a place whose existence has been rendered nearly invisible by "Israel". And even as I return home words like "trip", "travels", and "time away" are used to supplement where I was -- Palestine! 

When we arrived to the airport in Tel Aviv it was clear we were in the land they call "Israel'. The airport was fully stocked with souvenirs such as Israeli Defense Force t-shirts, the same military that drove a tank into Aida refugee camp and tear-gassed the community so heavily that after I ran inside, coughing and eyes burning, I looked out the window and saw nothing but white. It was as if I was on an airplane and looking out into the clouds. At the airport in Tel Aviv there were t-shirts saying "I love Israel" and "Super-Jew" with the Israeli flag and a superman cartoon on it. 

Where had I just been for the past two weeks? What had I seen? Was any of it real? Was it all just a bad dream? It almost feels like it was. I feel like I have no proof of any of it. When I got on that plane it felt like I was leaving it all behind, traveling in between worlds and realities in a way that I never have before. Arriving back in New York, I am no longer on guard the same way I was there. I can freely move around, I am not staying in a place that is under such overt military occupation. 

When I was unpacking I heard kids outside playing and then I heard a loud crash, yells, and things falling down. I jumped up to look out the window, worried that their house had just been raided by the IDF. That night I had a dream that I was in a strip mall in America and an IDF tank rolled in and killed people dining at a restaurant. I ran into the restaurant to see what had happened and when I walked out I noticed I was surrounded by a huge wall, an apartheid wall, that I had always been surrounded by but just started to notice. 

When asked "how was your trip?" I throw them my elevator pitch and quickly realize how empty of an ask it really was. I take deep breaths when I'm asked, I get anxious, and every time a different memory pops in my head. This distant place that I went to doesn't exist in the minds of many Americans, and I'm worried that this is just foreshadowing the future and one day Palestine won't exist at all.



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THE CACTUS, A SYMBOL OF RESISTENCE  |  Wendy L. - Bath, Maine

On the way home from Tel Aviv, recurrent images of what we experienced and the people we met wafted through my mind: Susiya, Bil’in, the video of Bassem’s death, Aida, Iyad, Rana, Amira, Ashraf, Muhammad’s face with a bullet hole below his right eye.  Then I thought of Lifta.  I felt the spirits of the people who once lived there.  Then the tears started coming and I hoped that no one would notice in the darkness.

Coming home has been difficult.  I went through the mail and read the newspapers and news magazines which focus on the attacks in Jerusalem.  Headlines like “Jerusalem: Stabbings Continue” from The Week was followed by the article describing the latest attacks and the body count, 11 Israelis since September and 69 Palestinians dead.  

And I realized that the US media will make it very difficult for me to turn people away from  statistics and the images of Palestinians attacking Israelis. Then I thought of the many struggles for freedom that have occurred throughout human history and what came to mind was The Civil Rights movement in America,  South Africa, India, the American Revolution.  There were violent elements in all of these but it was nonviolent resistance that won in the end and that is what I believe will happen in Palestine.

I think the American people have not embraced Palestinian resistance as a movement for freedom like we eventually did during the South African Apartheid years because the Palestinian cause is buried under a media that favors Israel.  Israel touts itself as the “only democracy in the Middle East”, with a Palestinian Israeli population that has all the rights and privileges of citizenship.  Americans don’t know about the 51 discriminatory laws against Palestinian Israelis, the house demolitions as collective punishment in the Bedouin communities and Palestinian towns that occur in Israel.  They don’t know about the vast majority of Palestinians who nonviolently resist the road blocks, checkpoints, the house demolitions, the separation wall, the loss of land and property, the imprisonment of children, the administrative detentions without charges, and the killing of family members by the IDF.  They nonviolently resist by enduring all of this while maintaining family life and Palestinian culture under an Israeli regime that wants them to go away.

The Palestinian people are resolute, enterprising and passionate about the struggle to maintain their culture.  Canaan Fair Trade has become an international success. As I write this I also think of the determination of the people of Susiya to stay on their land and who have resisted being forced to leave for 30 years and of the people of Bil’in who for 10 years have had weekly demonstrations at the separation wall and of the people of Aida Refugee Camp who built a media, music and arts education center for their young people.  The cactus has become a symbol of the Palestinian people. It survives with little water in the desert heat.  It grows and blooms even in the harshest of landscapes.

My mind goes back to Lifta.  There were cacti everywhere.

 

 

We invite delegation participants to comment on and react to the experiences they have during our Israel/Palestine delegations in written Trip Reflections. 

Individual delegates contribute pieces to these reflections.  As such, reflections are not comprehensive accounts of every meeting or experience, but impressions of those things that most impact individuals.  Submitted reflections may be edited for clarity or brevity. Trip reports do not necessarily reflect the views of Interfaith Peace-Builders, trip leaders, or delegation partner organizations.  We hope you enjoy reading and we encourage you to share these reflections with others.



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