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Dispatches from Between the Checkpoints
Tuesday, 09 January 2007
Magno, one of the Global Peacewomen Project coordinators, sent us the letter from Palestine on the first day of 2007 to share deteriorating current Palestine situation and appeal the movement to boycott Israeli products. The letter in full is below.
Dispatches from Between the Checkpoints
Today is the first day of 2007, third day of the Islamic holy days and feast Eid al-Adha. Since the Palestinian electorate chose Hamas members to constitute the majority of the Palestinian Legislative Council nearly one year ago, life here has steadily deteriorated for most.
Beginning with the political and economic boycott led by Israel and the US followed by the Europeans, to Israeli crushing of Gaza (with unemployment of over 80% up from 60s last year not to mention almost total devastation of infrastructure) and bombings of Lebanon that also had serious repercussions here, and all the way to the recent skirmishes between Fateh and Hamas, there has been little calm and even less predictability. Government workers have not been paid for months, others are on strike. People are angry as hell at Israel, the US, and other who have given up on Palestinians and Palestine, as well as their own leaders. The public execution of Saddam Hussein on the first day of Eid further infuriated people, although by no stretch of the imagination is he a popular figure here. Even as a foreigner with great deal of privilege and mobility, I feel the difference from one year ago.
"The Fighting Has Nothing to Do with Us"
During the period of the heaviest fighting between Fateh and Hamas, my colleague Rania exclaimed, "The fighting has nothing to do with us." According to recent polls, 40% of the general Palestinian public are totally disaffected and alienated by party politics, and believe no elected official or existing political party is truly concerned about the people. This alienation has terrible impacts on the current attempts to build a progressive coalition third-party.
Although they see the fighting between the parties as a deeply rooted, masculinist struggle about power (rather than genuine concern for the nation and its people), they also understand the ways in which both Israel and US have supported whichever party or faction that best supports their aims and has instigated and encouraged the in-fighting. The good news is that the two parties have agreed to configure a unity government rather than holding an early national election as President Abu-Masen had announced. Good call, since it was predicated that a new election would only increase Hamas power in the PLC.
The Holiday Blues
The Wall construction seems nearly finished, with Jerusalem now almost completely fortified. The super high-tech Bethlehem checkpoint is fully operational, with crossings as if one were at an international airport, crossing international borders: long lines, x-ray searches, shoes off, etc., etc. Another important checkpoint near the village of Beit Jala, which is the other side of Bethlehem, is nearing completion. Now, access by West Bankers is almost impossible and difficult and arduous even for Jerusalemites.
The movements and checkpoint-crossings always are made more difficult during holidays. This year, since Eid and the Christmases coincide, it's even dodgier. Always, "illegal" West Bankers try to enter Jerusalem, to visit family homes, to get to hospitals to see sick relatives, and many times simply to earn a few shekels in the informal economy to meet holiday expenses. My Muslim colleague Manal's primary school-aged daughters, who attend a Christian school, were gravely concerned about Santa Claus in Palestine. Just before Christmas, they asked their mother, "Will Santa Claus be stopped at the check point? Will he be able to get into Ramallah? What will happen if he can't?" Yesterday, shabab, young men, were sprinting through our back yard trying to escape the arms of the military. As we were preparing New Year's Eve meal, one boy no older than 16 ended up in my friend Maha's kitchen seeking refuge, shaking from head to toe, as he successfully avoided the soldier pursuing him. Later the same day, as I was out on errands, a friend trying to get home from Ramallah for New Year's Eve festivities at his family's Jerusalem home, phoned asking to meet him on the West Bank side of the Al-Ram checkpoint since Qalandia was blocked, with over a hundred men, women, and children stuck in the "waiting room" waiting to cross. As Raja and I were driving home, we offered a ride to an elderly woman dressed in tattered clothing and open sandals, lugging two plastic bags, wanting to get to Jerusalem; her desperation was palpable. She had been misinformed that there was an open gate or some other kind of opening to get to the other side of the Wall. We could transport her only as far as where the military could not spot us with a West Banker attempting to enter Jerusalem. Most of yesterday, it rained heavily in this part of the Occupied Territory, with water sluicing everywhere, feet sliding and squishing around in the mud and from the poorly paved pathways, ostensibly "streets."
With the ongoing Wall construction around my place, the main thoroughfare between Ramallah and Jerusalem is a less-than-one-lane track traveled by pedestrians, cars, and public transport vans, all the way to 8-wheeler freight trucks. There are potholes and ruts every several meters along the way, and now filled with rainwater. Watching and experiencing the construction in front of my apartment building have been quite an experience. The profundity of absolute inability to control one's environment, then having to navigate the outcomes decided, implemented, and enforced by others, especially automatic weapon-toting, arrogant teenaged Israeli military personnel, is beyond my ability to describe. The shrinking of one's physical space and the curtailment of mobility are a slow, enduring, non-negotiable process, to which one becomes psychologically accustomed, although there also are moments of overnight-change to which one must adjust immediately. We just get used to taking an alternate route if one is blocked; to shifting our appointment times; to starting meetings late and ending them early to accommodate colleagues' travel; to waiting for hours if necessary to cross checkpoints then getting searched before receiving the ok to move; to repeatedly invoking insha'allah, God willing, to even the most mundane of life's expectations
Love and Beauty under Occupation
Meanwhile, life goes on and there is a lot of love and beauty here. Three WCLAC colleagues--Samia, Eliana, and Rania--gave birth, and the twins born to Iman last year celebrated their one-year birthday. Our accountant Saheeb married his sweetheart. Maha's youngest child graduated from Yale University and Hanan's daughter is applying to colleges for autumn admission. My neighbor Sama's daughter Bisan gave birth to the first grandchild in the family, baby Sama. We celebrate birthdays, small successes of our Centre, and each other's accomplishments, and share meals several times a week that include lively discussions about all manner of topics-religion, politics, love, relationships, work. My friends and colleagues, along with my neighbors and a couple of the local shopkeepers, continue to be great sources of joy and laughter, as well as serious conversations about life. The near octogenarian Lefty, Judy Blanc, my only Israeli friend, always is wonderful company with her wealth of experience and brilliant perspectives on so many things that matter to me.
On Christmas Eve, longtime ally of Palestinian people and maestro Daniel Barenboim performed Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier in its entirety--his first-time ever--at the Ramallah Cultural Palace. The two-hour performance was stunningly beautiful.
I do miss very much your company and conversations that happen so easily when we are nearby. For now, please keep sending me your thoughts and good wishes.
And all the very best wishes for a gentle, loving, and prosperous in all the ways we can be in 2007.
Final Words
The movement to boycott Israeli products and cultural and educational exchanges is gaining momentum. Please do whatever you can to support this. I am convinced it's the only way things can change here. In the meantime, local leaders are doing their best to deal with internal affairs.
With much love
Margo
출처: http://www.arenaonline.org/content/view/302/78/
Dispatches from Between the Checkpoints
Tuesday, 09 January 2007
Magno, one of the Global Peacewomen Project coordinators, sent us the letter from Palestine on the first day of 2007 to share deteriorating current Palestine situation and appeal the movement to boycott Israeli products. The letter in full is below.
Dispatches from Between the Checkpoints
Today is the first day of 2007, third day of the Islamic holy days and feast Eid al-Adha. Since the Palestinian electorate chose Hamas members to constitute the majority of the Palestinian Legislative Council nearly one year ago, life here has steadily deteriorated for most.
Beginning with the political and economic boycott led by Israel and the US followed by the Europeans, to Israeli crushing of Gaza (with unemployment of over 80% up from 60s last year not to mention almost total devastation of infrastructure) and bombings of Lebanon that also had serious repercussions here, and all the way to the recent skirmishes between Fateh and Hamas, there has been little calm and even less predictability. Government workers have not been paid for months, others are on strike. People are angry as hell at Israel, the US, and other who have given up on Palestinians and Palestine, as well as their own leaders. The public execution of Saddam Hussein on the first day of Eid further infuriated people, although by no stretch of the imagination is he a popular figure here. Even as a foreigner with great deal of privilege and mobility, I feel the difference from one year ago.
"The Fighting Has Nothing to Do with Us"
During the period of the heaviest fighting between Fateh and Hamas, my colleague Rania exclaimed, "The fighting has nothing to do with us." According to recent polls, 40% of the general Palestinian public are totally disaffected and alienated by party politics, and believe no elected official or existing political party is truly concerned about the people. This alienation has terrible impacts on the current attempts to build a progressive coalition third-party.
Although they see the fighting between the parties as a deeply rooted, masculinist struggle about power (rather than genuine concern for the nation and its people), they also understand the ways in which both Israel and US have supported whichever party or faction that best supports their aims and has instigated and encouraged the in-fighting. The good news is that the two parties have agreed to configure a unity government rather than holding an early national election as President Abu-Masen had announced. Good call, since it was predicated that a new election would only increase Hamas power in the PLC.
The Holiday Blues
The Wall construction seems nearly finished, with Jerusalem now almost completely fortified. The super high-tech Bethlehem checkpoint is fully operational, with crossings as if one were at an international airport, crossing international borders: long lines, x-ray searches, shoes off, etc., etc. Another important checkpoint near the village of Beit Jala, which is the other side of Bethlehem, is nearing completion. Now, access by West Bankers is almost impossible and difficult and arduous even for Jerusalemites.
The movements and checkpoint-crossings always are made more difficult during holidays. This year, since Eid and the Christmases coincide, it's even dodgier. Always, "illegal" West Bankers try to enter Jerusalem, to visit family homes, to get to hospitals to see sick relatives, and many times simply to earn a few shekels in the informal economy to meet holiday expenses. My Muslim colleague Manal's primary school-aged daughters, who attend a Christian school, were gravely concerned about Santa Claus in Palestine. Just before Christmas, they asked their mother, "Will Santa Claus be stopped at the check point? Will he be able to get into Ramallah? What will happen if he can't?" Yesterday, shabab, young men, were sprinting through our back yard trying to escape the arms of the military. As we were preparing New Year's Eve meal, one boy no older than 16 ended up in my friend Maha's kitchen seeking refuge, shaking from head to toe, as he successfully avoided the soldier pursuing him. Later the same day, as I was out on errands, a friend trying to get home from Ramallah for New Year's Eve festivities at his family's Jerusalem home, phoned asking to meet him on the West Bank side of the Al-Ram checkpoint since Qalandia was blocked, with over a hundred men, women, and children stuck in the "waiting room" waiting to cross. As Raja and I were driving home, we offered a ride to an elderly woman dressed in tattered clothing and open sandals, lugging two plastic bags, wanting to get to Jerusalem; her desperation was palpable. She had been misinformed that there was an open gate or some other kind of opening to get to the other side of the Wall. We could transport her only as far as where the military could not spot us with a West Banker attempting to enter Jerusalem. Most of yesterday, it rained heavily in this part of the Occupied Territory, with water sluicing everywhere, feet sliding and squishing around in the mud and from the poorly paved pathways, ostensibly "streets."
With the ongoing Wall construction around my place, the main thoroughfare between Ramallah and Jerusalem is a less-than-one-lane track traveled by pedestrians, cars, and public transport vans, all the way to 8-wheeler freight trucks. There are potholes and ruts every several meters along the way, and now filled with rainwater. Watching and experiencing the construction in front of my apartment building have been quite an experience. The profundity of absolute inability to control one's environment, then having to navigate the outcomes decided, implemented, and enforced by others, especially automatic weapon-toting, arrogant teenaged Israeli military personnel, is beyond my ability to describe. The shrinking of one's physical space and the curtailment of mobility are a slow, enduring, non-negotiable process, to which one becomes psychologically accustomed, although there also are moments of overnight-change to which one must adjust immediately. We just get used to taking an alternate route if one is blocked; to shifting our appointment times; to starting meetings late and ending them early to accommodate colleagues' travel; to waiting for hours if necessary to cross checkpoints then getting searched before receiving the ok to move; to repeatedly invoking insha'allah, God willing, to even the most mundane of life's expectations
Love and Beauty under Occupation
Meanwhile, life goes on and there is a lot of love and beauty here. Three WCLAC colleagues--Samia, Eliana, and Rania--gave birth, and the twins born to Iman last year celebrated their one-year birthday. Our accountant Saheeb married his sweetheart. Maha's youngest child graduated from Yale University and Hanan's daughter is applying to colleges for autumn admission. My neighbor Sama's daughter Bisan gave birth to the first grandchild in the family, baby Sama. We celebrate birthdays, small successes of our Centre, and each other's accomplishments, and share meals several times a week that include lively discussions about all manner of topics-religion, politics, love, relationships, work. My friends and colleagues, along with my neighbors and a couple of the local shopkeepers, continue to be great sources of joy and laughter, as well as serious conversations about life. The near octogenarian Lefty, Judy Blanc, my only Israeli friend, always is wonderful company with her wealth of experience and brilliant perspectives on so many things that matter to me.
On Christmas Eve, longtime ally of Palestinian people and maestro Daniel Barenboim performed Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier in its entirety--his first-time ever--at the Ramallah Cultural Palace. The two-hour performance was stunningly beautiful.
I do miss very much your company and conversations that happen so easily when we are nearby. For now, please keep sending me your thoughts and good wishes.
And all the very best wishes for a gentle, loving, and prosperous in all the ways we can be in 2007.
Final Words
The movement to boycott Israeli products and cultural and educational exchanges is gaining momentum. Please do whatever you can to support this. I am convinced it's the only way things can change here. In the meantime, local leaders are doing their best to deal with internal affairs.
With much love
Margo
출처: http://www.arenaonline.org/content/view/302/78/
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