On day 2 the 6 of us drove from Abu-Dis to Bethlehem, a drive that while concentreted within Palestine land took us through several check points, as we drove through the first one we decended into a valley, at the bottom of the valley our attention was drawn to a fast flowing river, yet this was not the winding flow of a river in a national trust park this was raw sewage sent into the valley from an Isreali Settlement. The Settelment sat, as do all at thhe top of the hill on occupoed land, the refuse and sewage spewelled into the land aknoldged by the Isrealies as Palestinain, this scene was not a one off, it was a scene that was to repeat itself time and time again; what land wasnt taken was to all Isrealie efforts effected by the occupation.
Our first visti in Bethlehem was to meet the General Secertary of the Hotel Workers Union, a meeting that was to paint a picture of the effects of the wall on trade unionists in Bethelhem, but also to plant the seeds as to the support that might come from our return home. The General Secratary explained how the area had suffered from 65% unemployment. hotels had on average moved form employing 33 workers dwn to 13, hotel closuers had created a significant impact on the town, closures that had come about through Zianist rascim under the guise of 'security'. the settlers had opened accomodation and hotels in their settelments leadning to the decline of the tourist economy, this had lead to wages falling by 40%. the union has responded by proping membership fees and blending membersghip to the uncertainty of the labour market. the trip to Bethlehem and our firts meeting in the city had demonstratde the shear intend by the Isreali authorities to oppress and destroy at arms length the beauty of the Palestinian people, while doing all in its power to provoke a violant confrontation.
our second visit of the day, and our second round of Turish Coffee, Mint Tea and Baklava took us to the Transport Union in Bethlehem and to more discussions around the effects of the wall. for me it is really important to express how the building of the wall represents a new battle in the servival of the Palestinians, a wall that for many Palestinains rises from the ground out of sight from the western world. a battle for the Palestinians that screams to all throughout the world for thier thoughts and support, to ignite and reignite solidarity campiagns and to move the plight of the Palestinians to a higher priority.
Points reinforced by the Transport Workers Union who painted a picture of high unemployemnet leading to many poeple purchasing taxis, a licence and competeing with the the hords of taxis that choke the streets. this over supply of labour had crusshed wages, and brought collapse to union membership. the union had responded by establishing health care for trade union members. Our host went on to speak of how the wall had created extensive problems for its workers transporting goods, often trips that might take 15 - 20 minutes would now take over 2 hours, not simply due to the road blocks that shall be mentioned further on, but because the wall had forced the drivers to drive often in the wrong direction. to attempt some relative context: a trip to Bristol from London where you are unable to travel along the M5 and instead you are forced to travel through the back roads to Birmingham, a trip of an hour and an half, is increased to 4 hours.
our third visit of the day highlighted not just the problems created by the wall and check points but the shere intent to clense the land of Palestinians. our trip took us to a meeting with Local Government dignitries at a town called Bait Fajar, a town with 13,000 residents 80 % of whom work in the towns many quarries and stone manufacturing units producing stone and marble tiles. 70% of the produce was exported to Isreal the effort to export these stones was indeed and effort. the town lay 2 miles from an exit on a motterway, at the turning off stood a Check point and to one side a new settlement of 10,0000. for the workers of the town transporting the stone by lorries would often be at the whim of the soilders; good day the lorries go through, bad day; they dont, and between the 2 lorries would have to unload their cargo (stone tiles) pass through and reload. a journey of 40 miles could take all day. If the placemnet of the settlemnet and the road bloke wasnt bad enough, the present and intended building of the wall would cut the town off from the motoraway access, forcing the lorries to travel 60 miles for what would have been a ten mile trip. the fear of the Local authority was that the towns employers would be forced into ressession and closure, fortunatly the wall has yet to be built, our trip back unto Bethlehem took just 15 minutes. an exepreince that reinforces the impending effects of the wall and the need for increased mobilisation of solidarity.
Our final trip of the day took us through a cooperative Olive oil press, where people from miles around came to press thier oil and sell on or exchage as in most cases with the this impossed black economy. on our way back to the hotel we passed through a refugee camp created by and losely overseen by the UN sinse 1948. this was a place with great pride and ovbious dignity by its residents, yet the shadow of the Isreale governemnt was never to far away, we were told that often the water or electric would be turned off - harassment that simply follwed the sam,e that we had experineced so often on our trip.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Factory- of cigarettes!
Well, firstly to let you know that everyone smokes in Palestine. I think it might be compulsory in this part of the world! It has been great smoking with our dinners! So our first trip to a factory visit was a cigarette company in Jerusalem. It is one of the main employers in the area, along with the university. We heard the same story about workers losing their right to cross the wall. The company are still paying wages to those who can't get to work. Otherwise those famillies would have no other income. We were given a tour by the owner, a young Palestinian whose grandfather founded the company. He and his father were educated in private schools in England and went to univerisity in Scotland- very strange! He had returned to Palestine to run the business. He gave us a very proud tour of the company that employs around 350 people- and it's one of the biggest employers!
After giving us samples of his finest tobacco and me posing for photos on crates and crates of fags (!) he went on his way and we talked to the union. They were established in 1991 and had elections to a committee every year. These stopped in1999 when interest wained, coinciding with the most recent uprising (Intifada) in 2000. They have now decided to start it up again and are planning elections to the committee next month. Their situation is difficult. Workers are scared to take part in any union activities as jobs are so sparse. We asked what made them start up again and the union reps told us that the workers are earning roughly 1400 Shekels a month (it's around 7/8 to the pound) and basically what more have they to lose? They said the company gives over and above the law so it's not bad but, due to the current situation in Palestine, they feel they need to organise just to hold on to what they have now. They had a strike 12 years ago and were successful in securing health insurance and a savings scheme (like a pension) where they contribute 5% and employer contributes 7%. The difficulties they have is that the company as a whole is being strangled by the Israeli regime. They used to export to Gaza but if they do that now they will have to pay Israeli tax and also tax to the Gaza government, paying twice. Last year the Israelis refused to grant them an import licence so they haven't been able to import any raw materials and had to stock up on 18 months worth where usually they would only have 6 months worth. Their tobacco was coming from Zimbabwe but now comes mostly from Brazil and the Phillipines. They are waiting and hoping that the Israelis will grant them an import licence this year or they will go bust. It seems that the trade union and the company to some extent are working together for a bigger political aim, which is freedom for Palestine, although the union is very aware and still determined to fight for workers rights.
It was summed up by the fact that, during the first Intifada (1987) the Palestinians went on general strike every Thursday. This was effective because they were working for the Israelis and it hit them financially. Now, however, the Palestinians are so cut off, basically just working within the wall, that striking would only harm Palestinians business and the Israelis wouldn't give a shit.
After giving us samples of his finest tobacco and me posing for photos on crates and crates of fags (!) he went on his way and we talked to the union. They were established in 1991 and had elections to a committee every year. These stopped in1999 when interest wained, coinciding with the most recent uprising (Intifada) in 2000. They have now decided to start it up again and are planning elections to the committee next month. Their situation is difficult. Workers are scared to take part in any union activities as jobs are so sparse. We asked what made them start up again and the union reps told us that the workers are earning roughly 1400 Shekels a month (it's around 7/8 to the pound) and basically what more have they to lose? They said the company gives over and above the law so it's not bad but, due to the current situation in Palestine, they feel they need to organise just to hold on to what they have now. They had a strike 12 years ago and were successful in securing health insurance and a savings scheme (like a pension) where they contribute 5% and employer contributes 7%. The difficulties they have is that the company as a whole is being strangled by the Israeli regime. They used to export to Gaza but if they do that now they will have to pay Israeli tax and also tax to the Gaza government, paying twice. Last year the Israelis refused to grant them an import licence so they haven't been able to import any raw materials and had to stock up on 18 months worth where usually they would only have 6 months worth. Their tobacco was coming from Zimbabwe but now comes mostly from Brazil and the Phillipines. They are waiting and hoping that the Israelis will grant them an import licence this year or they will go bust. It seems that the trade union and the company to some extent are working together for a bigger political aim, which is freedom for Palestine, although the union is very aware and still determined to fight for workers rights.
It was summed up by the fact that, during the first Intifada (1987) the Palestinians went on general strike every Thursday. This was effective because they were working for the Israelis and it hit them financially. Now, however, the Palestinians are so cut off, basically just working within the wall, that striking would only harm Palestinians business and the Israelis wouldn't give a shit.
Prisoners museum
There is a museum attached to the university which is about the political prisoners of Israel past and present. You enter and immediately are confronted by iron bars and next to it a wall and lots of big rocks. All these methods are used by the israelis to limit the movement of the Palestinian people and it is really effective. It's just the same outside when you can see the other side of the road but you can't get to it. There are photos of the prisons where prisoners are kept (Israel won't accept them as political prisoners although they are kept separately from criminals). Some of them are just rows of enormous tents where there are 8 to a tent, usually from the same political party. This is obviously a cheap way of keeping prisoners but bitterly cold in the winter and scorching sun in the summer. Our guide for the week, Abed, who works for CADFA here in Abu Dis, has himself been imprisoned altogether for three years and spent time in one of these prisons. The first time he was arrested the army raided his house when his family were asleep and broke all the windows to get in. He was 17 and was kept in prison for 18 days and was severely beaten. He was never charged. They accused him of throwing stones.
The photos of police brutality are shocking and include a photo of soldiers dragging a boy of around 12 down the street who is so frightened he has wet himself. Another one is of around 8 soldiers carrying a man by his arms and legs with a trail of blood coming from his head. He had been shot in the head and later died of his wounds. He was dying as they carried him away and, Abed told us, that they carried his body to a Jewish settlement, where the residents had been complaining about Palestinian children throwin stones, and threw his body at the entrance for all to see and started celebrating.
There were all the examples of torture that they use and still use as acceptable, including water boarding and suffocation. There is a wall of photos of Palestinians who had died at the hands of the Israeli soldiers, some as recently as last year and descriptions of how they died. Shooting, beating, torture and being thrown from helicopters were all there. One man was arrested at the age of 75 and died of a heart attack.
Upstairs there are examples of things that the prisoners have made inside. This brought me to tears as the art was so moving and the poems and letters home so soul destroying. All had brave messages about Palestinian freedom and there were photos of hunger strikers and messages of solidarity with the Irish hunger strikers. Letters and even books that were written inside and smuggled out in bullets covered in plastic that had been swallowed.
The staircase leading up to the top floor looks out onto the wall that snakes around a whole village, surrounding it on both sides. To the right is a basketball court that is overshadowed by the wall. Originally, the wall was supposed to go through the middle of it but the university managed to save it. The wall is covered in grafitti, including Che Guevara and messages in Spanish and Italian.
The top floor is an archive of all the writings of the prisoners. There are magazines and books, all hand written, on all kinds of subjects, including Judaism and Zionism, translations of Che Guevara and Marx into Arabic and discussions on the dialectic. Abed told us that, in fact, prison was where he learned politics and English and even Spanish. It shows that the mind is the most dangerous thing and most precious.
There are, at present, around 11,000 political prisoners in captivity, some as young as 14. Young people and children are treated no different, although Israelis are classed as juveniles up until 18.
There are prisons and detention centres all around the country, one of the biggest on the border of Egypt, two kilometres away from a major nuclear power station. It is in a huge military zone where people can't go. Visits to any prison are rare if at all as permits need to be granted by the Israeli government and then people have to through hundreds of check points to get there, not withstanding the financial cost of travel. It seems there is not one Palestinian family who has not a member who is in prison, been in prison, been beaten or killed by the Israeli army. Everyone is affected in a major way. The scale of it is so hard to believe. It's like living in a huge prison. It reminds me, after travelling around for a few days, of what Nazi Germany must have been like, with soldiers, passes, guns and armoured vehicles everywhere and the fear that you will be stopped, beaten or imprisoned at the whim of some arrogant and racist soldier.
The photos of police brutality are shocking and include a photo of soldiers dragging a boy of around 12 down the street who is so frightened he has wet himself. Another one is of around 8 soldiers carrying a man by his arms and legs with a trail of blood coming from his head. He had been shot in the head and later died of his wounds. He was dying as they carried him away and, Abed told us, that they carried his body to a Jewish settlement, where the residents had been complaining about Palestinian children throwin stones, and threw his body at the entrance for all to see and started celebrating.
There were all the examples of torture that they use and still use as acceptable, including water boarding and suffocation. There is a wall of photos of Palestinians who had died at the hands of the Israeli soldiers, some as recently as last year and descriptions of how they died. Shooting, beating, torture and being thrown from helicopters were all there. One man was arrested at the age of 75 and died of a heart attack.
Upstairs there are examples of things that the prisoners have made inside. This brought me to tears as the art was so moving and the poems and letters home so soul destroying. All had brave messages about Palestinian freedom and there were photos of hunger strikers and messages of solidarity with the Irish hunger strikers. Letters and even books that were written inside and smuggled out in bullets covered in plastic that had been swallowed.
The staircase leading up to the top floor looks out onto the wall that snakes around a whole village, surrounding it on both sides. To the right is a basketball court that is overshadowed by the wall. Originally, the wall was supposed to go through the middle of it but the university managed to save it. The wall is covered in grafitti, including Che Guevara and messages in Spanish and Italian.
The top floor is an archive of all the writings of the prisoners. There are magazines and books, all hand written, on all kinds of subjects, including Judaism and Zionism, translations of Che Guevara and Marx into Arabic and discussions on the dialectic. Abed told us that, in fact, prison was where he learned politics and English and even Spanish. It shows that the mind is the most dangerous thing and most precious.
There are, at present, around 11,000 political prisoners in captivity, some as young as 14. Young people and children are treated no different, although Israelis are classed as juveniles up until 18.
There are prisons and detention centres all around the country, one of the biggest on the border of Egypt, two kilometres away from a major nuclear power station. It is in a huge military zone where people can't go. Visits to any prison are rare if at all as permits need to be granted by the Israeli government and then people have to through hundreds of check points to get there, not withstanding the financial cost of travel. It seems there is not one Palestinian family who has not a member who is in prison, been in prison, been beaten or killed by the Israeli army. Everyone is affected in a major way. The scale of it is so hard to believe. It's like living in a huge prison. It reminds me, after travelling around for a few days, of what Nazi Germany must have been like, with soldiers, passes, guns and armoured vehicles everywhere and the fear that you will be stopped, beaten or imprisoned at the whim of some arrogant and racist soldier.
Al Kuds university
This is all gone a bit higgledy piggledy as we can't remember what we did when and our notes are all over the place but from what I can remember on Monday we started the day by visiting the Al Kuds (another name for Jerusalem) university, which has been cut in half by the wall. It was the same story as we got from the hospital where staff and students now have to travel (if they have a blue Jerusalem ID) an hour or more, depending on check point delays to get through the wall, a journey that used to take 5-10 minutes. Basically, people have to travel around the city and then wait to get through according the soldiers will.
The univeristy, as in the hospital and even the private cigarette company we visited later in the day (more later) are still paying staff wages for those who can't leave Jerusalem. These are people who live in Jerusalem with West Bank passes but the Israelis have built the wall outside the boundaries leaving them in limbo so they can't travel outside in case they are no allowed back in. There is no work in Jerusalem for them either. People are being paid even though they can't get to work. It just shows the solidarity here and made me wonder about what would hafppen in UK in the same situation.
Staff and students are often hours late becuase of the check points and everyone is suffering stess. Teachers are having to stay in the university sometimes for weeks depending on how bad the check points are or even they might be closed for no reason.
Another element to wear down the Palestinian population is that workiers living in Jerusalem who are allowed in and out (albeit through the wall and numerous check points) pay higher tax and rent than those in the West Bank. Working in the West Bank means they get much lower wages so life becomes impossible.
We were told that teachers used to get special permits to teach in Palestinian schools but this has stopped so roughly 1,300 teachers can't cross the wall and lots of schools have closed. In Abu Dis, where we are staying, there are nearly 2000 children who used to go to school in Jerusalem but are no longer allowed to go there and so are without schools or are massively overcroweded. Thousands of Palestinian people who were born and brought up in Jerusalem are now not allowed to go there at all. Tourists and foreigners and Jewish people go freely.
The most outrageous thing we heard and one that demonstrates the farce that is the regime is that Isreal won't recognise the Al Kuds qualifications. Not because of what they teach but because of the name of the university- Al Kuds means Jerusalem and the Israeli authority say that if they changed it to something else e.g. Olive MOunt unhinversity they would accept it. It all amounts to making Palestinian life shit.
Everywhere we have been there has been 100% union membership but people are finding it harder to pay their dues or even to find work so people are owrking for 80% wages or sometimes working for months without being paid.
The univeristy, as in the hospital and even the private cigarette company we visited later in the day (more later) are still paying staff wages for those who can't leave Jerusalem. These are people who live in Jerusalem with West Bank passes but the Israelis have built the wall outside the boundaries leaving them in limbo so they can't travel outside in case they are no allowed back in. There is no work in Jerusalem for them either. People are being paid even though they can't get to work. It just shows the solidarity here and made me wonder about what would hafppen in UK in the same situation.
Staff and students are often hours late becuase of the check points and everyone is suffering stess. Teachers are having to stay in the university sometimes for weeks depending on how bad the check points are or even they might be closed for no reason.
Another element to wear down the Palestinian population is that workiers living in Jerusalem who are allowed in and out (albeit through the wall and numerous check points) pay higher tax and rent than those in the West Bank. Working in the West Bank means they get much lower wages so life becomes impossible.
We were told that teachers used to get special permits to teach in Palestinian schools but this has stopped so roughly 1,300 teachers can't cross the wall and lots of schools have closed. In Abu Dis, where we are staying, there are nearly 2000 children who used to go to school in Jerusalem but are no longer allowed to go there and so are without schools or are massively overcroweded. Thousands of Palestinian people who were born and brought up in Jerusalem are now not allowed to go there at all. Tourists and foreigners and Jewish people go freely.
The most outrageous thing we heard and one that demonstrates the farce that is the regime is that Isreal won't recognise the Al Kuds qualifications. Not because of what they teach but because of the name of the university- Al Kuds means Jerusalem and the Israeli authority say that if they changed it to something else e.g. Olive MOunt unhinversity they would accept it. It all amounts to making Palestinian life shit.
Everywhere we have been there has been 100% union membership but people are finding it harder to pay their dues or even to find work so people are owrking for 80% wages or sometimes working for months without being paid.
Update
OK. Now Wednesday. So much has happened and we have had no time to update. Have decided to share the load of the blog!! We have been having meetings at the end of each day to discuss what's happened and what we thought about it. We finish the meeting with 'headlines' of the main things that we remember so we are now going write down just these and hope that it give a sense of what's happening...it's too long otherwise and I want to get it out to you all before we forget! So the next bits will be a bit from all of us of the past two days....
peace
peace
Monday, October 29, 2007
The end of day one!
I am trying to remember all the we did yesterday because it was so long and so full of interesting and shocking things that we didn't have time to write anything down last night. After no sleep on the plane we finally crashed out at half eight and didn't wake this morning till the same time! Here's the rest of yesterday...
The most terrifying thing that we heard at the hospital is that, because it is in East Jerusalem (on the Mount of Olives) patients from the West Bank do not have access to it because they have to go through the wall. In fact, in cases of emergency, people have to travel through the check points in the wall and it is basically up to the Israeli soldiers if they go through or not.
We visited a check point this afternoon and on approaching we saw the soldiers sitting in their hut doing nothing. The traffic queue waiting to go through went back until we couldn’t see it any more. When we got closer, obviously foreigners, the soldiers got up from their posts and began to check people’s passes which was intimidating, humiliating and took ages. These were people just on their way home from work so it was obvious that someone needing urgent medical attention would have no chance. We were told of several occasions when people had died on their way to hospital just because they were stuck in a traffic jam behind a check point and even of women giving birth at check points. The soldiers obviously have no medical training and are just making these decisions on the basis of their own racism and mood.
What has really stuck in all of our visits so far is the hospitality and consciousness of the Palestinian people. Apart from being offered tea, coffee and biscuits everywhere we went, the dedication to community, trade unionism and organizing in every way to improve lives here is overwhelming.
We then went to meet the leader of the Teachers Union. He was very passionate and told us how difficult it was to organize unions. Teachers and Academics have not been allowed to publish any of their work. All textbooks are the Israeli version of history and the current situation. They kindly translated them into Arabic for Palestinian schools! One of our group asked a question about the Israeli Teachers’ Union and if they had ever made a statement in support of the Palestinian teachers or their struggle and the answer was a resounding no. Both unions are members of the International Education Union, who did make a statement in 2001 but that is all. There were classes going on the union office with three classes of 17/18 year olds studying maths and science.
Increasingly tired after trying to take in all this information and all the sights and division, we went on to a refugee ‘camp’. This is a place called Shu’fat in the North of Jerusalem behind the wall. The refugees were forcibly removed from where they lived in the Jewish quarter in around 1965, who consisted of 500 families. They were dumped here with no running water or electricity and had latrines outside, one for around each 50 people. They did, however, have separate facilities for men and women- what a generous thing! The authorities say that there are now around 11,000 people living there but we were told it’s more like 20,000. They have managed to sort out electricity and water somehow but the whole place is completely run down. There is rubbish everywhere in the streets due to the fact that the authorities only account for half the people living there. There is a school but only up to elementary age. So the community here has been living in squalor for forty years, just dumped from their homes where they and their families have lived for generations. It is now a sprawling town with potholed roads, half built homes with electricity lines going over head precariously and rubbish everywhere. There is no hospital and no school. What is even more disgusting is that hanging over the camp is a brand spanking new Jewish 'settlement' with immaculate houses. All the Jewish 'settlements' are built on the top of hills and all have large towers looming over them filled with Israeli soldiers.
Our host was an amazing inspiration who talked about building the community themselves from scratch. They have community centres, counselling services and a group for disabled children but everything is makeshift and not even scratching the surface of what they need. They have a football team, which I learned today is common thing and useful in terms of building solidarity, community and keeping young people away from drugs and into the Politics of Palestine without being obvious. His speech made me very tearful but was followed by an amazingly inspiring one by Suheil about peace in Palestine.
A message we heard again and again was that they want peace. They don't hate Jewish people and they understand that they are here to stay but the Israeli side does not act in the same way and continue to abuse the Palestinians, even encroaching and stealing the land that was agreed in 1948.
We finished the day with a beautiful meal at Abed's house (an amazing man who works at the CADFA centre...more of him later) cooked by his mother. We got really full up, had some tea and hit the sack. I can't believe we survived on so little sleep but there was so much to take in.
My overwhelming feeling at the end of the day was of the blatant apartheid in this country. I didn't realise just how much Palestinians are suffering day to day and it seems that now is more than ever with the wall and lack of movement. I thought of South Africa during apartheid and wondered why we are not campaigning the same back in England as we did then. This is a long blog but there is lots to tell and it's very emotional. I'll be catching up a day late so today's installment tomorrow hopefully.
The most terrifying thing that we heard at the hospital is that, because it is in East Jerusalem (on the Mount of Olives) patients from the West Bank do not have access to it because they have to go through the wall. In fact, in cases of emergency, people have to travel through the check points in the wall and it is basically up to the Israeli soldiers if they go through or not.
We visited a check point this afternoon and on approaching we saw the soldiers sitting in their hut doing nothing. The traffic queue waiting to go through went back until we couldn’t see it any more. When we got closer, obviously foreigners, the soldiers got up from their posts and began to check people’s passes which was intimidating, humiliating and took ages. These were people just on their way home from work so it was obvious that someone needing urgent medical attention would have no chance. We were told of several occasions when people had died on their way to hospital just because they were stuck in a traffic jam behind a check point and even of women giving birth at check points. The soldiers obviously have no medical training and are just making these decisions on the basis of their own racism and mood.
What has really stuck in all of our visits so far is the hospitality and consciousness of the Palestinian people. Apart from being offered tea, coffee and biscuits everywhere we went, the dedication to community, trade unionism and organizing in every way to improve lives here is overwhelming.
We then went to meet the leader of the Teachers Union. He was very passionate and told us how difficult it was to organize unions. Teachers and Academics have not been allowed to publish any of their work. All textbooks are the Israeli version of history and the current situation. They kindly translated them into Arabic for Palestinian schools! One of our group asked a question about the Israeli Teachers’ Union and if they had ever made a statement in support of the Palestinian teachers or their struggle and the answer was a resounding no. Both unions are members of the International Education Union, who did make a statement in 2001 but that is all. There were classes going on the union office with three classes of 17/18 year olds studying maths and science.
Increasingly tired after trying to take in all this information and all the sights and division, we went on to a refugee ‘camp’. This is a place called Shu’fat in the North of Jerusalem behind the wall. The refugees were forcibly removed from where they lived in the Jewish quarter in around 1965, who consisted of 500 families. They were dumped here with no running water or electricity and had latrines outside, one for around each 50 people. They did, however, have separate facilities for men and women- what a generous thing! The authorities say that there are now around 11,000 people living there but we were told it’s more like 20,000. They have managed to sort out electricity and water somehow but the whole place is completely run down. There is rubbish everywhere in the streets due to the fact that the authorities only account for half the people living there. There is a school but only up to elementary age. So the community here has been living in squalor for forty years, just dumped from their homes where they and their families have lived for generations. It is now a sprawling town with potholed roads, half built homes with electricity lines going over head precariously and rubbish everywhere. There is no hospital and no school. What is even more disgusting is that hanging over the camp is a brand spanking new Jewish 'settlement' with immaculate houses. All the Jewish 'settlements' are built on the top of hills and all have large towers looming over them filled with Israeli soldiers.
Our host was an amazing inspiration who talked about building the community themselves from scratch. They have community centres, counselling services and a group for disabled children but everything is makeshift and not even scratching the surface of what they need. They have a football team, which I learned today is common thing and useful in terms of building solidarity, community and keeping young people away from drugs and into the Politics of Palestine without being obvious. His speech made me very tearful but was followed by an amazingly inspiring one by Suheil about peace in Palestine.
A message we heard again and again was that they want peace. They don't hate Jewish people and they understand that they are here to stay but the Israeli side does not act in the same way and continue to abuse the Palestinians, even encroaching and stealing the land that was agreed in 1948.
We finished the day with a beautiful meal at Abed's house (an amazing man who works at the CADFA centre...more of him later) cooked by his mother. We got really full up, had some tea and hit the sack. I can't believe we survived on so little sleep but there was so much to take in.
My overwhelming feeling at the end of the day was of the blatant apartheid in this country. I didn't realise just how much Palestinians are suffering day to day and it seems that now is more than ever with the wall and lack of movement. I thought of South Africa during apartheid and wondered why we are not campaigning the same back in England as we did then. This is a long blog but there is lots to tell and it's very emotional. I'll be catching up a day late so today's installment tomorrow hopefully.
continued...
It was a really moving experience witnessing the blatant racism of the Isreali regime against Suheil. He was so dignified about it, having to smile and reason with them. He is so used to it. They tried to say that the entrance was not for Muslims so told them he was a Christian and they said that it wasn't for Arabs. It was our first taste of how Palestinian life is made a complete misery and a hassle as well as being humiliating, not least because it is the place that you were born.
After lunch at the PGFTU we went to a hospital in East Jerusalem. Most of their patients and lots of their staff are unable to access the hospital now because of the wall, which basically runs through Jerusalem regardless of borders or boundaries. Sometimes it goes through towns (such as Abu Dis) separating neighbours and even families. There is an ID system that the Israelis have imposed that I am still trying to get my head around but, as I understand it, there are two kinds for the Palestinians: blue and green. If you have a blue ID pass it means that you live in West Jerusalem (160,000) and can work there. West Jerusalem is the "Jewish" side where all the important religious sites are. If you have a green or West Bank pass, you cannot enter West Jerusalem either to work, live or visit your family. The doctors at the hospital told us that staff cannot come to work because they are on the other side of the wall and do not have the right kind of ID pass. Also, if you have a blue pass you must stay that side. Police often raid people's houses to check that they are still there late at night. People have their passes revoked to staying away from West Jerusalem for short periods of time. You have to prove that you have lived there continuously for seven by showing proof of address, bills, bank accounts and many other documents. We met a trade unionist today who had a green pass and his wife has a blue pass so he cannot visit her family. She works in West Jerusalem but they cannot live there.
After lunch at the PGFTU we went to a hospital in East Jerusalem. Most of their patients and lots of their staff are unable to access the hospital now because of the wall, which basically runs through Jerusalem regardless of borders or boundaries. Sometimes it goes through towns (such as Abu Dis) separating neighbours and even families. There is an ID system that the Israelis have imposed that I am still trying to get my head around but, as I understand it, there are two kinds for the Palestinians: blue and green. If you have a blue ID pass it means that you live in West Jerusalem (160,000) and can work there. West Jerusalem is the "Jewish" side where all the important religious sites are. If you have a green or West Bank pass, you cannot enter West Jerusalem either to work, live or visit your family. The doctors at the hospital told us that staff cannot come to work because they are on the other side of the wall and do not have the right kind of ID pass. Also, if you have a blue pass you must stay that side. Police often raid people's houses to check that they are still there late at night. People have their passes revoked to staying away from West Jerusalem for short periods of time. You have to prove that you have lived there continuously for seven by showing proof of address, bills, bank accounts and many other documents. We met a trade unionist today who had a green pass and his wife has a blue pass so he cannot visit her family. She works in West Jerusalem but they cannot live there.
So we arrived yesterday morning about 4.30am. The flight was OK but we had our first experience of the Israeli military en route as there was a soldier sitting in front of me (we guessed according to the fact that he and his two mates were all shaven headed, well built and extremely rude). After sitting down, leaning back and basically disrupting my dinner he complained loudly and ended up swearing at me for touching the screen on the back of his chair too hard!
No problems coming into Israel although it took ages and we got a mini bus taxi to Jerusalem. We met the others at the hotel, had breakfast and a shower. Swampy had no sleep but I felt slightly better having slept for two hours or so. We met Christina, who is a volunteer for CADFA, and has been in Palestine for two months teaching English. She explained that she was very angry at what she had seen..as we would soon discover.
We went straight out into Jerusalemand along to the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU). The offices were in a really run down building and their two rooms had hardly any equipment. We were later told that the offices had been raided on many occasions- 6 times in the last three years.
Our guide, Suheil, head of the PGFTU, took us to the centre of Jerusalem where the Al Asqa mosque is located. It's the 3rd most holy place in Islam. Also there is the Wailing Wall (Jewish). A wiered experience as there are Christians and Jews everywhere. Arabs have limited access and have to use a different entrance. We went with Suheil through the Arab quarter and were prevented from entering (all gates are stationed by Israeli soldiers) and told to go to another gate. Arriving there we were told that we could enter but Suheil couldn't. We decided that we would go in and then Suheil was told that he couldn't go back the way he came and had to go around the walls to meet us later.
I'm off to meet some Electricy Workers Unionists so more later for now ....
We met members of the Executive Committee from various affiliated unions, including electricity, transport and construction. They were absolutely inspiring and explained how dire the situation is here in Palestine. I will talk about the details later, suffice to say that union members can no longer afford their dues and the union office hasn't been able to afford its rent for months and months. They are really relying on foreign support.
A delegation of Norwegian trade unionists then arrived at the offices and we had lunch (the best Palestinian olive oil ever tasted- freshly harvested!) and exchanged stories.
No problems coming into Israel although it took ages and we got a mini bus taxi to Jerusalem. We met the others at the hotel, had breakfast and a shower. Swampy had no sleep but I felt slightly better having slept for two hours or so. We met Christina, who is a volunteer for CADFA, and has been in Palestine for two months teaching English. She explained that she was very angry at what she had seen..as we would soon discover.
We went straight out into Jerusalemand along to the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU). The offices were in a really run down building and their two rooms had hardly any equipment. We were later told that the offices had been raided on many occasions- 6 times in the last three years.
Our guide, Suheil, head of the PGFTU, took us to the centre of Jerusalem where the Al Asqa mosque is located. It's the 3rd most holy place in Islam. Also there is the Wailing Wall (Jewish). A wiered experience as there are Christians and Jews everywhere. Arabs have limited access and have to use a different entrance. We went with Suheil through the Arab quarter and were prevented from entering (all gates are stationed by Israeli soldiers) and told to go to another gate. Arriving there we were told that we could enter but Suheil couldn't. We decided that we would go in and then Suheil was told that he couldn't go back the way he came and had to go around the walls to meet us later.
I'm off to meet some Electricy Workers Unionists so more later for now ....
We met members of the Executive Committee from various affiliated unions, including electricity, transport and construction. They were absolutely inspiring and explained how dire the situation is here in Palestine. I will talk about the details later, suffice to say that union members can no longer afford their dues and the union office hasn't been able to afford its rent for months and months. They are really relying on foreign support.
A delegation of Norwegian trade unionists then arrived at the offices and we had lunch (the best Palestinian olive oil ever tasted- freshly harvested!) and exchanged stories.
Friday, October 26, 2007
The day before...
Right then. This is a blog is it? Well. I am preparing for the trip. We are leaving tomorrow. A bit apprehensive. Not a big fan of fire arms..they tend to make me nervous. Also quite worried that I won't be able to impersonate a Catholic Daily Mail reader on a pilgrimage to the holy land! However, I will keep thoughts of my Irish roots in my head and hope for the best. Weather will be good so there's obviously the issue of clothing...how to be covered without being boiling hot! I am pretty wary of what we are actually going to see there in terms of living conditions and the stories that we will hear. It is such a tragic and dispicable situation that I find it hard not to get extremely angry or upset. I hope it will all be OK.
I will try and report back as much as possible on this blog as it's safer than paper but it depends on what is available.
Peace and solidarity.
I will try and report back as much as possible on this blog as it's safer than paper but it depends on what is available.
Peace and solidarity.
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