My head and my heart are still in the Westbank, they are still with the people and my friends there even though Leiden University seems convinced that my head is ready to concentrate on political theories and the accompanying numerous deadlines a week again. It must be this clash between reality and theory that got me confused. Or maybe it is the fact that I am back in a country where water is so intrusive that we have to fight it, while I have become used to treating it so carefully since you can easily be without it for days in a row. Or maybe it is that my days do not start with numerous invitations for Arabic coffee or over-sweetened tea anymore, but with grim faces rushing off to work. I am probably part of that last group myself, since my sense of time has turned somewhat more Palestinian than Dutch people tend to appreciate. Or maybe it is because here the feeling creeps upon me that I can do so little, even though I know very well that that is not true, that my work now really begins.

Or maybe its just me and the fact that I wish to be there and not here.
Sometimes explanations can actually be as simple as that.

Somehow though even a few days at home and some distance to what I have been living does help me put some things in perspective (somewhat). It seems weird or too late to now touch upon the subject, but for me it makes perfect sense; one of the things that I have mentioned too little in my blogs is the Alternative Information Center, truly my home away from home.

There is a reason for that. The people who work there have become my friends and family and the fact that they and the AIC are at the middle of so many things was just the way it was since my arrival and still is since my departure. It is something so natural that I almost took it for granted from the start.

Now however I realize how special it is that an organization so small and facing so many difficulties can play such an important role in so many areas. Therefore, after many stories, I would like to tell you the one of the AIC.

There is no better way to explain the Alternative Information Center than by this picture.

Avital (Jerusalem Office) and Amira (Beit Sahour Office)

It is quite simple; these are two friends who spend a sunny afternoon together. There hopes and dreams are the same… for their children to grow up safely and happy, to safeguard and cherish their marriage, to excel in their jobs and to do what they are doing here: spend time with their family and friends.

In order to achieve their hopes and dreams they are both working against the occupation because in the current situation neither of them is sure of any of their hopes and dreams. Despite its long history and numerous battles, the basic ideology of the AIC is as simple as that.

Less simply but more extensively put:
The Alternative Information Center is an internationally oriented, progressive, joint Palestinian-Israeli activist organization. It is engaged in dissemination of information, political advocacy, grassroots activism and critical analysis of the Palestinian and Israeli societies as well as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The AIC strives to promote full individual and collective social, economic, political and gender equality, freedom and democracy and a rejection of the philosophy (ideology and praxis) (weltanschauung) of separation.

The most urgent regional task is to find a just solution to the century-old colonial conflict in Palestine and confront the ongoing Israeli occupation-regime within its international framework. The AIC method of action develops from the awareness that local struggle must be practically and analytically situated within the framework of the global justice struggle.

This is what underpins the AIC: Palestinians and Israelis, supported by internationals, who are working to end the occupation and its physical and mental practice of separation. I took this picture at the AIC summercamp for youth and it was the first time in a year that Avital, the administator of the Jerusalem office, met her colleague and friend Amira, the administrator and Women’s Group Coordinator in the Beit Sahour office.

They are separated by the Wall not only as friends, but also as colleagues since the Wall forced the AIC to move into separate offices. The office in the Westbank lies in the Oslo area A, meaning that Israelis are prohibited from entering it and the office in Jerusalem lies in Israel, meaning that Palestinians can only enter when they obtain a special permit. One that is very hard to obtain, Amira did not even receive it when she needed it for medical treatment. To me it still seems surreal that a Palestinian volunteer who has been working for the AIC for the past 5 years still has to ask a three month international volunteer: so how does the Jerusalem office actually look like?

Still, despite the physical separation no one allows the AIC to turn into two offices: we are one. This could not be possible with a strong ideology alone, it is built on mutual respect and friendship to see this through to the end until their hopes and dreams can be reached.

One of the things that I have come to most appreciate is that even though the AIC is mainly concerned with producing and disseminating information concerning the reality of the situation it has not forgotten where it comes from. At heart it is still an activist organization that is struggling against injustice. This is why I will be always grateful that they gave me the freedom and full support when I slowly wandered away from my ‘official workplan’ because I felt that I could mean more where I was actually needed: on the ground with the grass roots movement of finding ways of alternative non-violent actions and signs of presence.

The AIC exemplifies Palestinian and Israeli critical thinking and analysis of what is really going on in Israel and the Palestinian Territories without falling out of touch with that reality and with the gut to say that things are going on that are unacceptable according to Israeli and International law. That is why the AIC does not only produce numerous articles, podcasts, videocasts, deeper research analyses of the Economy of the Occupation, settlement monitoring, but also practically organizes Youth and Women's Projects.

My deepest respect goes to the people that I have gotten to know so well, who are working on all this 7 days a week. Both offices endure their hardships and it is often forgotten that not only Palestinians suffer of this occupation. There is a real tension and fear within Israeli society that cannot be denied. They live under a constant strain and stress but there is also a clear imbalance that is hard to accept especially when you live there, even though it seems impossible there is a great denial that there is an ongoing occupation. Standing up against that and the government often leads to becoming an outcast and being seen and treated as a traitor.

Luckily the AIC is one of the few organizations that has been long-standing together against all the challenges that the unjust reality of the occupation brings to both societies. I am incredibly glad that I had the chance to be a part of that. Its as simple as that.

They are referred to as invisible citizens. There are no real roads leading to their villages that cannot be found on any Israeli map and they do not receive the services that Israeli citizens like them are entitled to.

The story of the Bedouin who inhabit the Naqab, or Negev Desert, is largely unknown to the wider public in a region that is overshadowed by a severe conflict. Their struggle seems to be covered by the sand of the desert. Luckily I had the chance to meet with them: with the once who exist in the so-called recognised villages and with the ones who do not exist in the unrecognised villages. A village such as Twail Abu Jarwal, which has been destroyed 20 times in the past 2 years and whose inhabitants are loosing the morale to fight for their land. Few remain and now break down their tents every morning to build them again in the night so that they do not find their homes demolished again after a long day’s work.

Remnants of Home Demolitions in Twail Abu Jarwal

Out of Fear of Home Demolitions the tent is put down during the day and put up again in the evening to live and sleep in.

Since the 5th century A.C. Bedouins have inhabited the Naqab Desert, an area which currently constitutes southern Israel. Traditionally, their community is organized along tribal lines, meaning that the primary allegiance of a Bedouin lies with the tribe he or she belongs to based on kinship affiliation. Within the tribe there is a universal recognition of the leadership of the Sheikh and his family. His leadership included responsibility for defence, collective pasture rights and community migrations. The different tribes liased within a system of local balances of power and since the 1890 tribal war their tribal land boundaries have been fixed. In a sense the Bedouins have thus been sedentarized since 1890.

To sustain their livelihoods Bedouins used to live a semi-nomadic lifestyle by herding livestock and combining this with some agricultural activity. Skills were passed on from one generation to another by observation and participation into day-to-day life.

All has changed in the lives of the Bedouin since the State of Israel was proclaimed in 1948. At this time, the vast majority of the 100.000 Bedouins inhabiting the Naqab desert fled or were expelled by the Israeli authorities. Leading to a situation wherein only 11.000 remained, while the rest became dispersed refugees across the Gaza Strip, the Westbank, Egypt and Jordan. Like all Arabs the Bedouins were placed under military administration. The government decided to move them of their lands and into the north-eastern Sayig region, where they were not allowed to leave their designated sections of this Restricted Area. This nearly put an end to their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle as the Bedouin lost the freedom to move. They were only allowed to travel to and from the Jewish sector if they managed to obtain a work permit, which any hardly did.

A huge blow to the Bedouin population was the 1950 acceptance of the Absentees Property Law. This law enabled the government to register and own the lands of Palestinian Arabs who fled or were expelled during the war. This included the lands that Bedouins were forced to leave behind when they were moved to the Sayig region of the Naqab. The additional 1953 Land Acquisition Law legitimised the confiscations. The Bedouins took their land claims of 990.000 dunams to court as early as 1950. The main problem for the Bedouins is that even though they have lived on the land for thousands of years and have intertribal land allocations there is no written record of land ownership.

History concerning written records goes as far back as the Ottomon Empire which applied five land categories. Most of the Naqab or Negev was categorised as mawat land. In other words wasteland, found unsuitable for cultivation. The Bedouins refused a written record of their land holdings as this would subject them to foreign rule. Under the British Mandate, the Bedouins refused again. Besides the fact that the land was already distributed along intertribal agreements fear of taxation and problems of accessibility kept them from registering (Swirski, 2006, 3). In the 1921 Land Ordinance, Bedouins received certificates of ownership for mawat land that had been cultivated and revitalized by them. When the State of Israel came into being it decided that any Bedouin who had not registered his/her land or did not have a certificate of ownership lost his claim to the land. The Bedouin land ownership rights are fully denied by the Israeli government.

In 1966 the Military Administration was lifted and after the 1967 war a new period commenced. At the end of the 60s and early 70s the Israeli government decided to resettle the entire Naqab Bedouin population into seven urban towns: Rahat, Keseifa, Segev Shalom, Aro’er, Lakiya, Tel Sheva and Hura. The official reason given for the plan held that they intended to ‘modernize’ the Bedouins and that these urban settlements enabled the government to provide services to the Bedouins more efficiently. The land that the Bedouins would leave behind in the relocation was already earmarked as state-owned land and Bedouins who moved had to accept that they would loose their claim to the land left behind. The relocation and sedentarization of an already largely sedentarized community ‘happened’ to coincide with other state objectives: the Zionist aim of making the desolate desert bloom. The desert was seen as desolate despite their ancient Bedouin inhabitants as the Israeli State termed them as rootless and landless people.

In 1975 the question of land ownership is still pending and the Albeck Commission recommended to deal with the issue along three principles. First, non-recognition of Bedouin ownership rights. Second, offer the Bedouin compensation for the claimed lands as a token of good will f not by any legal obligation. Third, compensation will only be granted if the Bedouin relinquishes his/her right to the land and moves to one of the urban government towns. The Bedouins refused to take the offer to give up the claims to their lands. Counter-proposals and new proposals have all been refused. In 1984 the High Court ruled that the Naqab lands belonged to the State and so far every case before trial has been lost by the Bedouin. The result was a strange form of a stalemate wherein the Bedouin were prohibited from cultivating and building on the lands and the state was prohibited from using the lands without compensating the Bedouin (Swirski, 2006, 4-5).

Currently the Israeli government has estimated that there are about 170.000 Bedouins, constituting 25-27% of the region’s population. This number will substantially increase over the years as their growth rate is amongst the highest of the world. Of these 170.000 about 60% live in the recognised villages. The promises of services that would be provided have remained unfulfilled. The towns were built without involving the community or taking the Bedouin lifestyle into account, they lack proper infrastructure, sanitation, internal and external transportation, health care, education and employment possibilities. Even though the government claims that it can only provide public services to those living in permanent housing in the recognised villages these still have the lowest socio-economic provisions of Israel. Compared to neighbouring Jewish localities, the Bedouins in the government towns receive lower water allotments and have a smaller area of jurisdiction. This severely diminishes development possibilities.

In the unrecognised villages the present state of affairs is even worse. Over 76.000 Bedouins who are living on their ancient lands in more than 45 unrecognised villages are seen as illegal squatters and often referred to as ‘invisible citizens’. They are denied services, paved roads, public transportation, sewage, often even water resources, electricity and the permission to built any sort of housing. They also lack a local government and the right to vote and be elected to local office. Anything that is built is thus illegal and can, and often will, be demolished by the especially established Green Patrol (established by Sharon as an environmental paramilitary unit). The government is obliged by law to provide education to all children, but refuses to built anything but temporary schools in the vicinity of the unrecognised villages. Few have sanitary provisions or electricity and there is a lack of teachers, classroom- and office-space, leading to extreme overcrowding. Education and health care are both in dire straits. And Health Care is a huge topic in the Negev since the Bedouin share the Siyag with Ramat Hovav, Israel’s largest chemical processing plant; Dimona, Israel’s nuclear reactor, 22 agro- and petrochemical factories and two open sewage streams. This constant exposure to toxicity and radiation has led to a significantly higher risk of cancer to residents of the entire area, but there are only 7 clinics to care for the needs of the inhabitants of the unrecognised villages.

The government is unwilling to address these problems as it wants the Bedouin to move to the recognised villages. Unfortunately, the situation is not much better there.

They Would Love To See Me Dead

They would love to see me dead, so they say:

He belongs to us, he is ours.

For twenty years I have heard their footsteps on the walls of the night.

They open no door, yet here they are now.

I see three of them: A poet, a killer, and a reader of books.

Will you have some wine? I asked.

Yes, they answered.

When do you plan to shoot me? I asked.

Take it easy, they answered.

They lined up their glasses all in a row and started singing for the people.

I asked: When will you begin my assassination?

Already done, they said ... Why did you send your shoes on ahead to your soul?

So it can wander the face of the earth, I said.

The earth is wickedly dark, so why is your poem so white?

Because my heart is teeming with thirty seas, I answered.

They asked: Why do you love French wine?

Because I ought to love the most beautiful women, I answered.

They asked: How would you like your death?

Blue, like stars pouring from a window—would you like more wine?

Yes, we'll drink, they said.

Please take your time. I want you to kill me slowly so I can write my last

poem to my heart's wife.

They laughed, and took from me only the words dedicated to my heart's wife.

- Mahmoud Darwish

It is saturday evening when the Youth Summercamp of the Alternative Information Center is in full swing. Over a 100 youth between 16 and 19 from all over the Westbank and what is termed the 'Arab '48' or 'Palestinian Israelis' have come together for an educational summercamp. Unfortunetly we did not succeed in bringing youth from Gaza as well.

After an early (yes truly early, as in starting at 4.00 am in the morning) walk along the Wall and the Green Line refreshment is found in a swimming pool in the afternoon. The day is supposed to be closed with music. Naturally music, because music is an interlinked part of Palestine and seemingly an intrinsic part of Palestinians themselves.

Tonight a special kind of music was prepared: youth from Al Azza Refugee Camp practised to combine their Palestinian folkloristic music with that of a Southern Italian musician who visited especially for the occassion. The result was a new mix of cultures that found a common language even though the words originate from two different ones.

Not long before we were supposed to witness this new meeting-point of language we heard the news that one of the greatest masters of language has passed away: Mahmoud Darwish.

He is a world famous writer and poet who has brought the Palestinian cause to the attention of many and who gave a voice to a people who felt that they had become voiceless.

The youth of Al Azza who had practised for a week told me that they could not play after hearing this news, but eventually they saw that their newly found language could not be left unheard and they decided to continue in Mahmoud Darwish's honour.

This tragedy was the only thing that could silence 100 excited young people for a moment untill the room burst with the national anthem. Mahmoud Darwish lives amongst them.

And alive he suddenly was...someone from the audience received the call that Mahmoud Darwish was still alive but in a very bad condition. Again the room burst: with a loud applause and a sense of relief.

Coincidence or not, this moment of relief and joy lasted only about as long as the specially created music filled the room: after a concert that managed to make all Palestinians sing Italian and make all Internationals attempt to produce something close to Arabic we learned that Mahmoud Darwish had truly left us.

Still he, the master of language, gave us a frail moment to witness that language succeeded to bridge cultures and enlighten hearts.

Today, thousands gathered in Ramallah to attend his funeral.

While the Westbank is shocked and utterly appalled by the horrors that have and are taking place in Ni’lin; the murder and loss of Ahmad Husam Yousif Musa and Yousef Ahmad Younis Amira, two innocent children, people are not allowed to grieve. The people of Ni’lin were harassed and hampered from burying their children, from protesting against the bullets that were fired at them and that took their lives, from protesting the construction of an illegal wall that threatens their livelihoods, from protesting that all that is near and dear to them is taken.

While they are still standing their ground and are fighting for their rights, the rest of the Westbank is hampered from joining them in their struggle. Hampered, stopped, prohibited from joining their brothers and sisters from claiming their basic human rights. Why? Not just because of the many checkpoints, flying checkpoints, roadblocks and raids. Not only because of these physical constraints and the consequent disabled freedom of movement of Palestinians within the Westbank.

No, they are unable because they are busy struggling themselves. Every city and every village seems to have its own story, its own battle, and its own emergency situation. One that needs all their time and energy, one that prohibits them from leaving it or taking a day off from it because all can be lost.

Beit Sahour’s struggle is for Oush Grab. Please take the time to look at the story of Oush Grab:

The ‘Crows Nest’ is a place that has grown very dear to me very quickly, which is also why you can find two other blogs that I have written about it. It is one of the very few, if not only, places in the Bethlehem area where children can play, can climb, can play soccer and can learn with the watchful eyes of their families around as their dads are preparing the barbeque for a big family feast. It is not surprising that this unique area quickly grew out to be one of the community centers of Beit Sahour and the Bethlehem area, including Beit Jalla.

The Oush Grab Public Park is not only important in the ways in which it serves these communities, but also in the way that it serves as an example for the Westbank and Gaza. Oush Grab was first a Jordanian and thereafter an Israeli military base. From this base, people have been attacked, their houses have been destroyed and Bethlehem has been laid under siege. The new Public Park is a unique example of what can be done with structures that have installed fear and repression: it shows that things can be given a new meaning, a new life. In this way, Palestinians can control the process, decide what they want it to be and mean for them in order to move into a new future without forgetting the past.

In this one place where people could escape the harsh and daily reality of life under occupation, a re-occupation process has caught on. Since May 15, when Palestinians commemorate the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the Nakba when the State of Israel was declared, settlers started to arrive claiming that the land is theirs.

The settlers claim that all of what they term Judea and Samaria, and what happens to coincide exactly with the Westbank, not only belongs to Israel, but to Jewish people only. Death was wished upon ‘the Arabs’ in multiple graffiti accounts and the top of the hill of Oush Grab (with the Park laying beneath it) should become, or according to them already is, the Jewish village of Shdema. Local and international ngo’s, Palestinians and internationals gathered to give a creative non-violent response to the settler threat to the community. The strategy taken was to be present, not to protest, but to merely integrate the top of the hill into the community and sending the clear signal that this area will cannot settled.

For this purpose a presence in the form of a prayer service was organized yesterday evening. Even though the service was led by a Christian protestant priest and minister this prayer service was intended for and open to all religions and for those who do not follow any religion but simply belief in sending a call for peace and justice.

The situation was nothing less than surreal: as the service started and people gathered at one side of the top of the hill, settlers were arriving and setting up chairs, lights and a sound installation at the other side for their own ceremony ‘From Destruction to Redemption in Shdema’ , meanwhile soldiers were overlooking the whole process higher up from one side of the hilltop.

As the Internationals and Palestinians called and sang for reconciliation, justice and peace, the settlers called for an all Jewish Eretz Israel (Greater Israel). A message that was reiterated in most of their speeches throughout the night. Throughout the same night, at the same place just a couple of meters away the people who gathered to pray, meditate or simply be present constantly sang peaceful songs.

As more settlers moved towards the prayers, a number of soldiers came down to the base forming a line between the prayers and settlers. It was obvious that this line-up was not intended to protect the prayers as settlers were allowed to walk through them, curse at them and wave the Israeli and settler flag in front of their eyes. This did not stop the Internationals and Palestinians from singing for peace and justice and aggravated the settlers. Slowly the group of settlers behind the soldiers and in between the prayers grew and grew until the first one tried to attack one of the prayers. Than the situation burst.

Photo by IMEMC

The soldiers did little to nothing to hold their line and an approximate 100 settlers attacked the prayers, pushing them, trying to hit them and a number of settlers even dragged the minister over the ground while he was still praying.

Nadia Matar, the leader of the Women in Green and one of the people who is spearheading ‘The Struggle for Shdema’ through leading the Committee for a Jewish Shdema, refused to shake one of the Internationals hands on an earlier occasion, stating that she doesn’t touch men. The irony is that this conviction did not stop her from joining the crowd in attacking the praying people and ferociously pushing and assaulting the same man whose hand she refused to shake earlier.

Throughout the attack none of the people under who were actually under attack used any violence against the settlers as they came as a non-violent presence with a peaceful message, not looking for a confrontation. As the praying and singing people were pushed into a corner of the base soldiers eventually managed to line up between them and the settlers. One of the many young settler boys close behind the new soldier line-up asked what we wanted with this place and we told him that their would be a children’s hospital built at the slope of the hill. A warning crosses his lips as he pledges to bomb the childrens hospital if it is ever built.

The prayers returned to pray, sing peaceful songs and make some folkloristic music. As the settlers session drew to a close and despite the attack that had happened before, but out of respect and common humanity the prayers decided to be quiet at the times that the settlers seemed to have moments of prayer. After the settlers eventually left, the Internationals and Palestinians that had gathered did so too.

The situation at Oush Grab is worsening and a new chapter seems to have begun: one wherein a peaceful presence is no longer safe from attack.

It is 4.15 in the morning when the taxi drops me off at Gilo checkpoint, the checkpoint that separates Bethlehem from the road to Jerusalem. Early as it is I have never seen the checkpoint as crowded as today. Not because today is in anyway more special than yesterday or than tomorrow but because I never cross the checkpoint at the time that the workers do.

Even in the middle of the night at this overcrowded checkpoint Palestinian hospitality does not falter and it took the people present a sheer five minutes to welcome me, offer me tea with lots of sugar and a chocolate bar. While men are praying in small groups on the sidewalk, a constant stream of shared taxi’s comes and goes and the line grows longer and longer in front of my eyes.

The serenity of prayer stands in sheer contrast with the huge concrete wall hovering over them and the growing and humiliating herd-like line-up of people. The people in the first hundred meters of the line are caged in by a fence parallel to the Wall that marks the entrance line, followed by many more who are trying to get as far ahead as possible. In order to get to work in time the workers start arriving at the checkpoint as early as 2 am to sleep on brought along cardboard pieces in between the cramped space between the fences. At 4, the time of my arrival, approximately 900 to a 1000 people are already lined up.

Not much time has passed when the international accompaniers of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) arrive. In line with their mission to accompany Palestinians and Israelis in their non-violent actions and carry out concerted advocacy efforts, they also monitor and report on the conduct of Israeli soldiers. Therefore they hold checkpoint watch about 4 days a week and invited me to join them today to see the daily reality of the checkpoint at rush hour.

And rush hour it is. It is already so crowded that we will not even be able to push through the line. Usually the men try to squeeze to the sides of the fence in order to enable the passage of the international accompaniers, but today there is no possibility of getting through because they are already squeezed to the limit. There is no other option but to take the empty parallel exit cue and walk up to the front of the line. After about 100 meters luck is on our side and the men are trying to open up a small gap in the fence between the entrance and exit cues so that we can come through and eventually make our way to the front of the line.

It is close to 5 now and we are waiting for the first turnstile to open so that people can go through to enter the complex that the checkpoint really is. The wall now takes away our sight of the cue but we can hear the pushing as the clock turns 5. Unfortunately, the turnstile remains closed for another 10 minutes before it is opened and men rush through showing their permit to a soldier in the booth. After a sheer 10 minutes the turnstile is already closed again.

The first hour I remain at the first turnstile together with one of the international accompaniers. We count the number of people going through and the amount of time that the turnstile is closed for the rapports that the international accompaniers make and send out to human rights groups and governments. Out of the first hour, the checkpoint is closed for 40 minutes leaving only small numbers through to make it in time for their job. In total 2200 to 2500 people need to pass the checkpoint at rush hour between 5 and 7.30 but things move slow and many cannot make it in time for their jobs. This means that they risk loosing it.

Line in front of the metal detectors inside Gilo Checkpoint

After about an hour we switch with another team and move inside the checkpoint complex to the metal detectors where men are already lining up because it is closed for no clear reason. Only two of the three present metal detectors are opened even though there are still about 1800 people waiting to go through. When I ask the international accompanier tells me that she has never seen the soldiers opening the third booth to speed things up no matter how busy it is.

When we finally make it through to the ID-booths on the other sides there is another line-up. Out of the 12 booths only 6 actually have computers and can thus be used to check the permits of the Palestinian workers and their fingerprints. On the other side of the booths we find Israeli ‘colleagues’ from Maximwatch, an Israeli women’s group who hold checkpoint watch every Sunday, report on the proceedings and, like the international accompaniers, call the humanitarian hotline when necessary. Today it was necessary to call more than 6 times.

Men still try to jump over the fence in order to get ahead in the line

At 7.30 there are still about 500 people waiting outside to come through. When they finally make it they are too late for their job and risk being layd off. It is hard to imagine that the 2500 men who cross this humiliation on a daily basis are the ones who are considered ‘lucky’ as they obtained a permit to work in Israel.

Past Monday the 14th of July, an approximate 100 to 150 settlers, a number of them heavily armed, marched up the hilltop of the deserted military base of Oush Grab to set up camp. They arrived just before 7 pm and came well prepared with tents and plenty of food to last for a number of days. The action was widely published on settler webpages and blogs beforehand and according to those sources it is part of the first steps in creating a continuous Jewish presence on the site in order to eventually build a new settler outpost named ‘Shdema’.

Oush Grab is a new public park built on land owned by the Beit Sahour Municipality. The military order that covered the area was lifted so that this public park with special facilities, such as a climbing tower for children and a picnic place for families, could be built. On the top of the hill some structures of an old Jordanian and thereafter Israeli military base remain in place. The base was abandoned in 2006, but it is still covered by a military order. This order prohibits anybody from developing the space in the Area C section; full Israeli administrative and security control. However, plans are on its way to find proper use for the space and the Israeli civil administration has now granted permission to built a new children’s hospital on the slope of the hill. Last year, the ngo CURE international pledged to invest 16 million dollars to build the much needed hospital.

Besides these ongoing developments and the fact that the land on which the military base stands belongs to the municipality of Beit Sahour, settlers have different intentions:

"We, representing the majority of the Jewish people, of course, have not given up on those lands, understanding that all of the Land of Israel, whether labeled Area A, B or C, belong to the Jewish people. The day, please G-d, will come when we will have a new leadership that will abolish all the withdrawal agreements and will reinstall Jewish sovereignty over all of Eretz Yisrael. That leadership will make it clear to the Arab enemy that they do not belong here, but rather must go back to their 22 Arab states.

Until such a government comes to power, we must at least make sure that all lands in Area C in Judea and Samaria stay in our hands. It is inconceivable that Shdema would be given over to the Arabs. The struggle for Shdema is a microcosm of what is going on in this country, of the Arab takeover over of all that belongs to us." (link)

Despite the fact that the settlers intentions are public knowledge and that their actions are illegal under both Israeli and international law the Israeli Defense Forces present at the site took no action. Instead the handful of soldiers and policemen merely escorted the settlers up to the site to secure their presence. The soldiers only intervened when a settler boy attacked one of the few journalists who made it up to the site. The army blocked entrance for journalists and also blocked the road between the public park and the base with two military jeeps.

According to the reporter from Ma’an news, who did make it through to the site, the settlers came from the surrounding settlements Efrat, Har Homa, Gush Etzion and Tekoa. The reporter quotes a teenage boy who stated the settlers intentions: “We’re here to build a Jewish city, with the help of God”.

In the meantime the local Fakouz festival was going on a few hundred meters away from the armed settlers who were taking over the hilltop. At this festival Palestinians and internationals gathered to give a response to the settlers presence and stated intentions. The strategy followed was clear from the start when settlers first arrived at the scene at Nakba Day, May 15: a creative non-violent, non-confrontational and non-political response aimed to integrate the area into the community and to show that the presence of settlers is not accepted. So far this strategy had been successful and applied to numerous events by playing bingo, playing animal games, organizing a tour in the area and painting the old structures over and over again in response to racist graffiti(as reported in one of my earlier blogs).

The day before, on Sunday the 13th a group of Palestinians and internationals already painted and paper-marchéed over the racist slogans covering the old military structures that an approximate 60 settlers had made on Friday the 11th. The creative response was undone by the settlers on Monday yet again as they spray-painted over the peaceful drawings with racist slogans for the fourth time and hoisted a huge Israeli flag up the old water tank.

Because we wanted to avoid any confrontation with the settlers, as they are not only armed but unpredictable (they do not answer to the Israeli government or to the army). Therefore we decided to stay within the limits of the public park and make their intended sleepover as sleepless as possible. The day before we had sprinkled juice all over the military base in order to attract mosquito’s and at the night itself the only confrontation would be formed by sound and light. We would blast music all night and three spotlights would be shining at the military base. Unfortunately, at about 10.30 pm the municipality withdrew its initial support for the action because we might wake up the local Palestinian neighbours. The fact that almost all were present seemed to be overlooked.

With a group of Palestinians and internationals we stayed the whole night to at least ensure that the settlers would not come down to the public park. At about 6 in the morning the settlers decided to leave themselves.

Still, frustration runs high as they will surely be back to take the next steps in their plan of creating a new settlement outpost. Their armed presence threatens the entire environment and the first days of the children’s summer camps already had to be cancelled due to their presence.

I am afraid that I have witnessed the first steps of the birth of a new settlement and there is so little that we can do besides continuing with creative non-violent responses while soldiers stand by and allow settlers to act as they please.

Examples of the graffiti left by the settlers after mondaynight

The daughter of the director proudly steps into my office in the morning to show me the new shoes she bought. Because she couldn’t decide between two pairs she managed to bargain the price down until she got them both for the price of one. Of course a girl can never have enough shoes, but these were special as she went out to buy them especially for the schooltrip to Berlin that she is going on in a few days. I remember myself being as excited as she was now for going on a high school trip to Barcelona with my whole class. For her, this means even more than it meant for me. It is not only the excitement of a trip with her friends but also the possibility to enter a country wherein she is just herself and can move freely without any checkpoints or soldiers.

Later in the afternoon I received a call from a colleague with the question whether I can leave my work and join her and some people from the Olive Tree Campaign because a farmer had been arrested by the army this morning and had just been released. They forbid him to return to his land but he had told them that he would return to what was rightfully his as soon as he could. We quickly made our way to his land in order to find out what exactly happened.

Abed Abed Rabbo is a farmer who has grown olive trees all of his life on land that has been in his family for generations. It was passed on to him by his father, who inherited the land from his father and so on. Since 1967 Israel has annexed Al Walaja (his land and the lands surrounding his) and made them part of the Jerusalem municipality in the 1970s. Even though the land was suddenly made part of Jerusalem, the owners of the land still hold a Palestinian ID and were not granted the special Jerusalem ID. This means that when the land owners enter their land they are breaking Israeli law by being illegally present in Jerusalem. That is when they can enter there land at all; most land owners live in Beit Jalla and are cut off from the area by the Wall. A number of the land owners have received a permission to be on their land for three years, Abed is one of them. The problem is that this permission can be randomly cancelled at any time.

Today, Abed’s land lies at the heart of an area that is designed to become a new settlement named Givat Vat Ya’el. In order to protect his land he had to move away from his wife and children in Dheisha Refugee camp to live on the land in a small shelter. He has been living on his land like this for 9 years already and explained to me that he is able to do this because he is so attached to his land that he is willing to leave everything behind in order to protect it for future generations. The Olive Tree Campaign has supported him in cultivating his land by planting over 300 olive trees with him this year.

On June 2nd he received a demolition order for his shelter, but he has no idea when they will actually come to demolish his home. After receiving the order it can be hours, days, months or years, you never know. The army didn’t arrive with a bulldozer yet, but they did arrive in the morning to arrest him. They took him in because they accused him of monitoring the soldiers of the surrounding settlements for Hamas. In the afternoon they had to release him, but ordered him to stay of his land. Abed returned to his shelter and refuses to leave the land that belongs to his family. Amongst the people supporting him there are Palestinians, Israelis and internationals. His fate is that of many Palestinian farmers who loose their land even if they hold a rightful claim to it. Abed is one of the farmers who refuse to give up their struggle.

When we get back to the office in the evening to prepare the political café for the movie screening of that night we learn that the daughter of our director will not leave for Berlin anymore. Because she is still young she is registered in her father’s passport and they had to go to the Israeli office together to get her the permit to travel. Without any reason, they refused to grant her the permit. It surely did not help that her father is the director of the AIC. She is the only person of her class who cannot join the schooltrip tomorrow.

This morning she walked into my office again and with tears in her eyes she told me: I am trying to see the bright side of this, at least I did my shopping before I knew that they wouldn’t let me go. I admire her strength but cannot help seeing a bright young women who has two new pairs of shoes but lacks the freedom of movement.

240 Orphans are about to loose their shelter and care, 1700 children are about to loose their education, and an additional 4000 students and 5000 needy families are about to loose their support base. They all rely on the facilities and care provided by The Islamic Charitable Society (ICS) in Hebron which runs 2 orphanages, 3 schools, 2 bakeries (to provide food for the orphanages), a dairy, a sewing workshop, a big mall and a 30 apartment building.

These facilities are not likely serve the community much longer as the Israeli Military has issued closure and confiscation orders on all property of the Islamic Charitable Society. Why? Because the Israeli Military accuses the ICS of being connected to Hamas, despite the fact that they have provided all requested certifications. The books of the ICS are open to inspection by the authorities and are audited by the Palestinian Authority, the schools fall under full supervision of the Palestinian Ministry of Education and the curriculum is identical to that taught in Palestinian Authority Schools.

The case has been brought before the Israeli High Court which still has to decide on the matter. Normally this would mean that one cannot act until the verdict is made. In this case however, the military did not have the patience to wait for this and acted under a so-called ‘emergency regulation’.

The Israeli Military raids have started on March 6th when the central warehouse in the Al-Harayeq area was targeted and everything needed to supply for the children and families was confiscated. The gates of the nearly completed girls’ school were welded shut and one of the two bakeries which provided bread for the children was ransacked; all equipment was destroyed.

Members of the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) and other internationals started to spend the night at the orphanages to ensure that their would be an international presence to document the violations. In the mean time the orphans have been evacuated and are staying with relatives, it is unknown if and when they will be able to return to their homes.

As expected the raids did not stop and so far the Israeli Military has returned three more times. First, on April 15 to destroy the second bakery and to set the oven on fire with its own fuel. Second, on April 30 to destroy the sewing workshop of the girls school; confiscating and ruining all equipment and even cutting up the sewing tables. The destroyed materials were later found in the city dump. Third, on June 5 to raid the ICS branches in Beit Ula and Shuyuk (close to Hebron) in order to confiscate and ransack schools, kitchens, kindergartens and administrative offices. Materials were not only destroyed, some were confiscated, amongst them orphan’s files, examinations and even birth certificates from the school.

Nobody knows when the next raid will be and what type of destruction this will bring. However, many people are standing up to save the orphanages from destruction and the AIC supports these initiatives. Next week it is my turn to spend the night.

If you would like to know more or find out how you can support the Hebron orphans, please visit their website at http://hebronorphans.blogspot.com .

The painter stood
Before her work
She looked around everywhere
She saw the pictures and she painted them
She picked the colours from the air

(The Painter - Neil Young)

My first week had barely taken off when I found myself standing at a former military base staring at the work we had done. An overwhelmingly hot afternoon, a number of motivated Palestinians and internationals, a lot of paint, water and sweat were the necessary ingredients to shape a stance against a possible new illegal settlement in the Westbank. A non-violent stance that is, made up out of painting and playing bingo at a place called Oush Grab.

A short history lesson teaches that Oush Grab, meaning Crow’s nest in Arabic, served as an Israeli military base from 1967 up until 2006. In this period the originally Jordan base grew at the expense of surrounding Palestinian landowners. Today, in 2008, the private confiscated land has been returned to its owners and the rest of Oush Grab has become public land under the authority and jurisdiction of the Beit Sahour municipality. However, at the top of the hill of Oush Grab, some deserted military structures remain in place and a military order still covers their presence. This means that even though it is public land, the municipality is not allowed to build or develop there. So far, some facts and figures.

Due to the lack of open spaces and safe playgrounds for children the municipality has decided to turn Oush Grab into a recreational area and picnic place. The construction is almost finished and families slowly make more and more use of the facilities offered. This process would move a lot quicker if they had no reason to fear the place, but unfortunately such a reason presented itself on May 15, known to Palestinians as Nakba day.

A group of about 40 settlers, some armed, appeared to take over the site at the top of the hill and declared that they wanted to build a new settlement outpost there. Thereupon the settlers spray painted slogans such as ‘Israel belongs to the Jews’, on the walls. The presence of the settlers at Oush Grab and the possibility of a new settlement outpost there threatens the security of the Beit Sahour community and the existence and use of the newly built safe recreational area. In order to defend the rights of this land local ngo’s have come together to promote the further integration of the site within the local community in order to show the importance it holds to Palestinians and the fact that a new settlement will not be accepted. They have decided to do this in a unique way; an organization named Decolonizing Architecture has created a plan to develop the hill top space for community usage without breaking the military order. In reality this translates into transforming the meaning of the place without any actual restructuring.

Armed with nothing but these motivations and buckets of paint volunteers have set to work to cover the racist graffiti with non political signs to turn the area into ‘Oush Grab Plaza’. A next step was taken on the friday that followed: a bingo. Even though the soldiers did not find it particularly amusing this is a unique way of peacefully refusing the place to turn into an illegal settlement, integrating it into the community and avoiding violent confrontation.

Oush Grab is one of those examples where it is necessary to distance yourself from the issue of Palestinians versus Israelis for a minute and realize that that is not even the case here. Factually the territory is acknowledged by both sides as public Palestinian land with a military order in place that currently prevents the development of the space. That’s all. The attempt by anyone to built anything is thus illegal and when the military order is lifted it remains illegal for Israeli settlers to occupy the space because it is Palestinian land. This is also why the Israeli military has removed settlers from the site.

Unfortunately, Oush Grab is only one of too many places in the Westbank where it is an urgent necessity to stand up for justice based on the rule of law and the actual facts on the ground.

“Now we see everything that's going wrong
with the world and those who lead it
we just feel like we don't have the means
to rise above and beat it

it's hard to beat the system
when we're standing at a distance
so we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change”

(John Mayer – Waiting on the world to change)

In a few days my refusal to simply wait for the world to change will take actual shape as I bridge the distance and head out to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to start my AP fellowship with the Alternative Information Center (AIC). The AIC is a joint Palestinian-Israeli organisation that aims to disseminate information, political advocacy, grassroots activism and critical analysis of the Palestinian and Israeli societies as well as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in order to promote cooperation and mutual understanding between Israelis and Palestinians based on equality and human rights.

Today, sixty years after the 1948 war, Israel celebrates its independence while Palestinians commemorate what they term the Nakba or ‘catastrophe’ (the expulsion of more than 700.000 Palestinians in the process). These sixty years have brought little progress in a conflict that continues to detrimentally affect not only Israelis and Palestinians, but the entire region. While the final status issues (borders, settlements, Jerusalem and the right of return) are far from being resolved in the near future and matters are inherently complicated by radical actors present, people on both sides have not been discouraged to stand up for peace.

The focus on everything that is going wrong has greatly overshadowed the voices of these critical activists who are silenced or do not manage to reach us when they try to convey their message. One of them is the Palestinian activist Mohammed Abu Humus (AIC), who was recently detained by the Israeli secret service as he left a peaceful Palestinian-Israeli demonstration, for his activism against debt collection checkpoints.

This summer I will try to use all means available to bridge the distance in more ways than one when I try to make those voices of Israeli and Palestinian critical activists heard. However, in order to do this more is needed than just giving them ‘a voice’ in a blog, articles and the like. That voice needs to be heard so that it can open up space for thinking in alternative ways. Here is where I appeal to you.

Even when you stand at a distance there is no need to keep on waiting for the world to change. Listening to the message of those who still believe in peace and are willing to stand up for it in troubled times will help you understand the situation from a different viewpoint than the superficial glance often offered and can broaden the space for dialogue. At least that is my hope.

So please help me assist the critical activists for peace in this conflict by listening to what they have to say and thereby stimulate the construction of mutual understanding to rise above the conflict and in the long-term eventually beat it. This fellowship will most definetly be an eye-opener for me and I hope that those of you who will be reading my blogs experience some of that too.

Bare with me by reading and commenting my personal Advocacy Blogs, your interest and opinion are much appreciated!

Now the time of wrapping up loose ends at home and figuring out the most effective backpack content construction has arrived for me...more to come soon