What I've been doing for the last 15 days
enero 22nd, 2009
I guess I must have been pretty busy since I haven't had a chance to blog. Every day of visiting seems to require a day and a half of write-up, and even though there is no Hebron team here, people keep dropping in, and of course you can never turn away a visitor in this culture. I'm really happy that Jessica Frederick has joined Jim and me. She just finished studying Arabic in Damascus and genuinely enjoys visiting with new people (for me, it's the dues I pay to be here.)
A CPT delegation was in town (http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//090113/ids_photos_wl/r1341132543.jpg/) and we helped with that. It was a little odd, because the delegations are partially supposed to show delegates interested in joining CPT what team life/work is like, and there is no Hebron team anymore.
I had agreed to take some delegates to Beit Ummar for an overnight, but our friend Hisham found other places for them, so I was able to go with male delegates to the Beqa'a and see Atta and Rodeina and the kids. They seem to be doing well, although they are sad that the friendships forged with Israeli friends during the Campaign for Secure Dwellings era have dwindled. Of course, like everyone here they were transfixed by the horrors in Gaza. One of the first things Atta said to me was that the Israeli military was dropping white phosphorus bombs, which are illegal according to the 1980 Geneva convention.
Still, we had a good visit, caught up on news of old friends, talked about Palestinian politics and visited Ahmad the rabbit. Lara is one smart little girl and very funny.
A CPT delegation was in town (http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//090113/ids_photos_wl/r1341132543.jpg/) and we helped with that. It was a little odd, because the delegations are partially supposed to show delegates interested in joining CPT what team life/work is like, and there is no Hebron team anymore.
I had agreed to take some delegates to Beit Ummar for an overnight, but our friend Hisham found other places for them, so I was able to go with male delegates to the Beqa'a and see Atta and Rodeina and the kids. They seem to be doing well, although they are sad that the friendships forged with Israeli friends during the Campaign for Secure Dwellings era have dwindled. Of course, like everyone here they were transfixed by the horrors in Gaza. One of the first things Atta said to me was that the Israeli military was dropping white phosphorus bombs, which are illegal according to the 1980 Geneva convention.
Still, we had a good visit, caught up on news of old friends, talked about Palestinian politics and visited Ahmad the rabbit. Lara is one smart little girl and very funny.
Jabers outside their house
Lara on homemade swing
After the delegation went to Tuwani, Jim, Jessica and I went to the Jordan Valley--identified as one of the most threatened zones by an ad hoc exploratory group this summer (me and two interns). Israel has plans to annex it, 30% of the West Bank, as part of its "convergence plan" (See http://www.stopthewall.org/maps/1159.shtml). That will essentially destroy all hope of an independent Palestinian state--but I gave up hope for that a while back, anyway. The Israeli military has tried to depopulate the valley of Palestinians for years. It refuses to allow them to hook into the electrical grid in villages like Jeftlik and forbids Palestinians who do not have an address in the Jordan Valley from entering.
We met a driver in Jericho who told us about the good between Palestinians and settlers in the Jordan Valley. "They're not like the settlers near Nablus and Hebron," he kept saying. They provide employment for the local Palestinian community and the two groups basically manage not to attack each other. However, somehow the economic violence seemed more stark there. Water pumping stations are in the middle of villages whose residents are not allowed to have water from those pumps. Modest and pleasant settler homes are right beside shanties built from scrap metal and plastic tarps. We saw plantations for cut flowers with electric lights hovering above the plants to induce blooming and for me that kind of summed up the situation. Flowers get electricity instead of people. I also wondered about the settlers. Even if they are on good terms with the Palestinians and value the cheap labor, what must it be like to know that your neighbors are going without electricity and running water? I can't imagine of my anyone I respect NOT wanting their neighbors to have the same access to electricity and running water, especially when the electricity and water infrastructure is already there.
We met a driver in Jericho who told us about the good between Palestinians and settlers in the Jordan Valley. "They're not like the settlers near Nablus and Hebron," he kept saying. They provide employment for the local Palestinian community and the two groups basically manage not to attack each other. However, somehow the economic violence seemed more stark there. Water pumping stations are in the middle of villages whose residents are not allowed to have water from those pumps. Modest and pleasant settler homes are right beside shanties built from scrap metal and plastic tarps. We saw plantations for cut flowers with electric lights hovering above the plants to induce blooming and for me that kind of summed up the situation. Flowers get electricity instead of people. I also wondered about the settlers. Even if they are on good terms with the Palestinians and value the cheap labor, what must it be like to know that your neighbors are going without electricity and running water? I can't imagine of my anyone I respect NOT wanting their neighbors to have the same access to electricity and running water, especially when the electricity and water infrastructure is already there.
We stayed overnight with the very nice family of our driver. Alia*, the woman in this photo, is a nurse. Ali*, the man beside Jim, really likes her--both because she is one of the local residents who went on for an education, and some other reasons, I think.
When Ali heard that Jim and I were Mennonites, he got all excited and said the Mennonites were responsible for thousands of small farmers being able to remain in the Jordan Valley, equipping them with pipes and drip irrigation. He said USAID money goes mainly to already wealthy people--some not even from the Jordan Valley. The next big step for the small farmer, he said, is to provide ways for them to get directly to European and Middle Eastern markets, instead of having to send their produce to Israel.
When Ali heard that Jim and I were Mennonites, he got all excited and said the Mennonites were responsible for thousands of small farmers being able to remain in the Jordan Valley, equipping them with pipes and drip irrigation. He said USAID money goes mainly to already wealthy people--some not even from the Jordan Valley. The next big step for the small farmer, he said, is to provide ways for them to get directly to European and Middle Eastern markets, instead of having to send their produce to Israel.