I find it completely unbelievable that this is only the second full day of my time here in Israel/Palestine. I already feel like I've had two weeks' worth of experiences!
Sunrise in Jerusalem
I woke sometime between 4 and 5am yesterday (Thursday) to the call to prayer. Some of my fellow delegates who had already been here warned that earplugs might contribute to a peaceful night, but I was completely entranced by the eerie beauty of the voice. I think sometimes there is benefit to not understanding words, because it lends them a sort of magic. Already being awake, I decided I might as well get up and grab a shower before prime time, as I was sharing a room with four other men. Having plenty of time before our 7:30 breakfast, I went up to the roof of the hostel to catch a view of the city. It was nothing short of astonishing.
I won't rave on any more about that, since it has very little to do with the real purpose of the trip.
Whom does conflict serve?
We met with Jeff and Sarah from the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) to talk about the broad issues of the occupation. ICAHD was formed as an "end the occupation" organization, but chose to frame their campaign with the specific issue of house demolitions because of their symbolic power, and the disconnect from any semblance of security. One study of suicide bombers, I think in Gaza, found that 50% of them had their homes demolished when they were children.
I will post some more on this later, since I do not have my notes in front of me and there's a line for computer use, but there's one issue from that I wanted to touch on:
The idea was introduced to me that Israel has nothing to gain from peace. Most frameworks for negotiations account for the "facts on the ground," or the settlements already built in the West Bank. Rather than simply withdraw behind the pre-1967 borders, Israel argues that it should keep settlement blocs. This means that the longer Israel delays a real peace agreement, the more land it can grab through settlements. We also had the opportunity to look at maps that painted a very clear picture of the strategic placement of settlements: not only are they designed to grab up water resources and fertile land, but they are carefully placed to mingle the Israeli and Palestinian populations, rendering impossible any Palestinian state.
Israel has continually presented the Palestinians with offers it knows they won't accept, and has refused to even entertain Palestinian offers. It has been suggested, and I am willing to believe, that Israel has no current interest in a peace agreement. For these reasons, Sarah at ICAHD suggested that the international community absolutely has to insist on the pre-1967 borders as the borders for Israel, so that Israel will not ultimately gain from continuing to construct settlements.
This is an ultra-brief and likely confusing summary of thoughts from that meeting and tour (there was a tour), but I'm trying to hurry past yesterday and get through today while it's still today.
After ICAHD and lunch, we grabbed our bags and headed for Al-Khalil, the Arabic name for Hebron.
Life under occupation
Hebron is unique among Palestinian cities in that it has Israeli settlers living within the city (in addition to in settlements bordering the city). Settlers claim to exist in numbers of 800 or more, but independent sources can only confirm 600-650 at the most, 250 of whom are temporary students. The numbers I've heard are more along the lines of 200-400. This is in contrast to 160,000-170,000 Palestinians.
As a result of this intermingling, Hebron is divided into two control zones: H1, which is Palestinian-controlled, and H2, which is Israeli-controlled. The Palestinian population of H2 is 35,000, and the conditions are much worse than in the Palestinian-controlled zone. We are staying at the CPT Hebron apartments, which are loated in the Old City in H2. While H1, like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, has all the look of a modern city, H2 can simply not be described as anything other than a bombed-out third-world city. Building permits are impossible to obtain, so roads and buildings fall into disrepair if they aren't deliberately demolished. Access restrictions and curfews have killed commercial business. Most shops are closed by late afternoon, and 1,100 shops in the zone have had to close their doors permenantly. Checkpoints and road blocks hinder the movement of Palestinians, separating them not from the Israeli settlers but from their schools, mosques, and each other. Soldiers detain young men and sometimes even children at random to check their ID or search their bags. Many of these detentions are illegal under Israeli law. Beyond this, they sometimes enter Palestinian homes without warrants, all in the name of fighting "terrorism." More on this in a moment.
Last night I joined a couple other delegates and two full-time CPTers here, Drew and John, on a patrol. A large part of what CPT does here is patrol the streets to look out for detentions or other forms of harrassment, and to let both the Palestinians and the Israeli soldiers know that they are present. We didn't encounter any soldiers moving about the streets, but we did run into one standing guard who asked where we were from. When we said America, he left us alone.
It was last night that I had my first experience with an Israeli checkpoint. Being white, we were able to ignore the bleeping metal detector and walk through the turnstyles without interruption. On the way back, we stopped to watch a Palestinian man going through the same checkpoint. He was made to go through the metal detector several times, empty his pockets, remove his belt, and lift his shirt and pant legs to show that he did not have a weapon.
"It's not nice," one of the soldiers called in our direction, "but it's my job." This is a common attitude, as soldiers assigned to Hebron tend to be the younger ones and are often decently socially conscious. Also, Israel has compulsory conscription for everyone, so plenty of the soldiers don't even want to be here and are simply forced into this situation by their government. I think many of the problems here are issues that will arise any time a military force is used to do police duty: they don't know the law, and besides, they're trained to war. And "inter arma enim silent leges: in time of war the law is silent."
To be continued
I'm realizing there is no way I will be able to get everything I want to write written at the moment, as it's late, I'm tired, and there is an increasing queue of people wanting access to the computer. Tomorrow we leave for At-Tuwani, and I will have no internet access for two days, and will probably have a crazy amount more to write about when I return.
And I didn't even get to the part where we responded to a home invasion!
More when I can.
-Nick
Sunrise in Jerusalem
I woke sometime between 4 and 5am yesterday (Thursday) to the call to prayer. Some of my fellow delegates who had already been here warned that earplugs might contribute to a peaceful night, but I was completely entranced by the eerie beauty of the voice. I think sometimes there is benefit to not understanding words, because it lends them a sort of magic. Already being awake, I decided I might as well get up and grab a shower before prime time, as I was sharing a room with four other men. Having plenty of time before our 7:30 breakfast, I went up to the roof of the hostel to catch a view of the city. It was nothing short of astonishing.
I won't rave on any more about that, since it has very little to do with the real purpose of the trip.
Whom does conflict serve?
We met with Jeff and Sarah from the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) to talk about the broad issues of the occupation. ICAHD was formed as an "end the occupation" organization, but chose to frame their campaign with the specific issue of house demolitions because of their symbolic power, and the disconnect from any semblance of security. One study of suicide bombers, I think in Gaza, found that 50% of them had their homes demolished when they were children.
I will post some more on this later, since I do not have my notes in front of me and there's a line for computer use, but there's one issue from that I wanted to touch on:
The idea was introduced to me that Israel has nothing to gain from peace. Most frameworks for negotiations account for the "facts on the ground," or the settlements already built in the West Bank. Rather than simply withdraw behind the pre-1967 borders, Israel argues that it should keep settlement blocs. This means that the longer Israel delays a real peace agreement, the more land it can grab through settlements. We also had the opportunity to look at maps that painted a very clear picture of the strategic placement of settlements: not only are they designed to grab up water resources and fertile land, but they are carefully placed to mingle the Israeli and Palestinian populations, rendering impossible any Palestinian state.
Israel has continually presented the Palestinians with offers it knows they won't accept, and has refused to even entertain Palestinian offers. It has been suggested, and I am willing to believe, that Israel has no current interest in a peace agreement. For these reasons, Sarah at ICAHD suggested that the international community absolutely has to insist on the pre-1967 borders as the borders for Israel, so that Israel will not ultimately gain from continuing to construct settlements.
This is an ultra-brief and likely confusing summary of thoughts from that meeting and tour (there was a tour), but I'm trying to hurry past yesterday and get through today while it's still today.
After ICAHD and lunch, we grabbed our bags and headed for Al-Khalil, the Arabic name for Hebron.
Life under occupation
Hebron is unique among Palestinian cities in that it has Israeli settlers living within the city (in addition to in settlements bordering the city). Settlers claim to exist in numbers of 800 or more, but independent sources can only confirm 600-650 at the most, 250 of whom are temporary students. The numbers I've heard are more along the lines of 200-400. This is in contrast to 160,000-170,000 Palestinians.
As a result of this intermingling, Hebron is divided into two control zones: H1, which is Palestinian-controlled, and H2, which is Israeli-controlled. The Palestinian population of H2 is 35,000, and the conditions are much worse than in the Palestinian-controlled zone. We are staying at the CPT Hebron apartments, which are loated in the Old City in H2. While H1, like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, has all the look of a modern city, H2 can simply not be described as anything other than a bombed-out third-world city. Building permits are impossible to obtain, so roads and buildings fall into disrepair if they aren't deliberately demolished. Access restrictions and curfews have killed commercial business. Most shops are closed by late afternoon, and 1,100 shops in the zone have had to close their doors permenantly. Checkpoints and road blocks hinder the movement of Palestinians, separating them not from the Israeli settlers but from their schools, mosques, and each other. Soldiers detain young men and sometimes even children at random to check their ID or search their bags. Many of these detentions are illegal under Israeli law. Beyond this, they sometimes enter Palestinian homes without warrants, all in the name of fighting "terrorism." More on this in a moment.
Last night I joined a couple other delegates and two full-time CPTers here, Drew and John, on a patrol. A large part of what CPT does here is patrol the streets to look out for detentions or other forms of harrassment, and to let both the Palestinians and the Israeli soldiers know that they are present. We didn't encounter any soldiers moving about the streets, but we did run into one standing guard who asked where we were from. When we said America, he left us alone.
It was last night that I had my first experience with an Israeli checkpoint. Being white, we were able to ignore the bleeping metal detector and walk through the turnstyles without interruption. On the way back, we stopped to watch a Palestinian man going through the same checkpoint. He was made to go through the metal detector several times, empty his pockets, remove his belt, and lift his shirt and pant legs to show that he did not have a weapon.
"It's not nice," one of the soldiers called in our direction, "but it's my job." This is a common attitude, as soldiers assigned to Hebron tend to be the younger ones and are often decently socially conscious. Also, Israel has compulsory conscription for everyone, so plenty of the soldiers don't even want to be here and are simply forced into this situation by their government. I think many of the problems here are issues that will arise any time a military force is used to do police duty: they don't know the law, and besides, they're trained to war. And "inter arma enim silent leges: in time of war the law is silent."
To be continued
I'm realizing there is no way I will be able to get everything I want to write written at the moment, as it's late, I'm tired, and there is an increasing queue of people wanting access to the computer. Tomorrow we leave for At-Tuwani, and I will have no internet access for two days, and will probably have a crazy amount more to write about when I return.
And I didn't even get to the part where we responded to a home invasion!
More when I can.
-Nick
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