Hello everyone,
I'm back at a computer after several days without internet access. Many exciting, depressing, and encouraging things have happened over the last few days, and in good time I will share with you all of them, but at the moment I feel my priority should be getting some sleep.
From now on, you're likely to get more, smaller e-mails from me, rather than big chunks of text. These will continue after I'm back in the U.S., as there are many stories to tell.
However, I wrote something the other day when the internet was down, so here it is:
--------
Nick's CPT Update Monday, 1/11/10
Hello friends and family,
I'm back in Al-Khalil after two nights in the village of At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. Our internet isn't working at the moment, so I'm writing this ahead of time and don't know at the moment when I will be able to post it. At the time of this writing, anyway, it is almost noon on Monday, January 11.
The trip is starting to take its toll on me emotionally; the last two days have been particularly intense and draining. Hebron introduced me to settler encroachment, blatant injustice, and military harrassment. At-Tuwani, however, painted an even worse picture of the occupation. First, I'll rewind to some of the stuff I didn't get to report on earlier.
Al-Khalil, continued
I've given up on trying to report everything I learn from everyone I talk to, at least while I'm here. When I get home, I'll dig through my notebooks and regale you with every detail. For now, however, I'll stick to my broader experiences here.
Since I enticed you with mention of home invasion, I'll start there. We got back to the CPT apartment on Friday laden with filafels for lunch. As we were arriving, Drew and John ducked out, having gotten called to a home invasion. We continued eating, but before too long we received a call for backup, so several of us set off with Paulette, a full-time CPTer here, at a fast walk.
We were just a couple hundred meters from the house when we passed a group of soldiers, one of whom was holding a large pry bar. We met Drew at the entrance to an apartment building, received an update from him, and were able to go up to talk with the family. I was struck by the way we were welcomed into the home and served hot tea: even the shock of a home invasion seems to have no effect on Palestinian hospitality.
Here's what happened:
The family was eating lunch when soldiers entered their apartment, giving no reason. They gathered the family in one room and held them there while they searched the house, then they went upstairs to a small room that one of the family members, a student, uses to study in. He offered the soldiers the key to the room (it may have already been in the door; it was when we got there), but they ignored him and broke the door open. Then they went and looked around on the roof, which for some reason is common. The glass over the solar water heater was cracked from where a soldier had stood on it previously, and there were cuts in the chicken-wire fence where they had cut it to look through.
Drew and John arrived with a partner of theirs in Al-Khalil and entered the apartment while the family was being held in the room. Their partner asked the soldiers for a warrant or a written order from their commander, one of which is required for them to be able to enter a house. The soldiers refused to show either and told the partner he had one minute to leave. The partner said, "It is the law." One of the soldiers responded, "Go f--- yourself. I am the law!" All the while, Drew was videotaping the soldiers. Finally they left, though it was not clear exactly why. I am quite sure, however, that they were very relieved when they saw us walking, that they were not still there when the whole group showed up.
Events like this are not the exception here; they are a common occurance. Only a small fraction of them are ever documented like this one was.
That is not the end of Al-Khalil, but I want to get on to At-Tuwani.
Arriving in At-Tuwani
"You have entered a village that is nonviolently resisting ethnic cleansing."
Those were the introductory words from Joy, a CPTer in At-Tuwani. At-Tuwani is the largest of many small villages and hamlets scattered in an area of the South Hebron Hills. There is a permanent CPT presence there, and the village (and its neighbors) have been insistent on keeping their land despite constant harrassment from both settlers and soldiers.
I want to say a word about settlers: "Settlers" is a blanket term for Israeli civilians living on occupied land. This is illegal: international law forbids an occupying power from transferring civilian population to occupied territory. There are, however, different kinds of settlers.
In and around Jerusalem, many settlers are not ideological or zionist. They may not even know they are settlers, as their neighborhoods are not advertised as "settlements" and many of them are Jews arriving from abroad and simply going to the cheapest housing. It is far cheaper to live in East Jerusalem, or in a nearby settlement, than to live in West Jerusalem.
In Hebron, we are getting more into the territory of ideological settlers. They are more likely to engage in harrassment of Palestinians, and they are often zionist in that they believe the land was given to them by God and they have a right to take it. We heard stories of militant occupation by settlers willing to live in difficult situations in order to claim land, and saw an example of an outpost. I would also surmise that, at least in the case of settlers living inside of Hebron, their ideology can be somewhat mitigated by their daily interaction with Palestinians.
In the South Hebron Hills, the settlers are, for the most part, highly ideological and militantly zionist. Those who don't want to rarely have to see a Palestinian, as they would never be allowed inside the settlements, which are locked up tight. They would see them briefly on the road, as they travel between settlements for school or work.
Some of the settlers, however, will see the Palestinians more often, when they come on to their land to harrass them, assault them, poison their sheep, destroy their property, and more. Slowly but surely, they expand their settlement.
A familiar pattern might look like this: the settlers build an outpost, which is illegal. Then they build a road to the outpost. Then they supply the outpost with electricity and water, and the outpost becomes a settlement. If they run in to Palestinian opposition, the military administration declares the land "disputed" and a "closed military zone," and keep out any Palestinians. Note that "disputed" is a joke, as the Palestinians generally have deeds proving their ownership of any land they have left. Since Palestinians can't cross on to the disputed land, it is then declared "abandoned" and given to the Jewish Land Trust, which passes it on to the settlers.
Back to At-Tuwani. Tuwani is overlooked by the Ma'on settlement and the Havat Ma'on outpost. Settlers from the outpost tend to be the most troublesome, as they are as a group more militant. At the time of our arrival, there was plenty of stress for the local CPTers, for the following reason:
Two days before we arrived, a family from At-Tuwani were grazing their sheep on their land. Some settlers from either Ma'on or Havat Ma'on (I'm not sure which) arrived and called the military--another common tactic, as the military tends to be as much the settlers' gun men as keepers of the peace. Not wanting a confrontation, the family quickly herded their sheep back on to land that was even more clearly theirs. This didn't help: the soldiers attacked and beat the family, then "arrested" (abducted) the oldest brother. They tied his hands and feet and blindfolded him, and took them back to the military base, where they beat him (still blindfolded) for hours. Finally, they dumped him on the side of the road, still bound and blindfolded, at night. He hid until a CPTer and someone from the village were able to find him and bring him back.
Again, this is not a unique story.
We had a little time to drop our things and unpack a bit, then we were off to join a march from At-Tuwani to Al-Fakhiel, a local school about an hour's walk away. The settlers commonly prevent children from getting to school, so the march was a nonviolent action to protest that, and the military's inaction and complicency. Though it was a march, at the insistance of the organizers, we rode in a trailer pulled by a tractor. At the end of the march, there was a press conference. Hafaz, a local organizer, spoke of the need for the international community to get involved. They do not want food or money from us; they just want their children to be able to get to school safely.
More on the village of At-Tuwani
As I described, the people of At-Tuwani have been slowly losing their land to settlers. This is not their only difficulty: they have faced the demolition of their homes and buildings, and many of their homes have demolition orders on them.
Here's the lowdown on that situation: any construction in Area C (Israeli controlled) of the West Bank requires a permit. Basically, Israelis can get these permits and Palestinians cannot. They occasionally try, but even trying and failing requires a significant financial investment. An example of the injustice regarding these permits: in 2009, Palestinians applied for 6,142 building permits in the Hebron district; only 13 were granted.
As such, every single building in At-Tuwani is illegal. This includes their school and cistern, both of which have demolition orders on them. Demolition orders must be issued a few days before actually demolishing a structure, but they are not a guarantee that it will happen: some buildings have had demolition orders on them for well over a year. But this means they could be torn down at any time, putting the residents in a constant state of fear that their homes will be destroyed. Sometimes, the military goes so far as to park bulldozers on the road to At-Tuwani just to terrorize the villagers.
Despite a promise from Tony Blaire, who said there was an agreement with the Israelis, the village has no electricity. Acting on the promise, the villagers constructed the infrastructure to bring electricity from the Israeli network into the village, but the army confiscated the electrician's work truck and tore down two pylons because they were "too close" to the highway.
School patrol
The next morning, several delegates joined the full-time CPTers on "school patrol." I was on breakfast duty, so I was not one of these delegates, but here's the deal:
There are children in two nearby villages who attend school in At-Tuwani. The shortest road from their villages to the school passes directly between the Ma'on settlement and the Havat Ma'on outpost. There is a middle road that also passes dangerously near the settlement, and a third road that goes around. The difference is between a twenty minute walk and an hour and a half one.
Some time ago--I don't feel like going back for my notes--CPTers tried to accompany the children on the short road. They were attacked by settlers, and though the children escaped, the CPTers were badly beaten and had to be hospitalized. They tried again with the middle road, and were again attacked. Since internationals were being injured, though, this brought enough attention that the military struck a deal with the mayor of At-Tuwani that they would provide an escort for the children going to school, so long as no Palestinian adults or internationals went along.
This deal only works so well. The military escort is frequently late, if it bothers to show up at all. The point at which they meet the children is well within settlement territory, and is not where they agreed to meet them. And even when it works perfectly, the children are being escorted by the same soldiers they've seen harrassing and arresting their families.
Under this arrangement, "school patrol" is a bit different than it was during the attacks: an Italian peace group that also works in At-Tuwani, Operation Dove, goes to the villages from which the students walk and waits with them while they watch for the military escort. When the escort arrives, the children go meet them and walk. CPT waits in At-Tuwani and watches for the escort to arrive.
On Sunday, the escort arrived at the meeting place, but left again immediately because no children were there. Remember, the meeting place is in settlement territory, and it would be dangerous (actually, impossible) for the students to be waiting there.
The children had exams that day, so they decided to walk anyway. They tried to take the middle path, but a settler had parked his car and was waiting in ambush. He got out with his face masked and approached the children, who ran away. The CPTers here have found that any time a settler masks his face, he intends to do physical violence.
After an hour and a half of phone calls to the military from CPT, Operation Dove, and one or more human rights groups, two foot soldiers and the settler police showed up to escort the children. When they were just halfway past the settlement, the police drove off, and the soldiers got into a settler vehicle and left. The children were forced to run the rest of the way to the waiting CPTers at At-Tuwani.
Our life
Living without electricity or running water was an interesting turn. Even in the winter, we had sunlight pretty much as long as we wanted it, so that wasn't a major issue. Flashlights helped us out at night, and the village has a generator (with a demolition order on it) that supplies about four hours of power each night. Drinking water was purchased at the village store (they order it just for the internationals), wash water came from a cistern and could be accessed from a tap in the bathroom, and dish and tea water was drawn from the village well. I went to draw water both mornings and found it to be a fun chore, though I imagine the novelty would wear off before too long.
The worst thing for me was that both toilets to which we had access were "squat toilets," which is a euphemistic way of saying "hole in the ground." Used handwashing water is used to flush, and they drain to... somewhere. I'm not particularly interested in knowing where.
We managed to jam twelve people into Hafaz's small living room on sleeping mats, without a whole lot of room to spare. Both nights were rather horrid for me in terms of quality of sleep; I must have woken up every ten minutes Saturday night. Sunday was marginally better.
Peter, one of our two Australian delegates, has fallen quite ill in the last couple of days and was running a fever of 105 last night. He's seemed to have gotten a little better, but the poor guy seems miserable.
Catching up to now - 3pm Monday
We called taxis to bring us back to Al-Khalil this morning and have had a decently relaxed day. We met with a shopkeeper who works with human rights groups and is a "convinced" nonviolence activist, and are now back at the CPT apartments. Shortly we will be living for overnight stays in Palestinian homes. The men are going to stay with the shopkeeper we met with a while ago, so I'll get to talk to him about some of the CPTers we know in common, like Cliff Kindy, a friend of his who has a farm near where I went to college.
Delegation blog
Something I have promised and not delivered: the official CPT delegation blog for this trip can be found at mideastdelegation.blogspot.com. It lacks posts, a fact you can blame on me, since I'm the "blog coordinator." But, as you know, we've been away from the internet.
Just a reminder, these e-mail updates will all be compiled at cptnick.blogspot.com. There are a couple of things I'm leery of posting in such a public format for security reasons, so not quite everything I send you will appear there. Also, even in these e-mails, I may withhold or change names because some of the people we meet with could be in danger if they are identified.
Thoughts on conflict, dispute and neutrality
I have always tried to be as objective as possible (insert post-modernist reflections on the impossibility of objectivity here) when dealing with matters of conflict and politics, and especially concerning the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I complained that a week-long seminar in which I participated on the subject was biased against the Israeli side. Even recently, just before leaving for this trip, I wrote a press release expressing my interest in learning about "all sides" of the conflict.
But objectivity and neutrality are not the same thing. The latter has become too often the norm, particularly in the press, though that is not something I wish to tackle right now.
As Dr. Ken Brown commented in a class I had with him, "The more you study an issue, the further from the center you'll find yourself." This is certainly the case here. At the risk of sounding arrogant, the truth in this land is not found in the center.
I mentioned earlier that Israel benefits from saying "let's negotiate" while grabbing more land. To be plain, under international law, the whole occupation is illegal. The land is not disputed; it is occupied and stolen. Even talking about a "conflict" implies some balance of sides, as if two factions are shooting each other. But this is a matter of occupier and occupied. In this story, one faction has a monopoly on money, resources, weapons, equipment, and legal structure. The other struggles to scrape out a living, denied any shred of normalcy. One side expands and takes, while the other side tries only to hold on. When it comes to ownership of the land, one side has proof; the other side vetoes this proof with guns.
The message from the international community cannot continue to be about getting the two sides to the table. Our message has to be simply, "end the occupation."
End rant.
I hope all of you have been doing well in class, work, or whatever it is you're doing. I apologize for the sporadity with which I have been sending updates, but computer access and time has been even more limited than I expected. You'll probably continue to get these well after I return home as I struggle to catch up on everything I've learned and experienced.
----------
Back to 1/14
As you can tell, I was a little upset when I wrote that. I thought about taking out my political bias, but that wouldn't really be giving you the full feel of my experience here.
A quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. has been popping into my head frequently these last few days: "The arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice." I always that it was a cool saying, but my time here has transformed those words somehow. Now, when I say (or type) them, I feel moved almost to tears. Justice will come. I trust that. And amazingly, I continually meet Palestinians who, despite the conditions under which they are living, share that faith. I just hope it isn't too long in the coming.
Since then, we have had the opportunity to stay with host families in Al-Khalil, visit Bethlehem and spend the night in a refugee camp, and confront soldiers on our own rooftop here in Al-Khalil. All of these stories will get to you--if not in the next couple of days, then certainly upon my return.
Blessings to you all,
Nick
I'm back at a computer after several days without internet access. Many exciting, depressing, and encouraging things have happened over the last few days, and in good time I will share with you all of them, but at the moment I feel my priority should be getting some sleep.
From now on, you're likely to get more, smaller e-mails from me, rather than big chunks of text. These will continue after I'm back in the U.S., as there are many stories to tell.
However, I wrote something the other day when the internet was down, so here it is:
--------
Nick's CPT Update Monday, 1/11/10
Hello friends and family,
I'm back in Al-Khalil after two nights in the village of At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. Our internet isn't working at the moment, so I'm writing this ahead of time and don't know at the moment when I will be able to post it. At the time of this writing, anyway, it is almost noon on Monday, January 11.
The trip is starting to take its toll on me emotionally; the last two days have been particularly intense and draining. Hebron introduced me to settler encroachment, blatant injustice, and military harrassment. At-Tuwani, however, painted an even worse picture of the occupation. First, I'll rewind to some of the stuff I didn't get to report on earlier.
Al-Khalil, continued
I've given up on trying to report everything I learn from everyone I talk to, at least while I'm here. When I get home, I'll dig through my notebooks and regale you with every detail. For now, however, I'll stick to my broader experiences here.
Since I enticed you with mention of home invasion, I'll start there. We got back to the CPT apartment on Friday laden with filafels for lunch. As we were arriving, Drew and John ducked out, having gotten called to a home invasion. We continued eating, but before too long we received a call for backup, so several of us set off with Paulette, a full-time CPTer here, at a fast walk.
We were just a couple hundred meters from the house when we passed a group of soldiers, one of whom was holding a large pry bar. We met Drew at the entrance to an apartment building, received an update from him, and were able to go up to talk with the family. I was struck by the way we were welcomed into the home and served hot tea: even the shock of a home invasion seems to have no effect on Palestinian hospitality.
Here's what happened:
The family was eating lunch when soldiers entered their apartment, giving no reason. They gathered the family in one room and held them there while they searched the house, then they went upstairs to a small room that one of the family members, a student, uses to study in. He offered the soldiers the key to the room (it may have already been in the door; it was when we got there), but they ignored him and broke the door open. Then they went and looked around on the roof, which for some reason is common. The glass over the solar water heater was cracked from where a soldier had stood on it previously, and there were cuts in the chicken-wire fence where they had cut it to look through.
Drew and John arrived with a partner of theirs in Al-Khalil and entered the apartment while the family was being held in the room. Their partner asked the soldiers for a warrant or a written order from their commander, one of which is required for them to be able to enter a house. The soldiers refused to show either and told the partner he had one minute to leave. The partner said, "It is the law." One of the soldiers responded, "Go f--- yourself. I am the law!" All the while, Drew was videotaping the soldiers. Finally they left, though it was not clear exactly why. I am quite sure, however, that they were very relieved when they saw us walking, that they were not still there when the whole group showed up.
Events like this are not the exception here; they are a common occurance. Only a small fraction of them are ever documented like this one was.
That is not the end of Al-Khalil, but I want to get on to At-Tuwani.
Arriving in At-Tuwani
"You have entered a village that is nonviolently resisting ethnic cleansing."
Those were the introductory words from Joy, a CPTer in At-Tuwani. At-Tuwani is the largest of many small villages and hamlets scattered in an area of the South Hebron Hills. There is a permanent CPT presence there, and the village (and its neighbors) have been insistent on keeping their land despite constant harrassment from both settlers and soldiers.
I want to say a word about settlers: "Settlers" is a blanket term for Israeli civilians living on occupied land. This is illegal: international law forbids an occupying power from transferring civilian population to occupied territory. There are, however, different kinds of settlers.
In and around Jerusalem, many settlers are not ideological or zionist. They may not even know they are settlers, as their neighborhoods are not advertised as "settlements" and many of them are Jews arriving from abroad and simply going to the cheapest housing. It is far cheaper to live in East Jerusalem, or in a nearby settlement, than to live in West Jerusalem.
In Hebron, we are getting more into the territory of ideological settlers. They are more likely to engage in harrassment of Palestinians, and they are often zionist in that they believe the land was given to them by God and they have a right to take it. We heard stories of militant occupation by settlers willing to live in difficult situations in order to claim land, and saw an example of an outpost. I would also surmise that, at least in the case of settlers living inside of Hebron, their ideology can be somewhat mitigated by their daily interaction with Palestinians.
In the South Hebron Hills, the settlers are, for the most part, highly ideological and militantly zionist. Those who don't want to rarely have to see a Palestinian, as they would never be allowed inside the settlements, which are locked up tight. They would see them briefly on the road, as they travel between settlements for school or work.
Some of the settlers, however, will see the Palestinians more often, when they come on to their land to harrass them, assault them, poison their sheep, destroy their property, and more. Slowly but surely, they expand their settlement.
A familiar pattern might look like this: the settlers build an outpost, which is illegal. Then they build a road to the outpost. Then they supply the outpost with electricity and water, and the outpost becomes a settlement. If they run in to Palestinian opposition, the military administration declares the land "disputed" and a "closed military zone," and keep out any Palestinians. Note that "disputed" is a joke, as the Palestinians generally have deeds proving their ownership of any land they have left. Since Palestinians can't cross on to the disputed land, it is then declared "abandoned" and given to the Jewish Land Trust, which passes it on to the settlers.
Back to At-Tuwani. Tuwani is overlooked by the Ma'on settlement and the Havat Ma'on outpost. Settlers from the outpost tend to be the most troublesome, as they are as a group more militant. At the time of our arrival, there was plenty of stress for the local CPTers, for the following reason:
Two days before we arrived, a family from At-Tuwani were grazing their sheep on their land. Some settlers from either Ma'on or Havat Ma'on (I'm not sure which) arrived and called the military--another common tactic, as the military tends to be as much the settlers' gun men as keepers of the peace. Not wanting a confrontation, the family quickly herded their sheep back on to land that was even more clearly theirs. This didn't help: the soldiers attacked and beat the family, then "arrested" (abducted) the oldest brother. They tied his hands and feet and blindfolded him, and took them back to the military base, where they beat him (still blindfolded) for hours. Finally, they dumped him on the side of the road, still bound and blindfolded, at night. He hid until a CPTer and someone from the village were able to find him and bring him back.
Again, this is not a unique story.
We had a little time to drop our things and unpack a bit, then we were off to join a march from At-Tuwani to Al-Fakhiel, a local school about an hour's walk away. The settlers commonly prevent children from getting to school, so the march was a nonviolent action to protest that, and the military's inaction and complicency. Though it was a march, at the insistance of the organizers, we rode in a trailer pulled by a tractor. At the end of the march, there was a press conference. Hafaz, a local organizer, spoke of the need for the international community to get involved. They do not want food or money from us; they just want their children to be able to get to school safely.
More on the village of At-Tuwani
As I described, the people of At-Tuwani have been slowly losing their land to settlers. This is not their only difficulty: they have faced the demolition of their homes and buildings, and many of their homes have demolition orders on them.
Here's the lowdown on that situation: any construction in Area C (Israeli controlled) of the West Bank requires a permit. Basically, Israelis can get these permits and Palestinians cannot. They occasionally try, but even trying and failing requires a significant financial investment. An example of the injustice regarding these permits: in 2009, Palestinians applied for 6,142 building permits in the Hebron district; only 13 were granted.
As such, every single building in At-Tuwani is illegal. This includes their school and cistern, both of which have demolition orders on them. Demolition orders must be issued a few days before actually demolishing a structure, but they are not a guarantee that it will happen: some buildings have had demolition orders on them for well over a year. But this means they could be torn down at any time, putting the residents in a constant state of fear that their homes will be destroyed. Sometimes, the military goes so far as to park bulldozers on the road to At-Tuwani just to terrorize the villagers.
Despite a promise from Tony Blaire, who said there was an agreement with the Israelis, the village has no electricity. Acting on the promise, the villagers constructed the infrastructure to bring electricity from the Israeli network into the village, but the army confiscated the electrician's work truck and tore down two pylons because they were "too close" to the highway.
School patrol
The next morning, several delegates joined the full-time CPTers on "school patrol." I was on breakfast duty, so I was not one of these delegates, but here's the deal:
There are children in two nearby villages who attend school in At-Tuwani. The shortest road from their villages to the school passes directly between the Ma'on settlement and the Havat Ma'on outpost. There is a middle road that also passes dangerously near the settlement, and a third road that goes around. The difference is between a twenty minute walk and an hour and a half one.
Some time ago--I don't feel like going back for my notes--CPTers tried to accompany the children on the short road. They were attacked by settlers, and though the children escaped, the CPTers were badly beaten and had to be hospitalized. They tried again with the middle road, and were again attacked. Since internationals were being injured, though, this brought enough attention that the military struck a deal with the mayor of At-Tuwani that they would provide an escort for the children going to school, so long as no Palestinian adults or internationals went along.
This deal only works so well. The military escort is frequently late, if it bothers to show up at all. The point at which they meet the children is well within settlement territory, and is not where they agreed to meet them. And even when it works perfectly, the children are being escorted by the same soldiers they've seen harrassing and arresting their families.
Under this arrangement, "school patrol" is a bit different than it was during the attacks: an Italian peace group that also works in At-Tuwani, Operation Dove, goes to the villages from which the students walk and waits with them while they watch for the military escort. When the escort arrives, the children go meet them and walk. CPT waits in At-Tuwani and watches for the escort to arrive.
On Sunday, the escort arrived at the meeting place, but left again immediately because no children were there. Remember, the meeting place is in settlement territory, and it would be dangerous (actually, impossible) for the students to be waiting there.
The children had exams that day, so they decided to walk anyway. They tried to take the middle path, but a settler had parked his car and was waiting in ambush. He got out with his face masked and approached the children, who ran away. The CPTers here have found that any time a settler masks his face, he intends to do physical violence.
After an hour and a half of phone calls to the military from CPT, Operation Dove, and one or more human rights groups, two foot soldiers and the settler police showed up to escort the children. When they were just halfway past the settlement, the police drove off, and the soldiers got into a settler vehicle and left. The children were forced to run the rest of the way to the waiting CPTers at At-Tuwani.
Our life
Living without electricity or running water was an interesting turn. Even in the winter, we had sunlight pretty much as long as we wanted it, so that wasn't a major issue. Flashlights helped us out at night, and the village has a generator (with a demolition order on it) that supplies about four hours of power each night. Drinking water was purchased at the village store (they order it just for the internationals), wash water came from a cistern and could be accessed from a tap in the bathroom, and dish and tea water was drawn from the village well. I went to draw water both mornings and found it to be a fun chore, though I imagine the novelty would wear off before too long.
The worst thing for me was that both toilets to which we had access were "squat toilets," which is a euphemistic way of saying "hole in the ground." Used handwashing water is used to flush, and they drain to... somewhere. I'm not particularly interested in knowing where.
We managed to jam twelve people into Hafaz's small living room on sleeping mats, without a whole lot of room to spare. Both nights were rather horrid for me in terms of quality of sleep; I must have woken up every ten minutes Saturday night. Sunday was marginally better.
Peter, one of our two Australian delegates, has fallen quite ill in the last couple of days and was running a fever of 105 last night. He's seemed to have gotten a little better, but the poor guy seems miserable.
Catching up to now - 3pm Monday
We called taxis to bring us back to Al-Khalil this morning and have had a decently relaxed day. We met with a shopkeeper who works with human rights groups and is a "convinced" nonviolence activist, and are now back at the CPT apartments. Shortly we will be living for overnight stays in Palestinian homes. The men are going to stay with the shopkeeper we met with a while ago, so I'll get to talk to him about some of the CPTers we know in common, like Cliff Kindy, a friend of his who has a farm near where I went to college.
Delegation blog
Something I have promised and not delivered: the official CPT delegation blog for this trip can be found at mideastdelegation.blogspot.com. It lacks posts, a fact you can blame on me, since I'm the "blog coordinator." But, as you know, we've been away from the internet.
Just a reminder, these e-mail updates will all be compiled at cptnick.blogspot.com. There are a couple of things I'm leery of posting in such a public format for security reasons, so not quite everything I send you will appear there. Also, even in these e-mails, I may withhold or change names because some of the people we meet with could be in danger if they are identified.
Thoughts on conflict, dispute and neutrality
I have always tried to be as objective as possible (insert post-modernist reflections on the impossibility of objectivity here) when dealing with matters of conflict and politics, and especially concerning the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I complained that a week-long seminar in which I participated on the subject was biased against the Israeli side. Even recently, just before leaving for this trip, I wrote a press release expressing my interest in learning about "all sides" of the conflict.
But objectivity and neutrality are not the same thing. The latter has become too often the norm, particularly in the press, though that is not something I wish to tackle right now.
As Dr. Ken Brown commented in a class I had with him, "The more you study an issue, the further from the center you'll find yourself." This is certainly the case here. At the risk of sounding arrogant, the truth in this land is not found in the center.
I mentioned earlier that Israel benefits from saying "let's negotiate" while grabbing more land. To be plain, under international law, the whole occupation is illegal. The land is not disputed; it is occupied and stolen. Even talking about a "conflict" implies some balance of sides, as if two factions are shooting each other. But this is a matter of occupier and occupied. In this story, one faction has a monopoly on money, resources, weapons, equipment, and legal structure. The other struggles to scrape out a living, denied any shred of normalcy. One side expands and takes, while the other side tries only to hold on. When it comes to ownership of the land, one side has proof; the other side vetoes this proof with guns.
The message from the international community cannot continue to be about getting the two sides to the table. Our message has to be simply, "end the occupation."
End rant.
I hope all of you have been doing well in class, work, or whatever it is you're doing. I apologize for the sporadity with which I have been sending updates, but computer access and time has been even more limited than I expected. You'll probably continue to get these well after I return home as I struggle to catch up on everything I've learned and experienced.
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Back to 1/14
As you can tell, I was a little upset when I wrote that. I thought about taking out my political bias, but that wouldn't really be giving you the full feel of my experience here.
A quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. has been popping into my head frequently these last few days: "The arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice." I always that it was a cool saying, but my time here has transformed those words somehow. Now, when I say (or type) them, I feel moved almost to tears. Justice will come. I trust that. And amazingly, I continually meet Palestinians who, despite the conditions under which they are living, share that faith. I just hope it isn't too long in the coming.
Since then, we have had the opportunity to stay with host families in Al-Khalil, visit Bethlehem and spend the night in a refugee camp, and confront soldiers on our own rooftop here in Al-Khalil. All of these stories will get to you--if not in the next couple of days, then certainly upon my return.
Blessings to you all,
Nick
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