The Demolished Fruit Stand, Witnessed by B’Tselem

Last week I spend the day with Abdulkarim Sadi, who works with B’Tselem,  an Israeli human rights organization, that seeks to change Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories and ensure that the Israeli government protects the human rights of residents there and complies with its obligations under international law.

It was a full day. I met him at the automobile checkpoint near to Tulkarm and that in itself was a little bit hit-and-miss.

At first I thought that he was on the Israeli side of the checkpoint and when I tried to go through the checkpoint the soldier told me I could only go through in a car. So I said fine, I will see if someone will take me in the next car that comes along. The soldier helped me to slow down a car – I open the back door to get in – in fact I threw my backpack in first – but the driver went ‘bezerk’ and absolutely refused to let me into his car.

I’m not surprised really – why would anyone think of taking a total stranger with a backpack in a car through an Israeli checkpoint, entering Israel from the West Bank.

Think about it!

Anyway following that near misadventure, Sadi and I drove to Qualqiliya where he met with the owner of a fruit stand which had recently been demolished by the Israeli military. His purpose was to document this event.

We met the man who was a former teacher – he was a distinguished-looking man dressed in traditional Arabic Style.

His hands were weather-worn and tired looking and his grandson was with him. They were sitting around an open fire in the field near where the fruit stand had been.

The week before the demolition, the IDF soldiers had arrived in Jeeps and issued a demolition order. They put the order on the ground in front of the fruit stand put a stone on top of it to keep it from blowing away, and took a photograph.

The owner did not think much of this, as demolition orders are issued on a regular basis for all kinds of structures: homes, animal shelters, fruit stands, water pipes and many other structures and installations, but they are seldom acted on without a second warning.

Exactly a week later, the Jeeps and the bulldozer arrived. First, they packed 70 boxes of fruits and vegetables into a truck and gave the man a receipt for those. Next, they proceeded to demolish the stand and smash everything to bits – fridges ,counters, tables crates etc.

The man’s grandson took a video of the demolition on his smartphone.

Abdulkarim Sadi took down the information, as the man told the story. He filled five pages of notes and took photographs he also recorded the man’s voice and part of the story. He then asked the man to sign the statement that he had written and he also got the grandson to send him the video of the demolition.

Now this was a really impressive piece of technology. Abdulkarim setup a hotspot on his cell phone so that the boy had internet access, and then the boy sent the video to Abdulkarim using “WhatsApp”. Here, in the middle of a field, it worked perfectly.

And what of the fruit stand owner?

The man, who is a retired teacher, has no other form of income. At the time he was a teacher there was no pension scheme and this fruit stand was providing him with much-needed income.

There were tears in the man’s eyes as he told the story. He rents this piece of land at this location because it was a good location for a fruit stand along the main road. He did not have a license or permit.

This location is in Area C *and no license would ever be granted.

So he now this retired teacher has lost his fruit stand and his fruit and his income – where is the justice?
There is no justice.

MAE/

More about Area C

Area C covers 60% of the West Bank and is home to an estimated 180,000-300,000 Palestinians. It also has  a settler population of at least 325,500 living in 125 settlements and approx. 100 outposts.

These are the settlements, deemed illegal by the UN and the international community under the fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits countries from moving populations into territories occupied in a war.

Israel retains control of security and land-management in Area C and views the area as there to serve its own needs, such as military training, economic interests and settlement development.

Despite the large Palestinian population,  Israel practically bans Palestinian construction and development. At the same time, it encourages the development of Israeli settlements through a parallel planning mechanism, and the Civil Administration turns a blind eye to settlers’ building violations.

Source: http://www.btselem.org/topic/area_c

The Elor Azaria Case

UPDATE May 18 2018 Released after only 9 months. A nine month sentence in a friendly prison for COLD BLOODED MURDER — if this was a palestinian he woul be in a hell hole jail for 20 – 40 years. Israel a place of unequal justice. See Video 124 News Elor Azaria Released After Nine Months

UPDATE: Elor Azaria received a sentence of 18 months for this murder and is presently appealing the conviction. Read this Al Jazeera Article for more information. 

It was Cold Blooded Murder

The Elor Azaria  case is tearing Israel apart. This is the case of a young medic named Elor Azaria who shot an unarmed Palestinian, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, while he lay on the ground severely wounded and bleeding.

Azaria has been found guilty of “manslaughter” ? and will be sentenced next month, but it unlikely that the punishment will fit the crime. Riots and demonstrations have broken out demanding clemency.

What is unusual about this case is that it actually came to trial in the first place, since summary executions and extrajudicial killings of Palestinians happen on a daily basis.

I wrote about one of these cold-blooded killings in 2013 when 15 year-old Wajih al-Ramahid from the Jalazone Refugee Camp, was shot dead in the back by a sniper beside a UN school .

Three weeks later, another crime:  one of 3 kids that had crawled inside the Separation Barrier was shot and let bleed out to die and a short time after a 16 year old that stupidly pulled out a plastic gun at a check point in Hebron was shot by a female soldier. It was his birthday – the plastic gun was a birthday present.

There are hundreds of such cases every year. Officers routinely give orders to fire live ammunition at Friday demonstrations on the West Bank, often with fatal results.

A woman holds up a sign with ‘Too many terrorists in prison’ written on one side and ‘Kill them all’ written on the other during a rally in Tel Aviv on April 19, 2016. (Jack Guez/AFP Source: Times of Israel)

These killings and many others like them by soldiers and settlers hardly ever result in a trial, or conviction. But this case was different.

The difference in the Azaria case is that it was caught on camera and video. The video, provided by Israeli human rights organization, B’Tselem, was on TV and the internet within 24 hours.

The initial reaction among mainstream Israelis was shock – How could one of our “moral army” soldiers do this? Generally, mainstream Israelis don’t know, or want to know, what their sons and daughters in uniform do in the Occupied Territories.

What happens on the West Bank stays on the West Bank.

While Israelis on the left say the trial and conviction was justified because it was a criminal act, the right wing majority regard the trial as a travesty. After all, they say, the  teenage soldier Elor was just doing his duty. He was protecting his people , and he only shot an “Arab” terrorist who would probably attack again if he was not eliminated.

Photo source: Haaretz.com

An article translated by Partners for Progressive Israel suggests another layer of complication  – that Azaria, a Mizrahi  Jew,  was a “black peon” in a stratified Israeli society.

“If he was a Fishman from Tel Aviv, it would have been handled quietly”, says the father of a fellow soldier.

Israeli columnist, Uri Avnery wrote about the event:

“So what is so special about this case? Similar acts happen all the time, though not on camera. It’s routine. Especially in Hebron, where a few hundred fanatical settlers live among 160,000 Palestinians.. “

He goes on to say,

 “ In the clip ,  Azaria is seen shaking hands with somebody immediately after the killing. This person is no other than Baruch Marzel, the king of the Tel Rumaida settlers. Marzel is the successor of “Rabbi” Meir Kahane, who was branded as a fascist by the Supreme Court of Israel”. ……… “During the trial it was revealed that Marzel plays host every Saturday to the entire company of Israeli soldiers guarding the settlement, including the officers. This means that Azaria was exposed to his fascist ideas before the shooting event. “

At a recent conference I attended,  a well known Israeli journalist, Gideon Levy,  explained how mainstream Israel justifies these murders.

He says mainstream Israelis do not regard Palestinians as humans; they have learned to hate them as the enemy from childhood. Israelis believe they are the chosen people and the Palestinians do not belong in this land. They see themselves as victims. Soldiers and settlers believe they should kill before they are killed, even if the threat is very light. Government rhetoric, the education system and the media reinforce this mantra all the time.

Levy put it succinctly when he said, “there is no guilt or qualms of conscience when they kill the demonized enemy”.

For the government and the army the trial was important to show that Israel is a democracy and it processes criminals, even its own. But now the calls for leniency or a pardon reveals the other side – if Elor Azaria was a Palestinian, he would be sentenced to 30 years in prison, but this is a selective democracy.

Human Rights and Civil Rights do not apply to Palestinians in this Promised Land.

In the case of Elor Azaria, it will be interesting to see if the punishment will fit the crime.

MAE /

January 7 2017

Kairos Palestine Conference – Seeking a Path to Peace

Kairos Palestine conference

Kairos Palestine Conference 2016

This past weekend I attended the Kairos Palestine conference in Bethlehem. It was an inspiring gathering of leading clergy and lay people from churches and advocacy organisations in Jerusalem and Palestine. It was well attended with locals and visitors from around the world, including a group of 15 Bishops, of different denominations from the Philippines. It was a delightful surprise to meet Christine N. and Wendy G. – from the United Church of Canada – the folks who sponsored me for two terms of service with the World Council of Churches advocacy program in 2013.

Visiting bishops from Philippines

We were all gathered with the common purpose of seeking peace with Justice for all peoples in the Holy Land.

Readers will remember that the Kairos Palestine document “A Moment of Truth” was the inspiration for solidarity and action by organizations and churches around the world to engage in advocacy for Palestine justice and an end to the occupation. Drafted in 2009 with the sub title “A word of faith , hope and love from the heart of Palestinian

H B Patriarch Michel Sabbah

suffering “ the  document is a plea from Palestinian Christians to the rest of the world to know what is happening in Palestine and a cry for help to relieve their suffering. It calls “Our word is a cry of hope, with love, prayer and faith in God. We address it first of all to ourselves and then to all the churches and Christians in the world, asking them to stand against injustice and apartheid, urging them to work for a just peace.

”Here is a link to the full text:   http://www.kairospalestine.ps/index.php/about-us/kairos-palestine-document

The conference was held at the  Dar-Annadwa International Center in Bethlehem a beautiful facility although the conference room itself was overheated.

My dear friend Fr. Fadi Diab opened the Saturday session with a theological dissertation on Justice and an opening prayer it was great seeing him and talking with him again. Saturday was a long day of prominent speakers who spoke passionately and knowledgeably on different aspects of the military occupation and colonization of Palestine, the current situation and what near term and long term future holds for the Palestinian people.  Most of the presentations were in Arabic with simultaneous translation. The Highlight for me was the first session with Gideon Levy a prominent Israeli journalist and writer in which he explained what shapes the thinking and the current attitudes of mainstream Israelis towards Palestinians and why the current situation is likely to continue unchanged for a long time.

Bishop Atallah Hanna

Kairos Palestine is The Voice of the churches in Jerusalem when often those churches are afraid to use their own voices for fear of reprisals such as denial of visas to clergy appointed to serve in Jerusalem, the denial of permits to renovate buildings or develop property, or even the confiscation of church property.

As with other organisations such as Defense for the Children International (DCI) Kairos holds a deep concern for the plight of Children living under the Military Occupation. In the Christmas Alert 2016 from Kairos  Palestine Jean Zaru Clerk of Ramallah Friends Meeting writes “
We worry and we ponder their future as millions have become children of war and children of a prolonged cruel military occupation. They are denied education and adequate Medical Care, they are imprisoned, tortured, and homeless and left vulnerable to a host of social problems. Over one-third of the Arab world is under 14 years of age and nearly half the world’s refugees are children”.  In her article she goes on to state the three most important ways we can get involved in shaping the character of this society.

• Stop violence against children.
• Demonstrate Justice and nonviolence in the church.
• Organize institutions to meet immediate human need and stop militarism.

She says “no amount of humanitarian Aid will revive Palestine or Syria unless we end militarism, occupation, and the military destruction of infrastructure, lives and livelihoods”.

In the same Kairos, Christmas Alert 2016, Defense for the Children International (DCI)  calls for an end to the arrest , detention and interrogation and torture of children contrary to human rights , and international humanitarian law . The DCI recounts some of the awful incidents that have been perpetrated on Palestinian children by the Israeli military  in the past year.

Here is a link to the downloadable Kairos Palestine Christmas Alert 2016:  http://www.kairospalestine.ps/images/Kairos%20Palestine%20Christmas%20Alert%202016%20Email.pdf

Mel

MAE/ HLE   Dec. 12 2016

NOTES

Kairos Palestine 7th Anniversary Conference 2016 FAITH, SUMUD, CREATIVE RESISTANCE  Dar-Annadwa International Center

9 Dec. 2016   8:30 – 9:00      Welcome and Registration                         9:30 – 10:00  Opening Prayer –Theological Reflections on Justice  Father   Fadi Diab

10:00 – 11:30   Session I: Where Are We Now?       Speakers: Gideon Levy, Mohammed Barakeh, Diana Buttu                         Moderator: Rif’at Kassis

11:30 – 12:00 Coffee Break   12:00 – 13:00  Session II:        The Modern History of Palestine and Justice:                                                      Critical and Analytical Reading

Speakers: Walid Atallah, Patriarch Sabbah  Moderator: Nora Kort

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch Break

14:00 – 15:30  Session III: The Campaign Against Advocacy and                                               Creative Nonviolent Resistance    Speakers: Sha’wan Jabarin, Jack Munayer, Muna Mushahwar,                   Eman Abu Hanna

 Moderator: Manal Hazzan-Abu Sinni 15:30 – 16:30 Session IV: The Growing Phenomenon of Exclusion and                                              Extremism in the Name of Religion

Speakers: Iyad Barghouti, F. Jamal Khader Moderator: Lucy Thaljieh

16:30 – 16:45 Coffee Break 16:45 – 17:45   Session V: The Kairos Palestine Message in the                Light of Current Challenges Speakers:  Bishop Atallah Hanna, Rev. Munther Isaac Moderator: Hind Khoury

Jacob’s Well – not always a place of peace

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Yesterday we visited Jacob’s Well.  It is located on the outskirts of Nablus near the Balata refugee camp. There is now a beautiful Orthodox church now built over and around the well.

Jacob’s Well Palestine, near Nablus

There is a beautiful Orthodox church built over and around Jacob’s Well Palestine, near Nablus

The priest, Abuna Loustinos, (picture below), came from Greece  55 years ago and is  largely responsible for the building of the church.  In the building of the church  he has included his own tomb which is ready to receive him when his time comes.

The tomb of Abuna Loustinos – ready for occupancy

Fr. Abuna Loustinos and Fr. Ibrahim at Jacob’s Well

Jacob’s  Well and  the archaeological sites nearby  have been continuously recorded down through the ages and are some of the most authentic sites in Palestine. The well  is mentioned in the Bible in connection with the Prophet Jacob, the son of Isaac and the father of 12 sons who became the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel. My knowledge of the Bible is very limited – to expand on Jacob I  have to consult the Internet – and you can do that as easily as I can!  So this is a very important site for the Jews. I am hoping to learn that devout Jews who come in peace are welcomed to come and bide awhile in this holy place.

Jacob’s Well, near Nablus Palestine

Jacob’s Well is  also the well in John 4  where Jesus meets the woman at the well. There are some beautiful wall paintings and icons in the church depicting  this meeting.

Father Ibrahim worked the windlass to raise a pail of clear cool  water from this ancient, deep well. After we drank some of the pure water from the well, we emptied a cupfull of  the water back in and waited to hear it hit the bottom. It took three full seconds. (If my math was good enough I could calculate the exact depth!)

Drinking water at Jacob’s Well

The area at one time was also known a the biblical city of Shechem and there are some archaeological remains from that time (exposed walls and foundations ) not far from the church and Jacob’s Well.

The area is also reputed to be the site Joseph’s (the one with the fancy coat!) tomb, but this is disputed by the Jewish settlers living in the nearby illegal settlements. This sometimes results in  the scene of ugly conflict.

Sadly, in the past, the church itself has being the scene of terrible violence with the death of the Archimandrite Philoumenos, the custodian who was hacked to death by settlers in November 1979. He was declared a saint thirty years after his martyrdom in 2009 by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

I do not want to include a photograph of the wall mural depicting his death, it is just too painful – too shocking, especially today, the day he is memorialized in a service at the church.

I was reminded that  my hope is that this place will be a place of peace and never again see the horrible violence that it has seen in the past either at the church of the site of Joseph’s tomb.

Mel Nov 29 2016

 

This Building has a History

I saw this building for the first time yesterday.

Located on  An Najah street near the old city in Nablus, I suspect it was built in the late 1800’s or around the turn of the last century.

The building is very beautiful, especially the impressive arched doorway.  The concentric  semi-circles reducing as the door leads inwards is a feature of door architecture from the earliest times ( Roman Byzantine, the Notre Dame Paris, Norman churches in England)   I have also seen this on doors of monasteries from the middle ages  in Ireland ).  The windows on the front side of the building to the left and right of the balcony are now rectangular (squared) however from the stonework  I can see that the tops of the windows were semi-circular, and have since been filled in.  In the extension to the right of the building, which may have been added later although it is beautifully integrated, the tops of the windows are more elliptical than semi-circular.

The bas relief carving in stone at the top of the door is beautiful and the capitals of the columns have a beautiful palm leaf and spirals design.

A palace – or a place of worship?

In 2016, the building is occupied by apartments and surrounded by shops and workshops, but I can imagine it as free standing, surrounded by gardens and orange trees as it surely once was.

So now I have the challenge to learn its history and its story.

The local shopkeepers told me that the building  had been a palace for a very rich family in Nablus. They said that the family was named the “Nablusi Family” named for the city and they owned all the land around the city and had many hundreds of tenants. Their chief wealth came from the production of olive oil and the making of olive oil products such as soap, for which Nablus is still quite famous.

However, to me, the building looks to me like it was  a place of worship – a synagogue perhaps ?  but I have no reason to believe it wasn’t it just as the locals tell me, except that if it had been a synagogue the locals would be reluctant to admit that Nablus had been an important  Jewish city in ancient history and that there was a vibrant Jewish community here before the division of Palestine into two states in 1948.

The  Samaritans  -an ancient  Jewish sect- still remain in Nablus (Mount Jerzim) and have good relations with the local Muslim and Christian population. I hope to visit them in the near future and learn more about them.

Nablus was a very important city in the Bible it was called Shechem and it was said to be the place between two mountains where are the Ark of the Covenant was brought according to scripture and legend. It is also the site  of Jacob’s Well and the site of the story  of “the woman at the well” from John’s gospel – a story that has always intrigued me.What was really going on in her life ? and what an amazing and encounter she had with this young handsome young Jewish man and how much she revealed about herself to him!.

So if this building had been a synagogue I doubt very much that locals would have admitted it because, amidst the conflict, there is a tendency to try and erase the past the history of the other and to deny that the other had a legitimate and important place in this place.

The same thing happens in Israel where there is a genuine fear that the displace Palestinians will someday claim back what once was theirs. The collective Jewish heritage carries with it the ingrained  fear of loss of possessions, but that fear should not extend to the Palestinians. When the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 they were welcomed into the Ottoman Empire and allowed to practice their religion freely, which is more than we can say for Jewish history in Europe.

So, I will go to the library and see what I can find out about this building. Perhaps there is somebody in charge of Antiquities at City Hall that can help me, and I also know of an architect named  Naseer Arafat who specializes in the restoration of heritage buildings, and perhaps he can give me more information.

I hope I will find out the history  and learn more about the style and architecture – I would be interested to hear from any of you who have more knowledge than I do (which isn’t difficult!) Architects and historians, please contact me with your thoughts,  or offer some suggestions in the comments!

Mel

Nablus  Nov 2016

My Father’s Passport

As usual, on my way to my church office I am greeted by the shopkeepers and often invited in for tea or coffee. This morning I had a wonderful conversation with Mr. Rassag Bishtawi and during that conversation he said “would you like to see my father’s passport?”

He pulled his father’s passport out of a cupboard and here was a British passport stamped  with Palestine on the front cover issued to one Abd er Rassag Eff Abdullah Bishtrawi, the father of the shop owner. On the inside cover it had the usual preamble request almost the same as you would find in a current British passport , i.e.
By his Majesty’s High Commissioner for Palestine these are to request and requires in the name of his majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford him[1] every assistance and protection of which he may stand in need.

Given at Jerusalem on the 28th day of February 1944 signed High Commissioner.

The passport is written in three languages: Hebrew, Arabic and English

I have in the past heard Jewish settlers say that “Palestine never existed” (and in fact this is a popular narrative in Israel today).

This passport is certainly one proof that Palestine did exist during the British mandate from 1925 until 1948,  but of course that is not the only proof  that Palestine and the Palestinians existed as a Land and as a People from ancient times.
Palestinians find it very hurtful to be told that “Palestine ever existed” – it denies their identity as a people and degrades their legitimacy to live in the historical Land of Palestine , as they have for thousands of years.

It is true to say that Palestine never existed as an independent “Nation State” in the sense of the modern definition of a nation state. But neither did Israel for that matter and many other countries in the world today did not exist as nation states per se.

Blurred Lines

The narrative in Israel runs as follows: Israel existed as the home of the Jews from ancient times in the independent provinces of Judea and Samaria the northern and the southern kingdoms which were ruled by the Hebrew Kings who fought off their tribal enemies and fiercely protected their territory. The bible being the main source of the epic stories.

So one could argue that  state of Israel today should  in fact, exist in Judea and Samaria – exactly where the West Bank is today, and that Palestine (which was historically along the coast and in the coastal plain) should be where Israel is today!
Looking at Mr. Bishtawi’s passport it is interesting to note that the passport is in 3 languages:  English, Arabic and Hebrew. Another interesting fact is that this is a passport of Palestine for a “Palestinian citizen” (see page 1) issued on date 28th of February 1944 at a time when Israel did not exist as a nation state. However no one in their right mind would deny the right of the Jewish people to their Homeland in Israel and we, the International Community (through the UN) made that possible – which was the right thing to do.

Mr. Rassag Bishtawi displays his father’s passport

Palestine has Existed for Thousands of Years

Historically, Palestine was a province of Greater Syria although it was sometimes under the control of Egypt and Persia. The Palestinians have been in existence for thousands of years  – they were a coastal people living along the coastal plain from Acre to Gaza. They were known at different times  as Canaanites they were also known as Phoenicians by the Greeks and Falestini later.They were a prosperous and rich nation who discovered  purple dye which was used to make very expensive cloth –  the kind worn by Kings and Bishops.

The Phoenicians and Marine Insurance

The Palestinians (Phoenicians) were  also shipping people and I found it interesting early in my Marine Insurance Group career to learn that the Phoenicians had invented the idea of marine insurance by spreading their cargoes over various vessels rather than “putting all their eggs in one basket” so to speak.

This idea of spreading the risk is the present one used today by Lloyds of London to insure ships on a subscription policy.

My first job at Lloyds was with the Alliance Assurance Company in their Marine Department at 40 Lime Street London The Alliance Insurance was owned by the Rothschilds who were very active in the early settlement of Jews to Palestine. The underwriters at the Alliance in the early part of the twentieth century were very keen to insure cargo, household goods and personal effects, including precious items of of antiquity and religious significance  for the returning Jews.The insured the cargoes on a “door to door” basis which was rare at the time  and they kept a map of Palestine and on it they shaded and marked the areas where the Jews were mainly settling – mainly around central Palestine – what is now  present-day Tel Aviv.

One day I was asked to clean out some old files from the basement and I came upon a box of old Maps which my senior underwriter told me to get rid of. I kept the maps and still have the one of Palestine with the shaded areas clearly marked in roman numerals which was still a style of numbering when I joined the Alliance in 1969. Here are pictures of the map.

A Relic of History

It looks like  the late Mr. Bishtawi did not travel very far out side the region – there is only one visa stamp in the Passport, but his son – the man  I am speaking with and who is  making tea for me!- has traveled widely – 12 trips/holidays to distant places like the USA and to Europe and the Balkans. He holds a Palestinian Passport and a Jordanian Passport and wonders if he might be able to get a British one – based on the fact that his father had one ! I told him gently there is simply no chance of that.

Mel – Nablus Nov 2016

[1] Underlined: denotes written in by hand

 

The Olive Harvest in Palestine

The Olive Harvest

A Woman picking olives from a broken branch. Credit : International volunteer C Mondinado Palestine 2012

This is the time of year for the Olive Harvest in Palestine. It runs roughly from October through November and at this time families go to their olive groves that they have traditionally farmed since time immemorial, and pick sacks and sacks brim full of olives, ready to be sent to the olive press to make gallons of golden olive oil.

For the farming community the olive Harvest is one of the most important as it is the cash crop and has being for hundreds of years. Families will often go in a festive mood with picnic baskets full of food, enough to sustain them for the entire day.

Since the Israeli settlements were built on the West Bank there has been considerable tension between the Palestinian farmers and the settlers. The problem arises from the fact that the settlements have a 500-meter security perimeter around them which takes up a lot of land and often times this is the traditional land Palestinian Farmers held in tenure in perpetuity from the Ottoman rulers. Technically they didn’t own the land; they and their children were tenants for life as long as they farmed the land. If they stopped farming their land for three years they lost the tenancy and it would be allocated to a different family.

So the problem today is that the Palestinian families go to the olive Groves which are often close to the settlements. The settlers feel threatened or in some cases the settlers actually believe that they are entitled to harvest the olives from the same land.

The Author planting an olive tree at a Palestinian village Centre. Credit M. Earley Palestine 2013

Tension often erupts into violence and it is for this reason that international volunteers come from all over the world to be present – to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian farmers and support their right to harvest their olives and to reduce the tension. In many cases the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) act in a responsible way as guardians of Palestinian rights and I have experienced cases where the soldiers ordered the settlers to return to the settlement and permitted the Palestinians to harvest their olives. But these cases are few and far between – what usually happens when tension arises is that the Palestinian farmers and their families are arrested and put in prison for a few days and fined a heavy amount in the military court, (ostensibly for “disturbing the Peace”) often as much as NIS 2500 (US$650) per person. Almost without exception the settlers are never charged or fined. (On the West Bank – the Occupied Palestinian Territories – Palestinians are subject to military law while the illegal settlers are subject to Israeli Law).

So at this time of year in the olive groves you will often see a motley variety of very western looking people, many from Canada and the USA and Europe and the UK and Ireland. Often they are from peace organisations and often the are independent people of conscience longing for peace with justice for the Palestinian people. This week-end I will be joining them – looking forward to the wonderful picnic of traditional Palestinian food *( “Makloubeh” is my favourite) and feeling the warm gratitude of the farming families , because we have come a long way to make peace possible.

 

*Makloubeh – a Middle Eastern dish with chicken eggplant and rice (and sometimes cauliflower and other vegetables) pepper, and Arabic spice

Friends I Meet: A Friend from Kharrobeh

11th November, 2016. Friends I meet: Today Issa Abdol Rahman Daher — driven from their home village Kharrobeh ( located between Ramla and Lod ) (no remnants of the village left – area renamed Harubeit – ) in 1948 where their grandfather owned over 400 dunnams ( quarter acres) they fled to Jerrico . His brother aged 3 died there – He told me the death toll among the displaced Palestinians was terrible from disease and starvation. 750,000 were displaced in the Israeli war of independence . They settled in the refugee camp in Jordan — later Issa came back to Jerusalem – Beit Isxa ( Biddu enclave ) only to be excluded from East Jerusalem by the construction of the wall . Now he lives with his wife at the Palm Hostel as the only way to retain Jerusalem residency (he is not Israeli citizenship) He has a Jordanian Passport. A kind and gentle man he believes peace eventually will come through the fall of the Israeli empire.

Why this “Peace is Possible” blog

After many years of following the Israeli/Palestine conflict , in 2012 I decided to take a trip to the Holy Land to see and learn about the situation first hand.

I took a 12 day educational tour  with Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), travelling throughout  Israel and the West Bank – Palestine. We met with 20 NGO’s and community organisations and took in a number of evening lectures . It was a complete introduction to the present day reality of occupied Palestine and I was shocked by what I saw and learned. Then in 2013/2014 I served 2 terms of 3 months each with EAPPI monitoring the human rights abuses and providing protective presence to vulnerable groups in the Holy land. Now in Nov 2016 I am back again and conditions and prospects for peace are dimmer than ever. I can only hope that these peace stories will in some small way help to change this sad situation for the better. This time I am trying though its difficult  to see and talk about the positive.

Mel – Nablus Palestine Nov. 2016

 

 

 

Peace Is Possible

Peace in Israel and Palestine is possible. This blog is dedicated to telling the stories of individuals and organizations who work to make peace a reality.