City of...

Hi friends. I'm sitting in a (really sweet) hotel in Beit Sahour using the wireless
internet as our Sabeel young adult conference continues. Yesterday was an
interesting day in Hebron--participants witnessed a confrontation between a
Sabeel staff member and two Israeli soldiers who were detaining and harrassing
two small (maybe 8 and 6 years old) Palestinian girls. The staff member's ID
was confiscated for about 10 minutes, but he and another staff member who
speaks Hebrew were able to get him released. Several participants, both local
and international, were also involved in the exchange. We were scheduled
to go to At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills to meet with members of the
Christian Peacemaker Teams afterwards, but were not able to get there
because all of the roads out of Hebron were closed by Israeli military check-
points (Hebron is deep inside the occupied Palestinian territories, nowhere
near the Green Line that is the internationally recognized border of Israel).
This is not a usual situation for Hebron, but it was certainly a good education
for our participants about the reality of life under occupation--hours spent waiting
in a line of cars at checkpoints, humiliation and harrassment at the hands of soldiers,
no alternative routes in or out of your city. Today we spent some time unwinding by
volunteering at the Tent of Nations, a Palestinian farm that is surrounded by
settlements but has been able to avoid confiscation of the land because they
have their land deeds from the Ottoman, British, and Israeli governments. We
harvested almonds and unsuccessfully attempted to make and fly some 'peace
kites.'

I wanted to send to you an update that was circulated by a friend of mine, on
a recent house demolition in East Jerusalem. The update is written by the
general secretary of the YWCA in Palestine, Mira Rizek, a good friend of Sabeel's
and an incredibly hard worker for peace and justice. Her personal account is,
in my opinion, particularly powerful.




Dear all, please read this and share with your colleagues and friends.
 
This morning, our family woke up at screaming voices at 4:00 a.m., and we
started looking around and wondering what was happening, but we could not
see anything.
 
So we went up to the roof of the house (our house is 3 stories), and we saw
tens of Israeli army, special troops, border police, ambulances, fire
department cars, police cars, surrounding Abu Eisheh's house, who is our
neighbor, ordering the family to leave the house because they wanted to
demolish it.
 
For almost two hours, the families who live there refused to leave, and soon
they were pulled out by force, and some were beaten and had to be taken to
the hospital.
 
For the last few months, this case of Abu Eisheh has been in courts, and the
family have taken the case to supreme court few weeks ago, but of course as
expected lost the case. The Israeli government decided to demolish the house
because it is "illegally" built. This is not the first Palestinian house to
be demolished in East  Jerusalem , and for sure won't be the last. Hundreds
of houses have been demolished, claiming that they are built "illegally"
when Israel continues to deny issuance of building permits to East Jerusalem
Palestinian residents.  Most houses where settlements have been built, have
been the target for demolishing.  As you all know, the YWCA is also
neighboring the Shim'on Essidiq tomb, claimed to be a very important Israeli
site. The Israeli Government is  now planning to build a settlement near the
tomb, which will be 201 units, to fit around 1,000 Israeli settlers,
evacuating 20 East Jerusalem palestinian families that presently live in and
around that area. The YWCA building is facing this area, and could be
eventually at risk, or could end up facing the Israeli settlement if kept
"alive", and probably we will have to go through a thorough security system
to be able to enter our premise.
 
Where on earth can this kind of thing happen? For those of us who forgot
that East Jerusalem is occupied, I have tidings for you...we will continue
to suffer all this until the Occupation is over. But I also hope that there
still will be Palestinians in East Jerusalem to celebrate the day when the
Occupation is over. Until then we will continue watching the expropriation
of houses, land, resources and rights and just document and report on these
stories, because we as Palestinians and the rest of the World have proven
that we can do nothing about this??  Sadly, we don't even have a shepherd to
guard East Jerusalem .
 
Until when will it continue, to be the case, that no one can stop Israel
from violating International Law on daily basis? The International Court in
the Hague confirmed that the building of what is called the "Separation
Wall" is illegal, yet Israel is continuing with this Wall, and instituting a
whole system of entrance permits. We even stopped talking about it, and pass
though it every day. This is our new reality
 
Abu Eisheh's apartment building is 4 floors, and there are 8 families living
there (4 of the apartments are rented/sold to other families). All of them
were evacuated by force this morning, and stood out in the street watching
their own house being demolished in their own eyes. One of the residents in
one of the apartments is even traveling abroad, so when they return, they
will figure out the new living mode on the street. All the furniture,
personal belongings, memories and valuables of all the residents are in
there, and soon will be buried under the rabble of stones. This has been our
story since 1948, and it looks this will continue to be our story until
Israel and the rest of the world realizes that there can be no peace with
house demolishing, with making people homeless, with land confiscations. As
Palestinians living in Jerusalem , we continue to be "residents" and not
citizens, and Israel has the right to terminate our residency right using
different mechanisms, which they have been doing since 1967.  Lately, Ms.
Mona Nasir, who is the daughter of Abla Nasir the previous General Secretary
of the YWCA whom you all know well, has lost her Israeli Identity card
(residency right) as she was crossing the bridge coming home to attend her
brother's wedding. Her child who was born in the States has been awarded a
one month visa only, and Mona had to appeal 4 times to renew his visa so she
can stay to attend her brother's wedding. Mona herself was told that after
she leaves Jerusalem this time, she will be allowed to return only as a
tourist. Imagine, someone who is born in a country has no right to return to
it. The justification being that now that she resides in the U.S. (because
she married a Palestinian there) and since the U.S. is her center of life,
90% of the Israelis who are now living in Israel have emigrated to Israel
after 1948 (establishment of the State of Israel) and most come either from
Europe or the States or the rest of the world, and now these emigrants have
more rights than the Palestinians who have been living in this land for
hundreds of years. They can choose where to live, they are offered building
permits, they have full citizen rights!!!
 
The press and UN observers came to the neighboring houses, and the roof tops
were filled with people taking pictures, filming and watching. At 9:00 a.m.,
the army came to all our neighbors, and our street and closed it off, and
ordered all people on roof tops (including us) to leave threatening to shoot
. Later, Palestinian politicians and representatives of the PNA and Islamic
Awqaf came, and the army came rushing ordering them to leave. They closed
off part o the main road (which links Jerusalem to Ramallah), and prohibited
the press from covering the story. One of Abu Eisheh's sons was standing on
the roof of our neighbor's house, taking pictures of what he knew very well
will become the "used to be his home". I am not sure whether they or the
rest of the residents of this house will have any roof to protect them
tonight.
 
Usually, when the Palestinian receive notices for demolition, they are given
the option of demolishing their own homes, which apparently the Abu Eisheh
family is refusing to do.  If the Israelis complete the demolishing today,
they will send the bill to the owners, who have to cover the cost of
demolishing, patrolling of police and all other related expenses. So on top
of becoming homeless, people have to cover the cost of injustice. The other
option is that they will crack the foundations, which they have been doing
for the last few hours, and give him few days to complete the demolishing.
 
 
It is almost noon, and I just came to work, realizing it will not be a
normal day of work for me. Many of our days have not been normal days, yet
we have to go on and on and on. Every day we have a new story to share, and
every day there is a new family that suffers, new prisoners, new martyrs,
and more sufferings. Today we are receiving the group who are visiting
YWCA/YMCA on the Journey for Justice, and I have to share with them today
our eternal journey of injustice, wondering if there ever will be justice in
our land.
 
 
At 11:30 a.m., I had to put my mother in my car and risk driving down our
street which was blocked with army cars, and where tons of army were
standing, and to argue with them that my mother has to go to hospital for
her dialysis session. At least 10 army rushed to my car when I got to the
middle of the street, asking me to stop immediately. It took lots of
arguments to convince the army to let us pass, which finally they did, but
most of our neighbors were prisoners in their homes, and probably will not
be able to leave until the "operation" is completed. I also wonder at what
hour I will be allowed to take my mother back home, and hope that we will
return in a decent hour.
 
My mother was saying that she still remembers when she left her home in
Jaffa in 1948, she thought it was for few hours and that they will return
home. Well she and the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were never able
to return to this date, and today the Abu Eisheh family have been forced to
leave their home, knowing they will have no house to return to.   Every day
we add more and more to the list of Palestinian refugees and homeless, and I
wonder when will the day come when all these people will have the right to
return??
 
 
Mira Rizek
 
National General Secretary
 
YWCA of Palestine
 
Jerusalem

Lifta is empty except for the ghosts

  and the stories that Abdal Nasser tells

fade into the silence as we try to fill the emptiness.

"This was my home," he says.

"This is where we use to steal figs." "Here was the mosque"

Our songs echo in the stillness and the golden light tells us

that the sun is going down on another day in Lifta

which is empty except for ghosts.



Ein Karem is full of people, and churches, and sound.

   But the people who lived in these homes are gone

replaced by new people who know nothing of the old stories

   clinging to this place.

The sounds are different, here.

And the priests want you to be quiet in the church of John the Baptist

Quiet in the presence of the voice crying out in the desert.


Lid and Ramle are filled with stories that go on and on

    drugs and walls and demolished houses

people with citizenship who look at you with eyes that say

    "I am not a citizen."

And the memories of massacres cling to the walls and the streets.


Aida is packed with people. Too many people, not enough land.

Stuffed to overflowing with people, and with memories.

With the names of villages "from whence we came, and to which we will return.

Inshallah. Inshallah."

Filled with people and memories and keys

to houses they see only in their dreams.



But Lifta is empty except for the ghosts.

Well, I'm headed out for the next 10 days or so, helping with the young adult conference at Sabeel. So you probably won't get any updates for a little while. If you can believe it, I'm the "chaplain" for the conference, which I think might require some sort of emotional put-togetheredness not evidenced either in my recent mindset or my last post. Sorry about the rant. Meant most if not all of it, though.

Anyway, will be helping to guide about 25 internationals and 15 locals around Palestine and Israel, teaching them about the history of 1948 from the Palestinian perspective, showing them demolished/depopulated villages, little pieces of the occupation, and hopefully, some dancing and some laughter and some hope for a future with justice as well.

Until then, keep struggling the good struggling, all you crazy bloggin' fools.


Justice, peace, liberation, and all that jazz!

"The Chaplain"

Yesterday, we heard the news that, for the second time in a few weeks, an
East Jerusalem resident--Palestinian with a blue Israeli or Jerusalem resident
ID card--had driven his bulldozer into buses and cars in East Jerusalem. Twenty-four
people were wounded. The driver of the bulldozer was killed--first shot by a
man who lives in the settlement of Susya in the West Bank (illegal, as with all
the settlements, under international law, and the source of one of the most
recent cases of settler youth physically terrorizing the Palestinians in nearby
villages, in this case caught on camera due to Israeli human rights organization
Bt'selem's strategy of passing out cameras to residents of the West Bank),
then shot multiple times by a border patrol officer. After the bulldozer was stopped.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1004690.html

I'm not much for watching this kind of thing, but I watched the Ha'aretz video, and
felt anger curling into a tight ball in my gut. Anger that the pain of families of those
who were hurt is manipulated in a macho show. Anger at the language that was
used: "neutralize the terrorist." Anger that the editors chose to use a shot of
a Palestinian child playing with a toy gun, when seconds before the video shows
the outcome of a gun happy Israeli society, three or four men pointing their guns
into the cab of the bulldozer, then shooting the driver until he's deader than dead,
as the bulldozer sits there, still. Look at those Palestinians, glorifying violence. Ignore
the Israeli media, glorifying violence.

But anger, most of all, at the seeming disbelief on behalf of those interviewed, that
those dastardly Arabs are so devious as to use construction equipment for a weapon.

And I am sorry for being angry.

But 18,000.

That is how many Palestinian homes have been destroyed by bulldozers since 1967
(this doesn't include all of the villages that were demolished in 1948).

18,000. Many of them holding 6 or 7 families.

18,000.

And so a government and a society that is perfectly willing to use bulldozers as a weapon,
to destroy orange and olive groves, homes, entrances and exits to villages, livelihoods,
neighborhoods, all in the name of 'security,' reacts with shock and outrage when a bulldozer
is used as a weapon against them.

18,000.

I wonder what the reaction would be if the Palestinians in the home I saw demolished in
the village of At-tur had responded to the bulldozers bearing down on their home in
the same way as this macho settler, so happy to be the one who had 'neutralized the
terrorist,' did. If they had simply shot the bulldozer drivers instead of standing, stunned,
helpless.

If they had 'neutralized the terrorists.'

And that is exactly what a home demolition is. It is terrorism. It is a means of violent,
public intimidation for a specific demographic and political goal. It is meant to rid
"contested areas"--East Jerusalem, parts of the West Bank near settlements or near
checkpoints or near borders, places where Palestinians should be able to live and
work and raise their children and play and dance and sing--of Palestinians. It is one part
of an ongoing, slow, patient strategy of ethnic cleansing.

Immediately after this and the previous bulldozer attack, Israeli government officials
fell over themselves to use the right language paradigms and to justify revenge.
"Neutralize the terrorist." "Raze his house." "Take away the ID cards and citizenship
of his family."

DEPORT HIS FAMILY? DESTROY THE HOUSE OF THE FAMILY OF A CRIMINAL???

THIS is the response of the "only democracy in the Middle East"? Of the "most moral
army in the world?"

Terrorism. Ethnic cleansing.


And nobody sees it. Nobody sees the connection between 18,000 homes destroyed by
bulldozers--most of them, like the one I witnessed, not as retribution for anything other
than being Arab and Palestinian and in the wrong place--and the bulldozer used as a
weapon. And in fact, the government is eager to perpetuate the cycle by sending
bulldozers to destroy the home of the drivers' families, in a practice that was previously
banned in the West Bank because of the retributive violence it inspired. Nobody sees
the connection.

So by all means, gun-toting defenders of liberty, freedom, and Western ethnocratic
values. Neutralize the terrorists. In fact, specifically neutralize the bulldozer driving
terrorists. But start with yourselves first. Neutralize the terrorists who crash, again
and again, year after year, into the houses of Palestinians whose crime is being
Palestinian. Neutralize the terrorists who rip up olive trees that have been here
for centuries, much longer than the current rulers of this place. Neutralize the
terrorists who shoot protesters, who strafe and shell neighborhoods, who
suggest deportation and destruction aimed at the families of criminals as long as
those criminals speak Arabic and have brown skin. Neutralize the terrorism of
racism and ethnocracy.

"It's just one more reminder why we have to work diligently, urgently and in a
unified way to defeat terrorism," Barak Obama said after landing at Ben Gurion airport
(named for one of the premier ethnic cleansers--read Ilan Pappe's book for more information
on Ben Gurion's role in the destruction of Palestinian homes, the creation of refugees,
the terrorism and ethnic cleansing of hundres and thousands of Arabs). "There are no excuses."

Yes, Obama. By all means. Let's fight terrorism.

But it is your choice. Do we fight the terrorism of an individual, backed by no political party
or organization, a disturbed individual on a stupid, ineffective, tragic rampage?

Or the terrorism of a policy of destruction and intimidation perpetrated by a government
that we support, the government who Obama said ought to be able to claim Jerusalem
as its eternal undivided capital, which involves exactly the sort of cleansing of the
indigenous Arab population that house demolitions are such an important part of?

I know which one you will choose, you coward.


You will lend your cheap condemnation to the chorus of condemning voices, while not
lifting ONE FINGER to stop the destruction of more Palestinian homes, the confiscation
of more Palestinian land, the intimidation and humiliation of more Palestinian children,
the growth of more illegal settlements, the siege of more Palestinian towns and cities.
In the face of that, you will offer your excuses.

And what will your condemnation win? Will it reassure the families of those who have
been wounded or killed? Will it lead to less violence? Will it encourage justice or
peace or reconciliation?

No. Of course not. It will win you votes.


But let other news this week serve as a warning to all the state terrorists out there,
smug in your euphemistic lingustic dance, in your neutralizing and your razing.

"Radovan Karadzic, leader of the Bosnian Serbs during the 1992-95 war and
genocide in Bosnia, was arrested in Serbia on two charges of genocide, crimes
against humanity and war crimes for the 43-month siege of Sarajevo and for
orchestrating the 1995 massacre  of thousands at Srebrenica."

Hide all you want. Hide behind the lingustic framework that allows you to do whatever
you want in the name of security and fighting terrorism. Pretend you are a healer,
just as Karadzic did (he disguised himself as a practicioner of herbal medicine). Grow
a long beard to cover your face.

But whether in the next ten years or the next era, justice will be done. And the families
whose homes you demolished, whose fathers and sons and daughters you killed and
terrorized, whose livelihoods you destroyed--you will see their faces.

And I pray for you, that the voice you hear then will be a quiet voice, coming from a love
deeper than we can possibly imagine, saying to you: "Father, forgive them. They know
not what they do."

You know what you are doing. You know it very well. But you don't know it deeply,
in the same way the Roman centurions didn't know it deeply. They thought they
knew what they were doing. But they didn't know that with each death-dealing
decision by the state, we are trying to kill Love.



Love will not be killed.



Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, savior, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Work this week=BLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Ah. Feel better already.

And here's an article from the International Herald Tribune discussing U.S.
war crimes in the Korean War.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/21/asia/incheon.php


In a world where civilians are seen as targets and "security" justifies
anything from stopping people at checkpoints to dropping napalm on their
houses, how could there ever be anything called a "just war"?

On Friday I had the pleasure of travelling with a group of Palestinian Christians from Jerusalem to the 2nd Birzeit Heritage Festival. Birzeit is a town outside of Ramallah. As with many of the towns and villages in the Ramallah district (including Ramallah itself), Birzeit is historically a Christian town, and the population is now about half Muslim and half Christian. Birzeit is also home to one of the best universities in Palestine.

For the second year in a row, the residents of Birzeit have organized a festival to highlight the rich cultural heritage of the region and of the town. The festival takes place in the old city section of Birzeit, and lovely old homes which date back hundreds of years are transformed into art galleries, exhibition areas, handicraft shops, music venues, and food shops.

There was a plethora of performances, events, and booths to visit. I saw Palestinian art, bought an embroidered cover for my Bible, listened to five young men perform percussion pieces (sweet alliteration, batman!) on water tanks, olive oil drums, and other scavenged instruments, listened to the hip hop group Dam (from Akka, or Acre, in the north of Israel, which is still predominantly an Arab Palestinian city) in the yard of the Catholic church, and more.

The whole time I was accompanied by Lina, a volunteer at Sabeel, who was nice enough to show me around and teach me a few Arabic words as well. I also ran into a friend from Hebron, a shopowner who is a relative of my jailed friend Mousa.

All in all it was a great experience, and a wonderful reminder that the people of Palestine are more than just objects of oppression. The creative swirl of dance, music, art--that power of creation--continues to empower and inspire even in the midst of occupation and injustice. The people of this land are rooted deep, deep like the olive trees after which Birzeit is named. Creation, and even just the simple act of living, is a form of resistance here. The truest form of resistance, in fact--when in the face of that which attempts to darken and destory, people continue to have life, and to have it abundantly.

                                                                     ------------

On the way back home, our bus passed through Hizma, where a soldier and a heavily armed private security force agent got on the bus and checked everyone's IDs. The private security guy was either a Druze or an Arab Israeli--he spoke Arabic fluently, but man was he pissed. I wonder if he was trying to prove his loyalty or if he was feeling the stress of the tension between so many different identities, the feelings of betrayal and guilt of being part of the oppression of his own people. Who knows. He was especially mad at us internationals, asked us questions about our visas and ripped mine (mine being a pseudo-visa...), which elicted an angry response from me. So, out of a bus of 50 Palestinians, it was me who got pulled off and had to stand outside while my passport number was entered into the computer and a quick check was run on my name and visa number. When I got back on the bus, everyone else applauded.

In the midst of one of the most surreal situations in the world today, it amazes me that people keep their hope, their yearning to create, their sense of humor. Laughter, dance, song. Painting, sewing. Creating.


In the face of so much death, Palestine is still the land that smiles. Even when it weeps.

In the face of so much death, Palestinians remain determined to have life, and to have it abundantly.

In the face of so much nothingness, Palestine is.


"To exist is to resist" reads the graffiti on the wall. And indeed, to be, to live, is the most effective retort imaginable against that which tries to trick us into thinking that we have ceased to live.

I don't usually mess with these survey things, but this particular one was
so clever that I decided to give it a shot. For added challenge I picked
a band with totally obscure song titles...

I stole this one from my wonderful friend Liz, who is fighting the good fight
in Hong Kong: http://papilio588.wordpress.com/

Describe yourself using ONE BAND/SINGER and only SONG TITLES from that
band/singer.

Band :: mewithoutYou
Are you male or female :: Gentlemen
Describe yourself :: the Dryness and the Rain
How do some people feel about you :: The Soviet
How do you feel about yourself :: Messes of Men
Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend :: My Exit, Unfair
Describe your current girlfriend/boyfriend :: Torches Together
Describe where you want to be :: in a Sweater Poorly Knit
Describe what you want to be :: The Cure For Pain
Describe how you live :: I Never Said That I Was Brave
Describe how you love :: a Glass Can Only Spill What it Contains
Share a few words of wisdom :: We Know Who Our Enemies Are


Coming up--a post about a great trip to the 2nd Birzeit Heritage Festival,
and my near arrest! Ok, not really, but something like that...


"Why burn so poor and lonely?"--mwY

I've been in the process of moving these past two weekends, out of the guesthouse on the Mount of Olives and down into the valley to Wadi al Joz. I'm moving in with a South African fellow named David and will be joined in a few weeks by a volunteer from the Mennonite Central Committee named Peter. Hope it works out!

Anyway, in the midst of packing and moving I've rediscovered some old journals. I took the time to read back through the one I kept during most of college. I was surprised to find some pretty amazing stuff in there--not amazing in the sense of it being good literature or good poetry or anything, but just still relevant to me and my day to day struggle with life and all that it entails.

One poem in particular jumped out at me, I wrote it just after the graduation of the class ahead of me in college in 2006. A lot of my close friends were leaving, out to do exciting, new things, new adventures, new venues. And I wrote about this recurring situation in my life where I just fall absolutely in love with people who are leaving. I don't necessarily mean in any sort of romantic sense, although I'm sure there was plenty of that too, but just in a general human sense. 

So, as this week we had yet another good-bye on the Mount of Olives, I thought I'd post this poem. It's a bit silly and pretentious, like most things I write, but there are some ideas in there that, if leave room for them, might actually manifest themselves as something beautiful and true.

And that's what we keep hoping for, I think.


I am always falling in love with people who are leaving me

one thing they agree on, all these writings, all these words
   is that there is no such thing as leaving
just changing--from one life to another
  from Son to Spirit--from wheat to grain--from here
    in body to hear in heart
so--this is my prayer, now
    that i fall in love with people who are leaving
  not only because i love adventure--and the look of it in
    their eyes (though that too)
  not only because there's something dramatic about 
    saying good-bye (though, with my pride, it's that too)
  not only because there's something so eternally poignant
    about good-byes
      and receding backs
but because when I can fall in love with what's left
   when a Friend leaves
then maybe i am beginning to fall in love
   with Love itself.
that is what i pray.

   That I always fall in love with people who are leaving

   because I am in love with that which arrives and arrives.

And arrives.

                

            Amen.