Palestinian Perspective Part 1

While the Israeli calendar marks March 14^th as Independence day, a day of celebration and rejoicing, Palestinians have named March 15^th Al Nakbah, the “Catastrophe,” a day to reflect on their exile from homes and homeland. Before the British pulled out of Palestine and the Israeli state was created on March 14^th 1948, Muslim and Christian Palestinians lived peacefully, side by side with their Jewish neighbors. Seemingly in an instant, Everything changed for the Palestinian people, with the declaration of independence for Israel came the destruction of the Palestinian dream of statehood.

Palestinians all over the newly christened state of Israel were run out of their homes by advancing Israeli troops and forced to seek shelter in towns within what is today the West Bank and Gaza. The stories of these refugees all differ slightly, but an overwhelming majority were told by the newly formed United Nations (by Resolution 194) that they would be able to return to their homes in a matter of days. Families left radios on, food out on the counters, only bringing enough clothes for a short journey. Because The UN was only expecting a brief refugee situation, they simply provided Tents and basic camping equipment for the swiftly overfilling refugee camps dotting the West Bank.

Most refugees lived in these meager conditions for two years. By 1950, it became clear that the refugee situation was not going to disappear as Israel became increasingly entrenched within it's newly established borders. As a result of the War in 1948, What is now the West Bank was taken over by Jordan. Control of the Gaza Strip went to the Egyptians. Conditions for the refugees continued to deteriorate as tent villages became overcrowded Refugee camps. As time wore on, populations in the camps grew but the area of the camps could not. Cement and stone buildings eventually replaced tents but these were never adequate to support such a massive, continually growing, displaced population.

The Palestinian refugee population today numbers above 4.7 million, with refugees predominantly living in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, The West Bank and Gaza, but with groups in many South American Countries and all over the world. The right for Palestinians to return to their previous towns and villages, promised by UN Res. 194, has never been honored, a fact that more than Palestinian refugees have not forgotten. Refugees and their descendents still wear their original house keys around their necks, a constant reminder of their resolve to return.

With tensions rising in the middle east, threats of war came from all sides of Israel. Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt all began to ramp up for war with Israel. By 1967, this violent rhetoric had reached a tipping point and Israel launched it's fighter planes in a preemptive attack on it's neighboring countries. The Six Day War nearly tripled Israel's land holdings and most importantly, Gaza and the West Bank were now again part of Israel. As a result, vast numbers of Palestinians were now contained within the state of Israel. The borders of Israel previous to the Six Day War are documented by the Green Line and these borders are what many Palestinians consider as the dividing line between Israel and Palestine. Palestine as a result of this war, became an occupied territory.

The Israeli occupation of Palestine brought with it a slew of new problems for the Palestinian people. With no recognized representation and a police state surrounding them, Palestinian grievances were on the rise. The first Intifada, a largely nonviolent movement of protests and demonstrations against the Israeli occupation began in December 1987 and continued for six years as a result of the poor treatment of the Palestinian people. This conflict turned bloody when Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) retaliated to these demonstrations with deadly force, which led to increasingly violent activities on both sides. By the end of the first Intifada, over a thousand Palestinians had been killed by IDF soldiers with over 120,000 arrested over the course of the 6 year conflict. The Intifada was the first time that the Palestinian people rose, in a grassroots fashion, against the Israeli occupation without the support of other Arab nations. This is significant because it showed the Palestinian resolve and determined their identity. The Oslo Peace Accords in 1996 ended this first Intifada, and as a result, Israel was forced to acknowledge the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as the legitimate representative organization for the Palestinian people. This was also the first time that the Palestinians garnered international attention on the subject of human rights abuses in the occupied territories. Because the conflict was largely through nonviolent protest, the PLO had much more support than if violent means had been used. The Palestinian National Authority was also formed through the Oslo Peace Accords. Establishing Palestinian governmental control over certain areas of the West Bank.

The West Bank was split up by Oslo into areas A, B, and C. Area A is under direct Palestinian control, B is under joint control and C is controlled by the Israeli government. It was originally understood that this would eventually transfer control of the Occupied Territories to the Palestinians with area B slowly transferring to A, and C to B, then finally to area A. This process has never occurred. Instead, Israeli backed “settlements” continue to be built on confiscated Palestinian land in Area C to this day. This action has been deemed illegal by the UN, and is one of the most significant roadblocks for the peace process.   

Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and the Apartheid Wall photo dump

Sorry to everyone who has been checking in lately, we have been super busy working on our research projects, exploring and writing for classes, Iwill have History part 2: Palestinian perspective up soon, but while you wait, check some sweet photos of my travels!

This is an overlook of Nahalin Village, the first of two villages that we are volunteering to collect research in.  This village is surrounded on all sides by illegal Israeli settlements (on Palestinian soil) and only has one road in or out of the
town.

In Nahalin we visited a 2200 year old roman olive press used to make olive oil.  

This is the beautiful village of Battir, where I will be spending my  days doing research on water shortages and pollution that has been effecting the health and livelihood of the 4,500 villagers. the left of this picture is in Palestine, while everything to the right of the train tracks is in  Israel.

We spent a day walking along the Apartheid wall.  I couldn't believe all the beautiful murals that had been painted on the Palestinian side, protesting the wall with artistry.  The wall separates Israel and Palestine but has been constructed on Palestinian soil, in many cases separating Villages and towns from their farmland.

This is a mural that has been painted on the separation wall in a Palestinian Refugee camp in Bethlehem representing the First Intifadah, when  youths throwing stones were pitted against heavily armed Israeli soldiers.

Just past the wall you can see Palestinian olive groves that can no longer be accessed by the Palestinian farmers.  An illegal Israeli settlement looms along the ridge-line in the background.
 

Palestinian children play games at recess in the yard of the UN refugee school built within Aida camp.

The children of the refugee camp had made a mural depicting the history of the refugees.  I was drawn in by the simple beauty of this woman's hijab (Islamic head covering).

I captured this picture in the courtyard of the Nativity church, purportedly built atop  the site of Jesus' birth.  

 New post soon, I promise!  I just want to get it all right!

Two Narratives; A History Part 1

Before I can really  begin to explain what I have been doing with my research project with Holy Land Trust, I feel it would behoove me to provide an overview of the problems and conflict here as I understand them.

First off, I don't think that it is constructive to play the blame game and point fingers at one party or another, all this will do is continue the cycle of mistrust and abuse that has circulated since before the second world war.

It is my goal to try and understand the view on both sides, understand that they are coming from a relevant, self-interested standpoint, and work from there to resolve outstanding issues on both sides.  These two narratives are incredibly different and require patience to identify with as they are not necessarily borne from cultures that we readily identify with.

The Israeli narrative begins in 1948 with the official creation of Israel after British forces pull out of Palestine due to lack of funding and the decline of imperialism.  Jewish people from all over Europe, after suffering through the Holocaust have been promised by the British a sovereign nation for their own in the Promised Land of Palestine.  The official wording of this promise includes mention of the native Arab peoples (Palestinians) and assures their ability to coexist in this same land.  The resulting exodus of Jews from Europe is massive. Driven by the Zionist movement, Jews in great numbers leave their homes to travel to the promised land and take up residence.

Jewish militant groups created in the aftermath of WWII such as the Stern Gang, bolster the feeling that Jewish people must be strong in order to prevent another incredible tragedy against their people.  "Never again" is the call to arms for Jewish people to defend their rights and freedoms against the perceived threat of another Holocaust.  The perpetuation of a victimized mindset and the the acceptance of violent defense for the newly formed Jewish homeland motivates much of the Israeli political landscape for decades to come.

Without a healing of this mindset, and with the incredible amount of foreign aid and military hardware coming into the country, (an overwhelming majority of which comes from the US and you, the taxpayer) Israel swiftly becomes very efficient at defending itself.  This helps to reinforce the realist international relations theory that a country must be stronger than its counterparts in order to survive and benefit.  Self-interest is understood as the sole motivator of state action.  Communal gain and the expectation that working together will bring benefit to both parties is not even considered under this realist condition.

From this perspective, it is clear to see that the Israelis have been put in a position of power while retaining this realist view of the globe and have been yet to be proven wrong.  They have the political and religious clout within US Congress (the Israel lobby) to such an extent that even the US doesn't dare attach stipulations to the massive amount of aid we pour into this country every year (in excess of  $7 million daily) even when the use of our aid goes against stated US foreign policy.

What would you do with a blank check from the US, a history of abuse and a recently acquired homeland promised by God (Yahweh)?  Would you defend your people, fight for your land tooth and nail and teach the same to your children?

"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."
"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
~Einstein

Palestinian perspective coming soon,
 Peace & Love from Bethlehem,

~Ezra R.

Beit Sahour, Bethlehem and the Holy Land

Breakfast in Tel Aviv presented me with a cantankerous Israeli butcher, cementing my overall negative tone of the city. The trip from our beach-side accommodations in Tel Aviv, Israel, to Beit Sahour, a town in the Bethlehem district of Palestine, took just over an hour but the atmosphere could not be more different. 

Along the highway East out of Tel Aviv, the monochrome nature of the bare hills and Israeli towns is immediately striking. Buildings built entirely out of native stone seem to melt into one another as well as the surrounding muddled brownish tan hillsides.  Stark, bauhaus styling abounds, with austere facades rising incongruously from the rocky slopes, an unusual juxtaposition of organic colors rising in artificial shapes.  It makes one wonder how apartment blocks could be differentiated to a visitor. 

  if you're still with me after that sentence, congrats...

Upon crossing the Green Line, we reach our first checkpoint and officially enter the West Bank and the Palestinian territories.

Bethlehem is beautiful.
  The city and it's people immediately exude a warmth and I feel much more at ease than I ever did in Tel Aviv.  From the steep hills of the holy city I can look east into Jordan over the Dead Sea, north towards the walled city of Jerusalem, east to the sea and south over the once-sprawling olive groves of Palestine.  Occupying the surrounding hilltops, walled enclaves of Israeli settlements dominate the landscape with their sheer density of buildings.  The  visual weight is reinforced by the homogeneity of color as well as the towering concrete barriers separating them from the Palestinian farmland from which they rise. 
We will be staying in Beit Sahour throughout the next month, taking day trips on the weekends and working with various nonprofits in the area during the week.  I will be working in concert with 7 other students for Holy Land Trust .  More to come soon, I want to put a good amount of thought into these posts so they will come as regularly as possible.

This is the view from our home for the month in Beit Sahour.
The block of tan buildings visible on the far hilltop is an excellent example of an Israeli settlement. 

TEL AVIV Day 1

After nearly 20 hours of travel, we touched down in Tel Aviv in the early afternoon and jumped on a bus to tour the city.  We took in the sights of Jaffa, a nearly 4000 year old section of the city mentioned both in the bible and greek myths.  The cobblestone streets and rustic stone edifices have been rebuilt multiple times over the past millenia, but the sense of history is inescapable.  Our bus continued to drive around the tumultuous one-way boulevards of the city, tour guide at the horn, explaining much of the history of this storied city.  Unfortunately, nearly every one of us was asleep.  the long hours awake in travel mode had rendered my eyelids incapable of staying open and "just resting my eyes" soon became just resting.  to counteract this, we were dropped nearly two miles from our hotel and strolled along the promenade towards our quarters, learning the history of the cities various ports and hangars which had since been resurrected as a thriving restaurant  and outlet district similar to pier 39 in San Francisco.  We had dinner at a small falafel and shawarma joint across the street from our hotel which is around 100 yards from the beach and spent the evening struggling to stay awake.  feeling as if i would be missing out on the night scene in Tel Aviv, i wrestled myself from the comfortable clutches of my bed and, with a few friends, went for a dip in the Mediterranean Sea and a quick jaunt around the city.  Sleep, when it finally came after over 30 hours awake, was a blessing.

this is a photo of an interesting statue i found in Independence Park with a huge Jewish hotel behind.

TRAVEL DAY!

the day has finally arrived!  i"m in boston logan airport, waiting for the flight to rome with connection to tel aviv with great expectations.  Over the course of this last week, We have been challenged and pushed to make connections between the pursuits of peace and sustainability.  these two issues initially appeared to have little to do with each other, but the more we delve into the issues, the innate interconnections become apparent.  In order to live sustainably we must, as a people, work together to create a home for all on this world. 

What is our concept of home, and how does this relate to the human experience on this earth?  Does our cultural understanding of a homeland or family unit expand to encompass the world and human race?  How can we expand our consciousness to encompass these overarching ideals into our daily life?  How can I as an individual promote this growth in those around me?  What impacts do our daily choices and actions have upon our global environment? What can be done to make the hidden costs inherent to the production and distribution of goods more apparent to the consumer?  It is my belief that if a person is given a choice, that person will chose the more sustainable option.  If these choices and the realities of their true impact on our earth are apparent to the consumer, responsibility is shifted along with understanding.  encouraging ecological and socially responsible practices must come from the consumer within a capitalist society and, to me, education is the fundamental path towards consumer responsibility.    I've got a few qualms about our future, but even more questions.  This, however will not hinder me on my journey, but spur me on, I am forever optimistic of humankind's ability to learn and adapt, and ultimately, survive. 


~Ezra R.