Palestine: a visit

By

Stuart Yates

With a small group of Friends (Quakers) from the UK I arrived in Ramallah a few days before the Amnesty International report came out and was privileged to hear the author, Donatella Rovera, speak to it at the Friends' Meeting House in Ramallah and answer questions, together with a representative from the Palestinian Water Authority. We already had some awareness of the water situation in the West Bank. On our arrival, on a Friday, we were told that the water tanks had just been filled and they would have to last until the next scheduled filling: the following Tuesday. So we were given the following mantra to learn and put into practice:

"If it's brown, flush it down, if it's yellow, let it mellow"

Welcome to the West Bank! Welcome to Ramallah, the supposedly Palestinian-controlled first city! I say 'supposedly': one of our hosts pointed out an Israeli Defence Force (IDF) military camp on a hill (always on a hill!) overlooking Ramallah. "That is where the tanks come from." Israeli tanks were last in Ramallah in 2002, laying seige to Yasser Arafat's compound, but as late as January 4th 2007, Israeli troops entered Ramallah with a dozen or more jeeps, supported by helicopters, killing four Palestinians, including one child. More incursions, unreported, go on daily, or rather, nightly: “Last night we carried out between 15 and 20 actions,” a top Israeli commander said of the West Bank raids, in a recent interview under military rules of anonymity. “That was a fairly typical night. It’s like throwing a blanket on a fire. If we stop for a minute, we will go backwards very quickly. We call it cutting the grass.” (New York Times November 26th 2009) Is it preserving the peace? Or is it random punishment? Or provocation? Who can tell, but those that suffer are those taken without trial into custody and their bereft families.

Outside Ramallah we found the same situation regarding water. The Palestinian inhabitants of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) have 70 cubic litres of water per person per day. The Israelis living in the illegal settlements in the West Bank get by on around 300 litres per person per day. The World Health Organisation states that 100 litres per person per day are needed on an ongoing basis for sustainable living. (Before readers in the UK get too righteous about this, the UK's consumption is even higher than the Israeli settlers.) So, illegal settlers consume more than four times the amount of the indigenous population.

"Indigenous" - yes, while we are on this subject, let's refute the "a land without people for a people without land" so-called justification for Israeli colonialism. Below is a 1945 UN map showing the ethnic breakdown of land ownership by sub-district in what is now Israel/Palestine:

In every sub-district "Arabs" have a greater ownership of land than "Jews", without exception. These pie charts graphically represent the extent to which the Palestinians have lost their homes, their land. This is not an argument against the existence of the state of Israel, merely demonstrating that the Palestinians owned most of the land and have been dispossessed.

Back to water. The Oslo agreement states: Annex III: "Protocol on Israeli-Palestinian co-operation in economic and development programmes: The two sides agree to establish an Israeli-Palestinian continuing committee for economic co-operation, focusing, among other things, on the following: 1. Co-operation in the field of water, including a water development programme prepared by experts from both sides, which will also specify the mode of co-operation in the management of water resources in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and will include proposals for studies and plans on water rights of each party, as well as on the equitable utilization of joint water resources for implementation in and beyond the interim period." Note the phrase "equitable utilization of joint water resources". Israel uses around 90% of available water, Palestinians 10%. Population ratios: Israelis 65%, Palestinians 35%. Equitable? Demonstrably not. Although, as indicated above, there is a joint water body, there has been no new well sunk in the West Bank for Palestinians since 1967. Since 1967, all new wells have to be approved by the Israeli Defence Force Administration - no prizes for guessing its policy. In June 2008, the Red Cross was trucking in water to the Southern area of the West Bank. It is no accident that illegal Israeli settlements are built, not just on top of hills, but on top of water sources. It is also no accident that the 'security' separation wall follows the line of the Western aquifer. The Israeli strategy is not new. In 1919 the World Zionist Organisation specified the boundaries for a future Jewish state:

Note that it includes the Litani river in Lebanon, the river Jordan and the Yarmouk river. The UN plan in 1947 did not allocate any of these water resources to Israel but Israel now controls all but the Litani river. Lest there be any doubt about Israel's past and present aims, read what David Ben-Gurion said: "It is necessary that the water sources upon which the future of the Land depends should not be outside the borders of the future Jewish homeland. For this reason we have always demanded that the Land of Israel include the southern banks of the Litani River, the headwaters of the Jordan and the Hauran Region from the El Auja spring south of Damascus."

Water is part of Israel's long-standing project to rid "the Land" of all non-Jews. Fatima al-Nawajah is absolutely right in her sentence quoted above: "They make our life very difficult, to make us leave." That is exactly what the Israeli government wants: historic Palestine emptied of all Palestinians.

UN Partition Plan 1947. Note that the land allocated to the 'Arab state' was contiguous. Note also that the land allocated to the 'Jewish state' was rather smaller than that seized in 1948. There is also a rather forlorn hope embedded in the words "with economic union" in the original plan.

The following maps graphically illustrate the process:

From Nad-PLO site

One more map, from the UN, which does not quite bring us up to date with my visit to the OPT, but the situation has worsened since it was published:

A pretty impressive record of colonisation, even though the settlements have been abandonded in Gaza. Looking at the West Bank, it is so honeycombed with settlements (serviced by 'Israeli-only' roads and checkpoints on Palestinian roads) that we do not have to have a great imagination to realise how difficult it is for the Palestinians to survive at all, let alone move around. It is this West Bank that I visited. A West Bank in which a Christian Palestininan family of four, living around 20 kilometres of Jerusalem, had to seek permission from the Israeli authorities to go to Jerusalem in order to celebrate Easter. Having obtained permission for the journey (did the family of Jesus require permission from the Roman occupiers of this same territory to make similar journeys I wonder?), they arrived at the Qalandia checkpoint. In spite of written permission, the official in charge that day decided that their fifteen year old son would not be allowed entry. The whole family had to return home. No reason was given or thought necessary. The father of another family - Muslim this time - had to go to a family funeral, a journey of a few minutes before the occupation, the settlements, the apartheid wall and roads. He left around midday and arrived back late evening. This is what the wall looks like, from the Palestinian side, from a distance:

Photo: Stuart Yates

Note the olive groves near the wall and the edge of a settlement in the top left hand corner. In the same area:

Photo: Stuart Yates

Note how close the settlement is to the Palestinian village and how it towers over it. Settlements are built on the hill tops, partly to dominate and intimidate. As for checkpoints and watchtowers:

Photo: Stuart Yates

A watchtower near Ramallah. This is the queue of Palestinian traffic to pass through the associated checkpoint as we travelled back to Ramallah:

Photo: Jasmine Piercy

Palestinian roads are abruptly terminated if it suits the purposes of the IDF or settlers. We visited one village where the access had been blocked more than 100 times - each time it was blocked by bulldozers the villagers opened it up again. The access is now by a rough and ready track.

Photo: Stuart Yates

Example of a blocked road going nowhere.

The separation wall has little to do with security. If you can get into a vehicle with yellow number plates ie. Israeli number plates, of which there are plenty in the West Bank, including taxis, then you can be whisked straight along the settler roads, through what are called 'holes in the wall' into Israel. One of our party did just that, going from Ramallah to Ben Gurion airport directly in a fraction of the time it takes via the Qalandia checkpoint and Jerusalem.

Photo: Jasmine Piercy

The Qalandia checkpoint. You squeeze through two rows of floor to ceiling metal bars, two turnstiles, strictly controlled - luggage gets trapped ahead of or behind you. Then airport-type scanning of body and luggage. I can understand the need for one further turnstile after the scan in case someone does a runner, but two? A bit like the overkill at Ben Gurion on the way out: five checks of our passports.

The Palestinian countryside used to look like this:

Photo: Stuart Yates

but now at best, even in the countryside, looks like this:

Photo: Stuart Yates

Little or not so little settlements perched on hills, everywhere you look. Some villages are almost surrounded by settlements and the olive groves, if not destroyed by the building of the settlements, are under constant threat from settlers. One of the ways in which we intended to support the Palestinians was to help with the olive harvest. Well, there was no point in going to the first village on our itinerary: the settlers had just uprooted all the olive trees. For many Palestinians, the olive is the most important if not the only source of income. This is even more so as the shortage of water means that keeping livestock or growing food becomes more and more difficult. Eliminating the primary source of income is another way in which Israel tries to drive the Palestinians out, together with keeping them almost starved of water. Remember Dov Weissglas? He was an advisor to both Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert and said, in relation to new restrictions on Gaza in 2006: "The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger." Less than one year after that statement, in March 2007, the UN reported that in fact 80% of Gazans were starving and would die in their thousands but for food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Welfare and Relief Agency (UNWRA). Gaza is now even more deprived of basic necessities. The sheer inhumanity of Israeli governments is simply evil.

We did in fact pick olives at two other sites. The first was in sight of the wall and settlements but at a safe distance and we were I believe a genuine help. The second site was not so comfortable, being bussed to a village where Palestinians had been recently harrassed, including being summarily imprisoned (a TV crew was there in case more trouble broke out). There were a number of 'internationals' present, helping practically with the harvest and showing solidarity with the Palestinians. One group goes to trouble spots: the leader replied soberly to the standard question "How are you?" with a deadly serious "I am still alive." We were requested not to take photos of their faces. We encountered no trouble, although picking olives under the gaze of hundreds of windows from the nearest settlement was disturbing: in full view, would the IDF and/or the settlers come? Part way through the day another group arrived, who had tried to pick nearer to a settlement. Whilst they stood their ground against the IDF, the appearance of hostile settlers led them to retreat.

At Bil'in, a non-violent protest against the wall and illegal confiscation of land (Bil'in has lost 60% of its land to settlements) takes place on Fridays and has done for three years. We joined, with many 'internationals', in spite of the torrential rain, this protest. Numbered amongst the protesters were Israeli activists. In spite of the protest being peaceful, the IDF responded with their usual tactic, tear gas:

Photo: Stuart Yates

Closer up:

Photo: Pat Yates

There are some brave people. We understand this man in a wheelchair is a frequent attender:

Photo: Pat Yates

No-one was injured on this day, but in January 2009, a protester, Khamis Fathe Abu Rahmah, was shot in the head by a tear gas canister. Fortunately he survived, but in April 2009, Bassem Abu Rahme, calling to the IDF soldiers to stop shooting as they had shot an Israeli, was in turn killed: shot in the chest by a tear gas canister. The protests at Bil'in are well known and you can read more about the protests here Bil'in

We also visited a refugee camp and schools which have been set up and are run by UNWRA (United Nations Welfare and Relief Agency). The family we visited in a refugee camp consisted of forty people living in a few concrete cubes. The head of the family has been there for fifty years, driven out of Israel from his home near Tel Aviv at the age of fifteen. He is a driver and gets work when he can, which is not often. As far as we could ascertain there was one kitchen shared by everyone. Recently the IDF had arrived, smashing windows and furniture. The matriarch of the family arrived, after a long day visiting one son in prison: once a month, under the aegis of the Red Cross, she travels for fourteen hours for a half hour visit. When she gets there she never knows if she is actually going to be allowed to see him. Why was he in prison? "Who knows?", said with a shrug, in a mixture of despair, anger and grief. Three of her sons are presently in Israeli jails. Imprisonment by the IDF for young males in Palestine is not a badge of honour, nor is it a cause for shame. It just is. It happens. Let us not forget that the OPT are under military occupation: everything is controlled by the IDF, not civilian officials and courts. A Palestinian seeking justice has to go to the Israeli courts, where his or her case is contested by the full weight of the Israeli military. Those in the UK who watch the Ministry of Defence fight tooth and nail against any case brought against them will know that such organisations are formidable foes.

Photo: Jasmine Piercy

The 'front door' of the family we visited in the refugee camp.

Photo: Stuart Yates

The Amari refugee camp in al-Bireh which is contiguous with Ramallah.

This camp was set up by the Red Cross in 1949, taken over by UNWRA in 1950. The camp itself was transferred to Palestinian control in 1995. The UNWRA site states that families with 5 members or fewer get one room, those with more than 5 get two rooms. Over 10,500 people live here, of whom over 1,500 receive emergency food and cash assistance. The schools are run by UNWRA.

Photo: Stuart Yates

The Amari Play Centre which we visited.

There are nineteen refugee camps in the West Bank, housing some 190,000 people. The one in which we visited a family (not Amari) is rather bigger and is still partly controlled by the IDF, hence the incursions. There were originally 750,000 Palestinian refugees in 1950, now there are 4.6 million. Jordan, Gaza, Syria and Lebanon are also 'home' to Palestinian refugees. See UNWRA Refugees

Photo: Pat Yates

and to put that into context, this was the outside oven on which the bread was baked, fed with offcuts of wood:

Photo: Stuart Yates

and this is the bread baking:

Photo: Pat Yates

We watched, while drinking mint tea, a pile of bread being baked. It's a twice a week job.

The Palestinian people were also demonstrably grateful for our being there in support. What we actually did was very little of course, but the act of travelling there meant a great deal. When the staff in the hotel in East Jerusalem learned where we were going and why they blessed us. We were given a reception after clearing quite a modest amount of rubbish in preparation for an archeological excavation. When we arrived at Bil'in we were welcomed warmly and afterwards were provided with a meal. Although we were only supposed to have bed and breakfast at the main home we stayed in, most evenings a meal was already prepared when we arrived back, even though we had said we would cook for ourselves in the evenings.

Palestinian hospitality was indeed a moving and a humbling experience.

I cannot end this article without outlining some positives, some reasons for hope in such a sad and perilous situation. We talked with students at several schools: those at what in the UK would be called a secondary school impressed us with their maturity. The quotation above is one example. Bear in mind that this is a person born in 1995. The second intifada started when he was five. He has witnessed many Israeli incursions into Ramallah, known, if not witnessed, injuries and deaths. He has only known a life living under military occupation. Yet he looks for a one-state solution, to share, not to divide and hate. It was striking that a one-state solution was generally favoured by the young people we talked with. The Friends schools are no longer run by Quakers but are run along Quaker principles. On our tour of this school we saw the following Quaker tapestry:

Photo: Stuart Yates.

Perhaps this visible Quaker witness to peace and non-violence supplements the teaching here. As long as young people are taught the principles of non-violence, peace and cooperation there is hope. The schools cannot be totally self-funding and receive aid, especially from the US:

Photo: Stuart Yates.

Such aid, whilst welcome and appreciated, is a fraction of what the US provides to Israel, one of the richest and nost heavily armed nations in the world.

Another source of hope for the future is the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). AFSC operates around the world and has the following dream:

"We dream of a world:

- where security and justice and respect for basic human rights prevail over violence, injustice and oppression

- where one can find livelihood opportunities to live in diginity over extreme poverty

- and acceptance of differnet cultures over segregation and social exclusions

- with a commitment for dialogue and love between each other."

AFSC is active in Palestine, in Gaza and the West Bank. Their Popular (or Public) Achievement Program consists of groups of 10 to 12 youngsters, aged between 14 and 17, under the guidance of a coach, working together over eight months on an issue they have chosen, designing, implementing and evaluating the actions of the project. Over 4,000 young people have participated in the program over the last seven years and there are over 270 trained coaches. We were privileged to be given a presentation on their work which has served as a model in Ireland and South Africa. AFSC in fact works around the world and is almost exclusively privately funded by donations and bequests. Projects have included clean up programmes in urban areas, creating a play area at a rehabilitation centre, providing activities for the elderly at a care home. As I listened to the presentation the thought crossed my mind that the program is subversive. Subversive in that it challenges the established culture and beliefs: that Palestinians are powerless, that youth in particular is disempowered and disenfranchised. The program enables young people to take power, to learn how to take charge of their own agenda, to cooperate rather than compete and fight. If just a few of these young people reach for and gain political power in the future, the program will have helped them to see how to use that power fairly and wisely on behalf of others.

See AFSC

The following image symbolises the Occupied Palestinian Territories:

Photo: Stuart Yates.

Bound hands care for the state of Palestine. A rose symbolises hope. May those hands be unbound and the rose bloom fully.

November 2009