We spent Wednesday with a former Israeli soldier who was
part of a group called Breaking the Silence. This organization is made up of
900 soldiers, men and women, who would like spread the word of the occupation
in the West Bank to other Israeli citizens. We drove towards the Hebron hills
in which our guide had served and in which many “legal” settlements and
“illegal” outposts have been and are being built by Israelis. I say “legal”
settlements because according to Israel’s government, these towns are
recognized as being a part of the state of Israel, but according to
international law, these settlements have been illegally built in the occupied
territory of the West Bank. The “illegal” outposts are also built in the
occupied territory of the West Bank, but are not officially recognized by the
Israeli government because they have not been given permission by the
government to be built.
One example of a “’legal” settlement is that of Susya. This
settlement has electricity, running water, plenty of urban planning, schools
and well built houses. Surrounding Susya is a special military zone in which
neither Israeli settlers, nor Palestinians are allowed to enter for security
purposes. This presents a problem however; the Palestinian Susya is on the
other side of this military zone. Palestinian Susya is a tent town. Its less
than 50 inhabitants live in tents without permission to build permanent
structures. The village was moved recently as it was in an “archeological site”
in which no one is allowed to live. A caveat to this is that the village had
been moved to that spot several years earlier by the Israeli government after
their original town was demolished. The village is facing demolition orders for
having illegal structures more than 1 meter high-but this is a regular occurrence.
Every three months or so, the village needs to fight in court for the right to
exist. Please keep in mind that their village is located in the West Bank, a
territory that Israel currently occupies, but is not within their control. One
example of an illegal structure was one of the wells in the town. Military
forces destroyed it by making it collapse in on itself and pushing the remains
of a car into the well so for most of the year, the water is not potable. There
are other wells near the village, but the Palestinians do not have access to
them. Remember that special military zone from earlier? All the remaining wells
are within the boundaries of that zone, which is under the military’s control,
which needs to grant Palestinians permission to enter. This land, technically
in the West Bank, is under martial law where Israeli settlers have been known
to attack members of the village. Police do not respond to this area, and the military
does not know what to do when confronted by a Palestinian who was attacked. However,
the “illegal” outposts in the area still have running water and electricity and
are patrolled by the military, providing needed civil services.
The goal of Breaking the Silence is to bring this
information to the other citizens of Israel who do not realize this is
happening. To read more about this organization and other testimonies about the
occupation from the Israeli narrative, please visit their site.
Thursday morning found us within a stone’s throw from the
wall surrounding Gaza. We visited a very pleasant woman named Roni. Her family
came to Israel from Britain when she was a young girl and she later married a
Jewish man from Ethiopia. Before the Oslo Accords, she and her husband lived in
an agricultural area in the north, near Sinai. After the establishment of the
Green Line, they moved farther south to restart their community, just outside
of Gaza. For a while, she worked with Palestinians from Gaza in the fields and
became good friends with a few of them. She is now separated from them because
of the wall, but she still knows conflict. Since her village is so close to the
border, they are often the victims of missile attacks from Gaza. Her house, and
every other one in the community, has a shelter built in, and there are
strategic shelters all throughout the village at bus stops so kids on their way
to school have a safe place to hide when the warning siren goes off. Her work
with Other Voice is trying to help reconcile the people of Israel and the
people of Palestine.
This wall was painted by a member of the community after her service in the Israeli military as a way to process what she saw and her involvement in the occupation. One of Roni's friends from Gaza commented on how beautiful it was, but that she wished it was not there at all.
Roni is still hopeful for a peace solution, and feels her
work is helping the common person learn more about the peace options. Some of
her narrative was hard for me to hear, but her words of wanting peace and her
steps to build bridges with her Gazan neighbors were very welcome to my ears. To
read more about their work, visit their site.
Towards the left of the picture is a tall observation tower, with a barrier to the left and the right. Beyond the barrier, Gaza city can be seen. Interestingly enough, the wall facing the Israeli village was painted to look like a continuation of the sand dunes and sky. The government approached the village with different designs that could be painted on the wall. From what I understand, this courtesy was not offered to the residents of Gaza.
Today we toured East Jerusalem, technically part of the West
Bank, through a group called Ir Amim. Our guide, a Jewish, secular Israeli who
had served as a tank commander during his time in the Israeli military, pointed
out the different neighborhoods around East Jerusalem. There are Jewish
settlements here, which are internationally illegal, which he felt were part of
a plan by Israel to keep the whole of Jerusalem under the control of Israel. It
was difficult to see the stark differences between the Jewish communities and the
Palestinian communities; Jewish neighborhoods have nice roads, wide sidewalks
and good garbage control. Palestinian neighborhoods have poor roads, no
sidewalks and are full of litter. They are both within the same municipality
but do not receive the same benefits. Part of this is because most Palestinian
Jerusalemites revoke their right to vote in city elections (they are only
granted permanent residency, so are not able to vote in national elections) so
have no voice in city councils, and part of this, as our guide believes, is because
Israel is trying to make it difficult for Palestinians to grow naturally within
the city. To learn more about Ir Amim, visit their site.
These are only small tidbits of these past few days, and
there are many more stories I want to share, but I know I should commend anyone
who has gotten this far into the post. It has been a doozy so far. Perhaps
these stories can wait for another post. But needless to say, this has been a
difficult and challenging week. Thank goodness Jeff and Julie realize how frazzling
this information overload can be and made sure to build in some fun time.
On Thursday, we took
the afternoon off to take some time to hit the beach and play in the
Mediterranean Sea. I definitely needed the down time after a few very heavy
days. I relished every minute we spent in the waves. The surf was fairly high,
so we caught some excellent waves to jump in and float on around the shore.
With every wave that hit me, I felt a little more tension leave my body. The
past few days have just been wave upon wave of information, stories and
pictures and statistics and hardship. Some would hit me hard, knocking my legs
out from under me. Some would throw me back towards shore while others would
pull me out to the open horizon with the undertow.
I just floated through it all, letting the waves push me
back and forth, letting the sea direct my movement. It was relaxing to just
hang, suspended in the water, and not worry about who controlled the beach, who
was being hurt in the struggle, which narrative to focus on. It was only about
being there, in that moment. Feeling the expression of the forces around me and
knowing that I could not bring peace to the area. It was about taking a breath
in life to find where I was needed. It was about remembering what Heidi told us
during YAGM orientation in Chicago: “The work of healing in the world is God’s
work, not ours.” I cannot fight the waves of information from the world, I can
only learn their forces and allow them to guide my work within the world.
The waves of the Mediterranean.
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