God, Olives & Goat Cheese

This morning I am waiting for a small Jerusalem grocery store to open, so that I can buy goat cheese and black olives. I decide to pop into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to kill some time.

It’s only 7:30am and I’m the only one in here other than the Orthodox priest with a thick black beard, black dress, and cross-embroidered black cloth balaclava-type head covering. It’s pretty cold in this ancient and dirty old stone church and there is a strong, and now strangely familiar, smell of ‘church incense’ in the air. It is a beautiful place to sit and rest.

The religious significance of the buildings and the land is largely lost on me, but the beauty and history is not. The other morning, I woke up at a half-past-six to take an early morning trip to the Dome of the Rock. Just thinking about how many people have been there, how much people care about the place, and how much work was put into constructing buildings like the intricately-painted blue tile mosaic of the Dome fascinates me.

The adrenaline has been pumping the past few days as I have been rushing around to tie up all sorts of loose ends. I’m having a farewell gathering on the land tomorrow and today’s early morning grocery run is for the Arab & Greek salads I’m going to make. After the store opens, I’m heading back to Bethlehem’s Old City and then on to Hebron to do some last-minute souvenir shopping. I know my way around this place now and that makes me feel somewhat like I actually ‘live’ and belong in some small way to this place.

More important than any site, I have come to know so many people here. I’m going to get to say goodbye to some of them tomorrow, and it will be great to see my friends and co-workers on the Tent of Nations land. But there are many others who I won’t get to thank in person.

So, with only 48 hours left here in the Holy Land, I’m filled with a mix of emotions. My sadness about leaving is combined with residual exhaustion from my recent ‘whirlwind’ trip to Egypt. In nine days I traveled almost the whole length of the country, from Cairo to Abu Simbel.

And, of course, there is confusion and stress about what the ‘next steps’ are when I return to Canada in a few weeks. I’m just going to keep hoping that the next time someone asks me what I’m going to do back home a ‘plan’ will miraculously come into being. Hey, miracles happen, just ask the people starting to line up to enter Jesus’ supposed tomb in the next room over.

Then there is a feeling of anticipation, of ‘bursting at the seams’ with stories, thoughts, and images to show my friends, family and anyone who will listen back in Canada. There is the work on the Tent of Nations and the recent demolition orders they have been handed by the Israeli government; my many trips up to Balata refugee camp and the depressing reality of life there; the lessons about friendship, family, and community I have learnt from living and working here; and all the other adventures and interactions that I can now scroll through with the over 5000 pictures and video clips I’ve taken since I arrived here in December 2005.

I will arrive back in Canada on December 12th after two weeks in Turkey. I look forward to seeing everyone back in Canada and would greatly appreciate hearing all your ideas about ways and places I can talk about what I’ve seen and done here this year.

It’s time now to temporarily say goodbye to my friends in, and around, Bethlehem.

BTW Podcasts Mordechai Vanunu's story of resistance

It has been quite a while since the last Beyond the Wall Podcast episode. I was able to get some time today to get Episode 10 up and I’m very excited that Mordechai Vanunu has allowed BTW to feature his story. As I mention in the episode, I was struck by his sincerity, determination, and creative nonviolent resistance. His lawyer has described him as the "most stubborn, principled, and tough" person he has ever met.

Mr. Vanunu is an Israeli who revealed details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the Sunday Times in Britain in 1986. He spent 18 years in prison and, when released in April 2004, had a wide range of restrictions placed on his speech and freedom of movement. In March 2005, Mr. Vanunu was charged with multiple counts of “contravening a lawful direction” for speaking with members of the international media and the court proceedings are ongoing.

Episode 10 - Mordechai Vanunu: Story of Resistance
October 4, 2006 | 47 Mb| 34 Min.
After his kidnapping and 18 year prison term for revealing details of Israel’s nuclear weapons program, Vanunu is determined to tell his story. He shares his personal stories of nonviolent resistance and ongoing struggle for freedom.

Click here to listen and access a more thorough description of the episode.

The next Podcast episode will feature the question & answer period from his talk. I split it up to keep the episode lengths a bit more manageable for downloading & listening.

If you’re looking for more information on Mordechai Vanunu’s story, here are some helpful sites to start out with:

• Mordechai Vanunu’s personal website: http://www.serve.com/vanunu/

• Vanunu.org: www.vanunu.org

• The Sunday Times article, October 5, 1986: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1-1081668,00.html

• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanunu

The pictures in this post were taken at Mr. Vanunu's talk at the Knight's Palace Hotel in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Daher’s Vineyard

I’m back in the West Bank and have changed ‘gears’ a bit. I am now living and volunteering about 10 kilometers southwest of Bethlehem on a piece of land called ‘Daher’s Vineyard’. Myself, a few other long-term volunteers, and lots of shorter-term volunteers are working with the members of the Nassar family to develop projects and infrastructure on their 200 acres of land.

There is no electricity and no running water on the land and it takes about 20-30 minutes to get to the closest towns, so life moves at a different pace than life in Bethlehem. And it’s definitely not always slower! Each day starts around 7am. The goats, donkeys, peacock, and rabbits need to be fed, and over 800 new baby trees need to be watered by hand (not all at once!) before preparing to work on one of several ongoing projects. We are building a children’s playground, new & improved pens for the animals, and several sitting circles for meetings on the land.

In my first few weeks on the land I can already tell that this is an extremely important piece of my year here in the West Bank. I love the physical work and the chance to work and live with a Palestinian family that is defending their land from expanding settlements and fostering a grassroots NGO (Tent of Nations) focused on youth and building bridges between Palestinians and people around the world.

At the moment we have no Internet access so it is more difficult to update my Blog and Podcast. I will keep posting but they will likely be less frequent than before. Please let me know if you’re interested in hearing more about any specific aspect of work/life on the land or about the Tent of Nations.

I will continute to post pictures on my photo sharing site (click here). I just posted pictures from my first few weeks on the land and from a meeting hosted by Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem with Martin Luther King, Jr.'s son.

Look forward to hearing from you!!

Festival Week: Preparing to Play

Tent of Nations Summer Camp
July 24-29, 2006
Tent of Nations • Daher’s Vineyard
Palestine

Day 3

The third day of the Tent of Nations ‘Festival Week’ was filled with challenges and triumphs. It was a shorter day because all but two of the youth returned home after lunch to attend a various events in their home towns.

While Kevin and Daniel headed down to Nahalin to prepare the play script, Chris and Kwan took the older youth to the fire pit for a fire-making activity. The goal was to have the youth build small fires and keep them burning for five minutes. The boys were eager to build the fires but were less than enthusiastic about gathering wood. It took more encouragement to get the girls involved.

Chris did a short demonstration that was largely ignored once the youth broke down into groups, eager to play with fire. There was quite a bit of frustration when the fires they built did not catch because they had heaped damp straw beneath them… mistakenly thinking it would be an effective ‘fuel’. Most of the groups eventually got their fires started with the help of the staff but seemed more than happy to move on to a more high-paced game of ultimate Frisbee on the sports pitch.

In center camp, the young children were working with Jackie, a school Principal from the UK. She is working on increasing correspondence between youth in the UK and Palestine. She started by having the children make a collage that would later be turned into a book cover. Inside the book, the children drew pictures and wrote short passages about their life here in Palestine. Karen will take the book back with her to the UK to show students at her school.

Later, the children dipped into the paints and started decorating the paper mache masks they had made the day before. Their creations were varied, colorful, and even a bit spooky!

The rest of the morning was focused on preparations for the Romeo and Juliet production that will be performed for the campers’ parents at the end of the week. Kev talked about the challenges and successes of the campers’ first crack at bringing the story to life:

“Today was a happy day…we had worked on the words for the play yesterday and today went to Nahalin to create the sheets for the young people to learn the words from.

We were very late getting back, 2 hours after the time we had stressed they should be ready to start work. Daoud came to get us and told us that the young people were very upset we weren’t there to work with them.

When we got back we apologized but really were delighted they cared so much. After all the ups and downs more of them were really up for it too. Totti became Romeo and Freeman the Priest. We got straight into our first read through… some great work! We then did a walk through – around 6-7 people ‘directing’ at a time but a very sociable activity. The processional idea for the play seems to have wings… it was amazing to hear them and see them take it on… very encouraging for the next three days. Ihab is really working well into the role of Director… just enough encouragement and demonstration. You can see their confidence growing.

Bernard (a UK volunteer) was amazed by how readily they took it all on and how much happened in such a short space of time. I asked Ihab to ask [Bernard] what he thought because Ihab was apologizing for… what?

Bernard told him that he had seen young people in the UK with all the same fears, nervousness, coyness and silliness around performing. But he said he had never seen a group of young people put so much in such a short space of time and achieve what they had just done. Pure magic! Ihab seemed so proud.”

Day 4

All of the campers arrived back from their evening in town and began the day with a filling breakfast of hummus, vegetables, bread, and tea. Preparations for the play started soon after. Ihab, Salam, Bassem, and Elias began painting Juliet’s ‘house’ – a cardboard box doubling as her window. The children were busy playing games with a large parachute and working on several art projects led by Daniel and the other UK volunteers.

For the actors, most of the day was spent memorizing lines and ‘feeling-out’ their characters in multiple scene run-throughs. Performing a play in English is no simple task for youth whose first language is Arabic. Suha, who will be playing Juliet, said she is feeling “half & half” about her role. She said the long sentences that she has to remember make her a bit afraid. But, when asked how they liked working on the play, all of the youth responded with cheers. Angelina (Juliet’s mother) and Mariam (Juliet’s friend) said the play is helping them improve their English and they both think that their parents will enjoy watching it.

Kwan, who has stepped up to play the part of Romeo, said he is enjoying working with the youth on the play. However, he noted, he prefers plays with ‘happy’ endings and said his first choice would have probably been Twelfth Night. Rehearsing continued throughout the day but, because of the unrelenting afternoon heat, the group relocated to one of the many large caves scattered around Daher’s Vineyard. Zoe pointed out that the two play Directors, Ihab and Nada, were taking on a huge amount of responsibility and demonstrating leadership skills that were well beyond what would normally be expected from 16 year olds. They both are paying a huge amount of attention to detail, wanting to make it perfect for the big show on Saturday. In general, she said, people are getting more engaged and their confidence is improving with each rehearsal.

In the afternoon, Chris sat down with a group of campers to get feedback on the past few days of camp. The group of teenage boys and girls said their favourite activities so far were football, preparing for the play, sitting around the fire at night, and drawing murals on the walls. A few of the campers were excited about having the chance to play with a frisbee for the first time. When asked what challenges they were facing, the group said that they feel constrained at times. One camper said he did not like being told what to do during activities. Other campers said they feel they cannot do what they would like at night because the army is constantly surveying the land. They said they’d like to have fires after midnight, and be able to run, scream, and dance when they want. They also commented that there have been fights amongst the campers, with divides occurring between groups from different villages, such as Beit Sahour and Beit Jalla.

At night, the older campers and staff sat around the campfire. The night was spent singing songs, dancing, and sharing jokes. The campers were very impressed by Bastian’s drumming and said it was a highlight of the night!

Tent of Nations Summer Camp

This week I am volunteering at a Palestinian youth camp at the Tent of Nations. The Nasser family runs the organization and the camp on their 100 acres of land just a 20 minute taxi ride southwest of Bethlehem. The land is deep in the Etzion settlement block and is surrounded by the Neve Daniel, Betar Illit, Rosh Zurim, and Elazar settlements. The family is involved in a long and expensive legal battle to keep their land, for which they have proof of ownership from the Ottoman period.

The camp aims to bring youth from urban areas onto 'the land' to experience life in a fun and natural setting. Each day I have been gathering thoughts from campers and other volunteers and have been writing a brief 'journal'. The following are summaries of the first two days at camp.


Tent of Nations Summer Camp
July 24-29, 2006
Tent of Nations • Daher’s Vineyard
Palestine


Day 1

On a cool misty morning at Daher’s Vineyard the Tent of Nations summer camp volunteers woke early to the sound of dogs barking and leaves rustling in the wind. Preparations quickly began for the second week of a two week program: the Tent of Nations Youth Festival. 10 volunteers from Palestine, the UK, and Canada have traveled to work with the Nasser family on their 100 acres of land, southwest of Bethlehem.

It’s always lovely to have the opportunity to meet new young people and to learn from them, what it is like to be in their shoes. -Colin, UK volunteer

At 8:30am, a bus arrived with over 25 youth from Bethlehem, Beit Sahour, and Beit Jalla. Their first day started with fun introductory exercises: badge making and an introductory lesson on ultimate frisbee from Kwan. The clear skys and intense sun were made for a warm welcome and the youth broke into two groups: children under 12 years old and teenagers aged 13 to 16. The teens sought shade under a large tree for introductions and an overview of camp by Daoud and Kev. Meanwhile, the children began a very popular activity painting stones from the land and Daniel, Zoe and Daher kept them entertained with several games. Paul did some beautiful designs for another mural and worked with the youth and staff throughout the morning to complete an outdoor tile mosaic.

After a long and filling lunch, Daoud and the staff talked with the young people about the idea of performing Romeo and Juliet. It was a slow start but, they warmed up. We ‘promenaded’ to the performance space and ideas began to flow. Ihab was ‘voted’ Director and Bishara was ‘voted’ Producer. Dance spaces, music ideas, and props were suggested and there was a real sense of the project being taken more seriously.

Tony refereed six fun and competitive games of football to end the afternoon and prepare our appetites for another delicious meal made by Nisreen, Jihan, Katie and Miladi. Thanks cooks!!

Day 2

The second day of festival week at the Tent of Nations summer camp began with games of football and ultimate Frisbee to get the older campers warmed up for a long day of work and play. Soon after arriving, the children and volunteers worked on paper mache masks and other props for the play that will take place at the end of the week.

I think that camp is very good because we can see people from other countries and can learn new languages. - Camper

A play is not complete without a theater to host it. The volunteers and campers worked on preparing a walkway and staircase leading to the ancient wine press that has been transformed into a stage and seating area. Colin was surprised how much the landscape can be changed by arranging rocks into a simple winding path. He said the entrance to the theatre now looks enchanting.

During, and between, the many activities going on throughout the day, the campers and staff have time to sit, talk, and build relationships. One volunteer from the UK sat down with Amal Nasser and learnt about her life outside the Tent of Nations. Amal is a children’s physiotherapist and works to convince families with disabled children to do exercises that will improve their quality of life. She is spending her vacation time here at camp, preparing three meals a day for over 30 hungry bodies.

Seeing the youth spend time on the land, play with each other, and challenge themselves has been the highlight of my year here in Palestine.-Chris, Canadian volunteer

Chris enjoyed an afternoon knot-tying lesson with the teens. The boys gathered around and learnt how to tie bowline and reef knots. The activity seemed to be a hit; the campers asked for more sessions in the coming days and were excited about the possibility of a fire-making lesson on Wednesday.

Kev and Zoe worked throughout the week with campers and staff on an adapted version of Romeo and Juliet. He had a great day working with Ihab, a camper who is directing the play, and with the female campers who were very excited to get involved. At camp, he says, things are happening left, right, and center: relationships are developing, great football, and, of course, the incredible food!

For the two long-term German volunteers who have been working with the Nasser family on their land for the past year, camp represents the fruits of their labour. Bastian reflected on the first two days of camp:

It’s a very nice change in work for us volunteers! It’s just fun to work with the children and the land gets a different meaning for me. I think it’s also great to have different children, like Muslims and Christians from the refugee camps and Bethlehem. They had fun here. I’ve enjoyed it to see things we’ve done or built being used by them.

After dinner, Daoud sat with the youth to reflect on the first two days of camp. Being thrust into a very new outdoors setting, away from their families, is a big adjustment for many of the youth. Having the chance to sit and talk with Daoud provided a time to talk about some of the challenges that camp presents. The boys said they couldn’t wait to get a good night’s sleep after staying up late the night before. The group was excited about the opportunity to meet new people, learn new languages, and was eager for a new day of drama and outdoors activities.

Thanks for checking-in

I have really appreciated all the emails and calls from family and friends wondering how I'm doing over here with the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Northern Israel/Lebanon. It has been incredibly difficult and depressing to see the mounting death tolls and to see little hope of end to the violence in the near future. Bethlehem, and much of the West Bank are very removed from the bombings and invasions that are making headlines around the world. It has been a huge learning experience to see that, amidst all of the conflict, life goes on.

But it is not life as normal. The psychological effect on the population is very evident. The conflict is on the tip of everyone's tongue. Daily images of mangled bodies and seemingly endless reports of bombings and civilian deaths are shocking. People seem tired. The wait times at checkpoints are increasing, West Bank closures (for Palestinians trying to leave) seem to occur on a daily basis, and the Wall is being expanded at a rapid rate. People here are terrified for their families and friends in Gaza and Lebanon. In Bethlehem, the constant psychological and economic warfare seems to be the gravest threat.

So, no, I do not feel that I am in any immediate physical danger from the fighting that is happening. I will continue to write about my daily experiences in the hope that it will help my family, friends, and other readers distinguish between media reports that often paint all Palestinians in the same negative light and the reality of life in Bethlehem and other parts of the West Bank, as I am experiencing it.

HLT Workshop: Small Arms in the Occupied Territories

On July 4th, 20 members of Holy Land Trust’s Remember the Innocents Youth Club participated in a workshop on small arms in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Alfred Shomali, a local Palestinian youth trainer from Defense for Children International, facilitated the workshop. He began by asking the nine female and eleven male participants to list the goals they had for the day-long gathering; which included:

1. A clear definition of ‘small arms and light weapons’
2. An understanding of the legal and illegal uses of small weapons in Palestinian society
3. A group decision about whether or not to focus the annual RTI action campaign on small arms control in the Palestinian Territories

Bassem Eid, the Director of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG), gave a brief overview of the current work being done by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to address small arms proliferation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He was quick to make a distinction between legal and illegal arms acquisition. He made it clear that his organization, and other NGOs working on small arms control, recognized that there was a legitimate use for weapons by Palestinian Security Forces and for resistance to the Israeli Occupation.

In recent years, the PHRMG has compiled numerous testimonies related to small arms abuses in the territories. Mr. Eid shared several anecdotes and explained that since the beginning of the most recent Intifada, over 380 Palestinians have been killed by small arms in the hands of fellow Palestinians. Many participants were also surprised to learn that there are an estimated 50,000 unregistered weapons in the Gaza Strip, many of which were illegally smuggled through Egypt into Palestinian territory.

The ensuing discussion focused mainly on whether or not civilian acquisition of arms for personal security could be justified. A heated debate exposed deep divisions within the group. A number of youth argued that, if regulated, civilians should be permitted to possess arms to ensure their own, their family’s, and their community’s security. When asked whether there were alternative ways to provide personal security, the group suggested home alarm systems, guard dogs, and more stringent gun registration laws. Interestingly, none of the youth put forward the Palestinian police force as an alternative way to ensure the security of individuals, families, and communities.

In the afternoon, participants broke down into four smaller groups to plan, and deliver, a presentation on one of four questions related to small arms in the Palestinian Territories. The following are highlights from the group presentations (please note that the workshop was conducted entirely in Arabic and therefore the following points have been translated):

1. The effect of small arms on Palestinian society: social, political, economic

a. Political effects:
• Small arms are important for legal resistance to the Israeli Occupation
• Small arms play important roles in political conflicts between countries
• Small arms are often used in political conflicts between the parties and movements

b. Economic effects:
• Small arms often stop and prevent development plans and strategies

c. Social effects:
• Small arms affect the psychological side of the community members since small arms increase the problems and conflicts between the families; as well it increases the sense of fear, panic and oppose security and safety

2. Recommendations for, and barriers to, solving problems related to small arms

• Support the work of human rights organizations
• Increase awareness through public lectures and workshops
• Having regulations in the international laws to control the acquisition of weapons, and apply these laws to stop misusing small arms
• The role of media: making documentaries, advertisements, etc. to increase awareness in the community
• Giving awareness to small children about this issue through entertaining activities
• Writing letters to the Palestinian Legislative Council.
• Making pressure on the local and international organizations which care about this issue so they can make pressure on their governments
• Create groups from all ages to go to the PLC to discuss these issues and express the community’s problems
• Be committed to applying these laws and regulations, which ban the misusing of small arms light weapons and punishing those that ignore them
• Make workshops for the youth and bring knowledgeable people to talk with them

3. The role of youth: what can we do? What resources and support would we need?

a. What can we do?
• Not hold small weapons
• Join security organizations
• Report gunrunners to police
• Youth need to be more mature to differentiate between the right and wrong and fight the youth phenomena that they use weapons and knives to show and prove power, strength and control
• Not trading weapons through selling, buying or promoting them
• Youth have to believe that having weapons is not that nice and cool thing, it is very dangerous and may cause many damages and victims.
• The youth are responsible to deliver this message for the following generations
• People must depend on the law in conflicts and troubles and not taking their right or revenge with their hands, the law should protect the people and get them their rights
• The sons of people who have registered weapons should not automatically have the right to possess their weapon
• Organizing workshops and campaigns
• Using weapons in the right places and situations
• Registering and authorizing small weapons
• Creating training lessons for using weapons and permissions for possession

b. What resources and support would we need?
• Governmental, legal and security support
• Support of political parties and movements
• Support of tribes
• Support from NGOs
• Support from media and press

4. Getting the message out: what type of campaign or action would reach the people?

• Organizing a media campaign for a SALW conference
• Making posters, stickers, magnets, brochures and booklets to give awareness
• Making cartoon characters and cartoon shows for children since they are the men of the future and the most likely group which can understand the issue and change the situation in the future
• Organizing seminars for parents at schools so as they can teach their kids the circumstances and reality that we are living with in this community
• Increasing the number of workshops and bringing in specialists on this issue
• Working on the implementation of the existing laws and regulations aimed at controlling the spread of SALW

Before the workshop concluded, Mr. Shomali asked the RTI participants whether or not they wanted to focus their annual action campaign on small arms control and, more specifically, on some of the recommendations put forward in the group presentations. Most of the group said they appreciated the workshop information and activities; however, thirteen participants said they did not want to focus future RTI actions on small arms in Palestine. Seven others said they were interested in pursuing the issue through future actions, but would need significant support and resources in order to coordinate and follow-through on any campaign.

Painting Balata

This weekend I traveled with my friend Katie up to Balata Refugee Camp, just outside Nablus city, to visit Mohamed. As always seems to be the case with trips to Balata, we had an eye-opening, emotional, and busy visit. Katie wrote a great article about our "Vacation in Balata Refugee Camp".

On Sunday we took a group of 11 children to a park in Nablus to paint and play. Katie is a talented artist and I proved to be a talented 'swing-pusher'… we had a blast with the children and the smiles on their faces were like rays of light. The products of their art creations gave a glimpse into their formative life experiences, day-to-day realities, and identities.

Katie asked them to paint two pictures:
1. What their lives are like in their community
2. What they would like their lives to be like

After the outing we sat down with the youth to hear about what they painted. Here are some of their paintings:

Dalia says:“I drew my house, a tree, a Palestinian flag, Israelis, jeeps, two people, a martyr and a sun.” She wrote: “The sweetest flag is the Palestine flag, we hope the situation is fixed soon, inshallah. My mother, don’t cry, the days will come back to Balata camp.”

Asil says:“I drew houses very close to each other. There are some soldiers who killed a martyr and soldiers who would not let the ambulance take the martyr away. People in the building are crying.”

Haroun says:“I drew the army and the martyr Khalil and some boys who threw stones at the jeeps and the sun.”

Amal says:The soldiers killed someone who is sitting in front of his building. And some helicopters were shooting the building.” She wrote: “We will return to our homeland and our original life.”

Noor says:“I drew my cousin who was killed by the Israelis. Some men are carrying the Palestinian flag.” She wrote “occupied Palestine”.

Click here for more pictures of our outing