Jenin/Nablus/Qalandia

Apologies for lack of updates. We haven't had net access for a couple of days. Also, my phone is once again no longer sending texts. I basically give up. If you text my UK num I can recieve it. I can't reply. Don't really bother ringing or texting the Palestinian number cos it's useless. Waste of 20 shekels. Anyway.

So Monday night was our last day in Jenin. In the morning we went with Yousef to see a music performance he'd organised for a local old peoples' home. A young musician who's involved with the community centre was giving the performance. The thing that struck me most was how nice the old peoples' home was. They often have less resources here than in the UK, but this place was really much nice than most of our places, and the staff seemed really attentive. The old people seemed a lot more with it than in a UK nursing home, too. I mean, it seems obvious to me that having staff who are willing to spend time with you and talk to you, rather than being parked in front of the telly all day, would do wonders for your faculties and prevent you from descending into the past. However you couldn't implement that in the UK without some massive evidence based study to prove it, and you'd have to prove it was cheaper than fluoxetine too.

Anyway the bloke initially played a song about being old and alone and abandoned by your family, and a lot of the old folks got really tearful. Yousef had to tell him to change the track. He played some more upbeat traditional stuff and everyone was enjoying it, people were singing and clapping along and one woman got up and started dancing.

In the evening Yousef invited us to go to his house for a meal. First of all he took us to see the curch in his village, which is the 3rd oldest church in the world (joint 3rd oldest, with the Church of the Nativity, if you wanna be technical about it). It's built on the supposed site where Jesus healed ten lepers, and then only one of them came back and thanked him. It's being refurbished on the inside at the moment but it was still really impressive. Somehow I love seeing all the icons with Arabic inscriptions around them.

Dinner at his house was really nice. They cook the rice different here, never had it like that before, but it was really good. And his kids are lovely. After dinner he took us up to the top of the hill by his village. We watched the sunset. It was absolutely amazing. You could see hills and mountains all the way into the distance, and the sky just sort of glowed, orange to purple. As it got darker lights started appearing from neighbouring towns, until you could see Nazareth across the valley. You could also see orange lights marking the route of the wall across the land below us, with larger groups of orange lights at the checkpoints.
While close up the wall is oppressive and ugly, like a prison tower, seen from a distance like that it just looks petty and ridiculous. The hills and valleys are ancient and they will clearly be around a long time after the wall. It always strikes me every time I see it from up high like that that there must be loads of trees growing on the Palestinian side with their roots on the Israeli side, and vice versa. Apartheid really is the word for what is going on here.

Yousef pointed out the different towns and settlements and checkpoints. He used to be able to walk across these hills. Now it's not allowed. When his wife had their youngest two kids he was denied permission to go to the hospital to be with her. Yousef, I have to say, is an absolutely amazing bloke. With even a quarter of what he's been through, it's quite concievable that he could have just let rage corrode him. Instead he runs community projects and works for peace. When he says he believes in non-violence, I believe him. He's probably the first person I've heard say that who I genuinely believe. Most people in the UK who say that, they're never gonna actually have to make the choice, not fundamentally. It's trite, people say it as a way to avoid understanding the desperation of a colonised people. Yousef doesn't shy away from that, but he still comes out of it with this commitment to non-violence.

Anyway, we then had to head on to Nablus, where we just stayed a night. Saw a glimpse of the market, but couldn't find any soap factories. And then from Nablus back to Jerusalem. This involves passing through an Israeli checkpoint known as Qalandia. It was pretty much like going to see West Ham at Upton Park, except if anything the turnstiles are a little roomier here. It's not unknown for people to die at checkpoints here though, often women in labour who the IDF see fit not to allow through, and then they end up bleeding out.

We're planning to spend our last few nights here in Fawlty Towers in East Jerusalem. We're gonna visit Hebron tomorrow, which should be interesting. Zionism and falafels.

I hope everyone is well. Pete, please don't worry, we are a long long way from the Lebanese border. And anyway if things really do look like kicking off, first thing Israel do is evacuate all the internationals. We'll be fine.

F is having a nap at the moment, but she's ok. She'll update later.

It's wednesday now, unless I've entirely lost track of the days, so I'd like to know what's happening in Eastenders...


PS if anyone's interested, this is an article by Andrea Dworkin on Israel/Zionism which I really like: http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/dworkin/IsraelI.html


L
xxx





The last day in Jenin was lovely. As L said, we went for dinner at Yousef's and then for a walk in the hills around his house. He pointed out to us all the different areas that, post 1967, he is no longer allowed to travel to. An Israeli drone flew overhead and on every hillside there was the wall, checkpoints, illegal settlements... Can only repeat what L has said about Yousef (and so many of the other Palestinians we have met so far)- it's inspirational that he has taken so much negativity and pain that has been imposed upon him and his people and turned it into something constructive and positive.

Yep, L is losing track of the days- we actually stayed 2 nights in Nablus. The city is one of the northern population hubs in the West Bank and has seen some of the most horrible violence, especially during the last intifada. There are posters everywhere commemorating the martyrs.

The journey from Nablus to Jerusalem was long and Qalandia checkpoint was horrible. The queues weren't too long but the whole experience is so awful. It's beyond demeaning. Palestinians made to line up in the baking sun, go through security checks, metal detectors, show passports, and all just so they can access their own land. Often the IDF will turn people back on the flimsiest of pretexts. Kids are routinely stopped from going to school, workers are kept from their jobs, farmers from their land. Many women have been known to die in childbirth at checkpoints and the sick are often prevented from accessing healthcare. The Israeli signs on the other side of the security say things like "come in peace, leave in peace" and "enjoy your stay". Would love the irony if it weren't so horrible.

Is nice to be back in the relative calm of East Jerusalem. Hebron tomorrow. There's a Jewish settlement in the centre of the city where IDF soldiers outnumber the settlers 8-1. The site is one of the most contentious in the whole of Palestine and it is the ideological centre of the Zionist ideology. There is a statue in the centre commemorating the guy who slaughtered about 20 Muslim Palestinians whilst they prayed. Am looking forward to visiting the Palestinian population who have managed to remain there- existence is resistance.

Family Legg- Contador?! Saxo Bank?! The Schlecks?! Al Jazeera Arabic are all over it here (not as much as the Israeli/Lebanon border clashes but still...) Didn't see that one coming!
Rosie- hope you had a good birthday. Though have just seen you were ill? If this is genuine I'm sorry. If it was self-induced I'm not sure I can sympathise you fool! Have a brilliant time at the Big Chill though. Am back Saturday night but will maybe just call you Monday if you're away from your phone? xxx


Lots of love

F
xxxxxx