Douds illegal green house

It is not easy to get  to the hill where Tent of Nations and Daher's Vineyard are located. Me and my colleague Brigitta have to climb across big boulders that are blocking the road. When we get to Daoud Nassers gate we are welcomed by a sign saying we refuse to be enemies in english, german and arabic. It looks a little lonely, laying there in the sand but I feel happy seeing it all the same.

When we reach the top of the hill and wait for Daoud I realize that I am standing on a place surrounded by israeli settlements. I know that Bethlehem is situated across the valley on the other side of the hill but when I turn 360 degrees I count to nine settlements. Neve Daniel is the biggest one. To get where we are we have travelled a good half an hour from the israeli border and are in the west bank, Palestine. Even though I must admit it doesn't look like it.

Daoud does not wait for us at the gate but soon also he comes climbing across the same boulders and explains that he has problems with the settlers. They have blocked his way with the rocks. He shrugs and says that he now has to park his car on the other side but points out that even though this obviously is inconvenient at least the settlers havn't been able to open up a road across his land. Even though they have tried three times. The last time Daound and his brother decided to plow the path and build a low stone wall to prevent acccess. When a car with a confused settler appeared it was politely explained to him that this was private land and that he was trespassing.  Daoud hasn't seen him since.

When we enter the area it first appears abandoned. I see a few tents and and two buildings. But soon I begin to see something that looks like car ports leading into the ground. Daoud explains that they are natural caves that his family over time have discovered, excavated and used over the past hundred years. At one time his grandfather even lived in it. Today they are still finding more caves and they are using them as offices, sleeping quarters, meeting rooms andfor workshops.

Daoud then points at a green house and says it is illegal. Just as the green roof across the 

outdoor dining area and the beautiful stone terass that we walked across on the way in.

Illegal? I don't understand anything. How can a green house built on your own land be illegal? Daoud explains. This is how it works. Him and his family have spent the past 17 years involved in a legal battle with the israeli authorities about the ownership of the land. Israel claims it is there land and has also declared it state-land. Since Daoud and his family have ownership papers going back to the Ottoman empire they have obviously contesting this.

Daoud doesn't look tired but I realize that he must have told this story many times. 3000 to be exact as this is the number of people who have visited the tent of Nations since it was created as a meeting place and expanded over the years to host both locals and international in different capacities. It has been in existence since 2001.

While neither the land nor the family owning in have changed the political matrix over time has. And even though Daouds family have documentation related to the ownership of the land from not only the Ottoman/Turkish era but also the brittish empire, the jordan state as well as the israeli state it is still being contested by the state of Israel.

In addition to having the legal papers mentioned above in order, the israeli authorities have demanded that his family would go into the archives in Turkey and Great Brittain and bring back documents and aerial pictures from eras long gone, providing them with proof that the land had been used over time and not been abandoned.

This is due to a local law refereed to as the absentee property law giving the israeli state the right to (re-) posess property and land not being used over a period of five years.

Daoud have done what they asked and also provied the state with recent aerial films and photos of the area. They have of course paid all this themselves. And the case is still being processed.

On top of that they are not allowed to build anything on the property nor install electricity or water pipes. And there came the answer to the illegal green house. Instead they get a few hours a day worth of electricity from a generator and have made plans to install solar panels and some kind of alternativ construction using wind power.

Daoud is not a broken man. He has the energy of somebody who have found a life project, something he really believes in. He is enthusiastic and tells us about new plans of expansion. He talks about his life as an accountant, his wife and four children.  Without seemingly effort he switches between german and english as he guides us in and out of caves, over to the horse and through the olive grove. He stops for a moment and tells us about the time when people from a nearby settlement came and stole 250 olive trees. Then he continues and tells us how a former volunteer of the Tent of Nations from Holland contacted him soon afterwards. She said that her story about him had so touched her grandmother that she had put in her will that she wanted people to donate to him after her death and would he please accept an equal number of olive tree plants from her now?

Daoud might by now be used to the unexpected but the other week, right before the jewish new year Rosh Hashana he saw a jewish woman from a nearby settlement coming climbing across the boulders. She explained to him that she was a friend of a woman who had visited him the other week and that she had become curious. She told him that she had lived in the settlement for 9 years and never known that she had palestinian neighbours but been under the impression that Daouds hill was part of the settlements that would be used when they needed more land to build on.

When being guided around the land she was very surprised at hearing that they weren't allowed to build or have water installed.

-We have swimming pools at the settlement! she said.

After a few days she again came climbing across the boulders. This time with her husband. 

-We just wanted to wish you a happy new year!

Daoud smiles when he tells the story of the settler women. He talks about the value of taking small steps, about creating bridges between people. He says that no matter how difficult life might be for him under the occupation he can still understand how difficult is must have been for her to gather up the guts to go see him and in the end he hopes that she learnt something.

We end the tour sitting under the illegal green roof having a cup of palestinian mint tea. Daoud is full of plans for the future but keeps coming back to the essence of the Tent of Nations. He says he is creating it because it is important for young as well as old palestinians to see what he calls "practical hope" and that there can be Facts on the Ground created by palestinians in a positive non-violent way. We also need internationals to tell our story he continues, and points to the helicopter pad above the sitting area.

-You know, when they are finished building the wall, or seperation fence, around Bethlehem we will be very isolated here. If you don't know the situation for us locals you might think that it it no problem accessing  for example my land but you are genrally not allowed to use the road unless you have an israeli registered car. They are building what they call a humanitarian tunnel for us to use instead. And here he starts to laugh

-The helicopter pad was actually used so we could locare the land when we needed the photos of the land but if we need we will of course use it to land on.

I don't know what to think about the future of Daouds family except that I know that I have met a man who has no intention of giving up what he knows is rightfully his. 

Bob - a moderat settler

Visit to Efrata

Bob Lang has worked as an advisor to Benjamin Netanyahu when he was prime minister in Israel. He has a bachelor degree in the art of milking cows from the university of Wisconsin but now he works as the PR person for the israeli settlement Efrata which is located half an hour south of Jerusalem, in the West bank.

I meet Bob a sunny day in october. I get a nice first impression of him. He seems natural and at ease when he smiles and jokes while he is taking us on a tour of the settlement. Bob doesn't think he lives in Palestine but in Israel. He describes himself as a moderat settler -even though he admits not liking the work settler -and says that he does not steal land to espand the natural growth of the settlement. 

At the same time he looks proud when he points to five outposts consisting primarily of caravans on small hilltops a couple of kilometers from Efrata. Bob explains that they are not yet recognized a legal parts of Efrata but when they will be , and this he seems sure of, they will be very easy to sell. Very easy he says and mentions a price well under the market prices inside Jerusalem. 

Israeli law separates legal settlements from illegal ones even though according to international law settlements can only be labled illegal.

Before I came to the middle east I sometimes imagined that the conflict between Israel and Palestine was between two reasonably equal partners. I knew that Palestine wasn't a regognized state but still had the impression that the land east of Israel - that use to belong to Jordan - was a piece of land where there existed a palestinian life and where palestinian people lived. 

A reasonble thought even though I knew there were also israeli settlers living in Palestine, calling the area Judea and Samaria according to biblical times. 

Then I went to the West bank. I travelled through the separation wall (or barrier) to get to Palestine and became confused and though I was back in Israel without having passed a military check-point and showed my passport. The I realized that I had never left Palestine but what I first had thought were israeli cities in Israel were indeed israeli cities and towns. But in the West bank. Settlements.

Israel has since 1972 created very obvious so called facts on the ground by building towns and connecting them in six massive settlement blocks in the West bank and and around Jerusalem. All together they house around 400 000 israelis. Gush Etzion is the biggest and oldest block and Eftrata is part of it.

I knew that according to international law israeli  settlements in Palestine are illegal so this in itself was no surprise. To see them was on the other hand unreal. And even worse was it to see the different stages before an actual town like Efrata is built. In other words the creation of a settlement. A seemingly empty hill is often chosen, very often near an already existing settlement. Here a caravan  or two are placed and it is not unusual that it happends in disguise. Often during the night. A rough road is created, electricity is set up. Water is connected et cetera and as time goes by a permit can hopefully be obtained thorough The joint Settlement Committee of the Israeli Govenment and the World Zionist Organization. 

When the permit has been obtained the caravans can be changed for actual houses and kindergardens, shops and schools can be built on the premises.

All these different stages are easiliy spotted travelling through the West bank. But Bob doesn't think that he is living on occupied land. Israel took back land during the 1967 war that use to belong to jewish people, he says. It was used by Jordan for a period and it is true according to Bob that is has been used by other people that the jews but now that they are back it is legally and morally theirs.

Not all land was jewish admittedly. At one time during the tour Bob points to a line of trees on a hill top and says that that specific formation of trees proves that the land was owned by Jordan and has never been Palestinian and therefor it is not stealing to claim it to Efrata.

I don't understand this logic and how building on land outside your state line makes sense to Bob but I am trying my best to follow his reasoning. Bob actually believes that he is in the right to live where he does. He doesn't seemed bothered by the palestinian villages next to the settlement and tells us that they have a good relationship. They even share the water he says, but admits it is the settlement that provides the village closest to Efrata with water. He also says they rarely meet even though it happends.

Bob is a religious man but I don't perceive him as fanatical. He is also conservative in his reasoning when he talks about the jewish claim to the land. Bob says that he wants peace with the palestinians and even that he would consider living with them in the settlement if they would just  stopped being so violent against Israel. I believe he is honest when he says this.

I am almost beginning to think that I understand Bob but then he starts talking about Gilad Shalit, the israeli soldier that was kidnapped in Gaza in june 2006 and is still kept in captivity.

-I think that Israel should turn off all the electricity in all of Gaza until we get back our citizen. 

I look at him. Does he actually mean that we would be willing to give the order to let 1, 75 million people suffer in Gaza in order for Israel to get a soldier back?

Yes he does. Without a doubt.

Settlers as neighbours

-Come quickly! The settlers are building a sukkhot tabernacle in our front yard!

Thirty minutes have passed since we received a phone call asking us to come and be present as observers. And now I am hurrying down the street feeling worried but determined to get to the Al Khurds family as quickly as possible.

Me and my four colleagues in the ecumencial accampanying program are walking through the Sheijk Jarrah area of east Jerusalem, an area annexed by Israel in the 1967 war but according to international law an area under occupation.

My thought are with the palestinian Al Khurd family who called us and who have half their house occupied by israeli settlers.

Yes, you heard me. Half their house is occupied. That half of their house that they built for their son to live in is since 2001 inhabited by settlers. The actual occupation happend a night when Mrs Umm Kamal was visiting the hospital where her husband Mohammad Al Khurd who is suffering from diabetes was recuperating. A worried neighbour called her and told her that the settlers had broken into their apartment, that their belongings were spread all over the front lawn and could she please come home quickly.

And now they called us.

I have met Umm Kamal and Mohammad before. I have had numerous arabic coffees and thes with them, heard them talk about their situation but never met the intruders before.

Before I reach their house I have time to think about how well known their living situation is. How BBC recently sent the reporter Tim Clark  to interview them and how my colleague Warren recently adressed the urgency in the fact that settlers are taking over property inside east Jerusalem with Tony Blair secretary. I also have time to think about the palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas who has alerted the United States, France, Great Brittain and Germany about the possible consequences of the behaviour of the settlers .

Already before I hurry up the cemented path that leads up to the house of the family I know that the settlers have a court order to evacuate the premises on november 8. But I wasn't prepared for what I would see.

On the terass of the family there is lots of activity. When we have pushed ourselves through the israeli security men that the settlers put the premises, the israeli police and the military we are met by two settlers carrying wooden pieces that looks like walls. They are walls! 

We are offered chairs and the scene that takes place in front of our eyes starts to resemble a play. The settler men are working fast and efficiently with the wooden construction. They drill into the wall of the families house and attach what soon starts to resemble a sukkhot tabernacle.

The tabernacles are temporary 'outdoor rooms'  that according the jewish tradition are being used during the holiday of sukkhot in rememberance of the jewish people being forced to walk through the desert and live in fragile huts during 4o years of slavery during the time of the Faraoic Egypt.

Sukkhot is a family holiday when jewish families all over the world get together in the tabernacle to eat, sleep, socialize and relax. Now there are drills going into the al Khurd families wall and the scene is anything but relaxing.

The apartment occupied by the settlers are literally less than a meter from Umm Kamal and Mohammads front door. The scene therefor gets even more bizarr when a young mother belonging to the settler community suddely appears with a baby in a carriage. She seems totally oblivious to all the commotion, talks gently to the men building, looks into the tabernacle and comments on how nice it looks. She doesn't acknowledge us - the palestinians and internationals present, nor the filming and photograping that is going on - she just quietly passes by the al Khurds and disappears into their sons apartment.

How is this possible? How is it possible that such an obvious violation of overtaking of private property can happen? Why are the settlers still in the Al Khurds house?

The short answer is that the Al Khurds were given the house by the Jordanian state through the UN  in the 1950's. They were given the house after being removed from their former home when the state of Israel was founded 1948. The settlers that now live in the hourse are not acting on an independent initiative but belong to a jewish organisation consisting of religiously motivated settlers who claim that they bought the land the house is built on in the late 1800's.

The problem in Palestine is that when the settlers move in they hardly ever move out. Even if they have a court order telling them to do so, the state of Israel are not good at enforcing their own laws.  

Lonely planet - a political guide book

Is lonely planet guide book to Palestine and Israel anti-zionist? Please follow the link.

Not welcome in Hebron

Breaking the Silence consists of former israeli soldiers who served in Hebron. I was signed up to join them this morning but this letter arrived last afternoon:

"We have just recieved a phone call from the Hebron police notifying us that we are not allowed in Hebron tomorrow.

The official reason -settlers from all over the territories might be arriving in the city tomorrow and the police are afraid for our safety. While we find this excuse illegetimate, we are at this point complying with it.

We as Israelis must remember that the ability to see things with our own eyes is fundamental to a democracy.

Breaking the Silence will continue demanding our rights to enter the city of Hebron."

And I will indeed continue signing up for their tours.

Police, IDF complete evacuation of illegal outpost of Yad Yair

Read the head line above in todays Ha'aretz. 

Interestingly enough the article continues "Senior IDF offocials have held contact with settler leaders in an effort to coordinate an agreement upon relocation of the outpost closer to the settlement of Dolev" and that "on wednesday, the Israeli Defence Forces backed off of a planned evacuation of the illegal West Bank outpost, west of the settlement of Binyamin after a throng of settlers who learned of the plan gathered at the site before dawn on wednesday".

So, did I get this right? The complete evacuation was in fact a plan of moving a settler out post closer to a....eh........settlement.  

There is no other way

Today I send a thought to Nahil Abu-Rada who gave birth to a dead child at the Huwara check-point last week.

Towards the humanitarian gate

The humanitarian gate is a gate inside the check-point usually used by women, older people or people that are sick, in wheel chairs or generally considered in need of not going through the regular entrance.

This morning this extra entrance was created for people to pass through into the compound where the actual check-point is. This old man is being escorted so that he doesn't have to wait in line. He is not yet at the humanitarian gate and was taken there by members of the red crescent in a wheel chair. 

Friday is a special day, especially during Ramadan as this allows people from the West bank who have obtained so-called prayer permits to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

Making way for wheel chairs

Wheel chair are tricky to get across check-points. As i found out today. UN OCHA was first coordinating with the IDF (Israelis defence force) and the Red Crescent (not called the Red Cross in the muslim world)to get the people through the barbed wire so they could get to the wheel chairs that were in the inside.

So this is what first looked like this on the outside of the check-point right at the outskirts of Ramallah.

Qalandia check-point

Qalandia check-point (CP), eller militär gränsövergång som det brukar översättas. Qalandia är en av ca 600 barriers som finns i Palestina och är för många Ramallahbor en del av vardagen. Den är en del av muren och det är nödvändigt att, som palestiner gå igenom den till skillnad från mig som på grund av mitt pass och min identitet som 'internationell' kan sitta kvar på bussen som kör igenom övergången.  

Shabat shalom from the Women in Black, Jerusalem!

Check-point watch

För att på ett effektivt sätt kunna genomföra våra uppgifter som medföljare vid den militära övergången hade vi redan innan vi tog bussen till Qalandia tidigt i fredags morse samordnat med dem som skulle komma att närvara där tillsammans med oss. I detta fall FN personal och medlemmar från den israeliska kvinnoorganisationen Marchon watch vilket kan översättas som gränsövervakning. Den sistnämnda organisationen består företrädesvis av äldre israeliska kvinnor (och tre män) som sex dagar i veckan befinner sig på den israeliska sidan av ett antal militära övergångar. Dess aövergångar finns för att ta sig igenom muren in till Västbanken och i dagläget finns det ungefär 600. Det kan noteras att för judisk-israeliska medborgare är det olagligt att besöka större delen av Västbanken. Gaza är helt förbjudet att besöka.

Det kanske redan nu ska tilläggas att den första september i år inleddes Ramadan, fastemånaden och den största muslimska högtiden på året. Fredagen är dagen då helgen inleds i den muslimska världen och den första fredagen i Ramadan är en mycket speciell dag för många muslimer. Det är alltså början på Ramadan och också den dag då många gärna vill be inne i Jerusalem. För att få lov att göra detta (0m du bor på Västbanken)måste du ansöka om ett speciellt bönetillstånd hos de israeliska myndigheterna. De ges bara ut till vissa ålderskategorier som kan ändras med kort varsel, ibland samma dag. I år är åldersgränsen för kvinnor 45 år och över och för mån 50 år och över.

Nu föll det sig så att vårt team började vårt uppdrag just denna fredag. Jag hade försökt föbereda mig mentalt på vad jag skulle se och uppleva och tänkt mycket på vad det skulle innebära för mig om jag skulle tvingas söka tillstånd för att få utöva min tro. Det kändes inte alls bra. Jag hade också tagit del av här boende människors erfarenhet av arbete vid de miltära övergångarna under Ramadan.

Mina farhågor var därför att det kanske skulle bli en morgon med mycket trängsel, långa köer, stressade och aggressiva unga militärer och arga palestinier, som ju också nyligen börjat sin fastemånad och av förklarliga skäl var både hungriga och trötta efter den tidiga morgonmåltid de äter innan solen går upp. Samtidigt ville jag inte tro för mycket innan jag med egna ögon sett och upplevt situationen.

Fredagen blev nu för min del ganska lugn. Det fanns inga länge köer. Vi tog tiden på hur lång tid det tog att passera igenom den militära spärren och räknade någonstans mellan 45-100 personer i minuten. Men samtidigt som jag uppfattade läget som ganska lugnt var det helt omöjligt att inte lägga märke till all beväpnad personal. Min uppfattning var att de 'provsiktade' på mig och även om jag fått lära mig att de inte får lov att skjuta annat än gummikulor innan de ringt och frågat om tillstånd så kändes det självklart otryggt. Kanske ville de markera att de skulle kunna använda sina vapen, men det är svårt att veta. Min uppfattning är trots allt att många soldater verkar så vana vid sina vapen att de även oavsiktligt siktar på sina kompisar och befäl utan att reflektera över det.

Under vår träning infört vårt uppdrag här i Palestina och Israel ingick en föreläsning från ett före detta israelisk militärbefäl. Michael tillhör den grupp som här i regionen ofta refereras till som refusnics, det vill säga människor i det israeliska samhället som vapenvägrar. Bland annat pratade han om vilka medel den israeliska militären vanligtvis använder för att skapa ordning och i vilken ordning. Vanligen används först ljudbomber, sedan tårgas  följt av gummikulor och slutligen skarp ammunition.

För mig blev det som sagt en intensiv men ganska lugn morgon men väl hemma fick jag höra av mina kollegor att stenkastning från det närliggande palestinska flyktinglägret snabbt resulterat i tre ljudbomber och tårgas och förmodligen får även jag uppleva någonting liknande innan jag åker härifrån även om jag är glad att slippa det min första morgon vid muren.

Liten kvinna. Hög mur.

Vi är nu officiellt ekumeniska följeslagare i team 28. Team 27 lämnade i torsdags, under en högtidlig ceremoni, över uppdraget att fortsätta vandra bland palestinier och israeler. Vi är här på inbjudan av kyrkorna i regionen så det kändes bra och spännande att börja vårt uppdrag i en av Jerusalems vackra kyrkor i närvaro av präster och pastorer, lokal personal såväl som det gamla teamet.

Sex stycken svenskar är nu på plats i sina respektive team. Vi befinner oss alla på Västbanken. Mitt team i östra Jerusalem, de övriga teamen i Betlehem, Hebron, Tulkarem, Jayyous och Yanoun. En grundläggande princip för oss alla är att utgöra en tredje part,vilket innebär att vi inte tar ställning i konflikten. Men vi är inte neutrala vad gäller övergrepp och kränkningar inom sfären för mänskliga rättigheter. Vi finns dessutom på plats för att lära oss hur det är att leva med och under ockupation med syfte att sin förlängning få stopp på den.

Detta innebär ett praktiskt engagemang som i sig innefattar olika saker. Såsom att alla team bygger vidare på föregående teams arbete och att vi alla har vissa gemensamma arbetsuppgifter.

Alla team är exempelvis närvarande vid militära vägspärrar, alltså vid de övergångar som används för att ta sig igenom muren. Detta sker företrädesvis på morgonen och ofta vid de vägspärrar som är nära våra placeringar.

Vi utgör generellt en internationell närvaro som ibland, men inte alltid, arbetar tillsammans med lokala organisationer och FN. Syftet är delvis att underlätta för dem som vi kommer i kontakt med vid övergångarna. Det är vanligt att vi försöker hjälpa till om det uppstår problem med att ta sig genom spärrarna med rullstol, guidar dem som har små barn, är äldre eller behöver assistans genom en bredare ingång som de har rätt att använda. Syftet är också att samla fakta om hur lång tid det tar att ta sig igenom, att dokumentera eventuella övergrepp genom att fotografera och filma och att generellt föra vidare ögonvittnesberättelser, inte minst till israeliska människorättsorganisationer.

I morgon fortsätter bloggen om min första morgon  vid den militära övergången Qalandia, en av de större övergångarna som ligger mellan Jerusalem och Ramallah.

Första tiden som följeslagare i Palestina/Israel

Efter en lång process har jag nu anlänt till Palestina för att under tre månader arbeta som ekumenisk följslagare, utsänd av Sveriges kristna råd.

Just nu har vi överlämning vilket innebär att vi rent fysiskt går igenom det vi kommer att arbeta med. Hur man tar sig in på Västbanken, hur och var vi arbetar vid de olika militära vägspärrar, vilka grupper, flyktingläger, husrivningar, kyrkor et cetera vi kommer att 'följa' i egenskap av följeslagare.

Jag inser redan att precis som jag trott kommer detta att bli ett spännande men samtidigt krävande uppdrag.

Just nu är det morgon på oljeberget i östra Jerusalem. Vi, det vill säga jag själv och mina fem vänner i det internationella Jerusalem-teamet är på väg till vår första Women in Black demonstration.

För mig är detta en mycket speciell dag. Dels därför att jag är glad att vara del av en grupp som aktivt stödjer både palestinier och israeler i deras strävan att få slut på ockupationen men också därför att jag är väl medveten om den utsatthet grupper såsom denna strävsamma grupp av svartklädda kvinnor och hur väl de behöver både internationellt stöd och uppmärksamhet.

Vi i eappi (Ecumenical accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel eller följeslagarprogrammet) deltar i egenskap av just följslagare, vilket kan innebära rent praktiskt - som i detta fall - att vi är med i demonstrationer men inte bär skyltar.

WIB är det ända undantaget vad gäller bärande av skyltar och anledningen är enkel -det finns bara fyra ord på deras demos: Få slut på ockupationen!