Letters from Overseas

November 2008

It has not yet been a week since Group 29 of Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) arrived in their placements to take up duties, but already we are beginning to get a feel for the plight of the Palestinians living under excessive restrictions in the West Bank. Group 29 is made up of 24 people from 16 countries placed in 6 locations (Tulkarem, Jayyous, Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem, and Yanoun) in the occupied Palestinian territories. Following extensive orientation in Canada and again in Jerusalem, we arrived in Tulkarem in the West Bank with both enthusiasm and apprehension.

Our new duties include being present with Palestinians at checkpoints and agricultural gates, participating in peaceful demonstrations, visiting Tulkarem refugee camp, visiting the two Christian families living in town, visiting Jbarah, a town in the "seam" zone (zone between the Wall and the Green Line), meeting with officials from the International Committee for the Red Cross, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and other such organizations, and, of course, giving the requisite English conversation classes to students at Khadoorie University and to a local women's group.

The IDF (Israeli Defence Force) controls life in the West Bank. They are present at all checkpoints and gates restricting all movement of the Palestinian people. In addition, they run nighttime incursions into refugee camps, rousing people from their beds to look for someone who may present a danger to the Israelis. Many times they do not find who they are looking for, but in the meantime they destroy property of the resident of the house. At agricultural gates, Palestinian farmers are going to work on their own land, which has been cut in two by the Wall. Imagine the humiliation of having to secure a permit to visit your own land, and then, the additional humiliation of having to present said permit to the Israeli military when they open the gate between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.

Checkpoints are another example of restriction of movement. Coming from Jerusalem to Tulkarem, we passed through three checkpoints, all with relative ease. Men between 18 and 40 have to leave the bus, receive special scrutiny, and then rejoin the bus on the other side of the checkpoint. The Beit Iba checkpoint is especially depressing. We monitor this checkpoint on Thursday afternoon and Sunday morning when university students from Nablus are returning home for the weekend and then going back to school. It is shocking to see busloads of male students lined up on the sidewalk, feet spread apart, hands behind their backs, while the Israeli soldiers check IDs. These are young men, not unlike yours or mine, being humiliated by the Israeli military, also young men not unlike yours or mine.

On Thursday, the checkpoint closed as 200 students waited to pass. We saw that the army had taken a young man into detention because they were worried about a potential bomb. We stood with students for 50 minutes watching while the young man was required to strip to his underwear, while a robot was brought in to deal with the alleged problem, his pile of clothes. A young male student said to me, "We are tired of being treated like animals," referring to the process of being herded like sheep into a turnstile to be processed through a checkpoint.

I will spare you all the details of our Sunday demonstration experience in Jayyous. Suffice to say that it was my first experience of sound bombs, rock throwing, tear gas, a curfew, and military might. Fortunately, after taking refuge in a Palestinian's home, we were picked up by our contact who knew of a back road out of Jayyous that was not blocked by the army and we were brought safely back to Tulkarem.

And they call this the Holy Land!

On a positive note, the Palestinian people we have met in our travels about the city are generally happy (at least on the outside), very helpful and kind. It would appear that their spirit has not been broken by the occupation. Some fight it and usually end up in jail; others tolerate it, biding their time until they can leave. Unemployment in Tulkarem is very high, leading to a sedentary lifestyle—with many of the male townsfolk, old and young, sitting around smoking.

In our brief conversations with the Israeli soldiers, we have learned many of them do not support the occupation but they have to do military service. They are sometimes as frustrated with checkpoint duty as the people passing through. They tell us the work is tedious, tense, and boring.

Our job is to accompany Palestinians as they go about their daily lives. Some do not understand who we are and what we are doing. After explaining, as best we can, most say thank you and welcome to our country. One young female student, with whom we shared a bus ride after the Beit Iba checkpoint incident, stated, "International presence make things worse." I did not take this comment personally because I think she was lashing out at the system after a two-hour delay in a checkpoint. Needless to say it was a very quiet, sad ride home.

Susan Palmai works for The United Church of Canada as an Ecumenical Accompanier serving on the World Council of Churches/Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The views contained herein are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer (The United Church of Canada) or the WCC. If you would like to publish the information contained here or disseminate it further, please first contact the EAPPI Communications and Advocacy Officer for permission.