First, I am in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is in Area A, which means the Palestinian Authority has full responsibility for it. That includes water, electric, garbage, etc as well as security. However, just to the right when looking out my apartment porch is an Israeli Settlement. That area is managed by the Israeli's and is referred to as in Area C. So, Israel is responsible for the water, electric, etc and the security. This whole area is in the West Bank. Before 1967, this was part of Jordan. In 1967 this was area was taken over by Israel. It currently is occupied by Israel. To manage the security of the many settlements being built, Israel has built the "security" wall. The majority of the wall is in Occupied Palestine.
So, this to start at the beginning and give you a sense about where I am and what I am doing.
I am here with a Norwegian, Swede, and German. We have a very nice apartment, with 2 bedrooms and 2 baths, a living/dining room area and a kitchen. We have our own washer, which works most of the time, and we have an area where people can stay when they visit. This is the view from our front deck.
Not bad, eh? Way in the distance you can see the Moab mountains. They are on the other side of the Dead Sea, in Jordan. It's really beautiful here.
As I said, just to the left of us is an Israeli settlement. Here is a picture of that settlement. The settlement starts with a group of people putting up vans, and living in them for a while. Then they tell the army that they need to be protected. Then the army comes in and begins protecting them, and a plan is put in place to build this city. The "settlements" are homes for people brought in from around the world, and are at a good cheap price. They have malls, parks, pools and all the amenities of a nice city. Unfortunately, they are often built on land that used for farming by the Palestinians. This, then, is one of the issues here in Occupied Palestine.
So, what am I doing here. As I indicated to people before I left, we are Ecumenical Accompaniers (EA's). That means we are WITH people here as they go through their daily experiences. The 2 main areas are the Checkpoint from Bethlehem into the "expanded" Jerusalem and in the villages around Bethlehem being impacted by the Settlements.
The checkpoint is an EARLY day. People have to go through the checkpoint as they go from Bethlehem (Area A) into the Jerusalem area (Area C). It's not that far from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, where people work, but the checkpoint adds about an hour and a half to two hours to some people's travels.
This Checkpoint (called Checkpoint 300 or Gila Checkpoint) is like going to the airport. There is a line to check your id's and ticket, and line for the metal detector, and finally a line for final verification that you are permitted into Jerusalem.
This picture shows the line waiting to get into the Checkpoint (see the Wall on the left) in the morning. This is what the line looks like at 4:30 in the morning.
This picture shows the line for the Metal Detector. They have to remove their belts, shows and any metal from their pockets and go through a personal scanner, while their stuff goes through the metal detector.
The picture to the right shows the final verification, where each person puts his id card on a card reader, then his hand in the hand machine to scan his/her prints, before being told whether she/he can go into Area A.
A bit much? I'd say.
Anyway, we are there counting, calling hotlines if things slow down, trying to help people out as they go thru this EVERY DAY.
The second set of work items is being with people in the villages. There are about 8 villages that we visit. The issues are - the wall being planned in an area near the village which will result in the people not being able to get to their lands; schools being searched and tear gassed by the army because the kids may have thrown rocks; house demolitions because Israel has determined that their paperwork isn't complete or they built without asking permission; kids harrassed on the way to school by settlers and/or the Israeli army; and more.
The prior post shows one of the villages - Umm Salamona. I will try to be better about putting up stories from the other villages and the people in the villages. People we meet all have their own story, and it's amazing what they have been through.
OK, that's enough for this post. I hope you can comment on it. Feel free to email me if you can't. I may not respond immediately, but I will respond. The pictures do not seem to be coming out in the right place, so I also hope you can read it.
Peace to all of you, and Peace to the people in this land.
I am an Ecumenical Acompanier (EA) for the World Council of Church Ecumenical Advocacy Programme in Palestine and Israel. The views herein are personal and do not necesssarily reflect the views of the WCC. If you would like to disseminate the information contained herein, please first contact the EAPPI Communications Officer at eappi-co@jrol.com. You may also contact the US office at www.eappi-us.org. Peace
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