Back in Nusairat, all
furiously typing away, after several days without computer access.
I am not sure where to begin; the list of events is long.
We left
for the south on Thursday, paying another visit to the Abu Holy
or Kefar Dorom checkpoint. We attempted to negotiate opening the
checkpoint, but the soldiers were unresponsive and we so we waited
for 2 hours, snacking on corn on the cob and sesame snacks. The
car in front of us had two goats in the trunk, so our new expression
for "Yalla" (Let's go) is "Put the goats in the
trunk, we're leaving." For those of you who don't know about
Kefar Dorom: we talked to folks on our first day who had been
waiting five days for the check point to open and, once it is
open, there is no "checking." No looking at I.D.s -
people are just waved through. An other example of arbitrary humiliation
of people - particularly difficult for those folks (many) who
work or go to one of the 4 universities in Gaza City (north),
because this checkpoint is the only way from north to south. No-one
can walk across or travel by horse, bicycle or donkey (or goat,
I imagine). And each car must have at least 3 people. Within site
of the checkpoint is an immaculately paved expressway and bridge
for the settlers.
Once
on the southern side, we met an upper class family who are now
being denied access to their home (built on land that has been
in the family for 3 generations) because it is too close to the
bridge. We tried, with them, to gain access to the house, to no
avail: "closed military zone," "security risk,"
"terrorists..." was the language we faced. This family
is furious and feels that, in a sense, their presence would discourage
any dangerous activities and they have lived there throughout
this Intifada without any trouble in the area. A pharmacist and
his wife (and their brother who works for the UN), they have resources
to rent another home. A few meters away, a Bedouin woman brought
me into her tent, where she lives with her children since her
house was bulldozed by the military.
From
there we went to the checkpoint at the village of El Muwasi. I
don't have all the details with me (I have a report from an human
rights organisation), but think about this: El Muwasi is adjacent
to the settlements and was once an area of great agricultural
production. Every citizen of this village has been issued a special
identity card and been given a number. I saw one man's passport
with his number in black marker. Only residents of this village
can go in or out. And sometimes they can do neither. We met men
who had been waiting for days to get back into the village - men
who worked for the Authority and the UN who were not being allowed
to get to their homes. Several groups of internationals have attempted
to gain access - like them, we had no luck.
Rafah
- Three days in Rafah and we met the most amazing people. In some
ways, it felt strange to be paraded around to sit with the mayor,
the go to the governor's office (the rep of the PA, sort of a
symbolic post, I'm told), to meet with politicians. But, that
seemed to be protocol and useful in developing relationships and
talking about ISM. The mayor of Rafah holds open hours next to
his home, every night till 11pm. People sit around a circle in
the sand and, he says, citizens are welcome to come an address
any issues they have. Here we met the man who runs what is called
"the Children's Parliament" in Rafah and he became our
host for the next day. He brought us to the General Union of Palestinian
Women, where women are taught crafts, have lectures and classes
and are organizing to open a shop to sell the crafts. Fatma, the
director, seems a fierce organizer and a bit of the Eleanor Roosevelt
of Rafah. I would have liked to spend more time there.
Walking
through the market, we received an invitation to meet with one
of the leadership of Hamas, which we did. This man was the most
genuine of all the folks we'd met and was really the first person
in Gaza that seemed to understand the goals of ISM - he was familiar
with the work in the West Bank, but he also just seemed to get
the idea of using our status as internationals to support indigenous
organizers. I honestly hadn't heard much about Hamas beyond the
military wing. The projects of the social wing include media services
(a weekly newpaper), construction of schools and clinics, sports
centers, aid for families of prisoners and martyrs, gardens. This
man has worked on "coalition building" (my word, not
his) between the different political factions. I asked about women
in leadership and he said that there are women in leadership (I'm
not sure to at what level) and specific women's projects. The
conversation reminded me of perceptions of the Black Panther Party
as purely a black militant group, forgetting the larger mission.
This man said that he was glad we were spending our Independence
Day with him. I will write about the Children's Parliament later.
I will
end by saying that I had brought June Jordan's book "Living
Room" with me and began to read the poems my first night
in Rafah. She writes about independence day as memorializing the
"only legitimate revolution in history" and I shared
with the group poems written for the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
Published in 1985. So much is still the same.
