I wanted
to start out with some quotes I had with someone I met from Dair
El-Balah (a village at the southern end of the middle area of
the Gaza strip). He's a teacher and had some things to say which
struck me powerfully. His name is Abel.
"We
don't ask the moon we just ask peace"
Speaking
about Israeli bulldozing of orchards:
"cutting
trees, is this normal? When I cut a piece of a tree I feel pain."
"They
use tanks against unarmed people but the Palestinian people will
never submit."
Referring
to an assassination attempt in Khan Yunis two days ago (still
not sure if they actually got the person they were aiming for
though they definitely killed at least one):
"This
morning they destroyed a court of justice. By doing this they
destroyed justice."
Obviously
I don't agree with his opinion on this next one but I think its
a powerful statement nonetheless and totally understandable:
"I
don't believe that Hitler killed 6 million Jews because if he
did they would not be doing this to us."
Just
a few quotes from a random Palestinian I met. As I've said before
I want to try to communicate as many direct quotes from Palestinians
as I can.
A little
bit of updates on my own personal situation:
As I
said before I am now the International Solidarity Movement Organizer
for Gaza. Pretty crazy, who'd of thought I'd get a new job title
while I was here? I changed my ticket today to return September
18th to LA. It was a crazy decision to make but I feel like
there's a lot of important work to be done here and in the end
decided that since I've spent so much money to get here (again
thank you to all of you who helped to make that possible through
your generous support) I might as well ride out my three month
visa since I don't know when I'll have that kind of money or time
again. I miss LA already but that's okay. Most of my time this
summer will obviously be spent in Gaza, I was looking forward
to going to Jenin which was what the plan was before I was asked
to stay here but I've always said I will go where I'm needed most
and there's no questioning the fact that there is a lot of need
and desire for internationals in Gaza even if there aren't tanks
on every street corner.
I don't
remember where I left off in the second to last email update but
I'll start with my second trip to Rafah which I'm sure was after
that update.
We travelled
to Rafah on 7/12. We met again with the Children's Parliament
there and I learned a lot more about what the organization does
there. They work with children 11-16 years old. They organize
letter writing campaigns, provide services to children, particularly
psychological services, organize exchange trips to other countries
including Germany, Lebanon and Egypt (Children travel from Rafah
to these countries and they bring children from these countries
to Rafah) to promote contact between children internationally.
The main organizer is wanted by Israel for inciting children.
He's also not on Arafat's most favored list as Arafat has imprisoned
him in the past for refusing to heed Arafat's orders. The children
are amazing and are so amazing to interact with. They can't understand
how the international community allows them to suffer under occupation
the way they do.
Note
to YOC folks: I mentioned my role as a youth organizer in Los
Angeles to the organization and they are very interested in setting
up youth to youth ties with folks in the US. I'll talk to people
about this when I return but just something to think about in
the meantime.
This
night I attempted to stay in the Brazil area of the refugee camp
with some of the same friends I had met there earlier in a home
threatened with demolition. We walked to the home at night but
when we got there they became extremely frightened (more for us
than for themselves. We have found that Palestinians put the safety
of internationals before
there own all the time) The family had left the home and was staying
with relatives and so they convinced us not to stay there either
as we wouldn't really be helping to be present with anyone anyway.
When we were near the house we saw the Israeli's fire two flares
in the air. These are used to light up an area. It usually means
that some kind of heavy military operation will follow in the
night. We walked to one of their friends places to spend the night
in the town of Rafah. We passed the night without further event.
This really made me angry. I can't imagine living like this, never
knowing if your home will be destroyed in the night. Never knowing
when bullets will tear through your home. Living in constant fear.
Whole families forced to leave their homes even before they are
destroyed because their afraid of the house being brought down
on top of them. Again I ask how can anyone do this to another
human being?
