Hi Family
and friends,
Qalqilya is a good thing. Everyone on the
street and at the Red Crescent is
very smiley and friendly, and our work is necessary and I feel
like it's
doable.
Ronise decided to take a few days off to
recuperate from her work. It's
exhausting to lipread all the time, and only Jennie was interpreting
for
her. Brave and beautiful and sparky and heartful Ronise is the
first deaf
ISMer. She is not only resting in Al Ram, but editing the footage
she shot
in Deheishe. She'll rejoin future ISM actions soon.
Right now there are 12 people in the group
here. I am so very impressed
with the group members' heart and initiative. People are responsible
and
eager to work, and also eager to do work that supports the group.
This
dynamic makes me believe in the ISM -- it really can work! For
me it's a
transition into working by consensus, but really it makes me feel
like I'm
living in the utopian part of my favorite book (Marge Piercy's
Woman on the
Edge of Time). It does feel futuristic. Unfortunately several
of the
members are leaving this weekend. I hope more people come to replace
them.
I am comfortable with the ISMers, but it's
also not really stepping outside
my comfort zone to spend time with the Palestinians we're working
with. I
feel welcomed here, and useful.
Qalqilya is more conservative than some
places, and my tsnius (modesty of
dress) and negiyah (no cross-gender touching) training from childhood
comes
in handy. I keep covered up, and don't make eye contact with the
men,
mostly. The women are so beautiful here, and the kids, of course,
are
adorable. Especially the mischevious one who hit me in the leg
with a
pebble this morning when I was lost on the way from the apartment
we're
staying in (donated) to the Red Crescent. Through the magic of
cellphones I
was soon found.
This morning 4 of us went with the beautiful
and fierce Souhad and the
affable Hassam across the settler road (guarded) to visit the
town of Hable.
On the way there we talked to a farmer (on the Qalqilya side)
and walked
around his fields and orchards. While we were walking in his orchard
near
the road, the soldiers fired rubber bullets at us, so we turned
tail and
ran. Ester (cool Spanish ISMer) was hit in the shoulder, is fine,
will have
a bruise.
We then crossed the road through negotiating
with the soldiers. We
approached from far away holding our passports high, and they
were really
dumb with us, Where are you from, Do you know anybody in New Jersey,
etc.
The choicest part was when they said, Why do you want to go to
Hable? It's
not really a friendly, safe place. I recommend other towns in
Israel, etc.
Really, not as safe/friendly as here, where you just shot at us?
Ester was
biting her tongue.
So they let us pass, including the 2 Palestinians
who were waiting far back,
and we toured Souhad's father's farm. The person running it is
a cousin of
hers from Qalqilya who hasn't been home to see his family for
3 months. The
farm is dying, because he can't sell to Israelis anymore, and
the cost of
transporting produce to other parts of the West Bank has skyrocketed. He
gets harassed by the soldiers daily because the farm is close
to the road.
When the wall along the Green Line is built, the small piece of
land between
it and the settler road will be squeezed and probably razed, "for
security
purposes." The farm is so beautiful, with its fields and
hards, a viney
gazebo, and clear views of the town of Hable and the so-close
settlement
neighbor. How much more beautiful it must have been before, when
there was
enough income from the produce, and no settlement or wall or soldiers
or
Caterpillar driving through.
Tonight is my first ambulance shift, from
10 to 8am tomo morning. From
the looks of it, it will consist of a lot of sitting around in
the Red
Crescent, shooting the breeze with the drivers, with some rides
thrown in.
I am excited to do some work, finally. Tomorrow I think I will
do
checkpoint watch in the afternoon, not sure yet.
I miss you, and feel your support. Give
me a call if you have the funds to talk for a few minutes: 972.67.338.935.
Everybody takre and be well.
love,k
