Hi everybody,
I returned
to Jerusalem from Deir Ibzi'a yesterday. We had an incredible
week there and I don't even know how to begin to describe all
of it to you. But I will try.
The Israeli army had been occupying the village since early March.
Apparently they pulled out just two days before we arrived. Furthermore,
the village had been cut off from its lifeline of Ramallah since
that time. The implications of these facts are more far-ranging
than anyone could initially imagine. The most simple and trivial
tasks of life become extremely complicated, time consuming, and
painful. Additionally the isolation adds a layer of loneliness
and despair that can be felt just below the surface of what might
otherwise look like a peaceful, (at least while we were there)
and quiet village life. Also just below the surface is the awareness
that the Israeli Army will be back at any moment. The fact that
Ramallah has been closed (round the clock curfew and no access)
adds to the bleakness of the despair. (Ramallah has had the curfew
lifted for a few hours on some days and the hope is that it will
become more open. But no one knows what the situation is from
day to day.)
While
the Israeli Army was in the village, they occupied the house of
Deeb, who organized the summer day camp, a total of 15 times because
his house is at the top of a high hill. He is an incredible man
who was born in the village but left at the age of 19 and eventually
ended up in Germany where he stayed for 22 years during which
time he received his education and married a German womyn. He
has very progressive ideas. He is often at odds with his family
and the rest of the village, especially the Village Council who
is the village body under the PA. His common themes are "We
must educate our children" and "We must help ourselves:
Our worst enemy is our own simpleness, not Sharon". He is
also very much against people marrying at such young ages and
having so many children. So his motivation for having the summer
day camp was to provide some education for the children in a fun
way, and more importantly, give them some relief from the oppression
of the Occupation.
I hope
that all of you saw the report that my Affinity Group wrote and
sent to the hurriya list about the summer day camp. I don't want
to repeat that information so I will tell you of the incredible
children that I have come to love. They were so open and loving
and hungry to have contact with "outsiders". They would
ask if we loved Palestine. Did we hate Sharon and Bush? Did we
hate the Israelis? One girl in particular stole my heart. She
was about 11 years old and showed up in a hijab the first day.
She had a very quiet and gentle demeanor but would smile shyly
at me (while the others were shouting and clamoring around and
demanding my
attention with gifts and professions of love.) We had the children
make some games that they could take home. There were to draw
objects that we could write the name of in English and in Arabic.
She drew a helicopter dropping a bomb on a school and another
one of a checkpoint where an Israeli soldier was shooting a villager.
(We didn't know how to label these.) The next day she didn't have
the hijab on because most of the other girls her age did not (more
of the older ones did) and she wanted to fit in. When I organized
a sports game for the girls, (at that point the sports activities
were centered around the boys,) she just looked on from the sidelines.
I encouraged her to join in and she finally did, but played in
a very reserved manner, although she clearly enjoyed playing.
All of the girls clearly enjoyed themselves. Even so, they were
so confined in their bodies. If the ball went out of their range,
it was hard to teach them the concept of running after it.
Deeb's
two daughters, Leila (17) and Nadia (16), are impressive young
womyn who ran the English classes in the camp. They are both very
intelligent and charming. They would help their father show us
around in the afternoons after the camp was over, taking us on
hikes through the village and into the mountains and down to the
spring. The land is beautiful. I mentioned this to Nadia and the
next day she said that my comment surprised her. She had never
thought about it as
beautiful because she doesn't like living there. But she said
that now she is seeing it a bit differently.
She and
Leila have many stories about the hardships of the Occupation.
Especially in the last four months. Due to the closure of the
road, getting to the school they attend in Ramallah was extremely
difficult. At first they walked to school (instead of being able
to take a car which would be a 7 minute ride.) Leila had an exam
one day that she was feeling very anxious about. The soldier at
the checkpoint apparently didn't want to let her through that
day. These things are incredibly arbitrary. She said she didn't
know what had gotten into her but she just kept walking, even
when the soldier yelled at her to stop. She said that all of a
sudden she was just so angry. He ran after her, grabbed her and
put one hand around her throat. Then he slapped her. She took
his off of her throat, slapped it like a mother would a child
and resumed walking. He didn't run after her.
Another
time, when they were going to school, they had to sneak through
the mountains. They were seen by soldiers, but because they were
girls the soldiers left them alone. She said if they had been
boys, they probably would have been shot. Since it was so difficult
going to school from the village, they eventually just stayed
in Ramallah with friends and finished the school year.
When
we left, everyone was really sad to see us go. Especially Nadia
and Leila. They are facing a long and lonely summer. We want to
remain in contact but they cannot even receive mail. Nadia has
an email account but can't access it because she would need to
go to Ramallah to an internet cafe. She has no hope of being able
to do that soon, if ever. Besides, her favorite one was completely
destroyed.
I was
really sad to leave. I couldn't believe how painful it was. In
just a week, I grew to love this family and the children and the
beauty of the village. All of us in the Affinity Group plan to
go back next year and do the camp again. (We named ourselves the
Friends of Deir Ibzi'a Affinity Group.) I also hope to get Oakland
to adopt a resolution making Deir Ibzi'a a sister city. I talked
to the Village Council and they have given me a letter with the
village seal on it stating that they would welcome such a relationship.
Deeb has also asked us to help him to establish an NGO so that
he can get funding for more projects that he has in mind. He has
had no cooperation from the PA and he had difficulty raising the
money for the camp because he is an individual, not an NGO.
So I
have some projects to follow through with when I return. I feel
that I am leaving out so, so many of the important stories. But
this is long enough. The others in my group will undoubtedly write
very different reports and I encourage you to read them on the
Hurriya list. (Just write to hurriya-suscribe@topica.com.) Also,
for more information about the situation of Deir Ibzi'a please
check out the International Checkpoint Watch March and June reports.
(Sorry, I don't know the exact website.)
Thank you all so much for your prayers and support.
Love,
Wendy
