Many of you must be wondering what it has been like here since Arafat died. On Thursday, the day oafter he died, the Israelis closed the West Bank and Gaza, so things were back to the way they were before they caught the Hamas guy in Hebron. Soldiers created more roadblocks out of dirt piles, and more random check points, and made it very difficult to go anywhere.
On Friday the whole team went to Tuwani so we got to experience what it was like. To get out of Hebron we had to take a cab to an enlarged dirt pile/road block. We had to cross the paved settler road and go over another dirt pile to catch a cab on the other side. There was a tank at the paved road and soldiers checking IDs and refusing to allow Palestinians to cross. They let us cross, but we had to convince them, and we weren't sure we would be able to get back later. Palestinians were flying black flags as a sign of mourning, and schools were closed for a week, so people were out and about. Later, when we came back to Hebron the tank was still there, but we had no problem crossing the road. At that point, Palestinians had stopped trying.
One team member went to Jerusalem the next morning and it took three hours (normally a half hour) because the van had to drive all over the place to find a way in. He had to get out and walk several times, because the roads truly were blocked.
It seemed odd to me that the Israelis thought it was a good idea to intensify oppression of Palestinians as a fitting way to mark Arafat's death. All it does is get people angry.
We planted trees in Tuwani on Friday. You may remember in an earlier email I talked about how settlers and soldiers had uprooted olive trees there. The land belonged to Saber, the village leader, or mayor, but the Israeli army confiscated it, naming it state land, because it sits right next to the settlement fence. So as an act of nonviolent resistence, we replanted the trees. We don't know how long they will last, but now that so much attention is being paid to Tuwani, they have a better chance. The team will plant more in two weeks.
There is hope for Tuwani, but it is too soon to tell if the improvements that have been made as a result of the assault will last. They are building the clinic now without disturbance from the army. This is a major victory, because with the infrastructure of a school and a clinic, it will be much harder to destroy. Because of the attention after the assault, Israeli public opinion is less likely to stand for it. I may have mentioned earlier that two small villages close to Tuwani were evacuated several years ago due to settler harrassment. All the people moved to Yatta. The settlers have taken the land and plowed and planted it.
The children are getting to school with a three-jeep escort, but are still getting harrassed by settlers, who do not seem to care if army and civil administration are present. The only time the settlers behave themselves is when police are present, and this is rare.
Tuwani is improving its road as part of the clinic construction, and this is unimpeded by the army. They have been promised water and electricity, but it has not yet been delivered. I have my doubts, but we will keep up the pressure. I'm proud of the progress that has been made, due largely to pressure from US government officials and media attention.
I have no evidence that there is a real investigation of the assault happening. I doubt it.
Meanwhile, one of my teammates was detained again at the checkpoint near our house. We were walking through it to get to the van service the Jerusalem, and they stopped him. He fits a profile they are told to look for: young, dark, male. They detained him for about 30 minutes while they called the police, who came within five minutes. Eventually they let him go, after they realized they had no evidence he is a terrorist. I doubt that the Israelis would appreciate it if similar racial profiling was done against them.
No comments:
Post a Comment