Week1 (Tubas, Jordan Valley, Nablus, Ramallah) / Week 2 (Beit Surik, Jerusalem)

Week 2 - Beit Surik, Jerusalem.

1. Thursday 10 November.

Driven and guided by Jamal from Stop the Wall, we arrived in Beit Surik early evening to be welcomed, briefed and grilled by the academic forum of 15 graduate and undergraduate men. This forum was set up in 2000 - before the bulldozers arrived - and aims to strengthen links between graduates and students and to ensure that talents are developed and used to their full potential. Members of the forum provided accommodation for us during our stay, guided us around Beit Surik and ensured that we met as many people as possible. The forum will be the first contact in future communications on twinning.

1.2. During the meeting, they explained that the committee positions on the forum are by election. Decisions are reached by consensus. There are about 300 students or graduates out of a population of 4,000 – a high proportion.

1.3. The forum told us people are desperate - they are losing their heritage, as good quality agricultural land is destroyed. "We wish it could be in good times that we received you, to show a happy side of ourselves." The Haradar settlement, formerly a Jordanian military base, took 13,000 dunams of Beit Surik land. High on the hillside Haradar commands a clear view of Jerusalem and over-looks Beit Surik. A further 14,000 dunums under threat was saved by the struggle to move the Wall's path. At present the village has about 5-6,000 dunums, and the forum expects the next phase to be bulldozing to make pathways for the 'footprint' of the Wall. The most fertile and beautiful places are usually chosen. This doesn’t make sense – more dunums under threat than they have!

1.4. A railway planned to connect west bank settlements with Tel Aviv, and complete with a 'security wall', will further eat into Beit Surik land.

1.5. Beit Surik used to export peaches –at least 3 lorries a day loaded with fruit. Women took produce to Jerusalem to sell. Since the 1980s road closures have shut off the markets, and the women may spend hours waiting at the checkpoints to get through. In addition the water has been cut as the Israeli Makarot company turned off the supply.

2. Friday 11 November

2.1. Abu's farm: The family grows mulberry, grapes, peaches, olives, peas, figs, pomegranates, cucumber, spinach, radishes; and keeps sheep, chicken and sheep. From his garden the wall was very plain to see, and Abu told us that a soldier had taken a pot shot at him – for carrying a garden tool. "What do you want to see," he asked, "that I and my family die on the land?" He showed us tear gas cartridges fired onto his farm by the Israelis. At least three of the family generations were picking olives while we were there, and some of our delegation helped a bit – admittedly a token gesture.

March 31st 2006 - Sadly Abu Johar died whilst farming his land on 31st March. Palestine Land Day, his passing was mourned in tradition fashion by his extended family. I was honoured to be invited to attend the family meal three days after his death to pay my respects. The following Friday, in keeping with Muslim tradition a meal was provided for the people of the village after Friday prayers.

2.2. Touring around. As Husein guided us around Beit Surik he explained more about the settlements in the area. The houses in Haradar, Castel and Colonia are used as holiday homes by wealthy, often military, families from Europe. Castel and Colonia were Roman settlements 2,000 years ago and tourism is planned there. So are swimming pools. The settlers have built a well in the valley, taking water supplies away from Beit Surik. Struggles broke out when sewage form the settlements polluted Beit Surik land, and it is hoped that this has now been solved. However, a spring is polluted by settlement sewage.

A deep well built by the Israelis which has drained most of Beit Surik's wells of water.

The remaining source of water. Originally even this main source of water was to be on the Israeli side of the wall.

As the villagers are not allowed to burn refuse because the smoke would go towards the settlements, rubbish dumps gather round the village. This pollutes the water supply and gives the settlers the excuse to remark 'Look where the Arabs are dumping their rubbish'. Husein told us that the village suspected that waste from the nuclear plant at Dimona came into the area.

2.3.The first indication a land-owner may have that he is about to be dispossessed is a Military Order – a badly photocopied piece of paper thrown on to his land, giving him 7 days' notice to object to his land being seized by the IDF - in the interests of 'security' of course. If he goes to the court, the landowner is told that it’s a military affair – not the court's concern.

2.4. One morning Husein collected us to show where the bulldozers had just been – tearing up olive trees owned by an old couple whose family had lived for generations on that land. The work had stopped as the bulldozer broke down but blue tags and red markings indicated where the work would carry on. All in the interests of security of course. As I type I realise that many people in Beit Surik may have received that piece of paper thrown on to their land since I saw them a week ago.

2.5.'Clips' of info

Givat Ze'er: An Israeli special forces unit, armed and speaking god Arabic, seized 4-5 children, and forced the family to pay ransom of 5,000 – 15,000 shekels.

Wafa's sister: Her husband is in Ramallah military prison and has never seen his son aged 5. He expects to spend another 5 years incarcerated. The family have to pay for food for him in prison, if he is to eat adequately.

Update April 2006 - Good news. With the help of an Israel Human Rights lawyer, they finally got to visit their husband and Father in January. The second visit in April had to be aborted when Israeli troops refused top let them go through the checkpoint. A common problem for Palestinian visiting their husbands and children in prison.

2.6. The brothers. In 1988 Abdel and his brother were followed by 6 soldiers away from a demonstration and into a vineyard, where they were shot – Abdul in the leg, and his brother fatally (though Adbul did not know this at the time). They were left lying for 40 minutes, while Abdul heard a soldier being told over the walkie-talkie to 'kill the second one'. (Abdul speaks Hebrew). The soldier asked him if he wanted a shot through the head, but then the IDF left. The village was curfewed and the IDF stopped the Red Crescent from collecting the brothers . Treated in Jerusalem hospital, it was 4 days before Abdul was told that his brother was dead.

Another of the brothers was told that the small house he was building in Beit Surik was not allowed. In 1990 the house was demolished –and the land is now 'occupied' by the Wall. 1990 - so the Israelis had the Wall planned long before they started building it … The brother is mentally ill, and on medication.

|A fourth brother served 3 years in jail in the late 1980s for being an 'activist'. i.e. well before the Wall was started, and he is not allowed to build a small house in Beit Surik – because the land as needed for the Wall.

2.7. Family with 3 disabled children. Their land on which they rely for food has been seized for the wall construction. Their son, a Doctor, is in prison. Having three disabled children, no work, no land as well as having to find money to send to their son (Israeli's don't feed prisoners very well) is clearly having a devastating effect on this family. They proudly display a political poster of their son in their flat.

2.8. Asked how he deals with hatred, a maths. graduate replied, " You don’t, it is with you all the time."

2.9. Beit Isza: Sabry's house is surrounded by the Harasha settlement. "We don't know what will happen. It’s all in the hands of God". They will probably destroy the houses.

Update 2007 - The house is now cut off by the wall, which is in a deep trench, across which there is a small bridge for this family to use to get to their house. The fence is to be moved 1.5 metres closer to the house and a 6 metre high wall is to be build effectively cutting out all sunlight.

3. Women's Group.

3.1. Wendy and Dot met with about 15 of the members of this group, comprising women of various ages. Set up in January 2004, the group is a licensed association with 40 members who each pay IS50 to join. The group aims to develop the role of women in culture and to co-operate with other Palestinian organisations. The women took part in the demonstrations against the Wall: "The land is our life." The women explained that unemployment, prison for members of their families, and the cost of fines were major problems they tried to deal with. People are hoarding large stores of basic foodstuffs, in expectation of the results of more land seizures. With the help of an Italian delegation lessons on women's health, the issues arising from early marriage and customary marriage, and domestic violence have been held.

3.2. The women would like to see a nursery established, and a playground so that their children so not have to play in the street. They are keen to help poorer families in Beit Surik, and help to set up small businesses. 13 women have been trained in hairdressing, which enables them to work outside the village. Sewing and embroidery is taught and clothes and embroidered goods made. Their market is local. A Canadian organisation has supplied them with 2 sewing machines, and another machine is needed to enable them to expand production and to sell outside the village. They also need computers, a photocopier, tables and chairs.

3.3. We expressed interest in buying some of the embroidered products, but there were none in stock. A provisional agreement was reached that if we put money up front for raw materials they would be able to produce cushion covers in time for Christmas in UK.

4. Development Association: Women's Group.
Not officially a women-only group, the second group of women we met (Dot, Wendy, David) reiterated the view that employment is of central importance. The group encourages women to participate in local politics. The women run projects on gardening, first aid, and culture and said that projects must be inclusive, available for everyone in the village. For the children, low confidence and large class size in the schools were big issues, with the kids not performing as well as they could. The children are taken for day trips out (photos were shown of the kids in a swimming pool…) as "there's no learning without play", and it was important that the kids learn to express themselves and to use their energy well. Ways must be found for young people to fill their time usefully – the lack of a playground is a big problem.

4.1.The arrival of Wajda with her baby during the meeting opened up the atmosphere – everyone relaxed and 2 women 'took over' baby Francis immediately.

4.2. The group runs advice sessions on motherhood and adolescence problems. For twinning they stressed that it was important that a very specific project was identified.

4.3. The group also runs a sewing and embroidery project and as they had a stock of cushion covers we all bought some for our own use and for sale. It was agreed that if we need more before Christmas Wajda would collect and transport them. (She leaves for the UK on 7 December) The problem of transport if we succeed in developing a market will have to be looked into.

4.4. The Wall and the land issue became the focus once again. The women pointed out that they couldn't harvest the olives as the grove were the other side of the Wall, and we (us delegates) must tell every-one that: "We are in a cage here". We should have come to Beit Surik long ago! The garden project will not be enough to support families which lose their land. There is nothing here for university students – no library (which is needed for all age groups) or a place to study and no photocopier. Grants are hard to get, and while some organisations have given books and run play days, they have since disappeared. The checkpoints and road blocks add to marketing problems – they could produce pickles, for example, but would not be able to find a market.

4.5. While the needs for this community were clearly extensive, the women emphasised that not all the help they are looking for is material – solidarity is also important.

5. Boys' school

5.1. 429 pupils of grades 1-12, and 23 teachers; 27 pupils per class. There was a separate staff room for the 2 female teachers. Funding is inadequate. In winter cold is a problem: electric stoves are too expensive and gas bottles are dangerous. The head had visited an Israeli school - to see the pupils in short sleeves, in winter, while his pupils shivered. "The Ministry forbids us to have heaters because they can’t pay the bills." "They are imprisoning us outside, they are also imprisoning us in class," he said. The corridors, classrooms and staff rooms were all very bare. The storage cupboards were empty. "This is a place for keeping sheep, not a school," commented teacher Musa. Kamal summarised it all: While thanking us for coming and for our support he added: "We lost friends, we lost land, we lost our kids. You stay on – then you go back, we are here and suffer and suffer and suffer."

The view from the playground - soon the wall will be clearly visible.

Classrooms are divided to create more rooms, and very overcrowded.

5.2. We were told that three pupils were arrested in the resistance against the Wall, and one was unable to come back to school after his 8 months in prison as he could not return to the same class. Many of the pupils have psychological problems. With funds from an NGO a new school is planned for 300 pupils with the 17-18 olds in separate schooling. It is felt, the head told us, that the habits of the older pupils influenced the younger ones. Funding is from the Ministry of Education. While the boys love sports there is no sports field anywhere in Beit Surik, only some equipment – but not much. The focus is on city, not rural, schools, a teacher told us. "Children want to learn, but this is not a school". "We want to learn, want to live, we just want our rights," added maths teacher Kamal . "How can we teach our children peace when they are living in a big prison?" The Wall is close by and clearly visible from the school.

6. Girls' school

With 420 pupils it is similar in size to the boys' school, but a bit shorter of staff – 20 teachers. It is also very different in its physical ambiance. Many models, including of Jerusalem and Beit Surik were exhibited in the corridors and paintings by the pupils covered the walls. The head explained that a history teacher from Jerusalem and an art teacher had both worked at the school to develop these assets. The school receives funding from Saudi Arabia, and includes a science lab. which seems well-equipped.

7. Beit Duqqn

7.1.A few kilometres from Beit Surik is Beit Duqqn, a village of some 1,600 people. There we met with…who told us that their organisation was formed in 1967. It runs a number of projects in culture, health, infrastructure and provisions for women and for young people. We noticed that the provisions in the building where we met seemed much more extensive than in the meeting room in Beit Surik. At least 12 computers were included, where people learnt IT skills There was also a cupboard full of embroidery work similar to that in Beit Surik. We had the impression that Beit Duqqn received funding from a number of NGOS and/or governmental bodies.

7.2. There has been a lot of contact between Beit Duqqn and 'internationals'. For the last 4 years 30-35 people from Europe have come for 17 days to work camps to pick grapes. …said he very much hopes this sort of contact – with ordinary people like us - would continue.

7.3. Beit Duqqn still (?p. .65). The situation now is better than it was a year ago when land closures and killings occurred. And p. 68:. There was a 6 month cut in the water supply, as the court action moved the well. There was no pressure from the well for the water to reach up, and water deprivation was seen as a punishment. Rainwater is collected in cisterns in the winter to serve them through the summer.

8. Khalil Tafayyi. Arab studies

"One thing we live on in Palestine is hope. We know that one time, we don't know when we will have our freedom. We ask one thing, when you go back to your country say the truth: that these people are suffering all the time. Every moment of our life from the moment they wake up till when they go to sleep. Just say the truth.

"I think most of the people outside don't know what is happening. They think the Palestinians are terrorists, they are savages. Most people don't know anything about the Palestinian case. They don’t know where Palestine is.

"The people of the world: British, Italian, American, with time they can affect the governments to change their policies supporting Israel. This will be changed because of you. You can change this. In Spain last year I saw demonstrations for 1 million people demonstrating against Israel and the Wall. But this needs to be translated on the land – the simple example is to move the Wall, remove a checkpoint.

"If we didn't have this hope and societies like this, all Palestinian society will change. People will want to kill themselves. We have to help ourself by ourself. We built this society."

9. Meeting with Settlers. About 10 settlers came to a meeting with Beit Surik representatives. They stressed what good relations the two communities have enjoyed – including their support for the action against the Wall. They hoped that football matches could be organised between the two, and after the Wall was completed a gate made for the teams to use! One settler, an immigrant from Hungary, when asked abut the right of return said it just wasn't an option any more. He then went on to say he had regained his Hungarian citizenship. He has dual citizenship. He asserted that the Wall planned now follows the Green Line (!) – and this is just as it should be. Husein told us afterwards out that most of the group had not in fact been present at the demonstrations. While two of them seemed to oppose the Wall completely the others clearly shared the Hungarian's view. A South African woman who 'hated apartheid' insisted vehemently that it was much worse than what the Israelis are doing. She invited Wendy and Dot to tea. Was she aware that we - and our driver - would be held up and questioned at the checkpoint? We confess we had difficulties accepting their views.

The gate built to provide access to the nearby Jewish town and farmlands cut off by the wall. However, villagers often wait for the soldiers to arrive to open it. Additionally, restrictions on some days, such as only letting elderly women pass, make it difficult to continue farming this land. If left unused, it will be seized under an old Ottaman era law, which allows the state to seize land uncared for, after three years. The Israelis still use it.

10. Last night in Beit Surik

10.1 We were surprised with a theatre performance on our last night. The young men of the village performed a dance, a young girl recited a poem and the children acted a out a story about farmers and the wall, which moved us all very much. The horror of Zionism and the effects of the wall could not have been missed.

The children in front of "the wall" picking olives. The man in a blouson jacket with sunglasses is the Israeli.

The villagers carry away the body of a shot farmer, probably he got too close the the wall.

11. Taxi to Jerusalem and some sight seeing. Of course we had to pass some check points, some permanent others simply pop up in the middle of no-where.

11.1 It was noticeable how many people had guns in Jerusalem. We stayed at the Knights Palace Hotel (Latin Patriarchate Street, New Gate - POB 14152. Jerusalem 91141. Tel: 00 972 2628 2537), popular with Catholic pilgrims. Highly recommended.