Bethlehem News Updates: Number 4, 11-16-08

Karahan Mete [Karahan.mete@gmail.com]

Benim iki Amerikali arkadasim Filistine gonullu olarak gittiler. Amaclari onlara yadimci olmak. 6 ya veya bir sene orada kalmayi planliyorlar. Onlarin gonderdigi emalleri okudukca icim burkuluyor. Onceki emailleri gondermedim; fakat bundan soraki emailleri sizinle paylasmanin uygun olacagini dusundum. Cunki bu emaller bize oradaki olaylarin ve yasamin gercek yuzunu yansitiyor. Bu emiller bize emperyalizmin acimsiz, inaslikla alaksi olmayan vahis yuzunu gosteriyor. Bu guce tellaligini yapan  dunya basininin nekadar tarafli oldugu ve basinin hangi guclerin elinde oldugu birkez daha gosteriyor. Nerde domokrasi ve insan haklari telallari?
Israelin Filistinlilere yatigini Turkiye yapmis olsaydi neler olacagini siz dusunun. Bu konuda soylenecek cok sey var. Geirsisni sizin gorulerinze birakiyorum.
KM

Forwarded message
From: Patricia Daugherty <pdmc1234@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 3:38 PM
Subject: Bethlehem News Updates: Number 4, 11-16-08
To: Maggie Coulter <mcpd1234@gmail.com>

Bethlehem News, Volume 4, Sunday, November 16, 2008

As we sit down to write this week’s update it seems hard to believe we have already been in Palestine for one month!  Our days are always full – with both planned and spontaneous happenings.  (Note: If you have not received our 3 previous updates, please let us know.  Also, please pass these on to others who would be interested. And if you don’t want to receive our updates, just let us know.)

This week we will limit our update to describing our visit on Friday to Wadi Fukeen.  It encapsulates the bittersweet experience of Palestine: the persistent hope, tenacity and grace in the jaws of a virulent Israeli occupation of land theft, settlement building, environmental damage and ethnic cleansing.

Visiting Wadi Fukeen

Wadi (Arabic for valley) Fukeen is located in the Bethlehem district. As the crow flies, it is almost as close to the old city of Jerusalem as it is to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.  Distances are not far here – but for Palestinians this does not equate with ease of movement. For nearly all Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem might as well be in California as they are not allowed to travel there without a difficult-to-get Israeli-issued permit (*more info below).

We had received two invitations to visit Wadi Fukeen, one from the young woman studying about the environment, mentioned in last week’s update and one from a young man who was working the hotel where a conference we attended was held. As we made plans to visit, we realized that we also had another contact (from Sacramento), an Israeli peace activist working with the people of Wadi Fukeen.

We took a Bethlehem taxi, which, because it had Palestinian license plates, could only travel a few miles of the well-maintained settlement bypass road, before being diverted off to a poorly maintained road to the village. The bypass road, which continued on to the illegal Israeli only settlement, Beitar Illit, was built on land stolen from Bethlehem district towns and villages. And the Jewish-only settlement itself was built on stolen land from the villages of Wadi Fukeen and Nahhalin.

As we traveled down the potholed, single lane road, we passed through ancient terraced hills of olive trees into a small beautiful fertile valley; stone farm houses formed the central village.  Further on were fields planted with lush vegetables tucked in on the valley floor.  Since this is a dry place, seeing these beautiful green vegetables was quite a sight!

But the other sight from which one can not escape is the massive and looming settlement snaking along the length of the ridge and spilling down towards the village homes. Everyone in the village has lost land to this illegal settlement and the land theft continues.  As your eye follows the settlement along the ridge you see more housing units being constructed.  Beyond that, one sees where the hill has been leveled flat for more construction.  Rocks and dirt scraped from the hill were pushed into the next valley, covering olive groves belonging to the village of Nahhalin. While building of the illegal Israeli settlements continues unabated, construction in the Palestinian villages is completely restricted by Israel. Our Israeli contact told us that recently, when villagers asked the Israeli authorities what land they might be able to build on in the future, they were told that all the remaining available land would be taken for the settlement.

It is difficult to comprehend how Palestinians cope with this ever-present threat to their future and that of their children. Looking at the scar left from bulldozing the ridge top, we were reminded of Har Homa, the huge illegal settlement we see everyday from Bethlehem.  Har Homa used to be covered with a forest; it had been designated by Israeli as a “nature preserve”, a euphemism for land they would eventually steal.  Just 10 years ago the Israelis mowed down the trees, flatted the hill top and replaced the forest with what looks like a concrete jungle.  It must have been sickening for the families of Bethlehem to watch, unable to change the outcome. This all took place in plain view from the Church of the Nativity as did the construction of the huge cement apartheid wall that presumably provides security to the settlement.

After sage tea and delicious baked flat bread of zataar (like oregano) and cheese, we went off to see the vegetable fields, meeting and talking with people along the way. Wadi Fukeen is blessed by 11 natural springs.  These flow into a series of rectangular collection pools from which water is let out as needed to irrigate the fields. This is traditional farming method.

Settlers have come into the village, taken off their clothes and gone swimming in the pools, contaminating the water. Villagers have posted signs in Hebrew asking them not to do this. We have heard stories of deliberate contamination of the water by settlers in other areas of the West Bank   In the past, Wadi Fukeen’s spring water was potable – but we were told that it is no longer safe to drink, in part due to the settler contamination.  Now villagers must buy their drinking water from Mekorot, the Israeli water company that basically steals the water from the deep aquifer that is under the Palestinian West Bank. (Palestinians are not allowed to drill wells without Israel’s permission.)

Our village friends pointed out a large open pipe below the settlements. The pipe is an overflow for the settlement sewage (which is set up to be piped to Jerusalem for treatment). When the system overflows, raw sewage comes out of the pipe, down the hillside, contaminating the vegetable fields below.  The farmers have tried to ameliorate the problem by building large raised beds and diverting the source of contamination away from the beds.  However, as we write this we just received an email saying that the sewage is flowing again

The trip home

After more tea and gifts of vegetables we prepared to return to Bethlehem.  In the center of the village we met up with school kids from the Aida Refugee Camp (in Bethlehem) on an afternoon field trip. A wonderful outing for kids living in very cramped conditions next to the Apartheid Wall, which cut off the last remaining near-by open space for them – an olive grove. (see ** below for more on Aida Camp) The kids and adults were waiting for their bus which had a flat tire, so we tagged along to wait, chatting more with our young village friends and playing with the kids.  It was nearly dark when the bus finally came.

As the bus bumped down the road and we watched a harvest moon rise, suddenly the bus came to a halt with a repeated whisper of “Jaysh” (Arabic for army – the Israeli soldiers).  All the men were ordered off the bus, both Palestinians and internationals. An armed Israeli soldier got on the bus walking down the aisle; at one point some of his gear got caught the hair of a little girl. The children were quiet. The young men got back on and we proceeded.  Then suddenly there was crying and screaming!  The bus lurched to a stop again. Children were running in the aisle.  Patricia (who was in the back of the bus) heard several yell, “grenade!”  The children were helped to file off the bus. Several had to be held tightly and consoled as they were screaming in pure terror.  Thankfully, it soon it became clear that it was just a bus malfunction. A hole had blown in the heating system and steam had gushed out.  But these are children who have witnessed Israeli military incursions into their camp – into their homes.  A grenade on the bus after the soldier walked down the aisle was a real possibility in their minds.

We finished the day by attending a sister city event in the Bethlehem Peace Center.  (Czestochowa, Poland to Bethlehem, Palestine)  The Representative of the Republic of Poland to the Palestinian National Authority talked about Poland’s connection to Palestine, as two peoples who have been occupied, had their people killed and their land stolen. He offered his hope that Palestine, like Poland would also one day have its freedom from occupation and its lands restored.

* Israelis are can visit Wadi Fukeen in the Palestinian West Bank.  However, Israel forbids the people of Wadi Fukeen to travel in Israel without a permit.  In reality, these are rarely given except in extenuating circumstances like an illness requiring hospital treatment.

**  Aida camp is one of three refugee camps in the Bethlehem district.  We have mentioned Dheisheh camp (the largest) in past updates.  These refugee camps have been in existence since 1948 when upwards of 800,000 Palestinians (3/4 of the population) were either forcibly expelled or forced out in fear for their lives in the months before and after Israel declared itself a state.<–>