Well this morning the Big Beast of a Man Walid arranged a driver for me & I am leaving Deiheshe. I will travel to Tel Aviv via Jerusalem. Unfortunately Walid can not take me; no young men to the age of about 50 can cross into Israel or travel freely with in the West Bank. It is with great sadness that I leave Deheishe, I have grown so attached to the various butchers, bakers, & shopkeepers who will never let you walk by their shop without pulling you in for mint tea, or the thickest blackest small cup of coffee you could imagine. It is hard to believe that we can call these warm friendly people terrorists or the enemy. What is astounding is that even with all that they endure they are still so loving & gracious. I will certainly miss all of the volunteers friends that I have made, I feel as close to these people after only a few weeks than people I have know for years & years. I will miss them all immensely. Going through these intense experiences as we have all of us so far away from the comforts of our homes it has brought us as close as family, each with their uniquely charming idiosyncrasies and quirks. Most of all I will miss the children, there are really too many to name. That probably more than anything is what gives me hope for this place. These kids despite being born as prisoners are so incredibly positive friendly positive & optimistic. They really are so terrific, at times I wish that we were as gracious of people that these kids laugh so much and are so polite is a quality that still astounds me. I was walking the other day, & thought, I could live here. With no TV’s & believe me very spotty limited computer access they turn to each other & their relationships and bonds are unlike anything I have ever seen. My trip last year to Africa was difficult in a different sense, the families of Sierra Leone struggle for the absolute basics, water, sewage etc. Here ironically they also struggle with water however their water shortage is somewhat symbolic of their entire situation, it...
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Still no water. I just returned from the Church of Nativity this evening where I saw this monk with a crazy wild dog ‘Rambo’ of course I went over to pet the dog & sat & spoke with a Franciscan monk, Leszek, who was looking after the dog. After talking with him about his life as a monk, how he got into the clergy. Anyway Leszek works in the church & was in the church during the 2002 siege & gun battle between the Palestinians & Israeli’s & was fascinating to speak with. Speaking with a person with that kind of insight was quite telling. He has sympathy for the Palestinians. He said it is not even the Palestinians that get hassled crossing the checkpoints he also does as well. He can not transport anything to Jerusalem other than himself. He lectures philosophy in Jerusalem & He pointed out that before 1967 Egypt & Jordan also controlled Palestine. These people are getting it from both sides, their Arab ‘brothers’ & the Israeli’s. He also pointed out an obvious flaw in the 2 state solution the fact that Gaza & the West Bank are geographically distanced from each other. He also pointed out that it would be currently impossible since the cities within the west Bank are separated by Israeli forces I met with Castro last night, the nephew of Walid the butcher. Castro is getting his PhD in Illinois. It is interesting to hearing someone with both perspectives. He was born & raised here & educated in America. The 2 American girls from New York were saying how in the US there are massive protests for any professor siding with the Palestinians. Petitions for professors to not be allowed to teach to students not being allowed to get their Masters or PhD’s it seems as though it is McCarthyism all over again. Without exception people here harbour no ill feelings towards any Jewish people. In fact some would like to live side by side in peace in one nation. I personally do not see that happening. At any rate As far as 911 I suppose they have the same ideas as you do back home ranging from the Americans and or Israeli’s did the...
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With regards to the protests, it seems more for show than anything, is heartbreaking really.The Israeli’s don’t care as they have walled them in & only allow limited water supply once every 2,3 4 weeks, nobody knows. What happens is they have sistern tanks on top of their buildings. When that water runs out they share here. So families must limit their water for bathing cooking etc. because nobody ever knows when they will have water access again. The protests are more out of frusteration than anything. Since they have now been seperated from the Israeli’s it seems at times as an outsider they just mess with them provoking them to lash out hence justifying the use of force. I couldn’t help but thinking last night as smoke was everywhere, ‘ the people in control do not care’ so in essence they protest to blind eyes & deaf ears. In taking pictures I was warned to try & not show faces, if the Israeli’s see these pictures they will come in the night & extract them from their homes & imprison them. I have not spoken to many males who have not been imprisoned at one time or annother. Luay, Yassers brother, but he did get shot in the nose as a child. Behind Eileens place, an Irish lady who is working on a PhD, the Israeli’s came at night a week or so ago & took...
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The kids (especially the older ones) love to ‘play fitness’ it cracks me up everytime they say that with their thick accents. I am so lucky to have such an incredible group of older kids. Here there is no alchohol, no drugs, & virtually no pre-marital sex. Almost every adult male here does smoke cigarettes however,although at least among the Karama kids I do see that changing. There is a convienence store in what seems like about every 100 meters or so. It is tough here the volunteers come & go it is hard when you befriend someone & soon they are on their own way. There is a certain sense of comradery here that I think when you share an intense experience like this one has been brings a close friendship with someone….ya the kittens are not in the best shape they both are having their eyes glued shut with puss. I found a dead orange cat outside Karama this morning when I opened the school, I don’t think it was one of ours though (ours had paint all over it from the kids painting class) Still no water today… We got drops for the kittens eyes, Krusti’s bloated stomach is normal the vet said, but he did try & pawn a flu shot off on us! He he. The generosity continues, the vet would not charge us. However, when you have somewhere to go & have to complete a task it can be quite difficult at times. Between people saying they’ll be back in 5 minutes to show you the way (only to come back an hour and a half later) to the lady who has the convienince store next to Karama who tried to pull me in for tea but when I tried to explain we were going into Bethlehem to a vet she still was quite offended anyway that I declined her offer. One has to learn how to relax, the Western value of getting stuff done having an agenda & stuff to do has to be re-evaluated because at the end of the day we may get more stuff done but are we any...
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The road barricade is down, but day 3 with no water. There is such a sense of community & cooperation here everyone helps everyone. Walid told stories last night of the 40 day curfew if one family had food they would throw food to their neighbors to eat. Mahmoud’s Dad built a huge cistern so they had enough water but they shared with their neighbors until eventually they were out too. Perhaps that is why they are such a kind warm people with such a strong sense of community It is hot & beautiful everyday, a couple of American girls arrived yesterday from New York At the school I’m at we do discuss such issues of what they have endured but there is a theme of hope and resolution. Stories in the West of terrible things done by a radical few do nothing but irritate the issue and give people an excuse to keep these people oppressed. What I try & get across is that if they are patient and go about this in a peaceful way eventually they will have their own state. It will never be pre-1948 but if they can be patient it is my belief that eventually this has to end. Every attack as I have repeated puts them back to square 1. Of course it’s easy for me to say since I leave in a few weeks hopefully I’ll be surfing in Tel Aviv and enjoying beautiful Israel next week. I feel so guilty that as a foreigner I have more rights than these people & I will be having fun while these people remain imprisoned. Having said that, some people argue that if they are quiet, the world stands by & does nothing. That sentiment is repeated over & over again, how long should we keep silent? Examples are given of times & situations that violence achieves an end. My rebuttal to that is a Dr. Phil….’how has that worked for you so far?’ It seems as though they are damned if they do & dammed if they...
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We have no water at Karama flat. With 5 guys living there & only a small container (I will send a pict) of water on the roof it goes pretty fast. Something simple as water can not be taken for granted. They may only get access to water once every 3,4,5 weeks no on knows & when it is turned on no one is told, its pretty unbelievable. We’ve had no water for 2 days now, so a barricade has been set up on the main boulevard. The Israeli’s have scrambled the F-16’s & they are screaming over head it’s pretty crazy. The tough part is it seems as though the Israeli’s provoke & provoke the Palestinians. The Palestinians honestly want peace but say ‘how long do we do nothing while the world watches in silence’ I feel so terribly for them, they are damned if they do & damned if they don’t. If they strike back, first of all, the will get creamed by the powerful Israeli army & then the West will justify the disproportionate use of force saying that they are terrorists. I just returned from the gym with Mahmoud & Mohammed, its so nice to get workouts in over here at such a nice facility everything else considered...
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