Fellow Canuck George left this morning, we’re all sad to see him leave. We just returned from Ramallah the Palestinian capital & it was incredibly informative. We drove to Ramallah & got through the checkpoints OK. We met with the spokesperson for the political party Fatah today & it was great. Fatah’s leader Marwan Barghouti has been imprisoned for 8 years. He is the Palestinian version of Nelson Mandela. He is currently jailed because he is a threat to the Israeli’s. His slogan is ‘Security does not make peace, Peace makes security’. His solution is 2 states, however in order for it to work peacefully all the Palestinian parties must unite. There was a meeting in prison among all of the top Palestinain parties; Hamas (the current leading party), Fatah, & BNFP & they agreed to unite & have Marwan lead them. There borders would be those before the June 4 1967 war, Jerusalem as the capital, right to return for Palestinian refugees to their original homes, they are not happy with the settlers here. It is my feeling that you can not remove them or you are doing the same thing as the Israeli’s are doing to you, I think the Israeli’s will never release control of Jerusalem to the Palestine (although it is within their recognized borders) so an International peace keeping force really is the answer there. Apparently there is pressure being put on the Israel’s to release him & they seem very optimistic that he will be released. I do fear that someone will perpetrate an attack & set them back to square one, and my thought when listening to Radwa enthusiastically speak of how peace is possible solution, here, the first thought in my mind was, they’ll kill him. I believe that if the Palestinians can be patient the world will eventually see the terrible injustice that is being forced upon them the world will finally stand up and take notice. However, when attacks like Munich 1972 happen the world takes notice but it is the worst kind of attention. Nobody a Bono for instance will align them selves with an organization that kills innocents. At any rate every time they fight back it justifies to the world their...
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Since I am always the first one up & here I have been entrusted to the keys to open Karama, hence I get the internet here with no other traffic or volunteers needing the computer (I usually just go to one of 2 local internet cafes). The girls here stay with host families & under no circumstances are they ever to enter our flat. It is their culture here the women are not repressed or treated badly it is just more formal & old fashioned. The guys we all live in the flat 5 of us so its more of a frat house than anything (without the pizza & beer). It is about a 2-3 minute walk to Karama, that is if you can get there with out the baker, butcher, and 2-3 store owners pulling you into their store pushing you onto a stool & giving you tea. I have never seen anything like this if you ever try & give money as a tip or whatever they are greatly offended. even in taking a taxi, someone is always paying for your fare (if you share a car with a Palestinian). It seems as though getting shot in the face is a right of passage here. Both Yasser & Luay the brothers that run Karama have both been shot (several times). I asked Yasser how he got a 3 inch scar on his forehead & he was hit by a rubber bullet there. The group took a trip into Bethlehem last night & we all ate at a really cool place ‘The Grotto’ a Shisha restaurant that is carved into the rock on the side of a hill. It was awesome we had great conversations about politics, religion and various other controversial subjects. In old Bethlehem it is pretty amazing narrown cobblestone streets with rock walls on either side, it really does feel like going back in time. Deiheshe camp has 16000 people in one square kilometer. Africa was a great experience because I think everything seems easy after that. Outside of the camp most of Bethlehem is much nicer than even the nice parts of Freetown. as I have eluded to here before it is all about the frusteration of being...
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Last night I went to a graduation celebration & it is not hard to miss after only a short time here that the Palestinains are fiercely passionate people, they love passionately the are passinate friends & hosts (it is difficult to walk down the street here without being pulled into a shop pushed down on a stool ‘ sit sit! & have a cup of tea placed in your hand) At this celebration the females go first & when they leave the males come. There is no alcohol here at all, no women at the party aside from the women who look down from above out of the windows always with their head scarfs on, & from a Western perspective we would see it as odd but the men dancing together it was a really fun experience, in this skinny little back alley, lit by a floodlight. George, a Palestinain Canadian (he was born in Canada (Ontario) but has Palestinian parents took video of me dancing. He then joked if you ever run for political office this video is being released & your career would be finished! We both laughed. It makes one realize how much we are influenced by the fear tactics of our media & culture. I have no fear of any of these people and the sooner we realize this the quicker this conflict will be resolved I am so happy to be Canadian, when I was walking through the markets in Hebron when the Palestinians found out I was Canadian I was greeted with a big smile a hug and ‘you are our friend’. Also when stopped at a checkpoint an Israeli soldier ran out & said ‘Canadian’ (he pointed to my passport) & waved me...
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Things are incredible here, we are going to Osama’s graduation (a Karama kid that scored 75% or so on his exams) party tonight (men & women go at different times). My stomach is off, same as Africa, The group of volunteers are as really eclectic mix & a neat group, they are all incredible people with really neat stories. Fellow Canadian & I took Mohammed, Machmed & Walid to the gym here today for a work out & was it ever a nice gym!!!! We got a 2 week membership. The two kittens Krusti & Whitey are exhausting as well but in this place where the air feels thick with oppression & there is so much hatred in this region it6 makes me so happy we are Canadian. Anyway the 2 cats are almost like a symbol of hope here that we can hand rear these two tiny little creatures & bring life in an otherwise bad situation. It couldn’t have worked out better George the 280 lb defensive lineman from Western Ontario is an amazing guy, & speaks fluent Arabic so its like having my own personal translator Just had supper with all the volunteers, there is certainly a comradery here that is very nice. A new volunteer came today Kareem who is a Brit of Iranian descent. It is so cool to hear someone with both perspectives (Kareem & George). Kareem is Muslim & has been to some pretty wild places Peshawar, Saudi, etc. so as you can imagine he did not have a good time coming through 8 hours I...
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Back from a day at Hebron the city feels more like a fortress than a city it is crazy. Each city in the West Bank has A, B & C areas. The A area is Palestenian controlled, B is basically a no mans land controlled by both & C is Israeli controlled. Before I came I assumed that the seperation wall surrounded the West Bank, however the wall also goes into the West Bank & snakes within that area as well. The Palestinians have been forced into the West Bank but it seems like the Israeli government is trying to choke the Palestenian population out completely. As I said now even with in the West Bank Palestenians can not travel freely. Furthermore they are sequestering more areas within the West Bank Israeli settlers that Palestinians can not even travel. There are 750 checkpoints located throughout the West Bank. It is so bizarre coming from a peaceful nation like Canada & you are told if you walk past that line you will get shot. There really is no messing around here. For instance we Hebron is a city of 166 000 and 4000 Israelis has Israeli soldiers protecting it. We passed through Cave of the Patriarchs is the second holiest site for Jews after the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and is also venerated important to Christians & Muslims as that the site is supposedly the burial place of Adam & Eve as well as Abraham & Sarah. We were not allowed in today. there are checkpoints outside the church because in 1994 a Jewish settler went in at Muslim prayer time with an assault rifle & killed 29 Muslims at prayer & injured another 125. We also passed through many checkpoints & I thought I was being stealth with my camera taking some video as I was walking away the soldier yelled ‘Hey Come here!’ so I walk over to him I thought this is it my camera is getting confiscated, he said ‘You can’t take pictures at checkpoints’ & let me go.He was polite about it & supose he has a job to do. In Israel virtually the entire country are soldiers. Every citizen must serve 3 years in the military (2 for...
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I got quite a treat last night I woke up in the middle of the night dripping sweat head to toe from the heat, I walked out to use the washroom & there was a huge 24 inch fan sitting there so it helped make things much nicer Not to lose sight of the fact I am here primarily for the kids. The kids here are so great. I only wish I taught kids this respectful & eager to learn back home. The political situation here is complex. Hamas is in power & basically their mandate is to regain control of Israel & return it to Palestine, I hate to tell the people here but that is never going to happen, Israel is here to stay. What is difficult is to try & convince these people that a political, diplomatic solution is best. Easy for me to say I come home in a month, to live in this day in & day out is incredibly frustrating from me it is easy for me to try & convince them to continue to take the high road. I hope that things remain peaceful. The other main party is Fattah who wants to control Palestine within the West Bank & Gaza. There is a third party Jihad who refuses to participate in elections. Hamas buys elections, they are in power because they do make day to day life better for Palestinians, but they do buy votes. That is one of the things I respect about Karama is they do not accept donations with conditions, so they go without more than other...
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