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7) July 23, 2003 Delegate
Report
Ben, with John in Ramallah
John and I arrived in Ramallah this afternoon after a relatively uneventful trip from Jayous. After a month here, I have to remind myself now of how untypical it is to see saddened men turned back at checkpoints, unable to return to their homes beyond, roadblocks around villages, etc.
We are here in Ramallah for a couple of days to visit human rights organizations and gather documentation to bring back to the U.S., particularly about the Apartheid Wall. But first we decided to make a visit to the Mukata.
The Mukata, also known as "Arafat's Compound," is still devastated by the Israeli attack of March-May 2002. Arafat himself has remained confined within the last surviving building for more than a year now. In the cool of the evening, we half expected to find him outside with his security forces having tea. We were allowed to enter the compound with surprising ease. It is little exaggeration to say that after we said we were with a peace group, the guards were all smiles and big handshakes. We weren't allowed in the building, but I think it could have been arranged without much problem. After all, last time I was here, in December 2001, Arafat invited us in for pizza after we did an ISM action in front of the tanks down the street (for the whole story see our 2001 delegation's report at the Colorado Campaign for Middle East Peace's web page: http://ccmep.org/hotnews2/1219mark.htm )
Without glorifying President Arafat, it's hard to miss the symbolism of today's situation at the Mukata. President Arafat, the elected representative of the Palestinian people, is confined in his shrinking compound with destruction all around him and is constantly threatened with exile. The Palestinian people are in turn trapped in shrinking enclaves with only one escape: leave and never return.
Below are some photos of today's visit to the Mukata.
In solidarity,
Ben
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