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Ben's reports
8) July 21st, 2003 Small Acts
of Courage: The People of Jayous Respond to the Apartheid Wall
Delegate Report
Renae and Ben
*For the first report on this
family, see: "As Jayous Struggles to Live, Jawal
Wants to Die"
"PLANNING" - By Renae
Small acts of courage and resistance keep hope alive in this small village of Jayyous. Today, a group of farmers accompanied by internationals and the Associated Press, successfully breeched the "security" fence in order to deliver food to a Bedouin family. The family of six has been essentially imprisoned for the past week since the construction of the fence was completed in this area of Jayyous, cutting off their home and hundreds of acres of Palestinian land from the community. The family cannot access clean water, food, or medical help.
In the past two weeks, several attempts have been made by village officials and Sherif Omar, a farmer and prominent leader in the village, to elicit a commitment from the captain of the local IDF to install a gate in this portion of the wall, so far to no avail.
On the afternoon of July 19th (two days ago), a couple of villagers accompanied by an international attempted to visit and take food to the Bedouin family. They were fired upon by guards some 100 meters away when they tried to cross the fence. Consequently, a few local farmers and villagers committed to helping this family and opening the wall, asked us (internationals) to accompany them in "making a small protest" and deliver food to the family. We agreed.
The plan entailed a small, peaceful
procession of adult villagers, internationals, and media to the
closed wall in front of the Bedouin shelter. We would carry food
for the family and also signs protesting the wall. On July 20th,
three of us visited the site of the protest and called to the
family on the other side of the wall. They came out to the fence
and were told of our plans. They were to be at the fence at 1:00pm
the next day
to receive the food. That night, we met with Sherif Omar to discuss
this plan. He wanted to give the captain of the IDF another chance
to respond to the villagers' plea before proceeding with this
action. He called the Captain that evening and was told that
he was sleeping. Interestingly, he received a similar message
in the morning. The mayor had also been trying to reach the Israeli
officer to no avail. So we proceeded as planned.
"ACTION" - by Ben
The action was entirely Palestinian led and executed. About twenty of us, half Palestinian, half international, made our way to the fence.
Our mission to somehow carry, pass, or throw packages of food and water to the Bedouin family trapped on the other side of the security fence, seemed impossible because a razor wire fence kept us on a steep cliff, overlooking the actual security fence that the Bedouin family would approach. A deep, 10 meter wide trench was dug below the cliff, separating us further.
Soon a young boy from the Bedouin family made his way around the security fence and approached the edge of the trench below us. Security guards watched us from the opposite side of the security fence, machine guns at hand. We felt helpless. Delivering the food seemed impossible. But suddenly, Ahmed, a youthful Palestinian man bravely stepped forward and skidded down the cliff and leapt to the other side to join the boy. Everyone cheered and we began throwing the food down to him. [see photo 2] The security guards called the border police, who arrived quickly. It wasn't clear at first if they would go after the Palestinian man, but he kept working and they stood by, watching. When all the food reached him, he somehow scrambled back up the cliff and rejoined us.
Eventually, the father of the Bedouin family appeared: a small, traditionally dressed man riding a small donkey. He joined the boy and together they collected the food, piled on the ground where Ahmed had left it, onto the donkey. They led the donkey home under they heavy gaze of the security guards and border police, waving to us and met by cheers of "Free Palestine" by the Palestinian community members.
Walking back, the Palestinian
organizers seemed very pleased. People clapped and shouted. One
organizer said to Renae, "It was a good plan, wasn't it?"
END
|
1) palestinians and inernationals at the fence |
2) throwing food at Ahmed |
|
3) Ahmed catching the food |
4)The father of the Bedouin family arrives to bring the food home |
|
5) loading the food on the "car"... |
.....and drive back home! |
|
Ahmed : <Free Palestine!> |
Ahmed, from Jayous and one ISMer . |
