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Boston support group for the International Solidarity Movement

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Fifty year old psychologist with an extensive background in working with trauma issues. Maintains a-life long commitment to exposing & addressing human rights/civil rights issues.

Renae's reports

4) July 16 and 17, 2003 "If I lose everything, what do you want from me"?

3) July 20th, 2003 Welcome To The Occupation

2) July 11th/14th, 2003 Jayous- Palestinians & Internationals march against the wall in Jayous - West Bank

1) July 13th, 2003 "I often ask out loud Why????" in Jayous - West Bank

4) July 16 and 17 "If I lose everything, what do you want from me"?

"If I lose everything, what do you want from me"? This is the refrain of a Jayous farmer whose family has owned and cultivated land rich with olive trees for over 300 years. Some of the trees on his land date back as many years.

This is Saleeh's first trip to his farm land since the olive harvest last October. He has been afraid to go to his land alone. Today, we accompany him. While surveying his land he describes its' history to us, talking about his family tree and how the land has been divided up over the generations. He remembers when the ground under the trees were free of underbrush and his entire family would go to the land, sit under a tree, drink tea, talk, and laugh. He does not think that his mother will ever see these trees again. As he remembers he starts crying and must walk away from us. When he returns he talks about the meaning of the olive tree. "The olive tree is not for money alone, it is like a holy land to us. The olive tree is a mosque, it is our Jerusalem". Saleeh goes on to say that he has been offered a lot of money for these trees but has refused to sell them. "No amount of money could buy these trees from me". In them lies his past, present, and future.

Suddenly we spot an army jeep coming down a dirt road nearby. He immediately crouches down and, with a frightened expression on his face, tells us to get down. When we stand up he looks at us and says "America must pressure Israel to stop what they are doing" Again he says, "if I lose everything what do you want from me"?

Two hours after our visit to Saleeh's land we get word of shooting at the wall. Apparently small children were pulling up stakes that are being used to build the wall and were being fired upon by security guards. One member of our group, who attempted to video tape the incident, was also fired upon.

No one was hurt.

Today, the only gate open in the wall to the land we stood on yesterday is partially closed. Initially, it was said that the closure would only be for an hour while laying down a drainage pipe. Now security, backed up by military, says it will be closed for 3 or 4 days. Many crops here are drought sensitive and need daily attention (particularly in the green houses). The farmers worry about the consequences of this closure for their crops. As usual, the farmers wonder if this is the beginning of a permanent closure of the wall. If so, I don't know what Suleeh will do.

3) July 20th, 2003 Welcome To The Occupation

We were awakened at 1:30 this morning by a loud, sharp, noise. Eric and I jumped up from our respective mats, looked at each other, and said almost simultaneously "what in the hell was that?". I think we both knew exactly what "that" was. Certainly the second gun shot confirmed it - we both hit the floor.

Four of us were sleeping at the apartment we have in Jayyous when shooting broke out. Eric and Paul from Colorado, Michael D and Myself from the Boston group. This was our first time confronting an "incursion". We heard a jeep outside so Eric and I peered out the front door to identify the intruders. BOARDER POLICE (the nastiest of possibilities) cruised around the corner. We immediately shut the door and called Joe (Boston) who along with Neil (Colorado), was sleeping down in the fields with the farmers. We wanted to warn them that there might be trouble heading their direction. I learned later that Joe did not realize the extent of the danger at hand and just rolled over and went back to sleep.

Meanwhile we were on the floor in the apartment listening to a cacophony of bullets being fired in close proximity to us. We crouched at the front of the apartment under the window so as not to be vulnerable to bullets coming through the window. I called Ben who then informed us that we needed to put more walls between us and the street (duh!) and we crawled into the computer room. Meanwhile Michael who has to have a cigarette (a true addict), rummages around the apartment looking for one while we are yelling at him to stay down. Finally we were all together in the computer room. Gun fire stopped as quickly as it had started. We stayed in the computer room and I finally fell asleep after hearing the call for morning prayers (around 4 am.).When I awoke this morning to bright sunshine it was hard to believe that last night had actually happened. I talked with Mahmoud (the owner of the apartment) and he confirmed the events of the night. He too had identified the shooters as boarder police. I asked him why the shooting had taken place. He replied "it is the occupation".

Later in the day we surveyed the damage outside. The police were clearly firing at the mosque, a few doors down from us, and managed to put a bullet through an aluminum door at a shop next door, one into the side of our building, damage several vehicles, and obviously scare the hell out of us.

Unfortunately, this kind of behavior on the part of soldiers and police is not uncommon. I have heard many stories about the army pulling into a village in the middle of the night and doing exactly what the Boarder police did to us. And they call the Palestinians terrorists.

2) July 11th and 14th, 2003 Jayous - Palestinians and internationals march against the wall

Friday, July 11th, I accompanied the women of Jayous in a planned demonstration against
the closure of the wall on the south side of the village. Many family farms have been rendered inaccessible by the closure. The husband of a prominent woman in the community and organizer of the demonstration told me that he has had to abandon his land. At this time, he has no other means of income.

The group demonstrating consisted of women, their daughters, and the omnipresent little boys. They were accompanied by some male adults. Dressed in traditional clothing carrying posters and signs, they marched to the wall chanting slogans against the apartheid wall. At the wall they lined up with their signs and continued chanting. The head of the woman's community group immediately confronted security guards and then a representative of the construction company with the community's demand: TO OPEN THE WALL AND LET THEIR HUSBANDS WORK! The rally was peaceful yet powerful. The women reflected pride, determination, and courage. They were fighting for their husbands, family and community. The contrast between their traditional Muslim dress which keeps them covered and hidden in public, and their behavior was striking. These are strong women.

This demonstration was followed up with a second one on Monday morning July 14th. People from the village of Jayous, Falame, and Qalqilya, accompanied by approximate 25 internationals and Israelis, gathered at the local municipality for a brief meeting and then marched to the wall. Again, they carried signs and chanted as they walked. The rally at the wall was peaceful. It provided a vehicle for all to express their feelings in a nonviolent manner. Unfortunately security maintained close watch by entering the grounds of the village. As the procession made its way back to its point of origin, it was flanked by security following along. The presence of security on their land was provocative in nature and made it difficult for adults to restrain kids from throwing stones. It is hard to believe that the actions of security were not intentionally provocative given that they had told John and Renae earlier, during a confrontation with them around detaining a couple of farmers, that if one stone is thrown today there will be trouble.

Indeed trouble did find these people after their primarily peaceful demonstration. The gate at Falama was partially closed in that farmers would have to walk rather than bring vehicles to their land. Villagers were told that this act was a response to the demonstration earlier in the day.

There exists a type of noose that tightens the more one struggles against it: the hangman's noose. So is the plight of Palestinians. They have a noose around their neck and regardless of how they try to loosen it each move results in it becoming tighter and tighter.

1)July 13th, 2003 "I often ask out loud Why????"

Much of what I am seeing here is confusing and disorienting. I came to Palestine obviously quite naive about the atrocities human beings were capable of inflicting on one another. However the plight of the Palestinian people is teaching me too much about the dark side of human nature. I often ask out loud Why???? Why are people beaten for asking questions? Why do soldiers enter a village at two in the morning, set off sound bombs and spray building with bullets when children yell out the window at them? Why does the IOF think that shooting toxic spray at children is just a "game"? Why do people have to ask permission to enter their own land?. The questions I have go on and on. I don't understand!

More than ever before I am committed to standing with these warm and gentle people in solidarity against the occupation. What does this mean? It means providing a space for them to speak up on their own behalf and challenge more safely the conditions of living imposed on them. It means bearing witness to their struggle so that it does not go unnoticed. It means bringing their stories home to educate our communities about the activities that the U.S. Government is actively and fully funding. It means letting them know that they are not alone.

I have never in my life encountered a culture that was so warm, generous, and welcoming. We had to make a three hour trip over the mountains last night into the Jordan valley in order to return from the Nabulus demonstration. We did this because road blocks and check points made this the only way home. Along the way we stopped in a couple of villages for food, bathrooms, and falafal. When word got out that internationals were in the village it seemed that the whole village came out to greet us. One house that offered me a bathroom was disappointed that I couldn't stay for tea. At the falafel place they kept bringing out one platter of food after another and took no money for it. Everyone wanted us to return. The service driver was amazing. He will have had to drive into the middle of the night to get home after dropping us off. He clearly enjoyed the trip with us and wants us to call if we are in his community in the future. I am overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone.

Ma'a issaalme

Renae