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The director of the movie “Waltz with Bashir”, Yoni Goodman, has produced a short animated movie for the Israeli NGO Gisha (Legal Center for Freedom of Movement) in order to show the situation of the Gazans since the closures of Gaza. This is the link to see the short animated movie “Closed Zone”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzqw7oBZT8k&feature=related

together with an explanation by Gisha and Goodman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5AbNjbLKWk&feature=channel_page

I am back home, with Palestine in my bag. It is a big
legacy, heavy and light at the same time. The light part of
the legacy has countless names, voices and faces from both sides, and I would like to say thank you for everything you have done and
been for me during the past three months. What you and your
realities and stories have both taught and given me is invaluable, and I hope to be able to give something of that back to you.   

The heavy part is the leaving of something which has become
so dear, and the carrying on of all your struggles, your
rights and dreams, together with the hope and certainty for
better times.

Both parts will always be in my heart and in my mind.

Take care,

Karin

“We have learned from the occupation how to be strong, how to be patient. We don´t care about what women usually do, we care about the necessary.”

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Reem is the Principal of Qurtuba mixed school in the H2 area of Hebron (since the 1997 Hebron Protocol divided the city, H2 has become an Israeli-administered zone).

Those children who live in H1 have to pass a checkpoint and then walk through Shuhada street, which has often been the scene of violent confrontations between settlers and schoolchildren – under the watchful eyes of Israeli soldiers. Also, settler schoolchildren, who attend the Yeshiva just opposite Qurtuba school, routinely verbally harass, chase, hit and throw stones at the students (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAuKMoEQkCI). 

Reem works tirelessly to ensure a safe learning environment for the Qurtuba students and her staff. In response to the daily harassment and violence, she took matters into her own hands and successfully petitioned the Palestinian Ministry of Education to change the start of the school day as well as to shorten the breaks so the students could end the school before the settler schoolchildren leave their school. Reem has also built a coalition that includes aid from the ICRC since the government does not really support the school, since everything having something to do with H2 is considered “a plague”. – To run a school with 4000-5000 NIS a year for 129 students requires a lot of idealism. In addition, international monitors (us EAPPI, ISM, TIPH) who walk – or used to walk, since the area is declared a closed military zone for internationals until 31. December 2009… – the children to and from school through the Israeli settlement of Tel Rumeida (within H2, along the Shuhada Street, there are 4 of the 6 settlements in and around Hebron City, housing some of the West Bank´s most extremist settlers, such as Baruch Marzel, who lives in Tel Rumeida). 

By the way, Reem, a graduate of College of Arts for Women in Jerusalem with a BA in English Literature, is also a mother of four children and has just taken up a second job as a PR person.

“When I took the students to a trip, not far away, on foot, just through the checkpoint into H1, to Jungle Land, the same children, when we came back, asked me: “Why don´t we live like our brothers and cousins, why can´t we just have fun, why don´t we have gardens, supermarkets? Why is the life on the other side so different? Why us?” I am not going to take them to H1 of Hebron anymore – it is only some hundred metres and it is another life. I will only take them to Bethlehem…”

(pictures by courtesy of Gosia Juszczak)

I hope that some people of the Obama administration will “get” those countless messages – also the silent ones. I also hope that Mats will continue writing and posting “his stories” on the official web-site of the coming U.S. administration, not too much feeling like writing “into a black whole”, but waiting for “the wave” to come…

Good luck, Mr. President-elect, many eyes will be turned towards you these coming days.

No question – the traces of the war in Gaza are clearly visible in Hebron. Hardly anyone of the people we talk to does not have family or friends living there, and even if they do not, they still suffer with the Gazans as if they were their brothers and sisters. Students tell us how hard it was for them to concentrate on their exams for the last two weeks, and a few of them cannot keep back their tears. More often than not, I get the impression that the people we talk to try to keep up some of their previous lightness, just for us. There are moments, however, when we see our closest contacts broken – the same ones who, just a few weeks ago, during the violent settlers’ attacks, were so matchlessly strong and invulnerable. Helplessly, in the midst of discussing, we often fall silent, together with them.  – Yesterday afternoon, in Hebron, a 15 year old boy was shot by IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) during a demonstration against the war in Gaza. It was reported in the media that he had thrown stones, and he was standing right next to one of our local contacts.

And all of a sudden, Gaza has become just a stone’s throw away from us, and yesterday’s death toll has increased by one.

“If we need an Intifada it should be a non-violence intifada. A change always has its price. People should go on the streets. If all people of Hebron go to the streets, there is no army to stop them. But what we need is non-violent resistance. When people tell you that they are tired, ask them what they are tired from.”

“If you ask yourself : what am I doing here?, realize that your job here is very important. Telling small stories is what makes a change. It makes a huge difference if you tell it to your friends an family and maybe, they will do the same. It is not the media story, you are part of it and no one can tell you it is not true if you lived it. One of the most important tools of non-violence is advocacy and increasing awareness.”

“I keep telling my Israeli friends: people here don’t hate Jews. But you just happen to have very bad ambassadors in Hebron – settlers that harass, shoot, occupy houses, close the streets for Palestinians. What do you expect the people that suffer to do, give them flowers?”

“Replying to arguments, Jewish people always go back to 2000 years ago, like if the Bible was a land registry office.”

13. January 2009: Celebrating Gosia´s birthday with Badee´s family. Thank you! Thank you for all your efforts, your smiles – your happiness. 

 For the German speaking visitors of my blog, I can direct you to the homepage of the Middle East Correspondant of Swiss TV, Andre Marty – somebody, who still can write (www.andremarty.com) (he visited me in Hebron some weeks ago and did a great job – in a very sensitive way – in putting together the following piece of news:  http://www.sf.tv/sf1/tagesschau/index.php?docid=20081213).

Take care,

Karin