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Published: July 12th 2006
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The Farmer
Standing in front of what's left of his farm, the farmer we visited in the Jordan Valley shows us how the settlements have encroached on his land. I know it's only been a couple of days since Elliot updated you, but we've seen so much the past 24 hours I decided I should have my say as well.
We left Ramallah yesterday morning with four others (all Americans) to come to the Jordan Valley. We spent a large part of the day in the car, driving first to Jericho, and then quite a long way north to make a visit to a farm, before returning to Jericho in the evening. It was fascinating to watch the landscape go by; huge, dry, sandy, rocky hills and valleys - Elliot described it as just like Wales but a different colour!
It's a bit different actually in the Jordan valley, as the river makes the land a lot more fertile. There are lots of settlements here, 29 total in the area, and it's true that you can immediately see the difference between the Jewish settlements and the Palestionian villages. Not only are the settlements guarded by huge electric fences, they are far nicer and far greener than the Palestinian areas. The roads which serve them are in much better condition as well; we saw today how they are defended
UN food distribution
The people of Aqbat Jaber Refugee Camp in Jericho receive food from the UN by a deep ditch either side, to stop Palestinian vehicles sneaking on and using them. The result is that the journey for a Palestinian on the less well kept Palestinian roads is far more roundabout. Plus there are the checkpoints - we didn't have any trouble at them, but I find it very strange to have to keep handing my passport over to different soldiers every few miles.
The farmer we went to visit has had the vast majority of his land annexed by the Iraelis - enough that he reckoned the occupation had cost him $4 million in just four years. They always give the same excuse: security. A large and fertile field was taken away from him to build a small Israeli watch tower on it, but now that it is built the soldiers barely ever spend time there.
Even with the land he does have left, it is hard for him to make a living, and a lot of his crops are rotting away. The Israelis won't allow the workers he needs to get to his farm, even though they have permits (meaning more families without a way of earning a living). And when they
Little Dunya
Elliot: I drew this because the young children in the hotel were watching the uber graphic images being broadcast from Gaza on Palestinian TV. It distracted them for a bit... check his food to make sure it's good for sale in Israel (a process which costs him 200 shekels a time), they frequently tell him it's spoilt and refuse to take it, even when it is good and fresh.
Today we have been making various visits within Jericho itself. We saw the prison that was raided by the army just a few months ago after the British guards mysteriously left, and we saw a few more of the checkpoints where Palestinian are made to queue at the soldiers' discretion.
We went to visit the director of the social committee that looks after the refugee camp here, and he showed us photographs of a man who was shot by the Israeli army in the camp a short time ago. The man was reportedly told to remove his clothes, and then was shot. As the director said, if the Israelis suspected him of something, they could have arrested him. They did not need to kill him on the spot.
The most informative place we went was to a community kindergarten, run by an organisation which provides help for poor children and students and their families. A week or so ago the Israeli army raided the kindergarten building in the middle of the night, shooting five local youths who tried to stop them with both rubber bullets and live ammunition. No-one was killed, but one of them is still in hospital.
The soldiers, all 200 of them, went on to search the entire building, including the rooms where the children sleep (fortunately the kids were all with their families - there are usually around 150 0-6 year olds who stay in the building). Four computers and a scanner were taken, along with files and videos. The videos were of childrens parties and graduation ceremonies.
The most disturbing sight was of a notice board which used to display photographs of the children; the army had ripped them all down.
The organisation isn't affiliated with any political party, so there was no reason for the army to suspect it of having information worth getting. We suspect it was because it was run by an Islamic charity. The co-ordinator we spoke to said the army were trying to weaken and demoralise the local community, and it's hard to think otherwise from what we've seen. He told us he feels paralysed; without their computers and records, it's almost impossible for them to carry on the work they do in the community.
For me, as a first timer here, it's actually been almost a relief to see that the stories I've heard about Palestine are true. At least now I know I'm here for good reason, and I'm ready to get involved in the work ISM does to try and help Palestinians resist what is being done to them. There are so many problems, it's hard to know where to start, but it does seem clear that most of them are rooted in the occupation.
Well, I've been typing away for a good old while now, so I think I'll stop the ranting and go get some boozer (arabic for ice cream - if you ask Elliot he can sing you a whole song about it!). It's good to be able to tell people about what's going on while it's still fresh in my mind.
So until next time,
Ma'salaame and goodbye.
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