Djoko's Journal

August 12, 2003

We had another full day today.

Leaving Jerusalem in the morning for Bethlehem, we passed through
our first checkpoint. It was a symbolic act (see below), to give
us a taste of what millions of Palestinians have to endure every
day for the past several years (and, in other forms, the past fifty
years).

Our first meeting was with at Tantur, which is an Ecumenical
Institute run by the Vatican. Their location, purchased from
the Maltese knights a few decades ago, straddles the border of
Israel-annexed area with a mainly Palestinian area. This is
used by many Palestinians to bypass the checkpoint down the road.
We had a good discussion with the rector, Fr. Michael McGarry,
and he told us how they use their unique place to promote peace
and understanding between the Palestinians and Israelis, as well
as raising awareness by running educational programs attended by
many internationals.

Then we proceeded to Bethlehem to meet with Sami Awad of the
Holy Land Trust, an organisation working with Palestinian
communities to promote non-violent resistance against the Israeli
occupation. They face a difficult task, since many of the children
they are working with have grown up in the face of oppression and
humiliation by the Israeli Occupation Force. Nevertheless, despite
the long odds, they seem to be making good progress.

Next we met with Jad Issac of the Applied Research Institute -
Jerusalem. A former professor of biology, he uses satellite
imaging to quantify the effect of Israeli occupation on Palestinian
land and its people. Among other things, this allows us to know
exactly how many settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (ALL of
which are illegal under international law) have been built during
the negotiations and the implementations of the Oslo accords. He
also showed us how building the so-called access road to the
settlements (which have a "security buffer" several hundred metres
wide) destroyed many homes and agricultural land.

Our final meeting of the afternoon is with Ghassan Andoni, the
director of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between
People. Working closely with the International Solidarity Movement
(which consists of internationals), they promote NON-VIOLENT civil
disobedience as a form of resistance against the occupation. They
have been accused of terrorism by the Israeli government who, as
in another case we may be familiar with, have so far failed to
produce any evidence in support of this claim. Their work continues.
We are spending the night at the hostel run by the Ibda'a cultural
centre in the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. Most of the
inhabitants of this very dense "housing project" have lived (if not
been born) here since 1948, when many people were expelled from their
home villages during the fighting for the creation of the State of
Israel. After dinner, we were given a tour of the camp, which has a
good view of the ever-encroaching illegal settlements and military
installations.

Everything written here is a personal observation of the author and
does not represent a collective view of the delegation.

Djoko Wirosoetisno