Lance's Journal: August 10th, 13th, 15th, 16th

August 10th Day 1

Before I really get started I should remind the reader that these are my observations, and are not shared by the entire group.

Well here I am, in the heart of the world, 4000+ years old.

Jerusalem is an amazing city, far more amazing than I expected, with windy little alleys and streets, filled with cats, shops and fruit and children who make it a game to try to spill your boiling hot cup of coffee.

The place is so amazing that it makes me wish that I was here for play, and not work.

My first impression of the Israeli side of the area was that of a people with amazing national pride. As I hobbled down the stairs from the airplane a young Israeli girl pushed by me to get on her knees and kiss the concrete runway. Statues of heroes also demand respect for the founders of this nation, as opposed to the empty statues of Europe, which are only relics of a distant past.

Today was the first real day of the delegation and if it is an indication of how the rest of the trip will be then the whole thing will be incredible.

We had our first meetings today. The first was with JoAnne Lingly (sp?) from the largest North American Christian organization here. She gave us an introduction to getting around and following local customs. Then we met with Palestinian sociology professor from Bir Zeit University, Zuhair Sabbagh, who had a lot to say about the social psychology of oppressed peoples and how fundamentalism is developed amongst a population. He said that fundamentalism is the direct result of being denied secular nationalism (not necessarily negative nationalism). He also was able to make an thorough argument of relating the situation here to that of South Africa during apartheid. It is an ugly analogy, but he stated that full apartheid there only lasted 15 years and so far it was already been ten here. Our final meeting was with a Jewish woman involved in a group that tries to make cultural connections between Palestinians and Jews, especially amongst children through an integrated magazine in Hebrew and Arabic. Her name is Tamar Ahmadan and her organization is called Windows. She was inspirational to talk to, because she is a single, middle-aged mother who just recently got involved in activism, yet she believes firmly that peace can be won.

Well, this is already getting long, and it is so hard to put words to this place. But I need to get to bed, we have a 7:30 meeting tomorrow.

Much love to all of you.
Lance

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August 13, 2003

This place is so surreal.

Right now I am in a little Palestinian town called Beata where we are spending the night with a Professor of Mass Communication, Nashet. We didn’t expect to be here, in fact, we met this man only today. We were planning to go to the city of Nablus, but were stopped at a checkpoint. A checkpoint is where the Israeli's stop traffic and check papers. Most Palestinians need special permits to get through them. There are about 160 Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank.

We made it through two Israeli checkpoints but got stopped at the last one. When we arrived there were 40 or 50 Palestinian men waiting to get through. The Israeli guards were not letting through any males from 18 to 40 years old. One man, there with his two sisters, said he had been there since 9:30 am, 9 hours earlier. Of course there is no food there, nor a bathroom. We waited a while, not wanting to be privileged white Americans who go straight to the front of the line. Finally, we talked to the guards who said we couldn’t go through because we had the wrong stamp in our passports. Apparently, we needed a B1 stamp, but we had a B2. They said that you need a B1 stamp to go into the cities of the West Bank, which was a lie because we’ve been in West Bank cities for the last two days. We called the US Embassy and they said the whole B1/B2 thing is a ruse. The embassy guy talked to the guard, but the orders came from above, so there was nothing the embassy could do at that moment.

We called the Palestinian professor that we’d met at a previous checkpoint. He had offered to let us to stay with him (standard Arab hospitality). He came and picked us up and now we are at his house.

I cannot imagine the frustration of people who must go through the checkpoint everyday.

Yesterday and today we’ve met with the Vatican’ Institute, Palestinian activist groups, the Mayor of Ramallah, and several professors of Human Development from Bir Zeit University. I’m getting to understand the frustrations of the Palestinians, and why people become suicide bombers, why some people see violence as the answer. Of course, I don’t agree with them --- violence hurts these people more than it helps them --- but I don’t live with their frustrations. The beautiful side of Palestine is the solidarity of the people. It is a small nation, and they have very little, so they work together. We went to the refugee camp called Deheishe, and although the poverty is killing, we saw beautiful murals showing their pride in their people.

Getting around in Palestine is very difficult and frustrating. The roads are in horrible shape, ripped up by tanks and bulldozers, and some roads have been completely barricaded by the Israeli military. To get to Nablus from Ramallah (40 or 50 km) is quite a journey. We took one taxi to the first checkpoint, through which the taxi could not pass. (If it did make it through, the driver could not be sure of returning.) We got out, walked through the checkpoint and got into the next taxi. That taxi then took us to the next checkpoint and we got out and walked again. Finally, we would have taken the last taxi to Nablus (had we made it through the last checkpoint). For us, it would be a 3-hour trip, but for Palestinians it is at least a two-hour wait at each checkpoint, and they may never make it through, so the trip is at least 7 hours.

My brain is getting very full of information and my backpack is getting very full of reading material. As everyday passes, I understand more and more why this trip is so necessary, why I must see this to understand it, and why America needs to understand all of this.

Lance Thurner

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August 15, 2003

So right now we are in the refugee camp of Al Fara'a, in the Jordan River valley. To get here was quite a trip.

We awoke today in Nablus, which is only 17 km (10.5 miles) from Al Fara'a, but we were told that it would probably take an-hour-and-a-half to get there. That prediction was completely wrong, it was instead two-and-a-half-hours.

We got in an extra-long taxi, kind of like a limousine, and started moving, but it wasn't long before we had to make our first stop. There was an Israeli army jeep further down the road. We were planning to take a tractor road to avoid an Israeli checkpoint, but the jeep was at the end of the short cut. We waited a little while and the jeep left.

Then we took the tractor road, which was made for nothing less than a 4x4 truck. We bottomed out the car many times. Soon enough we were on a road again. But soon enough we found out that the road we were on (to avoid another checkpoint) had been bulldozed. There was a little dirt path that some people have used to get around it. We had seen a big truck do it, so we gave it a shot. At the end of the road we had to go over an embankment, so we got a running start and... Nope, we didn't make it. Once again we were sitting on the side of the road, the car stuck on its belly without a wheel on the ground. At that moment we looked over to see an Israeli army jeep coming our way. I believe that they saw we were foreigners, so we were left alone. We then flagged down a truck and it pulled us out. The radiator was shot, but the driver was able to fix it. Then we climbed up a mountain and down the other side, a feat great enough for any car, but that car probably does that all the time. Finally we arrived in Al Fara'a.

All of this just to get to a town 17 km away.

Lance Thurner

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August 16, 2003

We awoke today in Al Fara'a, a refugee camp somewhere in the middle of nowhere, near Nablus, where we spent the night with Nedal Sawalmeh and his family. They treated us like royalty. Right off the bat we met with Abu Hassan Al Arja, a 72-year-old lawyer who was personally forced to leave his home in the war of 1948.

From Al Fara'a we took a cab to the Arab American University, which was established in 2000. We spoke to the Deputy President of the University about higher education under occupation and difficulties that an institution like the university faces.

After the university visit, a man named Zaid Oreh took us on a tour of Jenin, where 65 people died in April of 2002 when Israel destroyed a very large section of the refugee camp. Jenin has been the hotbed of activity during the current Intifada. The sight of the refugee camp was paralyzing: Where once stood the 482 homes there is nothing now except a vacant lot. Of the 65 people who perished with their homes, half of them were actually militants. While there we spoke with Abul Raziq Abul Hija, the top dog of the refugee camp's management, and he told us the story of the "Jenin Massacre".

Some residents of the camp believe that the Palestinians have no other choice than to engage in armed resistance. I personally do not believe that the armed struggle has anything more to offer the Palestinian people. The futility of armed struggle and the hopelessness of each one of those fighters worries me, as do all the young men who look up to their courageous heroes.

Afterwards, we were greatly uplifted by meeting up with Wasim Abu Fashah and Rafat Diab in Tulkarm. We didn't get into Tulkarm until dinnertime, so we ate and relaxed with our two new friends in the park and had a leisurely talk. It was a great change of pace because we were all quite tired from the long day.

Now I'm still in Tulkarm, but it is time for sleep.
Lance Thurner

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August 22, 2003

The last two days we have met with some very interesting Israelis who have a very special place in the conflict.

The first are the Refuseniks. The Refusenik movement consists of a few groups. One group we met with is Yesh Gvul, which means, “There is a limit!” The other group is Courage to Refuse.

Military service here is like it is in most parts of Europe, that is, mandatory (unless you are of Arab decent or are Orthodox). After you do your three years, then you must serve one month a year for the next 20 or so years as a reservist.

The Refusenik movement includes soldiers and reservists who have decided that they will not serve duty in the occupied territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (and previously Lebanon). They are not like the conscientious objectors of the United States. The Refuseniks accept military service and are willing to serve in other parts of the military, they simply believe that the occupation is not in the interest of security and instead hurts the Israeli public more than protects them. They are already trained and have their equipment, and then on the day when they are told to get on the bus they say no. This really can disrupt plans. The military does not know what to do with them, after all, soldiers are supposed to obey orders, not use moral judgment themselves.

It was the Nuremberg trials after WWII that set the precedent for this movement -- this rings out very loud in Israeli society. The consequences for these men and women can mean prison, or being ostracized by family and friends, or loss of job opportunities. Therefore their decision is very brave, choosing their conscience over their best interests. And being right in the very middle of the conflict 1,100 of them refusing to serve is worth tens of thousands protesting in the streets. I have a lot of respect for those men and women.

The other group with a very special place is the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Parents for Peace . The group consists of parents who have lost children to the conflict and have decided to “advocate peace and coexistence through the promotion of tolerance and compromise.” They do not have a program for what the final solution should be. Simply opposing military actions in the occupied territories, instead of calling for more strikes, is, in and of itself, radical here. Much of their campaign is for bereaved parents from both sides of the border to communicate their frustrations and thoughts. This type of communication here is uncommon and is also radical. The parents have seen the obvious -- that every attack from one side is met with one from the other and many innocent people get stuck in the middle of the spiraling corkscrew. Therefore, they want their government to stop its military campaign in the name of security. I must emphasize that it is very amazing that these parents who have lost children to suicide bombers have decided that revenge will only kill more people, and that understanding is what is lacking. The voices of these parents of murdered children are much louder in Israel, and are much more difficult to blow off as ‘radical fringe’.

Meeting with these people gives me much hope that someday people will stop dying and instead will talk and exchange pieces of their cultures.

Lance Thurner