Welcome to the Occupation

Blake and I left Tulkarem on Thursday after three days to return to Jayyus and meet up with Paul and Nick who were arriving from Yanoun to Jayyus the same day. The Tulkarem group proved to be less than effective, difficult to work with, and suffering from some underlying group pathology. Interpersonal problems were rampant and Blake and I figured we could do more positive work elsewhere. The delegation has officially been together ever since although Blake has returned to the States the day before yesterday. We are also working in conjunction with factions of the Boston delegation in Jayyus and things are now running smoothly.

For the first few days in Jayyus the delegation has continued to develop relationships with the villagers. Jayyus has embraced the international presence here. The delegations have been visiting homes, sharing meals, participating in village activities, sleeping in the fields with the farmers, conducting gate access to the fields (similar to checkpoint watches) and collecting past and present experiences with the IOF that the people have had to share. Almost everyone in the village has a story of a family member who was killed, beaten, or violently harrassed by the IOF in its effort to annex land in the name of settlements and the state of Israel. Much of the arable land that has been in Jayyus families for decades is now seperated from its rightful owners. Although the morale of the people has been severely hurt, the population has remained in good spirits and in unity.

On the day of our arrival a new section of 3-layer barbed wire was erected along the Apartheid Wall seperating a Bedouin family from the village on the other side. Instead of a five minute walk into town, the family of eight has to walk approx. 2.5 km to the northern gate and up a hill to access water, food, and medical resources which the mother current need of. An action is currently in the works slated for Monday that will include villagers and a dozen internationals to bring food and resources to the family over the wall. The fate of the people is unsure.

Yesterday, Paul and a few others went down to the wall to film and interview the family just to be thwarted by gunfire from the wall security guards. Paul can give more detail in his report.

Over the course of the day celebrations ensued for the shebob (sp) or youth of the village who were receiving the results of their exams. Horns were honking and family members were singing into the village for those who passed and those who passed quite successfully. This exam is the equivalent of high school graduation in the US and the shebob were quite confident and jubilant. Most plan on attending university either in Nablus or Jerusalem and all would like have aspirations to travel outside of Palestine. I seem to have made quite good friends with some of the shebob and their families and I spent a portion of my evening last night eating, learning Arabic, teaching English, sharing cultures, and listening to Shakira in celebratory solidarity with my young friends.

Unfortunately, the calm and festive atmosphere most in village went to bed with last night was abrubtly disrupted early in the morning. At 2am heavy artillery fire pealed through the village awakening Paul, Michael D. (Boston), Renae (Boston), and myself. Nick and Joseph (Boston) were sleeping in the fields below the village which is an approx. 30-40 minute hike on the other side of the wall. We spotted a police military vehicle driving through the village outside of our apartment circling the block across the street. Silence ensued and we called our friends in the field unsure to the extent to which the military presence was developing and concerned of their potentially vulnerable position. They were soundly sleeping without disruption.

A few minutes later the heavy gunfire ensued in rapid succession very near to our position and we laid low in the back room putting as many walls between us and the street as possible. The gunfire in close proximity soon ended, the vehicle departed the village, and the rest of the evening was spent in the back room together listening to the thuds of gunfire off in the distance. Nerves were shot but we were all safe.

Conversation in the morning with the villagers found that the military police fired 21 shots of live ammunition at the minaret's lights at the top of the mosque 35m from our apartment. The military police, joyriding through the village, also shot at cars and broke windshields that lined the streets.

Although a new experience for the four of us internationals at the apartment, this experience is a routine harrassment for our friends in Jayyus as well as it is throughout Palestine. At 4am, right on time, the call to prayer was ringing through the village, farmers started their tractors, and the life in occupied Palestine resumed. With this experience now in the past, the slogan, "We are all Palestinians" has taken on a new significance for me.