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On November 15, 2005, Senator Clinton
stood on the Jerusalem side of The Wall and was quoted in
Ha'aretz, expressing support for The Wall because it "is against
terrorists" and "not against the Palestinian people."
Senator Clinton did NOT visit the Little
Town of Bethlehem in Occupied Territory, to see what The Wall has
done to the Bethlehem economy. But I have.
On New Years Eve Day 2005, I visited a
family who had just rebuilt their home in Dasheish, one of three
fifty-eight year old refugee camps in Bethlehem.
The Habib [not real name] family had
rebuilt on the very same spot after the Israeli Defense Force/IDF
blew their former home up without reason and without any
compensation. The usual reason given for home demolitions is for
the building of The Wall, but the Habib residence is deep within
the Dasheish refugee camp, and The Wall is at least three miles
away. Mr. Habib told me that in 2004, the IDF banged on his door
and informed the family that their home would be demolished within
fifteen minutes. The family all got safely out but their home was
but a memory a few moments later.
"No one in our family had ever been in any
trouble with the Israeli government before and no family member had
ever been arrested. They picked us to be an example of the power
and control that Israel has to deny basic and inalienable human
rights," Mr. Habib told me without any bitterness.
What impresses me most every time I go to
Palestine, is that every Palestinian I speak with all have the most
forgiving spirits and unflappable patience. I thought of Senator
Clinton's inaccurate and insensitive remarks about The Wall not
being against the Palestinian people, and wondered what she would
say about Palestinian homes being destroyed without any reason at
all.
An Uncle down the stairs from the Habib's
also had his home blown away on the same day. Relatives took them
all in, for the poor in Palestine take care of the poor and don't
look to the government to do what people of good will, will do
automatically: care for the widow, the orphan, the ill and the
prisoner.
When ever I need a taxi while in Bethlehem
or Jerusalem, I call Sam. He can comfortably transport eight and
has an excellent sound system. Sam is an Orthodox Christian in the
Syrian Church and has a gorgeous wife and two beautiful kids. Sam
has VIP papers which enable him to chauffeur the Patriarchs around
town without as much hassle as a regular Palestinian would have to
endure at the checkpoints.
Sam, his wife and I rode to the Ben Gurion
Airport, three hours prior to my 1 AM flight home on January 5,
2005. We talked a little but mostly we listened to the music of Bob
Marley. When we arrived at the checkpoint at the entrance of the
airport, Sam rolled down his window and smiled at the young soldier
and said, "Shalom" but it sounded more like "Salaam."
Sam's VIP pass meant nothing to the
soldier and we are all ordered to disembark and pull out all the
luggage. My passport was demanded without a smile and Sam was led
into the interrogation room while his wife and I stay out in the
cold trying to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Another
soldier examines and probes the van as he thoroughly looks for
b-o-m-b-s. The paranoia I see in many Israeli's has got to be,
some kind of holocaust hangover blinding them to the fact that the
oppressed have now become the oppressors.
After Sam's van is thoroughly examined
for b-o-m-b-s, I received my passport back marked with a red
sticker upon it. Back in Sam's van his wife expertly removed the
sticker and all the glue from my passport. The sticker brands one
as having come through occupied territory. Sam informs me that my
third degree would be airport securities territory and that was why
the soldier never asked me any questions.
Sam smiled wryly as he told me, "This is
what the Nazi's did to the Jews before the Holocaust when they
made them wear the Star of David. They marked them as the enemy.
Now anyone who knows Palestinians or visits occupied territory gets
a sticker on their passport to label them as friends of the
enemy."
Bob Marley and the Wailers erupt through
the speakers: Get up, stand up Stand up for your rights Get up,
stand up Stand up for your rights Get up, stand up Stand up for
your rights Get up, stand up Don't give up the fight.
My luggage had been filled with Arabic
nonviolent literature but Sam cautioned me to leave it all with him
to avoid the extra hassle it could cause me during the routine
questioning by airport security.
I left everything with him that I could
get on the Internet but kept books, a CD and a DVD. Sam warns me on
what I shouldn't say when I undergo my interrogation from the
inquisitive employees at the Ben Gurion Airport.
While in Bethlehem I shared with many
about my experience of having my computer confiscated by EL AL
employees at JFK Airport, during my pre-flight checking in process.
Every Palestinian told me "don't worry about it."
But every American I spoke with during my
time in Israel and Palestine, freaked out when I told them about El
Al confiscating my lap top for over an hour before I boarded the
plane at JFK for my second trip to the Holy Land. Every American
believed that they had downloaded my files, read my emails and
perhaps even injected a Trojan into my soft ware. Those Americans
had fallen into fear and paranoia, but Bob Marley and the Wailers
is the way I choose to go:
Get up, stand up Stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up Stand up for your rights Get up, stand up Stand up
for your rights Get up, stand up Don't give up the fight.
I had no fear of any airport security and
I was determined I would answer honestly every question and keep
smiling. Every employee I encountered smiled back at me and nobody
asked me any 'explosive' questions. While three different young
women examined and swabbed every item and surface in all my luggage
I experienced frisson: the chill in the thrill of the rush you
experience in a moment of delight, excitement or fear.
A young lady examiner came upon the book
from the Holy Land Trust conference I had attended December 27-30,
2005 entitled: Celebrating Nonviolent Resistance.
The young examiner never looked my way,
but she read the cover and scanned all the pages most
thoroughly.
I wondered if perhaps a few seeds of
thought were left germinating in Tel Aviv that night, but I forgot
all about that when I landed in JFK fourteen hours later.
I had crashed for five solid hours out of
the eleven hour flight. I awoke to vivid images of The Wall that
remain brutally fresh in my mind.
In my minds eye, I still see the concrete
boa constrictor and electrified fence that divides, separates,
humiliates, dominates, controls and denies inalienable human rights
to every Palestinian.
When I landed at JFK Airport, Terminal Two
to wait three hours for my connection home, all I could think about
was The Wall and all the injustice's I had witnessed during my
second of sixteen days in Israel and Palestine. [My first 16 days
are documented in my first book, "Keep Hope Alive"]
In January 2005, every local, taxi driver
and would be terrorist knew all the many ways around the concrete
boa constrictor and electrified fence which had enormous gaps,
holes, and other ways to get around checkpoints and avoid The
Bethlehem Terminal which divides the sister city of and from
Jerusalem.
The Israeli government and Senator Clinton
both claim The Wall is all for Security. I know better.
The concrete boa constrictor and
electrified fence is a master plan to divide, separate, humiliate,
dominate, control and deny inalienable human rights to the
indigenous people of the Holy Land.
In Palestine and the Unrecognized Villages
there are olive trees that were rooted centuries ago, for olive
trees can live for thousands of years, if they are not plowed down.
Twenty five olive trees can support a typical family in Gaza, the
West Bank and in the Unrecognized Villages, Where every little
child knows the names of the ancient olive trees, And they always
be, Names of mommys, sisters and favorite aunts and uncles, For the
olive trees are a member of their families.
In 1948, 20% of the total population of
the Holy Land were Christian. Today they number less than 1.3% and
continue to shrink fast.
Palestinian Christian roots go back to the
first century when Christ promised: "BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS:
THEY ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD." [Matthew 5:9]
At The Terminal in Bethlehem, upon the
thirty foot high Wall, a hundred square foot sign from The Minister
of Tourism hangs and proclaims in Orwellian logic: PEACE, PEACE,
PEACE.
"Peace, peace, peace, they say, when there
is no peace."-Jeremiah 6:14
For twelve days around Christmas 2005, I
lived in the Little Town of Bethlehem in occupied territory. For
twelve days I walked "through streets that were dead" [Bob Dylan]
in the morning, noon and night and everywhere I did go, shops were
closed, restaurants empty. A few locals would be around and tour
buses would quickly come and go at the Church of The Nativity.
But stores remain closed and restaurants
empty because tourists don't want to see, hear or know about
occupied territory.
The Terminal is not The Way tourists in
buses and taxis go; The Terminal is the way only Palestinians and
the curious go, Who want to know what's really going down In the
Holy Land: Which is in pieces.
Mr. Presidents, I plead, please tear down
the concrete boa constrictor and electrified fence which has been
deemed ILLEGAL by the International Court of Justice in the
Hague.
Mr. Presidents, please imagine what a
wonderful world it would be if you would plant olive trees and
build playgrounds and construct bridges of community and global
neighborhoods.
The Way to security is knowing ones
neighbor, and ones neighbor is ones sister and brother, For
everyone is a child of God.
To be blessed with Peace we must resist
evil with good and God has already told us what is required: "Act
justly, be merciful and walk humbly with your God."-Micah 6:8
"And the best you can do is forgive."-The
Traveling Wilburys
About the Author
Eileen is a retired RN, activist, author,
poet, reporter and editor of WAWA Blog:
http://www.wearewideawake.org She returns to the West Bank in
November 2006 and will be reporting on WAWA.
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