Village of Bil'in, West Bank Palestine

The village of Bil'in (pronounced Bila-ine) is a small village of 200-300 people that has been terrorized by the demolitions and building of the wall, separating them from their land. In 2003, the Israeli government ordered for the demolition of houses and olive trees centuries old, their main source of agricultural economy. As I wanted to educate myself on how small resistance movements were creating awareness, this village was of particular interest as they lead peacefull and creative demonstrations religiously every Friday, on their day of rest. In watching a recent documentary called Bil'in Habibti created by a Jewish activist, well known and loved in the community, I was intrigued by the community's use of creative resistance. Aware that throwing a rock or two will get them a 3 month automatic jail time, they use things like mirrors with words written backwards so when they meet the wall of soldiers in the march, they can shine it against them to say words like killer or peace with a strike through it. I was surprised to see a group of disabled people, rolling for peace towards the gates with signs in Arabic, English and Hebrew and the IDF still continued to shoot gas bombs and random rubber bullets. There is an entrance at the gate which the IDF use to torment the village at night, driving through the streets of Bil'in. I knew I had to show my support and visit the site. As a couple of American protestors were killed in the last month during the Friday protest, I went on Wednesday! We set out to Ramallah and found our way to this ghost town of half torn buildings, olive trees and a beautiful Mosque. We had a contact number for one of the families that lead the protests and invites internationals into his home to teach them about their suffering. Last month, an active and peacfull demonstartor from the village, one who would constantly try to intervene between the soldiers and try to get them to retreat from their village, was shot. His memorial is undescribable - I am forever changed by this experience, I'm writing this with tears. When I arrived to Project Hope in Nablus, I saw posters on the wall that read Bassem with a picture of a man with his arms out straight walking into the wind. I thought at first this was some kind of pop-star and laughed at the cheesy black and white picture. When Eddy, our contact invited us into his home, his wife graciously greeted us with tea and coffee and we were surrounded by members of Bassems family all sitting on the couches waiting for us to see the video of his protests and eventual death. After the video's, I trully understood what was meant by a martyr, living the end of his life in constant threat. I don't understand how a man who was peacfully trying to protect his community with signs and international support could be wasted away, all for a wall to protect a settlement that could be built within the masses of land outside Bil'in. After the video's, the wife grabbed his picture and pointed a gas-bomb canister towards his pic saying "my cousin, he died". The look in her eyes sent my blood pressure through the roof and I had to leave before I embarrased myself with a flood of tears. We headed to see the wall with Bassem's cousins and as we pulled up and began to take a couple photo's, two Isareli soldiers came running from behind a concrete structure on the other side of the wall. They intimidatingly asked for our journalism passes and told us they were calling the police or their superior. We stood there saying it was a free country and I was taking pictures of my friends, they ran away to get whoever, so we left. They took the case to the Israel's high court and nothing came of it, so here they stand strong and united with protestors from around the world in a collective resistance against the apartheid.
More info on their resistance visit www.bilin-ffj.org RIP Bassem

Al Mustaqbal - Palestinian Youth Parliament

Over the last week of planning for the Graphic Novel programs (without classes) I have been working with the Al-Mustabal (Future Society) to help with applications and proposals for their Palestinian Youth Parliament initiative. This is an eight stage process to build a forum for democratic education and government involvement for the Palestinian youth, which currently consists of over 82% of the population (18-35yrs old). 65% of this sector has an enormous leisure time with no jobs and a dwindling agricultural economy. Such economic circumstances could lead to the youth joining resistance groups that are less efficient for the building of a Palestinian state and overall liberation and freedom from oppression. The Society is an organized group of both women and men that work towards not only the training of youth in policy development, democratic principles and human rights but also a forum of discussion for active youth participation. Yesterday I arrived to continue working on a grant application and I was suprised to find that they were taking me and another woman from the German Agency for Aid on a trip to Wada Badan (Badan Valley). This is an area that was closed via checkpoint by the occupation but has been recently re-opened since the new Israeli settlement was fully developed close by, over the hill. The bottom of the valley use to be filled with a clean river but since the developemnt of the settlement, the water-way was blocked and redirected to the settlement, and their sewage was directed to where the river use to be. It has now been re-opened and no longer blocked by checkpoint but there is still no water running down this historical valley (Want to know more about Badan Valley visit http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=1143). We pulled up to a hill where there were some broken-down buildings, a few surrounding farm lands for cucumbers and bedouin children playing under the olive trees. It was a site I had never seen before and I could feel the Director and Program Coordinator's excitment when they told us what was to come of it. With smiles from ear to ear, they explained that this last week Mahmoud Abbas had given them the land at a very reasonable price in order to build a University for diplomacy and policy development. Basically the dream is that the school will be known for its two-three year diploma throughout the Middle East. This would build the reputation of Palestine as the peace seeking society they really are. The complex would include accomodation for singles and families, separate dorms for men and women, a swimming pool, activities centre with gym, state fo the art classrooms and more. We sat under a tree to have some juice and talk about the project. At this time they have the land and the idea but are seeking to develop the proposals for funding and bring engineers on board for planning. I only hope I can contact the right people to help them. After the picnic we strolled towards one of the partly demolished structures. They explained that the land use to belong to Jordan and this structure was a Mosque for Jordanian soldiers, but after the Six Day war and Israeli occupation, the Israeli's used it. I could tell there had been fighting on the site as bullet holes still remained in the strcture. I was mezmorized by the sun bouncing off the brilliant sea-blue paint inside. When leaving the site the bedouin children waltzed towards us and I couldn't help but take a picture of the little girl, covered in farm soot and crystal clear dark green eyes glearing at me.

Plans for the graphic novels

In Nablus, all university students, government schools and UN schools are undergoing their end of year exam period during the month of May. Unfortunately, because of this the graphic novel programs have been shortened to 3 intense weeks (75 hours) for the University course and 4 weeks for the children from the refugee camps. As the students attention spans can be short during these hot summer months, this will probably work better as the students can keep inside and have short breaks throughout the class, working on their projects. So far, the publication of their short stories has been confirmed to be featured in the coming issue of Yalla - a youth publication for peace that uses both Arab and Jewish submissions of poetry, art and essays www.yallajournal.com Hopefully, we will be able to succefully create our own publication of the graphic stories that includes the students biography's and maybe even find scholarships for them to attend art programs in Europe, Canada and the US. As I hear many times a day in Palestine, insha'allah! At the end of the University program, we will have an exhibition of their work for other NGO's and art centres in Nablus to attend, bringing even more attention to teh University's pool of talent.

Weekend in Tel Aviv

The checkpoints were not at all as intimidating as I expected, no hassles as to my travel purposes but completely depressing, especially the wall. The West Bank is intensly populated by Arab cities and villages with a few newer Jewish settlements of maybe 200-300 people in the settlement, sparsely found through the hills. You can tell they are settlements from a distance because the houses look like the ready made 'house-in-a-box' style set up in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. There are checkpoints throughout the Palestinian territories but the main gate at the wall of entry or exit has prison style turnstyles and metal detectors. SOme people coming in and out are denied or have trouble with their ID. As the American, the Scott and I passed through the turnstyle with ease I could hear the shouting of a older women who obviously was being denied. Once out of the security zone, the next stop is Ramallah, a bussling city that houses most the ministries and is a little bit more use to Foreigners. The main reason for the attention was probably because we were three younge women obviously travelling on our own. From here we take an but that drives to the Arab quarter of Jerusalem. The busses are separate, one station and set of buses for Arabs and another set for Jews. This was a strange concept for me as racial segregation is forbideen and punishable by law in the West, but it's one that keeps the peace. We met up with a friend of theirs from the Old City of Jerusalem. Abby was a 6th generation Greek guy living in a house four centuries old with his father. He came with us to Tel Aviv to check out the beach. Although Tel Aviv was a beautiful city, their way of life (considering the one I had just come from) broke my heart as they were at complete advantage and most of them had no clue as to the attrocities occuring in the West Bank. We used a well known site called couchsurfing.com typo find our accomodation for the evening and made it to a younge Israeli guy who had a huge apartment in Tel Aviv. After grabbing a bite we head back, listened to some tunes and met a friend of his who had just finished his army service in Nablus. Ofcourse, curious to see his reaction, I told him this is where we were doing humanitarian work and he told us how much he hated being situated in Nablus and how he would have rathered teach in Nablus. I could feel his sincerity and I felt hopefull for the future. I then remembered how forward Tel Aviv was suppose to be compared to the rest of Israel and regained consciousness. The next day, two other of his friends came to have dinner and once told the same thing, told us they knew nothing of Nablus. Amy (the American) had just came to Palestine from Bali and so asked the guys if they knew at least where Bali was. The young bearded guy with a long curly ponytail looked up from his plate to say "Isn't that a Muslim place". Amy giggled sarcastically and replied "No, it's mainly Hindu". I looked over to see her face was in disbelief that this person had just been in the Army and was obviously soo poorly educated. After going to the market, checking out the beach, being harassed by some creepy guys on the beach, and having a couple drinks we left the next day, earlier than planned. I couldn't help my feeling of yurning to get back to Nablus, a friendly and relatively peacefull society that is surprisingly very well educated considering the circumstances.

Nakba Demonstration in Nablus

One of the programs directors for Project Hope had told all the volunteers that there were to be a peacfull rally and demonstration of the people against their Nakba, and it would be good to have an international presence. Many of us went so that we could have our own perspective on demonstrations in Palestine and see if the IDF would do anything to prevent it. When arriving to the demonstration site, I heard gun shots go off. Being from a big city like Toronto, I had heard this sound before and knew that it was probably to settle the crowd down. We got out of the taxi and closely together walked down the hill towards the demonstration. For the most part it was peacefull with a speaker and some government officials calling for liberation and freedom. There was a flyer but only being able to read Arabic and not actualy understand, I have no idea what it says. It turned out that the Palestinian local police forces shot off some bullets into the air to disperse the crowd and the IDF were nowhere to be found. During the end of the demonstration I became swarmed with kids inquiring to my camera. They were fascinated with the LCD screen where you could see the pictures. There are alot of things in Nablus as for the most part its very forward in education, some goods and services but an LCD screen is just not one of them. They asked lots of questions and were very friendly and playfull. All wa done and we head back to the house.

Army base above Nablus

Project Hope sets you up on a tour of the city and essential places you need to know. It was amazing to see the old city as its four centuries old and some of the vendors from the market have over 5 generations at the same location. Everyone was saying hello and welcoming you as they don't see a foreign presence that often in Nablus. During the tour I had to wear the Project Hope vest and felt a little embarrased but figured, what the hell, they know I'm with an NGO anyways so why not. Most of the women wear Hijab but there are few who choose not to. My guide walked me towards the library where I was going to get a card for regular use, he pointed to a very foreign looking structure high on one of the mountains bearing over the city and told me this was the IDF army base. This is where the soldiers train and do their service, store all equiptment and then raid the city during the night for a collective punishment scare tactic to keep things "in order". The base was not too high, I could make out the lights, entry point and windows on the tower where snipers can watch from a distance. I couldn't understand how a tightly nit community could live under such conditions, especially the people from the refugee camps throughout the city. There is such beauty here and such destruction. What I did observe though was that the lockdown has had a preservation effect on the culture. It's not eroded by Western tourism as Jerusalem is, and this I feel privledged to spend time in and be apart of Palestinian prosperity.

First Day in Nablus

Once arriving at the Project Hope office, situated uphill close to the city centre and the old city, I met with the centre director Hakim and filled the necessary paperwork out. I wandered around the centre looking at pictures of the refugee kids and posters of protests. After settling into the apartment, taking a long needed nap after 48 hours of travel, I met with the department head of the Faculty for Fine Arts at Najar University in Nablus. We arranged for another meeting with the Dean the next day to arrange the Graphic Novel course. I felt right at home, not really dealing with culture shock. I suspect this is because the people are so unbelievably friendly and welcoming. The centre and the apartment are both really large and well set up with desks and couches and fully equiped kitchens. All schools are going through exam period at the moment so until the end of the month I will be working with a Palestinian organization working on forming a new youth initiative to form a progressive parliament. I will be editing and drawing up some reports in English. During the afternoons I have been set up to teach in the refugee camps. After the meeting with Dr. Jaber from the university two of the other volunteers asked if I would like to go for 'cocktails' up the street at a local place for young people. With a confused look on my face I graciously accepted wondering how a Muslim society would have alcohol and how I would get out of drinking as I was still jetlagged. Amy (the Californian), Meaghan (Scott), two Palestinian volunteers, Ashraf and Hamza, and I walked up the hill to a cafe. I was pleased to find out that cocktails were the name for an ice-cream, yogurt and nut blend that came in a variety of flavours. The people here make such an effort to welcome you and chat in English. I couldn't help but find this to be a part of the good natured character of the society considering many have little access to an English speaking community to have regular practice. The main topic of conversation was the political situation ofcourse and many questions about Canada. I told them about the protests in Toronto and society's built for the liberation of Palestine and freedom from Nakba. He replied with "I love Canada" and an undescribable look on his face. After cocktails and many of my questions about staying in Nablus answered, I head off to bed.