I wish I knew how it would feel to be free

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For some months now, I've had a song on my mind. For me it sums up the life of Palestinians under Israeli occupation and discrimination, and since I'm going back to Norway in just a few days, I'd like to end my blog with it. So, here it is. If you want to hear Nina Simone sing it, go to YouTube.

And I wish I knew how it would feel to be free
I wish I could break all the chains holdin' me
I wish I could say all the things that I should say
say'em loud, say'em clear for the whole round world to hear.



I wish I could share all the love that's in my heart,
remove all the bars that keep us apart.
I wish you could know what it means to be me.
Then you'd see and agree that every man should be free.



I wish I could give all I'm longin' to give.
I wish I could live like I'm longing to live.



I wish I could do all the things that I can do,
and though I'm way over due I'd be startin' a new



Well I wish I could be like a bird in the sky
How sweet it would be if I found I could fly



Oh I'd soar to the sun and look down at the sea
And I'd sing 'cause I'd know yeah
And I'd sing 'cause I'd know yeah



And I'd sing 'cause I'd know
I'd know how it feels
I'd know how it feels to be free



Yeah yeah I would know how it feels
Yes I'd know I'd know
How it feels
How it feels
To be free




The photos show, chronologically:
1 People waiting at the Gilo checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem
2 The Hannouneh family, who were thrown out of their home in East Jerusalem in August last year, sitting outside their house
3 One of the unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev, Beer Sheva in the horizon
4 Children in Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem
5 Blooming almond trees in Beit Sahour
6 Beit Sahour farmers who have lost land to the Har Homa settlement, and are now struggling to keep their land in Oush Ghrab
7 Children in the southern Hebron hills, who are facing settler violence on their way to school
8 The painting of a flute player on a wall in Deheishe refugee camp in Bethlehem

You can find all the stories on my blog.
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Qalqiliya

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Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
what I was walling in or walling out
and to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall.

(From "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost)

This week Lars, Ciara, Gjermund and I visited Qalqiliya, a city that is completely surrounded by the Barrier. We met with Muhammad Selim, who is working with refugee issues, and Rafiq Marabi, who is the leader of the National Committee for Grassroots Resistance, an organization working against the wall and the settlements. Rafiq Marabi took us around Qalqiliya, and gave us an introduction to the situation there. He told us that 60 percent of the land belonging to Qalqiliya was taken in the war in 1948 (Israel during this war conquered more land than was given to the state in the UN partition plan, to be more precise, 78 percent as opposed to 55). Today 70 percent of the inhabitants of Qalqilya are refugees. After Israel's occupation of the West Bank in 1967, additional land around the city of Qalqilya has been taken to settlements. Finally, in 2003, 2500 dunams (a dunam is 1000 square meters), ended up on the other side of the Barrier. The Qalqiliya that is inside the wall consists of 6500 dunams, 4000 of which is built-up area. Here's a map over Qalqilya city and the surrounding area:



As should be clear from the map, not only Qalqiliya city is divided by the Barrier, but the whole area around it. If you want to see how the Barrier is crisscrossing the entire Qalqiliya governorate, see page 4 of this UN report. All in all the wall is taking 60 percent of the land. The rest is divided by the Barrier and by settlements. "They are killing the possibility for a Palestinian state, they are killing the possibility for peace", Marabi comments.


Rafiq Marabi and Lars looking at a map.

In Qalqiliya city 45,000 people are living. But many are moving, because their lives have become so difficult. At the time 37 percent live under the poverty limit. Traditionally Qalqiliya has been a center of agriculture, because of its rich water supplies. According to Muhammad Selim, this is also why so many settlements have been constructed around it, and why the wall now is taking even more land. Farmers who have land on the other side of the wall, have great difficulties in reaching it. Many greenhouses are abandoned because farmers are not able to look after them during the day. If land is not cultivated within a period of three years, Israel can use an old Ottoman law to confiscate it. Other greenhouses had to be removed in order to make place for the Barrier.

The National Committee for Grassroots Resistance works against these Israeli policies in different ways: media work, demonstrations, working with political leaders and also legal work within the Israeli court system. In court they have managed to change slightly the route of the Barrier. What they asked for was for the Barrier to go along the so-called Green Line between Israel and the West Bank. The reason that was given why this was impossible was the settlements. If anyone wondered, the settlements are just as illegal according to international law as the Barrier is.

Back at Muhammad Selims office, we talked more about the effects of the Barrier on people in the area. Selim spoke about the difficulties of getting proper health care for the people left on the other side of the wall, and also of maintaining social ties. "If you want to have a wedding, you have to get permits for all your guests to cross the gate", Selim said, and continued: "We don't want to be animals, who just eat and work, we want to be human beings. You start to think that you are not like others, there are limitations everywhere."


The Wall in Qalqiliya.
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Study war no more

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I remember the first time I saw an Israeli soldier wearing a machine gun. I had only seen a gun once before in my life, a pistol carried by a police officer in France a few years ago. This time I was at a checkpoint between Beit Jala and Jerusalem. The sight of the machine gun was so shocking that it almost made me cry. I know that there is an occupation and that soldiers carry weapons, but still to see something that is produced to kill people is absurd to me. Now I am used to soldiers and machine guns. They are everywhere, not just at the checkpoints, but in the streets, cafes and buses, as Israel has many soldiers, and most of them carry their weapon even when they are off duty. I have seen settlers carrying machine guns as well. Despite the amount of settler violence towards Palestinians, settlers are not checked and disarmed at the many checkpoints scattered over the West Bank. Protection is for Israelis, not Palestinians.

A while ago I met with Ruth Hiller, who is active in a movement called New Profile. It is a feminist organization working for the demilitarization of the Israeli society. Ruth told me some interesting things about the Israeli military. She described how different parts of society are influenced by it, for instance how army networks are dominating politics as well as business. "One of the most militarized public spheres is the schools", she said. There are assistants in schools wearing uniforms, and often the principal is an ex-general (They retire and re-educate at 44.). Recruiting takes place during the two last years in high school: Different tests take place there, and military officials come to encourage the pupils to join different units. Teachers are obliged to identify children with low motivation and report them. People from the military dressed in civil then come and talk to them.

Some may have heard about how young Israelis who refuse to enter the army, have to go to jail. You can read about some of them on this website. When these conscientious objectors have finished their sentence, they are again asked to join the army, and if they say no, they are sent to prison once more. Often it continues like this until jail has made the objector so depressed that he or she is excempt on medical grounds. These people are not the only ones who avoid military service, however. Of the around 80 percent of the Israeli population who are Jewish, a total of 25 percent of high school graduates do not go into the military. Another 26 percent don't complete their service (two years for men and three years for women, men also have reserve service until they are 42). "The myth is that every Jewish boy and girl go into the military. People think that they don't have any other future than being a soldier", Ruth said, and continued: "In Israel you are not allowed to postpone your service a few years like you can in Europe, which means that there is no time to think. Israel could not have conscripted that many at the age of 21, because then people have matured as individuals." She added that soldiers live at home during their service, and only are paid around 100 dollars a month. "That's below minimum wage. It's slave labour", she concluded.

New Profile's main focus is giving support and counseling to people who question their military service or have decided to refuse. They cooperate with other Israeli organizations working in the same field. "It is our belief that there is always a choice", Ruth declared. "There are different ways of solving a conflict. Israelis are told that war is the only way. In New Profile we question this. After all it hasn't been working for 63 years".
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The light from Jerusalem

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Saturday before Easter Sunday is called Sabt en-Nur (Saturday of Light/Fire) by Christian Palestinians. According to Orthodox tradition a holy fire is lit without any human intervention in the Holy Sepulcher (the church held to stand on the place of Golgatha as well as the grave of Jesus). The lighting of the fire has taken place at least since 1066, maybe even centuries before that. The fire is thought to be the flame of the resurrection power, and also the fire of the burning bush that Moses encountered at Mount Sinai. It is brought from Jerusalem by special flights to many Orthodox countries, such as Russia, Serbia, Greece, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Syria and Lebanon, and welcomed on the airports by state leaders.

The fire also travels through the Wall to the Christian communities at the West Bank. I was at the reception in Beit Sahour. It was a great party, people had dressed up and were crowding the streets, scouts were marching and playing drums and bagpipes. The sound of at least 40 bagpipes playing in unison is pretty intense! I recognized a few of the tunes, the "Symphony of Joy" by Beethoven and then -of course- "My Heart will go on" from Titanic. It was an impressive celebration.


Scouts marching.


More scouts marching.

After speeches, music and marching, at last the light came, the holy light of the resurrection -in a taxi! After it came the prime minister of the Palestinian authority, Salam Fayyad. People surrounded the two cars, out stepped the patriark with the lantern, to the flashing of cameras and the smell of incense. Then we all started a procession through the streets of the Old City. On the balconies more people were watching, some throwing candy down at us. We arrived one of the many churches in Beit Sahour. There was a stage filled with scouts, and people could go into the church to light their own lanterns with the holy fire.


The patriarch stepping out of the car.

With my Lutheran background, Sabt en-Nur reminded me more of the Norwegian constitution day than Norwegian Easter. Still I see that there is no intrinsic link between Christian celebrations and organs. And there was something about this celebration that made sense, even to a Norwergian Protestant. Maybe it was the life and joy of the event. It seemed to suit a resurrection. There was a nationalistic touch to the celebration as well, with the prime minister present and kufiyyes and flags on the bagpipes. But for Christians struggling to stay in the land of the resurrection, as it is called in the Kairos document, I suppose your religion is also about your geografical roots.

But the strongest impression was maybe to see a celebration of a light coming from a city inaccessible to most of the Christians in Beit Sahour. In general, Palestinians are not allowed to go to Jerusalem (East Jerusalem was occupied by Israel in 1967, and is being separated from the West Bank more and more). During religious holidays, people can apply for a permission to go, but many don't get it. Some object to the whole system of permissions. Why should they apply for traveling in their own land? On Palm Sunday there was a demonstration where 100 people managed to pass the checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem before they were stopped by police on the other side. This was part of an annual procession that used to go between the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem and the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem every Easter Sunday. It's so sad to talk to people about their holiday plans, knowing that they can't go to the city where Easter started, in order to go to the Holy Sepulcher, or to see friends and family. But the light of the resurrection crosses the Wall. Maybe it will someday also tear it down.
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Unrecognized

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Some days ago, Lars, Gjermund and I went to the Negev desert in order to learn more about the situation for the Bedouins who are living there. On our way, we crossed the checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. It was very crowded this day. It took us one hour just to get through the first lane leading into the terminal itself. As we were waiting, we met Gunnar, who is here with EAPPI, the accompaniment program of the World Council of Churches. I asked him what was going on, and he said: "Well, there are two girls sitting there, and one is just chewing gum and talking on the phone. I tell you, this has been the worst month since I got here." After a while a friend called the humanitarian number of the Israeli military. They told us to wait. Nothing happened.


In the lane at the checkpoint.

In Beer Sheva we met Abu Ali al-Sbeih from The Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages in the Negev (RCUV). "I wanted you to come, to see how people live in a democracy", he said. Most of the Bedouins in the Negev fled to the West Bank, Gaza and Sinai during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948. Those who remained were forced to move to the northern parts of the Negev, around the city of Beer Sheva. By the end of the 1950s, the Israeli state had managed to appropriate over 90 percent of all land in the Negev. In the 60s and 70s, the government planned seven townships where they wanted to "concentrate" the Bedouin population, without consulting them. Those who refuse to move to these townships, live in the so-called unrecognized villages.

While 134 agricultural communities have been developed for the exclusive use of the Jewish population of the Negev, not a single Arab community has been authorized since 1948. Consequently, you will not find the unrecognized villages in the Negev on a map, and they do not receive services or infrastrucure like water, electricity or roads. To construct permanent buildings is illegal, so Israeli authorities regularly destroy Bedouin homes. Even villages and houses that were there long before the state of Israel was established, suddenly have become illegal.

"There are 45 villages with 90,000 inhabitants", Abu Ali al-Sbeih tells us.
"They destroy our houses and take our land to make us move to densely populated areas. We want to live as Bedouins, with animals and an agriculture with low water consumption, but that's impossible when we are placed in cities. Every week they come and destroy houses, because they say that they are illegal. But we have no one to apply to for permission."
He keeps describing how difficult the situation is. Children have to travel long ways to go to school. Many don't go. If a mother needs to take her child to the clinic, she will often have to walk several kilometers before she reaches a road. The schools -there are separate schools for Jews and Bedouins- have a bad quality. And all the time they see how different their situation is from that of Israeli Jews, who have everything they need.

Al-Sbeih takes us to two unrecognized villages. One of them is called Assir. The houses have been standing here for a long time. Then Israel built a high voltage wire just over the village. Now the inhabitants live with the risk of cancer.
"Every time there's a storm, the people here are so afraid that parts of the construction will fall down," al-Sbeih comments.


Assir.

In the other village, Khashm Zanna, 600 children are picked up by 12 buses every day to go to school.
"It costs more to drive these children back and forth than to have a school here. Why do they do it? Because they don't want us to live here".
Al-Sbeih tells us about the Regional Council, which represents the unrecognized villages to the state and the international society. They also arrange courses, where people learn to communicate about their own situation.


Sitting down for tea in Khashem Zana.

Abu Ali Al-Sbeih describes the beauty of the traditional Bedouin life: the music, the fellowship, the handicrafts and the love for the desert.
"Every type of nature has its special characteristics. The life of the Bedouins is tied to what is natural in the desert. We know how to live in harmony with it. And we appreciate it, the silence, for instance. I don't mind young people moving to the city. But those who want to live in the desert, are not allowed."
We ask Al-Sbeih how the Israeli government defends it policies towards the Bedouins.
"They listen to us, and they know what is going on, but they don't want to do as we say, because they want our land. They want to pressure and pressure and pressure us, so that we move.", he answers.
"When I open my door and go out, I meet limitations and barriers. I want a free life. I want to live in a world that stretches out, like the desert."


From Assir.
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Victory in Umm Salamona

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For those of you who have been reading my blog regularly, you might have been wondering what has happened to the hilltop in Umm Salamona, where we planted trees in November and December to avoid it being taken for settlement expansion. For those of you who haven't read about Umm Salamona, the matter in short was that the supreme court has ruled that the hilltop has to be cultivated before the end of 2009, or it would be confiscated (and beyond doubt, given to the neighbouring settlements). See my posts The hills are alive and Trees and threats in Umm Salamona for more background.

I contacted Awad, the initiator of the campaign, last week to hear how things were going in Umm Salamona. Awad told me that the land will not be confiscated. By planting 1250 trees there, Awad and other activists have managed to reclaim the land. Even though deer held by settlers are damaging many of the trees (there is no money for building metal fences), Awad describes the situation as good.

People, Palestinians and foreigners, have, by non-violent means, prevented a hilltop from being stolen. The people in Umm Salamona can go there, to enjoy the beautiful landscape or to harvest the trees. And they can feel that there is some kind of right and wrong in this world, and some way to pursue it. Still around half a million settlers are living on stolen land in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. But the victory in Umm Salamona is a message, to the settlers and the Israeli military that the land belongs to the Palestinians, and that it is important to them. And to the world about what is going on in the lives and land of the Palestinians.
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Checkpoint gospel

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These days there's a conference going on in Bethlehem, arranged by Bethlehem Bible College. "Christ at the Checkpoint: Theology in the Service of Peace and Justice", it's called. Between 200 and 25o Evangelical Christians from the US and Europe, as well as Palestinians, are gathered to work with theology in the Palestinian context. Christ is at the checkpoint. What does he have to say to people there?

Gjermund and I attended a lecture yesterday by Gary M. Burge, who is a professor in the New Testament at Wheaton College in Chicaco. He talked about the New Testament and the Land, a topic that he has just finished a book about. I'm sure I didn't catch everything that Dr. Burge said, but I'd like to render a few points he made.


From the lecture. Thank you to Gjermund for letting me use his picture.

First of all, he pointed out that Holy Land theologies was a highly debated issue among Jews in Jesus' time. Jews were under Roman occupation. Should they fight to get their sovereignty back? What about Jews living in diaspora, who were actually the majority? Could you really be a good Jew living outside the Holy Land? Considering this debate, Jesus' silence about this issue is a loud silence, Dr. Burke argued. Still the question is touched upon in some passages in the gospels, for instance in the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5). According to Dr. Burke, the word in Greek for "earth" can also be translated "land", as in the Greek version of the strikingly similar verse in Psalm 37: "But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace." "Land" and "inheritance" were conceptions tightly linked to the promise to the Jews. But here Jesus does not say that the land belongs to a certain people, but to those who are meek. Does this mean that Jesus gave the land to his followers? No, says Dr. Burke. The rest of the New Testament interprets "the land" in relation to the Kingdom of God.

This is reaffirmed by the practice and writings of the early Christian church. The gospel is preached to Diaspora Jews. But Jews or non-Jews who receives the new faith, are they asked to move to the Holy Land? Never. They can stay where they are. There is no territorial theology in early Christianity. Paul is in his writings strikingly uninterested in geography. Terms connected to Holy Land theology are reinterpreted. For instance, Abraham's seed, that the promises were spoken to, is not the Jewish people, but Jesus (Gal, 3:16). And what was Abraham promised? According to Paul's letter to the Romans 4:13, not today's Israel, but "the world"! Also in the other texts in the New Testament, "land" is not connected to territory. For instance, in the Book of Revelation, Jerusalem is a city newly built by God, not the city in Judea. The country the Christians are longing for, is not Israel, it's heaven or the heavenly renewal of the world.

For those who have an idea about the support Evangelical Christians have given to the Zionist cause especially in the USA, this message and this conference is potentially revolutionary stuff. Of course the people present at that lecture do not make up a big percentage of Evangelical Christians. Some of them are still traveling around Israel in buses with slogans like: "I will not keep silent for Zion's sake. Christians united for Israel." But the change in many churches around the world is noticed and even warned about by those in Israel who support their country's policies, as can be seen in this article in Jerusalem Post. The Kairos document might, with it's urge for churches to revisit theologies that are justifying the occupation and to stand up in support for the oppressed, add momentum to this change. It might actually mean a difference. It might be good news at the checkpoint.


From the wall. Thank you to Gjermund's father, who took the photo.
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