I had an appointment at the Sharek Youth Forum in the Ramallah Ghetto.
Normal travel distance from the Bethlehem Ghetto is 35 minutes through
Jerusalem. Instead it takes at least one hour because we have to go
through the roundabout ways through the deserts around Jerusalem
(Palestinians cannot go through Jerusalem) and today it took two hours
because of a soldier at the checkpoint. You go down through Wadi An-Nar
("valley of fire"), hairpin loops that are killers on clutches and
brakes. At the other end of this wadi is an Israeli checkpoint (mahsom
in Hebrew) called the container. It separates one Palestinian area
from another. I was riding in one of those service taxis (a yellow
van) carrying seven people. Two soldiers at the booth. One
blond-haired European (Ashkenazi) and and one dark skinned (maybe
yemenite Jew or even an Arab Bedouin). The white guy sitting in a
chair with feet on top of the concrete enclosure where he sits. Our
car approaches, stops the obligatory 50 meters away. The white guy
motions with his two fingers to approach. The van pulls up to few feet
from where he is. We roll down the windows. He takes his time. He
then motions with his two fingers to the guy behind me, a 30 year old
guy, to come down to him. He did. He pauses then asks him for his ID
card. He looks at it. He mocks his family name "Abu Snina" then tells
him to go get all our ID cards. He is still leaning in his chair with
his feet up. He looks at each card with a sneer. He asks the young
man where he is going. Ramallah. Why? He answers for factory work.
He then asks the guy in the car with a beard where he is going. He is
an old man with poor hearing and we have to tell him what the question
is and then tell the soldier.
The soldier asks the young man a few more questions. He returns all
ID's except two: the young man and the bearded old man. He turns over
their ID cards to the other guy and asks us to pull over forward about
50 meters to the side of the road. We wait and we wait. Because we are
parked forward, we have to keep looking back to see if he motions to
give back the IDs. The temperature is 38 C in the shade (some 100 F).
I ask if we should go back and ask about the status of the two IDs. I
am told this might cause us an extra hour or two! An hour passes by and
the two fingers finally move to get the young man back. He goes and
soon returns gives the one ID to the old man and closes the door. No
one says anything. Five minutes later I start a conversation about
what transpired which the young man engages in while the others remain
quiet. The young man says it is not a big deal this time. He recites
examples of far worse checkpoint stories, longer delays, beatings, and
a time when he was delayed at a checkpoint while taking his son to the
emergency room for food poisoning. The driver finally jumps into the
conversation and recounts a guy who had a heart attack and died at a
checkpoint. We proceed to Ramallah. I am late and manage to attend
only the last third of the program at the Sharek Youth Forum, a program
I was invited to attend by Sharek's Research and Advocacy Coordinater
Aia Hijazi whom I had met at Drake University a while ago. The part I
do attend is impressive with the program tailored for full
participation by youth from refugee camps in the West Bank and included
a video uplink with youth from Gaza.
Over 10 refugee camps were represented. I heard young men and women
(ages 15-25) express their needs and desires and collectively think
what they can do to effect a change in their circumstances. Need for
clinical services in Akka refugee camp. Poor schools mentioned by a
student from Falasteen camp. Lack of Recreational facilities of any
kind by another student from another camp. Stories on movement restrictions. A
kid who mentioned he is
from Iraq Al Manshiya (one of the depopulated villages that now houses
an Intel plant) mentioned the importance of taking matters into their
own hands to effect a change in their circumstances. There were young
folks I met before including from Al-Rowwad center (Aida Refugee Camp)
and Ibdaa Center (Dheishe Refugee camp). When the time for the Gaza
cvideo conference came, the Gaza folks emphasized especially their
economic plight. Unemployment (Batala) was mentioned several times.
I said a few words at the end and I was pelted with questions and
interest from those attending especially about programs to help
graduating high school seniors pay for local college costs.
On the way back to Beit Sahour, I started reading the material the center gave
to me (http://sharek.ps).
It included a survey of 1220 young people (15-25) from refugee camps in
Gaza and the WB about their perceptions of their conditions and
especially their human rights situation. Some stats are rather sad: 54%
did not feel secure (more than half cited the Israeli occupation and an
alarming 18% cited Palestinian factions as cause of their insecurity),
81% said they were either very depressed or depressed in the past two
weeks.
Other questions and answers that pleasantly surprised me:
-Who is responsible for protecting your human rights? In order of
highest percentage: my family, myself, friends, UNRWA or other UN
agency, Refugee Camp COmmittee, lawyers or Palestinian organization.....
(self reliance evident here)
- Only 5 % thought voluntary work was not important, 95% thought it important
or very important
- 93% oppose using drugs of any kind, only 7% support (13% among smokers)
Others give us pause to think and have obviously changed from the time
I was growing up; e.g. 77% oppose birth control and family planning and
nearly half the youth now identify themselves with a Muslim identity
rather than a national Palestinian or Arab identity (20%).
In the evening, we had a talk by and conversation with Dr. Meir
Margalit, a former member of the Jerusalem City Council and field
coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. He
explained how Israel is systematically and methodically discriminating
against non-Jewish citizens and altering the nature of Jerusalem to
make it a Jewish city. For example, while Palestinians make up 33% of
the city they get about 8-11% (depending on how you count) of the city
budget. And while it used to be that the land was 90% owned by Muslims
and Christians, the city now allocates a mere 9000 dunums for
Palestinian areas (Muslim and Christian) of a total of 124,000 dunums
(that is about 7%). Israel is also building settlements/colonies in
Silwan and even in the old city itself (Jewish and Muslim quarters).
I will continue sending you more Palestinian stories I witness but here
is one inspiring one forwarded by my friend Haitham who read it at ESPN
and wrote a note to thank the sports writer:
Then there is Zakia Nassar. She's a
21-year-old Palestinian from Bethlehem studying dentistry in Jenin, a
city in the West Bank. She said it has been her dream since she was 10
to swim in the Olympics but there is no pool available for training in
Jenin. There is an Olympic-sized, 50-meter pool in nearby Nazareth, but
the Israeli government did not give her permission to use it.
"Without permission, there is no way
to go there," Nassar said. "Many journalists did their best. They
talked, they wrote, they talked, they wrote. Our Olympic committee, our
swim federation, they said, 'This is sport; let her train.' And they
said no. I said, 'I am just going to swim.' And they said no. They
didn't say anything. They just ignored me."
Nassar was limited to training only
when she returned to her parents' home in Bethlehem, but she did so
only about every two months for two days or so, and the pool is only 12
meters long. Yes, she is very good at flip turns.
"My parents always encouraged me,"
Nassar said. "They said, 'This is your dream, these are the Olympics,
you must train as best you can.' And I'm glad. I'm here."
Nassar said she received a lot of
supportive text messages from Palestinians back home. "All the
Palestinian people always support me. They said, 'We are proud of you.
Keep going. Swim your best for Palestinians.'"
She swam the 50 in 31.97, more than
seven seconds behind the best time, but it was good enough to win her
heat. She will not appear on the cover of Time magazine or a Wheaties
box or receive millions of dollars in endorsements, but she can always
say she won a race at the Olympics.
"There wasn't a lot of training," she
said. "But I tried my best, and that's OK. It has been my dream, and I
am excited to be here. I don't think I will keep on swimming. I have to
concentrate on dentistry now. But maybe I'll keep on swimming for next
time."
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/columns/story?columnist=caple_jim&id=3536932
You can write the author a note about his article via:
http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/mailbagESPN?event_id=13817
Bonus good news: The Free Gaza and Liberty boats are now together with all the
crew in Cyprus and about to set sail for Gaza.
Mazin Qumsiyeh
Give birth to me again
Give birth to me again that I may know
In which land I will die, in which land
I will come to live again.
Mahmud Darwish
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