I have finally sucuumbed to the Ramallah ‘flu’. Its my third day of being housebound while the West Bank weather puts on a display of glorious early winter sunshine and pleasant temperatures. Luckily, I found a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle at the weekend which was not a nightscape of New York pre-2001 or a photocopy of a picture of a photocopy of a boy and his St Bernard circa 1970s . In fact it’s a rather challenging , colourful print of the circus with lots of action comprised of enticing, time-consuming individual scenarios within the Big Top. (My life may have gotten just too exciting!)
After weeks of evening time ennui and concerns about my rapidly disappearing ability to limit my television viewing to programmes with at least a teaspoon of acting and an outline plot, a veritable harvest of distractions have landed in my lap. First Al Jazeera went international- which means its inEnglish for mono-linguists like myself, then two great dvds arrived from a pal at home containing 4 hrs worth of the inimitable Helen Mirren in her final Prime Suspect, I got loaned a Raymond Chandler novel and then to top it all as from last night-Allah be praised- I’m now online at chez nous!
Perhaps, once the fog in my head has lifted and the capacity to breathe through my nose has been restored, I may even be able to make sense of what is happening between Olmert and the Palestinian negotiators. But that's just a maybe.. like a lot of other things around here.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Monday, November 20, 2006
The other war.. against women
Human Rights Watch has just released its report : A Question of Security- Violence Against Palestinian Women and Girls.
It points out that despite the acknowledged and extremely repressive impact of the Israeli Occupation that there has been an inexcusable absence of protections for or response from the Palestinian Authority to gender-based violence in the Occupied Territories. The report unequivocally indicts previous and current administrations;
" the PA is failing to act diligently to prevent, investigate and punish violence against women, putting women's health and lives in jeopardy."
Discriminatory laws that condone and perpetuate violence against women and the virtual absence of institutionalized policies to prevent violence, assist victims and hold perpetrators accountable cant be dismissed as an Israeli plot- this is a home grown problem that needs a home grown solution- and it needs it now.
It points out that despite the acknowledged and extremely repressive impact of the Israeli Occupation that there has been an inexcusable absence of protections for or response from the Palestinian Authority to gender-based violence in the Occupied Territories. The report unequivocally indicts previous and current administrations;
" the PA is failing to act diligently to prevent, investigate and punish violence against women, putting women's health and lives in jeopardy."
Discriminatory laws that condone and perpetuate violence against women and the virtual absence of institutionalized policies to prevent violence, assist victims and hold perpetrators accountable cant be dismissed as an Israeli plot- this is a home grown problem that needs a home grown solution- and it needs it now.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Just another week- like any other
This week, the Israeli army invaded towns in the West Bank 30 times, killing two, injuring 13, and abducting 55, including six children and two women. Israeli troops invaded Al Ein Beit Al-Maa’ refugee camp near Nablus twice.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
This is Independence?
At first I thought it was firecrackers- it was Palestinian Independence Day after all, but it had been a quiet affair with just public buildings and schools on holiday. The main shopping street in Ramallah was its usual crowded bustling self. Lots of traffic, women food shopping, kids in tow, traders standing outside their shops ready to do business with anyone who cast more than a 2 second glance at their wares on display. Men in the coffee shops- doing whatever it is they do between drinking coffee and smoking. I was in the internet cafe on the corner, on the second floor. It was quiet there, but from the balcony windows overlooking the main street, I could hear the muted hubbub of Ramallah daily life below. So, at first I thought it was firecrackers, but it persisted. When the manageress of the internet cafe abruptly pushed back her chair and ran to the wall of windows opposite- I knew it wasn't firecrackers.
She opened the window and the distinct, unmistakeable sound of automatic gunfire pounded from around the street below, people were yelling, car brakes screeching. I joined her pressed against the wall between two large front windows. I managed with her direction to look down to my left where a large grey minivan had blocked off the street, its back doors lying open vomiting out Israelis soldiers in full fatigues, rifles firing. The street was in chaos. Women huddled in doorways, traders lying on their bellies outside their shops while a wave of young Palestinian men came surging up from the Menara ( the main square located at the opposite end of the street) straight towards the gunfire of the IDF, dodging and wending their way between the hastily abandoned cars whose drivers were crouched for cover behind their own vehicles.
The firing continued and as we peeked down I saw that scores of other witnesses in the first floor shops and cafes opposite were also looking down at the scene below- some eyewitnesses even calling out to the young men on the street to be careful. It was then I saw one Israeli trooper- stand right in the middle of the road with the kind of powerful, casual arrogance derived from being fully armed among unarmed people and point his rifle upwards and begin firing at the windows above street level. It did the trick, we all pulled back from our positions overlooking the street and hit the floor. The gunfire continued for at least 15 minutes but the noise of approaching Palestinian men and youth grew louder too as they ran down the middle of the road, determined to push out the Israeli troops by sheer force of numbers alone.
Just as suddenly as it jacknifed into the street, the grey minivan began to screech back into action, soldiers throwing themselves through its open doors, but they were not alone, we could hear the shouts and struggles of at least one , or it may have been two Palestinians whom they had dragged off the street. The ambulance sirens started to drown out everything else- but it also gave us a chance to raise our heads to the window again. Below, the street was packed tight with people, cars being pushed to the side to allow the ambulances through and on two of the street's corners, it was clear that casualties had occurred as people gathered round prone figures and attempted to give aid.
Twenty minutes of mayhem, determined shooting up of the most crowded street in the whole of the West Bank, terror instilled into its population, 2 or 3 people snatched from the street, others fallen bleeding and wounded, some unconfirmed reports say two dead, children left shivering in fear with nightmares to come. Palestinian Independence Day- some kind of Independence.
She opened the window and the distinct, unmistakeable sound of automatic gunfire pounded from around the street below, people were yelling, car brakes screeching. I joined her pressed against the wall between two large front windows. I managed with her direction to look down to my left where a large grey minivan had blocked off the street, its back doors lying open vomiting out Israelis soldiers in full fatigues, rifles firing. The street was in chaos. Women huddled in doorways, traders lying on their bellies outside their shops while a wave of young Palestinian men came surging up from the Menara ( the main square located at the opposite end of the street) straight towards the gunfire of the IDF, dodging and wending their way between the hastily abandoned cars whose drivers were crouched for cover behind their own vehicles.
The firing continued and as we peeked down I saw that scores of other witnesses in the first floor shops and cafes opposite were also looking down at the scene below- some eyewitnesses even calling out to the young men on the street to be careful. It was then I saw one Israeli trooper- stand right in the middle of the road with the kind of powerful, casual arrogance derived from being fully armed among unarmed people and point his rifle upwards and begin firing at the windows above street level. It did the trick, we all pulled back from our positions overlooking the street and hit the floor. The gunfire continued for at least 15 minutes but the noise of approaching Palestinian men and youth grew louder too as they ran down the middle of the road, determined to push out the Israeli troops by sheer force of numbers alone.
Just as suddenly as it jacknifed into the street, the grey minivan began to screech back into action, soldiers throwing themselves through its open doors, but they were not alone, we could hear the shouts and struggles of at least one , or it may have been two Palestinians whom they had dragged off the street. The ambulance sirens started to drown out everything else- but it also gave us a chance to raise our heads to the window again. Below, the street was packed tight with people, cars being pushed to the side to allow the ambulances through and on two of the street's corners, it was clear that casualties had occurred as people gathered round prone figures and attempted to give aid.
Twenty minutes of mayhem, determined shooting up of the most crowded street in the whole of the West Bank, terror instilled into its population, 2 or 3 people snatched from the street, others fallen bleeding and wounded, some unconfirmed reports say two dead, children left shivering in fear with nightmares to come. Palestinian Independence Day- some kind of Independence.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Aiding the Aid workers?
Happy Birthday Mum! And belated birthday to my little sis yesterday- ah the delights of being raised with all those scorpios! Hope its been a good few days for you both.
The "strike" called by Hamas in mourning for the deaths in Gaza went off without too many incidents- well not much more than normal. Its scarey how the "acceptable levels of violence" mentality takes over in such situations and perhaps is a too handy and familiar response learned from the conflict in the North.
Spent sometime talking to some of the expat aid workers here over the last few days. Many of them seem to be in the 25-30 age range which gives me a good 15-20 years start on them. There is a discernable amount of burn-out among them. Indigestion and sleeping problems abound, heavy drinking on their free time, and conflicting emotions of frustration and guilt. Guilt because they feel headwrecked by the situation and yet have an *out * clause if they need one while Palestinians do not, frustration at the lack of political progress and a sense of futility in trying to accomplish anything substantial while wedged between a national political vaccum and international apathy.
I have been surprised at the lack of emotional support mechanisms for aid workers on long term placements here. They are, after all in a war zone where the threat is constant if not always imminent around them. I know of one aid worker whose job it is to document the killings and injuries of children and I thought often about her last week and the appalling vistas of photographs and videos from Gaza she would have been examining and analysing. All without any avenue in which to de-brief and unload her own inevitable and justifiable distress at what she was seeing.
Of course, the people who live here have the greatest amount of trauma- but they also have family and community networks, a sense of struggle and identity to help sustain them. That is not to diminish the very real impact- emotionally and psychologically which the brutality they are subjected to has upon them, but it hardly helps the locals if aid workers are burning out prematurely or unnecessarily.
The "strike" called by Hamas in mourning for the deaths in Gaza went off without too many incidents- well not much more than normal. Its scarey how the "acceptable levels of violence" mentality takes over in such situations and perhaps is a too handy and familiar response learned from the conflict in the North.
Spent sometime talking to some of the expat aid workers here over the last few days. Many of them seem to be in the 25-30 age range which gives me a good 15-20 years start on them. There is a discernable amount of burn-out among them. Indigestion and sleeping problems abound, heavy drinking on their free time, and conflicting emotions of frustration and guilt. Guilt because they feel headwrecked by the situation and yet have an *out * clause if they need one while Palestinians do not, frustration at the lack of political progress and a sense of futility in trying to accomplish anything substantial while wedged between a national political vaccum and international apathy.
I have been surprised at the lack of emotional support mechanisms for aid workers on long term placements here. They are, after all in a war zone where the threat is constant if not always imminent around them. I know of one aid worker whose job it is to document the killings and injuries of children and I thought often about her last week and the appalling vistas of photographs and videos from Gaza she would have been examining and analysing. All without any avenue in which to de-brief and unload her own inevitable and justifiable distress at what she was seeing.
Of course, the people who live here have the greatest amount of trauma- but they also have family and community networks, a sense of struggle and identity to help sustain them. That is not to diminish the very real impact- emotionally and psychologically which the brutality they are subjected to has upon them, but it hardly helps the locals if aid workers are burning out prematurely or unnecessarily.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
I won't be walking this walk
Just for the record, even if the Pride march goes ahead in Jerusalem tomorrow, I just cant find enough motivation to support it, the reaction of Orthodox Judaism notwithstanding. Jerusalem is the most contested city in the world. Its Palestinian residents are subjected to numerous pressures to squeeze them out, walled in, permits required to move beyond the wall, their portion of the city continually annexed by Israeli developments and for those Palestinians who live outside of Jerusalem who want to worship at their faith's most sacred site, the mosque at Al Quds, the way is barred.
There is something very wrong with the priorities of this proposed Pride march, in asserting the rights of lesbians and gays to walk through a city while others who were born and live there have no rights at all.
There is something very wrong with the priorities of this proposed Pride march, in asserting the rights of lesbians and gays to walk through a city while others who were born and live there have no rights at all.
A Deadly Recipe
Take an entire community, fence them in with an apartheid wall, prevent them from having freedom of movement, separate them from their families, crops, schools and places of worship, raid their towns on a regular weekly if not daily basis, abduct large numbers of residents, demand that all males between 15- 45 years old leave their homes and present themselves for interrogation, knock them about a bit for good measure, demolish their homes, shell them with some of the most powerful weaponry available and to be on the safe side use some of that stuff that's banned and burns its human targets from the inside out, shoot the women who protest, kill their children too, keep increasing the number of checkpoints, ignore all international standards and protections, and stir every chance you get.. within a few weeks you will have produced a whole army of suicide bombers focussed on nothing but Holy Jihad.
Oh and then when it happens- dont forget to perfect your look of shock and outrage!
Oh and then when it happens- dont forget to perfect your look of shock and outrage!
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