Existence is Resistance

On Monday morning we met with Zoughbi, the director of Wi'am Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center. The name is pretty descriptive of what they do there. Occupation not only creates tension and conflict between occupier and occupied, it creates tension and conflict amongst the occupied, and Wi'am aims to work through those conflicts. We all sat around the table over coffee and tea and absorbed Zoughbi's wise words. "Instead of cursing darkness, we light a humble candle," he tells us. He believes in non-violent, transformative and restorative resolutions to conflict that will heal people, families and communities. He addressed power imbalances that occupation amplifies, and acts as a third party to "empower the weak and bring the strong to their senses." He believes in restorative reconciliation, not punitive, and is working to foster this approach to Palestinian youth. "We need collective human security," he told us, and this resonated very deeply for me after constantly being bombarded with Nationalistic jargon about security in a way that is never inclusive of all humans. What an inspiring talk!

After Wi'am we went to meet with Lubnah who works for Badil, an organization that provides resources and does advocacy work for the Palestinian refugee/IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) population. Lubnah is very knowledgeable, we learned a ton from her presentation. A few notable tidbits:

• 66% of Palestinians are refugees, mainly from the British mandate (1922-1947), the Nakba (1948) and the Six Day War (1967)
• During the latter two periods, Palestinian communities were attacked from three sides, with a fourth open for forced flight to a particular destination.
• Only 1% of building permits are approved for Palestinians each year (this includes schools, hospitals, houses... etc.). Any building without a permit is eligible for demolition.
• There are over 140 recognized Nationalities in Israel. "Israeli" is not one of them. 
• Judaism is defined by maternal inheritance under Israeli law, not by religion. In the 1990s, 1 million Russian people migrated to Israel. 200,000 were Christian, but they were all granted Jewish Nationality, so as to increase the Jewish demographic.
• Tax money for the West Bank is granted to the Palestinian Authority in exchange for their complicity.
• 60% of Jordan's population is made up of Palestinian refugees. 

Check out their interactive website here for more information on the ongoing displacement of Palestinians.

After our meeting with Badil, we went to a restaurant to meet with Nora Carmi, representative of Kairos Palestine, a coalition of Palestinian Christians who put together the 'Moment of Truth' document to share with the Christian community worldwide. It starts with:

We, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, hear the cry of hope that our
children have launched in these difficult times that we still experience in this Holy Land.
We support them and stand by them in their faith, their hope, their love and their vision 
for the future. We also support the call to all our faithful as well as to the Israeli and 
Palestinian Leaders, to the International Community and to the World Churches, in order 
to accelerate the achievement of justice, peace and reconciliation in this Holy Land . We
ask God to bless all our children by giving them more power in order to contribute 
effectively in establishing and developing their community, while making it a community 
of love, trust, justice and peace.

They have a faith-based approach to justice in Palestine and are doing excellent work. Nora told us "even though I do not like every Israeli, every Palestinian, or every American, I love justice, and I love the human being." I definitely encourage anyone who is working in communities of faith to look in to this document more, it is very inspiring. Nora was born just months before the Nakba (literally "catastrophe," it refers to the ethnic cleansing and displacement of Palestinians in 1948 upon the creation of Israel) to an Armenian father who survived the Armenian genocide. Displacement is something she lives and breathes, and she spoke with such eloquence, such faith and such kindness.

After lunch, we left Bethlehem for Bil'in! I was super excited for this one. Bil'in is the town known around the world for its non-violent resistance movement against the wall. The Oscar-nominated "Five Broken Cameras" was filmed here. We heard from Iyad Burnat about the successes the community has encountered. They were able to have the wall moved about 200 meters! Much of their land has still been appropriated for the projected 3600 subsidized settlers moving in next door.

Iyad shows us IFPB's name on the wall!

The road to the left is where the wall used to be. It was rebuilt to the right. A huge victory for this community!

Inside the main office

An olive tree on the hill. Many of them are burned down, or destroyed by tear gas.

You can see the settlement over the wall when you stand on top of the hill.

Tear gas canisters shot by IDF soldiers during their weekly protests.

The spot where Bassem (known in the movie as Phil) was killed.

We had the privilege of staying with a family in Bil'in that night and hear about their lives, and their hopes for their community. We had a delicious meal and such nice company. Unfortunately that night I got some kind of flu or virus, which was unfortunate. I had to miss all of the next day's activities, so I won't be posting anything about Tuesday.