Walking Through Gaza and Israel

Today, the New York Times published several "walks" through places and spaces in Gaza and Israel.  Though they can be viewed separately, taken together, they tell a complicated story of how individual lives on both sides of the wall are affected by war and, more often, the potential for war.

Politics Prevail Over Children's Rights Again

Reuters reported that Leila Zerrougui included Israel's army and Hamas in the annual "blacklist" of states and armed groups that violate children’s rights during conflicts. But Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moom overrode Zerrougui's recommendation, and left them off this list in the final published report.

Philippe Bolopion, a representative of Human Rights Watch said: "Ban's disappointing decision to override the advice of his special representative by removing Israel and Hamas is a blow to UN efforts to better protect children in armed conflict. Facts and consistency dictated that both be included on the list, but political pressure seems to have prevailed." You can read more of the story here.

My Neighborhood

My Neighborhood is a documentary about settler expansion in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. The film is narrated by seventh-grader, Mohammed, who sagely and poetically describes the violent changes to his home and his neighborhood as a result of settler expansion. The film explores Mohammed's feelings towards the settlers and his evolving opinions about the Israeli people. It's short (about 25 minutes), yet extremely powerful.

Palestinian Child Labor in Israeli Settlements

Al-Jazeera published an article today about Palestinian children working in Israeli settlements. Israeli settlements have been deemed illegal according to international law. In the Jordan Valley, there are approximately 60,000 Palestinians and 9,500 Israelis living in 37 settlements.

Between 10000 to 20,000 Palestinians work inside Jordan Valley settlements, which varies according to the season. Five to ten percent of these numbers are child workers. These children often forgo school in order to make money for their families, who are often in or on the brink of poverty. There is a high drop out rate in the Jordan Valley because of the weak educational system, lack of adequate infrastructure, and Israeli restrictions on building new schools for Palestinians. According to a 2012 report from the Ma'an Development Centre, during the 2011/2012 school year, there were 10,000 children living in this area who started the school year in tents, caravans, or tin shacks. The report also notes that nearly one-third of schools here lack adequate water and sanitation facilities.

Children have been employed by settlers to clean, lift boxes, pick and package vegetables and fruit, working in extreme heat (up to 50-degrees Celcius) for eight to nine hour shifts. They earn approximately 50-90NIS ($14-$25) per shift, which is about 25-50 percent what they are entitled to under Israeli labor laws.

The short article is worth reading, as it touches upon the tough decisions children make in deciding to work in this context, including the push and pull factors hat influence their decisions.

[Photo: Ma'an Development Centre / Al Jazeera]

Christian Palestinians

CBS recently aired a segment on their news show, 60 Minutes, about the plight of Palestinian Christians in the West Bank and Jerusalem. You can view it below. An interesting part of the story was Michael Oren’s--the Israeli ambassador to the US--attempt to prevent the report in some capacity from airing.

Fortunately, the piece counters Mr. Oren's suggestion that Palestinian Christians are fleeing the West Bank because of Muslim extremism. This is frankly not true, and the piece points this out. However, throughout the story, there is an underlying tone that Palestinian Christians identify differently from "the Muslim majority" in the West Bank, and that they are effectively being "squeezed out" by the conflict between Israeli Jews and Palestinians Muslims. This is also inaccurate, as Palestinians of all faiths identify commonly as Palestinian. As Omar Rahman notes, "Christians are a seamless part of the Palestinian population", and this is something that I have witnessed in my work in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Christian Palestinians are no different from other Palestinians; they face all of the hardships of Israeli occupation: forced displacement, restriction of movement, separation from family, and violence from Israeli settlers. These are the real reasons that people are leaving the West Bank and Jerusalem.

In an effort to support CBS's coverage of Palestine, I wrote the following letter to the correspondent, Bob Simon, thanking him for the piece, and encouraging more stories on the plight of Palestinians.

Dear Mr. Simon,

Thank you for your segment about Palestinian Christians. This is indeed a controversial topic, and I appreciate that 60 Minutes is tackling it. I am an American researcher working with families in the West Bank and Jerusalem (both Muslim and Christian). I disagree wholeheartedly with Ambassador Oren; Palestinian Christians are not leaving the West Bank because of Muslim extremism, but rather because of the inhumanity related to the Israeli occupation. In fact, I have witnessed Palestinians of all faiths joined together in the common struggle against the occupation. I have never heard any ill-will between these people, as they commonly define themselves as "Palestinian". Furthermore, for Mr. Oren to call a document that calls for non-violence in the West Bank "anti-semitic" is irresponsible and inaccurate. But this is not surprising, since Israel historically tends to call anyone who disagrees with their policies anti-semitic. I am also not surprised that Mr. Oren contacted the head of CBS in order to intimidate you from airing the piece. I am glad that you included this in your segment.

I wish that the segment would have emphasized the situation in the West Bank more: restrictions of movement, arrest and detention of children, separation of families because of the wall, extreme settler violence towards Palestinians and internationals. But I glad that this story aired at all. Drawing attention to the situation in the West Bank, for Palestinians of all faiths, is essential so that Americans learn more about what is happening there and the implications of the support of Israel. It is very important that people learn more about the Israeli occupation through important programs such as yours.

Prisoner's Day in the West Bank

Last Tuesday, April 17th, 2012 was Prisoner's Day for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel arrests more than nine Palestinians (of all ages) per day on average. As of 2011, 4,489 Palestinians are being held as political prisoners. Of those, 320 Palestinians are being held in prison by Israel under administrative detention, which means that they are being held without trial. 183 prisoners are minors (under the age of 18). The people I interviewed in one village I visited yesterday said that 16 children were arrested or detained in a one week period in March, the vast majority on suspicion of stone throwing. In the same village last summer, a six-year-old was arrested and detained by Israeli forces; he was eventually released 24 hours later. As one father expressed, "Imagine if that was your child! What would you do?"

Detainees face an increased use of solitary confinement of prominent leaders, a ban on reading materials and television, a halt of transfer of funds from family members for prisoners to purchase many basic food products, and the discontinuation of academic studies for distance learning. To protest the prison conditions, 3,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails fasted last Tuesday as part of the Karameh (Dignity) Strike. 1,200 declared that they will continue to fast, joining several administrative detainees. Two detainees who have been on hunger strike for over 40 days--Bilal Diab (27) and Tha’ir Khekhle (34)--have been admitted to the hospital and their condition is deteriorating. Diad has been in detention for eight months, and Khlekhle has been in detention for more than two years. He has not yet seen his 22-month old baby, born after his detention. The two are examined regularly by doctors from Physicians for Human Rights doctors, and the NGO has expressed concern over their condition, calling for their immediate release.

There were several demonstrations throughout the West Bank to show solidarity with the prisoners and call for their release. En route to Al Azariyah, my research assistant and I stumbled upon a peaceful protest in Ramallah. Elderly mothers were holdings framed photos of their beloved sons who are being held in detention. Children of prisoners waved Palestinian political party flags. Fatah leader Abbas Zaki proclaimed, “There will be no peace and no safety without releasing all prisoners from Israeli jails.” After the central demonstration in Ramallah and after my assistant and I were on our way to Al Aazariya, hundreds of people went to protest near the Ofer military prison, were political prisoners are held. They were dispersed by the Israeli army with tear gas and the “skunk” water canon (a high-pressured hose that sprays foul smelling water).

Israeli's detention of Palestinians is not only punishment for the individual, but also collective punishment for Palestinian families, who face increased economic hardship and targeting by Israeli forces as a result of the imprisonment of their fathers, sons, and brothers. Due to the illegal transfer of prisoners outside the occupied territories, more than 3,000 prisoners cannot be visited by their families. This is a major challenge for Palestinian families. This week, I interviewed one family in a village near Bethlehem whose father has been imprisoned for the past ten years. The family is unable to visit their father, because of the recent Israeli restrictions on family visits. Even if they were allowed to visit, the journey would be nearly impossible considering the permits needed for Palestinians to cross into Israel as well as the travel costs that this family cannot afford. I asked the 11-year-old son to draw his dream place, and it was a picture of his mother, father, older sister, and younger brother going for a picnic in the park. His family responded by saying, Inshallah (God willing).

Remembering Juliano Mer-Khamis

Yesterday, Juliano Mer-Khamis was murdered in Jenin just outside the entrance to The Freedom Theatre. He was holding his infant son while sitting in the front seat of his car, with his babysitter the passenger seat. A masked gunman shot him, and he died instantly. The photos showed pools of blood on the ground next to a red car with the door ajar. News reports showed the ambulance stretcher carting his body away, his face paled by death.

I first heard of Juliano Mer-Khamis last year when someone recommended his documentary Arna's Children to me. I purchased a copy of the DVD at an East Jerusalem bookstore, and soon watched it upon my return to Canada. I was deeply impacted by the documentary, which chronicles the work of a Jewish-Israeli female human rights and peace activist, Arna Mer-Khamis (Juliano's mother), who builds a children's theater (The Freedom Theatre) in the West Bank city of Jenin. The film shows the power that art has to help children literally and metaphorically express the frustration, anger, bitterness, and fear they feel while living under occupation and war in the West Bank. I have to watch the film again to retain the exact details, but Juliano Mer-Khamis shows the development of the theatre and follows severeal of the youth from their involvement in the theater to their lives caught up in violence and war. When he visits them years after they ave left the Freedom Theater, one of them committed a suicide attack in Hadera in 2001, another was killed in the battle of Jenin, and another leads a resistance group.

Juliano Mer-Khamis's enthusiam for the principles of the Freedom Theatre that his mother founded was obvious throughout the film. He took up the general operation of the Freedom Theatre when his mother died in 1994, and lived locally in Jenin.

Despite the many reasons circulating about his murder, it is nevertheless a serious tragedy. The Guardian reported that his murder is an attack on all who strive for justice in the Middle East. For in his life as in his work, he was a living metaphor for Palestinians and Israelis working together. As Amira Hass from Ha'aretz wrote: "Juliano embodied the potential of a shared life (ta'ayush in Arabic) while striving for equality...he was born of two cultures [his mother was Israeli-Jewish and his father was Christian-Palestinian], and chose to live in both. He saw no need to explain." Hass's article mentions how angry Mer-Khamis was about the situation in the West Bank. For him to be angry as an Israeli was acceptable, but as a Palestinian living in the West Bank showing emotion, especially anger, is difficult, because "Palestinians must conquer the anger, mellow it; they must tame it, repress it, sublimate it" or risk getting arrested, wounded, or killed. For Mer-Khamis, The Freedom Theatre was a mechanism to express these intense feelings in a safe way. I believe that was the message he was trying to convey the the children who attended the Theatre. It reminds me of one of my friend's favorite quotes from Stella Adler: "Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one."

Even though many (myself included) are saddened and even devastated by his death, I am glad to hear that the organizers of The Freedom Theatre will keep it running despite the vacuum that his death leaves behind. I also cannot stop thinking about his wife, who was pregnant with twins, and his infant son. I wonder if acts like this can be transformed into positive over time. I imagine the children of Juliano Mer-Khamis growing up and listening to stories of their father, utilizing their father's passion in their own lives. Who knows how they will live their lives or what they will become. But just as Juliano Mer-Khamis was a representation of ta'ayush, so then are Juliano's children.

"The Power of Place" on CKUT Radio's Caravan

I had the pleasure of being invited to speak on CKUT's radio program "Caravan", which is a show focusing on community news for Arabs and Muslims in Montreal. I was interviewed by the extremely talented and amazing Rana Alrabi, and we talked about the importance of place for Palestinians, what it means to be a (neutral?) researcher tackling difficult issues, and how research serves as a tool to empower marginalized communities and demystify "the other". Take a listen here, just click on today's date (23 February 2011). I speak from around 33:00-53:00. Please let me know what you think.

Montreal Dialogue Group

This evening, I presented my research to the Montreal Dialogue Group at the Westmount Y. The Montreal Dialogue Group is a group of individuals from all walks of life who come together to promote dialogue about issues related to Israel and Palestine. The MDG's promotional materials state: "From it's beginnings, the Dialogue Group has aimed to provide a space for personal story and exchange between individuals rather than for politics and official position-taking." This approach was extremely refreshing to me, and I found my presentation to be received with an open-mindedness and curiosity that is necessary for quality dialogue.

The MDG is a model for open communication and the sharing of ideas. It was a pleasure to spend time with such a positive group of people that seeks to increase their knowledge about the situation in Israel and Palestine, and ultimately contribute to ideas about how to work towards a solution to ending the conflict that wreaks that region.