This is from my sister Julie,
who is travelling in troubled times. Please pray for them, and for and
end to this horrible war.
Elena Herrada
......................
Dear Everyone,
This is just a quick note to let you all know that I made it through customs with no problems. They didn't even check our bags. We met our 4th person at Tel-Aviv airport and were picked up by a Palestinian friend's son, who recently was laid off from his job. We have been paying him to transport us around, since we haven't gotten a car yet. We stayed for 2 nights at another friend's house outside of Jerusalem. Yesterday we saw some documentary films on human rights abuses of Palestinian families. The program was sponsored by Bat Shalom, a women's peace organization here.
Now we have taken a room at a hostel in the Old City, Christian Quarter. We might be here for 2-3 nights. Tomorrow there is the weekly Women in Black vigil that we will join. Tonight we will be dining at a friend's house with some other peace activists. We are trying to get into the village of the Bedouins outside Jerusalem, but the road has been closed off by the Israeli military. The Bedouins are the poorest and most destitute group in Israel; what little they had has been taken away. I brought some school supplies to give to the children there, so I hope we can go there.
The place is beautiful, but the people are desparate and very distressed. There are hardly any tourists. We are sticking together, though, and I feel safe. Not to worry. I'm having a very interesting time.
More later, as others are waiting to use the computer.
love,
julie
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Sunday, April 21, 2002
Hello again from Jerusalem
We have not been able to get some of our equipment working properly, so I don't have as much access to the internet as I thought I would. Now I'm in an internet cafe in the Old City. We are taking lots of video, audio and photos, and are documenting our activities well.
The day after we arrived in Israel was Israeli Independence Day. Israeli flags abound, and it reminded me of the nationalistic furvor that exists in the US. Many cars have 2 Israeli flags on them, and many houses are adorned with flags as well. I'm told that this is just for the holiday, that they will disappear shortly. The flag waving does not necessarily translate into anti-Palestinian feeling, I'm told. There are many complicated issues here, and I'm learning more and more about the difficulties (internal and external) faced by those who are working for peace.
The other day we met with an friend of Alan and Odile's, a Palestinian activist named Ibrahim. He has been working with the Bedouin community I mentioned earlier, trying to get a school established for the children. Ibrahim is retired, married with several children and grandchildren. He is a very warm and happy person. His family has lived in Jerusalem for about a thousand years. We met him in a shop belonging to his friend, where he and 3 other men were talking. They made us mint tea and told us about the difficulty of getting through the checkpoints to leave Jerusalem. They said it is safer to stay. Ibrahim later contradicted that, saying he feels he can go anywhere he wants in Israel. But Ibrahim is a special man, and this status of his does not surprise me. He can warm anyone's heart.
We walked a few blocks to Ibrahim's house in east Jerusalem, the Palestinian section of town. Many men were on the streets, playing backgammon outside of shops, hanging around. Arab graffitti covers the walls and fences, and I'm told it is all political. At Ibrahim's house we were greeted by his extended family, including sons, daughters and daughters-in-law, sisters, wife, and his mother who is over 100 (his grandfather lived to 137, and his father to 104!). Lots of kids were around. The small but comfortable house was filled with activity and wonderful smells from the kitchen. We played with the kids for nearly an hour, and then Ibrahim returned with a delegation of about 30 international peace activists, mostly from the U.S. They filed into the small living room and the family brought out chair after chair, until everyone had a seat. The food was then brought out, dishes piled high with rice, vegetables, salad, bread, olives, etc., an amazing array of home cooked food. The women passed around the plates and then served people enormous portions, insisting on serving more each time your plate was near empty. The whole atmosphere was one of warmth and comradery. Ibrahim got up and announced that he was a very rich man for having all these people gathered in his house.
Yesterday morning we had coffee with a Turkish television reporter who has brought her crew and had gotten into most of the refugee camps with her press pass. We've been told up to now that unless you have a press pass you cannot get into the camps, but now we are starting to hear different, so we are going to try to go to Jenin or Hebron in a few days. The reporter told us the devastation in some of the camps was similar to what she witnessed after the earthquake in Turkey a few years ago. Absolute demolition of the old city structures, cars flattened by tanks, wounded children, death and isolation. Lack of fresh food and medical supplies, although the Israelis are allowing water to be delivered. The people cannot safely leave their houses, although they are not safe inside either. A young girl was shot in the head inside her own house, and houses may be demolished by tanks with people inside them, so the body count is not accurate yet. There is a large delegation from the Fellowship of Reconciliation in the US that were able to get into Hebron, but they are a large and well organized group. It takes some ingenue and assistance, because you can't just walk into a camp. Just getting through a checkpoint make take several hours. You might be told to wait, just to be told later that you cannot pass at all. The warfare is well rounded: physical and psychological.
At the Women in Black vigil in downtown Jerusalem on Friday, I was able to meet and talk to Judy Blank, one of the founders of the group. There were about 80 people there, men and women, and several counter-demonstrators also show up at the weekly vigils. We occupied a square in the middle of a busy intersection, and lots of traffic passes there at the lunchtime rush hour. People honked and yelled things out the window at us. The crowd is not deterred. It was a lively scene. I also met Gila Svirsky, one of the most well-known feminist peace activists in the country. Many people are religious here, not only Jews, Muslims, and Christians, but lots of new age people have made up their own forms of worship. As a non-believer, I've been pretty tolerant of this, but there is a lot of talk of "god's plan," which is starting to get to me. It was refreshing to be with the Women in Black, who are a political rather than religious, although they are liberals, not very militant, but still dedicated and have been doing their vigils every week since 1989.
After the vigil I went across the street to a grocery store to get some food, and was confronted by a guard, who was searching everyone's bags going into the store. He also had a wand, like they have at the airport. I bought a few things and left as quickly as I could.
I'm still struck by the military might that is demonstrated everywhere I go. I see soldiers heavily armed, patrolling, and I get tense. I avoid them as best I can, but they are everywhere. At times I think they really are there to keep the peace, but not necessarily between Muslims and Jews. Sometimes I see right-wing Jews provoking other Jews and definitely provoking peace activists. These are the people who would like to rid Israel of all Arabs. "Relocation" is what they call it. The level of hatred is very high. I've seen no friendly interaction between Muslims and religious Jews. They avoid each other, and if they are forced to pass closely in the narrow streets of the old city, you can feel the hostility as they brush past each other. The adolescent conservative Jewish boys are the worst. In groups, they yell things and are visibly rude to Muslims, including the women. Some of the older men are also very hostile. Yesterday at the Women in Black vigil, a counter-protester was arguing with a cop about where he was allowed to stand. The square is reserved for the Women in Black, and the cops were telling him he could not protest there. There was also another loud altercation started by an older man. A young women from the U.S. living here told me the worst part of being here is not the fear of attack, but the rising level of hatred.
I've seen the wailing wall a couple of times from a distance, overlooking it from a balcony in the old city. It is about the most heavily guarded place in Jerusalem. There are lots of soldiers stationed at various points around it, and a fleet of military vehicles waits just outside the area.
After meeting many peace activists and participating in several demonstations and vigils, I am beginning to become even more discouraged about the situation. The peace movement here is not well organized, and it's isolated. It seems they are not doing enough. It almost feels to me as if many people are active just to make themselves feel good, and are not that interested in any real change. There are so many emotions tied to this issue that it is difficult for most people to be objective. Everyone has their own ideas about a solution. I'm glad I have Alan and Odile and Craig to talk these things over with. Alan and Odile have been coming here for 10 years, yet they are always open to new ideas. They are warm and loving people, and although I sometimes differ with them politically, and they are much more spiritual than I am, I can share these inner conflicts with them. Yesterday we were sitting near the Prime Minister' house, and two military jeeps were directly in front of me. We were waiting there, and I mentioned to Craig that I was very uncomfortable having those two jeeps there in front of me, with several soldiers sitting in them. He began meditating and almost immediately the soldiers got into the jeeps and drove away.
The visit to Jeff Halper's house for dinner last night was enlightening. Jeff is a long time activist, formerly from northern Minnesota. He's married to a Czech-Israeli women. They are both leftists, and their son is a conscientious objector. Jeff has a very realistic viewpoint, and is very cynical about Israelis and about the peace movement. He started a group called Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (www.icahd.org), which helps Palestinians whose land and homes are have been taken and demolished for settlements, sometimes rebuilding them or blocking evictions, and he is also a writer. He is associated with the Alternative Information Center here, which publishes a journal called News from Within. I learned a lot from him about the refugees, both inside and outside of Israel, and think the work he's doing is very practical.
Our plans are not firm, as things change day by day, and we usually need to have a back-up plan. We are hoping to go to Megiddo tomorrow (Sunday), and stay in the guest house there on the kibbutz, but we are also hoping to get into the occupied territories and are willing to stay flexible for that. We will leave Jerusalem Sunday at any rate. This evening, Saturday, there is a Peace Now demonstration outside the Prime Minister's house, and we will be bringing the Peace Table there (www.umich.edu/~megiddo/ for information about the project) as sort of an act of civil disobedience. I think the PM won't be there, as he's scheduled to be in Washington on Tuesday.
There is so much more to say,
but I would like to quit this computer now. I will try to write again
soon. I would like to receive some report of people in Washington
for April 20. I know some of you on this list are already there.
love to all,
julie
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Sunday, April 21, 2002
Hello again from Jerusalem
Yes, I'm still here in this beautiful city. We have been going non-stop for the last several days. There's so much to tell, but I'll have to stick to the highights.
Yesterday I met a journalist from Canada who got into Jenin, and I'm meeting many activists who have managed to get in. Apparently, the checkpoint is completely closed, and you have to have a Palestinian take you in through the "back" roads. You might end up driving through an olive grove or something. According to this journalist, there is a horrible humitarian situation there, with the stench of dead bodies, and thousands of homeless people, and no electricity. The reason we decided to try and go to Jenin is because we want to see for our own eyes, to document the situation, and bring back the proof of what is happening there. With any situation as this, there are lots of rumors, and no one knows who to believe. Even that journalist told me he didn't see the hundreds of dead bodies the Palestinians were claiming, but he did see a few dozen. He seemed content that these were the fighters alone who were killed, so it seemed ok to him. But he was troubled that no humanitarian aid workers were being allowed into the camp. We have found a couple of different options of getting into the camp, and the one we've chosen was with an American from Ann Arbor, who we know. He's a psychologist who is here training Palestinian mental health workers in trauma treatment. We plan to go there on Tuesday, my birthday.
Yesterday there was large demonstation organized by Peace Now, an international group. They expected 1,000, but drew about 300, to Sharon's house. We brought the Peace Table there, with the help of Ibrahim's truck, and it was very well received by the liberal Israeli crowd. Afterwards, Ibrahim took us home to dinner (at 10:30 pm) and his wife cooked a huge dinner for us. He lives in the Arab section (east Jerusalem) and for Palestinians to leave that area, they must have a pass. Ibrahim's brother came to drive us back to our hotel in the old city, and on the way we were stopped by the IDF at an arbitrary roadblock. Ibrahim's brother was asked for his papers, but we were not. We were, however, asked if everything was ok with us. They let us go after about 10 minutes. This is daily life for the Palestinians, but it was quite scary to me.
At noon we went to a demonstration at the checkpoint to Bethlehem. It was called by the Greek Orthodox church, and many clerics were there, but also lots of the internationals from FOR, ISM, and other groups that are here. It was pretty amazing. The idea was to cross the checkpoint as an act of civil disobedience, because the checkpoint has been closed, and there were rumors the IDF was going to bomb the Church of the Nativity. There were tons of soldiers and tanks there to stop us, and they did. No one was allowed to enter, and I don't think anyone tried. It seemed to me that it was meant to be a great showing of military might. I was in awe, but videotaped most of it. The soldiers didn't mind being taped. There was also a lot of international press there. The demonstration ended about 2 hours later.
We hitchhiked back to Jerusalem, just a few miles away, and were picked up by a young French/Palestinian woman, who is married to a Palestinian man and has 3 kids. She talked about the curfews imposed on her village outside of Jerusalem. Usually the soldiers drive around with loudspeakers shouting to the villagers to stay in their houses, using terrible profanities, such as, "get back in your houses or I will come and fuck your mother." (She apologized for using this language to us). That's how the people of the village know there is a curfew, and the soldiers are supposed to come back and announce when the curfew is lifted, but the last time, last week, they did not come back, they just disappeared, and the people didn't know they were allowed to leave the village. The woman gave us her phone number and the number of her husband, who drives a taxi. The taxis are all driven by Palestinians, and there is a huge network. Everyone has cell phones here. She said if we need a taxi, call her husband and he will come and get us. We had an opportunity later in the day for needing a taxi, so we called her husband. He wasn't on duty, but dispatched another driver to come and get us. That driver didn't want to charge us because we were reffered by the woman's huband... we gave him money anyway, but that's how things work here.
We walked through the old city and Damascus Gate, which is the Arab section and the marketplace. It is quite an experience. The sights and sounds and smells and the crowds of people has an intoxicating effect. There are virtually no tourists here now, so if we occasionally run into foreigners outside of a political event, they are peace activists. We walked into East Jerusalem, the economic equivalent to East L.A. or East St. Louis, but full of Palestinians. Israeli Jews don't venture into this area very often. We visited the neighborhood which is right now under threat of being demolished because the Israelis want the land. There is a Palestinian family which has been living on the street, evicted from their house. There are international delegations assigned to the area to witness or try to block the destruction of the house. Some of them even sleep there because they think the Israelis might come in the middle in the night to demolish the home. We talked to the one resident there who spoke some English, and he told us the demolition is a purely political move on the part of the Israelis. I played with the children awhile, and then we continued walking through the street to the end, where kids were shepherding sheep and goats.
I've been meeting some incredibly dedicated activists here, of all ages and nationalities.
Tomorrow morning (monday) we'll go to Megiddo, the biblical sight of Armageddon.
Thanks everyone. I still want updates on A20. My mom taped the news coverage for me. Over here I saw it in the newspaper. Looked great!
love,
julie
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Wednesday, April 24, 2002
Jenin
Friends, this is from my sister
Julie. Please pray for her safe return this week. She went on a delegation
of four people and is expected home on the 28th.
Elena Herrada
.........................
I will skip some other parts for now in order to tell you about our trip to Jenin. We were lucky enough to be included in a group of internationals who chartered a bus to Jenin. It wasn't easy. Starting in Jerusalem on a bus of about 20 people, including Bill Thompson, a psychologist from Ann Arbor, some French activists, a member of the Scottish Parliament, Kathy Kelly, the woman who founded Voices in the Wilderness, Odile, who is an emergency room nurse, and two Palestinian women mental health professionals who were also our translators, we were dropped off on a high dirt road and had to walk a couple miles down the dirt road which was partially obstructed so cars couldn't use it, and through the village. We were warned about soldiers who would stop us, but when we arrived the road was not being patrolled, so we were able to pass without incident. We walked through a mountain village, and eventually some taxicabs met us and drove us about 10 miles to the outskirts of the camp, where we were met by Palestinian volunteers from the area. There were about 5 young men who led us on a tour through the camp. Between us we had a fair amount of video equipment, and were able to take lots of videos and pictures. We talked to many of the refugees about the situation. As we walked further into the camp, the destruction got worse and worse. I'm no expert, but I can only compare it to a earthquake of at leat 7.0. The rubble was everywhere, and many houses, perhaps 300, were destroyed. The sewer system had bee damaged, and still no health or rescue workers were being allowed into the camp. The internationals who were there had to sneak in, as the checkpoints are still closed. We saw a couple UN cars when we first arrived, but there seemed to be no real effort made to clean up or rescue people from the rubble. A woman told us there were children in every house. It stands to reason, because there are many children, and extended families of 30 or so live in each (large) house. The people were afraid to come out of their houses during the incursion, but staying in their houses was not safe either. We walked into some of the partially damaged houses and saw the destruction within. There were bullet holes and broken glass everywhere. The cleanup effort will take much more than these people have to work with. They have no tools, and the large chunks of cement and metal rods and broken glass makes such work very dangerous. Until that is done, however, no one knows the death toll. Body parts are being found, we were told, with no way to identify them. The whole scene is shocking. We were taken into the hospital, which is somewhat functioning with the help of some generators. The head doctor gave us an interview for about 45 minutes. He estimated at least 300-400 dead, and the wounded were only 102. Many more wounded were allowed to die because the soldiers would not let anyone provide medical treatment to them. We were taken to see a young boy of about 9 in the hospital who was severly wounded. He had lost his arm, both legs were broken, and he was blinded. He was on a respirator. He was like a wounded animal, and I didn't think he was going to make it. Odile offered some help and took down his name. His father was there, and when we started to talk to him, he broke down and cried. He said "my son lost his arm, so I lost my arm, my son lost his eyes, so I lost my eyes; it would be better for him if he died." It was so tragic, my words cannot describe it. We heard later on, after arriving back in Jerusalem, that the boy did die that evening.
After leaving the hospital we walked through another part of the camp and spoke to children and adults about the situation. Apparently, the Red Cross is allowed to deliver water, but only between 7-10 a.m. The young children seem to be in good spirits, and certainly excited by the international visitors, but it is plain to anyone that the other children and adults are in a state of despair. They do not understand why this has been allowed to happen to them, and what can you say? The answers are not satisfactory; they do not convince any of us that this action was justified.
We walked back through the camp to the place where our taxis were waiting, but then were told that we had been invited to eat before making the 3 hour trip back. The volunteers made lunch for us, which included hommous, fresh pita bread, and falafel, and mint tea. This is the Arab way. You do not get invited without getting fed. It was amazing that these people who have nothing, have found a way to welcome us as if we were their family. We ate and then got back into our taxis for the journey home.
We arrived at the place where the taxis could not go any further, a road that had been partially blocked by large mounds of dirt and rocks. It was the road we walked earlier. There were some Palestinians there trying to move some clothing and blankets to deliver to the people at Jenin, and apparently the soldiers arrived and started shooting at them, so they had to drop their load and run away. Since they couldn't get the clothes to the place where a car would meet them, we helped them bring the clothes down the road. The soldiers wouldn't shoot at us, but they did try to stop us. They began yelling, "no pictures" so I put down my video camera and turned on the audio tape that was in my pocket. There was a heated confrontation between two from our group and two of the soldiers, which lasted for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, the rest of the group helped deliver the clothes down the road. We were hassled by the soldiers for another 1/2 hour, having to show our passports and have our backpacks searched, being told that we were using an "illegal" road. I think they were angry about having to let us go, but there wasn't much they could do to us. We finally were allowed to get on the bus and drove back to Jerusalem, arriving by 10 p.m., physically exhausted and emotionally drained. That's how I spent my 41st birthday.
There's a lot more to tell you about my trip, but everything else seems trivial in comparison to what I witnessed at Jenin. I'll try to fill in some gaps another time. We're back at our hostel in the old city, which is cheap (about $7 per person per night), with a beautiful rooftop view of the garden of Gethsamane and east Jerusalem. I go up there some mornings to do tai chi. The weather was cool and wet the first week, but is starting has been warm and dry the last few days.
Peggy, thanks for asking. I'm safe. Don't worry.
Julie