Kahlil and Tarris Musallam












Tarris Musallam and Georgette Kasiss















Gate in Wall





Palestinian Christians: A Family on Star Street in Bethlehem

A chance meeting on Star Street in Bethlehem brought us into the home of Kahlil and Tarris Musallam. Merriam Mankga, another Ecumenical Accompanier, and I had been touring the old city and were taking the Star Street short cut back to the EA residence. The Musallams wanted to show us the guest room they have to rent. As the conversation continued, mostly with Kahlil who speaks some English, they traced ten years of struggle with the Israeli government over the building of the wall before losing their business five years ago. Kahlil and Tarris owned a restaurant near the traditional site of Rachel’s Tomb on Hebron Road, a site important to both Muslims and Jews.

Hebron Road, we are told, has been a busy commercial area and a thriving neighborhood. Today many of the store fronts are shuttered but remain beside the road as a reminder of a busier time. Other shops, like the Musallam restaurant named Tomb Rahel, disappeared within a double line of concrete slabs surrounding the Tomb, making them unavailable to their owners. A grocer whose store still serves the neighborhood, but at a 25% reduced rate of business, said that over 80 businesses were lost to the construction of the wall on this street.

To understand what losing the restaurant meant to Kahlil, Tarris’ sister Georgette described at a later meeting with me this incident. For about six months after the wall cut Kahlil off from his restaurant, a military officer allowed him to come each day, knock on the gate closest to his business, and be admitted for ten minutes to visit the restaurant site. Five years later, he walks daily to this same gate and then turns back to attend mass at St. Catherine Roman Catholic Church. For Tarris and Kahlil the shock of losing their restaurant had been preceded by the death of their teenage son in a car accident.

Today Kahlil’s health prevents him from working and he worries about finances. Tarris works part time as a monitor on a bus taking children to a private school. Star Street is some distance from the Hebron Road neighborhood where they once had their restaurant. Tarris returns to attend a women’s group at the Sumud House, which is affilated with Pax Christ International and locally with the Arab Educational Institute. The Institute promotes understanding among all three religions, Islam, Christianity and Judaism, by providing programs for adults, youth and children. Here Georgette sings in a women’s choir whose program focuses on the traditional Palestinian songs.

Over a meal prepared by Tarris of traditional Palestinian food, she and Georgette talked about their lives. Tarrir worries for her husband’s health and their financial needs. This includes the repayment of loans used to purchase the house next door which belonged to a relative. He was approached by a Muslim who wanted to buy the house. Tarris and Kahlil borrowed money to buy the house. This transaction points up the concern by some in the Old City to keep the real estate with Christian owners. At one time Bethlehem was predominantly a Christian community but according to a 2007 study the city’s Christian population is 28.26% of a total population of 25,266. ( 1)

The continuing decline in economic opportunities is a major reason given by Palestinians, after freedom and security, for considering emigration.(2) The Christian population feels the loss keenly. Under Israeli occupation access and movement are continually changing, not by a legislative process but by military decree. Better paying jobs in Israel are limited to West Bank Palestinians by a permit system. Georgette described how one religious leader had an apartment building built for Christian young adults. The hope was to encourage them to stay in the area by removing one obstacle to finding a secure living.

Georgette nears retirement as a nurse at the Caritas Baby Hospital but there is no pension or social security in the West Bank. For forty years she has cared for family and worked in the health care profession, generously spending her resources where she saw the need. Now she and other retirees face the future without any government support. Nor is there compensation for loss of property or healthcare for those suffering from the consequences of military oppression. As Georgette says, to the nodding agreement of Tarris, “We suffer every day, every day.”

A postscript: Kahlil died on Wednesday, October 6, 2010, from injuries when he fell on his way home from church. He managed to reach home and then was admitted to a hospital in Hebron.

(1) 2008 Palestinian Christians Facts, Figures and Trends, Diyar (publisher), p.7.
(2) Ibid, p.35.

EAPPI-US and Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) have sent me as an Ecumenical Accompanier to serve with the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The views contained herein are personal to me and do not necessarily reflect those of my sending organizations or the WCC. If you would like to publish the information contained here (including posting on a website), or distribute it further, please first contact US Coordinator Ann Hefften (eappi2008@gmail.com) or the EAPPI Communications Officer (eappi-co@jrol.com) for permission. Thank you.

Jayyous, Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Photos by John Buttrick


At 6:10 this morning I put on my EAPPI vest and began my one kilometer walk to the south farm gate that separates Jayyous village from the agricultural land of Jayyous. The sun was rising: the air was crisp and cooler than it had been since we first arrived in July. I passed olive fields on the village side of the barrier fence where families were heating water for tea and preparing for a day harvesting olives. People have been talking about the harvest practically since we arrived almost three months ago. It is a time for hard work. It’s a time for the extended family to get together to share the load. It’s a time to renew old friendships. People from the extended family arrive to work for a few days or to stay for the whole season. Friends from Palestine, Israel, the Middle East and from countries around the world gather to participate. It is a festive time. It is time of hope that the harvest will be plentiful. It is a time of planning and strategy to get the olives off the trees, sorted, and sent off for processing: some for oil and some to prepare for eating. And for some it is a time of desperation.

It is toward those desperate people that I am walking this morning. These are the people who must have permission to go to their olive trees. There are permits to farm, there are permits to pick and there are permits that allow passage through a particular farm gate in the barrier fence. Each of these permits has a beginning and an expiration date. Along with the correct permit, a person must have a proper ID that has been issued by the Israeli government. All ID’s are not the same. Some will let a person pass through a particular gate. Others will not. There are three gates in the barrier that are in proximately to Jayyous: the North Gate #943, the South Gate #977 and Falamia Gate #927. Farmers go to the gate that offers the easiest access to their fields.

Lined up waiting for the Israeli soldiers to come and open these gates are husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents. On Fridays and Saturdays many children from infants to teenagers join the throng. There are donkeys and carts, wagons and tractors, trucks and cars as well as people on foot. They carry containers for collecting olives, water, food, harvest equipment, and cooking utensils. Each has an ID and a permit that matches their particular situation. The North gate is open for one half hour in the morning, at noon and in the afternoon before dark. The South gate is open for fifteen minutes morning noon and afternoon. Falamia Gate opens at 5:15am and remains open until 5:15 pm.

The South Gate has the fewest number of people crossing onto their land. This morning there were three men, three women, three donkeys and a donkey cart waiting to go through the gate to their olive trees. When the soldiers arrived this morning they did not open the gate as usual. Two of them walk over to the gate and stood. The oldest of the people waiting, a man appearing to be in his 80’s, left his donkey and approached the fence to speak to the soldiers. This man has been going through the gate practically every day during our three month stay in Jayyous. He is small and thin and a bit frail. He appears to have been in the sun and weather for many years. They spoke for several minutes, voices becoming louder and more urgent on both sides of the fence. The farmer passed his credentials through the fence. A soldier barely glanced at them and passed them back. It became obvious that the gate would not be opened today. The decision had been made before the soldiers arrived. The people standing there could see their olive trees beyond the three barrier fences and a road, but they would not walk on their land this day.

It seems that everyone who has been passing through the South Gate since it was made available has a pass for the North Gate #943. This is because when their permits were issued, the South Gate was not being used. Later, when the South Gate became available, people with land accessible from that gate were told they could use the permits they had been issued for #943. They have been doing this for over a year. However, this morning the soldiers had been told not to let these people through any more until they go to the DCO to get permits with the proper gate number. It came as a great surprise to the farmers. Also they are afraid that if they go for a new gate number they will loose the permits they have. Then they will not even be able to use the North gate to travel an extra hour or two to their land.

As the soldiers and the people began to leave, each on their own side of the fence barrier, the Palestinian women expressed considerable anger, yelling at the soldiers. One of the woman soldiers began to laugh at them. When I questioned the source of the humor, a soldier responded that it wasn’t funny but that women were saying bad things about his mother. He could not understand why they would do that. He could not understand their anger. He thought they should simply get the new permits and everything would be ok. The metal fence is not the only barrier between these people.

The situation at South Gate #977 will never get into the daily newspapers or on the evening TV news. Jayyous is like the mythical town of Lake Wobegon that time has forgotten. But it is also a place of real people who are in a struggle for their lives. The news tells us about peace negotiations, the end of a temporary freeze on settlement building, U.S. military aid for Israel, the struggles and the disagreements among leaders of nations and various political parties. We talk about terrorism and mistrust. There is discussion about one state and two state solutions to the conflict between Israel and Palestine. We talk about democracy, theocracy and apartheid. We talk about the big issues of settlements, Jerusalem, the Separation barrier, freedom of movement and what it means to be a “Jewish” state.

Meanwhile, the famers and their families stand at the farm gate, caught in a web of confusion over ID’s, permits, and how to harvest their olives. These people cannot wait 10 or 20 or 50 years for justice. They need to get to their fields and their jobs tomorrow.

I have to leave Jayyous in 8 days. My visa is expiring. But how can I leave the farmers standing alone at Gate # 977 looking through the fence and the razor wire watching their olives fall off the trees to rot in the soil. That picture will never leave me and I’m compelled to show it to you. We need to show it over and over until people of every nation say to Israeli, Palestinian and U.S. leadership, “it is enough. Let our people go. We refuse to participate in the oppression any more: with our tax dollars and government aid, with purchasing of goods from outlaw settlements, with our rationalizations that some people are more chosen by God than others or more victimized than others and with our fear of people who are different from us.”




Negotiations among nations may be complicated and tradition bound, but taking down that fence will set free both the oppressed and the oppressors. And we might even be able to meet each other as human beings, sit under an olive tree, have breakfast and build relationships rather than more fences. EAPPI-US and Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) have sent me as an Ecumenical Accompanier serving the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The views contained herein are personal to me and do not necessarily reflect those of EAPPI-US and Global Ministries or the WCC.

Jayyous
September 23, 2010
One Village, Two Settlements, Three Hillsides
Photos by John Buttrick



Muhamud










Mustafa





From hilltops to the west, south and east Israeli settlers on Palestinian land watch the Palestinian farmers of Junsafut harvesting their olives. Suddenly without warning they swarm into the valley from three sides at once, armed and out numbering the farmers 20 to 1. The farmers seek to retreat to the north toward their village, but the settlers cut them off and surround them. Armed with rifles, they threaten, “Leave and stay off this land or we will shoot you.” The farmers quickly leave. The settlers collect the harvested olives and take them way for their own use. On the days when the farmers are left alone, settlers will sometimes come after dark to take the harvested olives that the famers plan to picked up the next day by a tractor and wagon or donkey cart.

Jinsafut is one Palestinian village, hovered over by two Illegal Israeli settlements on three sides. Caring for the olive trees outside the village are 15 Palestinian olive farmers. Thabet Bashir is the mayor of Jinsafut. We sit at a table in his office that is strewn with demolition orders received for houses and roads and copies of applications to the army, DCO, for permits to go into the fields to pick olives on their land near the settlements. The olive harvest begins officially on October 1, only a few days away. The permits have not arrived. When they do it is anticipated that they will be for 4 or 5 days. One or two months is needed to complete the harvest of the olives. In 2009 their permits were for one half of the time that was needed to complete the harvest. The olives that were left were harvested and taken by the nearby Israeli settlers who also damage the trees in process.

This year the 15 farmers were not allowed into their fields until March to care for their trees. The reason given for restrictions is “security” for the settlers who have built homes on the hilltops. Israel has plans to be build a barrier between the settlers and Jinsafut on Palestinian land owned by farmers. This barrier will destroy olive trees and restrict farmers even more from getting to their land. At the present the boundary is obscure. It seems to be where ever the settlers decide it is. This is in spite of court rulings that the land belongs to Palestinian farmers. In one case, after five lawyers, NIS 3762 and translation challengers, settlers still claimed land with 3000 olive trees.

It is not only the land outside of the village where there is tension. Mustafa, a Palestinian farmer who has been showing us his land and the Israeli settlements in the hills above, tells how they planted 300 new olive trees near the village. Even there it was not safe. Before the trees could mature, it takes three years of care and irrigation, the settlers came in and cut the trees. This action was reported to the police. It has been three years without a response. The Mayor has a copy of the complaint report. Also, it is not infrequent for the Israeli settlers to come into the village and terrorize the people, throwing stones at windows and hitting automobiles with clubs.

Whenever there is an incursion by the settlers, the Israeli army comes and stands between the settlers and the Palestinians. They explain that it is for security, to protect the Palestinian farmers. However, it is the Palestinians that are usually pushed back or asked to leave their land. However,there was one incident where the army confiscated the olives that the settlers had taken and gave them back to the farmers. It may have partly been because the press corps and internationals were present to witness what was happening. Usually the farmers are alone. Each day the farmers are fearful as they take their families to their lands to harvest their olives.

Another farmer, Muhammud, has not given up even though he has gone from being the largest land owner in the village to one of the smallest because of land confiscations. He has put one half million NIS into his land. He has seven girls and five boys to support. He declares with passion, ”Even if they offer me NIS 2-3 million for what is left, I will not sell. This land is in my heart. It is not for Palestinian or Israeli to rule on my land. It is declared by the Mosque (by God). We want to stay. We want to be strong.”

The olive harvest continues tomorrow and for the next two months. The village farmers have not yet received olive picking permits. Yet, tomorrow the 15 farmers and their families from one small village, who go to the parts of their fields where permits are not yet required, will be looking nervously to the hills where two settlements occupy three sides of the their fields. This one small village, Junsafut, tells the story for dozens of other Palestinian farming villages whose land is threatened by illegal Israeli settlements. Their farmers are also going to their fields to harvest olives for the next two months.

The olive farmers are a part of the landscape. It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3: the land, the trees and the farmers. The farmers are determined that the land and the trees will not be denied the presence of those who have given them life.



EAPPI-US and Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) have sent me as an Ecumenical Accompanier serving the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The views contained herein are personal to me and do not necessarily reflect those of EAPPI-US and Global Ministries or the WCC.

Sheerin and The Rev. Geoffrey Black, General Minister and President, United Church of Christ


















Sheerin Al-Araz with Ecumenical Accompaniers Brigitte v.Winterfeld and Andrea Bodekull




A PATIO, A VIEW, AND A WALL: THE VILLAGE OF AL WALAJA

“Welcome. We are going to build a 12 meter high concrete barrier and we will need your backyard to give us enough land for security reasons.” Though not an exact quote this phrase could sum up the situation facing Sheerin Al Araz, her family, and many others in the village of Al Walaja in the West Bank, Palestine. The village is about 4 kilometers northwest of Bethlehem and 9 kilometers southwest of the Old City of Jerusalem.

Sheerin greeted us, three Ecumenical Accompaniers from Bethlehem, on her first day home from completing her job in Darfur. She shared her family story and history of the village before driving us around to see how the plan for the wall will surround the houses. It will leave the land outside and inaccessible to the owners.

Sheerin’s grandparents fled the destruction of Al Walaja in l948 and lived in a refugee camp near Hebron. They returned to the area where they lived in a cave for 12 years. Her grandfather built the house where Sheerin now lives in l965 when it became apparent that neither he nor his neighbors could return to their original homes. He finished work on the ceiling in l967 on the day war broke out and the family had to flee once more. The majority of the residents fled to Jordan, Lebanon, and refugee camps in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

As individuals returned to the area, Al Walaja was reconstructed on the opposite side of the valley. From the former village, 70 per cent of the land was seized in l948. In the fifties, two Israeli towns were established on this land. In the
l970’s, more lands were confiscated for the construction of the settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo. The village now consists of 4,400 dunams of the original 17,793 dunams, according to a recent report from the UN Work and Relief Agency. ( A dunam is a measure of land equivalent to 1,000 meters or about an acre.)

On a later visit to Al Walaja, Sheerin drove two more visitors around the village, the Rev.Geoffey Black, General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ, and Dr. Peter Makari, Executive for the Middle East and Europe, Global Ministries, United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ.) She came to a building with a United Nations flag flying from the roof.
She explained that the villagers are technically refugees. This fact allowed UNRWA to rent a building constructed by the villagers for a much needed school. Acting as landlord, the UN may protect the school from being demolished because it was built without an Israeli permit. Building permits are rarely granted.

The residential status of the villagers is unclear. Half of the village is located within the Jerusalem Municipality and the rest in the West Bank. Those living within the Jerusalem Municipalitiy were not granted status as Jerusalem residents and consequently were declared “absentee landlords.” This means that they are living in their homes illegally and demolitions orders have been issued for homes built without Israeli permits. Yet the Municipality refuses to approve a zoning plan which would establish a system allowing residents to officially submit requests for building permits. Residents of the Jerusalem side of the village have appealed to the Israeli authorities to be included as part of the West Bank but their request has been denied.

We returned to Sheerin’s endangered backyard. Construction on the wall resumed in April. Though her property is not immediately in danger, it will be if the current plan is followed. In another area of town, bulldozers flatten out sections of the terraced land to mark a route for the wall. The Israeli Authorities have confirmed the plan to encircle Al Walaja with the separation barrier. This will make it a Palestinian enclave inside the settlement of Gush Etzion and will be connected to the towns of Beit Jala and Bethlehem through a tunnel – while losing 1,600 dunams more of village land.

As construction advances, hundreds of trees have been uprooted. In one incident, recorded by a July, 2010 report by UNRWA, on April 22 more than 200 trees (almond, olive, apricot, grape) were uprooted or damaged. Four families were deprived of an important source of income. In some cases, the wall will cut them off from their fields that will soon be on the other side of the wall. The Civil (Israeli) Administration has said that agricultural gates will be installed for the farmers in the future. However, in other West Bank locations the agricultural gate system has severely limited access to the land.

One change in the route of the wall has distressed the Muslim population of Al Walaja who with their Christian neighbors have existed peacefully with Cremisan Salesian Monastery. However, when the village was talking with the Israeli authorities about changing the route of the wall, the Monastery reached a separate agreement. The wall now will come closer to the village and this decision has strained relationships among the villagers. Meanwhile they await a court judgment on their petition.

From Sheerin’s patio, she can see between the mountain peaks to Husan, a small village like Al Walaja which will be seriously encumbered if current plans for the wall are followed. Both are located between mountains scored by terraces built up over hundreds of years by innumerable Palestinians who continue to be the living stones in the West Bank. How long before her view is blocked by a 12 meter concrete wall and her patio disappears?