Friday, May 27, 2011

Dheisheh Camp


“As a Palestinian woman, I always worry. And as a Palestinian woman with sons I never sleep. I am constantly afraid that Israeli forces will come and take my boys, arrest them, beat them.”–Suheir, a mother in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp.

“A country is not just what it does—it is also what it tolerates.” -Kurt Tucholskyi, German-Jewish essayist. Written on the wall of Yad Vashem, Holocaust Memorial Museum. (Where we also visited today)

I’m sitting in the communal room of the Phoenix Center in Dheisheh Refugee Camp. This place is amazing, although I’ve only been here for a day but it seems like it is widely supported by the community. People living in the camp started the center. They began taking surveys from the community about everyone’s needs and desires.They realized that what people most wanted was a place to hold celebrations, weddings, religious holidays, plays, etc.In the crowded camp, where 13,000 people live, there is almost no space to hold large amounts of people.

Right outside of the camp was a large open space. They attempted to acquire the land in order to build some sort of hall. However they were denied repeatedly, so they just set up tents. Naji, the eventual director was arrested multiple times, but he kept setting up the tents until finally they relented and offered a permit. They had 3 months to start building or their permit would be revoked. Naji and others then gathered people from all over to start collecting stones that were unused and began building with discarded materials from around the camp. 


Eventually someone gave them some money and they hired people from the camp to build until they ran out of money. More money was secured and then more building. This went on and on slowly until the center could be built. It is completely volunteer run and has many young leaders, (not surprising since 50% of the camp is under 21). All of the people that spoke to us had such ownership over the project and lead various programs.They have managed to create opportunities for jobs. Most importantly the community has resisted all efforts by the government or outside forces to take over. They are completely autonomous and have created a space of true grassroots organizing, meeting the needs of the people.

It’s been interesting talking and hearing from folks from the different organizations. They almost all have a complete lack of interest in political leaders, theirs and ours, (with the exception of the UN—not surprising since they have all of these words and categorizations of the word “poverty” which I find infuriating and pointless). 


There is a real focus on the grassroots here and it is only when members of our delegation ask about government, do they answer. It is almost always with disgust and disinterest. (Although all seem to know the exact number of times that Congress stood up to clap for Netanyahu.) From journalists, Israeli activists, Palestinian refugee organizations, Palestinian activists and grassroots organizers to people walking on the street there is a general feeling that no government represents them.

Many are asking me about what the reaction is here about Obama and Netanyahu’s speeches and I know for some, it is important. However, I am overwhelmed by all that I am seeing and hearing that Obama’s speech is the least of my thoughts. This may be because nothing that Obama said is any different than the United States has been saying for 30 years. It may be because I am never too interested in what heads of states say, and am much more interested in what the home health care worker says whose bus line in North St. Louis just got cut or in the mother says whose home was separated from her sisters home next door by a gigantic wall. Or it may be because life here sees no changes based on what he said or didn’t say. I know there was a tremendous amount of hope when Obama got elected in the Middle East, including in Palestine. However today the disenchantment is profound. He still reiterates the same stance that “Israel has a right to defend itself”. 


The facts on the ground here show that what Israel is doing, is in no way defending itself. The wall is separating Palestinian villages from other Palestinian villages. The West Bank’s “borders” are 350 km. Israel has built 1000 km of walls. Not only that, to call the West Bank “borders” would be false, since Israel is the sole decision making power for much of the West Bank, either by creating settlements (500,000 settlers), or creating closed military zones (18%) or declaring nature reserves (10%) or just building the wall well into the West Bank annexing land into Israel.

Here is a good piece by Omar Barghouti who reflects a lot of the sentiments I have been hearing.


All of this that Palestinians are subjected to by Israeli forces, funded by the United States, I am continuously shocked that we are welcomed openly and greeted warmly and offered hospitality. It breaks my heart that there is such a lack of understanding extended to Palestinians in the United States of what is happening here. 


I cannot imagine a mother out there in this big world that could not listen to Suheir and feel empathy for her situation and be moved to action by her anger.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for making the effort and trying to inform all of us about what is going on with the daily torture and discrimination of the Palestinian people.

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