An ISM diary, July-August 2023

This is a diary kept by two UK-based volunteers with the ISM, Willow and Kevin, during some of their recent trip to Palestine.

Day 1 – Colonial violence

In the few days since arriving in Palestine we have already been repeatedly reminded of the extent of the violence which is perpetrated on a daily basis by Israeli colonial power. On the day we arrived, three Palestinians were killed by the occupation forces, following closely after the murder of a teenage protester two days before. Just last night, Farus Abu Samra, a 14-year-old Palestinian child, was killed in the West Bank city of Qalqilya. Occupation forces stormed a neighbourhood overnight amid heavy firing of rubber coated steel bullets and live rounds. Such raids by the Israeli military into the West Bank are now occurring regularly.

It is an honour to be here and meet so many Palestinians who have given so much for the struggle. We spent yesterday doing the ISM training in the ISM flat in Ramallah. One point that particularly resonated with us were the discussions amongst internationalists about our motivations for the trip. While many of us may do this work to make us feel good about ourselves, we always need to be aware of the risk of white saviourism, and adjust our behaviour accordingly. It is important to be honest with ourselves and others that we don’t have any solutions to this decades’ long struggle. Rather, it is a struggle fought by generations of Palestinians and we internationalists just do what little we can to support them, following what they ask of us. This is one of the great strengths of the ISM, it being Palestinian-led.

Drawing water from the well to water trees – At-Tuwani

Day 2 – Protective Presence

A large part of the ISM’s role in Palestine is providing a “protective presence”, with both the Israeli state forces and Zionist settlers being less likely to attack or harass Palestinians when internationalists are present.

In much of the West Bank this mainly involves attending demos, which typically receive enormous levels of violent repression. But where we currently are in Massafer Yata, in the south Hebron Hills, this more often involves helping farmers with their work, as settlers will otherwise regularly attack them. Indeed, it was only due to an ISM volunteer recording a brutal assault with crowbars on Hafez, a farmer and human rights activist who we were helping this morning, that he was spared a decades long prison sentence after the settlers accused him of attacking them. This podcast explains the story in full –  https://palsolidarity.org/2023/02/the-international-solidarity-movement-podcast-episode-four-peoples-resistance-in-the-south-hebron-hills/

Last night we accompanied Hafez’s young son while he was shepherding goats in a field just a few hundred meters from an illegal settlement. We then stayed in a guest house next to their family home in At-Tuwani. We heard that their herd of ten goats once had 150 animals, but theft of their land has made it impossible to keep such a large herd now. Some young men from a neighbouring village came to visit the family for dinner. The atmosphere was quite heavy as one explained that settlers and the army had just turned up at his village, raided his home and attacked family members. We have been told we’ll go to this village tonight to try to discourage such attacks.

This morning we got up early to help in the garden, drawing water from a well and tending plants. By 9am it was already extremely hot and we’re told everyone rests in the midday sun – we’re both very relieved as we’re not used to this much manual labour 😂

 

Day 3 – Tuba

Today we’re staying in a small village called Tuba which, like most of the villages in Masafer Yatta, is within the borders of a military firing zone. All Palestinian inhabitants here are now criminals for staying on their farms in this area which the Israeli army have “claimed” for training purposes – just one more excuse for the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their land. The Zionist settlers, of course, are welcome to stay, despite the firing zone regulations. Under constant fear of attack, local Palestinians patrol the village all night using bright torches to monitor the hillsides. There is always an imminent and deeply disturbing risk of invasion and in recent days settlers have been very active in terrorising the community.

The journey for Palestinians between here and neighbouring At-Tuwani has been extended from 2km to 15km. Palestinians are now forbidden to drive the direct road due to the building of an illegal settlement between the villages and instead must take a very rough dirt track through the desert mountains. Children from Tuba have to be escorted by the army through the Zionist settlement to attend school in At-Tuwani. This is due to the fact that settlers also attack defenceless children. Since the army cannot be trusted in the least, internationalists must monitor them too and help with the school run, looking out for the children’s safety.

 

Day 4 – Israeli “justice”

The attention currently being paid in the international media to Netanyahu’s admittedly disgraceful judicial reform plan all too often ignores the fact that the Israeli judiciary has, of course, long since been intimately complicit in the colonisation of Palestine, including in the Masafer Yatta area. As this excellent article about the situation here explains “The Israeli military wants the homes of Masafer Yatta for target practice. And the country’s Supreme Court says that’s totally kosher.

[. . .]

So’ed stopped attending class after Israeli bulldozers crushed the village school. That day, So’ed told us, she helped young children, the students of lower grades, to escape through the windows. “We were in English class,” she said. “I saw a Jeep approaching through the window. The teacher stopped the class. Soldiers arrived with two bulldozers. They closed the doors on us. We were stuck in the classrooms. Then we escaped through the windows. And they destroyed the school. The destruction of the elementary school took place in November 2022 and was documented on video. Children in the first, second, and third grades can be seen in one of the classrooms, screaming and sobbing. Israeli soldiers surrounded the school, where 23 students were enrolled, and threw stun grenades at villagers who were attempting to block the path of the bulldozers.”

https://www.thenation.com/article/world/masafer-yatta-destruction-palestine-israel/

The filming of the school demolition that is mentioned was done by a volunteer who was at the scene providing protective presence.

It is also of note that one of those Supreme Justices being presented as arbitrators of all that is right in international media coverage about the judicial reforms formerly defended Israel successfully in the case taken against it by the family of Rachel Corrie, an ISM activist killed by a bulldozer while resisting home demolitions in 2003.

 

Day 5 – Khallet Aldabba

Today we are helping with work in Khallet Aldabaa. There are families here that have had their homes demolished by the state four or five times, but they always rebuild and refuse to move. This is yet another example of the Palestinian commitment to “somoud”, an Arabic word meaning “steadfastness”.

We also helped a little today with the work of a group called Comet-ME who were in the village as well. This amazing organisation works with communities across the West Bank to provide ecologically and socially sustainable infrastructure. They were installing a water tank, replacing infrastructure that is often sabotaged by settlers and the army. This is all the more important considering Israeli water company Mekorot, at the behest of the state, are currently limiting water flow to this area in the height of summer – a political punishment that is in complete contravention of international law. You can read more about Comet-ME here: https://comet-me.org/about/who-we-are/

As with other villages we have been in, many of the buildings here have very striking murals of black and white text declaring messages of defiance. These were painted by an ISM volunteer last year in collaboration with the locals. There’s even one in Irish, which I was delighted to see! (“tiocfaidh ár lá” – our day will come, a republican slogan). It’s worth having a look at them here: https://instagram.com/palestinian.brigade?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Mural in Khallet Aldabba

Day 6 – Helicopter harassment

Today we have been listening to booming Israeli fighter jets continually flying back and forth overhead, and yesterday an army helicopter spent about twenty minutes circling the village while flying very low, kicking up huge clouds of dust. Locals said they were probably either taking surveillance photographs or just doing it to intimidate them.

All physical work here must be done by hand, which is tough going, especially in the 35-degree heat, but even the youngest villager (4 years old!) was helping fill buckets today. Machines can’t be hired to lighten the farmers’ workload as the army confiscates them, although it can take us several days to do what a machine could do in minutes.

Luckily, however, we have 4 more ISM volunteers joining us here later today, three of whom are also members of the same platformist reading group as Willow and I! (A)✊🏴🚩

 

Day 7 – Settler violence

In yet another shocking example of the way Palestinians are treated here, 9 illegal settlers attacked the village of Tuba yesterday at 9am. They targeted the villagers’ well, setting up a tent over it and releasing a flock of sheep onto locals’ land. The Palestinians were prevented from using the well to provide water for their animals in the summer heat. The extent of settler/state collusion was evident from the fact that the settlers were escorted by two jeeps full of police and military personnel who stated they were there to protect the settlers. An anti-Zionist Israeli activist who was one of those providing protective presence for the villagers was arrested during the altercation. The settlers remained here until around 5pm. Last night, 4 of us from ISM stayed up with a group of men from the village to keep a lookout for further attacks. Thankfully, nothing happened but the atmosphere is unsurprisingly tense in the wake of the villagers being terrorised once again, less than a week after the last instance here.

This morning, Kevin and I spoke to a Palestinian from Bethlehem who came to support the villagers and who organises with “Faz3a”, a campaign working to defend the October olive harvest from disruption by Israeli settlers and the military, who burn and chop down trees. For the duration of the harvest season, international volunteers accompany harvesters and respond when incidents involving military or settler violence arise, as they frequently do. He told us that last year many violent incidents occurred, including the destruction of ten Palestinian vehicles by settlers (two were burned, the rest thrashed) and the stabbing of a 75-year-old Israeli woman who was volunteering with Faz3a.

He said that if Palestinians were allowed free access to even half the resources of Palestine that life here would be very good for them, but of course colonial occupation prevents anything even close to this from happening. He also felt that for those outside Palestine the “boycott, divestment and sanctions” campaign is a key way to leverage power against Israel with the goal of making it a pariah state in economic, political and cultural terms.

Demo in Kafr Qaddum

Day 8 – Demos

Yesterday Willow and I, along with several other ISM-ers, attended two of the regular Friday demos –one in Kafr Qaddum near Nablus and one in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem.

The demo in Kafr Qaddum takes place weekly in opposition to the illegal settlement which is encroaching on the town. It invariably involves quite a high level of confrontation with the army and seven Palestinians have been murdered during the protests there over the years. Very shortly after we assembled, rubber coated steel bullets and stun grenades were being fired at us, followed by clouds of tear gas as the situation escalated. Burning barricades were built to slow the advance of the army towards us and obscure their view with black smoke which, conveniently, also tends to be carried by the prevailing wind straight into the hated settlement. Everyone we spoke to said that the presence of us internationals shouting at the soldiers in European accents notably reduced the level of violence the army employed, which is a key reason ISM tries to attend as many of these demos as our numbers allow.

One particularly interesting tactic we witnessed was the use of a car which has been modified with metal plates over the windows. A local drives it to the frontline of the demo where it serves as a mobile barricade. It is filled with tyres which both help prevent bullets passing through it and can be used on the barricades. It also delivers other supplies to those near the front. Apparently, the army has been trying to confiscate the vehicle for years but no one asides from the driver knows where it is hidden between demos!

The Sheikh Jarrah demo was attended by a mixture of Palestinians, Israelis and internationals and was much, much less militant. It nonetheless involved some confrontations with settlers who turned up to counter-protest us, as well as scuffles with heavily armed police and border patrol guards who tried to clear us off the street and managed to cut our march short. One teenage settler threw a rock at me when I tried to stop him attacking a Palestinian child about half his size – luckily I was unharmed though. The whole day provided yet another reminder of the degree to which Palestinians suffer at the hands of the occupation, as well as the importance of the protective presence that ISM can provide.

Increase in settler violence and threat of school demolition in Masafer Yatta

Following the killing of an Israeli settler in Hebron on Monday 14 August, there has been an increase in the threat and use of violence by Israeli settlers in Masafer Yatta.

On Tuesday, three settlers from the illegal Israeli outpost of Avat Ma’on arrived in the village of Tuba with their flock, and got provocatively close to the house of a Palestinian family while they were also out with their own flock. Two brothers from the family confronted them and told them to leave their land. In response, one settler pepper-sprayed one of the two brothers, as well as his elderly mother and father. ISMers arrived at the scene minutes after the attack had ended and the settlers had left.

A Palestinian man receiving treatment after a settler attack in Tuba
A Palestinian man receiving treatment after a settler attack in Tuba
Treating a man for pepper spray
Treating a man for pepper spray

On the same night, settlers gathered near the Palestinian village of Susya, where two ISMers were providing protective presence. One settler arrived to the village on a horse and terrorized the villagers by firing a single shot with his gun, while shouting to the Palestinians that they must leave the area.

In the meanwhile, masked settlers from the illegal outpost of Avat Ma’on tried to sneak in the Palestinian village of At-Tuwani. The attack was deterred by a large presence of Palestinian and international activists with torches, who identified one of the assailants as he was descending a hill.

On Tuesday morning, a settler drove his car into a Palestinian car, where a man and two children were travelling. Five ISMers arrived at the scene shortly after, as the settler had fled the scene, to provide protective presence to the victims, as the army and an ambulance arrived.

In the meanwhile, Palestinians in Masafar Yatta are fighting a legal battle to prevent the school in the village of Fakhit from getting demolished by the army.

According to local activists, the demolition is likely to occur some time in the next few weeks.

Fakhit school - under threat of demolition

Mahmoud, an English teacher at the school, explained why the army is targeting it: “This is the only secondary school in the firing zone. They know that if they demolish it, dozens of families will be forced to move to [the nearby city of] Yatta if they want their children to continue studying”

“But we the teachers will not stop working” – he continued. “If they demolish the school, we will put up tents and teach in the tents. And if they confiscate the tents, we will teach under the sun, if necessary”.

Palestinian child looses leg after Israeli occupation invades Nur Shams Camp

Mohammed Zendiq at the hostpital. Credit: Mohammed’s family

On Monday July 24, 16 year old Mohammed Zendiq lost his leg during the invasion of Nur Shams refugee camp, near Tulkarem, by the Israeli Occupation Forces.

In the 4 hour long invasion, the IOF accompanied by a military bulldozer caused serious material damage to the camp’s main streets and infrastructures as well as private property like citizen’s cars, homes and shops.

Mohammed normally lives in 48 [Mandatory Palestine] with his mother as they both have an Israeli ID, but he visits his father weekly in the Nur Shams camp, in the West Bank. He told us that at the time of the invasion, he was standing in the street when he suddenly felt an explosion. He was then rushed to an Israeli hospital where his right leg was amputated just above the knee. He was treated at the hospital for one month and was released on Monday August 21. During that time, his father was unable to visit him as he has no Israeli ID.

Mohammed is the youngest of five siblings and a high school student, although the injury means that his studies are currently on hold and he might not be able to continue with his studies, considering that he will soon have to return to the hospital for further examinations for six months. Regardless, he stressed that he felt like his future would still be bright, he hopes to be able to get a prosthesis, find a job and marry.

Destruction after the invasion of Nur Shams camp. Credit: Diana Khwaelid

Both his parents were deeply shaken by their son’s injury, although they expressed extreme relief that he was at least still alive. His father described how hard it had been for him not being able to see his son at the hospital, and his mother told us that she had felt like she was loosing her mind for ten days after the attack. She added that the most difficult moment for her was when the hospital handed her Mohammed’s amputated leg. She concluded by saying that she felt “like any Palestinian mother”.

Similarly, his father highlighted that Mohammed was one example amongst many other tragedies. He says that while the IOF claims to only target resistance fighters, and Israeli as well as international news view Palestinians as terrorists, many victims are simply civilians trying to lead a normal life in the camps. Mohammed’s mother expressed her anger over the fact that even in the camp, supposedly under Palestinian control, Palestinians are not “left alone to live in peace”.

Mohammed’s father said that he supports peace without violence, but that he entirely blames the Israeli government for any violence that arises. He insisted on noting that many Israelis side with Palestinians, that many Jews across Europe oppose the Israeli occupation, to make clear that, to him, the Israeli government and its repressive system were the only ones at fault.

Before we left, Mohammed told us: “Right now, Israeli children can swim and run. But what about me?”

Israeli Army invasion of Nur Shams camp. Credit: Diana Khwaelid

International Solidarity Movement Podcast episode 10: Resisting demolitions in Khallet-Al-Daba’

In Episode Ten of our podcast we speak to Jaber from the village of Khallet al-Daba’, in Masafer Yatta, in the South Hebron Hills.

The Israeli supreme court has ordered the destruction of several villages in Masafer Yatta, and the occupation wants to destroy Khallet al-Daba’ first. The residents of Khallet al-Daba’ remain steadfast in the face of the demolitions, and are calling for international volunteers to come to the village and support them.

Links

Transcript

Introduction 0:00

Hey, welcome to international solidarity movement podcast [translation in Arabic]

Tom 0:18

Hey, and welcome to Episode ten of the International Solidarity Movement podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode we talk to Jabba from the village of Khallet al-Daba’ in Masafer Yatta in the south Hebron hills, the village of Khallet al-Daba’ is under threat of complete destruction by the Israeli military. And residents have asked the International Solidarity Movement and other supporters to maintain a presence in the village and support the villagers steadfastness in the face of the occupier. Now, I hand over to Jabba to tell us why it’s urgent that the people of Khallet al-Daba’ receive our support and solidarity. You can find out more by visiting the Save Masafer website. You can find links to this website and to other useful websites about Masafer Yatta in the show notes for this show.

Tom 1:10

Okay, so we’re here with with Jabba from the village of Khallet al-Daba’. and it’s a village where [the] International Solidarity Movement has been staying in the recent months because of the threat of demolition and eviction of the village by Israeli forces. And, yeah, so I just want to – we just wanted to hear, first of all, like, what it was like, well. Listeners [who are] listening to the podcast outside of Palestine won’t know what it’s like in Khallet al-Daba’. So maybe you could describe the village – describe growing up here in the village – you know, give people an idea of what Khallet al-Daba’ is like.

Jaber 1:50

Arabic & fades out

Translation 1:56

So as we know, like most of Palestine, people in Palestine know the situation in Khallet al-Daba’ and Masafer Yatta that’s facing the forced eviction from the Israeli occupation. And Khallet al-Daba’, like other villages in Masafer Yatta is under the threat of being evicted and demolished. They have faced many demolitions since 2018. And even [with] all these threats around them, they will not stop – they will not ever give up against these violations. And even like, before two days [ago], there was a confiscation of their tents, the solidarity tents of the international presence, and the attacks on [Jabba] and his brother – that he was like having a broken leg in a demolition, before that – and for today also they also attacked him with the same injury so they were facing like the pain together. And but at the end they will not stop all of this – like they will not give up, [their] steadfastness against this occupation.

Tom 3:02

Can you tell us about what it’s like day to day in Khallet al-Daba’ not knowing whether the the army will come or the settlers will come… the pressures that the occupation and the settlements put on the daily life here?

Jaber 3:20

Arabic & fades out

Translation 3:26

So this is the reality – that all of this pressure [is] on them every day and as you said, like, no one can stop the Israeli occupation of like his harassment of the human rights. Even like the people outside – like the countries that are against the violation of the human rights – like even they cannot stop the occupation from doing all of these violations. And also the new government that came and that pushed also a lot on the Palestinians in order you know, to let them suffer and to you know, to leave their lands. As I said, okay, all of these things they do around us for the pressure – but that will never make us weak and we will continue and he’s asking for an international presence in here in the village, in order even to make for the demolition …or like if there is a demolition in a day, and there’s like a presence international and Palestinian, so he’d like it to be a kind of hard thing for the Israeli forces in order to demolition or to confiscate something. So these things can help – as like a good example, two days ago when the Israeli forces came and confiscated the tents there was no numbers [of volunteers] and like in the easy way they just take everything and they go. And he was even not expecting that much easy that they will take everything where no one can stop them.

Tom 4:49

And yeah, just for context, so right now [as of December 2022] the number of international volunteers for example is quite small. But does he think that – that we could do more if there were larger numbers of people? Would he like to see more people coming?

Jabba 5:11

Arabic & fades out

Translation 5:15

So for sure the international presence would help and with the more international volunteers would be more important as you said like he understands the situation that now in the end of the year and there is Christmas and most of the people cannot be here, everyone you need to go for some time home. And this is like the time for occupation to do his crimes. Because no social media can go out with the [volunteers] to know, and to like spread awareness. So this is like the time for them to push on the Palestinians here. And even though they have talked with many organisations to have more volunteers, but like unfortunately, like, there is no presence yet from the other organisation[s].

Tom 5:57

And we’re hoping that the listeners to this podcast will share the information about what’s happening here with their comrades and, and maybe hearing the voices of people here will inspire people to come. I wanted to ask about – you talked about steadfastness on the land, and this form of resistance, which is being connected to the land and remaining on the land, despite all of the pressures. Could you talk about that? And also, you know, whether you feel a particular connection to this area – to the natural landscape?

Jaber 6:31

Arabic & fades out

Translation 6:37

So Khallet al-Daba’ – the Israeli DCO [District Coordinating Office – part of the infrastructure of the occupation created by the Oslo agreement] knows and we have all of the [legal] proofs that it [belongs to] the Palestinians. And they are, you know, creating policies in order to evacuate the people and steal the lands and even transfer the settlers to stay here. So they have many plans. And he said, like, their plans will lose because it’s our land. And like, even they can demolish, but they will not steal our hope and we’ll not go out from the land. They will demolish our homes, but we will not go out of the land. And okay, they are like pushing the people and how they can do, but at the end, [the Palestinians] can stay and steadfast against the occupation. And because you know, the view of the people, how they will respond against all of these violations that happen around them and all these pressures, because the people also, you know, they just have these lands, where afterwards can they go? Because afterwards if they will be evicted, they will be refugees after this. So they didn’t have just like this piece of land to stay and they own this land. So no other choices to go out or [anything but] just to resist this occupation… So they defend the land that belongs to them, and they want to stay on it, there is no other choices, as you say.

Tom 8:02

And the Israeli state strategy in the area is not only about Khallet al-Daba’, it’s also about the whole area of Masafer Yatta. So do you think that if the Israeli state is successful here in Khallet al-Daba’ and – of course we hear that the people here will resist and will not allow that to happen – but the state will also attempt to evict other communities here in Masafer Yatta?

Jaber 8:29

Arabic & fades out

Translation 8:39

So they have decisions to evict other villages in Masafer Yatta. But like, as you said, like they have the power to evict, and to break, and to demolish and to destroy, but they didn’t have the power to take the people out of their lands.

Tom 8:54

Thank you very much. And yeah, if people want to learn about how to get involved, people can have a look at the Save Masafer Yatta website, and also palsolidarity.org, the website of the International Solidarity Movement – and check out the International Solidarity Movement on social media too. But yeah, thank you very much. Is there anything else that you’d like to say about the situation here?

Jaber 9:21

Translation to Arabic and fade out

Translation 9:36

So what he said like okay, Khallet al-Daba’ is the first village that’s going to be evicted from the decision that the court gave on the 28th of December. So he spoke about the international presence about like how it was the example – [the last time where] they confiscated the tent. That was like even a simple thing, but when they will demolish a house it will be [much] worse, for them it will be a disaster, because it’s like – a house is really hard to rebuild again. So like given the plans – how to be an international presence here – to be in the village. Because if you would be out of the place that will be evicted, it will to be hard for you to come in. For example, like the last demolition that was here when they confiscated, the first thing is they didn’t see the international presence and [therefore] that no one is taping, [so] they just started to attack. When like we came in and arrived to the place, they start you know with a with a simple thing to you know, divide the people to not reach their machines or to not reach the people who are confiscating. So this [volunteer presence is] how to effect them to not use violence against the Palestinians.

Supported by Shoal Collective

International Solidarity Movement Podcast episode 9: Dheisheh Refugee Camp – an epicentre of anticolonial resistance

In this episode Tom and Hazel speak to Sireen Khudairy, who is a resident of Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. For many years, Dheisheh has been a centre of determined resistance against the occupation. We spoke to Sireen in December 2022. And she told us about life and resistance in Dheisheh, and also in the Jordan Valley. She also speaks about the murders which were carried out by the Israeli military near to Dheisheh in winter 2022.

Links

Transcript

Introduction 00:01

Hey, welcome to International Solidarity Movement podcast [arabic translation]

Tom 00:18

Hey, and welcome to the International Solidarity Movement podcast. My name’s Tom. And in this episode me and Hazel speak to Sireen Khudairy, who’s a resident of Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. For many years, Dheisheh has been a centre of determined resistance against the occupation. We spoke to Sireen in December 2022. And she told us about life and resistance in Dheisheh, and also in the Jordan Valley. She speaks about two of the murders which were carried out by the Israeli military near Dheisheh in winter 2022.

Now over to Hazel and Sireen to talk about life, resistance and solidarity in Dheisheh.

Sireen 01:05

So my name is Sireen and I’m originally from Tubas, in the north of the Jordan Valley. Okay, and I have moved to the Dheisheh refugee camp seven years ago. So I live here since seven years. Yeah. I’m an activist with Jordan Valley solidarity campaign. And now I’m organising some activities here in Dheisheh refugee camp. I will talk about the refugee camp here in Dheisheh.

So in the past, there was an Israeli gate, close to the camp, and an electric fence around the camp. It was removed because of the struggle of Palestinian people here, and because of resistance.

So nowadays, actually, since I moved to the Dheisheh camp, it was [a shock] for me even [though] I’m a Palestinian, I was living and struggling in another way. Not like now how it looks like [to me now]. How [is] the life in Dheisheh. I was suffering with other types of problems. You know, the life in the Jordan Valley, we were struggling there. Because there there is no water and you are not allowed to build houses, not allowed to have electricity or to build a school. So it was another type of struggling. Here in Dheisheh camp. It’s different. You are resisting to be alive. Anytime you could be shooted with any attack. So I remember the first night the Israeli soldiers attacked the house, I was alone, actually, my husband, he was in jail. So I was alone in the house. I was surprised. It was like – for me – like a war, [gas and sound] bombing outside the house, shooting gas bombs into my house to the balcony. So I was like, what’s happening? What’s going on here in the camp. So that’s what’s happening. Like weekly, sometimes three times per week, sometimes once a week. It depends on the mood and the orders of Israeli soldiers.

The [people] came from… 50 [different] villages in[side the] 1948 [territories seized by] Israel. And they live here in the camp. I’ll talk more about the attacking [of] the camp, especially while I’m a mother now. I have kids.

It’s two months ago. Usually when I go to work, my kids and my husband they drove me to work by our car and then my husband take my kids to the kindergarten. So they drove me to my work far away from the camp around 10 minutes. Okay. So they were on their way back to the camp. They were surprised that there were soldiers at the entrance of the camp without their uniform. And they were shooting. I just heard in the news there is shooting in the camp and there were people injured. I was like, what’s happening? It was 8:30am. So that was the first time for my kids. The first time they saw blood. So for me, it was like they have to be [more than] their ages you know, since they start to ask me who they [the injured people] are, what’s the blood about, if the people died? If later, we will be shooted? What will happen? They asked me, after being dead, how is the life for us? They were asking questions really much more than their ages. So in that time, I recognise that it’s a danger of occupation. It’s, you know, when you start to live a life as if it’s normal. You look at it as if it’s normal life. And then someone slaps you, [reminds] you that it’s not normal. Actually, my kids, they slap me like that. It’s not normal life. Yeah. And you hear about the last one? My husband’s relative who was shooted in the camp. It’s like that in one moment.

Jawad

Mama schuh hada [what’s this]

Sireen

Hada mike [this is a mike]

Hazel

How old are your children now?

Sireen

The biggest one, Jawad, is five and a half years, Younes is three years and half.

I just remembered that, unfortunately, international people, when we talk about situation and life, it’s like, okay, you are people under occupation and let us know about it, you know. But no, we are just like any other people. We have life and we are we have good memories in our life. We are not like just people under occupation – how the Israelis they want to show us, so yeah, that’s just a reminder.

Hazel 06:51

Do you want to say anything else about the situation in Dheisheh?

Tom 06:55

About the recent martyr?

Sireen 06:56

Yeah. It was on 5th of December. At 530. Actually, my son he was sick and I was awake. Okay. I just heard bombing outside the house. So, okay, a new attack who? Who will be died this night? I was like that. what will happene? I just heard… a voice of a man who was shouting. So he was that one, the martyr… So they attacked the camp to arrest people. And they arrested three people that night at 5:30am. And it was [as if] they left the camp. So the people they thought that the army they left the camp. So they went to take out the prisoners from the school. They were keeping the prisoners inside the school… just outside the school.

Suddenly there was a sniper. He started to shoot at the people. He shot a man. He fell down. Then his friends they were trying to take him out from under fire. They shot at him with 10 bullets. They were trying to take him. [When] anyone he was trying to go closer, they shoot. So two they were in dangerous situation. And the third one he has died, and his brother is still in in jail.

Hazel 08:49

I’m sorry to hear.

Sireen 08:52

That was a shock you know because especially this guy, the people in the camp they were love him. He was he was the one who make bread for all the camp. So he would usually go to the kindergarten where my kids study, and [bring] bread to them and zaatar with breads [or] cheese with breads. Once a week for free. So he’s friends with the kids and people in the camp. It was a sad moment for all the camp it was a huge shock.

Hazel 09:35

How old was he?

Sireen 09:36

22 years old. His name was Omar Manna Fararja.

Tom 09:43

Is there a strong feeling of unity and solidarity amongst the people here, despite the attacks?

Sireen 09:49

Yes, actually that thing I saw it in my eye. Especially woman, you know whenever there are attacks. Not just men they go outside. Even woman, they try to protect the camp. It’s not easy for Israeli soldiers to come inside, to come from the entrance of the camp because nightly there are men who’s always trying to to keep the camp from the soldiers. So how they attack the camp? From the mountain, from behind the camp mostly. It’s not easy for them to come inside the camp. Whenever they try to enter the camp, there is resistance. I will not hide it. The people here resist. Even women they do it. So for sure, they will not welcome them by flowers.

Israeli soldiers, they shoot seventy people from the camp into their knees. So their promise was we are going to make people disabled. If anyone wants to resist you will be disabled. And they [said] that on a microphone. The Israeli captain [he was] threatening the people like that. Whenever there are attacks you have to hide yourself in your house. Otherwise you will be disabled. We are going to shoot you.

Hazel 11:33

And you were saying before that women will also go out into the street as well when there are soldiers. Right? And so is it also women?

Sireen 11:40

If they are coming like if they knock the house to come inside, they try to stop them. It’s not like going outside to the street. No, just men they go outside. But if they try to go inside they refuse, even women! ‘You’re not welcome in my house!’ They try to ask them if they have permission… documents say [they] have the right from the court, because [what they are doing is] illegal.

And two months ago, as well, they killed a child. And we are going to take you to see where where he was killed. He was just in the street. Inside the village there are checkpoints, In Umm Ruqba village here in Bethlehem. And a soldier he shooted the child. They took photos to show that they were trying to treat him after shooting him. And they were showing ‘look at our soldiers, how they are trying to treat a child’. And [after] they took the photos they left, they let him die.

So after all that I am trying to open a link between women in the Jordan Valley and woman in Dheisheh refugee camp to share their experiences, because it’s important to share their experiences, and to talk, to keep having hope. And we are teaching, sharing our experiences to teach each other.

Hazel 13:39

Can you explain what it’s like to organise autonomously as women in Dheisheh? Like what kind of things have you been doing in the woman’s organising?

Sireen 13:49

Okay, so first of all, we went to the Jordan Valley. I noticed actually that there are differences between the characters of the women in the Jordan Valley and the woman in Dheisheh refugee camp, even [though] they are struggling, both are struggling and resisting in their in their ways. So I thought okay, if they share their experiences, it will be helpful for the woman there, and the woman here in Dheisheh refugee camp. And we start a project called ‘The Beauty of the Lands’ – here in Dheisheh refugee camp and in the Jordan Valley.

You know, the Jordan Valley has a very beautiful area and a huge area. But whenever you go there to talk to people, they start to blame the situation and talk about occupation and they forget that they live in a very beautiful area, because of the situation and that’s what the Israelis want, they want us to focus at the problems and blame the situation, and feel it’s a very hard life, and leave.

So we start to focus more to stay with the communities, to live with the communities for months, to talk to the people too. I learned a lot because of the women in the Jordan Valley. Other women, they said the same. Just our questions was let us know about the beauty of the Jordan Valley. At the beginning, it was hard to talk about beauty, always it was about problems, the situation, the occupation, etc. But after 10 days, they started to talk about unique plants, about the lands, the unique flowers, the spring waters… If you feel the lands. If you take that good memories to your mind from the lands, then you feel it, you will like to stay in it. It will mean for you. Not like okay, I’m here because it’s the only place I’m staying in. So it was good experience there. And we’re trying to collect stories from here in Dheisheh. From old women and old men – because that’s our history. And you know they are [the] stories of [the] Nakba [of 1948]. It’s [a memory] with the people who are [over] 80 years old, so we are trying to meet more people, to document it.

Hazel 16:42

And can you also talk a bit about the women’s organising here in the camp? You spoke about having a house where women can meet and discuss together?

Sireen 16:53

Okay, it was a crazy idea. So you know, my husband… he was in jail. The Palestinian Authority, they give salary for each month of staying in jail for the family of the prisoners. So I was working in that time and I was collecting the money for Mahmoud since he was released. We were thinking what to do with it. So we decided to renovate one of the oldest houses in Dheisheh, to save the story of the house – which has stories of seven families who was left there because of Nakba. So now it’s a place for women to meet and talk. You know, here in the camp almost we don’t have [any] spaces outside our house. Almost it’s like houses, upstairs. So yeah, it’s an opportunity for women to sit and to talk. To share experiences as well. We give trainings in the house as well. We have links with the worker’s union. So always we invite women. Here, if there is some trouble at work, the women they try to hide it. So the women’s centre – for them it’s like a space where they could share with each other – which is very important for your psychology, to talk and to try to solve your problems with others. So that’s the idea of the women’s centre in Dheisheh.

Hazel

How many women have been coming?

Sireen

55. Until now, yes, more or less? Yeah, 55 women.

Hazel 18:52

And do you also make decisions about things locally? Or like what sort of projects do you hope to do in the future? You said about the union organising, and it’s also interesting that you said it’s this really old house – because it made me think of what you were saying about the Jordan Valley. And again, it’s women as these kind of defenders of culture and memory – and passing that on as well. So it’s really beautiful that in both places you have these projects

Sireen 19:24

Yeah, actually more it’s going to be like a popular education centre. It’s like people teaching other people. Sharing, learning each other… The space it has a high floor, it could be for a theatre, okay, to share some of the stories which we are collecting now. So it’s more for culture, it’s going [to be] for cultural projects.

Hazel 20:04

Is it ever difficult to get women involved in organising. Are there like specific challenges that you feel like women face to get involved?

Sireen 20:14

Here in the camp? No, the women here, they are more open. Okay. But where are the challenges? It’s… easy to [get] them involved, it’s not easy to make them talk. And that’s important, you know, it’s like, Okay, we have to hide…

Sireen 20:46

It’s like the image of women, it’s like, we have to show that we are heroes. We don’t have problems, you know. We could solve it. It’s easy to solve any problems. And that’s the challenge. But no, it’s a problem. It’s not normal life. We have to face it as it’s a problem. Yeah, that’s the challenge.

Hazel 21:09

And were you involved in women’s organising before living in the camp, as well, like organising women elsewhere. So I know that you are an ex-prisoner. And you’re involved now in prison solidarity organising. And I want to ask you about that. But I’m also curious, because you said that in the camp, women are quite open to joining. But I wondering if it was difficult in other places.

Sireen 21:34

For example, in the Jordan Valley, it’s not easy [for] women [to] share activities, or to be yanni to be honest, here, it’s easy to make people join activities. But in the Jordan Valley, for example, it’s like shame, or they have to wait for a decision from men, [for men] to accept it. That’s the truth. Here. No, it’s different.

Hazel 22:03

Why do you think it’s different? What’s the difference? What caused it to be different?

Sireen 22:08

Because the style of life here is different. In the Jordan Valley, it’s like still small communities. So it’s still more controlled by men, which is not the same here. Once when I was in the Jordan Valley, I saw a woman. She wakes up at five, [I met her] during the ‘Beauty [of Life]’ projects – while I was staying with the families. So she wakes up at 5am, she was taking the milk of 200 sheep. Okay. And then she went back to the house, she prepared breakfast for her family, she make her kids ready to go to school. Then she makes cheese of the 200 sheep… And then she was preparing dinner. And the Israeli bulldozer, they attack the house, they destroyed the house. She went inside the house, she took everything from inside the house outside at that time, she was preparing the food while the bulldozer [was] destroying the house. And in the end of the day, I asked her what do you do in your life? Could you imagine her answer? What was it? Nothing! For me, it was like, she teaches me the meaning of power. And she has a huge power to do all of that without blaming. But for her, it’s like ‘I’m doing nothing’. So that’s why I thought ‘Yeah, it’s important to talk to women’. And that’s why their situations [are] still like that. Because they don’t talk. They look at it as if it’s normal, normal life and the meaning for them. [Comes] from the men, ‘you do nothing’…And that’s destroying communities. That’s how communities are [being destroyed] in the valley. Because of that.

Women for me are much more important than men there. Because they start… I saw her, she was trying to rebuild the house before the men. She look after her sheep, [and] about the family as well. And the decisions comes from the men at the end of the day.

Hazel 24:46

So you mentioned before that you were in prison, and also since then you’ve been a prisoner organiser, a solidarity organiser as well. We’re wondering if you could tell us a bit about that?

Sireen 24:59

About being in jail?

Hazel 25:02

If you want to share about being in jail then do, but also especially organising since then as well.

Sireen 25:08

Okay, so in 2013, I was kidnapped by the Israeli soldiers. I was in isolation for two months. And maybe it’s important to share with you about being isolated. I was in a cell, which is one metre, within two metres, for two months without lights with a very heavy light. I remember the first time I saw the sun after two months. For my eyes, it was like a heavy door [that] I’m trying to open. There are too many details. If we are going to talk about it, maybe for people who’s outside jail, it means nothing! But for prisoners. It’s like life. It was a dream for me after a month to have a small mirror to see my face in a mirror, for example. So I have passed through too many [psychological] pressures. I remember once one of the Israeli captains. he brought… a Palestinian magazine with a photo of my mother. [It was] written on it that my mom died [which wasn’t true]. Imagine which types of [psychological] torture they don’t care, [they want] to make to make you very weak.

So after isolation, I was with Palestinian political prisoners in HaSharon jail. So I was with [other] Palestinian political prisoners in HaSharon jail, which is illegal according to the Geneva agreement that we were in jail inside Israel. Our family cannot visit. For me never my family visited me there. We were mixed in the same jail with Israeli criminals, which is illegal too.

So since I was released, I was involved with doing solidarity with prisoners through sending letters, talking to radio. There are some programmes [that] I know that prisoners are hearing and it means a lot for them. They are waiting the programme from one week to another week to hear letters and to hear from people outside. So it’s like to give a time [of] 10 minutes to this programme. It means a lot to the prisoners inside so I’m trying to give my best with that trying to stand next to families to continue to keep [on] the struggle, and to not [let] the families feel they are lonely. Yes.

Hazel 28:48

Are you working especially with women prisoners?

Sireen 28:51

Not specially but I’m trying to focus [on them] because I know their situation as I lived it. I’ll share something with you that I met Lina Jarbouni. When I met her in jail, she [had been] for 20 years in jail. So I met her in 2013. So for her, I started to talk to her about internet and about Facebook. That you could post a post on Facebook people, could make comments. She thought that I’m lying. Like I’m just trying to make more drama. She doesn’t know what does it mean internet. While the internet was discovered she was in jail. So she was like, ‘which life are we living’.

Tom 29:43

How many how many people from Dheisheh are in prison do you think now?

Sireen 29:50

Hundreds? I don’t know exactly. Because you know its daily… Maybe this night they will arrest more five people. It’s changed daily

Tom 30:02

So many many families have one of their loved ones in prison?

Sireen 30:06

Yes.

Tom 30:10

Do you organise activities together?

Sireen 30:13

And I wanted to say something. They are not numbers! It’s like you know each family has the same. Each Palestinian family has prisoners, has a taste of the meaning of to lose someone, martyrs. I don’t think that [for] any family in Palestine never one one of them was arrested

Sireen 30:48

Like, for example our neighbour, he’s [sent to] jail 15 years. And he has to stay in jail for all of his life, just on the other side of our house. His mother was dead and he didn’t see her. Before she was dead for four years… they didn’t allow her to visit.

So our other neighbour last year, he was shooted. He’s 17 years old and he is disabled. He was shooted into his back. The other neighbours, he’s like go out from jail for two months, and they re-arrest. He stay with his family… just for two months. And then they came back to arrest him. He stayed in jail two years. They let him out for two months and they re-arrest. It’s like, around us is like a movie.

Tom 31:55

And both of us are involved in prisoner solidarity and solidarity with people in court in the UK. And I wanted to ask, like how important do you think is it to have connections and solidarity with people outside of Dheisheh and people outside of Palestine, and to build solidarity with prisoners?

Sireen 32:25

It’s important because there are some actions you could do it, but we cannot do it. For example… when I was in jail, I saw that things which they were putting on my hands [the handcuffs]. They were from G4S. [And] so some companies, international companies. They support Israel through guns, for example. These things you could make actions to against it. And if you are in contact with Palestinians, and in solidarity with prisoners you could share more stories. [Share] more realities, to make the people work outside to do something to help.

We’re still living the same life here because of the silence of internationals communities.