Tag: Jordan Valley Solidarity

ISM Podcast episode 13 – Jordan Valley Solidarity

This episode of the International Solidarity Movement Podcast was recorded last year, long before the current Israeli genocidal attack against Gaza began. Since te interview took place the situation in the Jordan Valley has got much worse. Jordan Valley Solidarity (JVS) is still working to support the people of the Jordan Valley to stay on their land, despite massively increased settler violence and forced expulsions of entire Jordan Valley communities. This interview focuses on what JVS are struggling for: the beauty of the Jordan Valley, and the steadfastness of its people.

[00:00:00] Introduction: Hey, welcome to International Solidarity Movement Podcast [translation in Arabic]

[00:00:19] Tom: Hey, and welcome to episode 14 of the International Solidarity Movement podcast. In this episode, we speak to Rashid Khudary of the Jordan Valley Solidarity campaign. The Israeli state has wanted to annex the Jordan Valley since it occupied it in 1967. In 2021, Netanyahu announced final plans for the annexation of the valley, an area which makes up one third of the West Bank.

[00:00:41] Tom: People in the Jordan Valley resisted strongly against these plans, and there was an international outcry. Thankfully, the plans have been shelved for the moment, but the people of the Jordan Valley are under a constant threat from settlements expanding onto their land, from the violence of the Israeli settlers, from the closures of the Israeli military, which make most of the valley inaccessible to Palestinians. And from the constant demolitions of Palestinian property, which are carried out by the Israeli army. Jordan Valley Solidarity works to support the steadfast resistance of people in the Jordan Valley, to rebuild the schools and homes that have been demolished, and to celebrate the beauty of the Jordan Valley. Rashid talks about taking strength for the struggle from the natural world and the beauty of the land.

[00:01:23] Tom: And now over to Rashid to talk about life in the Jordan Valley and about the campaign, uh, in solidarity with people living there.

[00:01:44] Tom: I’m here with Rashid from Jordan Valley Solidarity at the beautiful house that you’ve built in Bardala. And I wondered if you could tell me about the Jordan Valley Solidarity campaign, about what you’ve been doing in the Jordan Valley, when it was established, and yeah, why there’s a need for a solidarity campaign for the communities in the Jordan Valley?

[00:02:02] Rashid: First, the Jordan Valley Solidarity Movement [was] established in 2003. Me, I joined since 2006. We as the Jordan Valley Solidarity, we are a network of Palestinians farmers from different communities, Palestinian farmers associations [together] with international solidarity and support [from] international volunteers. We work even with the Palestinian trade unions. Our main goal from our movement is to defend our population in the Jordan Valley to make him stay and [support them] resisting there.

[00:02:39] Rashid: Why the Jordan Valley [Solidarity] movement and why the Jordan Valley [is a] special area? First, the Jordan Valley region and area is very important and [strategic] for our Palestinian people in the whole region of Palestine and the West Bank because it’s very rich [in] resources in the Jordan Valley. Huge fields and a huge land, which is really very rich land, and it’s very rich of water resources in the Jordan Valley.

[00:03:11] Rashid: Even it’s the main border to travel from all West Bank, it’s only from Jordan Valley. To the Arabian [countries], to Jordan… From Jordan, we can travel to any place in the world. But because in the whole population [of] the West Bank, we are not allowed to travel from Israel to any country – even thousands or maybe millions of Palestinians – you are not allowed to enter to Israel.

[00:03:44] Rashid: And the Jordan Valley area for us it used to be, before, our main Palestinian breadbasket producing [all kinds] especially of vegetables. And before 1967, before the occupation and the war, it was the Palestinian population in the Jordan Valley, more than 300,000 [people].

[00:04:04] Rashid: Now we are only just 56,000 who [are] still resisting and living in the whole Jordan Valley, and there is thousands of Palestinians who’re refugees. Thousands of people after the war – after ’67, the Israeli policy… They abused our community and [policies against]  our people making a lot of our people [get] out of the Jordan Valley through using different policy and displacement, most of our population [are now] outside of the area of the Jordan Valley.

[00:04:48] Rashid: Again, why the Jordan Valley? It was the Israelis who put this strategy and the plan before they even occupied the area… Now the Israelis, since 1967 until now, they’ve built 39 Israeli [colonies] in the Jordan Valley. They’ve built more than 20 army bases and army camps in the Jordan Valley. Even they control the main water resource through the Israeli company that they created in 1937, which they call it Mekarot company. This company, they build more than 20 water wells and taking the whole [of] our water resource under the ground and [controlling] it just for the Israeli settlers. Which that mean even we are not allowed, as Palestinians living in the Jordan Valley, to have the drinkable water. This is now one of the main Apartheid system the Israeli created in the Jordan Valley. Without respecting even the international law, without respecting the [human beings], and trying to use the water as a weapon and as a gun to [displace] our people and kick him outside of the Jordan Valley.

[00:06:01] Rashid: And in the same time, if you look into the Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley, is totally so green, big swimming pool, having good economic and good agribusiness there – especially dates, flowers, vegetables, grape farms they have, the settlers – which most of this kind of product, the settlers, they export it outside in the world: in Europe, in the UK, in the United States, everywhere. They have like a free [subsidised] land, free water. They have huge fundraising from Israeli government and from different international government to occupy our land, not just to build this kind of agribusiness.

[00:06:48] Rashid: In the same times, we are as a civilian under occupation not having any kind of right. Our right of water, we are not allowed to have water. Our right of health service: even we are not allowed to build in the Jordan Valley any kind of hospital or health clinic. Our right of education: even we are not allowed to build the schools and not allowed to go to the school inside the Israeli colony.

[00:07:15] Rashid: This is kind of what we need as [human beings]… the Israeli government, they don’t respect [us]. And this is why [we] established the Jordan Valley Solidarity because we need any kind of help and support for our communities, for our people, for our farmers, for our women, our children, to support what we need to resist.

[00:07:36] Rashid: And exactly what we are doing: we built six schools in different villages and communities in Area C, we built two health clinics in the Jordan Valley, we build and renovate more than 200 houses from north to the south of the Jordan Valley. We build four pipe line of water to bring water from village to other village where family not allowed to have a water.

[00:08:03] Rashid: And we try to have more international solidarity and support because even we as Palestinians, we work mostly as a volunteers… And we need more hands, we need more internationals to join our work. We need more internationals who can help us writing articles [and reporting]. We need more internationals who can support our farmers working with our farmers to harvest, to plant.

[00:08:36] Rashid: [As well] there’s many [things internationals] can do. Especially for us [it] is very important for international [volunteers] to see the facts about the occupation, about this kind of conflict, how the Israeli government and Israeli soldiers, and even the Israeli settlers councils, how they are dealing in our [real] life. For confiscating our car sometimes, even confiscating our tractors when we are going to work in our field or in our farm, and even how they came to destroy our structures and our house or our school. Because all [all of the things the Israelis are doing] we don’t think [that all the] people in the world they know about it. And this is why it’s very important for internationals to come. Even they can help for recording for filming, taking pictures and publishing or sharing this kind of information with the people in the world. And even trying to do something for the families who lost their houses or for children who lost their schools.

[00:09:50] Rashid: Even we have different kind of activities, like planting trees, sometimes organizing walking trails, like a path where Palestinians and internationals they can crossing the area to enjoy the [nature], to show them our plants, our beauty in the Jordan Valley.

[00:10:10] Rashid: And even they can learn cooking in the wood, cooking with our women, the Palestinian food. That’s something for us – even it’s very important, to share it, to show them: even we have a life if we are under the occupation. If the Israelis [are] stealing our culture, our land, our water, stealing everything. But they cannot steal our resistance. They cannot steal that, we can still teach the people: about our life, about our beauty life in the Jordan Valley. To show them- because most of people they think we don’t have a real life. No, we have a life. We have children. We [are] trying to use this kind of education [as] a seed, to show people how we are [resisting] and how we are sharing our hope and our power through all these projects and activities [and] work in the Jordan Valley.

[00:11:04] Tom: You were saying in the car on the way here that very often people from the Jordan Valley and in Palestine in general, they talk about the the situation with the Israeli occupation, the attacks of the Israeli forces on Palestinian people. But… well, it makes people forget about talking about the beauty of, for example, life in the Jordan Valley.

[00:11:01] Tom: So the Jordan Valley Solidarity Campaign tries to preserve and document the cultural heritage and natural heritage in the area, right?

[00:11:50] Rashid: Yeah, we create a path from a village called Hammamat al Maleh to another village called Ein al Hilwa. And we call the path in Arabic: ‘Yalla min Al Maleh l’Ein al Hilwa’.

[00:12:10] Rashid: And this path, before we started, we made a big research which we make it with mostly volunteers: Palestinians from the university and activist groups who join us, even some teachers from schools, and we used to go to the mountains to take pictures [of] plant[s], and even trying to learn about the name and why they give this kind of name. And even we try to learn from the plant, which we know, or if we don’t know, if it’s used for any kind of thing, like some kind of a plant we have it, we use it for medicine. And the same, we learn about animals and we writing about all kinds of animals in the area.

[00:13:00] Rashid: … We collected the story of the place, why this village is called Hammamat al Malih. Hammamat, it means ‘shower’. And Al Maleh, it means ‘salty’… In this village [there were] seven showers, which is like a swimming pool, because the water in this community it was coming from the natural spring water which is hot water which is good for the skin and people they was using it as a medicine, when they have a problem in the body or in the skin.

[00:13:44] Rashid: And [there were] a lot of people [who] came from different areas to this place. Me personally, the last time I [went] swimming in this place [was] in 1998, with my parents and my family and a friend there. And it was very beautiful valley full of water. In this project, we try to bring people to see the nature, to see the beauty of the Jordan Valley. We [even planned] to build in this [community] a tent where women can produce all hand make stuff or food that they make it to sell.

[00:14:20] Rashid: The Israelis, they came, they destroyed this tent and even they confiscated my private car. And they kept it for two months, later they gave it back after I paid 2,175 [Shekels, which is over $500]… This is what’s happening, which that means even the Israelis, they don’t give us the right [to have] beauty – to enjoy our nature. To go hiking, to go for a walk, to enjoy the plants, to enjoy our time, especially in the spring. This is what they start trying to steal and they change even some areas, or they create some areas, which they call it a ‘close military firing zone’ and [it is] forbidden to enter to this area. And in the same time, they make it as a national park. And at the same time, we are not allowed to enter [these places] without having permission from the Israeli military, not even from the Israeli natural organization, you know. And all this… is just to control the land and our resources just for the settlers.

[00:15:35] Rashid: Even everyone in the world, I’m sure they are in love with nature and they don’t have any problem with nature. But the Israeli government, even they have the problem with the natural reserves area. Why? Because since 2014 until 2020, there was every years, especially the settlers from April to June, the summertime, they burn the natural area. Which that’s mean they kill a lot of seeds. In this time, in the years, there is a bird, we call it Shinar, some people they call it Al Hajal, we have gazelle, they give the baby from April to June. Which that mean when they burn it, they kill the seeds, which that mean, maybe some kind of a plant, we cannot find it again, they kill a lot of animals.

[00:16:38] Rashid: Why? Just because they don’t want our shepherd taking his sheep, or goats, or cow to the mountain to feed it from the [nature]. Even this kind of animals, they- they spread the seeds of a plant, which is good for the [nature]. But even they use the natural area to [displace] our people without respect even the [nature] or the plant and the animals.

[00:17:04] Rashid: This is what they do for our people and our humanity, you know, when they kill or they are shooting, or when they destroy our houses, or our schools, or our water.

[00:17:08] Rashid: This is why it’s very important to talk about it, because we don’t want even people in the world to be silent.

[00:17:17] Tom: We talked a bit about international support and about volunteers coming here. But in the past, I know there have been big campaigns outside of Palestine to boycott Israeli goods in supermarkets and particularly to boycott Carmel Agrexco, which was the Israeli state owned national exporter that was exporting goods particularly from the Valley. That company was liquidated, but there are many other companies like Mehadrin and Galilee that are still exporting from the Jordan Valley. What would you say about the importance of these boycott campaigns which are happening outside Palestine?

[00:18:04] Rashid: What I will say. I will say anyone who’s working or who’s buying, or they have any kind of project with this kind of authority or this kind of government, you know, that’s mean he’s agrees about all the crimes have been [done] to [human beings] in Palestine. That’s mean he’s supporting the Israeli soldiers to have more bullets to kill more Palestinians. That’s mean he’s support the Israeli bulldozers [which] destroy our schools and our houses. Who’s agree and who’s support?

[00:18:40] Rashid: If we just respect a [human being], everyone they should think he’s under occupation. Because what Israeli they do, because what [the] Israeli government they [are] doing, is not just against us. We are surviving, and we still resist, and we are still learning from what’s going on, and what’s happening [to] us, what’s happening with our neighbours, with our villages, to keep going and to fight.

[00:19:04] Rashid: And we don’t take any decision to go outside of our country, our land. But why people in the world, at least, they will not, by cutting the Israeli products? Or [links with] Israeli academi[a]? or Israeli support, or [links with] Israeli companies? – who are stealing our right of water, our right of education, our right of health service. If you just respect the idea of a [human] being, and if you want to have a world – really have the [real] democracy and [real] freedom, at least we have to boycott the Israeli government, at least.

[00:19:40] Rashid: And we need, of course, the whole kind of support from international people to make even a pressure to international governments who are supporting or who are agree about all these kind of [Israeli] crimes.

[00:19:50] Tom: Yeah, one of the things people talk about here, the idea of staying on the land, and remaining on the land. even when there’s huge pressure against them, when their houses are being destroyed, when their right to water, right to education is being taken away… Often you hear this word steadfastness being used to describe the resistance here. Can you talk about what drives people to carry on resisting against the occupation and remaining on the land here in the Jordan Valley? What is it that drives people to keep on resisting, do you think?

[00:20:38] Tom: And also another question I had was what hope do you have for the struggle against colonization here in the valley?

[00:20:46] Rashid: Just this question?

[00:20:48] Tom: Sorry!

[00:20:49] Nicole: Haha!

[00:20:50] Rashid: No, no, don’t worry! About hope, it’s not really easy to have hope. Even I hope that everyone will hear my message, you know. It’s not easy to imagine the situation, really, because… It’s every minute, every second, every day, especially in the area that Israeli create and call as the Jordan Valley, Area C, ‘closed military zones’. Every day people [are] having different kinds of challenges and they still resist. Sometimes, me personally, I have hope from animals, from birds, from plants, from the beauty of the Jordan Valley, from [the] strong man that I’m [working] with or a strong woman. I see here – how she’s resisting to build her oven that has been destroyed many times and cooking her own bread for her family, you know.

[00:21:55] Rashid: This is what gives me back more hope- sometimes from international volunteers or the international movement who’s supporting. It’s from different ways that we can have hope, to be honest. This is what we need, we need really support. As I told you before, I don’t feel like we are just occupied from Palestine, and we are not just as a Palestinians still under occupation. But, I’m thinking we are [occupied by all] international governments… The whole people in the world is still occupied… If we don’t have the freedom, and our justice, and our country back, that will mean all people [around the world] are still under occupation too.

[00:22:43] Rashid: This is my message. Did I answer you?

[00:22:44] Tom: Yeah, yeah, you answered. Thank you very, very much.

[00:22:45] Nicole: Yeah, that was amazing!

[00:22:45] Rashid: Thanks for you!

[00:22:52] Tom: And, yeah  if you’re interested in finding out about Jordan Valley Solidarity, you can look at jordanvalleysolidarity.org. The campaign is asking for donations from people internationally as well.

[00:23:04] Tom: So, if you want to raise money for the campaign, you can donate through the website or get in touch with the campaign to hear more about the project.

[00:23:05] Rashid: Exactly, yeah.

[00:23:06] Tom: Is there anything else you want to say?

[00:23:08] Rashid: Ohhh yes. I will ask people to come and join our resistance and enjoy our vegetables, and our fruit, and our nature!

[00:23:09] Outro: [Music fades out]

Human rights abuses in the Jordan Valley

29 December 2023 | International Solidarity Movement | Jordan Valley

The following article is a snapshot of how life is under occupation and brutal settler colonialism for the Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley. These incidents are just some that took place on one day (Friday 29th December).

Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) soldiers, along with officials from the Mekorot Water Control Company (Israel’s national water company), stormed the village of Bardala and closed the water holes used by the farmers of the village to irrigate crops, as part of a policy of water deprivation. The policy of racial discrimination and apartheid in the right to water constitutes an existential threat to the Jordan Valley communities.

An empty road with a green field to the right and a house to the left, cars can be seen in the distance.
The IOF and Mekorot arrive at village of Bardala to sever water connection.
Photo taken from uphill, showing a green landscape with houses and cars in the distance. In the middle, a powerful gush of water.
Water gushing in to the air from the pipe severed by the IOF and Mekorot.

The IOF and the Jordan Valley Regional Settlements Council closed the only entrance to the pastures to the east of Ain al-Hilweh in the northern Jordan Valley. The iron gate placed across the entrance and guarded by IOF soldiers prevents shepherds and their livestock from entering any of their lands and pastures east of Route 60. With this gate, gangs of illegal settlers now have full control over a vast area of more than 55,000 dunums of land (approximately 14,000 acres) located between Road 60 and Road 90. The loss of grazing land and the confinement of livestock in population centres constitute a disaster for farming communities in these areas and are driving factors in their forced displacement.

A dirt road is blocked by two blocks of concrete and a metal bar between them, alongside two soldiers standing in front. On the other side, a car is parked.
Photo of gate installed by the IOF at village of Ain al-Hilweh.

Citizen Abu Mahdi Daraghmeh from Ain al-Hilweh reported that he is using legal channels to launch an appeal in order to protect him from the herding activities of illegal settlers, as settlers stole 80 cows from his children the day prior. Denial from the settlers along with the complete inability of the Occupation Authority’s Civil Administration to address the problem have left him with no other option. Herding is a strategy increasingly used by illegal settlers to steal land across the West Bank.

House demolitions, a powerful tool for forced displacement and ethnic cleansing used by Israel, are continuing apace in the Jordan Valley. On 26th December at around 9am, Civil Administration personnel came with IOF soldiers and two bulldozers to the village of Furush Beit Dajan. The forces demolished five homes of five families numbering twenty five people, eight of them children. Three of the homes demolished were built before 1967. The forces also demolished three seasonal homes of three families, numbering twenty people, including seven children. A concrete wall around one of the houses as well as a pool used to irrigate crops were also demolished.

A large heap of rubble and metal. Two men are standing on it, one looking to the camera and doing a peace sign.
House demolitions at the village of Furush Beit Dajan.
Photo taken from uphill shows cars driving around a village where a digger is demolishing houses.
House demolitions at village of Furush Beit Dajan.

The Jordan Valley Solidarity Campaign is one of the main solidarity organisations active in the Jordan Valley, with which ISM has worked in partnership over the years. It is a network of Palestinian grassroots community groups from throughout the Jordan Valley and stands side by side with Jordan Valley residents in resisting the ethnic cleansing of their communities through direct solidarity.

 

Photos credit: Jordan Valley Solidarity

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.

Israeli Military Exercise on Palestinian farmers fields

19th December 2016 | International Solidarity Movement & Jordan Valley Solidarity| occupied Palestine

At around 12:30pm December 19th, 2016, the Israeli Occupation Forces blocked  the road leading to Tubas and the north of the Jordan Valley for around two hours.  Dozens of Palestinians farmers and civilians had to wait for an Israeli military exercise to conclude before being able to continue their way.

                         An Israeli soldier blocks and guards the road while Palestinians are waiting for it to open.

From the roadblock, the location of the military training could not be seen, but Jordan Valley Solidarity (JVS) received a call from a resident of the community of Khirbet Yarza saying that the exercise was actually happening in the fields of their community, 20 meters in front of their houses.   The military were also on the land of two other communities, Hamamat Al-maleh and Ras Al-Akhmar , only a few kilometers away.

                     Israeli Military exercise occurring in front of the residents’ houses of the community of Yarza

Around 20 tanks, 2 bulldozers, 5 military trucks, and 10 jeeps carrying soldiers took part in this illegal military exercise.  The tanks and bulldozers seriously damaged the farmers land including breaking the irrigation pipes that were put in the ground.

           A calf stranded between Israeli Military tanks and farmers houses of the community of Ras Al-Akhmar 

                                                        Palestinian land damaged by Israeli tanks and bulldozers

The residents also told us that the Israeli Military didn’t give them any advance notice regarding the time and the location for their operation. Therefore the Palestinians were stranded inside their houses for the whole military exercise period, as they never had the time to evacuate.  No one has been injured but the residents were extremely scared of what could have happen to them and their livestock.  At the same time, Palestinians stopped at the roadblock could only see tanks being carried away by huge lorry to an unclear area.  While waiting, they could hear large explosions coming from the other side of the hills, making them jumpy, nervous and anxious.
                                    A lorry carries two Israeli tanks to the illegal military training exercise area

This part of the Jordan Valley is in Area C  (under Israeli control) and was declared by Israeli Forces a “closed military zone”, meaning that it is forbidden for Palestinian to walk around those lands.  Cars riding on the adjacent road cannot stop and if they do, the drivers risk being arrested and their car confiscated. There are military observation tours all around the Jordan Valley, consequently the arrest and confiscation are a real threat.  The only reason for Palestinians to stop their cars is a military roadblock.

On that day, not only farmers and drivers had their daily activity seriously affected but also the children attending school. The children from villages in this part of Area C must go to Tubas to attend school as there are none in their village due to restrictions imposed by Israel. The students are therefore bussed everyday to Tubas. But today, at the end of their class, they had to walk their way back home as the bus was stopped at the roadblock and could not get through to pick them up.  Most of the children had to walk in that frightening environment for seven to eight kilometers in order to reach their home.

                                                           Palestinians children walking back home from Tubas.

The Israeli Occupation Forces have conducted illegal military exercises around the Jordan Valley for many years. Not only blocking roads at any other moment but also forcing villagers to evacuate their homes for days while proceeding with their military exercises around and inside the villages.  A few months ago, in Yirza, Israeli bulldozers arrived in the village, destroying the connection of the irrigation pipes. The residents repaired the damaged connection but, once again, Israeli military tanks drove around their fields, passing on top of the pipes and destroying them, again.

Over the last few years, citizens all around the Jordan Valley have seen an increase in the confiscation of their land by Israeli Forces. These large patches of land are now used by the Israeli Forces as bases and for training exercises. All along the road at the edge of these lands, we can now see concrete blocks indicating the closed-military-zone, which forbids anyone to trespass on these areas. Therefore, shepherds and farmers have been deprived of their only means to provide for their families.  Other lots were given to Israeli settlers for agricultural development, which only benefit Israeli economy.

                                                               Israeli Military base in the Jordan Valley

Despite the continuous demonstration of control and power by Israel over Palestine, the resilience of the population from the Jordan Valley remains intact.

                                                      Palestinian kids playing football on an open land near Fasayel

IOF Military Training Exercises in the Jordan Valley

4th April 2016|International Solidarity Movement | Al-Khalil Team, occupied Palestine

In the north of the Jordan Valley, and adjacent to the town of Tubass, are three agricultural communities: Yarza (with 4 families), Ibzk (13 families) and Samre (11 families). These families have existed on this land for hundreds of years, and some were born in a cave in the hills overlooking their homes. Their homes are regularly demolished; Yarza has been demolished five times with the last demolition occurring in August 2014.

The area is littered with ammunition, including bullets and landmines, as a result of the frequent Israeli Occupation Forces training exercises that occur here. These exercises are illegal under international law since this is an agricultural community, and they take place in close proximity to homes. Many of the residents have been injured or killed, according to activists who work for Jordan Valley Solidarity, including a father of three who was burying landmines in order to secure the safety of the community. One exploded, killing him instantly.

Soldiers training on Palestinian land.
Soldiers training on Palestinian land.

The local community, with the help of different organizations, requested protection from the UN office in Ramallah, to no avail.

On Sunday, April 3rd the residents were notified that military training exercises would be taking place for two days starting Monday, April 4th, and they were to refrain from going out. However, the training started that night. When military training is taking place, the children are prohibited from going to school, since they are usually bussed to Tubass. Where they live has been designated Area C, and there are no schools within close proximity.

Palestinian family living in the village.
Palestinian family living in the village.

On April 4th, two International Solidarity Movement volunteers arrived at Yarza. There they observed the arrival of more than 200 heavily armed soldiers who arrived in buses and jeeps. They crossed the land the communities live on, many on foot, and positioned themselves over a small rise approximately 500 metres away. Throughout the night very loud explosions were heard all the way to the village of Tubass.

The communities feel very threatened by these actions, and the children especially are terrified by the presence of the Israeli soldiers and by the exceedingly loud explosions. The residents believe that there are many other areas further away that the IOF could choose instead of being so close by and endangering their safety.

This beleaguered community has suffered in countless ways; their livestock is regularly confiscated, their homes are frequently demolished, and worse yet, there have been lives lost to Israeli military training which could very easily take place elsewhere.