Women in Black

What do you consider admirable?

To believe in something, and be so dedicated that you are willing to keep on fighting year after year is in itself a sign of conviction. To keep that spirit up even when people are yelling nasty things out of the window as they drive pass, or point fuck you, or even worse spit on you, shows a sign of dignity and inner belief in the just cause you are fighting for. To continue even when most of your friends are long gone, and not surrender to resignation shows a great deal of strength.

Today it was raining in Jerusalem, and many shops were closed due to the weather. The umbrella broke, and in the end looked like the skeleton of a tree with empty branches. Despite the rain and the wind, I was determined to join the ‘Women in Black’. Even now when my toes are frozen, and there is no hot water or heating in the room, I feel that is was a worthwhile decision. And honestly I am freezing! But if the women in black can do it, then so can I!

The ‘Women in Black’ is not some catch phrase on the movie Men in Black, in fact if you ask me which one came first, the women in black would win! These women stand in their black clothes, conducting a silent demonstration every Friday, holding up black hands calling to “stop the occupation” in English, Hebrew and Arabic. Everyone is not in favor of demonstration as a means to an end. It may be associated with radicals, or activists. Personally I had never participated in a demonstration before, a fact I was rather comfortable with. I am nonetheless proud to say that I took part in this demonstration. The message is simple; there is no condemning of one side or the other, no debate, no shouting and no hidden political agenda. Stop the occupation!

Did I mention that they are Israeli women in their 80’s that have been doing this since the first Intifada?

What a waste of land - sewage dumping

Imagine if raw sewage was dumped daily in the land where you are growing your lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage and onions. Would you eat your vegetables?

For the people in the village of Nahhalin, it has become impossible to use over 1000 dunnums of their land. Instead of growing their own produce to use in cooking, they instead buy vegetables someplace else. Unfortunately this is not the end of the tragedy. Not only can they not use the land, they are also running the risk of losing it if it is not being cultivated. According to the Israeli adoption of old Ottoman law, land that is not cultivated for a certain amount of time goes back to being state land.

I cannot tell you if the settlement of Beitar Illit deliberately dumps their waste in Nahhalin’s farm land, so that they later can confiscate the land and use it for themselves. That is an assumption I have no evidence to support. Yet I am telling the truth when I say that the UNOHCHR is among the actors concerned with the situation and asked us to document it further.

Last Saturday we, my team members and I, met with the Village Council and the Major of the village to listen to their complaints. Then we went down to the dumping site, and documented with photographs and water samples. The dark water leaves a very visible trace as it trails down the sand dunes from the settlement, and it is collected in the village spring which has turned in to a nasty dark color. Passing by the land was families on picnics and children playing, sheep herders and donkeys. An old man sat contemplating by the pool collecting the water from the spring, and there was a foul smell that the blossoming almond trees did not succeed in hiding.

 All I could think of was what a waste of land.