Volume [7]
No. [1]
June 2010
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Volume [7]
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No. [1]
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June 2010
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Palestine Sad
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January and February were my first two months in Palestine. Although it was cold and rainy, I spent nearly all this time on the streets of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, staying with the Gawi and Al-Kurd families. Nowhere is the racist nature of Israeli policies more apparent than in Sheikh Jarrah. Israel recognizes a unilateral right of return for Jews (only Jews) to Sheikh Jarrah, based on vague Ottoman Empire documents. Palestinian families are being forced out of their homes and onto the streets so that Jewish colonists can move in. ISM maintains a 24/7 presence on the streets of Sheikh Jarrah. Cameras ready, we sit, play, give tours and interviews, de-arrest and document alongside the Palestinian residents. I currently spend most of my weekends in the village of Al-Ma’sera near Bethlehem. Residents of Al-Ma'sera have been participating in nonviolent Popular Struggle demonstrations for the past three years, and as a result they are being raided, arrested, detained and tortured. If you’ve spent time in Palestine you will understand how some villages, people and struggles connect with you. I feel that about Al-Ma’sera. Perhaps it is because at night their village is full of more stars than I’ve ever seen. It is also nice that the Popular Committee will stay up late with us smoking hookah on the rooftop while simultaneously doing night watch for Israeli Occupation Forces entering the village.  Life Under Occupation photo: Syndney Morris |
It's difficult to find the emotions
to describe how being here makes me
feel. For this reason, I created an emotion: 'Palestine Sad'. It is a
baseline emotion and I go up or down and eventually settle in the
middle, at Palestine sad. This emotion is created by a mix of
observations, language barriers, outrage at the occupation, delicious
food that I don’t find in the United States, cultural obligations,
settler attacks, relief when tear gas and steel coated rubber bullets
do not hit me, media misrepresenting the conflict, and consuming too
many Coca Cola products for my conscience to handle. Essentially, if
one looks closely in any place or situation here, one will see the
negative effects of Israel’s ethnic cleansing, and this makes me
Palestine Sad. If you’ve spent time in Palestine you will understand how some villages, people and struggles connect with you. Even the community dinners in Sheikh Jarrah, which ISM started two months ago, are Palestine Sad. Delicious Palestinian dishes are made and shared with residents and international and Israeli activists. Community dinners have given the women of Sheikh Jarrah reason to teach me how to cook Palestinian foods, and I am very grateful. If a dinner is too successful, and by that I mean lots of people, music, children playing, or too much dessert, we know that settlers illegally occupying the Gawi home will call the police. Within minutes flashing lights arrive and games of soccer are called “illegal demonstrations” or dabke music is a “noise violation.” The evening turns into Palestine Sad. Emotions aside, I see the work that ISMers do across Palestine as supportive and meaningful. Our presence at demonstrations ensures villagers that their resistance will not go unreported. Our late night IOF raid watches show Palestinians that their struggle is shared. Our presence in courtrooms tells the Israeli judges that a racist ruling is an illegitimate ruling. Our presence across Palestine sends a clear message to the Israeli government that the world is not only watching the nonviolent Popular Struggle to end the occupation. It is participating. Sydney Morris is an ISM volunteer from the Bay Area |