Jan. 7-13: Harun’s Family Returns Home to Rakeez; and Other Stories of Resilience

This week’s visits were to friends in north-central Massafer Yatta. A larger map of Massafer Yatta can be found here. To see the broader surroundings, go to B’Tselem’s interactive map and zoom towards the very south of the West Bank.

At the beginning of the Gaza war the family members of the late Harun – a young man shot in the neck by a soldier on 1.1.2021 while trying to stop soldiers from robbing his family’s generator and who passed away almost a year ago after two years of suffering – left their home in Rakeez and moved to the regional urban center of Yatta. They did so because, as we and others have been documenting online, relentless settlers with the full backing of Israel’s government, judiciary and military have been exploiting the terrible massacres of October 7th as a pretext to accelerate the multi-pronged ethnic cleansing of West Bank Palestinians, with particular focus on Massafer Yatta. These settlers and in effect the entire state apparatus, have declared war in a place where there is not even an enemy.

This is why Harun’s family escaped to Yatta. But last week they returned to Rakeez! They missed home; Yatta did not grow on them. Their sheep, too, wished to return to their pastures which have now greened after the fall rains. They know that the aggressive behavior of Occupation forces, which during the war have become a military-settler amalgam, has only escalated – and yet they have returned. This way, they can at least start restoring the vegetable patch, the sheep will graze on some grass and provide milk. There will be some food somehow.

But the area’s settlers, who are now the official regional military “emergency squad” with uniforms and military weapons, keep trying to prevent local farmers from tilling their own lands and grazing their own herds, and threaten the farmers’ lives continuously. The Israeli public and the world have turned a blind eye on the injustices committed here for years, and Harun’s family had already paid a dear price. In 2021 as now, there is no war in Massafer Yatta. [only injustice]

We visited the family last week, and for us too it felt like a homecoming. During our visit R. was with the sheep together with his 7-year-old daughter D. While we enjoy the visit (we have not seen the family since the war started), we were told that an armed settler appeared in the family fields. We did not go there in order to avoid providing a pretext (Occupation forces dislike “leftists” as they call us). R. returned with the sheep, who remained hungry that day.

We then visited S. and his family, also in Rakeez. They have not left their home, but during the war they have been suffering from ongoing encroachment on their lands, and intrusion into their living spaces. We have witnessed this before. The few residents of Rakeez who still live at home and till their lands go to bed in fear, wake up in fear every morning, go about their entire daily routine in fear – and when we come and visit, they tell us that things will surely get better soon. Indeed, they are such “a dangerous enemy” [that is, an enemy” according to the dominant media-political-military narrative in Israel, a narrative attempting to justify the injustice by demonizing all Palestinians everywhere].

We continued down the road to A-Tuwani, where we visited Zakaria again. As we wrote last week, Zakaria was shot in October by a settler and spent three months in a hospital in Hebron/Al-Khalil. In another three months Zakaria will undergo his 12th surgery, this time in an effort to restore his digestive system. Until then, he needs more than 100 sterile treatment kits, available only in hospitals. The Al-Khalil hospital discharged him with only three kits. A wonderful doctor from Israel’s Sheba hospital (near Tel-Aviv) has helped us yet again, providing more kits. There are still good people one can find along the way, and they help provide light especially in such dark times.

Over the weekend we visited M.’s family from Umm Barid. That’s the family whose home and entire belongings were destroyed by settlers in October-November in repeated attacks. They still persist and persevere with restoration attempts. They live in a small house donated by a neighbor in nearby Sha’ab al-Butum. They too were mentioned in last week’s report, with the picture of a dove’s first flight we had brought them. Settlers from the nearby outpost are still strolling around the home and greenhouses which are undergoing gradual restoration, and around the fields which have been sowed.

We visited the family in their temporary Sha’ab al-Butum home. No one knows what tomorrow may bring, but they are full of faith. “After all, I have now coordinated with the military [for protection]” says M. with shining eyes. Meanwhile we brought them some coloring books, designed both for children and adults. Even before I start explaining that Mandala coloring is a type of meditation, M.’s eldest son S. who is father to the four young children running around as we spoke, told me: “This is truly like a doctor for the soul, please bring me one as well next time.”

I smiled to myself and recalled the well-known Zen parable, here is one of its many versions:

A man walks along the road and suddenly notices a tiger chasing him. He runs as fast as he can and jumps to hang on a tree trunk by the roadside in order to escape the tiger. As he tries to catch his breath, he notices that the trunk in fact hangs precariously above a deep ravine, at the bottom of which growls another tiger. While he tries to improve his grip on the tree trunk, the man notices two giant rats gnawing away at the base of the trunk.

So: a tiger behind, a tiger below, and two rats gnawing away at his last chances of survival. In that very moment, the man notices a grape vine growing from the side of the cliff near him, bearing fruit to a bunch of grapes. As he maintains his grip in one hand, the man reaches out his other hand and picks the bunch. He eats the grapes and says to himself, “How delicious!!!“

Erella on behalf of the Villages Group [translated by Assaf Oron]

Week of Dec. 24-30: Resilience in the Face of a Morally Corrupt Military Rule

Most events in this weekly update took place in north-central Massafer Yatta. A larger map of Massafer Yatta can be found here. To see the broader surroundings, go to B’Tselem’s interactive map and zoom towards the very south of the West Bank.

Dear friends,

The days go by, and writing becomes ever more difficult, directly tied to the growing difficulty of containing reality around us in all levels and directions. It is an ever-growing difficulty to contain human ignorance and its consequences, and to keep choosing to be a true healer (I borrow this expression from Albert Camus, who – in his novel The Plague – divides humans into four groups: murderers, victims, innocent murderers, and true healers). It is so difficult to witness the evil deeds that gradually multiply, while our ability to help continues to diminish.

Tulin and Sulin are twin 4-month-old baby-girls. They live in the Palestinian village of al-Mufaqara and we have known their father since he was a little child. Tulin was born with problems in her respiratory system. Doctors had to open her neck (the professional term is tracheostomy) in order to ease her breathing and remove the accumulating phlegm. She spent two and a half months at a Hebron hospital. Since she came home, we have provided her with the catheters that remove the phlegm. Her family could not obtain them for lack of access (the village is blocked and mobility difficult) as well as economically (1,000 NIS monthly cost). These catheters are life-saving, for without them Tulin would suffocate. We buy them in Israel and bring them to al-Mufaqara.

Last Wednesday, December 27^th, we delivered catheters for Tulin and sat for a while with her parents. Like most Massafer Yatta men, Tulin’s dad cannot get to his workplace in Israel since war broke out. With us sat the grandparents and aunts and uncles as well, young and old. They were glad to share tea with us and to praise their grandchildren.

Suddenly, with the speed of those skilled in such instant shifts from relaxation to emergency response, they all rose at once and ran up the hill to the edge of the range, several meters from their home. While trying to keep up with them and to comprehend this abrupt transition, I saw settler ATVs and mini tractors on the opposite range, their passengers descending on foot to the wadi below us. As we watched, a police car as well as a military vehicle arrived too. The children and the adults were on edge, bracing themselves for every possible scenario. As we stood on the very tip of the range, we could see that in the wadi, all its fields Palestinian-owned, one landowner dared to plow his olive grove. A small grove with ten olive trees. The neighboring settlers could not tolerate this. The owner called the police [and of course the police and military showed up right away]. Tulin’s family breathed freely. This time it was not about their private area.

Before I had time to process this experience, I had a call from Y., in another village. His village was invaded in the morning – as it is daily – by two settlers with an ATV who photographed the villagers and their children up close. Shortly afterwards, five settlers in uniforms arrived in a pickup truck. From the opposite direction came five ‘normal’ soldiers on foot. It remained unclear who had summoned whom. It was only obvious that the former were rude and violent, while the ‘normal’ soldiers were a bit gentler though they did not prevent a thing. Two young villagers were beaten up, shackled, blindfolded and taken by the pickup truck to an unknown destination. One of the villagers was taken off the vehicle and left somewhere, and the other was brought in the evening to the police station, all bruised, on (completely made-up) charges that he had hit a soldier. However, no matter how ridiculous the charges, as soon as settlers lodge a complaint, it enters official “legal” proceedings [of course the entire thing is the very opposite of proper law and order], and we cannot do a thing.  Lawyers, too, cannot help much in such cases. The settlers know that this is yet another form of harassment and torture, one of their favorite tracks for “silent” ethnic cleansing.

With these two experiences we arrived in Umm Barid. In previous reports I wrote about the family who lives there – two parents, four sons ages 20-30, four daughters-in-law, two grandchildren and a 13-year-old daughter. They all lived in a compound they had built on their own land, and developed a marvelous little farm. All this was cruelly destroyed in October-November by settlers who have squatted nearby, and who think that the land belongs to them.

Early last week the family returned home to rebuild it. The father says he has reached an agreement with the deceptively-named “Civil Administration” and the police, that they will guarantee his safety. Such a story we have never encountered before [considering the context – as exemplified by the two other episodes in this report – whereby the military (which runs the deceptively-named “Civil Administration”) and the police always do the settlers’ bidding, rarely stop settlers from committing crimes against locals, and are increasingly indistinguishable from the settlers].

Time will tell. Anyway, the determination, perseverance, trust and heart-warming smile of the father whom we met plowing his field with his donkey, this unbearable lightness of being, could only be practiced by those who know that they belong to the land.

Erella, on behalf of the Villages Group

Dec. 24: Between Maghayir al-‘Abeed and New Zealand

Maghayir al-‘Abeed is in east-central Massafer Yatta. A larger map of Massafer Yatta can be found here. To see the broader surroundings, go to B’Tselem’s interactive map and zoom towards the very south of the West Bank.

Maghayir al-‘Abeed  might be the most beautiful locality in Massafer Yatta. Once, a long time ago, it used to be a sizable community in Massafer Yatta terms: there were 7-8 families living here. Under the pressure of Israel’s Occupation regime, the families left one by one, with only one or two families remaining there now (depending how you count them) – Sh. And his wife, sons and daughters living in the bottom cave, and Sh.’s mother living in the upper cave with her unmarried daughter, N.

Because of the site’s isolation and its few inhabitants, Maghayir al-‘Abeed  has become an easy target for settlers from Havat Ma’on and its offshoots. In recent months, even prior to the present war and all the more after it broke out, they have been making considerable efforts to force Sh.’s family to leave. Among other things, the settlers have taken over much of the family’s land and its water holes, devastated its olive grove, killed several sheep, entered the caves to conduct ‘searches’, beaten up Sh. And his sons, and terrorized the family with their threats and wild night rides near the caves. In short, their usual repertoire, concentrating all of it on this one small family, determinedly holding on to its land.

The mentioned blows have been augmented by another – for about a month and a half a disease has afflicted Sh.’s flock, causing the death of the older sheep, those who had already given at least one birth. We – helpless in our attempts to prevent settler terrorism – have been trying to help Sh. cope with the disease. We connected Sh. with an Israeli veterinarian who is our friend and who has visited the south Mt. Hebron communities with us in the past. After speaking on the phone with Sh. and seeing several photos, our vet friend managed to diagnose the disease. Unfortunately, it is a harsh one with no current remedy. The only way to deal with it is to take blood samples from the males of the flock. These samples are to be sent to a laboratory, in order to conduct genetic diagnosis showing which of the males is more resistant to the disease. These males would lead the development of resistance in the flock through their offspring.

Equipped with test tubes provided by the Israeli vet, we arrived there on Sunday, December 24^th. Sh. made sure a Palestinian vet from Yatta would be there to help with the tests. Thus, not much longer after our arrival, the Palestinian vet arrived with two helpers. Sh.’s son led all three to the family’s sheep pen. They caught the males one by one and took samples of their blood. At the same time, they marked the males with numbers on their fleece and on one horn, so that after the lab test, they could identify which male carries that hoped-for genetic material resistant to the disease.

In two days, the samples will be sent by the firm for which the Israeli vet works, to one of the state-of-the-art labs in New Zealand, world capital of sheep husbandry.

In the noise and destruction of this terrible war, we managed to create a Palestinian-Israeli-international ad hoc cooperation, aiming to rescue the rest of Sh.’s flock from the virus that has afflicted it, beyond settler harassment. It is a small but precious cooperation that connects two ends of the sheep world – beautiful and dry Maghayir al-‘Abeed and lush, green New Zealand.

Ehud, on behalf of the Villages Group

Dec. 11-15: Local Organizer Gets Tuba Kids to School around Settler Blockade, and Other Updates

Tuba is in east-central Massafer Yatta. A-Tuwani and its school are to its northwest, near the main road; and Khalet a-Dabe’ to its southwest, near the bottom of this map inset. A larger map of Massafer Yatta can be found here. To see the broader surroundings, go to B’Tselem’s interactive map and zoom towards the very south of the West Bank.

Dear friends,

I did not write this week. Ya’ir wrote about Khalat A-Dab a’, and that is already enough for a whole month… But naturally that is not how this works. Things keep happening on the ground the whole time. Past continues into present that continues into what in all probability appears to be tomorrow.  

• On Monday, December 11, 2023, A. went forth from Emneizal (in the far southwest of Massafer Yatta) to plow his own land with his donkey and plow. Uniformed, armed settlers forced him out of his field, and with blows and threats forced him to walk by his donkey to the checkpoint nearest the village (about 2.5 kilometers). There they robbed him of his plow ,and after some hours left him.
• That day, in the same village, S.’s tractor was taken.
• Two days later, settlers punctured the two water tanks belonging to I. of Wadi Jeh’eish (1km north of Emneizal).
• That very same day, settlers from around Avigail finally finished off the remains of M.’s car in Umm Barid, which they had already vandalized about a month ago, when they destroyed his home and field three times over. Today’s destruction was done while we were visiting the family at its temporary residence in the neighboring village of Sha’ab Al Butum.
• On Tuesday we visited Tuba, sitting in the beautiful cave of U. and his family. Even long before the current war, Tuba farmers suffered harassment from their neighbors of Havat Ma’on. Now during the war, this harassment has crossed all red lines. “Yesterday, as I began to plow my field next to my home”, U. says, “colonists came and told me I couldn’t plow my field now because there’s a war going on.” With his touching innocence, he tells us: “I didn’t understand what one thing had to do with the other, but there was no one to talk to. They were armed and threatening, and they entered my house as if it were theirs. They also humiliate us. They said to my nephew: ‘You will plow and sow, and our sheep will graze in your field.’ That’s what they said, and that’s what they do. They bring their flocks to our fields and we have nothing left for our own flocks.” He speaks with the deep pain of one who is desperate, but has no intention of giving up his life there. This is such a destructive combination, I think, and I have no solace to offer. I can only contain the pain, frustration and desperation, and promise to distribute this far and wide, and continue coming to visit.

We then visited another family in this small village. A large family, most of whose children and grandchildren go to school. There we heard a more hopeful update for a change:

Tuba children attend school at a-Tuwani, a larger village about a 15-minute walk away. Ever since Havat Ma’on settled between Tuba and a-Tuwani in 1997, the children could no longer take the shorter route because of settler violence, and must take a roundabout route, two hours there and two hours back. In 2004, after great efforts by human rights and peace organizations active on the ground, government echelons decided that the children would be accompanied by an army jeep with soldiers. For 19 years, Tuba children – some of them already parents of the present children – had taken the shorter route accompanied by the Israeli army.

As soon as war broke out, this has stopped, but so have studies at the school. Ten days ago school finally resumed, but the soldiers have yet to return. The children from A-Tuwani go to school, but the children from Tuba and neighboring Mughayir al-Abeed cannot get there. All routes are dangerous. They are all threatened by the vandals, who now dress themselves up in uniform as if they were soldiers. The educational gap keeps growing. For two months now the children have studied online, while exposed to the frequent violent settler attacks on their villages. Now, when they can finally resume their frontal studies at school – a basic right to which any child is entitled – the children of Tuba and Maghayir al-Abid are denied it.

As soon as we parked the car, I already saw 14-year-old S. running to me with her priceless smile. She was followed by the rest of the family’s children, all happy as can be. “We were in school today!”, S. answers the question I didn’t even have time to ask. The light in her eyes drove away at once all the suffering, the humiliation, beatings and frustrations, reducing the desperation and empowering even the parents and grandparents who gathered there.

“How did you get there?” I asked, after we hugged excitedly. “A. took us in a car” the chorus answered. A. from Tuba finished this school seven years ago, graduated University and came back to the village to become a peace activist. He wouldn’t accept Tuba children not studying. So, he saw to it that they got to school. He crowded them into his car which has four seats, and drove them from Tuba to the main road. Three kilometers of a potholed track which are difficult even under normal circumstances. Whoever never saw this track winding from the village to the road, could hardly grasp such difficulty.

From the asphalt road it is still another nine kilometers to a-Tuwani. A. organized the pickup from there onwards, in two other human rights activists’ cars, to bring them to school. It’s an expensive solution (fuel and other car costs) and its coordination is complicated and never a sure thing. It all depends on what happens on the ground on a given day, to say nothing of too many children in a car meant for four (plus the driver) on the harsh route from Tuba to the main road. A. has been trying to make contact with the DCO (official coordination office between the IDF and the Palestinian Authority) in order to bring back the army’s accompaniment. In the meantime, no results. So many obstacles on the way to education…

Even these obstacles are softened by the children’s joy. I was privileged to witness it.

Erella, on behalf of the Village Group [translated by Tal Haran and Assaf Oron]

Dec. 4: Settler Violence Continues in Susiya, and a Life Lesson from Young I.

 A larger map of Massafer Yatta can be found here. To see the broader surroundings, go to B’Tselem’s interactive map and zoom towards the very south of the West Bank.

Dear friends,

For several days I couldn’t manage to share with you even a bit of my experiences in Massafer Yatta. The roar of bombing and shelling on Gaza, and of missiles launched from Gaza to Israel, all so loud as to feel they are inside my home, have been draining my strength. [Erella’s home is in Kibbutz Shoval 25km from Gaza.]

On Monday, December 4^th, we visited an old friend in Susiya. His home is rather distant from the main area of the village, and outside the siege that has been forced upon it since war broke out. Somehow our 4X4 made its way on a roadless road, and brought us to A.’s home. No cannons, no missiles. No blows, no blood. Only a half-plowed field in the beautiful valley below us.

“Wow, you have started plowing!” I merrily said to A., grasping at the remnants of my innocence. “No, I stopped plowing” he answered, with a smile that could not hide his pain.  “Settlers arrived and drove me out of my own field, by threatening to kill me.”

On my left sat his old mother, nodding her weary head. She too smiled this kind of helpless, depressed smile. The half-plowed field, its plowed half etched violently with settler ATV tire marks, etched itself in my heart which had been wrong to beat with joy a moment earlier. I looked at the old mother, and at A. who must feed his children, and wondered what keeps them going.

Two days later I asked young I. from another village, what keeps him going after soldiers kidnapped him from his home, beat him up all night and let him go in the morning. “All night I only thought about how I don’t want to be like them”, he said.

In silence, I thank these people who don’t even realize what great teachers they are.

Erella, on behalf of the Villages Group [translated by Tal Haran and Assaf Oron]

Nov. 29: Surprise Reunion with an Old Friend

On Wednesday, VG activists again visited north-northwestern Massafer Yatta. A larger map of Massafer Yatta can be found here. To see the broader surroundings, go to B’Tselem’s interactive map and zoom towards the very south of the West Bank.

Greetings, friends –

On Wednesday, leaving for Massafer Yatta, we notified M. [the Umm Barid farmer currently sheltering in Sha’ab El-Butum] that we would reach them around noon. His wife L. called us right away and pressured us to arrive in the morning. I asked whether anything had happened, and she replied that nothing had happened, but we should come in the morning. In our rush to bring a life-saving medical device for a baby girl with respiratory trouble in another village, we could not do as she asked. So, I repeated that we could only come around 2 p.m. and made sure to explain the reason. Personally, I wondered why it was so important for M.’s family that we do come in the morning.

At 1 p.m., we finally we arrived at M.’s temporary residence (received from a generous neighbor after settlers had wrecked L. and M.’s own home in nearby Umm Barid). I got out of our car and noticed that the entire family was standing by the door. They seemed to be hiding a secret, and the closer I got the more smiles I saw. Still thinking this performance seemed a bit odd, I then noticed an elderly man, tall, fancily dressed in a white kufiya and his face glowing. “Abu Hani!” I called, excitement flooding me. If Arab culture enabled public embraces between unrelated men and women, that is what would have happened upon this surprising encounter. Ya’ir, present as well, was excited too, and organized a shared photo for posterity.

We entered the room. The entire family surrounded us, and L. said: “He has been waiting for you here since morning”. Finally I realized the meaning of her pressuring me to arrive early. I asked: “Why didn’t you tell me?” “We wanted it to be a surprise” she answered, her shining eyes looking at me mischievously. Everyone was laughing, while I was on the verge of tears.

I had not met Abu Hani since settlers wrecked his home on October 15, 2023. His home was situated on his fields, between Umm Barid and Mufaqara, and very close to the Israeli settlement of Avigail. I knew from Abu Hani’s neighbor and good friend M., that he was staying with his son in Yatta. Slowly, Abu Hani revealed what he had undergone on that bitter day when armed settlers beat him up and humiliated him, and then forced him at gunpoint to face and watch his home being destroyed. “They left not a single stone intact”, he says. And since then there has been no justice, no law, no accountability.

I asked him what he was doing in Yatta. “Yatta is a crowded, noisy town. I have no earth to love there, nor the field’s morning fragrances”, he answered. There was no sense of misery or self-pity in anything he said. He did not complain while recounting what had happened. Mainly he was amazed at all the evil that people could produce. This man has an awe-inspiring presence, filled with integrity.

So, we sat and listened. L. and M., too, recounted their own destruction stories. We then reminisced about our visits at Abu Hani’s home before it was wrecked. M. was the mediator and interpreter, since Abu Hani is hard of hearing. We remembered the tasty grapes Abu Hani used to grow in his small garden, and talked about how wonderful life can be. We remembered that in our last visit, Abu Hani said we should bring our spouses next time and celebrate a little.

The atmosphere in the room was pleasant, relaxed, as though the lives of people there have not been turned upside down, not to say destroyed. I took advantage of a moment’s pause in their stories, and asked: “What keeps you from being angry, hateful, revengeful?” “What can we do?” M. answered. His mental space does not even recognize the possibility of hating or taking revenge. Abu Hani said: “The bad ones will be punished by Allah. I am not Allah. He will see to it that they get what they deserve. And He will take care of the good ones, too.”

We brought Abu Hani to the main road. For long moments we waved goodbye and blew kisses in the air until he disappeared. His son would pick him up from there. That morning, this man, with his walking cane, made his way to the village on foot only in order to meet and surprise us. When Allah rewards the good and righteous, He will certainly reward Abu Hani.

Erella, on behalf of the Villages Group [translated by Tal Haran and Assaf Oron]

Summer Camp in Umm al-Kheir

Officers of the civil administration of the occupation army came recently to Umm al-Kheir cluster near the fence of Carmel settlement. The officers said to the locals that they intend to to demolish in the short run, most of the structures in the place that were built in replacement for the structures demolished last October (check: https://villagesgroup.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/house-demolitions-in-umm-al-kheir/). In the meanwhile in the same cluster, Na’ama Hadhalin, a  teacher and local activist, organized, with the help of her husband Eid and high school students,a summer camp for the children who experience, since they were born, the anxiety and uncertainty of those whose houses are been demolished again and again. The summer camp was sponsored by the British Shalom-Salaam Trust (http://www.bsst.org.uk/). Eyal Shani of the Villages Group held Tai Chi workshop for the children in the summer camp. Below is a report by Na’ama – the summer camp organizer and some photos she attached from the summer camp’s activities.

Ehud, on behalf of the Villages Group

Letter from Na’ama Hadhalin, in charge of the Umm al-Kheir summer children’s camp

Hello,

To begin, on behalf of myself and the villagers of Umm al-Kheir, I would like to thank all of you who helped this summer camp in which our children spent an enjoyable and delicious time this season.

We began our activity on the third day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, July 19, 2015. On the first day, the camp’s outfit were distributed and the children were divided into three groups led by the three volunteers of the camp, according to their age groups – from 4- to 15-years old, aimed at their respective activities. We began by preparing holiday greeting cards. Activities were geared for fun, learning and the arts. We also enjoyed some drama, puppet theater, singing, drawing, puzzles and more, alongside talks about morality values, tolerance, honesty and cleanliness.

On July 27, a trip was held in which the villagers of Umm al-Kheir participated. It was a special occasion in which we- including the adults among us – breathed some enjoyable free air and holiday spirit. On July 28 the camp’s ending ceremony was held with the parents from Umm al-Kheir attending as well as a group of young people from Sweden. School bags were handed out as well as writing materials for the children who had taken part in the camp.

Finally, I would like to express heartfelt thanks on behalf of myself – Na’ama, the camp volunteers and all of Umm al-Kheir’s inhabitants and children. Thank you for having enabled us to give our children a chance to spend some very enjoyable time during an especially long summer vacation. Our children eagerly waited for this vacation in order to be able to participate in the summer camp that you supported and helped bring about.

Thank you for your humaneness and love, and your solidarity with us.

Yours sincerely, Na’ama Hadhalin

Appeal on behalf of Salem’s Music Centre

Dear friends and supporters,

The opening of the new school year in September also marked the reopening of Salem’s Music Centre for children. During the last year or so, in which it has been closed, the Centre reorganized, attained an official recognition from the Palestinian Authority and moved from the local council building to a house it rented in the village. The Centre’s devoted visionary and initiator Jubier Shtayeh and the gifted teacher Amid Jamus – remain the core staff. Acknowledging these improvements and the attainment of a better organizational footing, the Villages Group reaffirms its commitment to this important institution (see attached photos from our recent visit in the centre).

Music education is increasingly prevalent in the urban sector of the Palestinian society. Unfortunately, this much needed form of education is still absent, to a large extent, in Palestinian rural communities. Salem’s Music Center is a rare and unique exception to this rule. It was conceived and is nurtured not through the efforts of well-established and well-known NGOs or patrons, but thanks to devoted grassroots field work of Palestinians and Israelis, as well as donations from individuals worldwide.

We are appealing to you to join us in this endeavor of peace and empowerment and to enable a new generation of children in the village of Salem to obtain the gift of music education.

Please watch the following short video from 2009 to learn more about our motivation for initiating and sustaining the music centre in Salem. The need to keep Salem’s Music Centre going is as relevant and pressing today as it was five years ago:

http://vimeo.com/4970392

Here is the Centre’s annual budget (click to enlarge):

You can now donate to the project by using your credit card on PayPal.

Simply press the button to make a donation:

 

 

 

Erella and Ehud on behalf of the Villages Group

villagesgroup1@gmail.com

Summer Camps in South-Hebron/Massafer-Yatta, Against the Background of Military Oppression

A few days after the three youngsters from Umm al-Kheir returned from their detention (of which I told you about in my former letter, dated June 10), there started in Umm al-Kheir a summer camp for all the children of the place (3 to 13 years old). The summer camp consisted of two groups (a group of the small children and a group of the older children). The guides were four women from Umm al-Kheir itself: Na’ama, Sara, Ikhlas and Taghrid. We went to visit on Thursday, as we always do. It was the fifth day of the summer camp. Looking at the sights and hearing the voices – our hearts expanded . A small summer camp in the middle of the desert, in two tents that serve as a local community center (established with such effort and constantly under the threat of demolition). Yet the children are happy and the guides’ faces are beaming.

We stood there for a good two hours – Ophir, Limor and me – watching. Fun games seasoned occasionally by music activity (a delightful implementation of what the guides learned in a music workshop held in a nearby village in April and facilitated by Fabianne), relaxing breathing exercises, a tasty falafel in the break and plenty of joy.

At the end of the camp there was a trip. “Without a trip, the summer camp is not really worth it,” say the children, for whom going out of the constricting boundaries of the village was a formative event.

At the end of the ninth day of the camp the children return to their homes and meet there the security guard of Karmel (the nearby settlement), escorted by the army, the police and Civil Administration officials. For what went on there, see here.

We were glad we could at least enable the kids a summer camp (with the generous support of our friends from England).

A few days later started the summer camp in Susiya.

On our weekly visit we arrived on a cheerful camp day, guided by Yihya and Fatme, who were assisted by three local girls. One of the activities was a play the children prepared.
A local Palestinian family sits down to have its meal, when a young man bursts into their home and asks for refuge from soldiers who are chasing him and trying to catch him. The family quickly hides the young man but a collaborating neighbor informs on him and the soldiers enter the house, grab the young man, bit him, tie him and take him away with them.

A piece of reality. The children bring it into the play with all its complexity. The topic was chosen by them, without any guidance from the grownups. In a completely natural, though maybe not really conscious way, the children process their traumas, and the summer camp is a space that enables that.

The very next day, Civil Administration officers, accompanied by soldiers, arrived and delivered stop-work orders (precursors of demolition orders) to almost every family in Susiya (Limor wrote about it in her last report).

Since then events succeeded one another (as always, and a bit more). My writing pace falls behind the pace of the events we would like to share with you. I started writing this report at the end of June, when the summer camps ended. And here we are, past the middle of August, and every passing day increases the important “debt” – to tell their stories.

Sometimes the two camps – the going-to-the-field one and the writing-about-the-field one – clash within me. Usually the first one wins …

Many thanks to each and every one who contributed, in funds or spirit, so these summer camps could have taken place, and successfully so.

We are thankful and our friends are thankful, through us. And the children? The photos will tell their happiness …

Yours, with much love,

Erella (in the name of the members of the Villages Group)

A New Bio-Gas System in Palestinian Susya

in May 2010, the Bio-Gas project was launched to install systems for producing gas from sheep and goat dung for the domestic energy needs of the Palestinian hamlet of Susya (Susiya). This project was the initiative of Yair Teller, together with The Villages Group and Arava Institute. The first sytem was installed in the dwelling compound of the Hajj Ismail Nawaj’ah family, in Susya. Subsequently, two similar systems were installed in the dwelling compounds of another two families of the same clan in Susya. These are small systems of 4 cubic meters, each providing one family’s cooking needs.

In the two years since, Yair Teller continued developing his expertise in bio-gas. He joined three partners – Erez Lantzer, Oshik Efrati and Danny Dunayevsky, who together formed the Ecogas company. Ecogas and the Arava Institute are now pursuing the development of additional bio-gas systems in Palestinian Susya. Currently, together with the villagers, they are working to install a new 16-cubic-meter system in the area of the Hasan Shinran family in the western part of Susya.

The eastern part of Susya is inhabited mostly by families of the Nawaj’ah clan and is in Area C (in which permission for construction has been temporarily left in the hands of the Israeli Occupation authorities according to the Oslo Accords).

Last month, the Occupation regime’s “civil administration” issued demolition orders for most of the dwellings in that part of Susya. The residents, with the help of the Village Group and many other Paletinian, Israeli and international partners, are fighting these unjust orders in court and in the public sphere.

The western part, inhabited mostly by families of the Shinran clan is in Area B (where construction is authorized mostly by the Palestinian Authority). The new bio-gas system is constructed in this part of Susya, and is relatively safe. Unlike its predecessors, this system is meant to supply not only gas for family needs, but also for winter heating of the local schoolhouse – is also under threat of demolition by the “civil administration”, who claims it lies about 150 meters inside Area C.

According to plan, as soon as the bio-gas system itself will be completed, the second phase will begin, whereby two green-houses will be created at this site: one for educational purposes, in the area of the school. The schoolchildren of Susya will cultivate this greehouse under guidance from Arava Institute instructors. Thus they will learn to apply ecological principles in farming. The second green-house will be built in the Hasan Shinran compound, and to grow vegetables for both local consumption and marketing. Crops of both planned green-houses will be fertilized by compost produced from the surplus production processes of the gas system.

In conclusion, to the best of our understanding, when the heart listens, other hearts are heard, and fertile cooperation ensues. Even if the demolishing hand carries out its threats, the hearts will go on beating. Hearts are not to be demolished.

Ehud and Erella, on behalf of The Villages Group