18th, March 2009
"I believe in sun even though it is slow to rise". This is the pure reflection of the thinking of every Palestinian every single day. Usually I do not think about it because I know that when I wake up the sun will be there. I could have never imagined people need to think or even dream about the sun, until I had an unforgettable trip to the West Bank.
The days I spent there made me feel like a movie star. Not a romantic movie that us- girls love to watch, but of a horror movie, that gives you a shiver even when it is over. One of those movies that you are scared to think about, but at the same time you cannot forget it and you want to tell everyone about it. So was my trip to Occupied Palestinian Territories in February 2009, a part of it I would love to share with you.
As one of the participants of the Olive Tree Campaign program, I went to plant olive trees with other international participants who gathered from different parts of the world and helped the local farmers. People who are the heroes of this movie. Heroes because they live under constant threat of the Israeli Military Forces to have their land expropriated due to settlement expansions or what they like to call "security reasons".
We started on a very sunny day and everyone was really excited. The hard work seemed only fun until some clouds started gathering. Darkness is always unpleasant, especially when it is created with people and I say people, cause these clouds were the soldiers; all armed and with big military cars. These were the representatives of the Israeli Military Forces, who ensure security in the Palestinian territories. Which means that they make sure your life becomes a real nightmare if you are a Palestinian living in any part of the West Bank. And I mean it, when I say a nightmare. As I had never seen any seven year old boy who has to go through a metal detector and be checked by a soldier with a gun just to be able to go to school every single day. I had never seen any grown up man being forced to wake up at three o’clock in the morning, because he has to wait for hours in a checkpoint, waiting for a 20 year old soldier to give him permission for him to be able to go to work in East Jerusalem. I never had any kind of obstacle to go to the university, while here the students are tortured physically and psychologically more or less the same ways described above just because they want to study like me and you.
I hardly find proper words to express what I felt these days. I felt very welcomed by the local people, meaning Palestinians, very warm and hospitable people, nice to talk to and to admire their braveness and love for their land. On the other hand I met some Israelis who did not impress me at all. And these are young fellows working in the most international part of the country-the airport. Why do they think that being rude to others will make them love the country and think that it would be exciting to be back? This question as many others remains unclear to me. Well to be honest, I would not like to go back any time soon. They need to wake up and see what their state is doing and in a way they are a part of this injustice that rules over this part of the world. It is hard to imagine how people treat human beings as a subject of ridicule.
I realized how brave the Palestinians are to live in their homes and land, being isolated and occupied by the wall, which I believe can disappear if each of us takes a part of it away; they are surrounded by hatred which could be smoothed if each of us tried to help them to understand each other.
The movie is over for me but it is still there for those who live in there. Those, who are to play their severe roles, even though they did not choose to have them. May be I lack words to describe what I experienced, but I certainly do not lack the courage to tell you to try to have that piece of reality, to go there and see it yourself. I wish we were not so loudly silent about the terrible things that we witness, and then we would have a peaceful world. I believe in the voice of justice even though it is not heard because of the gun shots.
