After our lecture in the morning, we were ready for action. We hopped on the bus to head to Anata/Shoafat Refugee Camp (part of Jerusalem) for an afternoon of hard work.
On the way, we had to go through a checkpoint at the wall. Again, not too eventful for us. Two armed soldiers boarded the bus at the front, walked the length of it, and then exited through the backdoor.
We had seen Shoafat in the distance earlier in our trip - looking across the wall from a settlement. Residents of this camp pay taxes but don't get services like running water in return (in contrast to the nearby subsidized settlements that are well cared for). It is the only refugee camp inside Jerusalem, and has issues with crime - Israeli Police rarely enter, but Palestinian Police are not allowed to enter.
(If you're interested, Shoafat was in the media recently - one of two checkpoints in/out of the camp is being closed. This will undoubtedly limit further access to the rest of Jerusalem.)
We went to help the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) rebuild a house that has been demolished five times since 1998.
The demolition of homes
A word, first, about the demolition of houses. Often houses are demolished because they are built without building permits. However, it is almost impossible for a Palestinian to get a building permit. Rationales behind the denial of permits include land being declared for purposes of agriculture, archaeological dig sites and nature reserves. ICAHD keeps stats on these sorts of things, and they report that 94% of Palestinian building permit applications have been denied since 1993. ICAHD suggests that this is a policy decision designed to encourage Palestinians to leave the country.
ICAHD was established in 1997 by Dr. Jeff Halper, an Israeli citizen. It is a great example of Israelis, Palestinians and people from all over the world coming together to protest the occupation and to work for peace. Dr. Halper was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. ICAHD engages in advocacy and education as well direct action - physically blocking bulldozers that have come to demolish homes, and mobilizing Palestinians, Israelis and "internationals" to re-build homes that have been destroyed.
More than thirty people from around the world gathered for two weeks to re-build Beit Arabiya. We helped, as I said, for an afternoon - moving a pile of gravel down a hill - and it was the hottest I've ever been in my life. Good word. But it was a very tangible thing to be doing to assist the owners of the home. Definitely "creative discipleship."
On the way, we had to go through a checkpoint at the wall. Again, not too eventful for us. Two armed soldiers boarded the bus at the front, walked the length of it, and then exited through the backdoor.
We had seen Shoafat in the distance earlier in our trip - looking across the wall from a settlement. Residents of this camp pay taxes but don't get services like running water in return (in contrast to the nearby subsidized settlements that are well cared for). It is the only refugee camp inside Jerusalem, and has issues with crime - Israeli Police rarely enter, but Palestinian Police are not allowed to enter.
(If you're interested, Shoafat was in the media recently - one of two checkpoints in/out of the camp is being closed. This will undoubtedly limit further access to the rest of Jerusalem.)
We went to help the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) rebuild a house that has been demolished five times since 1998.
The demolition of homes
A word, first, about the demolition of houses. Often houses are demolished because they are built without building permits. However, it is almost impossible for a Palestinian to get a building permit. Rationales behind the denial of permits include land being declared for purposes of agriculture, archaeological dig sites and nature reserves. ICAHD keeps stats on these sorts of things, and they report that 94% of Palestinian building permit applications have been denied since 1993. ICAHD suggests that this is a policy decision designed to encourage Palestinians to leave the country.
Palestinians need to build - just like the rest of us, their families and cities expand naturally - but, legally, they're not allowed. So, provided they don't leave the country, they take a chance and build without a permit... and that is the rationale provided when the state of Israel demolishes structures - they are built without permits.
ICAHD reports that 27,000 homes and structures (e.g., animal pens) have been destroyed since the occupation began in 1967. These demolitions are illegal under the Geneva Conventions (fourth Convention, article 53).
Israeli Committee Against Housing Demolitions
ICAHD was established in 1997 by Dr. Jeff Halper, an Israeli citizen. It is a great example of Israelis, Palestinians and people from all over the world coming together to protest the occupation and to work for peace. Dr. Halper was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. ICAHD engages in advocacy and education as well direct action - physically blocking bulldozers that have come to demolish homes, and mobilizing Palestinians, Israelis and "internationals" to re-build homes that have been destroyed.
We helped with ICAHD's 186th building project, helping to rebuild Beit Arabiya. Beit Arabiya has been demolished five times since 1998, and ICAHD has re-built it each time. The owners of the house have applied for three building permits, costing them $15,000, and their applications have been denied each time.
More than thirty people from around the world gathered for two weeks to re-build Beit Arabiya. We helped, as I said, for an afternoon - moving a pile of gravel down a hill - and it was the hottest I've ever been in my life. Good word. But it was a very tangible thing to be doing to assist the owners of the home. Definitely "creative discipleship."
The afternoon's activities prompted some interesting discussions within our group. After all, what we were doing was illegal in the eyes of the Israeli government - we were helping to re-build something that they had determined was not allowed to be there. A little bit of civil disobedience, if you will. What should one do when she determines that the laws/policies themselves are unjust?
One more thing...
After much needed showers at our hotel, we heard from Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, a Palestinian activist, about Palestine's history of non-violent resistance. He included many things as "non-violent resistance" - picking olives when occupying powers don't want you to do that, kids going to school even when schools have been closed, crossing at checkpoints - insisting that you be able to go to work/school, or visit your families.
He shared a funny story of a non-violent resistance act in which he participated. For many years, on Palm Sunday, a group of Christians has walked, with a donkey, into Jerusalem (as someone else did, back in the day). This involves crossing a checkpoint and Palestinians must have permits to do so. This one year in particular, they did not have permits but decided to go anyway. Dr. Qumsiyeh was surprised how far they got without permits, but eventually they were stopped by soldiers. All were arrested - including the donkey! The humans were detained for two days, the donkey for two weeks... at which point it was let go because they couldn't really figure out what to do with it. Ridiculous.
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