The Palestine 2.0 Delegation explores current realities for Palestinians, including the repression of strategic organizing, the separation and segregation of the Palestinian population, and creative ways communities are continuing to resist.
Follow the delegation to read eyewitness accounts from the grounds, reports from meetings, and experiences with Palestinians and Israelis.
Exclusive content will also be available on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook under the hashtags #eyewitness67.
This delegation is Eyewitness Palestine's 67th, successfully exposing more than 1,300 people to the daily realities facing Palestinians in their quest for justice.
We believe in the power of eyewitness experience and transformation. Given the opportunity to speak directly with Palestinians and Israelis, delegates return to the United States better informed, more energized, and with a deeper understanding of the possibilities for true justice in the Middle East.
Battir’s footpath runs by an elegant 2000-year old Roman stone pool, fed by an aqueduct from one of three village water springs not yet blocked by Israel. The hillside terraces stepping down to the tracks are lush with gardens. But across the tracks, the villagers can get spring water only from an old, rusting pipe they aren’t allowed to repair, limiting their agricultural success.
Read MoreWe spent 4 days in Al-Khalil (Hebron). Spending time at the Youth Against Settlement Center. It’s a scrappy little building with a few rooms and hardly any furniture. Since it is small, we spend most of our time outdoors on the patio (“patio” makes it sound fancier than it is). Like nearly every place in Palestine, a land of hills, it has a great view, but I digress.
Read MoreThe demonstration, a march into the militarized part of Hebron where expanded Israeli settlements are expected, was just a part of the resistance activities. In the same area last night, children potted up plants to represent hope being rooted in the soil and girls danced the traditional dabke, showing that the spirit of Palestinians will not be broken but be carried on by the next generation in their struggle for freedom and justice.
Read MoreThroughout the West Bank Hebron has the reputation of having the most in-your-face examples of Israeli settlers attempting to stamp Palestinian society into the ground. We spent four days here, seeing examples of settler brutality and Palestinian resistance. It was simultaneously heart wrenching and inspiring.
Read MoreWhen I visited Hebron with Eyewitness Palestine in October 2016 the oppression of Palestinians was bad. In tours yesterday and today I saw that things are far worse. There are more Israeli settlers, continued efforts to evict Palestinians from their homes and worst of all increased attacks on Palestinians in an effort to drive them out of this ancient city.
Read MoreOur bus dropped us and our luggage off at the foot of the hill they are forbidden to pave up to their Center. YAS guys dashed around to help haul our bags the half-mile over rutted paths made muddy from the previous day’s rains. Their bare-bones concrete center is overtopped and surrounded by an Israeli-flagged settlement compound patrolled by Israeli soldiers.
Read MoreSumud is Arabic for “steadfast perseverance” and a description of the resistance we saw and heard about today from villagers from the Palestinian southern Hebron hills - from Susiya, to Al-Twani, to Saroura. The courage to live out - “To exist is to resist!” - requires Sumud when the Israeli settler-colonial empire brings so many expanding layers of violence.
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