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.
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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.
We’ve been in Palestine for a week now. Every day has brought new people and experiences but at the same time, much that is not new. This is my fourth trip to Palestine, and I still find the preceding statement to hold true but reinforced with each trip. Two qualities of the Palestinian people which particularly impress me is the quality of “sumud”, meaning “stalwart” or “steadfast”.
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 MoreMorning last Thursday began with stone-faced, Israeli soldiers marching past the Peace House where we gathered for sage tea before heading to see one of Hebron's two Women's Charitable Society locations. The message on those military-trained faces: "Don't share a smile. We have no intention of sharing this land."
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 MoreI felt pride even in the protest’s moderate success. Not asserting a Palestinian presence on this important anniversary would have conceded too much to Israeli Apartheid. Although the Shuhuda market shops remained closed up and the street empty alter the protest, the activists had continued to insist on their rights and dignity in the face of overwhelming Israeli power. They — we — had been there.
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 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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