We were there, in the Tamimi back yard, with this family I'm going to tell you about, just one day after the IDF (IOF - occupation, not defense) raided their family home and shot up the very space we inhabited. While this is a dizzying context for me, they have to live this every day. All Palestinians do.
Read MoreEnvironmental Racism. Environmental Colonialism. Eco-occupation. These diesel-fired electrical plants exhaust 150 megawatts of toxic waves to indigenous Bedouins in the Naqab region of Palestine- these are pollution-heavy and carcinogenic zones.
Read MoreWhile our meeting with Al-Qaws this evening prompted much critical engagement - with our two representatives sharing profundities what seemed like every few minutes as my hand cramped from the perpetual note-taking - the darkest idea, for me, proved to be the following…
Read MoreIsraelis are scared. Israelis are denied the truth of what they are doing. It is so hard to find the truth especially for Jews who are told we need to fear out annihilation and therefore defend ourselves. Muslims and Jews have more similarities than differences.
Read MoreIsrael wants this hilltop. It is one of the highest around. The government and the nearby Settlers have been trying to take it for decades. But the Nassar family has lived here and worked its land for 3 generations. And they have original land deeds dating back far beyond their arrival. This is their land.
Read MoreToday's focus was physicality — not one other day relied so heavily upon visuals as today in both the Naqab and Hebron. The Naqab — cancer-causing phosphorus plant as an invader; unrelenting heat; dust and desolation; lifelessness.
Read MoreWe approached the checkpoint at 1 pm in the afternoon after an afternoon of learning about apartheid policies and dictates in Khalil (Hebron). We saw the marketplaces that had been shuttered due to settlement expansion because the Israeli settlers above wanted to build a basketball court.
Read MoreWent through another checkpoint today. We pulled up to it, and they had the routine initial questions: Them: “Who is with you?” Us: “Americans.” Them: “We’re going to check.” So they boarded the bus. Machine guns, attitude, and settler colonial privilege.
Read MoreIn Haifa we see Palestinian homes, whose families were displaced in 1948, in process of reconstruction with a colonial face-lift for condos and artist lofts. Metropolitan living for hipster settlers becomes the new sexy.
Read MoreDeheisheh Refugee Camp was established the same year I was born. 1949. I could be one of its resident grandmas. It was a maze of stone. Narrow pathways and so many homes huddled together. There were also some allowances for cars to pass — not roads exactly, but they suited a need.
Read MoreWe are at the Laylac Center. We are sitting at one massive table, wooden. Packed into the room lined with bookshelves, sweat. Close, but not cramped. Comfortable. A group of multi-generational, male organizers hold a rigid line, then relax. They discuss nightly raids by the Israeli military.
Read MoreWhat would you expect to find in a refugee camp? Bloated bellies? Filth on the street? Nice white ladies in a center giving out loafs of bread with canned soup? Try children dressed in Aeropostale attire, balcony gardens and tons of laughter.
Read MoreWe survived an Israeli attack on Masjid Al Aqsa today. I was excited to attend Jummah prayers at Masjid Al Aqsa. Access to the masjid is ordinarily restricted so that everyday Palestinians cannot attend prayers, but those restrictions are lighter for Jummah prayers.
Read MoreIsraeli soldiers boarded our bus at a checkpoint today. They were wearing uniforms, carrying machine guns, and had attitude. Their stated intention was to examine us. Their actual impact was to intimidate and terrorize us.
Read MoreGive an oppressed subgroup some amount of power. Threaten them with guns. And grant them clean showers. Tell them they’re like you. Strip them of their roots. But whatever you do. Keep them beneath the surface.
Read MoreSitting with rage and grief this morning. I couldn’t really sleep last night. I went to bed but it wasn’t restful. Yesterday, we toured the village of a Lifta. All that’s really left of it is a number of buildings which look like this one. In 1947-48, the village was ethnically cleansed by Zionist invaders.
Read MoreJennie recorded this video at the culmination of the delegation's first day in Palestine/Israel. Jennie asks that you please take a breath before your respond
Read MoreThe same technology of settler environmentalism used in the United States, to displace indigenous peoples by creating national parks/reserves, has been a tool for Israel to displace Palestinians from their land.
Read MoreThese images at Lifta convey Zionist reality in a shocking and potent way. First, most obviously, the ruins are still there. They aren’t 1000 years old. It is obvious what they are. Second, the Israelis having picnics and swimming in the wells are not in denial or ignorant- they do not care.
Read MoreFor my bar-mitzvah, one hundred trees were planted in Israel in my name. Trees dot the landscape on the first part of the drive from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv-Yafo. Forests and clumps of trees are clearly visible from the highway. If you look closer, you can see some stone walls and foundations among the trees.
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