Because I have not yet had a chance to include my experiences in Palestine in this blog, I'm going to include this article I wrote about it for my university's newspaper:
I entered the Palestinian Territories on a bicycle, along with about one hundred other women from around the world. There had been over two hundred of us travelling through Syria, Lebanon and Jordan (as part of Follow the Women, a peace initiative), but all the women with passports from Arab countries were unable to enter due to government policy.
I travelled with the group for three days, experiencing with them the Wall (a.k.a. security fence) and the checkpoints for the first time. But once we reached Bethlehem I left them and joined up with a Palestinian friend of mine. His name is Mohammad. For the rest of my time in Palestine I stayed with him and his family in their village, which is just outside of Ramallah.
Mohammad took me deeper into Palestinian society and the Israeli occupation: travelling with me through Palestinian refugee camps, Israeli checkpoints and even clouds of tear gas set off by Israeli soldiers firing canisters at protesters in Bil’in, a village that has lost much land due to the construction of the wall.
On one such journey we travelled to Nablus, the city where almost every night is disturbed by gunfire.
There are plaques throughout the city depicting where martyrs have fallen. In one small square there is a large plaque commemorating the death of a family of nine: from the grandparents to an infant child. The deaths were the result of an Israeli incursion during which their home was bulldozed with them all still inside. The plaque proclaims in bold lettering that: ‘We must never forget. We must never forgive.’ This really struck me. It echoed the same sentiment found in the ANZAC phrase ‘Lest we forget’, and yet, it was greatly different. It equated forgetting with forgiveness, both being equally as unacceptable.
But then I remember another moment when I was faced with the question of forgiveness, when Mohammad asked his youngest brother what he felt about the Israeli occupation? His brother replied that the land must be cleansed of it. I was greatly saddened by his answer because I thought he meant that all Israelis must be ‘cleansed’, but then Mohammad asked him what he would do if the occupation ended? His brother answered simply that he would forgive them.
Back in Nablus, we were invited to watch some school students perform the traditional Dabke dance. Once the dance had finished, a number of adults stood up to speak. Mohammad whispered to me that they were speaking of martyrs who had been killed in fighting with Israeli soldiers. After the speeches, they presented small commemorative medallions to family members of the martyrs as the rest of the audience applauded. I was shocked by the ceremony and felt uncomfortable by, what appeared to me, a celebration of death and killing. And yet I was fascinated. I could not understand how the families of these martyrs were expected to celebrate the deaths of their loved ones. Mohammad told me that it is the establishment of a free Palestinian state that is important: a mother is proud to give up her sons for the struggle.
But that was not what I saw. I didn’t see proud mothers and families. While the other people in the room clapped and cheered, I saw that the family members of the martyrs were not smiling or pleased but in pain. Yes, they probably believe in the armed struggle for a free Palestinian state, but it seems to me that nobody can be pleased to lose a loved one, regardless of the cause.
On returning to Ramallah we met with Mohammad’s brother-in-law, who informed us that two Israeli soldiers had been shot dead on a highway outside the city. Mohammad told me that we should hurry back with his brother-in-law to spend the night at the home of his sister, who lived in the city. He said there was a risk that the Israeli army may enter the city in retaliation for the deaths. It was not the first time that it had happened.
Fortunately though, that night there was no Israeli incursion. But not long after I returned to Australia the Israeli army did enter. They removed a man from a restaurant on the opposite side of the road from where Mohammad was standing, pushed him to the ground and shot him in the head before withdrawing. Mohammad wrote to me later of the sight of the man’s body lying on the ground, blood flowing over the street. He asked me how the international community can sit back and not only allow the occupation to happen, but support it. How can they leave the Palestinian people to suffer alone? I couldn’t answer him.
When I returned to Australia I found it difficult to readjust to my life again. I kept revisiting those Palestinian streets slowly being paved over by Israeli-only roads. Sometimes still when I walk along Australian streets, I begin to run. I run to clear my head from disquieting thoughts. I run to push away the feeling of hopelessness for my friend’s country. And I run through Sydney’s suburbs because in this place, at least, I can and nobody will stop me. And that is a freedom that we all should share, yes, even Palestinians.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Changing tack
I'm going to change tack - moving away from a day-to-day diary to a general impression sort of record.
The greatest strength of FTW for me was to break down the barriers and dilute the alienation that exists between me, as a 'Westerner', and the Middle East. Now I have personal connections throughout the Middle East making it a more familiar and welcoming place. I want to go there again, want to reconnect and spend more of my life there. And so, for me, Follow the Women was an immense success. Yes, it was different to many of my expectations and sometimes I felt very uncomfortable with the set up (as expressed below) but that's all superficial. The depth of the experience, the cross-cultural learning, was something special. And so, I have to thank everyone who was involved! Especially, of course, Detta, the founder.
Syria, Lebanon and Jordan were all incredible and eye-opening, but it was when I was standing on top of Mount Nebo (where the Israelites first sited the Holy Land and Moses died), having just ridden there with the group from just outside Amman, that I remembered what had called me to this area in the first place: Palestine.
The greatest strength of FTW for me was to break down the barriers and dilute the alienation that exists between me, as a 'Westerner', and the Middle East. Now I have personal connections throughout the Middle East making it a more familiar and welcoming place. I want to go there again, want to reconnect and spend more of my life there. And so, for me, Follow the Women was an immense success. Yes, it was different to many of my expectations and sometimes I felt very uncomfortable with the set up (as expressed below) but that's all superficial. The depth of the experience, the cross-cultural learning, was something special. And so, I have to thank everyone who was involved! Especially, of course, Detta, the founder.
Syria, Lebanon and Jordan were all incredible and eye-opening, but it was when I was standing on top of Mount Nebo (where the Israelites first sited the Holy Land and Moses died), having just ridden there with the group from just outside Amman, that I remembered what had called me to this area in the first place: Palestine.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
April 10 ---- Sidon to Beirut
Everywhere we go we have a train of police and army taking us along. They use their sirens so that the other cars move out of the way. One of the women said that it makes her feel like a visiting minister or something like that. I just looked at her and said 'but we're not'. I know I've mentioned this before, but truly, I don't like it. It makes me embarrassed.. Sometimes this aspect of the ride gets me down. But then something will happen - a conversation, an unofficial ride through Beirut - and it all feels good again.
We cycled from Sidon to Beirut, it was probably a bit less than 50km, but by the end of the day I was exhausted - not from the cycling but from all the stress!! So many cyclists to watch out for, so much traffic and not-so-good roads! There was also one moment when I was far from anyone else (due to a series of unfortunate events!) and had to catch up! My word!!! Weaving in and out of the deadly city traffic I just had to take the word of traffic police and general road users when they pointed me down one road and not the other because I had no idea which direction the ride had gone in. At round abouts I just took the turn that someone, anyone, was pointing to! The funny thing was that while I was actually cycling, I was loving it! The adrenalin and just the reckless joy at cycling madly through the streets of Beirut was incredible! But once we reached our destination, all that stress and anxiety that I must have been holding at bay reached the surface! I was literally shaking!
The Syrian participants didn't take part in the ride - they stayed in the hotel all day.
The politics of Lebanon blows your mind! The country is on constant tenterhooks, especially now it seems. Old bullet holes in many of the buildings are testament to the suffering of this country. So many different factions, but all of them extreme. It's so sad, because it's really such a wonderful place. The people seem so much more filled with vibrancy than they were in Syria! Though perhaps I only feel that way because Lebanon is so much more closely related to Europe. I think they called it the Paris of the Middle East! Or at least something like that.. And it's true.
We cycled from Sidon to Beirut, it was probably a bit less than 50km, but by the end of the day I was exhausted - not from the cycling but from all the stress!! So many cyclists to watch out for, so much traffic and not-so-good roads! There was also one moment when I was far from anyone else (due to a series of unfortunate events!) and had to catch up! My word!!! Weaving in and out of the deadly city traffic I just had to take the word of traffic police and general road users when they pointed me down one road and not the other because I had no idea which direction the ride had gone in. At round abouts I just took the turn that someone, anyone, was pointing to! The funny thing was that while I was actually cycling, I was loving it! The adrenalin and just the reckless joy at cycling madly through the streets of Beirut was incredible! But once we reached our destination, all that stress and anxiety that I must have been holding at bay reached the surface! I was literally shaking!
The Syrian participants didn't take part in the ride - they stayed in the hotel all day.
The politics of Lebanon blows your mind! The country is on constant tenterhooks, especially now it seems. Old bullet holes in many of the buildings are testament to the suffering of this country. So many different factions, but all of them extreme. It's so sad, because it's really such a wonderful place. The people seem so much more filled with vibrancy than they were in Syria! Though perhaps I only feel that way because Lebanon is so much more closely related to Europe. I think they called it the Paris of the Middle East! Or at least something like that.. And it's true.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
April 9 --- Over to Lebanon
I've begun to think about law and the Israeli occupation and how the two correlate. There has to be some form of legislation relevant in matters such as illegal occupation, though I suppose that the problem is probably not the existence of such legislation, but whether it can be enforced..
We crossed to Lebanon today.
Sitting at the border crossing (for about 3 hours!) there were groups of young boys trying to sell us gum and chocolate wafers etc. However, it was obvious that they weren't meant to be there because every so often the border guards would attempt to remove them. There was one guard in particular who kept going after the boys. He looked like a real rambo army guy - American style - with his military hair cut, black army boots, very masculine black sunglasses and his walk - what a walk! Slow, deadly and bloody determined! A scary look! He kept walking after the boys, I say walking but it was more like strutting, and he really looked like he meant business. I was actually quite worried for the boy's safety, but I noticed that when he managed to get a boy, he just held them by their shoulder and steered them away. The boys didn't appear frightened at all, more like this was an oft-repeated game!
The crossing took so long because of the Palestinian Team and the nature of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon. FTW had been given special permission to allow them to cross with us, but it still caused massive delays. I'm beginning to wonder how long it will take us to enter the Israeli crossing when it is already taking hours to enter countries not infamous for holding people at border crossings!
By the time we entered, we had already missed much of the program that had been prepared for us in Lebanon (including cycling into Beirut), so we just went straight to the official welcome speeches. It was in these speeches that the first conflict occurred within FTW. It seemed that one of the groups hosting us in Lebanon was actually a political party. That causes many problems but I don't think anyone expected it to have the results it did. Unbeknown to those of us who did not speak Arabic, in the speeches made to us at the welcome were thinly veiled accusations towards the Syrian government that they were the ones responsible for the assassination of the very popular Lebanese leader Hariri, which had occurred the year before. This party was adamant that Syria had backed the assassination. This didn't go down well with the Syrian participants of the cycle, who walked out during the speeches and returned directly to the hotel where we would be staying, refusing to take part any further in the Lebanese-planned activities.
I wish that I knew exactly what the speeches said..
We crossed to Lebanon today.
Sitting at the border crossing (for about 3 hours!) there were groups of young boys trying to sell us gum and chocolate wafers etc. However, it was obvious that they weren't meant to be there because every so often the border guards would attempt to remove them. There was one guard in particular who kept going after the boys. He looked like a real rambo army guy - American style - with his military hair cut, black army boots, very masculine black sunglasses and his walk - what a walk! Slow, deadly and bloody determined! A scary look! He kept walking after the boys, I say walking but it was more like strutting, and he really looked like he meant business. I was actually quite worried for the boy's safety, but I noticed that when he managed to get a boy, he just held them by their shoulder and steered them away. The boys didn't appear frightened at all, more like this was an oft-repeated game!
The crossing took so long because of the Palestinian Team and the nature of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon. FTW had been given special permission to allow them to cross with us, but it still caused massive delays. I'm beginning to wonder how long it will take us to enter the Israeli crossing when it is already taking hours to enter countries not infamous for holding people at border crossings!
By the time we entered, we had already missed much of the program that had been prepared for us in Lebanon (including cycling into Beirut), so we just went straight to the official welcome speeches. It was in these speeches that the first conflict occurred within FTW. It seemed that one of the groups hosting us in Lebanon was actually a political party. That causes many problems but I don't think anyone expected it to have the results it did. Unbeknown to those of us who did not speak Arabic, in the speeches made to us at the welcome were thinly veiled accusations towards the Syrian government that they were the ones responsible for the assassination of the very popular Lebanese leader Hariri, which had occurred the year before. This party was adamant that Syria had backed the assassination. This didn't go down well with the Syrian participants of the cycle, who walked out during the speeches and returned directly to the hotel where we would be staying, refusing to take part any further in the Lebanese-planned activities.
I wish that I knew exactly what the speeches said..
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
April 8 --- To the Coast
Beautiful day! We took a train and bus to Lattakia (on the coast) and then cycled for about 32km to the beach. The most gorgeous ride! Tough, though.
I'm meeting more and more women from around the Middle East especially, which is really good. Talking to women from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine really challenges standard viewpoints of what occurs in those countries and the apparent gender relations. This is especially the case with the Iranian team, who are hardly meek and submissive! But then, I'm also aware that the women on this ride, especially the Middle Eastern women, are from particular socio-economic classes.
Tonight we are staying at Le Meridien - a fancy hotel! I'm staying with the other two 'single' teams, that is, the woman representing Germany (Jana) and the woman representing Holland (Marianne). It's really good that we get put together, it means we can make a little mismatched team of our own!
During the ride there were crowds of people everywhere throwing flowers, cheering, offering us snacks etc. It was so amazing, but also embarrassing. And I wondered - why are they here? Did someone tell them to be here?
The First Lady of Syria - Mrs. Assad - rode with us for a bit, but again, I didn't know what to think! The Syrian FTW riders seem to love her, but then she is the wife of a leader whose government you cannot criticise. The problem is that I just don't know enough about Syrian politics to order my thoughts over the matter - I'm woefully ignorant!
Yet again, we were welcomed by a marching band - yikes! It's so very different from anything I've experienced before!!
I'm meeting more and more women from around the Middle East especially, which is really good. Talking to women from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine really challenges standard viewpoints of what occurs in those countries and the apparent gender relations. This is especially the case with the Iranian team, who are hardly meek and submissive! But then, I'm also aware that the women on this ride, especially the Middle Eastern women, are from particular socio-economic classes.
Tonight we are staying at Le Meridien - a fancy hotel! I'm staying with the other two 'single' teams, that is, the woman representing Germany (Jana) and the woman representing Holland (Marianne). It's really good that we get put together, it means we can make a little mismatched team of our own!
During the ride there were crowds of people everywhere throwing flowers, cheering, offering us snacks etc. It was so amazing, but also embarrassing. And I wondered - why are they here? Did someone tell them to be here?
The First Lady of Syria - Mrs. Assad - rode with us for a bit, but again, I didn't know what to think! The Syrian FTW riders seem to love her, but then she is the wife of a leader whose government you cannot criticise. The problem is that I just don't know enough about Syrian politics to order my thoughts over the matter - I'm woefully ignorant!
Yet again, we were welcomed by a marching band - yikes! It's so very different from anything I've experienced before!!
April 7 -- FTW begins
Today was the first day of cycling! We rode about 36km to Saint Simeon Citadel, which was named after a hermit who was a shepherd who became a monk after a revelation in a dream. It had the most incredible view of the surround area!!
It is high up on a mountain from which you can look over the surrounding valleys, it is just beautiful! The environment is so barren but so glorious. It's such a rocky country but, at this time of the year, there are also flowers everywhere poking up between the rocks. Most significant to me were the red poppies - they are everywhere! They struck me deeply because of their symbolic connection to the fallen soldiers in the great wars.
I'm experiencing a bit of a culture shock! Firstly, there's all the men! The streets have a signicant gender bias towards the men! I'm also having a bit of difficulty getting used to the some aspects of the ride - such as the constant military and/or police presence. As well as the huge welcome we receive at our destination - dancing troupes and bands and lots of flags! It blows my mind!
Tomorrow we leave to go to Lattakia, on the Syrian coast!
It is high up on a mountain from which you can look over the surrounding valleys, it is just beautiful! The environment is so barren but so glorious. It's such a rocky country but, at this time of the year, there are also flowers everywhere poking up between the rocks. Most significant to me were the red poppies - they are everywhere! They struck me deeply because of their symbolic connection to the fallen soldiers in the great wars.
I'm experiencing a bit of a culture shock! Firstly, there's all the men! The streets have a signicant gender bias towards the men! I'm also having a bit of difficulty getting used to the some aspects of the ride - such as the constant military and/or police presence. As well as the huge welcome we receive at our destination - dancing troupes and bands and lots of flags! It blows my mind!
Tomorrow we leave to go to Lattakia, on the Syrian coast!
April 5 to April 6 ----- Sydney to Aleppo, Syria
THE OUTGOING PASSENGER CARD
The conflict for me had already begun by the time I reached the airport and started to fill in my Outgoing Passenger Card to get through customs.
'Country where you will spend most time abroad: ___________'
Palestine or Israel?
My immediate impulse was to put down 'Palestine', after all, that is where I'd be staying for the longest time - in the West Bank in the Palestinian Territories. But 'Palestine' is still not an actual sovereign country, it does not officially exist. To post a letter to Palestine, you must address it to Israel (which I consider akin to posting a letter to Iraq to the USA)! So, what should I write? It was such an absurdly political question! Whichever country I put down I will be making a powerful political statement, and at this very first point in my journey I didn't really want to do that. So, I rang dad.
"Just put down Israel, it's only to get out of the country - you don't want any trouble."
And that's what I did - I wrote 'Israel'.
DAMASCUS AIRPORT - five hour stop-over
First impression - cigarette smoke. Everyone here smokes! Even mothers with young children and babies! Ironically, in some areas people are smoking directly below large signs telling them not to!
Second impression - men. There are so many of them! The only women around are with men and/or with children.
On the plane I got talking to a man who is from Damascus, he was returning home from Dubai. He asked me a lot of questions about why I was coming over. I told him about Follow the Women and suddenly the man became quite intense. He said - "don't get involved with politics or the government. Syria is not like Australia". I assured him that the ride was not making any political statements about the Syrian government, but he unnerved me. It also made me feel suspicious of the Syrian government, and ignorant about the fact that I knew almost nothing about it! All I know is that the US places it in the 'axis of evil', and that tells me nothing.
FOLLOW THE WOMEN
Women everywhere! How can you find your way through all these women?? Especially as a team of one! But I didn't have to worry long. I was asking someone in a corridor where I should go now when a European/Canadian voice called out 'is that an Australian accent I hear?'. I had met Cathy - coordinator for Canada, Belgium and Holland! From then on, she also took me under her wing, letting me know what was happening and where I should be.
That night, my first night with the cycle, I sat in my room (which I had to myself) and looked out the window, thinking to myself - 'well, there you go, you're in Syria'.
The conflict for me had already begun by the time I reached the airport and started to fill in my Outgoing Passenger Card to get through customs.
'Country where you will spend most time abroad: ___________'
Palestine or Israel?
My immediate impulse was to put down 'Palestine', after all, that is where I'd be staying for the longest time - in the West Bank in the Palestinian Territories. But 'Palestine' is still not an actual sovereign country, it does not officially exist. To post a letter to Palestine, you must address it to Israel (which I consider akin to posting a letter to Iraq to the USA)! So, what should I write? It was such an absurdly political question! Whichever country I put down I will be making a powerful political statement, and at this very first point in my journey I didn't really want to do that. So, I rang dad.
"Just put down Israel, it's only to get out of the country - you don't want any trouble."
And that's what I did - I wrote 'Israel'.
DAMASCUS AIRPORT - five hour stop-over
First impression - cigarette smoke. Everyone here smokes! Even mothers with young children and babies! Ironically, in some areas people are smoking directly below large signs telling them not to!
Second impression - men. There are so many of them! The only women around are with men and/or with children.
On the plane I got talking to a man who is from Damascus, he was returning home from Dubai. He asked me a lot of questions about why I was coming over. I told him about Follow the Women and suddenly the man became quite intense. He said - "don't get involved with politics or the government. Syria is not like Australia". I assured him that the ride was not making any political statements about the Syrian government, but he unnerved me. It also made me feel suspicious of the Syrian government, and ignorant about the fact that I knew almost nothing about it! All I know is that the US places it in the 'axis of evil', and that tells me nothing.
FOLLOW THE WOMEN
Women everywhere! How can you find your way through all these women?? Especially as a team of one! But I didn't have to worry long. I was asking someone in a corridor where I should go now when a European/Canadian voice called out 'is that an Australian accent I hear?'. I had met Cathy - coordinator for Canada, Belgium and Holland! From then on, she also took me under her wing, letting me know what was happening and where I should be.
That night, my first night with the cycle, I sat in my room (which I had to myself) and looked out the window, thinking to myself - 'well, there you go, you're in Syria'.
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