Nora Lester Murad - The View From My Window in Palestine

Archives for December 2012

Guest post: “Holy Innocents” by Vicki Tamoush

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In these days after Christmas, there is a sharp difference between life in Palestine and life in the U.S.  Unlike most of the world, Christians in the U.S. often return to work, to life as usual, the very day after Christmas.  I myself had to do this, and it just feels strange.  In Palestine and elsewhere, Christmas is not just a day but a season.  It is celebrated with joy, visiting, and general cheerfulness through Epiphany on January 6 and, for some, even beyond.

While our churches here are beautifully candlelit and meaningful, meditative services are held, there is nothing quite like the churches of Palestine where candles have burned brightly not for years but for centuries; where prayers have ascended in every language through war, peace, cold war, and some very cold peace.  Today, it is so easy to look at Palestine at Christmas and slip into hopelessness.  The hunger strikers are perilously close to collapse.  The Apartheid Wall has sliced up the tiny enclaves of Palestinian life that had managed to survive under occupation.  Gaza is, again, decimated by a military machine rivaled by only one larger nation on the planet.

It’s hard not to be afraid, isn’t it?

The news of the horrific shooting at the school in Connecticut reached Palestine quickly.  On the day after the shooting, pictures circulated the internet showing Palestinian children standing in vigil for the child victims in Newtown, Connecticut.  I had to blink and look again: did I just see kids who live under occupation, all of whom are well familiar with the sound of gunfire on their own streets standing in solidarity with kids in an American suburb?  I’ve come to the conclusion that the world is not a safe place for children.

Very hard not to be afraid.

Yet the shepherds—the ones for whom Shepherds’ Field in Bethlehem is named—heard the angel whisper, “Do not be afraid…”  I can only imagine how frightened these lowly, uneducated men would feel at the sudden appearance of an angel.  Of course they’d be afraid!

Credit: ActiveStills
Credit: Activestills

I don’t know how Palestinian mothers do it.  It’s easy to rock your kids to sleep with just a few words of a lullaby if the world around you is calm and serene.  How do you coax your child to sleep when she has been roused in the middle of the night by soldiers bursting through the door?  How do you remember the words to a lullaby when your husband has been missing for six days after walking in a funeral procession?

Maybe it’s faith that enables these mothers to function.  Or maybe they’re numb.  Maybe years and years and years of occupation have turned their faith from a dynamic, organic expression of the soul into a concrete cocoon inside which they can feel nothing, not even fear.

While Epiphany is still a few days away, the Feast of the Holy Innocents is almost upon us (December 28).  All over the world, Christians will solemnly remember the children who were slain by order of King Herod in an attempt to avert the loss of his reign to “the newborn king”—the Christ child—about whom the Magi had told him.  Our world is still a fearful place for children from Connecticut to Bethlehem, now more than ever.

VickiPhotoVicki Tamoush is a second-generation Arab American who lives in Tustin, California.  She holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California, Irvine and is founder of Interfaith Witnesses. Vicki writes regularly for The View from My Window in Palestine.

Guest post: “Palestine at the Slow Food Exhibition: A ‘partnership’ in healthy, clean & just food” by Fareed Taamallah

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Sharaka—a volunteer  effort focused on ensuring a food sovereign Palestine and preserving traditional Palestinian agriculture–was invited to participate in the Slow Food Exhibition  which takes place every two years in the Italian city of Turin. I was honored to represent Sharaka along with my colleague, Aisha Mansour, in this great event.

The Exhibition took place from October 24 through October 30, 2012 in the Olympic headquarters building, where we participated along with 6,000 farmers and food producers from around the world.

Throughout the exhibition, Aisha and I exhibited a range of Palestinian “baladi” products like freekey (wheat) from Deir Istya (Salfit), molasses from Halhoul (Hebron), oil and za’atar from Qira (Salfit), kishik (yogurt) from Beersaba’, and duqa’ (brown za’atar) from the Gaza Strip. We offered sample tastes of these products and traditional Palestinian foods to visitors who came in the hundreds of thousands, and we sold T-shirts bearing the Sharaka logo, which represents food sovereignty in Palestine.

A number of Palestinian institutions that work in the food industry took part in the Palestinian wing of the exhibition, including Karama, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee (PARC), the Ministry of Agriculture of the Palestinian Authority, and the Fair Trade Association. The Palestinian wing received Italian and foreign visitors, especially from the US, Canada and Europe who came specifically to taste and buy products from different places around the world and to learn about the economy of food in Palestine (and here), and encourage the production of high quality, healthy food products.

Slow Food is a movement calling for the transformation of food culture away from fast food, and a return to natural modes of food production and meals with local character. The Italian sociologist, Carlo Betrini became an advocate of the Slow Food movement by publishing a simple statement of support in 1986 in Turin, and it grew into an international movement in 1989 with the snail as a logo symbolizing Slow Food. It was intended to counter junk food, which is prepared quickly and without attention to the details of the food. Twenty-three years since its launch, this movement espouses a nutritional philosophy that brings together tens of thousands of supporters around a hospitable kitchen table that offers delicious food that is well prepared from natural sources (Wikipedia). Sharaka is Ramallah chapter if the Slow Food movement.

The exhibition is a momentous event that demanded a great logistical effort. It contributed to raising awareness of the importance of the foods produced around the world, and it helps producers to market their products at reasonable prices. Moreover, the importance of the exhibition is not only to present the products, but also to make it possible for farmers and producers to exchange experience and to discuss their mutual interests and how to overcome their common challenges. Also, many other related conferences and side-events are organized around Slow Food to discuss food producers’ concerns.

The exhibition space is big enough to display all the products, and includes all the facilities to process and conserve local foods, and kitchens to prepare local dishes. The event attracted several dignitaries in the opening event such as the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), representatives of ministries of agriculture and municipal representatives from the host city of Turin. It was well covered by local and international media. There were a striking number of volunteers who helped, including elders and youth, students and others, who provided logistical and administrative support and smiles for the delegates.

On a personal level, I was impressed roaming the aisles,  hearing traditional music from all over the world, and eating traditional foods from all over the world. I felt the world was, in fact, a small village: Ukraine on one side and India on the other, South Korea next to Brazil, South Africa and Honduras. I felt truly grateful to the organizers of this impressive event for the honor of attending. As a farmer, I felt that I am not alone, and my counterparts from all over the world share the same troubles and dreams as we do in Palestine.

As Palestinians, we felt the sympathy, love and appreciation of our Italian friends and the whole world. They packed the Palestinian wing asking questions about Palestine and the Palestinian people, and they admired the products of the land of Palestine. This gave us determination and will to complete our journey to protect our mother land, not through empty slogans, but through farming and production, and to hold dear the land that provides us life and food and dignity.

* Fareed Tammallah is a journalist and farmer from the village of Qira (Salfit) and a founding member of Sharaka.

Do Pigs Fly – Or Is This a Matter of Human Rights?

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This article was written for Peace x Peace, a global network of peacebuilders in 128 countries.

I sat on the far side of a large, plain room in the municipality building in Zawiya village in the West Bank governorate of Salfit. On the other side of the room, six local men were introducing themselves. I was there to do research for an article about community philanthropy, and I promise I will write that article, but first I need to write about wild pigs.

Wild pigs?

“Mansour is so big,” one of the Zawiya residents teased, squeezing the bulging forearm of the man sitting next to him, “even the pigs are scared of him.”

The joke was off topic, so I let it go, but I couldn’t get it out of my mind. It is strange for Palestinians to talk about people and pigs in the same sentence. The majority of Palestinians are Muslim and they, like Jews, consider pigs the dirtiest of creatures. Why were they joking about pigs?

I was sure that I had misunderstood. My Arabic isn’t that good. I probably imagined hearing the word, khanazeer (the Arabic word for pigs). I asked one of my friends.

“There are lots of wild pigs (aka boars) in the villages in the West Bank,” my friend told me. “The Israeli settlers let them loose to destroy Palestinian crops. Sometimes the pigs even attack children.”

Wild board in the West Bank (Photo: Karen Sears)

Wild pigs? I’ve lived in Palestine for eight years and I’ve seen a lot of inhumanity, but the thought of wild pigs being intentionally released shocked me. Is it possible that, like me, the international community doesn’t know about this?

I found an article or two online, but they didn’t report any details. (There may be more in the Hebrew press, but I can’t read it, and I’m told the Arabic press comments from time to time.) I called the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). They had never heard of the problem of wild pigs, but said it would fall under the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). OHCHR said they were unaware of any reports of wild pigs being released by settlers in Palestinian villages. (The UN does monitor lots of other settler violence against Palestinians). I spoke with the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’Tselem) who said they’ve never studied the problem and can’t comment on topics they have not studied. They did mention, though, that there was recently a fatal car accident involving a wild pig (read about it here). Yesh Din, another Israeli human rights organization, said the claim is “fantastical,” and “science fiction.” I started to wonder if the wild-pigs-being-released-by-Israeli-settlers story was an urban legend like the myth that Yasser Arafat died of AIDS.

But Rabbis for Human Rights said that while it sounded unlikely, it was not totally impossible since settlers do release attack dogs on Palestinians. “They even do it on the Sabbath,” he said with disgust. “They somehow rationalize that attacking Palestinians is holy.”

I was no closer to finding out if the story is true, but I was feeling doubtful because since wild pigs are, by definition, wild, wouldn’t the settlers have to first catch the pigs in order to release them in Palestinian villages? These pigs reach 200 pounds or more and have long, sharp tusks. Catching them seems like dangerous, specialized work. Also, pigs are unclean for Jews and most Israeli settlers are religious. Would they really touch pigs in order to harm Palestinians? And besides that, what would prevent the wild pigs from turning around to ravage the crops of the settlements once they finish eating the Palestinian produce?

I expanded my investigation and spoke with farmers, journalists, agricultural workers, and researchers, and everybody confirmed that wild pigs are a serious and growing problem. In some villages there are only occasional sightings of small numbers of animals, but in others, wild pigs are a major threat to the safety, well-being and livelihoods of thousands of people. Over and over people implored me to understand the urgency of the problem: “They move in packs of 50-60 pigs. “They live between the houses. We are scared to go out to visit neighbors at night.” “Many farmers have been forced to abandon their fields because the pigs eat their wheat, watermelons, guavas, and even the roots of olive trees.”

Wild boars in trap near Ramallah (Photo credit: Danna Masad)

But how can we be sure that the wild pigs are being released by Israeli settlers? Nearly everyone I spoke with argued that wild pigs aren’t native to Palestine and the only people with the ability to import them are the Israelis; that the problem started during the first Intifada when settler violence began and when, they claim, settlers began to cultivate wild pigs; that the problem is worst in villages adjacent to settlements.

But I wasn’t convinced! I was losing sleep. I had to find the source of the wild pig problem. Yet I couldn’t find anyone who had seen settlers release pigs into villages with his/her own eyes. One farmer said his wife’s relatives reported seeing a helicopter deliver a male and female to Kursa village; and an agricultural expert had been told by a farmer from Jalameh village said that a civilian truck accompanied by a military jeep opened the gate that controls the entry and exit of laborers and released several wild pigs into Jalameh. Surely, if thousands of pigs were being transported into Palestinian villages, there would be more evidence.

Moreover, according to Birzeit professor of political science and naturist, Saleh Abdel Jawad, wild pigs ARE indigenous to Palestine. Most Palestinians don’t realize they are indigenous because the population was smaller and lived only in the wild until the last 8-10 years. It turns out that the hyena, the only other indigenous predator of the wild pig has been hunted to near extinction. This has led to a dramatic and unchecked increase in the population of wild pigs. In fact, there is apparently a dramatic increase of wild pigs in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria too.

But does not mean that the infestation of wild pigs in Palestinian villages is merely a fluke of nature? No, because if the problem were merely natural, there would be a problem in the Galilee, a similar environment adjacent to the West Bank but inside Israel. There isn’t. If the problem were natural, the Israeli settlements would also be suffering. But they aren’t.

What do I believe?

1-   Wild pigs, indigenous to Palestine, are increasing naturally. Their numbers have become a problem because its only animal predator, the hyena, is no longer keeping the population in balance.

2-   Although there isn’t a large domestic market for wild pig meat, people have in the past been able to trap, poison or shoot wild pigs when they threaten farmland or populated areas. However, harming or trapping wild pigs is now forbidden and Israelis frequently catch and prosecute people who seek to limit the population of wild pigs. Also, carrying firearms that would be needed to kill these large and dangerous animals is forbidden to Palestinians.

3-   Israel erected a 708km “barrier” (aka Annexation Wall) comprised of sections of concrete wall and fence, totally enclosing the West Bank and encircling many villages. Since we know that pigs can’t fly, the population of wild pigs will inevitably increase within the West Bank without any opportunity to disperse naturally throughout the region or even to escape from populated areas.

4-   Israeli settlers live in fenced-in settlements and are protected. Only Israelis control the gates in the Annexation Wall through which wild pigs could pass. Only Israelis have the ability to move pigs within the region.

I realize that settlers often actively organize attacks of all kinds against Palestinian children, farmers and property, with near-total impunity for harm they cause to Palestinians (even when their actions are illegal), but in this case, I think the fault lies squarely with the Israeli government. The Israeli Nature and Parks Authority of Judea and Samaria told me definitively that settlers do not cultivate or move wild pigs. They admitted that they are the only ones who move wild pigs and they do so to spread the population. They agreed that the population is growing too big, and that more are entering populated areas, but said the animals are still protected because they are part of nature. When I said that Palestinians complain about the danger of wild pigs in villages they told me that wild pigs don’t threaten people unless people threaten their offspring. “A pig might run at you and you might think he’s going to attack you, but he won’t,” they told me. “If you step aside, he’ll run right past you.”

Incredible! Wild pigs in Palestine are protected, but no one is protecting the Palestinians!

This is not a “normal” situation in which a national animal protection policy needs to be modified. Israel is an occupying power, with obligations under international humanitarian law, that intentionally acts to multiply the number of wild pigs that live in areas in which Palestinians are surrounded and enclosed. It’s a matter of human security, livelihoods, sanitation, and well-being. It’s a matter of human rights.

So here’s a call to action to the Israeli and international human rights organizations:

1-Study the problem of wild pigs in Palestinian villages, immediately;

2-Hold Israel accountable for its obligations to protect and promote the wellbeing of the people under its control;

3-Find ways to remove wild pigs from Palestinian farmland and populated areas;

4-Tell the world: Israel has locked Palestinians in villages with wild pigs!

This short film (3:45) satirizes fundraising for Africa. It’s entertaining, provocative and timely. I Loved it! Please share your comments, and join the growing movement to revolutionize aid from a neo-colonial tool to a mechanism for justice and real development.

The video is made by The Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund (www.saih.no). With the cooperation of Operation Day’s Work (www.od.no). With funding from The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and The Norwegian Children and Youth Council (LNU). Music by Wathiq Hoosain. Lyrics by Bretton Woods (www.developingcountry.org). Video by Ikind Productions (www.ikindmedia.com)

Do I sound impatient?

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I wrote this article, “Do I sound impatient? Busan +1 from Palestine” for one of the best development sites around, How Matters. It is part of an Oxfam-sponsored feature on DevEx called, “One year later, where do we stand on  commitments made in Busan?“

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What exhilaration I felt as a delegate to the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4)! I represented a Palestinian NGO with a long commitment to activism for aid reform. For years we did research, made films, circulated petitions, and finally, we were at the table with the decision-makers. I felt bolstered by a decade of global commitments to aid reform and inspired by the brilliance of the advocates coming from conflict and fragile situations. I hoped that the New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States would pave the way for a new type of aid that respects legitimate politics, people’s security, access to justice, improved livelihoods, and accountable and fair service delivery. After all, all the major donors to Palestine, including the United States and European Union, immediately endorsed the New Deal.

But now, one year later, I sit in Jerusalem contemplating the white tails of rockets, trying to understand the logic: yet another unconscionable Israeli attack on Gaza using bombs paid for by the U.S. Yet when the bombs stop and the burials are complete, the U.S. (and others) will pay for the reconstruction. Is that a good use of aid?

The conflict and fragility advocacy team in Busan

 What is the purpose of “aid” if the major donors to Palestine fail to ensure protection for those they claim to seek to help? What is the purpose of “aid” if the major donors to Palestine continue to support Israel politically and economically despite its continued lack of compliance with international humanitarian law?

Do I sound impatient? I am. We don’t have time for consultations on policy coherence. We need donor governments to implement their own policies, fulfill their commitments, and act with integrity. Now. Integrity doesn’t need a logframe.

Do I sound angry? I am. I feel duped. I was part of the aid reform movement before realizing that both aid and aid reform are industries that profit some at the expense of others. Both aid and aid reform distract us from real social change, allowing the powers-that-be to get on with their business of saying one thing and doing another.

Nora (left) with Ava Danlog of Reality of Aid at the Busan Civil Society Forum

In October, I wrote an article in the Guardian outlining my disappointment with aid and aid reform entitled, “Should Palestinians Boycott International Aid?”  It does not advocate a blanket rejection of aid, but calls for Palestinians to proactively articulate criteria for acceptable aid and when and why it should be rejected. If Palestinians and other aid-dependent peoples become the gatekeepers for aid funds allocated on their behalf, it will achieve a subtle but profound shift in the balance of power. And this will influence global aid policy much faster and more sustainably than high level forums.

Am I disappointed by the outcome of Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness? Hell yeah. Aren’t you?

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