International Women's Day

Going to Ramallah
We began our trip for International Women's Day by crossing through a checkpoint to Ramallah. This checkpoint is the only way people from Ramallah, one of the largest cities to get to Jerusalem. We first stopped to pick up some government delegates and women at the Palestinian Environmental Office. While waiting for people, we sat on the bus and this delicious bread with all of our new fellow travelers. We then stopped at the Palestinian Authority Ministry for Women's Affairs office to pick up the Minister from that office and many of her co-workers. These co-workers have made such an impression on me and have given me so much hope and friendship within two short days. Most of the co-workers are young, between 23-28 and include women and men both working for women's rights in Palestine. At first on the bus, we all smiled at each other and I practiced my few emerging phrases in Arabic. We continued to drive to Tulkarem for the women's bakery opening. These Women's Ministry workers then started to sing and clap for the next hour amazing Palestinian folk songs which without understanding the language are still powerfull. Finally, we began to talk with each other and learn more about each other. It is hard to describe how aware, open, warm, generous, and loving this group is. One of my newest friends, Lina, works with the office analyzing complaints from women regarding gender discrimination. Two of the guys, Muez and Ziad, work within the media department and have worked on press releases and making films to show what is happening in the West Bank. Muez and I talked for a long time about the media since he also is an editor at one of the Palestinian papers called Al-Quds. I learned a lot of new words and stories from all of these folks and one of the words "sababa" which means "cool" is the best way to describe all of them. The crazy thing is that we went to two different towns, Tulkarem and Qalkilyia, which were only an hour from Ramalla, but none of these young people had been there because of they do not regularly have permission to cross all of the many checkpoints. They were only able to go because they were with our group.

At Tulkarem, various people spoke about the occupation and how it has the lives of Palestinians. We then were treated to delicious foods and sweets. We were only there for about an hour. This is the only bakery in town and was funded by a fundraiser that Sahar held in Houston that raised $15,000 USD.

We then drove to Qalkilyia for the women's march. International Women's Day is considered an official holiday so kids did not have to go to school but rather could participate in marches in their towns. Qalkilyia is an interesting place because it is near the 1967 line that divides the West Bank and Israel but since the Wall has been built, it has encircled the entire town, cutting the many farmers off from their lands, disallowing people to easily leave for other places such as hospitals. We marched arm in arm and ended up at a girl's school next to the wall. There were a few hundred people there and many speakers shared their thoughts. They also had an art gallery exhibiting pictures of the wall and of other poignant scenarios. Although I can say hello, how are you, cool, and a few other key words, when I walked though the audience at the assembly women and kids and others would smile at me so generously.

I then stumbled around with some of my new friends and went near the wall to take pictures. There were some incredible grafitti with messages of peace and frustration with the Wall. The rest of the marches came out to the wall and took pictures and played around until Israeli soldiers started telling us to go away and using scare tactics. We then all got on the bus and stopped by a grocery where people bought juices, strawberries, and sweets. We all laughed, waxed politically, and discussed our visions of peace. It was an amazing day, mostly because of all of the neat people we befriended. It is very interesting that these same people would be characterized negatively by our media; however, I have only met people with more generosity and life who live lives that are filled with insanities beyond their control.

1 1/2 hours at the checkpoint, and that is considerably lucky
After saying goodbye to our new friends, our bus then got in line to leave Ramallah. Ronnie and I really wanted to stay in Ramallah to hang out with our new friends because none of them have permits to go to Jerusalem, even though a few are originally from there. One guy told me that he has never been to Jerusalem, which normally be 5 minutes away.

We were supposed to go to Jaffa later that night, but we ended up in the normal congestion at the exit through the one checkpoint. We waited 1 1/2 hours to finally get through. I have heard from many people that it can take 2-4 hours easily and sometimes the Israeli military can close the checkpoint without rhyme or reason, which means you get stuck, regardless if your kids are expecting you, regardless if you have no place to stay, regardless if you have someplace to be (like school, work, the hospital to give birth). This experience reminded me of the congestion at the US/Mexico border, but it is even more random since they can actually close it down and that there are less places to cross.

Going to Ramallah (again)
Last night Sahar taught Ronnie and I this song that talks about "Going to Ramallah" as well as the traditional dance. Fortunately, we went back to this deemed "city of intellectuals." We first went to the Ministry of Women's Affairs where we reconnected with Lina, Ziad, Muez, and others. We first met with the Minister of Women's Affairs who has been arrested several times and is a very powerful speaker. She discussed many aspects of the issues Palestinian women and children face, including education, health, labor, and family. More and more Palestinian women have become heads of household due to their husbands being imprisoned or killed. We then watched a very powerful film called "Women Confront the Wall," (I will have a copy of this that I can lend out) which showed different families being separated from their own family, their schools, their farming land-hence their main income, and water. The most powerful part of the film showed children who cannot get to school because of the wall. In some cases where without a wall, children could walk to school in 5 minutes, now they have to take dangerous routes that can last 1-3 hours just to get one way to school. Often times children and women are searched, often inappropriately, at the checkpoints en route to school or elsewhere. Families have had to take their children out of school because of these difficulties and risks.

We then went to a Panel Discussion that featured Salam from the Ministry, another woman Fadwa Khader from The Rural Women's Development Society, and Ann Helmke from the San Antonio Peace Center. This presentation became very powerful. There were others in the audience who have been imprisoned for their peace work. One thing that Ann mentioned that was very powerful is that Catepillar equipment from the U.S. have been used here. The excavaters are all around to build the wall, and the bulldozers are here to demolish Palestinian homes. I have seen these everywhere and have taken many pictures of the Catepillars at work. Ann discussed that she grew up in a small farming community in Illinois, near Peoria which is the home of Catepillar. Ann talked about how she had given a presentation at her home church and discussed the Catepillar connection to the congregation of mostly farmers and Catepillar-employees. The church group understood the connection and understood how all of what I am writing about is connected to the United States. Powerful.

I then met with Sam, a Palestinian who grew up in Ohio but now lives in Ramallah I interviewed him because he is a published journalist and we discussed the media's role regarding Israel and Palestine, especially regarding coverage of the wall. He gave me a lot of strategies of how we need to influence our own media.

Finally, we went to the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation and had coffee and discussed their struggle to report on the lives of Palestinians. I have to get going right now, but I will continue with this tomorrow.

Who can believe this?