The heat permeates everything, turns muscle into melting modelingclay. Bodies droop over chairs, eyes hooded and heavy, lidsfluttering at the gates of sleep. Fever creeps up through my limbs,my cheeks are flush. I feel sickness in every cell, and I fight tostay awake. I don’t want to be sick again. I came here to work, notsweat in silence in the stale blank apartment. ” I’m not contagious. ” Itell myself. ” It’s just the water, ” and with that bit of selfconvincing I trudge to the Red Crescent, my poor arabic morninggreetings more slurred than usual.
A newborn has been left by the roadside. We ride to the hospital toclaim him,and bring him to an orphanage in a surrounding town. Thissort of abandonment is rare here.Mothers delight in their families,and towns are close knit, but Jenin is devastated. The economy ishard struck, the water lines cut, the sounds of gunfire and bombinghave become background noise, the musak of the occupation. Even themost hopeful voices carry a ring of fatality in them.
The nurses have named him Abdullah. He has charcoal gray eyes, and aheadful of dusty black hair. I cradle him in my arms,kissing hisforehead with ridiculous desperation. A Jewish woman with aPalestinian baby in her arms, trying to transfer some sense of loveand belonging to this little one.
I carry Abdullah into the ambulance, fussing with his blankets. Theradio crackles, the driver answers.I have been ordered to go back tothe dispatch center.They say the Israeli soldiers won’t letinternationals go with ambulances outside of the city. I try toprotest, but I am suddenly washed with a feeling of despair. All atonce I feel useless. This stupid American woman condescending enoughto come into this town, and think that I could help. The problemshere are complex, and weighted with issues I have never had toorganize around before. My naivete is heavy about me. I cannot workanymore today. I am physically ill,and mentally pained.I know Icannot show my sorrow or my rage to my Palestinian friends.I haven’tearned it. I have only touched the skin of their suffering, what liesbeneath I cannot even imagine.
I am dizzy walking backing to the flat. Homesick, and heartsick andembarrassed. In bed I listen to my walkman. Ani sings me an activistslullabye, ” I’m no heroine.Least not last time I checked.I’m too easyto roll over, and I’m to easy to wreck.I just write about what Ishould have done,and sing what I wish I could say, and I hopesomewhere some woman hears my music and it helps her through herday. “
We paid for this occupation, sitting in our air conditioned houses,never questioning where our tax dollars are sucked away to. My bigwoman’s ego has been leveled, and I am just a little girl with afever struggling to make sense in the rubble, in the heat of Jenin.
July 16, 2002 From Garrick in Gaza:
We travelled to Rafah on 7/12. We met again with theChildren’s Parliament there and I learned a lot moreabout what the organization does there. They workwith children 11-16 years old. They organize letterwriting campaigns, provide services to children,particularly psychological services, organize exchangetrips to other countries including Germany, Lebanonand Egypt (Children travel from Rafah to thesecountries and they bring children from these countriesto Rafah) to promote contact between childreninternationally. The main organizer is wanted byIsrael for inciting children. He’s also not onArafat’s most favored list as Arafat has imprisonedhim in the past for refusing to heed Arafat’s orders.
The children are amazing and are so amazing tointeract with. They can’t understand how theinternational community allows them to suffer underoccupation the way they do.
To take simple action against this injustice, please consider forwarding this and other ISMalerts to govermental representatives and media outlets. Include your own note demandingthat action be taken to stop Israeli attacks on Palestinian lives and livlihood. Somecontacts, we have included below. To help us ensure more accurate media coverage in the US -www.pmwatch.org
President George W. Bush
E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov
Fax: (202) 456-2461
Secretary of State Colin Powell
email: secretary@state.gov
Fax: (202) 261-8577
European Union President, Mr. Romano Prodi
Council of the European Union: public.info@consilium.eu.int
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ecu@un.org, coi@un.org,
inquiries@un.org, commond@un.org
Mr. Terje Rod Larsen
Personal Representative of the Secretary General to the United NationsinPalestine Tel: + 972 8 282 2914 Fax: + 972 8 282 0966 Email:
unsco@palnet.com, lemore@un.org
Ms. Mary Robinson
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
webadmin.hchr@unog.ch or Fax: +(41-22) 917-9016
European Union Missions at the UN:
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: pm_eng@pmo.gov.il
Spokesperson for the PM’s Office
Arnon Pearlman-Tzadok dover@pmo.gov.il
Public relations for the PM’s Office Ms. Rutti Bait pniot@pmo.gov.il
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Minister Shimon Peres sar@mofa.gov.il
Deputy Minister Rabbi Michael Melchior ssar@mfa.gov.il
Spokesperson Ms. Yaffa Ben-Ari dover@mfa.gov.il
Public Relations The heat permeates everything, turns muscle into melting modelingclay. Bodies droop over chairs, eyes hooded and heavy, lidsfluttering at the gates of sleep. Fever creeps up through my limbs,my cheeks are flush. I feel sickness in every cell, and I fight tostay awake. I don’t want to be sick again. I came here to work, notsweat in silence in the stale blank apartment. ” I’m not contagious. ” Itell myself. ” It’s just the water, ” and with that bit of selfconvincing I trudge to the Red Crescent, my poor arabic morninggreetings more slurred than usual.
A newborn has been left by the roadside. We ride to the hospital toclaim him,and bring him to an orphanage in a surrounding town. Thissort of abandonment is rare here.Mothers delight in their families,and towns are close knit, but Jenin is devastated. The economy ishard struck, the water lines cut, the sounds of gunfire and bombinghave become background noise, the musak of the occupation. Even themost hopeful voices carry a ring of fatality in them.
The nurses have named him Abdullah. He has charcoal gray eyes, and aheadful of dusty black hair. I cradle him in my arms,kissing hisforehead with ridiculous desperation. A Jewish woman with aPalestinian baby in her arms, trying to transfer some sense of loveand belonging to this little one.
I carry Abdullah into the ambulance, fussing with his blankets. Theradio crackles, the driver answers.I have been ordered to go back tothe dispatch center.They say the Israeli soldiers won’t letinternationals go with ambulances outside of the city. I try toprotest, but I am suddenly washed with a feeling of despair. All atonce I feel useless. This stupid American woman condescending enoughto come into this town, and think that I could help. The problemshere are complex, and weighted with issues I have never had toorganize around before. My naivete is heavy about me. I cannot workanymore today. I am physically ill,and mentally pained.I know Icannot show my sorrow or my rage to my Palestinian friends.I haven’tearned it. I have only touched the skin of their suffering, what liesbeneath I cannot even imagine.
I am dizzy walking backing to the flat. Homesick, and heartsick andembarrassed. In bed I listen to my walkman. Ani sings me an activistslullabye, ” I’m no heroine.Least not last time I checked.I’m too easyto roll over, and I’m to easy to wreck.I just write about what Ishould have done,and sing what I wish I could say, and I hopesomewhere some woman hears my music and it helps her through herday. “
We paid for this occupation, sitting in our air conditioned houses,never questioning where our tax dollars are sucked away to. My bigwoman’s ego has been leveled, and I am just a little girl with afever struggling to make sense in the rubble, in the heat of Jenin.
July 16, 2002 From Garrick in Gaza:
We travelled to Rafah on 7/12. We met again with theChildren’s Parliament there and I learned a lot moreabout what the organization does there. They workwith children 11-16 years old. They organize letterwriting campaigns, provide services to children,particularly psychological services, organize exchangetrips to other countries including Germany, Lebanonand Egypt (Children travel from Rafah to thesecountries and they bring children from these countriesto Rafah) to promote contact between childreninternationally. The main organizer is wanted byIsrael for inciting children. He’s also not onArafat’s most favored list as Arafat has imprisonedhim in the past for refusing to heed Arafat’s orders.
The children are amazing and are so amazing tointeract with. They can’t understand how theinternational community allows them to suffer underoccupation the way they do.
To take simple action against this injustice, please consider forwarding this and other ISMalerts to govermental representatives and media outlets. Include your own note demandingthat action be taken to stop Israeli attacks on Palestinian lives and livlihood. Somecontacts, we have included below. To help us ensure more accurate media coverage in the US -www.pmwatch.org
President George W. Bush
E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov
Fax: (202) 456-2461
Secretary of State Colin Powell
email: secretary@state.gov
Fax: (202) 261-8577
European Union President, Mr. Romano Prodi
Council of the European Union: public.info@consilium.eu.int
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ecu@un.org, coi@un.org,
inquiries@un.org, commond@un.org
Mr. Terje Rod Larsen
Personal Representative of the Secretary General to the United NationsinPalestine Tel: + 972 8 282 2914 Fax: + 972 8 282 0966 Email:
unsco@palnet.com, lemore@un.org
Ms. Mary Robinson
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
webadmin.hchr@unog.ch or Fax: +(41-22) 917-9016
European Union Missions at the UN:
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: pm_eng@pmo.gov.il
Spokesperson for the PM’s Office
Arnon Pearlman-Tzadok dover@pmo.gov.il
Public relations for the PM’s Office Ms. Rutti Bait pniot@pmo.gov.il
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Minister Shimon Peres sar@mofa.gov.il
Deputy Minister Rabbi Michael Melchior ssar@mfa.gov.il
Spokesperson Ms. Yaffa Ben-Ari dover@mfa.gov.il
Public Relations