Friends,
The first is a piece (writen by an ISM activist) about the village ofDir Ibzya, west of Ramallah, where the ISM worked with a children’ssummer camp. Following are letters from the children of Dir Ibziyato the children of the world. Please help us distribute theseletters far and wide.
Away from the gunfire…
This week we have heard of the two Palestinian attacks on Israelisresulting in the deaths of ten people. However, the 43 deaths ofPalestinians over the past three weeks have not been considerednewsworthy. Away from the gunfire, a psychological warfare is beingwaged. Where the occupation imposing curfews, roadblocks andcheckpoints deny Palestinians their basic human needs such as thedistribution of food, medical supplies and education. ContraveningInternational Law under the Geneva Convention. I have returned fromDeir Ibzya, a small village near Ramallah consisting of 1500 people.
Deir Ibzya is easy to fall in love with. Set in the mountains,surrounded by rolling hills, which on a clear day you can see thelight bouncing off the sea all the way in Tel Aviv. It is hard toimagine that only two weeks ago, this village had the physicalpresence of tanks, APC’s and soldiers looming over the hills,suffocating Deir Ibzya’s economy and threatening its people. Theinfrastructure of Deir Ibzya’s economy relies on it quick and easyaccess to Ramallah. However, what used to be a 15-minute drive to
Ramallah, is now thanks to the checkpoints and roadblocks- a 4 hourjourney. The imposition of the curfew renders mobility between DeirIbzya and Ramallah obsolete. This has many harsh effects on thelivelihood of Deir Ibzya, as people can’t get to work, thus they haveno money. Food is even more difficult to distribute, thus it costsmore money. The repercussions of immobility know no end, from thesmall details of not obtaining any chicken feed, resulting the deathof the trade of meat and eggs, as well as contributing to the lack offood. To the diminishing hope of the inhabitants under theoccupation, whose morale sinks lower and lower, as they live underthe constant fear of attack starvation and imprisonment in their ownhomes.
Blackouts are common, either due to the electricity supply being cutoff, or the generators being so old yet the village is unable toreplace. Israeli aircraft adds to the terror, as F16’s become aregular occurance, and the sound of gunshots in other towns carryover the hills. To heighten the isolation of this small village, arethe illegal settlements that surround Deir Ibzya on two adjacentsides. In my time there I was involved in a summer camp, catering foranything up to 150-250 children. The summer camp was arranged by alocal man named Deeb Kamal, and provided English lessons, Artclasses, Sports, Dancing and singing sessions.
I had the good fortune of taking the art class, which consisted of 25-30 kids between the ages of 11-15. It was the most rewardingexperience of my whole life. I wanted the kids to create some imagesof how they felt about Palestine, if possible to explore theirfeelings in a context of hope and not suffering. On the first day, Iset the project ‘What I love about Palestine’. I managed tocommunicate this idea without the help of a translator; it took a lotof gesticulating and physical demonstrations before anyone knew whatto do. However, once these kids understood the project- nothing couldstop them. They were bursting at the seams with creative energy. Igot beautiful images of mountains, trees, rivers and seas withfishes, and candles inscribed with the word ‘peace’. Its hard toimagine that just two weeks before this, they were not even allowedto leave the house. Deeb Kamal, the director of the camp claimed thatbefore this was set up you would rarely catch any of these villagechildren smile.
It is clear to me that these kids had a desperate need forexpression, as once they understood the project they we’re so self -directed. They produced some amazingly colourful images of what theyidealised about Palestine, although there were a few images ofrefugee camps with people carrying shahid’s (those killed byIsreali’s). I didn’t quite know what to say about these. Anotherproject that was given to this class was to create an image of howthey idealize themselves in the future. These kids have dreams justlike the rest of us- I saw images of dentists, doctors and artteachers- to name a few. It is so clear to me that all these kidsneed is a chance. The situation they are finding themselves in isabysmal. They are being deprived of their basic needs. Theireducation is constantly undermined by the occupation. This isparticularly evident when the IDF broke into a school to vandalize. *The small village is further isolated by surrounding illegalsettlements. During my stay in Deir Ibzya there was another blackout,which coincided with the helicopters settling over Ramallah and thesound of firing. The next day, I discovered that occurrences likethat were part of these peoples every day lives. They were soaccustomed to the sound of attack they didn’t seem to notice orsurprise them anymore.
Although the tanks have left the hills of Deir Ibzya, occasionallysoldiers still pass through the village, fuelling people’s sense offeeling unsafe within their own homes. Under the occupation peopleare unable to live their lives. The most they can do is sit at homeand panic. When they chance on watching the news, it is they who arebeing portrayed as the persecutors, further isolating them from therest of the world. This is why an international presence, such as theISM have such significant implications.
As it denies the IDF to persecute whilst the world isn’t watching. Italso helps to boost the morale of the Palestinian people, many ofwhich believe the world is against them. It seems that there is adifference between knocking people down and keeping them down. TheIsreali’s have succeeded in breaking Palestinian morale, now whatthey are striving to achieve using psychological warfare is leavingthem with no hope. In the many interviews I had taken, whenasked ‘What hope do you have for the future?’, the answer is alwaysnegative. Even when the physical presence of the soldiers is notthere, Palestinian people are forced to live under its shadow.*This is described in more detail in the interview with NadiaAyesha
System Message: WARNING/2 (<string>, line 105); backlink
Inline emphasis start-string without end-string.
Dear Friends,
I wanted to share with you a few of the beautiful letters written bythe children of Deir Ibzya Summer Camp to pen pals in the UnitedStates. The children wrote the first sentences of their letters inEnglish and then wrote a message in Arabic, which we translated toEnglish. With love and hope for peace in Palestine,
Cathy
Letter from Latfa.
My name is Latfa. I am 12 years old. I like to swim. I am in 6thgrade. I feel very happy now because the internationals are besideus. And we shall miss them and I hope they will please visit usagain. I want to tell them thank you very much all of you and I hopeyou will come again to visit my village. I thank you very much.
Letter from Diana
Greetings in God’s name. My name is Diana. I am 12 years old. I liketo swim. I am in 6th grade. I was very sad when the Israelis cameinto our land. We cannot make anything. But when the internationalscame, I am very happy. They want us to forget the sadness in ourlives and to laugh and play. Our friends such as Wendy, John, Arla,Cathy, Seth, Ola and I thank my Uncle Deeb for making the summer campin our village so we will forget the sadness in our hearts and laughand play again. You make us happy. Thanks to my Uncle Deeb. I willnever forget him. I thank you three times for making the summercamp. It is very good and it makes us very happy. Thank you.
Letter from Alaa
My name is Alaa and I am 12 years old and I like to swim. I am in6th grade. I am very happy when I hear that the internationals arecoming. We are learning with them very much. And we are playingmany games and it is wonderful. WE are happy for the first timesince the occupation in our village. And when we were sleeping weheard the sound of bullets from the armored vehicles. But now we areforgetting the sound of the bullets from the armored vehicles and weare thinking of the summer camp and forgetting the occupation of ourvillage. And I am very happy because I see the smiles on thechildren’s lips.
Letter from Safia
My name is Safia. I am 12 years old. I like to swim. I am in sixthgrade. I love you. The children of the Palestinian people are verysad because of the occupation by the Israelis. But after this summercamp we are now very happy because of our uncle Abu Ferraz (DeebKamal) and the internationals. They come from all over the world. Ihope my Uncle Abu Ferrz will please make the summer camp every year.And I thank my Uncle Deeb from all my heart. And I thank theinternationals. The summer camp is beautiful. I thank you verymuch.
Letter from Raghda.
My name is Raghda. I am 13 years old. I like to Intifada. I am in8th grade. I am a Palestinian Child. I live in Deir Ibzya. We arethe children of Palestine. We send this to all the children of theworld and especially American children. We tell you here about ourtragic situation in the shade of an unfair occupation who doesn’tknow the word mercy. The Second Terrorist After Bush (Sharon) killsthe children, arrests the men, humiliates women, demolishes houses,destroys trees, pollutes the air, steals the goods of the country andhas the movement of the citizens in his hands. He besieges thecities and villages since a year. WE can’t see our relatives andfriends. Who needs something has to walk many meters on foot overthe mountains to reach the main road. There he might find the army,who sends him back to the place he came from. So he has to go backafter a long suffering. The army shoots fire on the people so aPalestinian can be killed in seconds. The feelings of thePalestinian children are sad in the shade of Israeli terror. Thechild can’t play and laugh, like all the children of the world. Hecan’t reach any amusement places. Our rights are taken from us. Thetears are in our eyes. The ears listen to the sounds of guns andbombs. The eyes see blood and the legs run away from soldiers. Thehands treat the injured people. We ask American kids to help us,because we asked the adults but they didn’t listen. We hope that youhear our call for help and help us. We believe that we’ll get ourrights back some day. We thank everyone who tried to help us,especially Mr. Jon Jackson.
Thank you very much.