The journey with Sabeel continues to be an amazing experience. And like other trips to this region. there are many surprises and magical spaces along the way. As we emerged from a visit to theDeheisheh Refugee Camp, the largest in the region with 12,000 inhabitants, 60% of whom are under the age of 18, we could see much work to be done, though the refugees themselves whose families have been here since 1967, have done miraculous acts just to have survived the circumstances.
Bailot, a young Palestinian student, and guide for the afternoon, took us on a walking tour of the camp. Shortly after we began, young children on the roof over head, threw stones which landed close by. I'm glad no one was hurt. While I didn't take it personally, the incident did make me uncomfortable for the rest of the journey that day. The stress of living in the camp must be unbearable. Bailot, shared his own story. He was presently attending the University where he was studying be prepare for social work. He was 21 and spent two years in prison for throwing stones at the Israeli Army. He also had been shot and spent a month in the hospital at the time. He then went on to say that his mother's childeren, 6 boys, had all been in prison at one time! Imagine that? We later went to his home and shared tea with is family, in a tiny, confined space, surrounded by other buildings and where the sun didn't shine. He shared some videos that he had produced for a project sponsored by French as a way of expressing the frustrations that surely must be inside.
I left the group early, and Bailot took me to the Ibdaa Health Center in the Camp where I delivered 5o sets of eye frames for the eye clinic sent by our church community. The staff were grateful for the frames, but many of the glasses broke when the lenses were extracted from them. What they need is 300 frames a month - new frames so that they can create the proper lenses for the children.
I returned after my visit with the director there, to the Camp's center were the Conference ( a very mobile one) set up it's evening meeting while being fed by the camp inhabitants. There were over 250 of including about75 Palestinians. It was there, after a day of increasing amounts of information that defined the circumstances of the Palestinians and the Israelis, that the group birthed a new idea. After a passionate appeal from a Italian/American woman, and an appeal by a Nobel Prize Laureate from Ireland who was also a conference attendee, there was a call to show solidarity to the NGO's at Gaza the next day. Over 48 people signed up and met through the evening to plan the strategy. It was ageed that we would not try to get into the City, but would stand in peaceful solidarity with groups like OXFAM and Mercy. These groups by international law have the right to enter into the space to provide human asssistance. The press too, were there and unable to enter.
In short, the people are with out basics and the economy is in a shambles. According the Dr. with us, who works in reconstruction surgery there, 130 were killed last week during an incursing by IDF forces with 50 seriously wounded. Four to five people killed each day is not unusal. The prompt for such incursions, are the rocket fire, who no body encourages, and that do little damage. And while this form of violence cannot be condonned, the collective punishment the Israeli forces inflict can hardly be justified. Little of this information appears in our press.
We awoke at 5 am to take the bus ride to the coast. On the way, we generated our mission, confirmed our roles, and leadership, and rehearsed our actions. We also prepared for the worst case scenerio which included tear gassing, and other dispersing activities. We had become a pretty cohesive group. The risk for us that we could be deported straight away, and not allowed to return. The thought of that affecting Daoud or the Tent of Nations project was provoking.
When we arrived at the huge building that hides the City from road, one could hardly imagine what life was like for the million and half citizens behind the glass walls. Sound booms from overhead from Israeli jets were frightening, and the claims by the private security personnel behind the fences, often told us that it was a very dangerous place for us to be. We were in the car park outside the gate. Their appeals seem to be attempts to rid the place of us. We voted to stay put. The only persons in the lot were taxi drivers hoping to get passengers coming through the gates and charging them a hundred dollars apiece for a ride back to Tel aviv.
The non-government-organizations (NGOs) had all been denied entrance, including the medical doc with us. They decided to hold a meeting in the parking lot with chart paper and chairs they had brought with them, surrounded by the 48 of us and members of the European press. It was quite a scene.! One member of our group, a Nobel Peace Laureate from Ireland, talked with the BBC about why the conflict in this region must be solved soon with justice. Her speech was eloquent and moving from someone who knew about violence and its price for a society.
Prior to the meeting, we were told to gather against a wall separating us from gate, because the Palestinians were supposedly launching their rockets. It turns out it was another effort to make us leave. It didn't work! While we standing there in the hot sun of the morning, hutled together, I offered to share my poem "Walls, Lines, Fences and Borders". It seemed like an appropriate moment given the circumstances. I invited the group to repeat the montra, and they did. I felt great satisfaction in sharing the poem, but more, their partipation with me. It was a special time of sharing a personal moment together. The words of that meagre poem have such power for us all. It was a gift to me, and I hope one for others in the group. The walls of the gates of Gaza seemed to crack just a little. Love, Bill
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