Ramallah

Just a quick update on the situation in East Jerusalem. The neighborhood where the Settlers have taken over the houses is called Sheikh Jarrah. Three of the people I trained with have gone there tonight to keep watch IF the situation turns ugly they will call for more activists, the main ISM hostel in Jerusalem being pretty close by. The tents erected have been destroyed 5 times already by the settlers. The situation here is slightly more complex than the outright theft that’s occurred elsewhere. There is a Jewish holy site in the area, and the settlers claim that the land was owned by Jews prior to the short period of Jordanian rule (the houses themselves were only built in the 1950s). This has been ongoing since the 1970s and the area of land covers a population of approx 2,700 Palestinians. Several houses in the area have been taken over for some time now. The settler claim is flimsy, as they have no documentary proof to back it up, but it is a better effort that just saying that God promised them the land. Anyone interested in the details can read the UN factsheet here: http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/62542A1C86A18E5A852576150064C414

I however, am staying in Ramallah, where we completed training, as they have enough people there tonight. It was a 45 minute bus journey, and we breezed through the checkpoint, but I’m told it’s harder getting back in. Today we learnt that the army and Boarder Police have immense power over the lives of the Palestinians but all they can do to us is hold us for three hours until the regular Police with powers of Arrest arrive. We were briefed on how to avoid and resist arrest, and what to do if it happens. We can only be held for 24 hours by the Police before being bought before a civilian judge. The ISM operates within the law so generally they have to let you go after that. We do have slightly fewer rights than Israeli citizens under their civil code, as the Israelis bought in a second legal system to cover the immigrant workers (Philippinoes etc…) who replaced the Palestinians banned from coming in to Israel to work when the second Intifada Broke out in 2002 and this covers all foreigners.

The Palestinians are barely under a legal system at all, the Israelis basically kept the worst and most repressive elements of Ottoman (land uncultivated for three years can be confiscated), British Mandate (administrative detention, meaning they can hold people without charge for six months and then just roll it over for another six if they choose) and Jordanian laws, and then added some of their own to the mix. Palestinians can be held without charge for years, ans some are.
We also had a slightly worrying briefing on the weapons the Israeli military uses against protests, violent or otherwise. I now know what a rubber coated steel bullet lookes like (two types, on cylindrical with a heavy rubber casing and a heavy block of steel inside, one spherical and looking like an old fashioned musket ball with a very thin coating of rubber. We were also told how best to deal with tear gas and sound bombs, as well as various other weapons occasionally used.
I feel rather better prepared now.

I’m hoping to go deeper into the West Bank over the next few days, although Sheikh Jarrah is the main priority for the organization at the moment so if I’m asked I’ll stay of course. I think if I want to see Bethlehem at Christmas I’ll need to take a day off as it’s not a hotspot at the moment.

Incidentally one of our activists is being deported, which is the worst case scenario if you are arrested.