|
|
Another message from Luke, now in Jordan
June 26, 2003 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
Another message from Luke, now in Jordan.
Written 6/21/2003
Passports stamped ENTRY DENIED, the Israeli border police found it a
crime
to visit Lebanon. Even more noteworthy, they find it a crime to convey
the
truth about the occupation, supporting the basic human rights of
Palestinian people; "your kind are not welcome in Israel, not now not
ever."
Now stranded with the wonderful people of Jordan, myself and another
member
of our delegation spent part of the last week visiting Palestinian
refugee
camps in Lebanon, and the southern part of the country that was
liberated
in May of 2000 after 20 years of Israeli occupation.
Several women working for the empowerment of Palestinian women refugees
articulated why they find the living conditions of refugee camps in
Lebanon
to be the worst of the entire Palestinian refugee population.
"We are denied rights of citizenship, Lebanese law prevents us from
working
in 73 professions (those where unions are allowed), after 55 years, we
still
don't have rights to water, electricity, to buy or inherit property."
In the Shatila refugee camp there are over 17,000 people living on 1
square
kilometer. Hot makeshift cinder block buildings rise up six and seven
stories. Many families live in small rooms with no windows to the
outside,
over one-hundred sharing one bathroom and kitchen.
Um Khaled, age 87, displaced in 1948 and living in the Shatila camp
said,
"They told me I would be able to return to my home in Haifa in four
days.
That was many years ago and now I fear I will die here, because I am
not so
well."
While the state of Israel is responsible for creating and upholding
this
refugee crisis for over 55-years, the refugees in Lebanon have been
repressed and attacked from all sides; political factions from the
Lebanese
civil war, the Lebanese military, the Israeli military, and UN-RWA who
continues to reduce their services to the refugees.
Some of the worst atrocities brought upon Palestinian refugees are the
massacres of Sabra and Shatila, where in September of 1982 under the
supervision of Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, the camps were
surrounded with Israeli tanks while the Israeli-allied Philangist
militia
raped and killed up to 11,000 Palestinian refugees. We were taken to
visit the mass grave of those who were killed in the massacres,
thousands
of bodies lay there, no memorial, no names...
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are forced to struggle daily both for
their
civil and human rights within the State of Lebanon, and for their
fundamental right of return. Time and time again we are reminded that
the
rights of 6-million Palestinian refugees can't be ignored forever, "we
will
return to our homes."
In the spirit of justice,
LUKE NEWTON
|
|
One of Adam's gaming friends who lives in Isr...
June 10, 2003 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
One of Adam's gaming friends who lives in Israel sent an email with his condolences for our loss. Robert emailed a month or so ago, and mom and I haven't gotten around to emailing him, so we thought he might like us to post our deepest gratitude for his email. We are sitting in our safe basement, typing away with full awareness of the uncertainties that he and his wife live with. We have friends who have chosen to work on kibbutzes, and other friends who are, at this moment, bearing witness in solidarity to the hardships of life in Palestine. We wish you peace and pray for you in our own little ways. Your thoughts are the greatest gift you could give us.
|
|
A message from Luke:
Hello dear friends-
...
June 06, 2003 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
A message from Luke:
Hello dear friends-
I write to you on the 36th anneversery of the war that began on June 5th 1967, in which the state of Israel occupied the remaining Palestinian territories of Gazza and the West Bank, along with other lands in Egypt,Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
I have attempted each night to record the numerous stories and observations that I have taken in during the early days of my journey, yet after only four days the stories seem to collect at the tip of my pen faster than I can write, coagulating there while many slip from my mind before I get
the chance to commit them to paper. As you read the experiences that I relay to you, please keep in mind that what I write in my reports is but a small selection, a fraction of the stories that are shared with me each day.
All members of our small delegation have arrived safely in Jerusalem, each with varying degrees of interrogation by Israeli security, from 1 to 5 hours. Interrogation at the point of entry is a tactic used to exclude human rights, peace, and liberation advocates from the country. I made my journey from Amman to Jerusalem on the morning of July 1st. On the way to the boarder, I shared a taxi with a former Palestinian professor from Berzeit University near Ramallah. As we drove through the dusty hills, she recounted the way in which she was forced, by the conditions of the occupation, to quit her job as Professor. Prior to the reoccupation of the West Bank her home was but a 15 minute drive from the university, however after the rapid multiplication of checkpoints and settler-only roads, it became physically impossible for her to drive to class. She was forced to allow a 2-hour commute, walking through several checkpoints, down and up steep enbankments transferring to four different taxis, simply to go to
teach each morning. Some days she would be arbitrarily held at checkpoints, missing her classes entirely, other days half of her students would not be able to make it, and not infrequently she and her students would make the entire journey only to be met by soldiers at the university gate,
militarily forcing the closure of the University, denying its students an education in clear violation of international law. ³No one should be expected to live under such conditions. Those like you who have lived
all of their lives with at least the freedom of movement would certainly not do well with such treatment.² I could accompany this story about the inhumanity of checkpoints with at least a dozen others that I have heard in
my first days here. Most notably, in the afternoon of June 2nd on there way home to their families, several hundred Palestinians were forced to sleep on the street when the military closed the Calandia checkpoint near East Jerusalem. Checkpoints are one of the many forceful restrictions on Palestinian freedom that fills people¹s daily conversations.
Descending from the plateau in Jordan down into the valley of the Jordan River we passed a destroyed village, scattered bunkers, and row upon row of razor wire, ominous reminders of the war in 1967 where the eastern shores
of the Jordan River were not able to retain the tide of the Israeli military. Reaching the boarder, our bus was greeted by far more M-16 rifles than smiles. Dawning my tourist hat, I was able to cross the border with relatively little interrogation. With my first step into the occupied West
Bank of Palestine, I waited for a taxi with several Palestinian women with children who had been interrogated and held for over 6 hours. With my first breath of Palestinian air, it became clear that as a white male
and US citizen, I am awarded more rights and better treatment by the Israeli government than Palestinian people who have lived here for countless generations.
I have spent much time walking through the narrow cobbled streets of the Muslim quarter in the old city of Jerusalem; the heart of Palestinian society for several thousand y
|
|
I wanted the family to know that Luke Newton ...
June 03, 2003 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
I wanted the family to know that Luke Newton arrived in Jerusalem yesterday on a solidarity mission to occupied Palestine. To all those who pray, this seems like a good time to start.
Anna made it out safe and sound this morning.
|
|
Older Posts
|
|