The banner

Here is the beautiful banner that the women in Dar Assadaqa have made

Evictions, demolitions and settlements

I am feeling incredibly depressed (and angry)by the blatant acts of inhumanity and ruthlessness being carried out by Israeli government. There are so many incidents of homes literally being stolen in the dead of night and families being turned out of their houses onto the streets. All with the long term view of pushing Palestinians out of Jerusalem - a form of ethnic cleansing. There is also the longer term plan to expand the settlements around Jerusalem and to divide the West Bank physically into two separate pieces.

On Friday I had intended to go on an alternative tour of the activities taking place in East Jerusalem. Unfortunately I missed out on this but I met up with my co-volunteer Jennifer. The day before she had witnessed how settlers had broken into an upstairs flat in the old city by actually breaking down the wall. The owner was not present as he had been in the process of renovating it and had been staying with his mother when the incident happened. When Jennifer arrived at the scene along with other international volunteer observers soldiers were actually present to protect the intruders!

We went to another area in Sheikh Jarrah, where I think 27 houses have been served with demolition orders. Although residents have lived there for 55 years ownership of the land is disputed as newly arrived settlers are claiming rights and there are plans to build a large settlement and a park. One family has already been evicted with the consequence of the husband dying of a heart attack and she now lives in a tent that has been erected in an adjacent piece of land. The tent acts as a community centre for the neighbourhood committee as well as a campaign headquarters. We visited another home where the family is awaiting imminent eviction. This usually happens at night so a member of the International Solidarity Movement usually sleeps over with the family to witness such an occurance. This is just one area where Palestinians are being forced out of their homes. Its happening all over East Jerusalem. In the Salwan district another 200 families are facing demolition of their homes - the excuse being that they did not have planning permission to build extensions on to their houses. Planning permission is a long and convoluted process and is rarely granted to Palestinians. For Israelis on the other hand it seems to be a fairly simple, straight forward process judging by the rate of settlement growth!


The group of teachers from Camden arrived yesterday - Its a British Council funded trip and they are staying in a hotel in Jerusalem but will be spending time in various schools here. There are 4 schools in Abu ~Dis that are twinned with schools in Camden so this visit will strengthen these links. As usual I think CADFA have produced an intense and very useful programme. We met up with them yesterday for an introductory meeting and a meal. They were all pretty weary having arrived at 5.30am at the airport. I believe they visited Bethlehem, Hebron and Ramullah today!!

This a time of wind-down and separation for me - a time for saying good-bye. My arabic is still next to nothing - so difficult to retain new words. When I think I can count easily up to 10 one day, the next day it has completely gone. Old age ?? I must take lessons before I come again and also organise some while I am here.

I think thats all for now. Will see many of you soon!! Probably another blog before I go!

A visit to Hebron, Mother's Day and gender roles

I spent a very relaxing weekend with Asmaa's family in Hebron. I had met Asmaa in London when she, Beesan and Summa had come to London as representatives of their particular towns for the Twinning Network visit to UK last November and they had stayed with me at Ampton Street. She has recently graduated from university and is currently trying to find a scholarship to further study in UK. She is the eldest of six, two girls and four boys. Such a charming family particularly the two younger boys who totally won my heart.

Fridays are like our Sundays used to be - a family day with all shops and public places closed. We did, however, go to a "children's party" - at least that is how they described it when they asked if I wanted to go.Well it turned out to be quite a formal occasion with political and civic dignitaries making long speeches followed by a karate display by the local sports club. As I have never actually watched a karate contest I found this bit quite interesting. The family also watched a fair amount of TV in the evening - mostly drama from ~Egypt and Syria.


On Saturday morning Asmaa and I went to the old city and to Abraham mosque. The mosque is very ancient and contains the tombs of Abraham and Isaac as well as Adam and Eve! The building is divided into two - half for Moslem worshippers and half for Jews. Because of these religious connections there is a Jewish settlement actually within the city and to ensure their safety there are many more soldiers than there are settlers. Their presence is very intrusive and they even control the entrance to the mosque itself. A neighbouring house to Asmaa's was recently forcibly taken over and the occupiers turned out by the Israelis for use as an army headquarters. I find it incredible that these actions are accountable to no one or no law - just the law of the gun!


We also walked in the old city which was comparitively deserted with a few struggling tourist shops, as with the current conflict, few visitors are coming. Such a pity! We emerged into the busy market area of Hebron - everything made in China of course!

Shop selling embroidery by a Women's C0-0perative

Mothers' Day
I got back to Abu Dis just in time to attend another "party" held by the local general trade union for Mothers' Day. More speeches by dignatories, Koran glorifying the mother, poems and songs and a Dabka dance performed by our local youngsters. A good gathering but difficult if you don't understand the language!

Boys from Dar Assadaqa dancing Dabka

Women's roles
Of course women are honoured highly in this culture for the role they perform within the family and home but times must change even in Palestine. I observed in Asmaa's family how it is the girls who wait on the boys hand and foot. They pick up the cups, pour the tea, clean, wash up, cook,etc etc and nothing is expected of the boys. They both have the same educational commitment and future job aspirations, but their roles in the home is traditionally gender based. Women constitute 60% of university students. I was recently shocked by the attitude of a group of 16 year old girls who I teach when I pointed this out to them. They felt that this was absolutely as it should be; it was the role of women to look after men, men who cooked and did domestic things weren't real men. However I think their attitude will change in the future if they go on to higher education because all the uni graduates I have talked with do not think this - in fact one of them told me that if they have sons in the future they will train them do most of the chores as home rather than the girls. The times they are a-changing!

VISITING NABLUS

I've just got back from visiting my friend Beesan in Nablus, the second largest city in the West Bank. Although the journey was smooth and easy there was just a little hiccup at the end. In the shared taxi from Ramullah to Nablus I got to know a very lovely and friendly woman, Samira. There is an Israeli check-point just outside Nablus where everyone has to get out of their vehicles and walk to the other side of the barrier where they are either met by friend or family or you have to take another cab. Well, although I had talked with Bessan at the start of the journey and had agreed to talk again when I neared Nablus so she could meet me or give me instructions on where to go, when we arrived at this place the Jawal phone network was down. I did not have her address or even her family name so I would have been completely stuck if Samera had not come to my rescue! She was met by her brother and took me in their car to another brother who had an office in town. They were very reassuring and told me not to worry it would get sorted. While we were drinking tea we eventually made contact with Beesan and they drove me to meet her outside the university. Thank you Samira and your brothers! We spent the evening "out on the town" in various places - first of all we met up with some very interesting people in a very authentic old hotel/bar. There was someone who is developing projects based on learning through international relationships and at present is working on a specifice EU North/South initiative where he is hoping to bring together young people from two countries in Europe (UK and France) and 2 countries south of Europe(Palestine and Tunisia) to spend time living together and learning from each other. Getting to know and understand different cultures through personal contact is surely the way forward. We also met a lively young woman who is developing an "Education for All " UN project which will monitor how students life is disrupted by delays at check points causing students to lose the required number of hours for their courses and also often missing their final exams. There was a bunch of Edinburgh uni students as well. We went on to have a meal in another new restaurant but with traditional cuisine.

I spent Friday with Beesan's family and her best friend. She has 2 sisters and a younger brother. They are great in their own individual ways - the warrier and searcher, the artist and the spiritual seeker, and Alla, the best friend was a delight. All unconventional and working out their own way, not easy in Arab society. Beesan's mother is a an absolute fighter - a member of the Palestinian Parliament - working toward liberation and full emancipation of women within Palestinian society. Even on Friday she was out giving speeches to students. I enjoyed a splendid leisurely Palestinian breakfast with eggs, aubergine, very tasty spinach-type dish, cheese, olives, tomatoes and flat bread. Toward the end of the afternoon we went for a walk in the mountains. It only takes a short time to get out of the city and we walked up the mountain. Spring was springing all around -the tiniest, brightest poppies you ever did see and little miniature irises and cyclamen. We climbed to the top of a rock with magnificent views and watched the sun set over the sea in the distance. Of course I forgot to bring my camera but when Beesan sends me copies of hers I will insert them in here.



Already only four weeks left of my stay! I can't believe it! I am enjoying being here so much and not looking forward to getting back to my little flat in London. I'll be going to Hebron this coming weekend so wait for the next episode!

Women's Voices

Last Tuesday we finally managed to complete and print the magazine - Woman's Voice - ready to go to London with women from the twinning network. The women at the centre had been writing their contributions over the last few months but it was quite a task to get them all word processed, translated and ready for printing. New bits were still being added on the last day. About ten days before, I learnt that Hiba, one of the women going to England, was graduating in graphic design and I asked her to help us with the final production. She designed the beautiful cover. I felt quite delighted to see the final product. Well done to all those who put their hard work into it!

Last week I went down the valley and discovered a part of Abu Dis that I hadn't been to. A narrow lane winds down and there are many old houses dropping down the hillside. We visited one at the end of the lane which was in fact an old farm house. There were sheep and goats in the barn and some very noisy dogs greeted us. The main room of the house was about a 5 metre square with a domed roof of mud construction with very thick walls at least 1 metre and arched windows. It was so warm and comfortable without any of the heating of a modern house. Towards the evening the men of the house sit around a brazier smoking their shish and later apparently they bring the glowing embers into the house and the walls must absorb the heat and store it letting out the heat during the day. It is strange to find the old mixed up with the new - in a corner there was a computer and in another the tv. They have built a kitchen and bathroom extension on too. However cheese is still made in the traditional way and they took me to show me some of the other old tools including the hand turning mill for grain. I think the family enjoy a simple and natural way of life.

The next big event of last week was International Women's Day celebration on Saturday. We had planned it to coincide with the one at the Calthorpe Project. This was a joint event between CADFA and Calthorpe and the Palestinian women who are visiting the UK talked about their experiences as part of the very varied programme of storytelling, window box planting, pesto making, Palestinian food, singing and dance. I gather that people attending the event were deeply moved by the Palestinian stories, particularly the one from Hiba whose mother was killed by Israeli soldiers who invaded her house while she was trying to protect her grand children. Her story is told in "Woman's Voice" magazine which is available from CADFA. It was planned to have a live video link between the two centres. Unfortunately this did not quite work out as a result of some technical difficulties so we were only able to exchange live messages but we had some fun doing that as women from both places were able to send their individual messages. Over the last couple of months both organisations had been selling raffle tickets to raise money to make a garden and playspace at Dar Assadaqa. It looks like we have raised around £400 - enough to hire a bulldozer to flatten the front for a games area and hopefully some play equipment and some garden tools.

In Dar Assadaqa we also planned a garden event. The garden has been quite neglected and lots of rubbish has accumulated so we planned a "clean-up the garden day". Unfortunately this turned out to be a wintry, rainy day. So a couple of days before the celebration the women and some of the kids spent an hour or so doing a basic clearance. We invited women to come along and bring plants and seeds or young trees to plant on the day. We had quite a selection including geraniums, quite a few sedums, rose cuttings, vines, a small fig tree and a lemon tree. In contrast to the previous week the day was like a hot summer's day. When 3 o'clock arrived, the appointed starting time of the celebration there were no garden tools and only one of the committee members present. However everything turned out fine and we finally have the start of a garden.




On 8th of March I, Jennifer (the new volunteer) and Nadia went to Ramallah for an International Women's Day gathering. Many different women attended. They gathered in the main square of the city which has four lion sculptures, similar to our Trafalgar Square on a small scale!

Fathya dresses me up in a "thob" of her mother's

Haja Sharifa, one of the oldest residence of Abu Dis, remembers when it was just a short walk to Jerusalem before the wall cut off the road and she used to go there to sell her cheese in the market. She has bitter memories of both the British and the Israeli occupation but still looks forward to a free Palestine.

This is a view from the balcony of the guest house over Jerusalem at sunset.

The weather the last couple of days has been glorious - beautifully sunny and warm. Unfortunately the guest house faces north so it is difficult to know what to put on in the morning as it always feels cold inside. So I layer up only to find that I'm stripping off as soon as I go outside.

Yesterday afternoon was the first birthday of Jamila's first grandson Fathi. So this was a reason for a big family party to which I was invited. A huge spread of delicious food, balloons and an enormous cake. Little Fathi was the centre of attention and he was so cool - being held aloft by all his uncles and grandfather while the birthday song was sung - so completely unphased by the fuss and the people. The palestine family is so important and quite often each family within the extended family have separate houses but close to each other. Jamila lives just next to her son's family and and across the road from her sister, whom we went to visit later after the party.

Her sister's son, Hamam, was home for the weekend from the rehabilitation centre where he is recovering from very serious brain injuries inflicted on him by "rubber" bullets fired by an Israeli soldier. He is just a young guy of 18 years and he was involved in a protest against the Israeli agression in Gaza when he was shot in the head, the bullet going straight through his skull, apparently taking a fragment of his brain out with it on its tragectory. It was uncertain whether he was going to live but the body is quite remarkable in its ability to heal and although he is having difficulties with his speech and muscular control he is improving week by week. A lovely guy with great spirit - due to take his final school exams this year.

Today, Saturday, we met as the women's group. We are planning an event for international women's day to run concurrently with the one at Calthorpe. Like Calthorpe we are basing it around growing and planting for the garden. We are thinking to ask women to bring seeds, plants and possibly a tree as we don't have funds to buy stuff. We talked about the infertile and dry soil in the garden and N'ama suggested we get some good sheep manure from her home. So we all trouped round to her house. She lives in the old part of Abu Dis in an old house made of clay with domed roofs. Najah took some photos and I will try to insert a picture later.

School starts at 8am so tomorrow I must be up and ready to leave by 7.30 am as I will spend the morning at the UN school. So I will sign off for today.

The Wall, the Prisoners' Museum, Al Quds University and the Arab Institute

Yesterday began with a tour of the wall and the Prisoners' Museum. I met up with Abed, our "tour Guide" and also Salah Ayaad, an elder of Abu Dis together with Christian group (I mentioned in an earlier blog) at 9am in Azeria. We saw how the main road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem has been cut by the wall, there no longer being a direct route but lengthy diversions around. Consequently what had been a thriving commercial centre has become blighted with abandoned shops. We viewed other parts of the wall where single houses as well as whole village communities had been divided off leaving some people on the west side (Jerusalem side) with green (palestinian) IDs who are not allowed to walk out from their own premises into the street, thus making them prisoners in their own homes. Some people on the east side who held blue IDs when the wall was built are in danger of losing them which would in effect make them stateless and having to take on Jordanian nationality. This is all very complicated but I guess you have got the idea of the difficulties the wall has caused. Before the wall(2002) it was possible to cross over the line on foot but now there is only one checkpoint to enter Jerusalem requiring a huge diversion from Abu Dis.

We then went to the Prisoners Museum - very interesting architecture designed to reflect prison life. Obviously this was quite grim viewing, both Abed and Salah had some horrific stories of their time spent as prisoners of the Israelis eg being shut in a "cupboard" only just big enough to hold a man sitting down and being left in it for 48 hours in the desert with temperatures rising to 50 degrees in the day and freezing temperatures at night!! However just as happened in S.Africa"s Robyn Island prison can also be an educational experience as professors, doctors etc are also inmates. There were examples of paintings and books that had been produced and published by ex-prisoners. I believe there are 80 people from Abu Dis presently being held in Isaraeli jails.

The museum is set within the campus of Al Quds University. This is very modern and newly built as the original university was sliced in two by the wall. It is very beautifully laid out with courtyards with fountains and landscaping between the different buildings. There are 10,000 students. The university accounts for the recent expansion of Abu Dis. There is a lot of new building. Old Abu Dis was a very quiet and clean village with solid houses built of stone many with the traditional domed roofs.

I enjoyed meeting the Christian monitoring group, two men, American and English, and 2 women from Norway and Sweden. They are here for 3 months as well so our paths are likely to cross again.

I then went to teach my first lesson at the Arab Institute - group of 14 year olds - very keen and polite. So I think we will get along fine together. I then went and had lunch at the house where the orpans live, meat stew and rice, quite a welcome change from my staple of humous, falefel and vegetables. Afterwards I taught this group of young scallywags, mostly 12 years old and we had a lot of fun even if it was a bit chaotic.

Blue and Green IDs

On reading through my last blog I discovered that a whole paragraph seemed to have disappeared! Probably as a result of my messing about inserting photos which ended up in quite the wrong positions anyway.

What I had wanted to tell you is about the heart ache and misery a lot of families go through as a result of having different colour IDs. Many people living in Abu Dis were born in Jerusalem and there families still live there. Before they built the wall it was just a short walk to get there. In 2000 Israel tightened up access to East Jerusalem. Those on the Jerusalem side were registered with blue IDs and those on the Palestinian side with green ones. If you have a green ID you cannot enter Jerusalem except with a permit issued only for medical reasons. Many people who worked in Jerusalem no longer had a livelyhood. Also husbands and wives found themselves with different IDs. Many who want to maintain there blue status have to show evidence that their established home is in Jerusalem and this means they have to spend time in two places so they cannot have a normal family life and it has put much strain on relationships. Others have forfeited the blue cards in order to marry and live with their spouse in Abu Dis and in doing so have been separated from their families, never being able to visit them. Everyone I meet has a story of separation. Its such a tragedy!

Its just started to rain and there has been some thunder while I've been writing this blog. Hurray! It doesn't seem to be very heavy but lets hope it continues.

A day in Jerusalem

Today I had to take some visa applications to the British consulate in Jerusalem. These were for the women who are due to travel to UK as a twinning link delegation in March to particpate in events around International Women's week. The women represent 10 different towns in Palestine that are twinned with an equal number of towns in the UK ranging from Pendle in the north of England to Brighton in the south. I had met them during the week and assisted them in completing their very lengthy visa applications. As they are all resident in Palestine they cannot travel to Jerusalem themselves as they don't hold a blue ID card.

So this morning I took the number 36 bus which should have dropped me off just by the consulate but the driver forgot to tell me so I ended up at Damascus Gate and had to take another bus. However everything was quite straight forward and then I walked back again to D.G. to look around the market. I have never seen such abundance of fruit and vegetables, and the sizes - enormous cauliflowers, giant pomegranites and big "ugly fruit?" (look like over-sized grapefruits) Then I had a cappucino in the Jerusalem Hotel and then just sat on a bench enjoying the bright sunshine and the blue, blue sky, watching the people go by.

As the schools and university have been on mid year break I have been able to spend time getting to know everyone at Dar Assadaqa. We have measured up the site and I started to talk to the children about how they would like to see the garden. I think everyone agrees that first it needs to be protected by a good wall or fence with a gate. At the moment people walk through as a short cut and also throw their rubbish. There has been very little rain this year, they say they have never known it to be like this. The ground is very dry and dusty and usually at this time of year it should green and full of life. There are still a few months left for the weather to change, so lets hope.

On Wednesday the women made a tableau to match that made by CADFA in London demanding that Israel should be brought to account for war crimes in Gaza. See photo.


So another Friday is coming to an end! I have been here over a week and I am getting used being here and looking forward to the coming week.

Sunday 25th January

Well, here I am. Its a beautiful morning - sun is shining and the air is clear and it is warm - at last!!! Yesterday I have never been so cold despite layers of clothing my fingers were like icicles even indoors. Cold hands, warm heart as they say! and the hearts are really warm. I have had a wonderful welcome everywhere.

The first day, Friday, is a holiday. So after settling in at the guest house and a good breakfast of felafels and palestinian sessame bread and pottering around the flat Fatya and Naja arrived with lunch - upside down chicken and rice dish- everything cooked in one pot and then turned out onto a dish - very delicious. We went and visited relatives of Naja and in the evening Ahmed and Salah visited. I felt very welcome.

Then yesterday we started the day at Friendship House early at 9am with a meeting with a group from a unitarian peace organisation who monitor check-points and visit prisoners etc. They apparently do 3 months stints and there will be a change over next week so the new volunteers came with the ones who are about to depart. Apparently an Israeli peace group ( Women in Black) demonstrate in Jeruasalem every Friday and this group support them as they suffer a lot of abuse particular during this aggressive war with Gaza. Quite a lot of yesterday I helped women who will be going to UK for International Women's Week in March as part of the twinning network with applying for their visas. I also met the women's committee to discuss what activities we would be doing. Priority being the magazine but we also talked about developing the garden and also learning some tai chi. Then I met with the drama group that consist of young people who will be coming to Camden in June and performing a play. I will be giving them English classes teaching them language that will be useful for their visit. There are about 16 of them and only 8 will be able to go - my opinion will be part of the selection process. We will probably divide the group into 2 as it would be quite chaotic to teach such a big group particularly as their knowledge of English is quite diverse. So that was my first day!

When I got home Salah, a young computer expert and my neighbour, came over to install the internet connection. So I'm now connected to the world. I messed about with it last night and was surprised that I could not get connection to BBC radio programmes.

As I said today is bright and warm. So when I arrived at the centre I thought about the garden around the centre and how we should go about it. The children are having an extra week holiday so I think it will be a good project to measure the site and make a large scale model so we can discuss what kind of spaces people would like there (planniung for real a la Calthorpe). I have drawn a rough sketch and hopefully tomorrow we will have a good tape measure for measuring the site. There are some lovely olive trees, a good terrrace up to the house and a well, so there should be a plentiful supply of water for the plants. I will take some photos and post them on this site. I talked with a bunch of kids today and they are quite keen.

So that's all for the moment. I'd be glad of any comments you might have.