Reflections after one week

I have been in the West bank just over one week now and I think I can reflect on my first week with a little more confidence in what I write. My aim before i came was not to look at the overall picture of any potential peace for Palestine and how that may be achieved but more to get a better understanding of the day to day lives of ordinary Palestinians trying to go about their lives whilst under a brutal and oppressive occupation. So far I have walked with shepherds in the Southern Hebron hills,picked olives in the northern Nablus region, drunk tea with stall holders in Hebron and had a few encounters with IOF all over the West Bank. I have viewed to continuing construction of the apartheid wall and watched it snake over hill and through valley as I have traveled on the local bus services all from Ramallah to Hebron from Hebron to Nablus. It is omni present and serves not only to contain or ghetto ise the West Bank but to constantly remind Palestinians that they are not free in their own land.

The Palestinians I have had the great pleasure on meeting and eating and drinking with are very proud of their land, their heritage and bear their suffering with a stoicism that beggars belief. After 60 years of occupation reistance is still there, it is localised, it is stronger on some places than others and it is rife with local politics, for example, a demonstration was organised yesterday in a nearbly village in response to settlers chainsawing over 150 olive trees a few days before. The village contains about 1000 people and they were all angry at the destruction from the settlers,at the demo there was only around 40 people because the guy that organised belonged to Fatah and the rest of the villages are of the leftist PFLP. This is not a criticism of the people there but an illustration of the facts as I have seen it. The people are warm, friendly and always want to sit and talk to internationals about their local issues and the bigger picture. They are not the terrorists portrayed by media in most media.

ISM is sometimes chaotic, sometimes ineffective and sometimes cliquey, but it is always passionate about supporting Palestinians, the people with ISM are a weired bunch, students, hippies, pensioners and academics and then theres me! Age wise the youngest I have metis 19 the oldest 75 but all share a burning desire to try and make a difference no matter how small.Long may this continue, one thing about the youngsters with ISM, it does fill me with hope that there are youngsters with a passion to change the world,back in UK it can seen like they are only interested in fame,fashion and fannying about but the future is bright if there are more kids like these here.

The Israelis and I will only talk about the IOF because that has been my experience so far with the exception of one Israeli guy in Susiya who was a great activist for Palestinians. The IOF have an arrogance that only comes with being heavily armed when all around you are not. The control every aspect of Palestian life, travel, work, socialising and play. The settlers have almost total impunity when it comes to attacks on Palestinians and their property. They punish the resistance of demonstrations by invading villages in the dead of night to arrest 16 and 17 year old boys who are coming to the end of their education before going onto Uni, why do this? It stops education dead if you are banged up in Admistrative Detention for 6 months or more.W are expecting more trouble from both the IOF and the settles, especially the settlers as the olive harvest really gets going, many olive fields are close to settlements of the wall and that in itself is cause for the Israelis to go fucking nuts! You have to hand it to the Zionists they are clever, they are playing the long game here, the encirclement of Palestinian towns and villages, the development of settlements and the expansion of existing settlements are designed to squeeze the life out of Palestinians, out of Palestine itself but resistance is there.

I want to touch on the decision of the TUC on the BDS (Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions) taken a couple of weeks ago. This has been huge news over here, Palestinians have been talking of it, Internationals have been talking of the impact of it and of this movement growing. As a Trade Unionist and as a member of the Fire Brigades Union I am proud of my Unions role in this and the people who fought to make this possible,you know who you are and you have played a crucial role in bringing hope to Palestinians, we must follow this up now with clear information on Isralei products, companies and companies who continue to deal with israel. Well done comrades!

And of course the many people back home, your support has been fantastic its difficult at times to remember the extra work people are doing to allow me this fantastic experience, the support of the special people is immense so thanks again.

I am trying to keep these posts interesting and relatively light hearted, my writing style may not be perfect as my 15 year old daughter Elz said " Dad, I am constantly checking them for spelling and grammar".Thanks Elz xx

Its 7.00 am now and today I will be travelling to villages to meet Popular Committee members and community leaders to try and build a picture of who needs help and when over the olive harvesting season and later I will be going to the Fire Station to renew old friendships and hopefully make new ones.I have tried uploading a vid of the kids singing yesterday but with no joy. I will try and do it at the media centre in Ramallah tomorrow or Tuesday.

La Luce Continua