Well there was an unexpected event in the night, it pissed it down, the roof sleepers in the flat were scurrying for cover as the heavens opened but I remained tucked up oblivious to it all. Up at 5.30 to travel again to Sarrah for another day of picking. The weather was cloudy and cool for a change as we made our way through the village down the track to the trees which is about 1 mile away, I have done some bloody walking the last couple of weeks!
Anyway we waited for the farmers to show up and as there had been the late changes last night things were a tad confused! Eventually a family from the nearby village of Tell arrived and asked if we would join them in an area next to the road just opposite from the settlement. The family consited of Dad, Mum, Son and Sister in Law and we happily agreed to go with them.
Just as we were setting up a kerfuffle stirred through the Palestinians as a wild boar charged through what remained of the undergrowth, not towards us but about 20 ft away. I can tell you they are fearsome buggers with a head like toilet cistern with tusks! I didnt really have time to react because it was so quick but the Palestinians tols us later that a guy had been killed by one last year and that they had been introduced by the Israelis to try to put off Palestinians from working their land, I dont know if this is true but if it is it is another example of the total occupation of the Palestinian lands. The picking was quite today and when we finished we went back to the families house and as all Palestinians have been there were so warm, friendly and generous. We had coffee and the fruit off the cactus growing in their garden, and amazing experience and no hassle from settlers or army which is also amazing! long may it continue but experience of the long term ISMers is that this will change as the DCO dates get changed.
Tomorrow I have to go the British Embassy in Jerusalem to try and sort the visas of the 8 Nablus firefighters who are coming to the UK on the 23rd, time is getting on and their visas still havent been processed so off I am popping to see whoever and try and get them asap!
I am really knackered tonight, a combination of early starts, manual labour, although D1 and me have tried to get a clipboard and cap to make us look like overseers, and plenty of exercise, no booze and healthy food, I have even started eating bloody sunflower seeds!
I think an early night is on the cards and on this note I will sign off for now.....tata
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Monday, 5 October 2009
Devils on horseback
Sarrah (pronounced Sar- rah) is a village to the west of Nablus that houses around 3,000 people. It is perched on the ridge of a hill overlooking 2 valleys. The one to the east has rolling land with hundreds maybe thousands of olive trees owned by and farmed by the locals, this area is relatively stable. To the west is an entirely different story, there is a track from Sarrah leading to the olive trees is strewn with tear gas canisters and bears the signs of fire as settlers have tried sometimes successfully and sometimes not to destroy the trees of the Palestinians. The olive fields here is divided by a road leading to nearby settlements. Picking on the Sarrah is dangerous for Palestinians as there is a nearby settler outpost, built illegally but there nonetheless. Picking on the opposite side of the road is almost impossible as the settlers continuously harrass the farmers whose land this legally is. Today me and D1 had to go to monitor, de escalate (where possible) and to give some protection to the local Palestinians. The IOF had given permission by the DCO for picking on both sides of the road. As we arrived there was a heavy IOF prescence by the crossing point to contain the 15 or so settlers who were hurling abuse and trying unsuccessfully to get to the Palestinians. D1 and me watched from a close distance and they werent happy at all at this, its a good job my delicate ears could not understand Hebrew as I am sure it wasnt complimentary.
As we were watching two settlers on horseback came down the track from the outpost, we couldnt tell from the distance we were at is they were armed or not but is was likely that they were but this could not be confirmed. The IOF had, army, border police and police in attendance and they did offer some protection to the farmers but this is only because they had permission from the DCO. This permission can be granted or refused at the will of the Fat Controller. As I write this about 10 villages have just had their DCO changed and the number of villages now picking tomorrow has risen from2 to about 12. The impact on these communities is huge, any plans they may have had for tomorrow will now have to be changed to allow them to pick THEIR olives off THEIR lands at hte whim of the IOF Fat Controller. Of course they can pick olives on non DCO days but they will not have any protection and be at the mercy of the Devils on Horseback. The IOF are also wary of internationals here, they have designated Closed Military Zones which means that Internationals are not allowed to enter or film, again increasing the risk to Palestinians.
We had previously agreed to split our group here in Nablus to allow 2 people to attend a demo in support of 3 Palestinians in jail who have been refused treatment for cancer! This will now be changes as it is all hands to the fields so to speak as we are to get to as many villages as we can along with other inernational groups.
I know this isnt the cheeriest post on here, but things are a tad tense round here as we try to cover all these villages with a handful of ISMers.
I am sure we will manage it but tomorrow looks like being a mad day all round. So I am off to pack my day sack and try and work out where the hell we are all going tomorrow.
Have fun and thanks for spreading the blog around!
PS. I am now looking for donkey and a pea shooter! Any ideas?
As we were watching two settlers on horseback came down the track from the outpost, we couldnt tell from the distance we were at is they were armed or not but is was likely that they were but this could not be confirmed. The IOF had, army, border police and police in attendance and they did offer some protection to the farmers but this is only because they had permission from the DCO. This permission can be granted or refused at the will of the Fat Controller. As I write this about 10 villages have just had their DCO changed and the number of villages now picking tomorrow has risen from2 to about 12. The impact on these communities is huge, any plans they may have had for tomorrow will now have to be changed to allow them to pick THEIR olives off THEIR lands at hte whim of the IOF Fat Controller. Of course they can pick olives on non DCO days but they will not have any protection and be at the mercy of the Devils on Horseback. The IOF are also wary of internationals here, they have designated Closed Military Zones which means that Internationals are not allowed to enter or film, again increasing the risk to Palestinians.
We had previously agreed to split our group here in Nablus to allow 2 people to attend a demo in support of 3 Palestinians in jail who have been refused treatment for cancer! This will now be changes as it is all hands to the fields so to speak as we are to get to as many villages as we can along with other inernational groups.
I know this isnt the cheeriest post on here, but things are a tad tense round here as we try to cover all these villages with a handful of ISMers.
I am sure we will manage it but tomorrow looks like being a mad day all round. So I am off to pack my day sack and try and work out where the hell we are all going tomorrow.
Have fun and thanks for spreading the blog around!
PS. I am now looking for donkey and a pea shooter! Any ideas?
Sunday, 4 October 2009
Nablus Fire Station revisited
Time has a different meaning in Palestine than back home. An example of which happened this morning, we were supposed to meet our Nablus contact at 9..45 to tour round the villages to assess the situation and need for ISMers to attend with harvesting which meant that although we were there our contact didnt pitch up until 11, inshalla! This meant that as I wanted to go to the Fire Station and has arranged to meet Shams there before he went off duty, I couldnt be sure we would be back from the villages so we consensually agreed that I would go off to the station and the other 3 would do the villages.
Off I trotted through the increasing heat and found the station about 500M from our apartment, result! I met Shams and the other firefighters who I last saw 5 years ao and some new recruits there. It was great and I was made to feel extremeley welcome as always, questions were asked about John McGhee, Kev Brown, Dave Chapell and Ken Ross as they have all visited in the last two years and about the training to carried out in the UK at then end of the month for 8 firefighters for 4 weeks. This has been organised by the 4 people mentioned previously and a massive thanks for this. The nablus firefighters are very excited though my description of Scotland and the north of England weather wise in November had them mentally changing their packing details, more hats, more gloves and more jumpers!
The station has been extended since my last visit with new offices adjacent to the main building but the generosity of the people here hasnt. This is the first time in Europe for these guys and all down to the FBU who have organised what looks like a superb programme of professional development and political and social events which really is the FBU at its best.
I am going back there later for a meal and to spend time with comrades and friends as I may be heading back down to Hebron later in the week as we have no ISMers there at the moment due to having no accomodation, but once that is sorted ISM will be back in Hebron just as the Golani (IOF equivalent of the Paras or Bootnecks) start a tour down south which will make for interesting times!
I now need to get some washing done (by hand!!!!!) as my pants....well you dont need to know really!
Have fun in windswept UK.....tata
Off I trotted through the increasing heat and found the station about 500M from our apartment, result! I met Shams and the other firefighters who I last saw 5 years ao and some new recruits there. It was great and I was made to feel extremeley welcome as always, questions were asked about John McGhee, Kev Brown, Dave Chapell and Ken Ross as they have all visited in the last two years and about the training to carried out in the UK at then end of the month for 8 firefighters for 4 weeks. This has been organised by the 4 people mentioned previously and a massive thanks for this. The nablus firefighters are very excited though my description of Scotland and the north of England weather wise in November had them mentally changing their packing details, more hats, more gloves and more jumpers!
The station has been extended since my last visit with new offices adjacent to the main building but the generosity of the people here hasnt. This is the first time in Europe for these guys and all down to the FBU who have organised what looks like a superb programme of professional development and political and social events which really is the FBU at its best.
I am going back there later for a meal and to spend time with comrades and friends as I may be heading back down to Hebron later in the week as we have no ISMers there at the moment due to having no accomodation, but once that is sorted ISM will be back in Hebron just as the Golani (IOF equivalent of the Paras or Bootnecks) start a tour down south which will make for interesting times!
I now need to get some washing done (by hand!!!!!) as my pants....well you dont need to know really!
Have fun in windswept UK.....tata
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
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
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Picking Olives from a tree - To the tune of "Picking mussels from a shell"
And if the headline doesnt mean anything to you try looking up "Squeeze" on YouTube! My first full day in Nablus and it wasnt spent in Nablus. Before I go into the days events I want to expand a bit on what ISM does and how we operate on the West Bank, I think its only fair that any followers know the basics. ISM is a non violent group that shows solidarity to and support for Palestinians that match the non violent aspirations of ISM. We are Palestinian lead and only work with organisations that operate within communities such as Popular Committees. We work in regional groups,as I am now in Nablus we cover the Nablus region. We work as an affinity group with consensual decisons made without a leader! This can be a tad difficult when a quick decision needs to made, but I know that feeling well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway on to today, we had two actions to perform, one working with farmers harvesting their Olive crop in the village of Qusim on the outskirts of Nablus and a demo in Burin. There are 5 of us in Nablus and so we consensually agreed to split with 3 of us going farming and 2 going to the demo.
I got the plum role of picking olives in the backing sun for 8 hours, though I didnt pick that many as the Palestinians consisted of 3 women and about 10 kids, I hope to put a vid on of the kids singing when I learn how to do this later tonight! I got the job of childrens entertainer and tried in vain to teach them a couple of Burnley songs, but I am going to be here for a while so the will learn the words to "No Nay Never"!
The area where the olive trees are is close to the settlement and the army and settlers constantly harrass and stop the Palestinians from harvesting their crop, though today was quiet on that score. The area comes under the DCO or District Commanding Officer, think of the Fat Controller with fuck off big guns! He can and does put some pretty amazing restrictions on when and where the farmers can harvest. For example, he can say that they can only harvest on a Friday and that only the oldest and youngest members of that family can go into the groves. This does happen regularly and unsurprisingly has a massive impact on the economic well being of the families concerned.
A word about the kids, my Arabic is non existant and their English not much better but communicated by me putting olives in my eyes and genrally messing about, they started to call me Meester John, which gave me an idea for the Regional Committee....but maybe not! My comrades today were F a Canadian 75 year old and F A German Muslim woman.
We got fed around 11, a meal prepared in the fields consisting of bread, eggs,a tomotoe stew thing, cauliflower and sliced fried potatoes! My eyes lit up...........Chip Butties! Northern heaven! They did taste amazing even without salt.
So blog followers, random browsers and Zionist commentators. I am going to leave it there and try to work out how to put vid and pics on the previous posts. Thanks for following this journey so far and for the comments, they are all welcome, well some are!
One final thing: Burnley maintained their 100% home record and a place in the Europa League beckons for 2010! UTC!
I got the plum role of picking olives in the backing sun for 8 hours, though I didnt pick that many as the Palestinians consisted of 3 women and about 10 kids, I hope to put a vid on of the kids singing when I learn how to do this later tonight! I got the job of childrens entertainer and tried in vain to teach them a couple of Burnley songs, but I am going to be here for a while so the will learn the words to "No Nay Never"!
The area where the olive trees are is close to the settlement and the army and settlers constantly harrass and stop the Palestinians from harvesting their crop, though today was quiet on that score. The area comes under the DCO or District Commanding Officer, think of the Fat Controller with fuck off big guns! He can and does put some pretty amazing restrictions on when and where the farmers can harvest. For example, he can say that they can only harvest on a Friday and that only the oldest and youngest members of that family can go into the groves. This does happen regularly and unsurprisingly has a massive impact on the economic well being of the families concerned.
A word about the kids, my Arabic is non existant and their English not much better but communicated by me putting olives in my eyes and genrally messing about, they started to call me Meester John, which gave me an idea for the Regional Committee....but maybe not! My comrades today were F a Canadian 75 year old and F A German Muslim woman.
We got fed around 11, a meal prepared in the fields consisting of bread, eggs,a tomotoe stew thing, cauliflower and sliced fried potatoes! My eyes lit up...........Chip Butties! Northern heaven! They did taste amazing even without salt.
So blog followers, random browsers and Zionist commentators. I am going to leave it there and try to work out how to put vid and pics on the previous posts. Thanks for following this journey so far and for the comments, they are all welcome, well some are!
One final thing: Burnley maintained their 100% home record and a place in the Europa League beckons for 2010! UTC!
Friday, 2 October 2009
Settlers to left of me IOF to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with ewe!
And a special credit to Trace for that little gem! My second day in Hebron and I was asked to go to a small camp called Susiya south of Hebron where farmers had left the nearby town of Yatta in 1987 to camp out on their land as they were afraid that if they didnt the Israelies would take it, they have been there since. The camp itself consists of about 10 families scattered around a couple of vallies about 4km from the 1948 border or the Green Line.I tavelled with a Spanish activist who spoke Arabic which was a real bonus as I am from Colne and have yet to master English as my daughter Elz (her spelling!) told me earlier! So what did we do in Susiya? The main task is to walk with the shepards as the feed their flock twice a day, once at 6am....thats right 6 in the AM! and again mid afternoon. The reason for this is that on more days than not there will be either violence from the nearby settlements or hassle from the IOF. We arrived quite late in the afternoon and missed the afternoon sheep wandering but had an amazing dinner cooked by on of the familes, their accomodation is basic but the warmth and hospitality was immense. Why is it the people with the least give the most?
My first mornings sheep wanderings went off without incident, however as we arrived back at the family camp we were staying a neighbouring farmer shouted that he was being attacked by settlers, we ran to the guy and saw two settlers disappearing to the nearby Police outpost, our local contact called the police and the army arrived within minutes, followed shortly after by the rozzers! As we were talking to the army the settlers shot past in a car, we photgraphed it and waited for the fuzz. When they turned up the farmer explained what had happened and that we had a picture of their car, "Ah" said Inspector Morse, " a picture isnt evidence, but come with us to the local police station and we will take a statement". Our farmer friend did just that, only to be arrested on suspicion of attacking the settlers, as they had said that an unarmed shepard had attacked them! Its a weird sort of law out here, more of which later.
The nearby village of Atwani (my spelling may be wrong) was visited a couple of weeks ago by the Prince of Peace, Tony Blair so it shouldnt be too long before the situation is sorted and we can all go home!
The picture above was taken yesterday afternoon whilst on sheep patrol,Yousefs son brought out the tea pot some glasses and we sat and made tea whilst the sheep ate and shat all around us. I will use another post to update what happened this morning and where I am now, trying my best to keep up to date. see ya in a bit
The School Run
Well after 4 days in the South Hebron hills in the camp of Susiya I am now back in Ramallah before heading up to Nablus, I have showered for the first time in 4 days and had a decent Arabic coffee and am waiting until D1 returns from visiting his mate here in the city so as I have alot to catch up I thought I would make a start.
Anyone who knows me knows that me and kids are not all that compatable, we get along in small doses but they really are too noisy and cant make cofee all that well but I cannot stand by and watch them abused in anyway, I guess we are all like that, well most of us! Every school day in Hebron the first job of the day for ISMers and other groups such as the Christian Peace Team (I know I know!) monitor the various checkpoints that the kids have to cross to ensure that they are not uneccessarily detained, these are infant and junios school aged kids not the surly teenage ones, little under 10 kids. So on my first morning D1, D2 and me made our way down to the Abramini mosque area to meet up with the CPT and split for checkpoint monitoring. Not a lot happend the kids who are used even at that ages of heavily armed soldiers blocking their way to school, got through ok with little or no hassle from the IOF. After things had quietned we were stood talking to the CPT a woman from the US and a guy with dual Palestinian and US citizenship. One of the IOF decided that the guy from the CPT looked alittle too Arabic for his liking and called him over and demanded that he leave the area, the CPT guy showed the squaddie his American passport but this did not deter our military muppet and he tried to isolate the CPT guy from the rest of us which we werent having, anyway to cut a long story short things got a little fractious and D2 got detained the CPT guy got released and after 10mins or so of me and D1 arguing with the copper that had turned up D2 was also released after being told that if they saw him there agiain they would lock him up "for the rest of your life". Any way we wandered off and decided we wanted to go meet some people in the old market which meant that we had to pass the scene of the shenanigans. Which we did and guess what? D2 didnt get locked up even for a minute let alone the rest of his life!
I guess that this for me was something different, something I could get involved in and try to make a difference howver small, but for Palestinians who go through this day after day with no hope of it ending anytime soon the despair and degredation must be immense. In 3 weeks I will come home in 3 years they will still be going throught his day after day week after week.
When I got to Ramallah and cehcked me emails someone had commented anonymously on my first post and it wasnt complementary, I pondered allowing it on the blog or not and in the end decided for balance I should, but I will respond to Mr or Mrs Anon now. I will hopefully get another chance to catch up later today because a lot went on in the small village of Susiya in the 4 days I was there, so until then.............. tata
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