day before yesterday
We got up early to join an accompaniment organized by Rabbis for Human Rights to stand with farmers trying to plow their fields. Farmers who live in the shadows of settlements are often unable to work their land.
An army jeep drove up not long after we started, and at first we were anxious, but he was a responsible young man, and he was there to make sure there was no violence. We were very happy to have him there when the settlers showed up. First on a donkey, then some on a tractor, and finally some in a car. The first were young men, but the last group included a woman and child (apparently the woman is a powerful voice in the community, isn't that interesting? She was quite young.)
All remainded calm, and for the first time in my life, I was happy to have someone with an automatic rifle around. (This was a significant event for me, you can imagine the bold and stars and exclamation points that I'm not writing). After reflecting more though, I hope that the settlers respected his authority because he represented the state, not because he carried a big gun around. In any case, the question remains open, would he have stuck around if there hadn't been Israelis and Internationals chilling out there? Who knows. But sometimes the state is using its army for good things.
At the end of the action one of the farmers came and shared bread with us. Eating bread on a hill top in the Holy Land made the land actually feel holy.
Then we went to Tuwani for the first time, and had lunch, and learned about the women's co-op that started there (very exciting), and then we had a blessedly relaxed evening, chatting with our host and hearing about his recent arrest (the police broke his rib, need I mention the demonstration he was leading was non-violent?).
There is very little water in Tuwani. No water to wash my hands. No water to flush the toilet. No water to brush my teeth or wash my face. Or at least, not enough to do those things as much as I would like or am used to. This was also striking. Water.
I'm out of time now, but I hope you are all well,
An army jeep drove up not long after we started, and at first we were anxious, but he was a responsible young man, and he was there to make sure there was no violence. We were very happy to have him there when the settlers showed up. First on a donkey, then some on a tractor, and finally some in a car. The first were young men, but the last group included a woman and child (apparently the woman is a powerful voice in the community, isn't that interesting? She was quite young.)
All remainded calm, and for the first time in my life, I was happy to have someone with an automatic rifle around. (This was a significant event for me, you can imagine the bold and stars and exclamation points that I'm not writing). After reflecting more though, I hope that the settlers respected his authority because he represented the state, not because he carried a big gun around. In any case, the question remains open, would he have stuck around if there hadn't been Israelis and Internationals chilling out there? Who knows. But sometimes the state is using its army for good things.
At the end of the action one of the farmers came and shared bread with us. Eating bread on a hill top in the Holy Land made the land actually feel holy.
Then we went to Tuwani for the first time, and had lunch, and learned about the women's co-op that started there (very exciting), and then we had a blessedly relaxed evening, chatting with our host and hearing about his recent arrest (the police broke his rib, need I mention the demonstration he was leading was non-violent?).
There is very little water in Tuwani. No water to wash my hands. No water to flush the toilet. No water to brush my teeth or wash my face. Or at least, not enough to do those things as much as I would like or am used to. This was also striking. Water.
I'm out of time now, but I hope you are all well,
posted by dm at 2:36 PM
1 Comments:
Wow. That's super intense, Dora.
I wish I was experiencing it with you.
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