I've been doing more research on Ein Hod/Ein Hawd (the Arabic spelling). It turns out there has been quite a lot written about this village over the years the al-Hija family has been struggling to reclaim a village for themselves.
To read more about Ein Hod, see the story, 500 Dunam on the Moon: http://www.500dunam.com/story.html#TOP The Arabs who remained in the vicinity of their village eventually became workers on the kibbutzim and in the artists' colony. Another story from IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, details more of the history: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73586.
The villagers trace their ancestry to Emir Hussam al-Din Abu al-Hija, a high-ranking officer in the army of the fabled Sultan Salah al-Din (Saladin). Emir Abu al-Hija, whose title was Isfahslar (Generalissimo), was commander of the Kurdish force that took part in (fellow Kurd) Salah al-Din's conquest (1187-93) of the Crusader kingdom. Jewish author Meron Benvenisti writes about the displacement of Arabs as Jews settled the land that was to become Israel in Sacred Landscape, The Buried History of the Holy Land since 1948, translated by Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta. Read more about Ein Hod in chapter 5 of the book online: http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8205/8205.ch05.php Benvenisti learned about this area as he traveled with his father, a renowned geographer, as he redrew the map of Palestine, transforming the land by changing the Arab names to Hebrew names, one way of claiming the land for Israel.
In 1964 the Jewish National Fund planted trees in the area, which is administered by the Carmel National Park Authority (http://www.500dunam.com/story.html). When my children were in preschool at the Jewish Community Center in Denver, we used to collect money every June for planting trees in Israel - "reclaiming the desert," they said. I never realized that, while some of these projects did make the land more livable, many of these trees were planted on land that belonged to other people whose families had lived there for hundreds of years. I never knew that some of this land was stolen from Arabs families like the al-Hijas, who had lived there for hundreds of years. The Jewish National Fund still today is in the business of reclaiming land for Israel, solidifying Israel's hold on the land. I wonder how much of the land still being reclaimed is also disputed. Read about the work of the Jewish national Fund, which began in 1901 with a project to raise money for land in Ottoman Empire occupied Palestine. This had been a dream of Theodore Hertzl, the visionary and leader of the movement to establish a Jewish state: http://www.jnf.org/site/PageServer
Monday, July 21, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
The Story of Two Ein Hods
If you google Ein Hod, you find an artists’colony in Israel, near the Mediterranean Sea, with galleries, art workshops, guided tours, restaurants and a map showing you how to get there for a day of relaxation. Our bus, enroute to Ein Hod, didn’t stop here however. We had an appointment to meet with the mayor of Ein Hod, Muhammed Abu al-Haija, who does not live in the quaint artists’ village. He and his family and all of the other residents fled this village in 1948, during the Arab-Israeli war.
When the war ended, the Israel authorities did not permit them to return to the village, so, rather than go to the Jenin refugee camp, Muhammed al-Haija’s grandfather and 35 other families trekked up the hill to their farmland and lived in their olive groves and the fields where they grazed their sheep. They built houses to live in, but, because the new village at the top of the hill was “unrecognized” by the Israeli authorities, they could not get access to electricity or water. The Israelis bulldozed some of their homes because they were built without permits. Although the Arab villagers were Israeli citizens and paid taxes, the Israeli government would not build a road to their village because it was not on the map. When they petitioned the government for recognition, they were told that it was too small, it was classified “agricultural land” and that they could not build there; they were called “squatters.” Finally, after many years spent in Israeli government offices, contacting officials, organizing with other unrecognized villages and holding protests in Jerusalem, upper Ein Hod was finally recognized in 1992, and their village address could be listed on their Israeli identity cards.
It took fifteen more years, but in 2007 they were finally connected to the electric grid. They built a kindergarten and an elementary school., and they built a road with money they withheld from their taxes, so that their children could ride the bus to the high school in Haifa. And finally they were permitted to install a water system. They still cannot use their cemetery, but they have built a new one at the top of the hill.
One hundred other Arab villages are still waiting for recognition.
The ultimate insult was when Iaraelis “discovered” the “abandoned” village of Ein Hod at the bottom of the hill. Artists moved into the empty buildings, even turning their mosque into a restaurant for tourists. The artists sit and paint under the beautiful olive trees which were planted by the Arab villagers hundreds of years ago.
With the electricity, Mayor al-Haija has built his own restaurant in the village at the top of the hill. It has a patio with beautiful gardens and ancient olive trees and people like our tour group come there for delicious hummus and roast lamb. Mayor al-Haija told us that he worked hard for many years to get recognition for his village and then fighting for electricity, water and roads. Now he is tired and he says it is up to the next generation. Only two houses currently have electricity—the others await permits. Their houses can be bulldozed at any time because they still do not have permits to build.
When the war ended, the Israel authorities did not permit them to return to the village, so, rather than go to the Jenin refugee camp, Muhammed al-Haija’s grandfather and 35 other families trekked up the hill to their farmland and lived in their olive groves and the fields where they grazed their sheep. They built houses to live in, but, because the new village at the top of the hill was “unrecognized” by the Israeli authorities, they could not get access to electricity or water. The Israelis bulldozed some of their homes because they were built without permits. Although the Arab villagers were Israeli citizens and paid taxes, the Israeli government would not build a road to their village because it was not on the map. When they petitioned the government for recognition, they were told that it was too small, it was classified “agricultural land” and that they could not build there; they were called “squatters.” Finally, after many years spent in Israeli government offices, contacting officials, organizing with other unrecognized villages and holding protests in Jerusalem, upper Ein Hod was finally recognized in 1992, and their village address could be listed on their Israeli identity cards.
It took fifteen more years, but in 2007 they were finally connected to the electric grid. They built a kindergarten and an elementary school., and they built a road with money they withheld from their taxes, so that their children could ride the bus to the high school in Haifa. And finally they were permitted to install a water system. They still cannot use their cemetery, but they have built a new one at the top of the hill.
One hundred other Arab villages are still waiting for recognition.
The ultimate insult was when Iaraelis “discovered” the “abandoned” village of Ein Hod at the bottom of the hill. Artists moved into the empty buildings, even turning their mosque into a restaurant for tourists. The artists sit and paint under the beautiful olive trees which were planted by the Arab villagers hundreds of years ago.
With the electricity, Mayor al-Haija has built his own restaurant in the village at the top of the hill. It has a patio with beautiful gardens and ancient olive trees and people like our tour group come there for delicious hummus and roast lamb. Mayor al-Haija told us that he worked hard for many years to get recognition for his village and then fighting for electricity, water and roads. Now he is tired and he says it is up to the next generation. Only two houses currently have electricity—the others await permits. Their houses can be bulldozed at any time because they still do not have permits to build.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
July 9, 2008 - stories from the women of Machsom Watch
On this trip our group was honored to meet with many dedicated Israelis and Palestinians who are working hard to create conditions for peace between Israel and Palestine. On June 20, We met with Hannah from Machsom Watch, who told us that Machsom is often said to mean “checkpoint.” But at a checkpoint, people come and then they move on. At Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank, people come and they are not permitted to go. A better translation of machsom is “barrier.”
The barrier can be a 30-foot high wall, as in many of the cities in the West Bank, like Bethlehem. In other places the barrier may be a gate, a ditch, a fence with barbed wire or an electric fence. It can be an Israeli-only road, built through the West Bank to allow Israeli settlers access to their settlements. These are all ways of preventing movement of Palestinians. The issue is freedom of movement.
Hannah is one of the 500 Israeli women who go daily, in pairs, to 40 of the checkpoints in Jerusalem and the West Bank and help people move on. Israel has a total of 563 checkpoints throughout the country. These women monitor and document what they see; they answer calls for help from Palestinians unable to pass through, even when they have papers.
There are no written rules for what is needed to pass through a checkpoint. The soldiers no longer hit or abuse Palestinians; if they do, they will be punished. So what is seen at a checkpoint looks normal. In Bethlehem there are even gardens and a welcome banner at the checkpoint. It looks like a humane way to treat people. Israel claims that they have a humane occupation. But Hannah pointed out that it violates every chapter of the Geneva Accord, an unofficial agreement drawn up by Israeli and Palestinian leaders who wanted to draft a proposal that would replace the Oslo Accords as the basis for an official peace agreement. The Geneva Accord was drafted in Geneva, Switzerland, and signed in October, 2003. (More information: http://www.mideastweb.org/geneva1.htm and http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=351461&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y ). The Geneva Accord supports full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242, 338 and 1397.
She told us that she got involved with Machsom Watch because she feels that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands corrupts Israeli society. She does it for her grandchildren, although she did not do this work when her husband was living; he and her children do not agree with the work she is now doing.
Often soldiers at the checkpoint do not accept the permits Palestinians bring. One man tried to bring his amputated leg through a checkpoint. Hannah explained that for Muslims, as for Jews, it is important to bury body parts and he was bringing it home to bury it after his surgery. The man had a permit, but the soldier denied him passage because he did not have a permit for the leg. Hannah was called to help facilitate his passage. During the ten hours this man spent at the checkpoint, a doctor was summoned to examine the leg and verify that it was a leg and not a bomb, a permit was obtained for the leg and the man was finally permitted to pass. She told us that this is not unusual; it is everyday life for Palestinians.
An Arab farmer from a small village outside of Nablus was transporting milk and cheese from his farm to be sold in Nablus (these are both Palestinian areas, according to the Oslo Accords signed by Israel and Palestine in 1993). The farmer had a permit for himself and for the truck, but the soldier said that he also needed a permit for the goods—“the milk does not have a permit.” He finally loaded his milk and cheese onto another truck at the checkpoint because that driver had a permit for goods. The milk and cheese were loaded back onto his truck and he proceeded to the next checkpoint, where the same thing happened. He delivered the milk, but by the time he got to where the cheese was to be delivered, late in the day, the cheese was warm and spoiled. He had to throw it away.
Jabar is an Arab village in the “seam zone,” the land between Israel’s security wall and the Green Line (1948 border between Israel and the West Bank). This means that children must pass through a checkpoint every day on their way to school. The gate opens for a half hour in the morning, at noon and in the afternoon. The children stand for up to two hours in the heat or the rain, until the gate opens. Soldiers holding automatic rifles check their school bags and let them pass. If a child is late for school, he cannot get through and misses a day of school.
These are only a few of the things Hannah has seen in her work as an observer with Machsom Watch, but she is convinced that her work is important, that she is helping to make Israel a more humane place, that she is making a difference, not only in the lives of Palestinians, but in the lives of Israelis, who are also dehumanized by what happens at the checkpoints. In Israel, all Jews and Druse (not Palestinians)—men (three years) and women (two years)—serve in the army when they turn 18. This means that everyone has participated in this system and they have children and grandchildren who are still standing at checkpoints holding power over who passes and who does not.
The barrier can be a 30-foot high wall, as in many of the cities in the West Bank, like Bethlehem. In other places the barrier may be a gate, a ditch, a fence with barbed wire or an electric fence. It can be an Israeli-only road, built through the West Bank to allow Israeli settlers access to their settlements. These are all ways of preventing movement of Palestinians. The issue is freedom of movement.
Hannah is one of the 500 Israeli women who go daily, in pairs, to 40 of the checkpoints in Jerusalem and the West Bank and help people move on. Israel has a total of 563 checkpoints throughout the country. These women monitor and document what they see; they answer calls for help from Palestinians unable to pass through, even when they have papers.
There are no written rules for what is needed to pass through a checkpoint. The soldiers no longer hit or abuse Palestinians; if they do, they will be punished. So what is seen at a checkpoint looks normal. In Bethlehem there are even gardens and a welcome banner at the checkpoint. It looks like a humane way to treat people. Israel claims that they have a humane occupation. But Hannah pointed out that it violates every chapter of the Geneva Accord, an unofficial agreement drawn up by Israeli and Palestinian leaders who wanted to draft a proposal that would replace the Oslo Accords as the basis for an official peace agreement. The Geneva Accord was drafted in Geneva, Switzerland, and signed in October, 2003. (More information: http://www.mideastweb.org/geneva1.htm and http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=351461&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y ). The Geneva Accord supports full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242, 338 and 1397.
She told us that she got involved with Machsom Watch because she feels that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands corrupts Israeli society. She does it for her grandchildren, although she did not do this work when her husband was living; he and her children do not agree with the work she is now doing.
Often soldiers at the checkpoint do not accept the permits Palestinians bring. One man tried to bring his amputated leg through a checkpoint. Hannah explained that for Muslims, as for Jews, it is important to bury body parts and he was bringing it home to bury it after his surgery. The man had a permit, but the soldier denied him passage because he did not have a permit for the leg. Hannah was called to help facilitate his passage. During the ten hours this man spent at the checkpoint, a doctor was summoned to examine the leg and verify that it was a leg and not a bomb, a permit was obtained for the leg and the man was finally permitted to pass. She told us that this is not unusual; it is everyday life for Palestinians.
An Arab farmer from a small village outside of Nablus was transporting milk and cheese from his farm to be sold in Nablus (these are both Palestinian areas, according to the Oslo Accords signed by Israel and Palestine in 1993). The farmer had a permit for himself and for the truck, but the soldier said that he also needed a permit for the goods—“the milk does not have a permit.” He finally loaded his milk and cheese onto another truck at the checkpoint because that driver had a permit for goods. The milk and cheese were loaded back onto his truck and he proceeded to the next checkpoint, where the same thing happened. He delivered the milk, but by the time he got to where the cheese was to be delivered, late in the day, the cheese was warm and spoiled. He had to throw it away.
Jabar is an Arab village in the “seam zone,” the land between Israel’s security wall and the Green Line (1948 border between Israel and the West Bank). This means that children must pass through a checkpoint every day on their way to school. The gate opens for a half hour in the morning, at noon and in the afternoon. The children stand for up to two hours in the heat or the rain, until the gate opens. Soldiers holding automatic rifles check their school bags and let them pass. If a child is late for school, he cannot get through and misses a day of school.
These are only a few of the things Hannah has seen in her work as an observer with Machsom Watch, but she is convinced that her work is important, that she is helping to make Israel a more humane place, that she is making a difference, not only in the lives of Palestinians, but in the lives of Israelis, who are also dehumanized by what happens at the checkpoints. In Israel, all Jews and Druse (not Palestinians)—men (three years) and women (two years)—serve in the army when they turn 18. This means that everyone has participated in this system and they have children and grandchildren who are still standing at checkpoints holding power over who passes and who does not.
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