Banging your head against a brick wall.

When Mary and Joseph came weary to Bethlehem it is unlikely that their tiredness arose from queuing for hours to pass through the various checkpoints that strangle Bethlehem. With over 450 KM already completed and ruled illegal by the Hague, The Israelis argue the wall preserves their security and means less incursions by the IDF into Palestinian land. The second Intifida cost the lives of many Israelis and the memories are still fresh. The wall has succeeded so far in increasing Israeli security, but its psychological impact cannot be overstated. An American living in Ramallah and conducting research into its effects makes a simple yet valid point: “The wall has brought short term benefits to Israel, but in the long term will have radicalised an entire generation of Palestinian youth - These kids will have grown up having never met with Israelis with the exception of soldiers and settlers. The assumption that all Israelis beyond the wall are like the soldiers from the checkpoints creates an unprecedented capacity for fear and thus, hate to develop. The years of security the wall brings will in 10–15 years bear bitter fruits as the children of the wall with no prospects for employment, education or escape begin to strike back.”

Severing Bethlehem form Jerusalem, the checkpoints for entry are in many ways like cattle markets, high fencing and razor wire funnel people in single file whilst soldiers in watchtowers brandish automatic weapons. Once bustling commercial districts are now quiet, the shops boarded up, the streets deserted. A local shopkeeper explains to me: “People used to come from Jerusalem to Bethlehem for the markets and we used to make a good living from tourism. Since they built the wall, tourism has collapsed and we struggle to survive.” The residential districts are full of abandoned homes as the towns’ ancient Christian population leave in droves. Zionists in London claim it is because the Muslims have driven them out, I ask a Christian near the Church of the Nativity if this is true: “In Palestine the Christians and Muslims live like brothers, we are leaving Bethlehem not because we are victimised but because the economic situation is so bad since the wall came that we cannot afford to stay. My family are leaving soon, we have lied on our Visa papers and said we are being beaten by the Muslims, but really its because I must choose between feeding my family and sending my children to school.”

The Church of the Nativity is surprisingly empty with the exception of Orthodox Russian pilgrims. The supposed birthplace of Jesus, in places the bullet holes from the Israeli siege of the building are still evident. Israel claims that militants came here posing as civilians, whilst locals claim civilians were sheltering here from the fighting, the truth lost somewhere in the fog of war. The event is the reason for the phrase written next to the Banksy’s on the separation wall “Visit the Birthplace of Jesus – You too could be shot in the head”.

On the bus a Palestinian Christian lady asks if I would like to sit next to her. She tells me that Palestinians are prohibited from visiting Jerusalem, despite the fact it is the capital city of Palestine. “I was born in Jerusalem, married in Jerusalem, lived in Jerusalem and then I was forced to leave as my home was declared illegal and demolished. My sons are there and I cannot see them, as the Israelis will not give me the permits to pass through the wall. My brother was taken to hospital there last week, he is very old and is very ill. He is dying and they will not allow me to see him. I’m completely cut off from my family.” Margaret is 74, it’s hard to understand why she is not allowed through given that she evidently poses little security risk. “It is simple really, I am a Palestinian and they do not want us there, they are trying to force us all out the city.”

The Israelis stop the bus and demand to see people’s papers. Having fallen asleep with my face in my bag, a girl who looks no older than 16 prods me awake with a rifle in my ribs. I politely ask her what the fuck she thinks she’s doing to which she screams what I assume was abuse in Hebrew. The police move down the bus, periodically shouting at the Palestinian men. The fear on the their faces is evident. A family are marshalled off the bus; apparently their papers are fake. The two children look around 4 and 6 and cling to their mother. The bus driver attempts to explain in English that he will not leave until he is sure of their safety before a soldier raises his rifle and yells “Fuck Off”. The entire family are placed in handcuffs and driven away in a van. The bus moves off only to be stopped quite literally 5 minuets down the road and the process repeated. An American tourist asks if this happens often. “Every day.” comes the reply.

Happy Camping?

Lying at the foot of a hill, dust blows in the dry heat down Jalazone camps’ quiet streets. The initially temporary accommodation has slowly become more permanent as the camps 15,000 residents acknowledge that departure is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Frequently the prefabricated concrete houses give way to abandoned structures baring the soot and bullet scars of one of the many armed confrontations. Rubbish lines the streets and piles high in corners whilst stray cats fight amongst the dirt.

The residents of Jalazone are some of the 8,000,000 Palestinian refugees made homeless by Israel’s creation in 1948. Gathering little more than their keys, the refugees expected to return within days, only to find their homes had been taken by Jewish immigrants along with all of their possessions. In further defiance of U.N resolution 194 the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu recently stated that: “The problem of the Palestinian refugees would be solved outside of Israel’s borders”. Desperation and poverty are in the air here, but the Palestinian will for armed resistance has been smashed by decades of occupation.

Immediately a group of young Arabs outside a makeshift café invite me to sit with them and within 5 minuets a small crowd has gathered. Aside from the usual questions about England, the main question that always crops up is simple: “How do I get a Visa to England?” I ask why so many people want to leave: “What do we have here? We have nothing. No healthcare, no education, no jobs and no future.” Unemployment in the West Bank currently runs at 30%, the average wage is less than $10, skirting close to the world poverty line of $2 a day.

Jalazone sits in the shadow of an Israeli settlement named Beit El. Strategically placed, the settlements allow Israel to drill into the local water table and sustain its aggressive irrigation policies - Israel now controls 4/5 of the natural aquifers. Palestinians are forbidden from sinking new bore holes or deepening existing wells and can do little but watch as their crops whither and die. To add insult to injury the Palestinians are forced to buy back their own water from the Israeli water company at vastly inflated prices whilst Beit El discharges its raw sewage straight into the heart of Jalazone.

Hammam, a 23-year-old local offers to show me around on his moped. I ask him about the prisoners Ayman spoke of a few days before. At night the Israelis will come into the camp and use explosives to blast open the doors of peoples homes before arresting the people inside. He points out houses this has happened too – it is most of the houses on the street. I ask why the Israelis take people: “We do not know why. You do not ask.” I question why not: “Because if you ask, they shoot you. My cousin is spending 20 years in an Israeli prison, he does not know what he has done but we cannot afford a lawyer to challenge the court marshal.”

Victory to the Intifada?

My first experience with the Israeli occupation was not so much a shock but a jolt as the bus slammed on its brakes at the checkpoint. Snaking its way along the horizon as far as the eye can see is the Separation Wall. Illegal under international law, the rectangular slabs of concrete punch up from the ground severing the land in two. The Palestinian side is awash with graffiti and posters of Yasser Arafat whilst bright splats of colour from paintball guns deck out the watchtowers. As a young soldier waved us through, the barrel of a machine gun could be seen to follow our retreat.

I arrived in Ramallah to meet my contact for the refugee camp, a man named Ayman Ramahi. The headmaster of the Local school, he takes me to a nearby coffee house where elders sit in dark corners smoking and talking fiercely in hushed Arabic.

The camp is called Al–Jalazone and houses refugees who fled from their homes in what is now Israel. In direct contravention of international law, Israel refuses to abide by U.N resolution 194, which states in article 11: “that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible”. The result is that Al-Jalazone has become a small shantytown, where poor quality housing is crammed together in narrow streets full of squalor. In a bitterly ironic fashion, the Israelis have constructed a settlement (again, illegal under international law) called Beit El overlooking the camp. The modern, newly built housing contrasts sharply with the conditions in which over 15,000 Palestinians live. I ask Ayman if it will be possible to visit a settlement: “Do not go anywhere near the settlements. The Israelis have erected outposts around them. Last week a 15 year old boy was walking home and ventured too close, so a soldier shot him in the head. They will not warn you, they will not stop to see if you are a foreigner, they will kill you and then release a statement saying you were armed and refuse to investigate further. This is what life is like for us.” I ask him how often the soldiers kill people: “Sometimes a person every 1-2 weeks, normally at least every few days. In the Second Intifida (Uprising) they would kill 3 or 4 people here a day.” I ask him what people here think of the suicide bombings that took place; “People do not support them, aside from killing civilians they are unhelpful and serve no purpose, they are a waste of life.” Giliad Shalit has been a prisoner of Hamas since being kidnapped 3 years ago and is frequently held up as a hero in Israel. I ask Ayman what Hamas hope to achieve by holding him: “I find it interesting how the Israelis see him as an all Israeli hero when he is French, but Hamas are demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners. Here we are subject to military law and we are frequently court marshalled with no lawyers. The Israelis hold over 15,000 people in prison without due process, and nearly 50% are under 16. Right now nearly 900 people from Al-Jalazone are in prison, nearly 100 are children.” It is not hard to substantiate his claim; nearly everyone I talk to has been imprisoned by the Israelis. I ask why he thinks the Israelis treat the Palestinians like animals. “It is not fair to say that they treat us like animals” He retorts, “Because in Israel, Animals have rights.”

East Jerusalem (Was not built here)

According to the Lonely Planet guide there is actually a recognised medical condition called Jerusalem syndrome that causes people who are overwhelmed by the historical significance of the city to become deluded that they themselves are the messiahs. It is not hard to see why people are overwhelmed. I arrived late in the evening, and on crossing into East Jerusalem (the Palestinian area) began looking for my hostel. It took less than 3 minuets of looking confused for 8 different Palestinians to come and ask if I needed help, offer me directions and walk me to my destination. Passing through Damascus gate into the old city plunges you into the narrow, sloped streets of the market. Bright clothes and trinkets are everywhere, the air thick with the smell of spices and Turkish coffee. The atmosphere is indescribable; I recommend anyone who has the chance should visit. People will willingly engage you in conversation at any opportunity and seem genuinely interested in where you are from and your culture.

I asked a stall holder what he thought of Israel, his response was simple: “I do not have a problem with Israel, I think it has a right to exist but it must stop killing our people and stop taking our land from us, we are willing to share, they have so much already so why won’t they?”

Jerusalem has become a city of discrimination. The UN partition plan (which created Israel) denotes an equal split between Israel and Palestine, but Israel has illegally annexed vast swathes of East Jerusalem. Jewish residents do not require building permits, but Palestinian residents must go through a costly and time-consuming process to obtain planning permission. Furthermore Israel has zoned over 90% of East Jerusalem as “Municipal green space” Prohibiting the construction of any new buildings there. As many building were constructed without permits Israel has embarked on a programme of house demolitions. With Army bulldozers unable to clear them fast enough, demolition teams now use explosives to level structures before sending the bill to the newly homeless Palestinian families. With one rule for Jews and another for Arabs, a clearer cut example of racism is hard to find.

I asked another Stallholder what he thought about Israel: “I do not like Israel. Why does it think that people from Russia and the Ukraine have more right to live here than I do when I was born here, my father was born here, my grandfather was born here, my great-grandfather was born here all the way back to thousands of years ago? Its not because they’re foreign, I have no problem with people who are not Palestinian living here, but they have no right to force us out of our homes, to imprison us, to kill our people and to take our land.” I asked him what he thought of Jews: “I have no problem with the Jewish people, we are all born of the same.” This flies somewhat in the face of the common Zionist argument that the Palestinians are all raving anti Semites.

I woke up to find potentially the only Zionist in the hostel (which is for international activists) staring at the ‘Free Palestine’ sticker on my bag. “You know my Torah says all of this is Israel,” He patronisingly grumbled at me. I asked him why when his religion was different to that of the Palestinians living here that they should care what his book said? He didn’t have an answer.

"The People of Israel Live"

After managing to semi convince the lady at Border Control that I had no intention of visiting Palestine, I immediately headed for Tel - Aviv. Tel – Aviv is an unusual city to say the least. Paranoia is ingrained here, somewhat understandable given the spates of suicide bombings of recent years. The most striking thing is the guns – more specifically, the age of the people carrying them. Noa informs me that they are all 18, but many look as young as 15. And these aren’t just guns, these are weapons of war; grenade launchers slung under the muzzles of assault rifles, machine guns and sniper rifles carried on the backs of sweating teenagers. The boys take an arrogant swagger as they move around, standing almost to attention as they wait for their buses to Barracks. It is unnerving to say the least, these people are trained, and more likely than not, willing to kill, and yet many are younger than I am. I asked a man at the bus station why so many young people are so heavily armed, he replied “The youth are not trained to think about what they are doing, just to do it”. Zionist Graffiti garnishes every conceivable surface, from Stars of David to “Palestine = Israel”. The Israeli flag is flown from every car, house, building and lamppost. The colours are used everywhere, from shop fronts to Tooth paste tubes. Shops sell Military equipment as souvenirs, “Support the IDF (Israeli Defence Force)” T – Shirts can be bought on nearly every street. Some are particularly disturbing; one depicts a pregnant Palestinian women with crosshairs on her stomach with the slogan “One shot, Two kills”. Markets sell lighters with the equipment of the IDF emblazoned; model Israeli fighter planes are commonly sold children’s toys. The fanatical marketing of the IDF is on a scale I have never seen before. Noa told me about her ‘Refusnik” friends. Scorned by parts of society, the Refusniks refuse to carry out their national service, with many of them spending the 3 years in State prisons alongside common criminals. It rapidly becomes apparent why Israelis are so defensive of their country, from a young age the importance of being a Zionist and nationalist ideas about Israelis future are hemmed in from every angle. I asked another friend what he thought the future was for peace: “I don’t think much will change for a long time. The Palestinians have every reason to hate us, and Israelis hate the Palestinians. It’s not just that wrongs were committed in creating Israel, it’s that they still continue. Israeli society does not have the will to change itself and change things, people just don’t care. This is why I will emigrate, I don’t want to be a part of this.”

And so it begins...

As you may or may not know I’m going to Palestine for 3 weeks to work in Al – Jalazon refugee camp near Ramallah. On my way I’ll pass through Tel – Aviv, Jerusalem, occupied Palestine and hopefully Gaza. I’ll be staying with local families and working with local people with the intention of better understanding the situation in both Israel and Palestine. I’ll periodically uploads short bits of text and photos as well as points of interest that I come across. Whilst many of you will know my stance on the situation I will try and be objective and fair in my reports, which hopefully you’ll find interesting (or at least enjoy the pictures)…