Day 1 Dar Assadaqa summer camp

Today was the first day at Dar Assadaqa's summer camp. We woke up early to bright light pouring through the window. (Well, most of us did; Yasmin remained sound asleep for too long). Our first day at the camp started with its usual morning exercise routine.  Saed, who coordinates the camp, led all 24 children in stretches and movements to get them ready for the day ahead. We then played a series of games, including one that we taught the group (a popular British children's game). They loved it! Once everyone was warmed up and energised, the group was split into three smaller groups based on their age.

Throughout the day, each group rotated and participated in various activities that were run my ourselves and the Dar Assadaqa volunteers. We are particularly proud of this hand tree that was created in the art session.


Each child traced around their hand, and decorated the shape with colour, patterns and words that represent who they are. This was a valuable tool for getting to know the children, and for them to get to know us.

Groups also enjoyed Dabkeh dancing and drama games. This enabled children to both learn and practise English, and celebrate their Palestinian culture. They even taught us a Bedoin style of dancing!


The camp finished in the early afternoon and we said goodbye to our new friends. This wrapped up a brilliant first day at the camp and we can't wait to carry on tomorrow.

We were then invited to have lunch at the Al Quds University campus with a group of international medical students visiting the medical landscape of Palestine. We met with some old friends and played cards under an olive tree (though a little too loudly for the campus security's linking!)

As we write this, Pauline is leading her English class for local women over a glass of fresh juice and biscuits. It has been a long day but the end is not in sight, as Yaz promises to support Flo in her ongoing quest for daily knafa.

WELCOME TO ABU DIS

WELCOME TO ABUDIS. 

Tuesday 31 July – Wednesday 1 August 2018​

The fan is gently wafting the warm air in the bedroom of the Guest house as I write.  It is the end of our first full day in Abu Dis. Flo has arrived completing our group and Yas and I have returned from a wonderful evening of hospitality which has removed the last traces of the stress of getting away, queueing at Luton and 4 hours with security in the airport in Tel Aviv.  Kefah, a member of the women’s group brought us an invitation to her mother ‘s house – but more of that later.

The amazing love that people feel here for their native land, in spite of all the restrictions of occupation, has framed the time so far. The taxi driver who brought us into Abu Dis had ‘ been in England several  times - had to come back, though I’m doing 3 jobs, it’s the life, it’s the people. The food’. And he went on to say, ‘It will get better here. But it will get alot worse before it does so’, expressing the hope that operates in absence of visible signs which I have often seen working in Palestine.

But the sadness of separations is part of everyone’s life here. The old ones of the waves of refugee-making and the new ones created by the wall, boundaries and check points that make it possible for the army to isolate the central area around Jerusalem from the north and the south, in the way that Gaza is already isolated, at any time.  Abed, the Cadfa co-ordinator in Dar Assadaqa, the Friendship House, explained this broader context when he briefed us this morning about the summer activities for children. The place was alive with children competing to fill plastic bottles with water  held in cups in their mouths. The air was filled with shouts of glee.

The day has been busy. We had a really helpful meeting in the morning, with Abed, where we used a questionnaire which showed us what we didn’t know and needed to know. Then Kefah and her daughter came and led us on a tour of the Al Quds (Jerusalem) University. There we saw its wonderfully endowed library and dropped in on the rubic cube awards ceremony, where we saw little kids being given big golden cups and medals. Everywhere we went we got a great welcome and gradually a larger group joined us on our tour. ‘The University has recognition all around the world’ they said. I said, ‘But I’ve heard that their degrees are not recognised and people can’t get jobs. ‘That’s here,’ they said. Only Israel doesn’t recognise the degrees. But the medical school is very famous and recently a successful case was taken to the Supreme Court and the University won and the medical degrees are recognised’. One of the reasons for the difficulties the university has is its name, Al Quds.  The Queen’s university of Belfast, where I come from, also has a great reputation for medicine. Medical expertise flourishes in places where there has been a lot of trouble. The campus is lovely and after our tour we were treated to iced lemon drinks in a garden of olive trees, before returning to Dar Assadaqa.

Dar Assadaqa has no funding from the local council and relies on support from Cadfa and other donors and the work of volunteers.  It runs the summer camps and has the women’s group we have come to work with but also has a role in linking with other local organisations that build up the community.  It has been going for 4 years, and during that time many people have come to visit Abu Dis and people from Abu Dis have visited England and Paris. ‘Twinning’ is understood here as developing lasting relationships.  We met Saed, who runs the summer camps and the young volunteers and the children who were having a great time trying to fill bottles of water from cups carried in their teeth.  Last year 41 children came but this year following a night time raid on the building by the army a week ago, some parents were worried and at present there are only 25.  Abed told us that one year the army lobbed a gas cylinder in and only that they had rushed the children out through the back door, it could have been terrible.

So, we are here, have done our shopping and settled in.  And that brings me back to the evening andthe lovely welcome at Kefah’s mothers house. There when more and more family members kept arriving and we watched he evening light on the view over Wadi al Jahir. From there we went on to Kefah’s sister’s house, where we listened to the gentle playing of the oud. Then, as we settled, there was a great burst of noise – shooting or fireworks? Definitely fireworks. A wedding? ‘Maybe. No, no. A prisoner has been released today’. Our host, he it was who played the oud, who has made a life here, spoke of the frustrations that make so many leave, yet ‘never wanted to leave, never went further than Amman. The roots are deep’. His words echoed those of the taxi driverwho brought us to Abu Dis.

Walking into a tragedy

2 days after buying my ticket for Palestine to join the Summer Camp in Abu Dis, the tensions began. On Friday, 14 July, 3 Palestinians who had attacked Israeli soldiers were killed.

Following this, it was suspected that these Palestinians had hidden their weapons in the mosque of Alaqsa and electronic gates were installed at the entrance of the Al Aqsa compound.

If the Palestinians refused to enter via these gates, it is because it represents for them an additional humiliation. Accepting these gates amoubts to tolerating  Israel taking over control of the mosque compound  which is controlled by Alawqaf.

On Friday, 21 July, 3 Palestinians named Mohamed (Mohamed Lafi, Mohamed Sharaf and Mohamed Abu Gannam) were killed in Ras Al Amoud, Atur and Abu Dis in demonstrations. Two of them were 17 years old and had just graduated. The last one was 19 years old.

In Abu Dis, I could feel the tension that prevailed on Saturday. With other Palestinian women, we went to present our condolences to Mohamed Lafi's mother. On leaving the house of Mohamed Lafi we were confronted in the center of Abu Dis with tear gas thrown by the Israeli soldiers. I was told that this gas is also used every Friday.

I asked a Palestinian woman from Abu Dis to write her feelings, and here is an approximate translation:

"Mohamed Lafi was not part of my family but I have a brother of the same age. The day before, Mohamed danced with his family and friends because he had just graduated. After studying for 12 years he had finished school and had planned to enrol in the university. His family and himself were happy because they had helped his success and supported him.

Even if Mohamed Lafi was happy he had not forgotten Alaqsa. On the day that he was killed, he went with his friends on a demonstration to defend Alaqsa. A single bullet was enough to put an end to his joy, a bullet was enough to kill a boy who was not even 18 years old. But this did not kill the spirit of Palestinian youths and will not kill it."

(The picture is an old photo from 2014 of the Abu Dis football club and Abu Dis Boys' School. It shows the two Abu Dis young men who have been killed this week, Mohammed and Yousef (labelled),  as well as -among others - two of the boys who have travelled in youth visits to the UK with CADFA - Anas and Obaida)

Abu Dis Girls' School

The highlight of our volunteering experience so far has been meeting with the girls from Abu Dis girls school. They are so bright and intellectual yet innocent and charismatic. They all have a unique spirit and are extremely welcoming. They put a smile on your face instantly.

When we first met with them they were so excited and literally bombarded us with questions about who we are, our lives, how long we are staying etc. They were intrigued to know about our culture and heritage, they wanted to know about the similarities and differences between them.

So far we have had an ice breaker session which was really fun and engaging and we just got to know the girls one by one. The following sessions have been on culture and life style, dance, so Dabka and traditional Pakistani dancing. We have also spoken about the girls aspirations for the future and how the occupation limits these. Similarly we spoke about their opinions and feelings about the occupation. We had in depth conversations about their experiences with Israeli soldiers and also about arrests and deaths within their family.

The girls inspire us to do more and be more! There is something innate within them. They want to succeed they want to see the world and will not let anything stop them. Meeting with them is more an honor for us then they will ever know.

Palestinian Prisoners Mass Hunger Strike

At least 1600 Palestinian Prisoners have started a mass hunger strike. They are protesting their conditions in Israeli jails. They face torture, poor medical treatment and restrictions on contact with their families. Israeli practices of mass arbitrary arrests and detentions without trial are major attributing factors to the hunger strike. These consistently violate the human rights of the Palestinian people.

The hunger strike is a way of expressing freedom for the Palestinian prisoners. It is used by the prisoners to really show the free world what is happening to them. They stand against the actions of their occupier. It is an effective way for them to defeat the occupation. They feel that having empty stomachs is only a small means to an end. They want the international community to recognize that Palestinians are freedom seekers and are using any options available to them to do this.

"Our chains will be broken before we are" Marwan Barghouti.

Here in Abu Dis, there has been on going support for the Palestinian prisoners. The support has been demonstrated through protests, strikes and tents of solidarity in each city or town. However, this has resulted in many clashes between the locals and the Israeli military camp. We have experienced the effects of the daily tear gas bombs, the deafening sounds of shootings during the night and not to mention people screaming and running. There have also been several night raids which are essentially terrorizing the locals.  This instills fear within the community as each night is a unexpected series of events.

The soldiers have also been arresting children from Abu Dis Boys' School claiming they have been throwing stones. They asked teachers to empty the school within ten minutes and ordered that if any of the boys look at the soldiers in the eye they will kill them there and then.

We also had the chance to meet with a local who had been released from prison after four years, he was arrested at the age of 14. This young man has lost out on the most crucial years of his youth, where he would have developed many skills, finished his education, missing key family events such as weddings, births and even deaths. The damaging effects of prison are apparent in his reserved and timid behaviour.

It is so inspiring to see the community fighting for the rights of the prisoners, even amidst struggle and occupation the passion the Palestinians have is something each individual living in the free world should learn from.

Resistance is the key to freedom.

Palestine: First Impressions

Excited as we were to leave the UK to embark on our journey to Palestine, we were anxious as to what would happen at Ben Gurion Airport. The previous time we visited we were held in detainment for up to 3 hours, this time we expected the same if not more.

When we were descending into Tel Aviv, we felt as if we were landing in a European City, it was full of lights and sky scrapers. On touching the ground there was applause and cheers. We made our way through the airport where there were several posters about partnerships between Christians and Jews and about how Israel protects its minorities, which was extremely frustrating to see. As the reality is very different, there was no mention of Palestinians or Muslims or any positive affirmation towards a peaceful co-existence between these people.

We reached border control where our passports were checked, we fell victim to our Muslim names and were told yet again to wait in the white room for additional security checks. When waiting to be questioned we spoke with the other people in this room, they were of different nationalities and had been waiting up to 3 to 4 hours. When you are told to wait in this white room you are made to feel insignificant and untrustworthy. I personally felt as if I had done something wrong or was going to. I had a British passport like the majority of those on the same flight as me who all got through fine apart from us.

Shocked was quite the understatement as we were let through after 30 minutes. This was only after one of us was questioned about why we were here, who we worked for, whether they had authorized our leave, what our employers opinion was on us coming to volunteer, what our fathers and grandfathers name was and some family history.

Overall our experience at the airport was not the same as last time and could have been worse. Once through, we collected our luggage and got into a sheroot and headed off to Jerusalem where we planned to stay for the first few days with a friend and her family.

My Month In Abu Dis: Goodbye Palestine

My month in Abu Dis is over. I am now back in the UK and it has been a difficult couple of days in leaving Abu Dis, and Palestine behind. This is firstly due to saying goodbye to several people and places that have created great memories for me. As well as this, there is a certain small guilt attached to returning to the UK. This is not guilt in the sense of doing something bad, but a slight guilt in being very fortunate to live in a political situation that enables the citizens of my country to have freedom, and live a life absent from lingering periodical human rights violations. It is a strange thought to think that right now, in many places, Palestinian life for many lacks so much of the civil liberty that we take for granted here in the UK. Simple things that I have done since returning home, such as going to university and visiting family in another part of the country would be difficult or even impossible for many in Palestine due to the occupation, and the way it has some degree of restricting influence over every part of life.  However, apart from these feelings, I was very pleased with the entirety of the trip, and I would even categorise some less than pleasant experiences as useful learning curves for future travel  in that area of the world. I set out objectives for myself before departing for Palestine and I believe to have accomplished them; writing about the occupation from a human perspective, seeing the real impact of western foreign policy, as well as teaching English, improving my Arabic and visiting some important and interesting places. I would like to thank everybody whom I was involved with, and to anybody wishing to visit, say to you that will be in for an interesting and in some cases, absolutely wonderful time. Just try not to eat falafel everyday.

Taken near Abu Dis on one of the sunnier February days; I will certainly be going to Palestine again in the future.