Doorgaan naar hoofdcontent

Kiv helah

Intimidation

Spending time here in Ramallah, is like being in a positive palestinian bubble.

Because it is zone A it is governed by palestinians, so there is not so much intimidation.

Yesterday evening we went to the countryside just outside of ramallah and while we sipped our chai, you could see the lights of the settlements on the hills. Searching for any intruders.

Settlers always build on mountaintops apparently. And they have different techniques to take away the land illegally from palestinian people. One of the ways  is a law dating back to the ottoman occupation. In which it says that if you don't use the land for 10 years it goes back to the state.

So they just close the road and then the palestinians can't go to their own land. Also because the settlers patrol with guns and dogs.
This happens in the zone C, because there israel is the authority, and after 10 years they take the land and give it to the settlers.

 Another tactique i have heard is that settlers go and demand food and shelter, hoping that palestinians take revenge.

Because when they are assaulted the IDF can come in and take the property. There are many more examples, but you get the message.

Personally i think a lot about this intimidation. I want to come back to Palestine in the future, so i don't want to have a bad relationship with israeli authorities. At the same time, if i don't share the intimidations i come across, i succumb to them.

My german ancestors where severely intimidated by the national socialists. And growing up with their tragic story inside me, i know how it feels to suffer from being intimidated.

So thats why i refuse to be a victim of intimidation this lifetime. But i sure hope i can come back to this beautiful place, supporting artistic initiatives!

During the empfindsamkeit, back in the 18 century it was Johan Gottfried von Herder who rebeld against the dukes and counts, by writing a encyclopedic work for european songs, in which he also collected "german songs" even before it was a nation.

Also he could not rebel against the dangerous and powerful dukes of his time with force, so they used art.

Have a nice day

Reacties

Een reactie posten

Populaire posts van deze blog

Pardesiya

after skipping a nights sleep, i have arrived in israel without being controlled or checked by the customs. I had spent at least 10 minutes a day the past month which alternative story i had to tell against the israeli authorities. But nobody asked me anything. After i arrived we went to haifa, and while speaking to my host i learned his perspective on the conflict. The perspective of a child of holocaust survivors. I could see that israel is a modern and functioning country, clean and well organised. Fruits of the work of three different jews, the sefardic (from northern africa/spain), ashkenazi (from central europe) and the mizrachi (original to the arab peninsula). They made a modern democratic state in this desert. In which 2 million palestinians also live freely. They are the winners of many wars against their neighbours and are still besieging them, just like america still holds armybases in germany and japan. Actually the state of palestine can maybe be compared better w...
Een reactie posten
Meer lezen

The frontiers of my tolerance

The frontiers of my own tolerance. Being here in Palestine, hearing the stories of their suppression is difficult. Especially when you are hosted like a foreign king. You can see them struggle with the occupation, and the emotions with the fact their land, culture and property is under pressure. It is under pressure by israel, and mostly the religious orthodox streams of power that claim on dubious historical research that they were once the inhabitants. At the same time there is a clash of culture. In a mostly muslim run society, you respect the leader does not matter what happens. He is the leader of the clan, but one should not compare this to democracy! There are no checks and balances. It is another style of leadership and control. More based on the belly. Maybe one can vote, but there are no mature institutions that can protect the individual as we know it. I met someone from Turkey today who works in a culture center and who came here in Ramallah to give funding to a...
Een reactie posten
Meer lezen

The orchestra and the Clash of civilizations

After being held like a little child by the beautiful palestinian people and their culture. I am back in the western world. As soon as you cross the checkpoint, you enter the west again. Feelingwise, here you don't constantly greet people. Here there's a different level of hygiene. Here people are more in the heads and less in their bellies. In Palestine children are everywhere on the street, here it is quiet. You could say the ageold conflict of jerusalem is culturally going on. Although in a different jacket with a different story. Like samuel huntington's clash of civilizations describes. In Jeruzalem you can feel it. Crossing the checkpoint you can feel the muscle of the israeli's. It is similair to our european borders, if you don't have the right passport. They make you feel that you have less rights by being palestinian, you have to make an extra mile by stepping out of the vehicle and walking trough the checkpoint. Today i got the conduct the woodw...
Een reactie posten
Meer lezen