This week we traveled to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Needless to say, the trip brought up many complex emotions, and confirmed what I already knew about the injustice of the situation. However, we found everyone we came across to be warm and friendly, and I would highly recommend a visit if you can swing it.
We crossed the Egyptian border at Taba, managing to avoid both the Egyptian and Israeli passport stamps. Being brown, I was questioned - nay, interrogated - by Israeli border police for 15 minutes, until they were satisfied that I had no connections to Pakistan.
Since we missed the bus to Jerusalem, we hopped on one going to Tel Aviv, where we had the best breakfast ever at Benedicte, and walked around for a few hours, noticing how eery and European the city felt. The next morning we took a sheroot (shared taxi) to Jaylem. P and I both hate sightseeing, so our version is just incredibly whirlwind stop-offs and one picture at the "must-see" sights, then off to the more leisurely and enjoyable activities of exploring and spending all day eating. We ate hummous every meal for 5 days straight - that's how good it was, and stayed in the Eastern quarter. It was incredible to see the mashup of people in the holy city - an interesting place for us atheists - the tourists (mostly Polish), Armenians, Greeks, Palestinian Muslims and Christians, orthodox and not-so-orthodox Jews. After a day and a half of Jerusalem, we went to Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is based. Pete got a haircut and we went to Yasser Arafat's tomb. Eid was just around the corner, so the streets were full of people shopping. The contrast between the Israeli side (green) and Palestinian side (dry and brown) was ridiculous. As we left, two soldiers, armed to the teeth with gigantic machine guns, inspected our bus and our passports.
Given our personal experience, I would like to urge everyone to join me in a consumer boycott of Israeli Settlement produce. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the conflict and the situation: Palestinians are being forced into smaller and smaller areas while their land and resources are confiscated, routinely denied freedom of movement, and separated by a growing "security fence" which is 8 meters high (twice the height of the Berlin wall) that is referred to as the Apartheid wall. Israelis claim it is necessary for security, but it's built in a way that cuts off Palestinian areas from each other and from access to resources that are rightfully theirs according to international law. What we saw was disturbing and unsettling. P and I had no problem getting through ominous checkpoints at the wall that look like high security prisons, but it's not so simple for Palestinians. At the Bethlehem foot passenger checkpoint you have to walk 200 metres enclosed by grates to arrive in a holding area that looks like a warehouse, go through a turnstile, pass through security, put your bags through xray machines and walk through a detector, go through another turnstile and wait in line to show your documents. It took us almost an hour to get through, but lines can last much longer. We saw a group of schoolchildren being hassled. Imagine having to go through airport security every single day on your way to work, or on your way to the hospital for an emergency, or to go to school. This is the reality for Palestinians. Palestinian people engage in non-violent resistance every single day just by going about their daily activities; activities like work and going to school that the occupying forces make incredibly difficult.
While I realize it's not possible to boycott all the products listed, and all the companies that contribute to human rights abuses in Palestinian territories, there are a few significant ones. Such boycotts have been instrumental in weakening support for the apartheid regime in South Africa and I hope they will eventually have a positive influence in destroying Israeli apartheid. Boycotts generate bad reputations and apply economic pressure for change.
Please take a moment to read how your individual actions can help:
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list=type&type=203
http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/9#cont2
Products you may be most familiar with are Intel, Motorola, Caterpillar, Estee Lauder, Jaffa oranges, Coca Cola and Ahava Dead Sea cosmetics. Produce that starts with the barcode 729 denotes Israeli origin.
The full call to boycott can be read here:
http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/52
Pictures to follow!
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