Occupy Austin Interfaith Chaplaincy

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2011/12/06/seminarians-create-interfaith-chaplaincy-ministry-in-occupy-austin/

Check out this article on our growing Interfaith Chaplaincy effort at Occupy Austin!

Freedom of Movement Demonstration

Hebron Bike Demonstration Halted by Israeli Forces

60 bicyclists gathered for a group ride from Hebron to Al Bweire. Those participating in the demonstration calling for freedom of movement, were supported by 20 internationals. The nonviolent bicycle ride to promote freedom of movement for Palestinians in the West Bank, was halted by Israeli Forces before the group approached the first checkpoint on their ride. Razor wire and officials’ insistence that access to the road between their makeshift checkpoint and the permanent checkpoint was prohibited. After a standoff, bicyclists turned around. Although the demonstration did not breach any physical barriers needed to re-establish Palestinians’ right for freedom of movement, the ride rallied activists for peace and exhibited innovative resistance that may inspire more creative non-violent action in the West Bank, inshallah.

Danger Around Every Corner?

What kind of world are you creating if you act as if there is danger around every corner?

Nighttime Home Invasions

With the arrival of a new brigade of soldiers in the old city of Hebron, Palestinians have reported a rise in home invasions. Raheb, mother of 5 young girls pictured above, recounted the hour-long raid of her home describing how they first searched the roof, then entered their home where her girls were asleep. Soldiers proceeded to empty drawers, pull apart bedding and search the kitchen. Raheb questioned the soldiers; "Why are you here?" The only answer she received that evening was another question; "Where are your men?" The men of the household were outside on the street having been detained by the soldiers. Two of Raheb's five daughters slept through the raid, while the other three watched in terror.

The following night soldiers again, entered a home, ascending an interior staircase passing startled children and waking people from their beds, to stand guard on their roof for no more than 5 minutes. Soldiers insisted on the necessity of their evening invasion, and then required identification from anyone in the household who inquired why they were there. These are just two examples of what have become common disturbances, as Palestinians try to live some semblance of a normal life and Israeli Defense Forces prepare for war.

Pictured above is a door broken by soldiers' forced entry into a home of a deaf woman who lives alone with her son. She reported that in the night, soldiers entered her home and tore through her belongings "looking for drugs". Her apartment is a prime target for harassment, as she is the last household living in the apartment building, that neighbors a settlement on Shuhada St. She came came to CPT for help because she no longer can lock her front door and is scared of soldiers invading her home again.

Education as Resistance

A few afternoons a week we monitor this road in the village of Bweire where school children walk home. The paralell road on the left, is a road to an illegal settlement outpost. Many Palestinian children have had been harassed and/or attacked along this road and often request CPT to walk with them until they are out of sight of the settlement outpost.

Life goes on with the backdrop of occupation. Apartheid has been normalized. I saw a 5 year old girl walking alone eating her breakfast of bread. Without hesitation or giving the soldier a glance she strolled through the check point on her way to school. This is life for her, and for many who are growing up in Hebron under occupation. There is rage, frustration with daily infringements on normal life in Palestine… where does it go?
Hebron is no longer in crisis mode, although the active enforcement of apartheid is very real and cause of human rights infringements. I heard a fellow team mate describe it like living with a neighbor you refuse to look at, acknowledge or respect. Everyone avoids eye contact unless they choose to hurl a stone or insult at their neighbor. Life adapts to the good and bad.




The school upstairs from the CPT office celebrated their Kindergarten graduation recently on Chicken Street, with a show of music, drama by the Dream Theater and ice cream. Crowds of women and youth gathered to celebrate the occasion and transformed our usually grim alley into a beautiful vibrant reminder of the everyday life that must be nourished, supported and celebrated in Hebron. Behind the stage, on which the students performed and received honor were the signs of apartheid; razor wire, fences and a wall separating the Palestinians from what was once a vital street for transportation and commerce.

Noah

Noah’s fall.
We visited a man in the outskirts of Hebron who my teammate described as ‘having the luck of Lot’. His story begins like many; He and his family lived in a house on a hill, that was passed down through his family for over 100 years. For his livelihood, Noah raised sheep and never learned to read or write.
A demolition order is posted on his house and he ignores the notice, not knowing what it said. Not long after, his house and water cistern is destroyed by Israeli Military forces.
His family, now homeless, moves into the city while Noah stays to tend the sheep.


He sleeps outside the cave where the sheep are sheltered from predators- but not sheltered enough. Between poisonous plants for food, snakes and dogs he has lost almost all his sheep. The ones he does have left are sick from the few poisonous plants they have left to graze on. Water is scarce. Money to buy food, for himself or the sheep is non-existent. While Noah's family is staying with relatives, he sits under an almond tree watching his sheep die, with the wreckage of former stable life still in visible heaps up the hill where his home once stood.
It has been one year since his house was destroyed by Israel and the rubble still sits. Hill tops are often coveted sites in this region and Israeli settlement expansion is not far off.
While we visit with Noah, listening to his worries and offering a small amount of support, two of his sheep die.
The reason for this destruction and Noah's fall from a secure life for his family? I will repeat what my team mates have to keep reminding me; 'This is occupation, they don't have to have a reason'.

What does CPT do?

The work of CPT in Hebron is varied according to the needs and requests of the community, but one routine task is to patrol the Old City of Hebron and the surrounding area at least three times a day. During these patrols we may find young men detained at one of the many checkpoint, families experiencing harassment by settlers or shop keepers being threatened.

This boy ran to our home as we were finishing dinner to inform us that settlers were throwing stones into his family's courtyard. We went to the home and talked to soldiers who reported that they saw the incident, but did not act on it.

Young men bringing 'Abraham's Soup' Home to their families. Much of CPT's interaction on patrol are with young men and boys who are often targeted by Israeli soliders. On early morning patrols of the check points we monitor the number of children going through the check points, the number of students and teachers being detained (and often made late to school) and the number of bag checks. These numbers are submited to several local and international human rights watch organizations.

When we do come to a check point, like we did in this incident, where a man was being detained, in this case being forced to squat down facing the wall for several hours (according to the soldier) we maintain a presence, possibly speak to the soldier or the detainee, and call our partners Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) who will also document and report the incident. International presence often changes the course of events in cases of Palestinians being detained, harassed or victimized.

On another call on 2 June, two boys, residents of the Beit Hadassah settlement in Hebron’s Old City, ages 14 and 15, threw multiple stones at Palestinians walking in the market below. Some of the rocks were as large as 5 inches. One nine year old Palestinian boy was struck with two stones causing a head injury that splattered the sidewalk and storefront with blood. An ambulance arrived to rush the boy to the hospital.

An Israeli soldier stationed beside the settlement had neither tried to stop the boys nor take any action against them after they hurled the stones. An Israeli policeman later called on a Palestinian resident who saw much of the incident, and took information to investigate further.
This same resident's house is back to back with the Beit Hadassah settlement. Besides enduring daily harassment from settlers, he boards up his windows to protect his family from the violence of the settlers. Lately, he has reported several incidents, including settlers from Beit Hadassah smashing his car windows and throwing eggs at his store.
On evening patrol, Islam, one of the older of the boys and young men roaming the street selling key chains and bracelets, took time to show us his family’s homes, and told us stories of the second intifada when his uncle was killed in the mosque and several children were killed right in front of his home. He is a young man who has grown up knowing violence, death and occupation as the dominate reality and violence as the only bleak solution out of this state of oppression.

The life Hebron offers children is astonishing to me- just how they can grow into peacemakers and not jaded and violent is an amazing testament of hope. Where there was once life in al- Kahlil, there is now concrete, dust and fear. Suspicion takes the place of sounds of normal life. For the children of Hebron the occupation is normal; they have grown up knowing machine guns pointed at them on the way to school, school bags searched as they are scrambling to study for their final exams, friends being blindfolded and taken away to jail.

I saw one young girl coming on her way to school through the mosque check point, in her school uniform, turn the corner from the soldiers and head straight toward a rose bush from which she picked two flowers and continued on her way. In this atmosphere, one must search with intention for beauty, grasp it and carry it with you, like the rose, to share with others. Beauty is not as obvious for those living under occupation- but that does not mean joy is far.