The end

This is my last entry from Palestine. Tomorrow morning - very early - I leave to go to Ben Gurion airport. Assuming they don't hold me until I miss my flight, I will depart at 12:30 and return to the States.

It has been a privilege to live in Palestine and assist the struggle against the occupation. My passion for this cause has been strengthened by the people I have met here and the experiences I have had. I have never been more convinced in the righteousness of the fight here, and the necessity for Israel to cease to exist.

If I have been able to give some perspective and detail about what is going on here through this blog, I am happy to have done so. It is impossible to sum up all the experiences I have had in a way I find sufficient, but I will say this: do not look at the conflict here as a conflict among equals. It is not as complicated as some would say it is. This is an occupation, and Israel is the occupier.

Look at what is going on day to day. There are many things that do not make headlines that make up the everyday struggle faced by Palestinians. The invasions by the Israeli military, the checkpoints, the arrest of children, the de facto ban on protests with the use of overwhelming force, the settlement of the West Bank - it's all making life much, much worse for the people here.

To say "it's too complicated" is an easy out. It's made complicated by those who would not have you see the truth. There is only one side to this conflict that has a military that can close off villages on a whim. There is only one side tear gassing and shooting the other. If there is occasionally a bomb or a shooting carried out by a Palestinian, this does not make them equals. This does not justify the treatment of an entire people. And there's only one side that has stolen and continues to steal land, only one side that ethnically cleansed and continues to drive out the other.

This is our tax dollars at work. We have a responsibility to oppose this. I have tried and will continue to oppose the occupation of Palestine to the best of my ability. I only hope that more will listen, and act.

Faster of Puppets

One day into Ramadan! Fasting yesterday went very well - I was able to keep it up the whole day. In the evening, our host made us a dinner of rice and vegetables, and shared some delicious rice from his family's meal.

Fasting was easier than I expected. Not that it was easy - especially right before dinner - but I wasn't too tired and didn't get a headache. I did a good job eating and drinking enough in the morning. We've been told that after 3 days it gets easier, so I'm looking forward to that. It's a shame I won't be in August for the whole of Ramadan. I may consider fasting for the rest of it in the States, but it will be more difficult, I think. I'm fortunate here because no only is almost everyone fasting, but that even includes my fellow volunteers. Having a good support system helps a lot.

This morning there was a house raid in the village by the Israeli military. Our host woke us up at 3:30 to tell us there had been concussion grenades used nearby and that Israeli forces had entered a house nearby. We went to the roof - I was scared, thinking they might enter here as well. They did not, but we watched in the pre-dawn silence as a line of military jeeps and a prison truck drove past. Apparently they arrested a member of his family. Not sure why.

It was a grim reminder of the reality of the occupation here. The military acts with impugnity. There is a gate at the front of the village, near the watch tower. If the military wishes, the village can be cut off from the world. This village is quiet enough that I sometimes forget that shortly before I came here, the military beat one of the members of the Popular Committee here almost to the point of death after he was detained in a protest. Earlier this year, settlers killed a young man in a village nearby. And in the recent past, young people have been rounded up and detained in a show of collective punishment.

After witnessing this event, we went downstairs and ate our pre-dawn meal. Ramadan is said to be a time of blessings, when the gates of hell are closed and the gates of heaven are open. How long until all the gates to all the Palestinian towns in the West Bank shatter?