Pray for peace in Palestine...

20 September 2011

One of our partners in the West Bank, in Ramallah, has written to us about the current situation in Palestine.

The director of Star Mountain Rehabilitation Centre has shared some of her personal feelings with us and we wanted to share them with you. We ask you to join with us in praying for Israel and Palestine at this difficult time...

It has never been more difficult for me than these days…

I wish to share my feelings at one of the turning points for the Palestinian people. I want to express the feeling of a normal person, as a mother and wife and as a director of a rehabilitation center.

In the first intifada 1989, I was 13 years old and grew up to experience Israeli inflicted violence as a day to day reality. My brother’s bullet injury then made me realize how quickly life can end or change its course to the negative, even as children, innocently playing in the neighborhood.

The year 2000, when the second Intifada erupted, brought along new sufferings in the form of losing friends and loved ones. Apart from the daily humiliation and life threatening situations on checkpoints, bombardments and curfews, I suffered for almost two years the illegal administrative detention of my fiancé in Israeli prisons. It was a psychologically devastating period, anticipating his release every 3 to 6 months, with a disappointment of detention renewal over and over again. It was not allowed for me to visit him throughout, since I was not a “first degree” family member. He underwent one of the most criminal torture methods in Israeli cells, which he thankfully survived but has inherited various chronic physical pains in the back, legs and knees, needless to mention the psychological effects.

Looking back ten and twenty years ago from now, I am glad that I managed to survive those difficult times along with my families. Now, in 2011, it feels different. Contrary to the past, I am now a mother of 3 children aged 1.2 years, 2.5 years and 4 years. The past week I realized how my anxiety increased day after day with the week of the UN Bid call for Palestinian Statehood approaching [Friday 23 September 2011]. It is not the act itself that makes me anxious, since it is a natural step to ask for a basic human right of a nation’s independence, yet the reality on the ground of uncertainty, Israeli settler’s threats of attacking Palestinians and immediate shootings, rumors of violence erupting makes me think with great worry about my children.

Are my children already losing their childhood so early, having to be exposed to or struck by violence at such a young age? What should I do if there is curfew or an Israeli invasion of cities and villages, for days and months like in previous times? What should I do if my husband is arrested again? Worse is: what to do if Israeli settlers attack our homes and streets? Can we even dare to defend ourselves? How can I protect my children from injury or death? What can I tell my kids!

I feel like a nesting bird. I started buying flour, sugar, salt, canned food, beans and medicine just in case. This is the most I can do to be able to survive at home for long days of curfew. The worse scenario of having to leave the house also crossed our mind, so a folder including all official documents for my husband, myself and the kids is ready in a clear place. However, seeing the history of Palestinian refugees, I would prefer to stay at home regardless of the consequences.

Every evening and every morning I make a wish: may this week pass by without any harm to anyone, was it my family, my colleagues at work, the students, and my nation.

Also as director of Star Mountain Center for the rehabilitation of intellectually disabled children and youth, I feel a huge responsibility under such difficult and gloomy circumstances. Emergency measures on how to act and what to do in worse case scenarios were announced to staff members last Saturday. A calling system among management team and staff members has been put in place, and staff were asked to save all work on flash memories updated every day in case nobody can reach the Center. Tomorrow, being the day for national demonstrations, intellectually disabled children will not be brought to the Center. It is safer for them to stay at home, to see how matters will develop. We cannot take the risk of having anyone harmed by Israeli settlers or soldiers.

Star Mountain lies near an Israeli “by-pass” road for settlers which can be closed at any time. Most staff members pass by this road to come to work. To the north of the Center, a fixed Israeli checkpoint named ‘Atara also exists and can be shut down at any time. If any incident happens there, the whole area is locked and our transport of students to and from their homes might be affected.

Two days ago, the secretary of Star Mountain left work early when hearing that Qalandia checkpoint has been shut down and no one is allowed to pass through. She needed to make sure that she reaches her house in Al-‘Eizariyyeh safely. She can only reach it through Qalandia.

After crossing, she was happy to have found one of the Palestinian orange fords that operate as taxis going towards her town. Suddenly when passing next to the Ma’ale Adumim Israeli settlement, football-sized rocks started to fall from above and luckily none of them hit their car. It turned out that Israeli settlers were aiming at Palestinian cars and attacking them from inside the settlement. The same is happening in other parts of the West Bank. Ancient-old olive groves belonging to Palestinian farmers are once again being burned down by the settlers in the north.

We are fearing of tomorrow and really hope it will pass by without the need to enter into a new wave of endless severe violence. We are realistic and know that statehood will not be granted to the Palestinians at the UN. It is just a wish that the international community will take a fair stance and for once play a neutral third party role without bias.

Recently we got a flag of peace from a Moravian friend in the United States, wishing for peace in the region. We hung it this morning on top of the main building of Star Mountain next to the existing Palestinian flag. I think it is the most suitable time for this flag of peace to be hung.

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