this morning i left for jenin, it was a quick ride, very unusual. we think it was so because there is so much happening in nablus and in ni'lin. last night in nablus there was an operation, leaving at least two dead. you may have heard about ni'lin, a village that is near ramallah that has been protesting the construction of the apartheid wall for about two months now. on the 4th of july the israeli army declared closure in the entire city, and the protests that ensued left dozens wounded, some critically. several internationals were arrested. check out a report from the alternative media center here at http://www.alternativenews.org/ . the four-day seige was lifted yesterday, but protests are expected to continue, especially tomorrow which is the anniversary of the UN ruling on the construction of the wall. physicians for human rights invited me to go with them on saturday to ni'lin, so i hope to do so.
today in jenin i have been at the freedom theatre, again without a camera, but please check out the website, there is a link on the right of the page here. it is a wonderful and beautiful place, in the middle of jenin refugee camp.
also, another amazing resource, perhaps the most comprehensive website for information about palestine, is www.pcpd.org for the palestine centre for peace and democracy, and you should definitely check it out. it has dozens of full-length videos for streaming, and you can watch arna's children on it, the documentary about this freedom theatre. it also has many incredible maps, and so much more. anyway, its good if you want to get sucked in and learn a ton about the conflict. you could spend hours on the website.
today i visited abdallah baracat who is the general director of the governorate of jenin, a very nice man. he was telling me many stories about his life in jenin, about how the settlements in the east of jenin used to prevent thousands of people for 5 years from having smooth access to the jenin city. the settlements outside of the city made the conditions such that a person who lived only one mile from the city would have to travel almost 40 miles around the settlements to get home. this would make a 10 minute commute into a 1.5 hour commute. but with protests they were able to remove the settlements, and now life is a bit easier. he also told me about his village, in the mountains north of jenin, where before 1948 it was comprised of 38,000 acres, after 1948 it was reduced to 8000, and now it is close to 5000. his personal land has been reduced even further by the construction of the wall by a third. but he smiles and tells me that he still lives on his land, at least he is not a refugee.
today in jenin i have been at the freedom theatre, again without a camera, but please check out the website, there is a link on the right of the page here. it is a wonderful and beautiful place, in the middle of jenin refugee camp.
also, another amazing resource, perhaps the most comprehensive website for information about palestine, is www.pcpd.org for the palestine centre for peace and democracy, and you should definitely check it out. it has dozens of full-length videos for streaming, and you can watch arna's children on it, the documentary about this freedom theatre. it also has many incredible maps, and so much more. anyway, its good if you want to get sucked in and learn a ton about the conflict. you could spend hours on the website.
today i visited abdallah baracat who is the general director of the governorate of jenin, a very nice man. he was telling me many stories about his life in jenin, about how the settlements in the east of jenin used to prevent thousands of people for 5 years from having smooth access to the jenin city. the settlements outside of the city made the conditions such that a person who lived only one mile from the city would have to travel almost 40 miles around the settlements to get home. this would make a 10 minute commute into a 1.5 hour commute. but with protests they were able to remove the settlements, and now life is a bit easier. he also told me about his village, in the mountains north of jenin, where before 1948 it was comprised of 38,000 acres, after 1948 it was reduced to 8000, and now it is close to 5000. his personal land has been reduced even further by the construction of the wall by a third. but he smiles and tells me that he still lives on his land, at least he is not a refugee.
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