Leaving Palestine tomorrow...

Hello world!

In the past couple weeks, I've witnessed two and a half particularly interesting
things.

1) One was the anti-climatic detonation of what turned out to be a fake grenade
found by a Palestinian farmer near the olive trees we were helping him harvest.

He showed us the grenade, which looked real enough to warrant concern.  It had been
partially buried with its pin removed, and two stones covering it.  The farmer
thought the grenade may be live, planted as a landmine of sorts.

We called the Israeli Defense Force, who sent a couple of armored jeeps out the
next day.  The soldiers placed a charge near the grenade with the intent of
detonating the grenade via their remotely detonated charge.  We hid behind one of
the jeeps when the charge was detonated.

A quick BAM, and some smoke; it was over.  The grenade had been a fake, they said.

I semi-jestfully apologized for "making them come out" though the grenade was fake.
One of the soldiers basically said, "don't worry; just doing our job."

None of us had to sign any papers, make any statements, or anything.  The soldiers
packed up and left.  We inspected the small hole and dug for remains of the
grenade, then left as well.

It seems to me that this should be a big deal.  There shouldn't be a nonchalant
attitude about a grenade being found in a field.  They didn't ask us any questions;
they didn't cordon off the area (except during their actual detonation); they
didn't hunt for clues; they just came out, DESTROYED A GRENADE, and left.

There is a video of the detonation at http://www.youtube.com/?v=xr3H_AlHPhU, and on
my website with some pictures from the day at
http://robnugen.com/cgi-bin/journal.pl?type=all&date=2005/10/31#Today

2) The second interesting thing happened quite close to the hostel where I'm
staying in Jerusalem.  Unfortunately, it's not unusual that we hear soundbombs used
near Damascus Gate, which is visible from the hostel's lounge window.  Soundbombs
are not "dangerous" per se, but the Israeli border police and soldiers use them to
disperse crowds.

We heard a quick succession of perhaps 8 soundbombs, which sent several of us
outside with video cameras to see what we could record.

I thought everything was over (I went out rather later than the others) when one
last soundbomb was thrown.  I can only imagine the soldier who threw it must have
been in an adrenaline-filled state, and not thinking clearly.  It landed quite near
4 or 5 young girls who had been walking up the road in a carefree way.

The video I took is here: http://www.youtube.com/?v=LVVGTnaNZns

Afterward, my friend David confronted someone who seemed to be in charge of the
action, saying it was inappropriate to throw soundbombs so close to innocents. 
This man angrily replied that rocks had been thrown at an innocent Jewish man, and
that we Political Activists were only showing one side of the story; why weren't we
videoing the Jew who had been hurt?

As I recorded David talking to the Jewish man (who had a bit of blood on his nose,
not really visible in the video), the angry soldier yelled at me, but I didn't
respond.

Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/?v=0vzUttSNzvU

3) The third thing happened yesterday.  I saw it from afar, but couldn't make
myself go; it felt too dangerous.  A Palestinian family's house was being
demolished for "security reasons," according to the soldier who was asked.  The
family had been given 24 hours notice.

My friends Juliet and Ben went to see what has happening.  Juliet had stones thrown
at her by Palestinian kids when she was near the soldiers.  The video Juliet took
features the wife wailing-crying-screaming at her life being destroyed before her
eyes.  The Arab speakers here said she was blaming Ariel Sharon and others for her
plight.  Juliet didn't record the husband screaming angrily at her, though people
on the scene said he was yelling, "why couldn't you come earlier?  Why are you here
now [that it's too late]?  Why didn't you stop this?"

Ben wrote

    Last Monday I went on a tour of East Jerusalem with an Israeli
    Jewish group called ICAHD (Israeli Committee Against Housing
    Demolitions).  On the way home our guide received a text alert on
    his phone about a house demolition in the West Bank town of Anata
    that was about to occur.  We could see from the highway across the
    valley two large excavators with hydraulic hammer attachments
    surrounded by soldiers pushing back a crowd.  We couldn't tell
    which building it was that was going to be demolished.  Only three
    of us were willing to go and witness this, so we were dropped off
    up the highway at the entrance to the town and rushed to the site
    where the demolition was already under way.  There were 20-30
    children on the road, some throwing stones at the soldiers
    standing guard, a hundred Palestinians with soldiers blocking them
    encircling the entire site, and just as many on rooftops.  I split
    up from the other two and headed to the uphill side of the
    building to get a good perspective.* It was a three story
    apartment building and it took about an hour for the machines to
    knock the whole thing down.

    The two excavators made a terrible noise as the two hydraulic
    hammers slammed the concrete and sections of the floor suddenly
    gave way.  As it started to get dark I decided it would be a good
    idea to get home, and as I walked back through the streets it
    occurred to me that the three of us were the only internationals
    I'd seen.  It seems to me now that one advantage to the
    authorities of not issuing warning of the demolition is that this
    most likely prevents any international media from being there.
    And there wasn't.

I'm glad I didn't go; it sounds really traumatizing.

4) After my last email, I got a few replies that asked some of the same questions.

  *) I forgot to specify that a stone had hit me, not a rubber bullet.

  *) I described Palestine as "a country basically surrounded by Israel."  A better
description would be "Occupied Territories of Palestine," as it's not a country as
such, and it's not surrounded.

5) Over the past two days I have been practicing peace within myself via
meditation, reading (_Life of Pi_), writing, and folding origami.  I've been
releasing the ingrained ideas that I need to be "doing something."

6) However, yesterday, Ben, Dave and I went to the Dead Sea and had a fantastic
time!  We went to En Gedi Beach, which is free (except for transportation out
there) if one brings food.  We delighted in the incredible buoyancy and decided we
could easily swim to Jordan.  If we became tired on the way, we could simply rest,
floating effortlessly with our heads well out of the water.

After our swim, we met a woman named Delphine from Switzerland and chatted with her
while I let the water dry on my skin, leaving a layer of salt crystals on my
shoulder and some in my beard.  (I haven't shaved since I left Japan on 6 October.)
We decided to take a mud bath, and turned ourselves into mud versions of The
Fantastic Four, or a dark hue of Blue Man Group.  I debated letting Francois (my
stuffed rabbit) get coated, but didn't want to risk having him rot if I couldn't
wash all the mud out.

Several pictures from Dead Sea and a longer version of the story are here:
http://robnugen.com/cgi-bin/journal.pl?type=all&date=2005/11/14

7) Just tonight, I went to Bethlehem with my friend Niveen!!  We had some problems
getting through the new checkpoint, a brand new facility that opened yesterday
according to my friend Sarah who has been going to and from Bethlehem almost every
day during her stay in Jerusalem.

Niveen was disallowed to drive through, causing her great consternation and a
U-turn with no idea how we could get in.  We jumped onto a servis (group taxi),
hoping they could get through.  Actually they could not, but dropped us off at the
walk-in gate, outside a brand new facility that looks a lot like a modernized
cattle-herding hanger.  We were monitored by soldiers on ramparts, blocked by
rotating gates (that were remotely locked after a few people went through),
required to show our IDs to people behind thick (bullet proof?) glass, where Niveen
(and all other Palestinians) will have their IDs entered into a computer.

There were several people in line, and one guy said he knew a shortcut, which
turned out to be walking through the drive-through gate where we had been stopped
before.  I just walked through without acknowledging the guards until they used
English and Niveen called my name.  I still didn't show them my ID but stood there
"impatiently" waiting for Niveen who pleaded her case until finally we were waived
through.

We walked through the massive gate in the wall (big enough for tour buses) and
quickly found a servis to take us to Bethlehem University (where Niveen went to
school).  We saw some of her friends (and one of mine!) and then visited the Church
of the Nativity, where I got a picture of Francois on the site where Jesus is said
to have been born.

This was all great and fantastic and I was really happy to get this crown jewel of
a Francois photo (though Sarah says I should have put him _in_ the hole) before I
left for home.

On the way back through the checkpoint, I was astonished that all the passengers on
tour buses had to get OUT of the tour bus, wait in the spanking new cattle herding
facility, then get back ON the tour bus, for a grand total of moving about 100
yards in 30 minutes.

We waited in line, chatting with several other Americans who were on a tour, and
marveled at the facility.  It's literally like going between countries, not between
cities.  I stood in line with Niveen, whereas passport holders could just show
their passport and walk through a gate (so I don't know what was taking so long at
first).  In a non-violent act against the facility, I tried to walk through the
gate, found it locked, so I jumped over it.

"Hey!"

I turned around after a couple of "heys" and said, "what?" like "who are you to
talk to me?"

The guy was like "where's your passport?"

I looked him in the eyes.  "It's in my pocket."

"Show me."

"No way am I showing you my passport.  My taxes *paid* for this facility (*)" I
glared into his eyes until he grabbed my arm as if to show me who was boss.

I pulled away and was like, "alright, look," and showed him my passport.  He took
it and I tried to snatch it back from him and then pulled his arm and he looked
back at me like, "are you daring to challenge my authority?"

I backed off and he gave my passport to the guy behind the glass.

I said something like, "this is ridiculous; there's no reason to make these people
wait here; this is completely preposterous," by which time my passport was checked
and put back under the glass where the guy I had challenged motioned toward it with
his head, ignoring everything I said.

This is definitely a situation after which I thought of several things I could have
said better at the moment.

I am pretty sure I would not have done it had there *not* been about 50 American
tourists there watching everything.  I basically just wanted to make a scene and
get across the point that the checkpoint makes people resentful.

Pictures are on this page, though not (yet) well labeled:
http://robnugen.com/cgi-bin/journal.pl?type=all&date=2005/11/16

(*) strictly speaking I can't prove this is true, but I know the US gives money to
Israel.

8) I'll be leaving this area on the 17th, and back in Japan the next day.

    Love and Blessings to All!
     - Rob