Day 9 of the Delegation: Surviving in Spite of the Palestinian Authority

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Our first visit today was to the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ) in Bethlehem, a national research institute that provides advocacy and direct services toward a sustainable Palestine. Dr. Jad Issac, General Director, made clear the relationship between the political consequences of the occupation and the environment, i.e. the illegal acquisition/expropriation of lands and natural resources is a strategic tool used by the Israelis to maximize the amount of space for illegal settlements, while repressing and restricting the amount of land and resources for the Palestinians.

ARIJ focuses on sustainable agriculture, natural resource sustainability, good governance, and water management.  In order to combat the dependence on Israeli water and resource companies, the organization strives to help communities become self-sufficient. From wastewater treatment boxes for housing complexes to solar panel fixtures on wheels, which protect them from Israeli soldiers, these projects mobilize Palestinian communities to address gaps in resources.

ARIJ also promotes and educates around sustainable agricultural practices like hydroponics, use of beehives, and dairy and cheese production, some of which we saw in action directly. The institute is also mobilizing to rehabilitate the over 1,000 historic Roman wells located through the West Bank.

Israel’s repression has halted 70% of ARIJ’s funding, making it almost impossible for this important work to be done. This slash to its budget occurred after the release of its 2014-2015 findings on the impact of the racist, colonialist theft of Palestinian water and land. This report charted the growth of settlements throughout the West Bank, and after its publication, ARIJ was placed on the Shabak (Israel’s vicious internal security agency) NGO (non-governmental organizations) Monitor, a watch list that frightens most international funders into cutting donations.

While ARIJ focuses its resistance on the Israeli occupation, it also does not ignore the Palestinian Authority’s (PA’s) repression. The PA’s corruption and mismanagement cause real material and environmental impacts on the communities ARIJ studies, and so there is a strong drive to press the PA to produce alternative and sustainable services as well.

Our second stop was the historic Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. Experiencing life in this camp reminded us of the daily coercion used by the Israeli military to repress every aspect of Palestinian life. For example, the lead Israeli commander for this area of Palestine once threatened that he would disable all of the men of Dheisheh. In recent years, more than 100 have been permanently disabled after being shot in the legs.

In addition, residents again criticized the PA security coordination with Israel, reporting that they always begin preparations for an Israeli raid when they notice PA security forces pulling out of the camp, understanding that this is the main indicator of an Israeli invasion.

Similar to the Aida camp visited yesterday, Dheisheh’s unemployment rate is 50%, and around 60% of its population is under the age of eighteen. And recent cuts by Donald Trump’s administration to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA, which, as we had reported in Day 4, was established after the Nakba to provide services exclusively to Palestinian refugees) has left a direct impact on the people in the camp, forcing Dheisheh to discontinue a key unemployment program that was supporting hundreds of families.

We ended the day meeting with the Arab Women’s Union, which runs the hostel where we stay in Beit Sahour. This impressive organization is led by two fiercely strong women. The Union started out as a nursery school and then quickly became a safe political space that both supports women empowering themselves and provides them employment through two programs: the El-Beit Guest House (the aforementioned hostel) and a meal prep-type kitchen operation.  The women in the kitchen chop and wash parsley, make savory pastries, and prepare all kinds of meats, establishing the foundation for many delicious, yet laborious, Arab dishes, and packaging them all for sale to community members and corner stores alike.

In addition to women and children’s programming, the Union partners with Al Basma Special Rehabilitation Center, an organization that works to increase awareness and break down social stigmas of people living with disabilities, through education and advocacy. Al Basma helps adults lead more independent lives by teaching them to wash clothes, pick and wash herbs and greens from its hydroponic garden, and hand-make paper and woven rugs.

The leaders of the Union and Al Basma, respectively, added their resounding voices to those of all the institutions and individuals we have visited on this delegation: in order to survive, Palestinian communities here have to develop programming and services independent of the corrupt PA.

Until Liberation & Return,

USPCN
June 10, 2018