In the Light, Palestine-Israel: The Terraces of Battir

Hassan Muamer of the Battir Landscape EcoMuseum, an initiative, with the help of UNESCO, that has been dedicated to restoring and sustaining the environmental stability of Battir, continues to fight the human rights violations presented by the wall.

“There have not been protests here since the first Intifada,” Muamer said, “we opted for agriculture as resistance.”

PHOTOS

Excerpts from my journal as I explore the situation in Palestine and Israel

May 1, 2013, Wednesday, Bethlehem

Yesterday [April 30, 2013] was the Battir terraces tour that I’ve long hoped to photograph after G suggested it months ago. With J, the new volunteer at the news agency where I also volunteer as a photographer, G guided us thru some of the terrace landscape. Not the Palestinian village of Battir itself, however; this she promised for later, maybe an early morning walk, most importantly with a Palestinian guide rather than herself, an Israeli. Much of the tour was on foot, usually mild inclines and declines. When she suggested a rougher walk I demurred, stated, I might need to walk slower than you both, I have knee problems. She suggested a less strenuous route.

Click map for larger view

The terraces are vast. This is one of the areas in Israel-Palestine most dense with terraces, G from Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) thought because it has historically been prime agricultural land, as contrasted with the Galilee for instance. It is more suited to agriculture partially because of the warmer climate. There is archeological evidence that terraces existed here at least 4000 years ago. Of course the main reason for terracing is to increase arable land. Slopes can be converted into small plains by forming rock walls which in turn create the arable flat zones. This also traps rain water. Earlier, people moved the more fertile earth from lower elevations to the terraced plains. Now, G explained, with fertilizers this is no longer necessary. Hills prevent use of machinery so much work is done with donkeys and hand labor.

She showed us places where farmers had renovated old terraces and planted, usually olive trees. Some Israeli farmers are using traditional irrigation techniques supplemented by piped water to foster early growth. Maybe Palestinians as well?

Battir 1893

G showed us cisterns and canals in a small park. Also the ruins of Byzantine structures dating back some 1600 years, olive presses and maybe a church. Across the valley she indicated ancient structures built during Roman and Crusader periods, and a hillside now barren which once had been an Arab village. Possibly people recycled the limestone from the buildings into the terrace walls. She also pointed to where an ancient Jewish fortress, Khirbet al-Yahud, once stood. At 2 of the parks people had congregated, one to camp. We saw tour buses at a third site, but the hikers may have been on other trails.

Photographing all this in an effective way was challenging. Much the same challenge I face with my water theme: how to make interesting photos of intrinsically fascinating scenes when seen with the unaided eye and with commentary but that do not necessarily lend themselves to photography? J also made photos and we shall compare. Perhaps I can learn from her, she from me.

G leads an excellent tour. She’s done this many times, knows the hills intimately, walks and rides horses over them. She knows history, ecology, geology and other areas that fuse together so she can present an overall view of the terraces. She is empathetic with human needs and rights, often referred to the human being as central in the argument of what to do about the Separation Barrier (called by some the Apartheid Wall) and the terraces. In fact, the proposed route of the Barrier in this region is what motivates concern for the terraces. Many would be destroyed if the wall/fence is built according to plan. At the moment this is being adjudicated in Israel’s high court—potentially a landmark legal case for Palestine-Israel.

Railroad tracks near the proposed route of the Barrier

With a curious combination of influence groups: the Israeli Defence Ministry argues on the basis of security, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and Friends of the Earth Middle East for environmental integrity, and local Battir village residents for their human rights—they demand no barrier of any form. G claimed this is the highest adjudication level of an environmental issue possibly superseding the all-powerful motive or justification of security. Of course the scales would tilt dramatically toward security should Palestinians attack Israelis violently. Such a precarious balance.

Returning from the terraces’ tour we cruised thru Tsur Hadassah, an Israeli town on the Green Line near Wadi Fukin which I visited in 2007 with FoEME (pronounced FOE-ME). And skirted around Betar Illit, the illegal settlement nearby that often—unintentionally, G claimed—spills raw sewage down the slopes into Wadi Fukin. Thus potentially ruining the ancient agricultural practices of Wadi Fukin.

She did not wish to bring us to Battir village itself, feeling justly that this part of the tour should best be led by a Palestinian. So that remains to be done. She also mentioned other events we could be part of, such as the cistern exhibit on May 27, 2013.

Palestinian village of Battir

G spotted “illegal” workers in the bushes along one of the small roads. She explained that they are walking across the fields and terraces between Palestine and Israel, working in Israel. Many Israelis never notice this—or choose not to. I did not see the men. I did not even think to look for them.

I am impressed with how many people, multitudes across the millennia, not knowing each other, contribute to terraces. Rock upon rock, field after field, labor spans centuries. People who never actually meet reach out their hands in friendship. Together they build and use the terraces.

At UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee meeting next month, the terraces at Batir will come up for recognition as a World Heritage Site. The terraces are watered by an ancient system of springs, pools and wells. In addition to destroying the watering system, residents say, the part of the barrier in the Refaim streambed next to the Green Line, or Israel’s pre-1967 border, could separate the villagers from 740 acres of their land.

—Haaretz

To be contrasted with a recent speech by the president of Israel, Shimon Peres:

“I remember how it all began. The whole state of Israel is a millimeter of the whole Middle East. A statistical error, barren and disappointing land, swamps in the north, desert in the south, two lakes, one dead and an overrated river. No natural resource apart from malaria. There was nothing here. And we now have the best agriculture in the world? This is a miracle: a land built by people.”

Sheer ignorance or political manipulation?

TO BE CONTINUED

LINKS

“Decision postponed for Separation Wall in Battir”

“High Court orders Defense Ministry to halt construction of part of West Bank barrier“

News about the terraces’ decision – Environmental Peacemaking

“West Bank Barrier Threatens Farms”

“Palestine: Land of olives and vines. Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir” (UNESCO description preparatory to considering the terraces as a World Heritage Site)

“Refaim Valley: The Palestinian villages of Al Wallaja and Battir Archaeological View” (from Emek Shaveh)

“When Israeli denial of Palestinian existence becomes genocidal,” by Ilan Pappe, April 20, 2013

Read Full Post »

Water rights in Israel-Palestine: a dialog—part 2

Middle East Children’s Alliance Maia water project in Afaq Jadeeda

Rafah sewage lagoon, 2006

A dialog between Susan Koppelman of LifeSource & Skip Schiel. We try to clarify the water rights issue in Palestine & Israel based on our many experiences there. Missing from this exchange are Israeli voices. I invite them to join us. This post is dedicated to Fadia Daibes Murad (with special thanks to Cliff Bennett for inspiring it).

Although [increasing] by the day, the water crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) is less and less visible in the daily Palestinian discourse. The more contentious issues like the refugees, Jerusalem borders and security are occupying the minds of at least the Palestinian policy and decision makers. Interestingly enough, and contrary to what prevails in the OPT, many Israeli water advocates are grasping the opportunity of intentional neglect to the water problem in the OPT to serve their national purpose for confirming the status quo with regard to water. They are more consistent than ever in reiterating that there is a water crisis in Israel and that their proposals concerning desalinated water and the import of water from Turkey to solve the Palestinian water problem are feasible. 

—Fadia Daibes Murad in “Not Even a Drop…Until the Palestinians Drop”

(continuing the dialog between Susan Koppelman and me)

Hi Skip,

Thank you for this opportunity to go more deeply into the question of what can Palestinians, and those in solidarity with the Palestinian people, do to improve the water and sanitation situation on the ground within the current reality of the Israeli Occupation and colonization of Palestinian territory and resources.  For sure, we agree with the principle that ‘the fact of occupation does not absolve Palestinians of their responsibility’ – to the Palestinian people and to the ecosystem – to minimize harm, to protect water resources and to promote access to safe drinking water – to the extent that to do so is within their means.

I am particularly interested in having this conversation with you because you have spent a lot of time in Palestine meeting with Palestinians and local experts to better understand the water and sanitation situation.  You are aware of the disaster that happened in Beit Lahia, Gaza in 2007 when the sewage lagoons overflowed and five residents of the village Um An-Nasser were drowned to death in sewage.  You have seen the above ground river of sewage from two illegal Israeli settlements – Ariel Industrial Zone and Barkan Industrial Zone – which flows through Sulfit in a parallel line to the properly submerged sewage network disposing of waste from the Palestinian municipality of Sulfit – it is amazing to see the kilometers of manholes to the proper Palestinian sewage network running just 20 meters parallel to the sewage stream of toxic waste from the illegal Israeli industrial zones/colonies.  For the sake of this discussion let’s focus on these two examples, although I’m very happy to discuss others as well, if you would like.

Photo by Bshar Ashour of the Palestine Hydrology Group (PHG)

Um An-Nasser, photo by Ehab Zaheem

In the case of the overflow of the sewage lagoons at the Beit Lahia Waste Water Treatment Plant in the north of Gaza in 2007, it is fine to ask the question: What could Palestinians have done with materials and resources found in Gaza in order to avert this catastrophe?  Honestly, I am not certain as to the answer to this question.  I’ve always understood this case to be a simple issue of access to materials, but I’ll look into it!  Do you know?  What I do know is that for years, Israel prevented the Gazan Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) from importing materials needed to finish constructing the emergency phase of this treatment facility, and to this day Israel is obstructing the import of materials and spare parts needed for day-to-day functioning of the plant, as well as materials needed to construct the next phase of the project that would allow CMWU to go beyond basic treatment and treat the waste water to the quality that it can be used to recharge the depleted aquifer in Gaza.  In fact, the emergency phase of the Beit Lahia Treatment Plant was only completed after the 2007 catastrophe, at which point Tony Blair finally and famously intervened to pressure Israel to allow in the necessary materials.

Graffiti says, “young girl drowned here”

I am very familiar with calls before this crisis from CMWU – supported by the UN – urging Israel to do the right thing and allow entry of the materials needed to support the banks of the lagoon so that they wouldn’t collapse.  As you may know, LifeSource, the Palestinian water rights organization that I work with, is a member of EWASH, a coalition organization of groups working in the water and sanitation sector in occupied Palestinian territory which includes some UN agencies (UNICEF, UN Development Program, and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA).  I remember both EWASH and the UN circulating a press release from CMWU calling for pressure on Israel to allow materials entry to prevent the collapse of the embankment of the lagoon.  I am unfamiliar with any suggestion from any UN worker that CMWU had the means to otherwise prop up the overstressed banks of the lagoon.  I’m interested to learn if you know of other options that Palestinians had at that time, given that materials entry through the humanitarian crossings with Israel was being prevented.

The film Gaza is Floating produced by LifeSource looks at the sewage situation in Gaza and includes an interview with the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Coordinator for the UN in Gaza that may be interesting to you.  The 9 minute version of the film is online at www.lifesource.ps/gazafloating.

By the way, there is a 15 minute version of the film that goes more into some development and engineering questions particular to the sanitation situation in Khan Younis and surrounding villages, and I think is relevant to contextualizing your statement that new lagoons have been blocked by local Palestinians crying NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard): new basic emergency lagoons create more problems, they can be very unsafe, and they are not a solution to Israel’s blockade of humanitarian materials or a substitute for proper sewage treatment facilities.  What is needed is the development of sophisticated facilities that fully treat the sewage, not more lagoons for storing it. I too have traveled Gaza touring the water and sanitation situation, and Gazans are eager for proper treatment facilities in my experience.  I welcome questions or comments arising from my comments here or from the film, regarding options for Palestinians in Gaza to treat wastewater.

Unknown health affects, Beit Lahiya, Um An-Hasser

It is also a good question I agree to ask what can Palestinians in the West Bank due to treat wastewater given Israeli restrictions on sanitation development.  I am sure we both agree that Israel is responsible for the obstruction over a nearly 15-year period of multiple large-scale waste water treatment plants in the West Bank – the World Bank even stated this bluntly in their 2009 report Assessment of Restrictions on Palestinian Water Sector Development. What then can Palestinians do more locally to treat wastewater or to reuse gray water at the household level is a fine question, as long as it doesn’t absolve Israel from recognizing Palestinians’ human right to water and sanitation and from allowing large-scale wastewater treatment facilities to treat municipality sewage in an efficient way.  The reality is that wastewater treatment is very expensive, it is 3 times more expensive I have heard to build a sewage network than a water network.  Smaller units for treating wastewater at the household level are unaffordable for most families and for the government to invest in.  The fact is that many families are already reusing gray water out of necessity.  Families are using the same water they use to wash their clothes to wash the floor, etc.  Water conservationists around the world have a lot to learn from Palestinians and others surviving on very little water each day, day after day, out of necessity.

You are right that it is not only the illegal Israeli settlements, but many Palestinian municipalities as well that are dumping untreated wastewater into wadis.  Given that Israel has prevented the development of proper treatment facilities, what can Palestinians do with their waste water?  In the West Bank, only 31% of Palestinian households are connected to a sewage network, the rest use cesspits and septic tanks.  Sulfit is one of the lucky municipalities that has been able to implement construction of a sewage network, but after the sewage is carried away from the residential areas of the municipality there is not a completed treatment facility to treat this waste water.  There aren’t proper facilities for dealing with wastewater from cesspits and septic tanks, again because of Israeli obstruction.  So, yes, here, mechanisms for treating wastewater that are low-cost, local AND DO NOT REQUIRE ISRAELI PERMISSION could be very useful in allowing Palestinians to finally be able to treat their waste water in an acceptable way as they’ve been struggling to do since before Oslo.  Keep in mind non-local options, like reed treatment, are not possible because land that isn’t built up has been claimed by Israel.  Bacterial treatment could be an option in the near future if/when the price comes down.

Smelter dumping toxins from the Israeli West Bank industrial settlement of Barkan

Raw sewage from Barkan industrial park

Retaining wall built by Denmark to confine Israeli sewage flowing thru Salfit region

We can go one step further and look at compost toilets as a solution.  Surely this is not an option in the refugee camps and other overcrowded areas.  I can say from experience that there is a lot of resistance to compost toilets in Palestine.  There is a lot of resistance in the US and other parts of the world as well.  Are Palestinians who are dealing with the gruesome reality of Israeli occupation to blame if they flush their toilets while Israel obstructs creation of a treatment facility to treat the sewage they flush?  Should Palestinians, given the reality of Israeli obstruction of Palestinian sanitation development, be held to a different standard and be blamed for not shitting into a bucket to fertilize their fruit trees?

Trash collection in my experience is such an anomaly.  I can understand your tendency to link trash collection with sewage treatment, but, in fact, I think they are unrelated.  It is very important to Palestinians to treat sewage and to keep it away from their water supply, for many reasons, including religious reasons.  The motivation, determination and perseverance of Palestinians to address this problem is well documented.  It is disappointing that trash collection has not been approached in a similar way.  I’ve wondered for some time if this has to do with Palestinians’ reactions to Israelis viewing Palestinians as trash and trash collectors.  A friend of mine suggested to a Palestinian permaculturist that he organize children in his village to clean up the trash in the streets and he was offended.  ‘My people are not trash collectors!’ he asserted.  I agree with you that there is value in Palestinians taking responsibility for their trash.  Also, it is really frustrating to study the water and sanitation situation, to spend so much energy and resources in supporting Palestinians to come up with creative solutions for having their basic right to water and sanitation, and to see that beyond compost toilets, there seem to be few options for Palestinians to make much observable impact on the ground.  If new technology can change this and support Palestinians’ rights to water and sanitation and to self-determination, this would be fantastic!

Middle East Children’s Alliance Maia water project

Me:

susan,

excellent response, very well-informed and decidedly compassionate, to me and others. i wish i could answer the questions you put to me, i’ll ponder them. i wish i could go to someone like the late water expert, fadia daibes murad, for her intelligent answers and attitudes. (i do plan to briefly quote her in my blog), i’ll think about who else i might contact, someone from phg in gaza for instance who toured me around the beit lahiya spill or fareed in the wb who you might know, not exactly a water expert but knowledgeable about many topics. as you know, reaching people thru the long arm of the internet can be vexing, even when they’re down the street.

i’ll read your letter more carefully tomorrow, may shorten it and other entries of yours and mine, and probably post the blog tomorrow. we can always add to it later, esp if others join in the conversation.

thank you for your presence,

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

skip,

there are many intelligent and creative folks working on these issues!  i knew fadia, yes i know fareed, i’ve worked with phg [palestine hydrology group] in ramallah and had contact with phg in gaza.  i know many others as well.  clemens messershmidt is a geo-hydrologist who’s been living in the west bank for more than 15 years.  my colleague recently attended a talk of his in ramallah where he stated the top 3 priorities for palestinian water development: 1. to drill new wells. 2. to drill new wells. 3. to drill new wells.  he was very succinct.  yes, my response was long indeed!

LINKS

“The Occupied-Occupier Relationship in the Context of Water Resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territories” by Fadia Daibes Murad

Children going to the dump instead of school, photos by eman mohammed

“Recycling garbage into art,” Gaza style

“Devastated Wastewater Pumping Station and Partially Damaged the Headquarter”

Coastal Municipal Water Utility (CMWU)

Gaza is Floating, a movie by LifeSource

There’s Enough Water for Both,” by Joseph Croitoru, about the analysis of Clemens Messershmidt

LifeSource Project

Emergency Water, Sanitation and Hygiene group (EWASH)

Maia water project of the Middle East Children’s Alliance

My blog post about Fadia Daibes Murad (with links to some of her writing)

More information about Fadia Daibes Murad

PHOTOS: a small sample from my hydropolitics series:

Along the Mediterranean Coast: Yaffa-Tel Aviv & Gaza, November & December 2010—part 1

El Mina, The Old Port—1

The Living Waters of Palestine & Israel

MOVIE: The Rains Returned to Gaza

Read Full Post »

Water rights in Israel-Palestine: a dialog—part 1

The late Fadia Daibes Murad was a world-recognized Palestinian water expert, young, vibrant, articulate, with a recent PhD in hydrology. She published a tome about Palestine water rights and won an Edberg Award in 2005 for contribution to peace in the Middle East through her work on water rights law. She emphasized using water rights as a catalyst for peace in the Middle East. She had embarked on a path to bring the water rights’ issue to world attention thru the international court system. She told me, “I’m beyond writing about the conditions. I want solutions, and I feel the main route to solutions is thru adjudication by international bodies.” We intended to work together, me supplying photos and she the analysis.

—From my journal about Fadia

A dialog between Susan Koppelman of LifeSource & Skip Schiel. We try to clarify the water rights issue in Palestine & Israel based on our many experiences there. Missing from this exchange are Israeli voices. I invite them to join us. This post is dedicated to Fadia Daibes Murad (with special thanks to Cliff Bennett for inspiring it).

‘What You Israelis Have Done With Water Tech is Simply Amazing’
by TechIsrael Staff

Hi Skip,

I thought you may be interested in this article about Israeli Water Tech.

Salaam/Shalom,

Cliff

School in Gaza

cliff,

the obvious omission, the grand ocean in the room so to speak, is the hydrological injustice heaped (or deluged) upon the palestinians. i’m sure you noticed this. regardless, the pals might emulate some of what israel’s water technology is doing—and the pals are, slowly, more in water harvesting (from greenhouse roofs for instance) but not yet water disposal (a very curious omission which i hope soon changes).

i could stand correction if any on this list have any to make. i’d like to be up to date.

Harvesting rain water from a rooftop in the West Bank

Skip,

I’m interested in why you think that Palestinians are “slowly, more in water harvesting”?  Water harvesting is an ancient technique and practice in Palestine, perhaps inherited by the Romans.  Solomon’s pools are still the largest reservoirs in the West Bank.  Canals feeding the pools, however, were systematically destroyed by the Israeli army.

Today Israel destroys Palestinian water infrastructure, including rainwater harvesting cisterns, citing permitting infractions.  International law is clear that this is a violation of human rights.  In fact, one of the cisterns destroyed by the Israeli army this year in Susya was built during Roman times!, while according to official Israeli policy, anything built before Oslo is grandfathered in.

In regards to wastewater treatment, Israel blocked the construction of wastewater treatment facilities for Palestinians for years.  The only completed project was built after Oslo but before the Joint Water Committee was established.  For 15 years! Palestinian engineers jumped through hoop after hoop following every Israeli requirement that was communicated one by one as to what was necessary for more than 5 different plants to be approved, and only after 15 years with international pressure were they approved.  The proposed plant in Sulfit in fact was approved earlier by the Joint Water Council, it was not vetoed by the Israeli water commissioner, it was approved by 12 Israeli ministries, and then after it was licensed for construction and tendered, in the first month of construction the Israeli army shut it down, declaring the site a closed military zone and required that the location be moved!

The water injustice deluged upon Palestinians is not one of technology but one of Israel’s egregious violations of international law and human rights.  Human rights conventions ratified by the state of Israel are clear that ‘state parties must not interfere directly or indirectly with the enjoyment of a right’.  I support Israel being commended for its advances in technology, some of these are truly a marvel.  However, as long as Israel is committing such flagrant violations of Palestinians human right to water, it is important that global citizens and institutions take every measure to hold Israel accountable to international law and to protect the human rights of all the region’s inhabitants.  This may mean even boycotting this very technology that could bring improved standards of living to certain regions of the world, until Israel simply lifts its ban on water development for the Palestinian people.  Would Israel stop violating Palestinians’ human right to water and sanitation for 2 billion dollars a year?  What if countries promised to use Israeli technology after Palestinians were allowed all of their rights, thus expanding this market further?  What should the cost to Israel be for these human rights violations?

Susan [Koppelman of LifeSource]

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Hi Susan,

Thanks for your thoughtful views. You are one of the leading experts on water rights in Palestine/Israel, no doubt. I value your contribution.

We have no essential disagreement. I understand the gross hydro injustice perpetrated by Israel upon the Palestinians, and I like your idea of boycotting Israeli technology until they end the injustice. I am aware of the situation in Salfit; I photographed the area including the newly constructed piping that has not to this day been used. I’ve seen and photographed numerous sites, like Wadi Fukin, where Israeli settlements wantonly dumped sewage into Palestinian water resources. I realize the Gazan water authority for years has held volumes of raw sewage in lagoons in Beit Lahiya, awaiting Israeli permission to construct new facilities. I’ve visited most of the Gaza water sites, spoken with engineers, and contributed to a UN report about that situation. No argument with you there.

Betar Illit, illegal Israeli settlement overlooking Wadi Fukin and allegedly dumping raw sewage down the hillside

My quote, extended a bit, was the pals might emulate some of what Israel’s water technology is doing—and the pals are, slowly, more in water harvesting (from greenhouse roofs for instance) but not yet water disposal (a very curious omission which i hope soon changes). By which I meant, yes, the Palestinians have developed their water resources as you so cogently point out, but my impression based on my study, discussions, and observation is that both water authorities in the West Bank and Gaza tend to emphasize water input rather than water output.

The Jordan River valley from Beit Shanean

These observations are shared with the late Palestinian hydrologist Fadia Daibes Murad, who I worked closely with, and I believe the water expert Robin Twite of the Israel Palestine Center for Research and Information, IPCRI. Unfortunately I’ve not been able to document this. But here are a few examples:

That sewerage complex in Beit Lahiya. The UN for years had warned the Gaza authorities of the dangerous condition the lagoons are in, urging them to at least strength them. Not done, resulting in a major burst a few years ago. One might argue that the governing party, Hamas, did not have the funding—or the decision makers might have prioritized other aspects of the system. In addition, that authority has attempted digging new lagoons, but these are often blocked not by Israelis but by Gazans who do not want them in their neighborhoods.

Sewage lagoons in Beit Lahiya—click image to enlarge

Further, some years ago the UN offered training and equipment for garbage disposal in Ramallah. For a short period the streets and vacant lots were cleaned. The program ended. And the areas were once again strewn with rubbish, often burning rubbish which is toxic and demoralizing.  Not the Israeli’s fault, maybe the UN could have assured more continuity, I’m not sure, but probably indicative of attitude. And the Kidron River running near Bethlehem thru the Judean wilderness desert. A few years ago I trekked across this region, needed to cross the river, and our guide explained that settlements—and Palestinian villages—both dump raw sewage in it.

Detritus of effluent onto Gaza City shore

Netting fish near a raw sewage outflow, Gaza City, Mediterranean coast

In short, and this is my main point, when assessing responsibility for injustice we must be careful to not pin everything on the bad guys, in this case the Israelis. I call for shared responsibility. When it is up to the Palestinians, then we make that call. The fact of occupation, horrendous as it is, can not universally be used to absolve Palestinians of their responsibility.

I’m curious what you think of this argument and value our conversation.

—Skip

Gaza

TO BE CONTINUED

LINKS

LifeSource Project

Emergency Water, Sanitation and Hygiene group (EWASH)

Maia water project of the Middle East Children’s Alliance

My blog post about Fadia Daibes Murad (with links to some of her writing)

PHOTOS: a small sample from my hydropolitics series:

Friends of the Earth Middle East—Good Water Neighbors paths: Tsur Hadassah & Wadi Fukin

Flood (Beit Lahiya)

Testing the Waters : Haifa – 2 (including Wadi Rushmia

Read Full Post »

Detroit-part 10 (US Social Forum, hydropolitics, & Grace Lee Boggs)

Excerpts from my journal while in Detroit, moving backwards (not always), last to first.

About deindustrialization, depopulation, residential and commercial vacancy, corruption of capitalism—and the rise of urban gardens, local resistance and activist organizations—ending with news about the US Social Forum, Allied Media Conference, and the first public national gathering of anti-Zionist Jews in the United States.

In several parts, with periodic photos and videos.

INVITATION: MIDWEST PHOTOGRAPHIC PRESENTATION TOUR ABOUT PALESTINE & ISRAEL (Oct 12 – Nov 7, 2010)

…Detroit’s notorious devastation is not a natural disaster but a man-made Katrina, the inevitable result of illusions and contradictions in our insane 20th century pursuit of unlimited economic growth. [In a new documentary, Requiem for Detroit?] we witness autoworkers reduced to robots producing Henry Ford’s Model Ts—and then struggling to reclaim their humanity through sit-down strikes or battling Ford’s goons at the overpass. We meet Southern blacks who relish the “freedom” of Northern cities but also experience the racial tensions that exploded here in 1943 and 1967. Cars that grow the profits of the auto industry speed by on freeways which destroy neighborhoods to provide escape routes to the suburbs. Neighborhoods are turned into war zones as the drug trade replaces jobs that have been exported overseas.

…The new American Dream emerging in Detroit is a deeply-rooted spiritual and practical response to the devastation and dehumanization created by the old dream. We yearn to live more simply  so that all of us and the Earth can simply live. This more human dream began with African American elders, calling themselves the Gardening Angels. Detroit’s vacant lots, they decided, were not signs of urban blight but heaven-sent spaces to plant community gardens, both to grow our own food and to give urban youth the sense of process, self-reliance, and evolution that everyone needs to be human.

That’s why growing numbers of artists and young people are coming to Detroit. They want to be part of building a City of Hope that grows our souls rather than our cars.

—Grace Lee Boggs

June 24, 2010, Thursday, Detroit, home of KD

Yesterday at the first full day of the Forum, I attended a morning workshop whose leader had written me in the spring with a specific invitation to join a conversation about arts and activism. At that earlier point they were contemplating using the panel format but yesterday’s workshop was entirely and blessedly different: very interactive. We first walked slowly and then hurriedly in the group tightly packed, loosening up, avoiding bumping while making some contact. Then stop and reach out to someone nearby, touch their shoulder, say who you are and what you are bringing, doing, hoping, etc. Then in a circle one person begins a game by saying, all my people who are photographers doing social justice work, or the like, prompts all who are doing this to scoot across the circle to exchange places. We stood shoulder to shoulder. One is left out who then announced, all my people who are making murals. Etc.

Small groups, large group, and other devices brought us together as artists or near artists working for transformation of systems. In my small group I met 3 young black people working in their Chicago high school to foster deeper food awareness. Beginning on Earth Day and lasting an entire week, they focused on food—buying and eating healthfully, and tending the earth. The themes of the small groups were stories of success, lessons learned, and challenges faced. Our group spoke about breaking the quotidian trap, finding a wider audience, generating media attention, making the work more collaborative, and using the values of a group we’d like to penetrate, like the Tea Partyers, and then subverting or transforming those values, as one in our group did about single payer health coverage.

Rather than attend the first of 2 afternoon workshop sessions I wandered around the huge hall housing table displays. Each stop I made of about 6 was a mini workshop, tailored precisely to my needs, one on one, and highly engaging. I met a representative of Friends of the Earth US, the Palestine center from Chicago where I remet Jeff from the International Solidarity Movement who I’d first met in Palestine 3 years ago, an online Palestine store, an anti-racist org, a group fostering awareness of democracy in college age people, the Christian Peacemaker Teams, and the American Friends Service Committee where I learned about a program on later that week that they sponsor about Palestine, and many others.

Gaza, August 2009

I’ve not found yet a space to hang my Gaza photos. Checking the tent area early morning with Rick, Grove, and meeting Dave Matos, my tour organizer, we all were disturbed by the tent’s distance from the main events, and that they had no walls. There is an emigration from this area, nearly 1 mile away, which is not a scenic walk, to Cobo Hall where most events will be held.

The final workshop, attended with Ridgeley from Waltham, a gutsy feisty woman on the Israel-Palestine topic, was about journalism in Israel-Palestine with representatives from the Electronic Intifada. Departing from the popular education model favored at the Forum, 2 young women, one a writer, one an editor, spoke mostly about the work of Electronic Intifada, and principles of good journalism. They began by having us brainstorm topics for stories, I suggested comparing Wounded Knee and the Nakba. I thought then we might work one thru but instead we examined selected stories Electronic Intifada had published.

Not bad, but most of the material I knew and felt confident many others did as well. Yet, the 2 hours were useful.

We took the evening off; I missed the 95^th birthday party for the preeminent Detroit based political organizer, Grace Lee Boggs. Y is tuned to the Forum thru Democracy Now, wrote me to not miss the Boggs’ party. It started at 9 PM, Rick and I wished to be home to rest and plan our workshops for today. I also wanted to do my laundry.

James Boggs & Grace Lee Boggs

On the way home we shopped for food in our neighborhood, more than an ordinary event. To locate a major food source is a chore here; we’ve seen nothing in all our driving around Detroit. We heard about one, some 1-mile north of home on Wyoming St. It is adequate. We are now well stocked with food, including some of my necessities like peanut butter, yogurt (no large containers, only the small heavily sweetened portions), bananas, cottage cheese, cheese, bread, etc.

I worked on my Hydropolitics of Palestine/Israel workshop plan last evening, tuning it to the Forum workshop context. Awakening around 2 am, I had a rough time falling back to sleep. Once again, the Hour of the Wolf syndrome kept me awake while flooding me with new ideas. Among them, mentioning to my upcoming Hydropolitics workshop Detroit’s founding along the strait between 2 major rivers, the name Detroit itself expressing this idea in French—along the strait.

Another storm hit us last night, with wind, lightning, and thunder, plus driving rain. Much like the storm I suffered while busing back home last week. For this entertainment we’d assembled on the front porch, mostly out of the rain, exclaiming our joy at the fireworks.

In the first of 2 dreams last night I was tending a little girl, whether Katy, my daughter, or Eleanor, her daughter, is not clear. We’d been at some sort of gathering, talked as adults together, ate lunch provided by others, and then headed off on a walk. We came to a median strip, took a break, when I noticed P, Katy’s mother, moving toward us. Guess who’s coming to meet us? I said, with much excitement. Eleanor turned her head, saw grandma, began running toward her when Eleanor fell down and furiously vomited. P and I were alarmed. The dream ended.

Eleanor

In the second I was with a woman with whom I’d established cordial relations. She did not resemble any of the women I know. She was pleasant, moderately attractive, without much frisson but possessed enough to generate my interest. We sat near each other at a table with others, found ourselves peering deeply into each other’s eyes as a signal of recognition that we had become a couple. We also rubbed knees together, another sign known only to us. The dream ended. Both dreams ended inconclusively, as the majority of my dreams do.

These 2 dreams represent two points of my passions: grand parenting and adult love. Also the two themes mix—my relationship with a little girl as another type of love.

TO BE CONTINUED

LINKS

Electronic Intifada

US Social Forum

Grace Lee Boggs, Living change: A collection of writing by the Detroit activist and educator at Yes Magazine

Grace Lee Boggs interviewed on Democracy Now by Amy Goodman

Joanna Macy writing about tar sands oil (May 25, 2009)

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Detroit-part 9 (US Social Forum, hydropolitics, & Dr. Martin Luther King Jr)

Excerpts from my journal while in Detroit, moving backwards (not always), last to first.

About deindustrialization, depopulation, residential and commercial vacancy, corruption of capitalism—and the rise of urban gardens, local resistance and activist organizations—ending with news about the US Social Forum, Allied Media Conference, and the first public national gathering of anti-Zionist Jews in the United States.

In several parts, with periodic photos and videos.

SEEKING VENUES: MIDWESTERN PHOTOGRAPHIC PRESENTATION TOUR ABOUT PALESTINE & ISRAEL (Oct 12 – Nov 7, 2010)

Ultimately photography is about who you are. It’s the seeking of truth in relation to yourself. And seeking truth becomes a habit.

—Leonard Freed, 1929 – 2006

June 25, 2010, Friday, Detroit, home of KD

Another short sleep night, 1 AM to 6:15, mainly because of miscommunication with Karen about the jazz club, how long that would continue.

But first, how the day went. Searching for the United Auto Workers’ building to check out my workshop venue, dropped off at the wrong building by Karen’s boyfriend, Michael, the healer, the 2 women in front of the city building that he thought was the UAW not knowing where the building was, a man walked by who knew. Ron turned out to be the leader of a Social Forum walking tour. We walked together to the correct building and he talked me into joining the downtown Detroit protest-oriented walk.

Locating what I thought was my room, I met 2 women with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, WILPF, and verified that the organization has a strong interest in water issues. I’d been trying to connect with them for years and now I had stronger leads. Meeting Ron, meeting these 2 women, were both providential. Later I discovered this was not the room, it had been changed and I barely located the correct room on time.

My workshop, The Hydropolitics of Palestine/Israel, I thought, given my inexperience with this sort of workshop format—highly interactive—went well enough, even possibly very well, but I’m not sure that is the assessment of others, especially Karen who seemed tepid about it. 20 or more showed up, which itself is an achievement for me since prior workshops in Atlanta at the first US Social Forum had not drawn more than a handful. I tailored this presentation of my Hydropolitics show to the format, selecting portions that seemed most relevant and helpful, interjecting questions and leading discussions periodically thru the show. Since one main emphasis of the forum is on finding solutions and working together, I highlighted that theme.

Detroit River (from the Detroit side, Winsor Ontario, Canada on left),
photo courtesy of the Internet

One brainstorm I had while checking out space was to invite the participants to view the Detroit River [connecting Lakes Erie and Huron, via Lake St Clair] from one of the windows, asking them, where do you see hydropolitics here? Which indeed led to a fruitful opening discussion. Then to instances of hydropolitics in the States, then the world. And now let’s turn to successes over water rights, where do we find that? More discussion. All this before the show itself.

I could have rehearsed better, I could have chosen episodes better, I can and will simplify the statistics, but with what I have and who I am I am guardedly pleased with the result. Karen added a great deal of insights, knowledge, experience, and passion. Reviewing this now I realize I’d forgotten to ask people to introduce themselves, even tho I’d prepared by considering how other leaders do that vital opening. Chock this up to how rattled I was by initially setting up in the wrong room. I’d not printed out my lesson plan either and then couldn’t easily access it on my computer during the show. I might have used the white paper in the room to outline the agenda, forgot to do that as well. Many slips between full success and partial. This was partial. Next time will be improved.

The walking tour began at the UAW building near Cobo Hall, headed up Woodward Ave, the route of the march Dr King led on June 23, 1963—he gave an early iteration of his famous dream speech then—, entered Cadillac Square, stopped in a few parks, and more or less returned to central area. Since the theme was protest and political organizing generally, we learned about Detroit labor history, a little too much detail about local politics for me but the group seemed to appreciate it. Also urban renewal, some solutions working well, others bringing more misery.

The problem last night that brought me home so late was a combination of miscommunication and mismatched expectations. Sure, the jazz club, but how about returning home at a decent hour? Karen is a night person, I a day, and never the 2 shall mix. She became awake, I went to sleep. As much as I love raucous jazz, the sound was piercingly loud, nearly painful, and sitting around listening or waiting to listen is to me just boring. Beginning at 9 PM—we’d eaten at Niki’s in Greektown—I thought we’d leave around 10 like we did the week before. Instead, we sat thru 2 sets, the raffle at midnight, and then awaited David Lippman’s decision about whether to play or not. He played and it was grand—and time to leave. Karen reminded me that she’d picked me up at 7:30 AM, extremely early for her, from the bus-train station, suggesting it is now my obligation to return the favor and accommodate her wish to stay late.

Surprisingly I gained new energy after initially nearly falling asleep at the table. And if not for this morning’s duties, might have wished to remain alive all night for the jazz.

Yesterday I met Anne R, my comrade on Quaker Palestine/Israel issues. Also ran into Carol Urner who I last was with 11years ago in Lesotho, Africa. She used a walker. I recognized her by her braids. Sad that her husband Jack died in an auto accident in Lesotho, and that she was so badly injured. Despite her disabilities she plods on, a model of endurance.

TO BE CONTINUED

LINKS

Water Apartheid Fact Sheet by Skip Schiel

“They Need It. We Waste It. The powers that control the Great Lakes are fortifying the ramparts for the day the west runs out of water,” by Michael Miner

“How labor won its day” by Patricia K. Zacharias / The Detroit News

“Black history, labor history intertwined in Detroit” by John Rummel

“47 Years Ago in Detroit: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Delivers First ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech” (interview with Grace Lee Boggs)

Dr. King’s Speech at the Great March on Detroit

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Detroit-part 7 (on the road in Traverse City, Michigan, part 2)

Excerpts from my journal while in Detroit, moving backwards (not always), last to first.

About deindustrialization, depopulation, residential and commercial vacancy, corruption of capitalism—and the rise of urban gardens, local resistance and activist organizations—ending with news about the US Social Forum, Allied Media Conference, and the first public national gathering of anti-Zionist Jews in the United States.

In several parts, with periodic photos and videos.

Begin by considering the lay of the land and water—study the works of past masters—recall the places of beauty that you know—then, on your chosen site, let memory speak and make into your own that which moves you most.

(11th century Japanese court noble, probably about gardening art but generalizable to any creative effort, thanks to Chris Jorgenson)

June 27, 2010, Sunday, Traverse City, MI, home of AR

In the North Country, at the southern tip of Traverse Bay. Does the name Traverse Bay stem from this once being an Indian traverse point, perhaps between the bay (connecting to Lake Michigan, itself an Indian name) and a small river feeding the bay (Boardman River, obviously not an Indian name)?

I’m here to present my Hydropolitics show at Higher Ground, which sounds like a coffee house. In introducing me to my current host, AR, Randy said of my Hydropolitics show that he’d seen at the US Social Forum, it’s an outstanding presentation, one of the best. With that intro I am challenged. Jointly sponsored by 3 organizations, I owe this gig to Anne Remley.

Weather is cooler, and perhaps drier than further south. This morning it is lightly raining. People are whiter, and, in the estimation of Randy, my ride here from Detroit, more conservative. He told me that Michael Moore, famed filmmaker, frequents this area. Moore renovated an old movie theater which is now the centerpiece of an annual film fest featuring Indie productions. Moore has also put money into other aspects of the town, shifting what had been negative town reaction to positive.

Courtesy of the internet

The drive north was mainly on the expressway and relatively boring. I slept for nearly 1 hour, catching up on sleep lost during the Forum. Then the 2 lane took us thru heavily forested regions, mostly devoid of agriculture, as was the first segment of the trip. Corn and a few other products were all I noticed, with one corn harvester the only sign of working the land. It was Saturday which may be a factor explaining the lack of farmer presence.

Traverse City is known for its fruit, not only its cherries, reminding me of Salfit in the West Bank, a point of reference I may make in my show tonight.

Cherries are in season, I helped myself to a bowlful when I arrived yesterday late afternoon after a 5 hour drive. This leads to the annual cherry festival in one week, what some called the annual scary festival because of the tourist invasion. The Blue Angels’ flight team performs. Tourism is now one of the main industries, replacing lumbering, the primary reason whites settled here. Currently the population is decreasing, possibly because of the draw of larger cities.

Randy told me Michigan is particularly hard hit by the crumbling economy. Partly because of Detroit’s downfall, also possibly the state’s reliance on agriculture. Roads are in bad condition. Mr. Segal, recently retired from his ambassador’s position in Afghanistan, said Michigan roads are in worse shape than the road to the Kabul airport.

AR, my current host, is a retired teacher, with 4 children all grown and spread around the country, with a flock of grand kids who she seems not to see very often. She told me, I’m available, I wait for my children to ask my services, I do not come naturally to the role of grandma. Unlike my former wife for sure, an exemplary grandmother, and me partially.

After touring me around her compact, well-kept, elegant house, converted from the carriage house of a mansion across the street, living here with her late husband since 1974, she invited me to join her and 2 women friends for dinner last evening. They are mother and daughter, the daughter a high school art teacher who feels overworked by her job, plans to retire after next year. She seemed grumpy and distant. By contrast, the mother appeared energetic, engaged, fun. They initially expressed interest in the Social Forum, suggested waiting till we were in the restaurant to hear more, and then the topic evaporated, except once when I raised it.

All 3 women are progressives, all 3 disappointed with President Obama, all 3 fairly active on political matters, one of the most recent about using biomass for fuel to generate power. They also told me about a recent case of blatant municipal corruption, building a soon-to-fail septic system.

Courtesy of the internet

Randy thinks Michigan is positioned to be part of a new dispensation—recovery when and if it should come to our nation—because of its water resources. He also told me there is an oil-gas pool under much of the region (evidenced by slowly churning oil pumps) with more resources under Lake Michigan, driving some speculators to attempt to insert slant wells. This he thinks will not succeed because of the presence of wealthy home and landowners surrounding the lake.

Camp Stuart Aquatics Area 1958, courtesy of the internet

Camp Stuart Aquatics Area 2006, courtesy of the internet

One of my primary connections with Michigan is thru Boy Scouts. I attended summer camp in the central western part of the state in the early 1950s, near Twin Lake. I can remember much about Camp Owasippe—particularly the dreaded swimming lessons because I was fat and had little tits. On the train platform preparing for the long ride home to Chicago I lost my family’s prize Kodak folding camera.

A few days ago a dear friend wrote:

Thinking about you. And you and me. About our “mutual inspiration” connection — that you spoke of when we met so briefly on Thursday afternoon. A new element has been added to this connection, hasn’t it, with your being here, in the area where I’m based, and where you are doing what you do. Now we have a new layer of perspective — something for us ourselves to absorb and know. Even our brief encounter on Thursday flashes a light on the two of us and on what we have to give and gain through our link.

I remember meeting you (me with my short hair) in the noisy, jumbled lobby of Cobo Hall in Detroit in Michigan, in the environs of that iconic statue of the fighter. I was numb and tired. You were you. You were doing your seeking, exploring, curiosity-engaging, active, absorbing and alive living in the way that you are alive.

It is striking to me to see you here doing what you do — so alive, seeking, searching, and discovering, with interest and pleasure and engagement and intensity, with pondering and summing things up.

We’ve chosen our paths many long years ago, my friend. Maybe in utero. We are our genes and our childhoods and our energy states,

Such a life you are leading, Skip, giving wherever you go. Receiving. Being active and “on.” And yet with gravitas and that secret sometime sadness that you’ve shared with me, knowing that you carry with you the longing always for a breakthrough to some splendid relationship that will give a great apotheosis of unity and a sense of a true and enduring psychic “home.”

And here I am, not always numb and tired, but these days with low and ebbing energy, having chosen long ago to stay, in this very house, with this very guy, with this very pattern of life, settled, rather predictable, day in and day out.

I am still seeking, yes, in my mind, trying to figure out what is happening in society and the world, but without urgency, without intensity. I have my base, fixed and quite still. I’ve looked for something to do, again and again in my life. I was open. And I found an opening, was seized upon by it, accepted, moved into engagement with some action that could help change something to make lives better for people. And each time I’ve stuck to that very action–these days Palestine-Israel info sharing mainly. So day by day I do a little of that something, and garden, and read the NY Times, and swim a little, and do my Tai Chi and energy work, and nap. And sense the end of my action life creeping ever nearer.

What can we give each other, my friend, good partner in thought and pondering? Well, a bit of occasional sharing. That’s good. I am one of the many touchstones you touch on your journey, your tremendous engagement time in exploration. I celebrate your seeking and finding. I look to find in my commitment and persistence something too to honor.

My heart goes with you to Lake Michigan blue, where I spent long summers camping long ago.

Love to you, Skip.

Join me when you can.

Is this not a deep message from an exceptional person? If there is any doubt of beneficial outcomes from my Israel-Palestine project, this is one example—meeting and loving her, being loved by her.

And I ponder: what if this were a message from the vanished, missing-in-action ME, or M, or X? How would I interpret it? How would I respond?

I plan to contemplate her letter longer and then either in person when we meet in a few days or by email attempt to express my inner self.

TO BE CONTINUED

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Detroit-part 6 (on the road in Traverse City, Michigan)

Ein Samiya, Occupied Territories of Palestine, aka, West Bank, (click for enlargement)

Well and pump house in Ein Samiya. From an aquifer in Ein Samiya 20 km northeast of Ramallah Occupied Territories of Palestine, paid for largely by Jordan in 1963, replacing an earlier system relying on cisterns and a few local springs for drinking water, pumped in several stages over hills thru pipes, water reaches the city of Ramallah of 25,000, supplying about 18% of its water, the rest bought from Israel.

Excerpts from my journal while in Detroit, moving backwards (not always), last to first.

About deindustrialization, depopulation, residential and commercial vacancy, corruption of capitalism—and the rise of urban gardens, local resistance and activist organizations—ending with news about the US Social Forum, Allied Media Conference, and the first public national gathering of anti-Zionist Jews in the United States.

In several parts, with photos and videos.

PHOTOS

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
there are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

—Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi

June 28, 2010, Monday, Traverse City, Michigan, home of AR

Roman aqueduct

Roman mill, to which the water was brought to grind grain

My Hydropolitics in Palestine/Israel slide show played to about 30 people, in and out, more or less, following the concert and in the same general area. Specifically a place called Higher Grounds, a coffee emporium smaller than Equal Exchange but related. The owner, Chris, buys and roasts the coffee, using the route of fair trade. I joked about how the Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage in 1998 resided overnight in the Equal Exchange warehouse in Canton MA, with the roaster going all night, creating a slight problem for those of us addicted to coffee. I forgot to highlight the excellent photos in the entry hall of Higher Grounds showing aspects of coffee growing.

I’d rehearsed the show, made minor changes (I lost the monitor calibrations, redid it, and now notice some of the images are too dark) and thus knew the show fairly well, able to anticipate the next slide or slide sequence. The main problem—other than too long and still not with proper graphics and tables—was loss of sound. Mysteriously audio would not play. Neither on the show or thru iTunes. Later, closing the lid and reopening it, I discovered the music plays. As I mentioned to a few there, this is trickster at work, lurking around knowing what annoys me most, waiting for an opportunity. And there it was: I wished to have my sound during the show, had set up speakers, and then zippo, no audio.

Until later, when too late.

The audience was not very lively, especially compared to the conferences. Not many remarks or questions. They might have been deadened as a result of the long detailed show. A Palestinian who knew the Huwwarra checkpoint south of Nablus came up after to thank me. Others did as well. Despite the lack of a vibrant discussion maybe the show went well enough. As well as I could deliver it.

As with the US Social Forum presentation I tried to link local hydropolitics with the global and then with Israel-Palestine. In Traverse City it is the historic dimension, whites settling where Indians had already settled, in part for the water access. Additionally there’s been a controversy over the city-required septic system, and further, Nestlé’s bottled water. I learned that local people opposed a bottling plant, prevailed in the first court episode, lost in an appeal. Some now consider direct action. At this moment Nestlé’s is pumping up huge quantities of water, bottling it, selling it, and the unwary are supporting this with every bottle purchase. When will we see the end of bottled water? Some communities—and this includes Traverse City’s city hall—prohibit sales and distribution of bottled water.

I’ve not yet entered the local lake water, hope to today if conditions are right. I use the free wifi at Arby’s for my internet connection, eating one “value pack” of fries as the price of admission ($1).  Local hosts have been very generous, Mary H who set it all up, Ann R opening her house to me, Terry at meeting, her buddy Mark with lots of info about native people around here, Randy driving me from Detroit and attending my hydropolitics show for the 2^nd time in one week (1^st at US Social Forum), and others. This touring continues to be a primary joy in my life, a form of working vacation that brings me into new communities, new regions, often surprising me. I’d probably not have otherwise visited Traverse City.

Just before awakening this morning—often the best time for recalling dreams—I was with a group of people, including family, including my young daughters Katy or Joey, and a mom, probably P. We walked to and thru an old railroad car, me asking one of my friends who knew trains what era this car might be from. I found a wagon, boarded it, cruised downhill toward an old building, maybe a garage. Opening the door gingerly I found inside signs of some habitation. Outside we all discovered a painting project, someone had been painting on the sidewalk. Somehow we knew it was a woman who’d painted. I tried painting, Katy tried it, P and I considered that when Katy is older she could come here alone and paint. I found a dead squirrel.

But what about whoever is painting here now? we asked.

Attending Friends Meeting in Traverse City was a joy. The congregation is surprisingly large, some 8 for 1^st session, completely silent, unprogrammed, followed by a programmed section which I did not attend, drawing about 20 souls. They are housed in a Friends church, small, handsome, old. A joy because I arrived early, about 20 minutes before start time, sat quietly with a rotund fellow, joined by an attractive woman, Terry, who is one of my hosts, and then the full hour. No spoken messages but a relaxed silence that I enjoyed thoroughly. I enjoyed it so much possibly because it was a sharp contrast with all the noise and bustle of the previous days in Detroit conferences.

Breakfast out followed, 5 of us, all political firebrands.

In the afternoon my hosts treated me to a concert by a folk singing couple living in this area, Seth and May (or Daisy May as she’s sometimes known). Very expert, excellent guitar work, lilting, lyrical songs mostly about the environment since it was a benefit for a local group, the Bioneers. We sat under an occluded sky, never sure if the rains would return. The sun did, however, and with the humidity created uncomfortable conditions. Mostly families attended. The setting was a partially rehabbed former insane asylum, later called a state psychiatric hospital, a huge one, one of 3 in the state around the turn of last century.

I note that yesterday DR gave a forum at Friends Meeting at Cambridge about his recent journey to Israel-Palestine. And me? After 5 journeys, including several working with AFSC? Not a peep of an invitation. Why am I so passive, for now, about requesting a slot?

I find X fading from my awareness, finally free of this seductive albatross. For how long? What happens when I return home? Or if she writes? Or returns to Cambridge for August? Do I once again trap myself in absurd longings?

Here’s what I wrote Anne:

Dear Anne,

Your letter touched me deeply. You write so gracefully, powerfully, and honestly. All you express I could return in kind, if only I had the words.

We are at different stages of our lives, even tho close in age. You are happily married, content with home and family. I am yearning, not content, yet content, confused, between roles in life: solitary figure and “vagabond lover” (a term my former father in law astutely gave me, trying to warn his 20 year old daughter, failing), contrasted with man wishing for a partnered lover, sharing all that is meaningful (or most) to both of us. The eternal quest that might drive me.

You are single pointedly devoted to one primary method of responding to the Middle Eastern tragedy (and hope) we share. I am spread out, not regionally, but by method and topic.

You find yourself “with low and ebbing energy,” while I tend (for now) to find my energy waxing, surging, volatile, endless (for now). You dipped into the social forum, I swam in it and before it the US assembly of anti Zionist Jews and before that the allied media conference. And after all 3, a week or so exploring Detroit.

Contrasts and unities.

I’m so happy we could hug each other for the brief USSF moment, after being physically apart since 2008. I rarely feel distant from you since you are such a vivid presence in my life. I owe so much to you, from connecting with other Israel-Palestine Quakers to being such good friends. You know more about my inner life and understand me better than many of my closest friends. And I may be one of your inner circle on Israel-Palestine matters. I cherish all this, as I do you.

More later, and thanks again for finding me the gig in TC.

Love always,

TO BE CONCLUDED

LINKS

Traverse City Water Treatment Plant

Short history of Traverse City

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Schedule of four events Skip Schiel is presenting at the US Social Forum in Detroit, June 22 – 26, 2010

Dear friends and colleagues in the struggle,

I hope you can attend or might circulate my schedule of the four events I’m presenting at the US Social Forum in Detroit, June 22 – 26. General information here

The Hydropolitics of Palestine/Israel, a slide show

Gaza City outflow pipe debris

A slide show-workshop using water as a dramatic mirror of power relationships in Palestine/Israel, while exploring connections with the global water crisis and suggested responses.

Jun 24 2010 – 3:30pm

UAW Building: 1032

Photography as a tool for political transformation, a workshop

Teaching photography in Gaza

Using examples, we’ll examine principles for making and using photographs intended to foster political transformation.

Jun 25 2010 – 3:30pm

Woodward Academy: C-1

Tracing the Jordan River, a slide show

Jordan River valley at Beit Shean

About exploring from one of the headwaters of the Jordan, the Banias River flowing from Mt Hermon in the Galilee, to where the much-abused river disappears before Jericho. With an examination of the Sea of Galilee, especially the region of the major share of Christ’s ministry, and the kibbutzim, Israeli settlements intended to reclaim land and define the contours of the future Israeli nation.

Time & place to be announced, check the US Social Forum website

Gaza is Home to One & One-half Million Human Beings: How Do They Live? a photo exhibition

Gaza City, 2009

Photos from the most recent journey, August 2009, and earlier visits, featuring ordinary life lived under extraordinary conditions, with some relevant history.

Time & place to be announced, check the US Social Forum website

Thanks and I hope to see some of you there.

PS, I’ll also be attending the preceding Allied Media Conference and The First National Jewish Anti Zionist Gathering.

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The rising of the light: Water from Ein Samia to Ramallah—Israel & Palestine

Main pump delivering water to Ramallah

Pumping station, Ein Samia well field

Ein Samia

Excerpts from my journal during a three month journey of photographic discovery in the Land of Troubles

Photos

Special thanks to Fareed Tamallah for this lead, and to Malek Baya who guided and hosted me.

July 26 & 27, 2009, Sunday & Monday, Ramallah Friends School apartment:

A story about a water source north of Ramallah, in the valley of Ein Samia, 20 km northeast of Ramallah: my friend, Fareed had told me about Malek Baya, who lives north of Ramallah in a village, Kufur Malek, near the source of a considerable amount of water supplying Ramallah. It is one of the few Palestinian controlled sources. This is the furthest in a long line of villages that seem water rich, compared with some other regions of the West Bank. Malek picked me up at Manarah Square (after he first suggested I take a taxi out, which would have been confusing and expensive), his little white car loaded with the rest of his family, wife, 2 daughters, one an infant, and two sons, one an invalid from a fall, brain damaged perhaps for life, unable to speak or move much, we headed north.

Malek Baya

First along the “Ancient Route” that Adel had told us about on the Nablus tour, the traditional route over the mountains north and south, connecting Syria with Egypt, but the Israelis had blocked this and so we left it for smaller roads. First thru the village of Ein Sinya where we observed what may have been an ancient waterway, now dry (partly because of the season), carrying a putrid smelling sewage viaduct, bordered by green fields, some with curious white hoops covering plants. We found an old building which Malek claimed once housed a flourmill, now used as stables for sheep. Also a spring with a man filling up jugs. He did not want his photo made.

Spring, Dura Al Kre

Further north to Dura Al Kre, another well watered village, with a similar configuration of waterway, but this time with numerous springs up about 5 meters from the lowest point. Water drained from splits in the limestone ridge and was collected in various ways, the overflow held in a cistern and later flowed to the fields. Debris floated in the cistern but the men told Malek that they periodically cleaned this out. A woman had gathered water and was carrying it on her head. They showed us another site further up which had been piped, the system paid for by a wealthy Palestinian-American who returned every summer. Apparently all of this infrastructure was built and paid for by local villagers and friends, not a government entity or non-governmental organization.

They told us that during the summer the main water supply thru pipes is turned off by some regional authority, presumably Mekerot, the Israeli company which supplies—at, the villagers claim,  inflated fees and capriciously—much Palestinian water (Palestine’s own water, by the way, stolen as some believe since the aquifer lies beneath the West Bank), and then the village relies on these springs. Which also can slow down but apparently never stop. People have to lug this water.

Spring water, Ein Sinya

My constant question was how this region looked hundreds or maybe even a mere 20 years ago, before global climate change and before the expansion of the population? From the geological record it appears much water once flowed thru here, perhaps gradually diminishing over millennia. I have to remember—and this requires a fertile imagination—that this entire region was once beneath a vast sea or ocean, and the limestone is the deposit of the aquatic life once flourishing here. It is organic rock.

Water to Ramallah

Finally, Malek’s village, Kufur Malek (odd that his first name is his village’s last name), and after resting and eating, a trip to our target, Ein Samia, site of the well field supplying some of Ramallah’s water. His wife served muqlubah, upside down casserole, with chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, and rice, with a few skinny noodles thrown in. Along with salad, sweet drinks, water, and later, after we’d returned from the main excursion, ice cream. A feast in many ways.

While waiting to leave for Ein Samia, Malek’s uncle, also father in law (he married his first cousin, after medical tests which found their genetic profiles safe for marriage, a love marriage, not arranged, he was quick to point out, 9 years, and they seem very happy together) played with the youngest, a mere babe in arms, another lovely child in this family of extraordinary and precious people. I played minimally with the 5-year-old daughter (5 next November), lending her my mechanical pencil with which to draw or write, after she’d showed me her coloring book that she and her older brother had colored. I raved about her coloring, solidifying our relationship. Who can resist strong, heartfelt praise? While playing I made a series of photos of her, moving the camera down low, at times using my Canon’s S3 fold out screen, and finding later a few might show her radiant spirit. There is something very special about this child, as is true for the entire family.

Daughter of Malek Baya and his wife

And about the uncle who I learned is a jolly and robust 69-year-old widower. At first when I noted our age equivalence, I thought, he looks very old. Do I look this old? How creaky is he? As creaky as I feel? Not at all, he is nimble, agile, truly bouncy where I, by contrast, despite X’s belief that I am bouncy, feel like and might be creaking to a halt, a permanent halt. I’ve never felt so old. (Tho today I feel younger. Is it the food supplements? The night’s rest? The beautiful people in and around Ramallah?)

OK, enough domestic verbiage, let’s keep on point: hydropolitics. Uncle, Malek and I bundled into the car and drove off. Up and up some more. First past a limestone cutting facility spilling chips along the road. The beginning of viewing the long pipe line between the source at Ein Samia and its destination, my mouth in Ramallah—and that of about 25,000 other thirsty mouths waiting to be watered.

What is the story of the line’s construction? Dates back to the early 1960s, after electrification of the region but not Malek’s village, and during the Jordanian occupation. If I have the story from Malke correct, the brother of King Hussein of Jordan, a prince, met and loved the beautiful wife of the Ramallah mayor. Prince abducted and raped the woman, she committed suicide in despair and shame. Ramallahans were outraged. King did not punish his wrongful brother but as penance paid for the installation of the water system, including the electric line needed to power the pumps.

Israeli placed road block

A long diversion here (with some legalese thrown in), since I’ve not been able to corroborate the story of the Jordanian prince, what follows is the official version as promulgated by the Jerusalem Water Undertaking (JWU), the agency responsible for this system:

Until late 1950s, the population of Ramallah and Al-Bireh cities depended almost entirely on cisterns for drinking water with the exception of a few local springs. Following the war of 1948 and the resulting influx of Palestinian refugees into the area, the need to increase the water supply in the region became vital. Thus, Ramallah and Al-Bireh Water Company was established to deal with this burden.

The new company planned to draw on Ein-Fara springs northeast of Jerusalem and succeeded in concluding an agreement with Arab East Jerusalem Municipality. A distribution network and a main pipeline were constructed for the purpose of conveying water from Jerusalem to the Ramallah and Al-Bireh area. Though, the limited quantities of water were insufficient for the served population.

In 1963, the Jordanian Government concluded an agreement with the International Development Agency (IDA) for a loan of US$ 3.5 millions to develop drinking water projects in some parts of the Kingdom. The Government decided to utilize the groundwater resources in Ein-Samia wellfield, 20 km northeast of Ramallah, and initiated construction in what later became known as the Ein-Samia Water Project.

Pursuant to the respective agreement between the Jordanian government and IDA, the founding law of JWU was issued in 1966 with a mandate to develop new water resources and control all water projects in the area with the responsibility of providing the population with potable water. According to this law, JWU was established as a non-profit, independent, civil organization run by a Board of Directors including representatives from the three main municipalities in the area; Ramallah, Al-Bireh and Deir Dibwan, in addition to a representative from Kufr Malik village and an assigned Official from the Government.

Since 1967 occupation, the Israeli Military Authorities subjected all works and projects pertinent to water and water resources to its direct control through the Military Order No. 92/1967.

Illegal (under international law and UN resolutions) Israeli settlement/colony

The mentioned order prevented any organization or undertaking from the execution of any work connected to management, maintenance and development of water services or resources without obtaining prior approvals and licenses from these Authorities.

In 1982, the Israeli Occupation Authorities dissolved the city councils of Ramallah and Al-Bireh cities, thus, disabling JWU Board of Directors from performing its duties. For five years and without the Board of Directors, JWU top management met the challenge and made all daily and strategic decisions to achieve the Undertaking‘s Mission.

At the end of 1987, the mass public Uprising Intifada started in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The whole political, social and financial situation in the area changed. Many people were put out of work, thus, putting an extra burden on JWU. Through these tough days of Intifada, the Undertaking managed to survive.

In the wake of the rule of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) was established in 1995 assuming the regulation powers of the water sector in Palestine. In 1996, the Government representative in the Board of Directors of JWU was invited to join the Board for the first time since 1967.

Nothing about the Jordanian prince, true or false, Malek says true.

With more data here.

So hydrologically the water has accumulated in a low place on its way to the Jericho valley. This is in a wide wadi that in the old days might have flowed regularly with much water. Wells, pumps, and the water is brought to the surface. Then it has to be pumped over the hills and up to Ramallah which is not only about 20 km distant but 500 meters higher.  Should electricity fail—and Malek told me it very rarely does—that’s the end of this source of water. Or should the aquifer deplete further, as it is doing, and should Israeli restrictions continue to apply about well depth, so long water. Or should the water become polluted from sewage and farming chemicals, a real possibility, the end of this source of water. Likewise the vulnerability of the pipes themselves, which would be catastrophic if violence again hit this region. The pipeline could be easily destroyed by Israeli incursions. I’m surprised they did not attack it during the 2002 invasions, if they didn’t. This remains a constant threat.

This water, this life, is precarious.

Grain mill from the Roman period

So back in the car, higher and higher, road narrower and narrower. The road, uncle tells us, was built during the Jordanian period, between 1948 and 1967. Malek told me that now hikers regularly traverse this same region, Ramallah to Jericho. I might try this sometime. Jericho is only about 30 km from Ein Samia, and maybe 40 km from Ramallah itself. Distances are shockingly short here, yet long because of the matrix of control, the occupation.

Uncle told me about the quarry pit which is clearly on Palestinian land but often the Israelis prevent them from using it or if they allow use charge them a fee. Where else in the world would this be allowed?

Uncle is a study in traditional Palestinian life. His trade is stone cutting; he also sells cut stone and gardens. He is not retired, tho at retirement age, 69, one year older than me. He will not leave the village for the city, should the family decide to move to Ramallah permanently. (Malek, with a flat in Ramallah closer to his job as software engineer and less subject to closures and road obstructions, wishes to eventually move back to the village, when conditions ease more.) Uncle cares for the infant and the children, obviously good with them as I try to show in my photos. He grew up when this land had no road access to the fields in Ein Samia where his father farmed. So he’d ride a donkey to bring the lunch food. He knows the plants, picked for us early figs. He also seems expert in the history of the region, overjoyed to find someone like me so interested in learning. And then when Malek and I had had enough and wished to return to Malek’s village, uncle wanted to go further and did, lingering in fields that must bring back many memories. As I’ve written earlier, tho he’s one year older than me, he is much more agile and perhaps stronger.

Malek’s uncle & father in law

His wife died 6 years ago and Malek told me they’re trying to find him a new wife. Is he lonely? Does he enjoy life at the homestead when the rest of the family is in Ramallah?

I wonder about how the family is changed by the presence of the 7-year-old infirm boy. He’d fallen from a swing or see saw, injuring his brain, and because of the limited medical resources will probably live out his years in this condition. Can’t speak but can understand speech. Can barely move. Cries when his siblings go off to school or play. They treat him with respect. His body is contorted. I wished to photograph him, especially with siblings and mother, but never found the opportunity. Maybe another time, should we meet again. This family also is a story in itself. A marker of the current occupation.

While waiting to go, for the rest of the family to pack, Malek toured me thru part of the village. Very hilly, pretty, many new homes, and this being summer, the wedding season. Several each week. All in the village of about 3000 are invited, but only the core element will be fed.

Lights were coming on as we departed, and just as we left the driveway a group of 3 young girls met us and chatted. This gave me one last opportunity to photograph the village, the lights on the horizon.

And this might end my lengthy account of water and life north of Ramallah. For now.

Courtesy of the Internet

LINKS:

Jerusalem Water Undertaking

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The rising of the light: Water politics in a West Bank border village

Courtesy of Bethlehem to Ramallah by Boat

Separation Fence, near Qalqilia, West Bank, Palestine

Israeli settlement in the background, Palestinian greenhouses in the foreground

Israeli watchtower

Excerpts from my journal during a three month journey of photographic discovery in the Land of Troubles

Photos

July 22, 2009, Wednesday, Jenin Creative Cultural Center:

Special thanks to Fareed Tamallah for this lead, and for many others as well.

Empty of dreams, for the most part, one fleeting thru my last phase of sleep about JC signing a check with a signature that twisted in 2 directions. What does this symbolize?

Mostly the day was cruising with a new short-term water based colleague, Miroslawa Czema (Mirka for short), from Poland, working with the Polish Humanitarian Organization, on a variety of projects which are largely about water. This one, in the small village near Qalqilia, Izbet Salman, is primarily to assess the fundability of connecting a well to existing pipes and adding a reservoir. If funded, this would be constructed in conjunction with the Palestine Water Authority. A PWA water engineer traveled with us, Kamal Isse, an affable handsome man with sharp features who later invited us to meet his family and have tea and sweets in his Salfit home.

Miroslawa (Mirka) Czerna, Acting Head of Mission, Polish Humanitarian Organization

Photographing on this theme of water politics is tough: so many pipes, tanks, irrigation hoses, greenhouses, pumps, pumping stations, pumping station attendants that to make anything vital to watch and think about presents a major challenge. One way to surmount the imminent borability of this theme is to craft the presentation around stories, sometimes stories of persons, sometimes stories of facts, for instance how Israel came to dominate the water share. And what that means to various people. Like Ramzi in Bethlehem running out of water a few weeks ago just when I visited.

Bananas

So the story is first we met with the head man/school headmaster of the village, Huseen Qosmar, with a gracious big-toothed smile, decent English, friendly and warm, and of course eager to please Mirka. The group discussed the nature of the proposal, in detail, with a set of questions Mirka used to guide the discussion. Then the site visits which included a variety of water tanks ranging from decrepit to relatively new (she admonished them to periodically clean the tanks, something they don’t do, compromising the water quality), locations where the new pipes, to be all underground (as opposed to the existing mostly rubber and plastic tubing above ground, but this will be difficult since the terrain is limestone), the site of the new reservoir on a relatively high plane, several wells and pumps, meeting the attendants (and giving me more to photograph), walking thru irrigated  fields of guava, banana, avocado and other produce (a highlight for me, seeing the plants, the fruits, the fruits of the water), and generally perceiving the overall situation, the setting. They’ve tested the water at the wells, and claim it is pure. But there is no testing after the tanks, and no purification, so chlorination is built into the proposal.

Huseen Qozmar

Proposed site of a new reservoir, beyond the cucumber field

Mirka is not trained in hydrology but rather in Mid East studies so she is fluent in Arabic and knows the culture but is learning the engineering. She is round faced, with a protruding upper lip and teeth that give her a slight lisp, adding to my troubles understanding her language since her English is heavily accented already.

She’s to contact the potential funders, present the case, answer their questions, and if funded, guide or direct the project along with the PWA engineer, Kamal, and presumably local contractors. One requirement is that only Palestinian contractors be employed on this project.

Attendant of water pumping station

Riding, I sat in the back of her small car while she chatted with Kamal, freeing me to gaze and photograph. I’ve been thru this region now so many times that I’m learning how to anticipate scenes. If I’ve missed them earlier, I might snag them on this trip. Such as the Burkan industrial settlement near Ariel. This time I think we passed it on the side opposite from the first time when with Fareed 2 years ago. I hope I’m perfecting this technique of photographing from moving vehicles: fast shutter speed, 50 mm lens, wait for the right light, keep both eyes open to anticipate. And aim, try not to rely on wild mind photography.

We feasted at what seemed to be a large rarely used restaurant with a superb view of the Separation Fence, mainly set up for hosting weddings. In this region most cooking is done, Huseen  told us, by roasting the food in a closed underground container, much, I told them, like American Indians did for the clambake. They thought Mirka and I would appreciate seeing and photographing the rising of the cooked food. Very clever: a round container first stuffed with fired wood, allowed for one hour to burn to embers, food inserted on a sort of rotisserie, lid closed, bake for 2 hours, remove lid, attach chain from hoist to rotisserie, and hoist. Delicious.

Son of Kamal Isse, water engineer

Son and wife of Kamal Isse, water engineer

Traveling back I noted how near the settlements are to the Palestinian villages, just literally “a stone’s throw” away.

I found Y’s most recent comment to my blog—it had landed in my spam queue. I think because it was so laudatory. Here it is:

Hey Skip

It looks as though your heat-sufferings are leading to engaging writing and photos that morph the mind.  These are wonderful! What in the world is that substance in the background behind that bullet-hole?

I hope everyone out there in cyberspace is following more closely than I am.  These are important slices of life.

—Y

And here’s a typical one from the queue:

What a blog filled with vital and important information this is .. It must have taken a lot of hours for you to write these yourself. Hats off from me for your hard work. If you got time, …[it goes on to request a link.]

So I think the selection might be based on the frequency of laudatory words. Most spam that I saw was unrealistically approving, promising that the writer would subscribe, tell all her friends, etc. Thank god most of these are blocked, and I must remember to periodically check the queue for bona fide comments.

Of course, I’m gratified to find Y’s approval. I’ve worried that maybe I’m being both too confessional and too self-restricted. I’m never sure I’ve found the proper line. Which is one of the main challenges of this sort of writing.

Israeli water pipes

Courtesy of the Polish Humanitarian Organization

Links:

Fact Book from the Palestine Monitor, an invaluable and current compendium of facts about Palestine and Israel

About the Burkan industrial settlement and a recent boycott forced divestment—Improper Advantage

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