In the Light, Palestine-Israel: “Giving Hope to the Hopeless”

We at the East Jerusalem YMCA, and as an active and indigenous segment of the Palestinian social movement, contribute to the reconstruction of Palestinian society, which has been facing decades of systemic destruction, dispersal, and violations of its national, legal, and human rights. Within this current political situation we perceive the need to concentrate local, regional, and international efforts in order to recover the just rights of our people and to build a democratic state where transparency, equity, and social justice may prevail.

—Policy mandate statement

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

May 16, 2013, Thursday, Beit Sahour, Bethlehem Occupied Palestine

PHOTOS

There are many sides to the various stories emanating from this region. One not often heard or seen is how Palestinian society deals with the effects of occupation: trauma, physical injury, loss of work, degraded dignity, and despair (for a short list).

Thanks to my geographical proximity to the East Jerusalem YMCA (despite the name, the organization serves the entire West Bank of Occupied Palestine), a 20 minute walk down the main road of Beit Sahour near Bethlehem—plus my intimate experience with the Y during my early university years—I finally thought, hey, the local Y, let’s investigate how it manifests its “aim of positively contributing to the physical, mental and spiritual development of children, youth and the community at large…”

(The site is also the third of 3 purported shepherds’ fields sites, significantly less visited than the Latin/Catholic and Greek Orthodox sites but touching nonetheless.)

Raed Abu Jriers, the East Jerusalem YMCA’s’s affable media and communication coordinator, set up 2 visits to people benefitting (beneficiaries) from the rehabilitation program. First to Raed Ateyyah, a 37-year-old who at the age of 17 was shot by Israeli soldiers—not during a demonstration but when local settlers attacked his village. His mobility was impaired, he could only work common labor jobs where he didn’t have to stand or walk, but now, with the help of counseling and vocational training, he is employed in a small garment factory producing clothing for “export.”

Benificiary of the Rehabilitation Program, Raed Ateyyah, severely injured by Israeli soldiers, with Abdullah, his social worker (middle),
and Raed Abu Jries (left)

His case manager or guide, a social worker, Abdullah, explained that currently after one month of work, Raed only earns 35 NIS (about $9.50 daily) but pays roughly half of that for transport to and from his village near Bethlehem. Leaving a net gain of some 20 NIS or $5 for a day’s labor. Where are these garments sold? I asked. —We export them. —And where is that? —Israel. —And what  label does Israel sew in? —“Ketty, made in Israel.”

Raed endured my photography, never offered much affect, a withdrawn expression on his face. This perhaps is an indicator of his trauma. Images of tranquil nature scenes covered one wall of the shop, which made a powerful counterpoint to the machinery and workers. A sister-brother team apparently owns the facility. (Background on what I photograph is often scant and since I’m not writing I do not apply myself very diligently to that aspect.)

Co owner of the garment factory

Our second visit was to Jamil Al-Wahsh, his older son, Ali, and the little one, Muhammad, in the village of Za’tara. Jamil is in his 40s, born with a major defect that rendered his feet splayed out, his legs akimbo, thereby severely cutting down his walking ability. Three of his 7 children have the same malady. Luckily for my photography they were home from school—Nakba Day—and so could demonstrate for me how they walk. The rehab program first counseled the father, and then installed additions that offered the family a more comfortable existence. Namely an entrance ramp, a sit-down toilet (vs. the squat), and for the youngest boy leg braces (which he refuses to wear). Contrasting with Raed Ateyyah, the garment worker, this man and his entire family were jovial, outward, and seemed to play to the camera.

Jamil Al-Wahsh, his older son, Ali, a daughter, and the youngest son, Muhammad, in the village of Za’tara—all 3 males have congenital leg problems.

On the ramp constructed by the Y program

Ali

With the family’s social worker

Preceding the tour, the director of the program, the humble and highly articulate Nader Abu Amsha, explained the genesis of the program. I was struck by how exploratory and experimental it was, beginning in 1989 as a response to injuries from the First Intifada, (“shaking off” or uprising, which began 2 years earlier), learning as they developed (he was first a volunteer, then paid staff), and then evolving into what appears to be a comprehensive program addressing many aspects of suffering: counseling, vocational training, physical services, advocacy, and general education. Some 50,000 children and youth were injured during just the first year of the First Intifada (roughly 1987-1993), or, according to Save the Children, over the first two years, an estimated 7% of all Palestinians under 18 years of age suffered injuries from shootings, beatings or tear gas. By 1993, the YMCA had shifted its treatment approach from the individual to a more holistic one, involving the entire family and perhaps the community, schools in particular.

Nader Abu Amsha, director of YMCA Rehabilitation Program
& Beit Sahour Branch

According to an estimate by the Swedish branch of Save the Children, as many as 29,900 children require medical treatment for injuries caused by beatings from Israeli soldiers during the first two years of the Intifada alone. Nearly a third of them are aged ten or under. Save the Children also estimates that between 6500-8500 Palestinian minors were wounded by Israeli gunfire in the first two years of the Intifada.

—Institute for Middle East Understanding

I asked, how do assess the presence and severity of trauma? Answer: from the point of view of resilience. We first discuss options with the beneficiary. We build trust. We share stories. We ask what they think and feel, which is usually revenge at first. Boys often manifest the “hero” complex, overrating their strength. We don’t give advice. We ask questions. We ask our beneficiary to report their suffering—Israel arrests an average of 700 children aged 12-17 every year. And we develop criteria for improvement. Obviously, the earlier the intervention the better, otherwise they become sick and need serious treatment. (paraphrasing)

Needless to say, I was impressed. So when Nader told me other agencies outside Palestine often invite staff to do trainings, like in Columbia, I was not surprised.

Rather than attempt to write a full account of the riches of this interview with Nader—a pity my news agency chose not to cover it, seems like poor judgment—I’ll simply refer my readers to the website listed below.

During the Second Intifada (roughly 2000-2005) as of January 2004, the Palestinian child rights organization Defense for Children International/Palestine Section (DCI/PS) had documented the deaths of over 500 Palestinian children (under 18). These deaths were the result of Israeli occupation policies implemented in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip since September 2000. DCI/PS reports that an estimated 10,000 children were wounded during that period.

—If Americans Knew

After nearly 45 minutes of this introduction I asked, has anyone ever written a book about all this or made a comprehensive movie? No book but several movies, mostly by the Y rehab program itself. (I list several on-line below.) My general impression of Nader is that he is sharp, talented, dedicated, and works hard. I enjoyed listening to him but found photographing him at the same time a challenge. He admitted he was distracted when I brought out my camera so I doubt I have any photos useful of him. And my writing is so fragmentary. I am torn between practicing my photographer’s eye and my writer’s ear. And I fail to understand the apathy about this story by the news agency I volunteer for. Maybe limited time and scant staff. Or maybe an inability to recognize a good story.

I walked to the Y in a drizzle, under nearly overcast skies, a stretch of my legs that is a good way to begin the day. A little after noon I walked back, again in some drizzle speckled with bright sun, and found a 3-person olive wood factory (factory is too grand a name, how about the less imposing and vaguer manufactory?) with the participants either eager to be photographed or quiescent. Two were smoothing out contours with tools that may have originally been dentist drills, while the third, a young man chain-smoking, operated a duplicating machine. The operator, a sort of magician, multiple times resurrected the dead and wood-embalmed Jesus with this clever machine. He gently traced shapes and 2 rasping drills dutifully followed instructions and carved out—resurrected— many Christ’s.

I photographed freely, and when finished the man nearest the door who’d beckoned me in gave me a little gift: a patriarch statue, maybe King David himself or perhaps one of the Wise Men adoring Christ. The face is too old to be that of Christ. He looks sad. His right hand has a hole in it, perhaps it once held a staff. What looks like a nail protrudes from the base, making the statue unstable. I treasure this artifact and introduced it to the other elements of my altar: Christ, Buddha, jasmine (in season), stun grenade, 2 cartridges, 2 candles, incense, various political lapel pins, photos of family and friends, Mediterranean sea shells from Gaza, and the ceramic plate AFSC staff gave me when I left Gaza. All treasures.

I ponder: are any of these olive wood workers beneficiaries of the Y’s rehab program? How have they been affected by the occupation? If not for the occupation what lives would they now live? Will their conditions be any different when free?

And further: as the wood workers can in effect resurrect Jesus, does the YMCA rehabilitation program resurrect—positively transform lives shattered by onerous conditions—its beneficiaries?

TO BE CONTINUED

LINKS

East Jerusalem YMCA Rehabilitation Program

Their movie links:

Coming Home

Buds of Hope

The Suffering of the Palestinian Child Under the Israeli Occupation by Ahmed El Helal and Mariam I Itani

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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

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A Little Story of the Occupation: With the American Friends Service Committee to Jenin (2006)

Those who have nothing they’re willing to die for are not fit to live.

—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

To give you a flavor of the life of one innocent abroad, a close call—for me and more vitally the Palestinians who experience this regularly.

The hour was late, the staff from the American Friends Service Committee and I were all tired, night was coming, we’d eaten very little all day. We’d passed 5 checkpoints on our way to Jenin and did not look forward to returning by that same route. We’d observed in the morning long lines of cars on their way south, which would have been our direction when returning. So we decided to drive thru Nablus, visit someone, have dinner, and return to Ramallah by an alternative route that would have minimum checkpoints. Part way there–a roadblock. Taxis waiting on the northern, Jenin side. We saw a few people walking over the earth mounds out of Nablus. We decided that Fida, Tahija and I would walk in while Thuqan drove around to meet us on the southern edge of Nablus. This would make possible a leisurely visit for at least 3 of us in Nablus.

Vehicles blocked by earth mounds

We soon discovered that this mound was only one of many, a series, stretching for at least 1 km, some 6 of them, dirt and stones heaped up, the road ditched. Fida had trouble walking up and down the mounds because she was recovering from a recent car accident and limped shakily. After 3 ascents we heard a gunshot, it echoed thru the canyon. The wadi scene was beautiful, the shot perplexing, we had no idea where it originated, where it was directed, and what it meant. Maybe hunters. We continued walking.

Then we heard shouting from high up in the hills, spotted 2 people, perhaps soldiers. Fida wasn’t sure what their message was. But she shouted in return, surprising Tahija and myself, in English, “I have a broken leg, I was in a car accident”–as if this might persuade soldiers to show some mercy. Instead: another shot. We ducked behind dirt mounds. We inched our way back and retreated, not sure the shot was fired at us or to warn us. Later Fida suggested they had shouted, “Go back or we will shoot you.” We chuckled about her choice of response–a broken leg, please have mercy.

Tahija & Fida

Later, discussing this with Neta Golan, co-founder of the International Solitary Movement, she confirmed a suspicion I had: “You are lucky, some soldiers would simply shoot and not shout. No one in the whole world would notice.”

Discussing why the blocks and why the firing later with Thuqan whom we’d phoned to meet us–it was now nearly dark and I suggested in jest that maybe if we waited another 30 minutes we could walk under the noses of the soldiers, forgetting they might have had night vision equipment–we came to the following interpretation: the Israelis had created the blocks after a martyrdom bombing  in Tel Aviv, stationed the soldiers, and sealed Nablus completely. Why Nablus when the bomber came from Jenin? Short-term punishment, recognized universally as collective punishment and illegal under international law. And long-term strategy to decimate the industrial and commercial center of Nablus. The 3 of us were mere blips on the radar screen. Nothing personal, you understand, just caught by circumstance.

While riding back to Ramallah I asked Tahija more about her years in Sarajevo–born and raised there, a Muslim, living thru the 3 year siege of the war. “For years after the siege had ended,” she told us, “I’d hit the ground when hearing loud and sharp sounds. Duck and cover. I’m over that now, and perhaps stronger for the experience. I can travel as I’m doing now (she just returned from 2 days in Gaza visiting AFSC programs), my husband worries about me, but I’m not afraid. Perhaps facing death does this to a person, makes me more able to take the big risk.”

I mentioned my pilgrimage experience in Cambodia in 1995 during the last days of the Khmer Rouge, hearing artillery fire each morning and evening, walking a narrow path thru the minefields. With an outcome similar to hers: I was strengthened by the experience of surviving fear, not immobilized by it. But I wondered aloud, what would I do now if coming under direct fire again? How might I have responded if in Jenin camp during the Israeli invasion of 2002? Will I be willing to enter Gaza next spring (2013) with the Israelis constantly attacking? As Art Gish from the Christian Peacemakers Teams said to me, free to die, free to live.

LINKS:

AFSC in Palestine

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“In this ongoing pilgrimage of yours [to Palestine-Israel], where is the art?”

Tulkarem, West Bank, Palestine, 2012

Al Masaara, West Bank, Palestine, 2012

Yet it is in this loneliness that the deepest activities begin. It is here that you discover act without motion, labor that is profound repose, vision in obscurity, and, beyond all desire, a fulfillment whose limits extend to infinity.

—Thomas Merton

DIALOG ABOUT MY ART WITH A FRIEND AND CURATOR

In this ongoing pilgrimage [to Palestine-Israel] of yours, where is the art? (Thanks to Chuck Fager)

In two places, ethics and graphics, which is precisely where art needs to be located.

In the case of ethics, I strive to ground my art in the deepest compassion and wisdom I can muster. This is particularly crucial for my work about the Middle East. Secondly, as much as possible I share experiences with those I photograph, currently mostly Palestinians, going thru checkpoints, blocked by the annexation wall, confronting the Israeli military, etc. Two quotes that might help: the first about my recent work, “You photograph not only with your eyes but with your heart.” (Fares Oda, West Bank American Friends Service Committee staff). And the second from Charlie Parker which I often use with my photo students when they ask me how they can improve their photos—“If you haven’t lived it (life), it won’t come out of your horn.”

Zohar, Negev, Israel, 2012

Cistern evacuation, Jerusalem, 2012

In the case of graphics (perhaps esthetics is a better word), I play with angles, lighting, vantage points, frame, etc, the usual techniques photographers like to concentrate on. I use what I call “wild mind photography,” a term I derived from “wild mind writing” as taught by Natalie Goldberg. No restrictions, no judges, total play and experimentation. For me my must frequent form of this is not using the viewfinder to frame or find the view, but rely on my instincts about what the camera sees. This often results in useless images which I cast away but from time to time produces something I regard to be extraordinary.

Jenin, West Bank, Palestine, 2012

Additionally, the Mediterranean light pervading the Levant captivates me. Light is central to photography. I strive to know it, use it, affect others by how I use it. This also is art.

Bedouin village, Negev, Israel, 2012

How has your art in this project changed over time? Has it?

I struggle to shift from the generic to the specific, from shallow to deep, from diffident to more confident, from personal to universal, and to better use metaphor and synecdoche. Whether I achieve this goal I can’t say.

Where is the spirit in it? How has it affected your life?

My response to the spirit part of this question is in my response to your first query. In addition, I pay homage to my muses and  to the endless stream of photographers which constitutes my lineage: my ancestors, my contemporaries (who I refuse to compete with, but feel they are colleagues sharing our passion), and descendants, those I teach thru my formal teaching and my photo examples. Is this spirit? You can decide.

Jenin, West Bank, Palestine, 2012

My art is central to my life. I identify first as a human being, then as a photographer. Quaker, Christian, Buddhist, lover, friend, father, etc. come later. For amplification, if you’re interested please check my artist statement on my website: teeksaphotography.org.

Thanks Friend for your questions. I hope this begins to answer.

Zohar, Negev, Israel, 2012

What most of us must be involved in—whether we teach or write, make films, write films, direct films, play music, act, whatever we do—has to not only make people feel good and inspired and at one with other people around them, but also has to educate a new generation to do this very modest thing: change the world.

― Howard Zinn, Artists in Times of War and Other Essays

LINKS

Slide show: “And you will be carried where you do not wish to go,” a photographic witness &  summary (for the moment & as of 2005) of my photography

“And you will be carried where you do not wish to go,” a photographic witness 
Part 8 & earlier, added April 2 – May 24, 2010 (click on links to read earlier chapters)

The Palestine-Israel Kaleidoscope, a memoir-part 1 
Revised and added January 16, 2010

The Palestine-Israel Kaleidoscope, a memoir-part 2
Revised and added January 21, 2010

As an Artist, How Do I Survive & Thrive?
Revised and added February 15, 2010

Notes on My Quaker Connections in Palestine
Revised and added January 28, 2010

West Coast tour, fall 2012 (September 18 – October 18, Alaska to California)

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WEST COAST PHOTOGRAPHIC PRESENTATION TOUR (FALL 2012)

SEEKING VENUES, CALIFORNIA TO ALASKA

Photographs by Skip Schiel from Palestine & Israel

Skip Schiel has been documenting the Palestinian and Israeli reality through photographs and journal postings since 2003—work with a better feel for the detailed texture of life in Gaza and the West Bank than any appearing in US media. Schiel spends time where most journalists dare not tread, amidst ordinary Palestinians, sharing in the dangers and frustrations of their lives.

His work has been invaluable for my own. As a writer for a Buddhist publication whose parents were victims of the Holocaust, I try to convey a view of the conflict that differs from the US media’s, which obfuscates the injustices and sufferings inflicted on the Palestinians by Israel. Through his portraits of Palestinian men, women, and children striving to maintain ordinary routines despite harassment and attacks by Israel’s military, Skip reveals to us the true face of Palestinians.

—Annette Herskovits, Consulting Editor, Turning Wheel, the Journal of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship

Jenin, West Bank, Palestine

Jerusalem, Israel-Palestine

Negev desert, Israel

A slide show of recent photographs (2012)

Photos

I will tour the West Coast this fall (2012) with my photos and would like to book presentations in the region listed below, either networks, schools, faith and community groups, or individuals.

Alaska, September 19-October 2, 2012

Seattle to San Francisco, October 3-5

California Bay Area and Northern California, October 5-17.

I’ll revise some of my shows with photos and stories from my most recent spring 2012 trip. Report here.

West Coast 2012 Tour Announcement

Jenin, West Bank, Palestine

Negev desert, Israel

With the support of many in my local and national Quaker community, since 2003 I been traveling to Israel and Palestine to investigate and portray conditions and struggles. I have worked with a variety of organizations, both Israeli and Palestinian and joint organizations (see below), volunteering to make photographs for them that I also can circulate as slide shows and print exhibitions. My hope is to open eyes and doors and windows, encouraging awareness and action.

MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATIONS Slideshows, print exhibits, and a movie featuring photos, audio & thoughtful narration, updated from my recent 10-week trip during spring 2012

Falafel, Jenin, West Bank, Palestine

Negev desert, Israel

SLIDE SHOWS

Descendants of Abraham, Sarah, & Hagar

Based primarily on my most recent trip to Palestine-Israel in spring 2012, an exploration of people and activities on different sides of the conflict.

Eyewitness Gaza

The new show concentrates on his personal experiences and its political context, 2 years after the devastating Israeli attacks of Operation Cast Lead. Youth, their conditions and struggles, child to young adult, is the main theme. I explore the lives of people still living in tents and in recently constructed rudimentary dwellings. They continue to suffer the ongoing Israeli siege and internal political violence, while being ignored by most of the international community. The American Friends Service Committee is a major segment, showing one way hope and resiliency are fostered. (I’ve published a book by the same title, available here)

On the way to Gaza

Tracing the Jordan River

A slide show exploring this historic river from one of the headwaters of the Jordan, the Banias flowing from Mt Hermon in the Golan Heights, to where the much-abused river disappears before the Dead Sea in the West Bank of Palestine. With an examination of the Sea of Galilee, especially the region of the major share of Christ’s ministry in and around Capernaum, the dying Dead Sea, well-watered Jericho, and the kibbutzim, Israeli settlements intended to reclaim land and define the contours of the forthcoming Israeli nation. A slice thru the topography, geology, hydrology, history, and politics of the region.

Dismantling The Matrix of Control

An examination, based on the brilliant analysis of Jeff Halper, of the mechanisms Israel uses to maintain the occupation: checkpoints, separation or annexation wall/fence, permit system, road blocks, Israeli-only roads, military court system, closed military zones, and closures and incursions. Plus how to end it.

The Hydropolitics of Palestine/Israel

Israel-Palestine has scant water resources, but now with the current strife water is a dramatic mirror of power relationships. Through an examination of water in various settings—small Palestinian villages & the Gaza strip— along with large cities shared by Israeli Jews & Arabs—Haifa & Jerusalem—I portray a very difficult to visualize topic. Updated with new photos from spring 2012.

Bethlehem the Holy, the Struggle for an Ancient City

Bethlehem is rapidly becoming Imprisoned Bethlehem, surrounded on all sides by an 8-meter (23 foot) high concrete wall, with checkpoint access restricted. Thus, Christians (the population shrinking from some 30% 40 years ago to 2%) and Muslims within Palestine can rarely leave or enter Bethlehem. Nearby Israeli settlements confiscate Palestinian lands while the local economy, heavily reliant on tourism, languishes under ghetto-like restrictions. I explored this situation from November through Christmas 2008 as well as during the summer of 2009 while I lived in the Aida refugee camp. Updated with new photos from spring 2012.

Quakers in Palestine & Israel (Or John Woolman in the Land of Troubles)

What do Quakers, the Religious Society of Friends, have to do with Israel-Palestine? By following some of the activities in the Ramallah Friends School & the American Friends Service Committee’s work in Gaza & the West Bank (& with references to its efforts in Israel), I show how this numerically small but often effective group has made a difference in this land of troubles.

Negev desert, Israel

Other Presentations Available

Though unquestionably didactic, Skip Schiel’ s images are also haunting glimpses of the perilous nature of life in Gaza. The photographs never feel invasive or forced; they simply capture moments of intimate truth between photographer and subject.

—Sarah Correia (Fuse Visual Arts Review: “Gaza in Photographs: Up Close and Personal”)

Negev desert, Israel

PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITS

Female in Palestine

Women and girls attempting to live normal, free lives in the occupied territories of Palestine.

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

Photos of possibilities: how people live, suffer, stay strong and determined—sumud, in Arabic, steadfast.

The Living Waters of Israel-Palestine

A print version of the Hydropolitics slide show.

DOCUMENTARY MOVIE

Eyewitness Gaza (movie)

About current conditions and struggles in Gaza based on Schiel’s photography, directed by Tom Jackson of Joe Public Films. The context is the Arab Spring. More information.

Skip Schiel in Gaza, photo by Mesleh Ashram

MORE ABOUT SKIP SCHIEL

TO BRING SKIP SCHIEL AND HIS PHOTOGRAPHS TO YOUR CHURCH, SCHOOL OR CIVIC GROUP/FOR MORE INFORMATION

Contact: Skip Schiel, skipschiel@gmail.com, 617-441-7756

Hosting Agreement

ORGANIZATIONS I’VE WORKED WITH IN PALESTINE-ISRAEL

Al Quds University (Gaza)

American Friends Service Committee

Birzeit University

Christian Peacemakers Teams

Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel

Friends International Center in Ramallah

Friends of the Earth Middle East

Gaza Community Mental Health Program

Holy Land Trust

Interfaith Peace Builders

Israeli-Palestinian Center for Research and Information

Jewish Voice for Peace (in the United States)

Middle East Children’s Alliance

Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality

Palestine News Network

Palestinian Hydrology Group

Parents’ Circle-Families Forum

Ramallah Friends Meeting

Ramallah Friends School

Right to Education Program (at Birzeit University)

Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center

UN-OCHA, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

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With an Open Heart: Eyewitness to the Levant: Report of the Spring 2012 Journey

…There are ten measures of hypocrisy in the world—nine in Jerusalem and one in the rest of the world…

—Avot D’Rabbi Natan

Popular Achievement training session at Birzeit University, a program of the American Friends Service committee in the West Bank and Gaza

Landfill in the Jordan Valley, nominally Palestinian Territory in the West Bank, operated by Veolia, a corporation under sanctions by Jewish Voice for Peace, the American Friends Service Committee, and other BDS (Boycott-Divest-Sanction) movement organizations

At a protest by Bedouins in the Negev and their Israeli supporters in opposition to land confiscation and village destruction

PHOTOS

On May 28, 2012, my last day of seventy in the land of promise and trouble I wrote to my dear friend and partner, M:

i sit on the floor of the ben gurion airport after a night of relatively solid sleep in my car. in the parking lot of the rental agency no one bothered me. i rocked the seat back, cracked the windows open, put on my mosquito lotion, and slept well. a bit dazed when i awoke at 5:30—like you early to enjoy a bird chorus—i struggled to remember where i was, what i needed to pack and do, and how to formulate my story when confronted by airport security. trucks delivering airport construction materials lumbered by as I groggily checked out at the Avis rental office. now i wait until the airport check-in opens for my flight, three hours prior.

my last full day was monumental—mainly with bedouins in the negev desert and their israeli supporters. it was a fit finale to my ten-week journey of discovery. i photographed a long discussion about strategy to stop the land confiscation and forced removal from homelands (reminding me of american indians of course), followed by a fairly large demonstration at a major highway intersection. a bus pulled up and disgorged about thirty bedouin youth who then drummed, chanted, clapped, and smiled at the passing motorists.

i’d hoped to photograph bedouin communities, which i did earlier during the discussion (i couldn’t follow the hebrew of course). instead what i showed were mostly buildings, tents, toilets, animal pens, solar panels, fences, a cemetery and goats, sheep, and horses—not people. the demonstration provided the people, most vitally the women who usually don’t allow their photos to be made. the demo is public; thus they’re more willing.

so that was the kernel of my last day. i’m eager to prepare the photos. i have much to do when home as follow up. i’ve made many promises and received some praise. the work now continues, in many ways harder than while traveling because of other paths, not necessarily conflicting paths, but hopefully always mutually supporting ones.

Near Bethlehem, in the shadow of surrounding settlements-colonies, the weekly protest Catholic Mass at the Cremisan Monastery

As Martin Luther King Jr claimed, those with nothing they’re willing to die for are not fit to live. A harsh statement perhaps but, to me, convincing. The question of Palestine and Israel is my issue, I am fortunate to engage.

This was one of my best trips of seven. Why? Mainly because my nine-year-long accruing experience in Palestine-Israel generates insights, trust, motivation, ability to anticipate, navigational skills, multiple and often contradictory perspectives, and a clearer sense of what is best to show and how best to show it. As I wrote M, I know not to photograph traditional Muslim women unless they are in public situations like the demonstration or if I’ve been invited into their homes. Contacts have led to contacts. David N, an Israeli activist who I met on my first trip in 2003, led me to Haya N and the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, which in turn led to the Bedouins. Gilat B from Friends of the Earth Middle East led me to Tal H and not only the community garden project near southern Gaza but to the party at the swimming pool in a settlement to celebrate Shavuot. My many months in Gaza during previous trips generated a desire to explore the militarized perimeter from the Israeli side—a personal highlight, dangerous, delicate, revealing, a theme rarely photographed. Quakers in Palestine-Israel and at home continue to be a huge help. The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Ramallah Friends School, Ramallah Friends Meeting, Friends International Center in Ramallah (FICR), my home meeting of Friends Meeting at Cambridge, etc. provided prayers, guidance, leads, and much appreciated financial backing.

On the Israeli side of the militarized barrier between Gaza and southern Israel

I am also slowly learning how to confront my anxieties. A list from this trip might inspire laughter: denied entry at the airport arrested, detained, deported or shot by the Israeli army; run out of gas; lose the car keys; fillings fall out or need a root canal; heart attack; misplace my passport; money and cards stolen; computer breaks or is lost; camera equipment malfunctions; etc. Some of this actually happened—my laptop’s hard drive failed, my credit card inexplicably stopped charging, my memory cards suffered corrupted files, and I had minor problems with a lens. However, I never ran out of gas, I never lost my car keys, I was not injured or arrested, and I experienced no thefts. As Mark Twain said, I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.

Bethlehem checkpoint

My primary impressions about the Palestine-Israel situation are these: First, Israel is a laudable country, successful and innovative in so many ways such as agriculture, transport, art and science, image building, and yet the incontestable fact remains that its success is to some extent based on the oppression of another people who have equal if not greater rights to that land. Israel relies—not entirely—on the resources and labor of the Palestinians.

Israeli middle school students help excavate an ancient cistern in the heart of West Jerusalem, a project of Friends of the Earth Middle East and Emek Shaveh

Second, referring only to the West Bank (and not Gaza which I did not enter this time), conditions superficially seem improved—slightly expanded economy and slightly more freedom of movement with fewer internal checkpoints. However, settler violence has dramatically increased, the Israeli government has shifted rightward, the Palestinian Authority appears moribund, and settlement construction continues at a high rate. Impunity and futility reign supreme.

Construction of a dormitory at the Ariel University Center of Samaria, in the settlement-colony of Ariel, deep in the West Bank

Dormitory at the Ariel University funded by the controversial Irving Moskowitz

Ariel settlement

Third, Palestine’s Second or Al Aqsa Intifada (shaking off in Arabic, or uprising) has mostly transformed into nonviolent resistance. Some regard this as the Third Intifada, and much of my photographic work aims at support.

Nonviolent demonstration in the village of Al Masara near Bethlehem

After the demonstration, the commander of the Israeli unit with Palestinian media workers

And fourth is my growing conviction that much Palestinian-led resistance—and Israel’s responses—are formulaic, lack strategy, and prove useless and counterproductive. I witnessed much back and forth between tear gas and bullets responding to rocks and sometimes Molotov cocktails responding in turn to tear gas and bullets. As my colleague Mustafa said, one Molotov cocktail and you can expect five dead or injured Palestinians. In addition I observed that media, including myself, allows itself to be sucked into coverage because of the drama. I write extensively about this in my blogs.

Prisoners’ rights demonstration at Ofer Prison, Israel

My itinerary: one month in Bethlehem with the Palestine News Network, one week in Ramallah with the AFSC and FICR, two weeks in the Jenin refugee camp with the Freedom Theater, one week in Jerusalem with Friends of the Earth Middle East and a second week again with the AFSC, and my final week in the Negev desert. My photographic themes included non-violent resistance to the occupation, corporations benefitting from and sustaining the occupation (one photo assignment was to support a limited divestment campaign), youth, arts as resistance, the environment, Quaker activities, Bedouins in the Negev, ancient habitation sites, and Christians in Bethlehem. In Jenin, Bethlehem, and Ramallah I also taught photography to adults and high school students and helped establish photo archives. I volunteered these services with funding I’d raised privately from friends and the Quaker community.

Palestinian prisoners suffering in Israeli prisons conducted a massive hunger strike which at one point included some 1,600 prisoners, more than one-third the entire Palestinian prison population. The strike elicited Israeli promises to make its policies more humane, promises yet to be realized (as of June 2012). At demonstrations I was able to intersect this theme several times, once to include my Jenin high school photo students in what some might term “an appointment with tear gas and rubber-covered metal bullets”—or “real life photography.”

One of my students at the Ofer Prison demonstration

From 13,290 photos (56 separate folders, totaling 68 gigabytes) made with what I hope is my open heart, my central task now is to supply photos I’ve promised to various organizations, put together new collections for exhibitions, slide shows, and my blog and website, update my blog with excerpts from my copious journals, and seek audiences, most immediately on the west coast in the fall of 2012 from California to Alaska and British Columbia. One way you the reader can help would be to let me know of venues that might wish to host one of my photo presentations. I can supply tour details if asked.

Thanks for following the issues and my work.

You photograph not only with your eyes but with your heart.

—Fares Oda, West Bank AFSC staff

Boys and automatic rifles

Caterpillar at work building illegal settlement-colonies (Har Homa)

Nativity Church and full moon in Bethlehem

LINKS

American Friends Service Committee

Friends of the Earth Middle East

Negev Coexistence Forum for Social Equality

Palestine News Network (English)

Jenin Freedom Theater

Friends International Center in Ramallah

(With gratitude to Maria Termini for help editing this blog.)

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With an Open Heart: photos & stories from Palestine & Israel: Violent clashes—strategic or futile?

“9 protesters hurt in clash outside Ofer prison,” Published May 11, 2012

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Nine Palestinians were injured, including one seriously, by rubber bullets during clashes that erupted between Palestinians and Israeli forces near the Ofer prison.

The demonstration was held near the Ofar prison but the Israeli forces intervened in a sit-in by shooting tear gas and stun grenades in addition to rubber bullets and a foul-smelling liquid.

Palestinians threw rocks and empty bottles toward Israeli forces.

Excerpts from my journal as I examine and portray the troubles in the Levant

PHOTOS: Prisoners rights demonstration in Ramallah & Ofer Prison

part one

part two

May 12, 2012, Saturday, Jenin refugee camp, guest house in the Freedom Theater

Same as usual, very frustrating. Here’s what I wrote M yesterday:

we all arrived safely home a few hrs ago. 5 girls, 2 teachers, and mustafa, well known to the girls as a long term, trusted videographer and teacher at the jenin freedom theater. we suffered some tear gas, some high flying and low flying rubber-covered metal bullets, and a shot or two (at a distance) of stink water, chemically treated water that might smell like a skunk, or sewage, or shit. many injured from gas inhalation, perhaps a few from rubber-covered bullets. none seriously as far as i saw. lots of photos, but this event and ones like it deeply disappoint me. nonstrategic, more like a theater piece, tit for tat, back and forth, symbolic action, each side daring the other to take more risks. with no clear goal or method in view.

the issue is prisoners’ rights, sparked by the mass hunger strike of palestinian political prisoners in israeli jails. ofer prison, where we were today, near ramallah, is the only israeli prison in the west bank and thus the site of daily demos. good experience for the girls, i suppose. they ranged from terrified, hiding and crying, to overly gutsy, taking rash chances to merely make the same photos over and over again. i suppose a good lesson for them, regardless.

The prisoners’ rights demonstration in Ramallah yesterday began at a large parking lot in Al Bireh [near Ramallah, West Bank, Occupied Palestine], someone speaking to a huge crowd of men sitting outside on prayer mats, a relatively small number of women sitting under a tent. The speech ended with the call to prayer. I used this occasion to make a series of photos that included the prayer, something I love doing and can rarely do in Palestine because I don’t enter mosques. I lost many of these due to a camera card failure (I hope to retrieve them.). I urged the girls to make photos during this period. They began and were stopped by some men who said, because you’re not media you can’t photograph here. The men further explained that some photographers use photographs to malign Islam. We called Mustafa to intervene but he preferred to finish prayer. By the end of prayer the men had given the girls permission to photograph. A little lesson in how to deal with obstructions. Real world photography.

Then the march. Which itself began with the “war of flags and chants.” Which flag, which chant, which political party, Fatah or Hamas, would prevail? Someone tried to confiscate all the yellow Fatah flags. A contingent wearing Hamas green barged their way into the throng. Some tussling and then it settled. One set of slogans, one flag—Palestine! We’d occasionally stop, bunch up, I’d feel claustrophobic, we’d begin to walk again. Relief! Thru a few parts of Al Bireh and Ramallah to the Manarah [center of Ramallah] and then what? Ofer prison?

But first another assembly at the Lion’s Square tent where I met Fareed and his son, photographed a guy in a wheel chair who I believe was an early Bil’in casualty [small village near Ramallah which for more than 6 years non violently resists the Annexation Barrier which confiscated much of the agricultural land] and a grandmother and granddaughter, the elder in traditional Palestine village clothing, looking regal and impressive, the younger holding a photo of a man, perhaps the grandmother’s son, granddaughter’s father.

The girls photographic workshop from the Jenin Freedom Theater

Mustafa with one of the girls

 Daneen interviewed

We’d intended to go to Bil’in, but while on the way in our hired serveece, Mustafa called to tell us the plan had changed—big presence at the prison and not in Bil’in. So after consulting Jonatan and Adnan at the Freedom Theater in Jenin we headed to Ramallah, expecting eventually to reach Ofer prison.

After the prayer and speech and subsequent march thru Al Bireh and Ramallah we called our driver and drove to Ofer prison about 3 km SW of Ramallah, near Betuniya. Fareed said he’d not go to the prison. I no longer throw rocks, I don’t support it. Remember, I was imprisoned when a boy for throwing rocks. He also asked me if I’d seen the photo of Edward Said throwing a rock from Lebanon, perhaps an indication that we must recognize the frustration of many Palestinians at the injustice they suffer—and the symbolism of the rock against a mightier force.

Edward Said at the Lebanon border with Israel, 2000

Far fewer people at the prison, site of daily protests sparked by the hunger strikers. Two prisoners have passed the 70-day mark and are reportedly near death. Others are in the 30s. Some 1,500 men are striking from a total prison population of about 4,000. There is huge attention on this issue, at least in Palestine. Doubtful about Israel and the rest of the world. The issues are as follows:

1. End the solitary confinement and isolation

2. End the policy of isolation for all prisoners

3. End the policy of systematic humiliation by the occupation army against the Palestinian people at checkpoints and crossings, particularly targeting visitors to prisons, and end the arbitrary denial of visits to the prisoners, especially the prisoners from the Gaza Strip. End the humiliation and abuse of prisoners during transfer.

4. End the policy of administration detention.

(from one source)

Or:

Palestinian political prisoners held by Israel are demanding an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention, allowing visits to Gaza Strip Detainees, provision of medical care and education, and an end to strip searches of their families before visits. All demands are consistent with International law and the 4th Geneva Convention.

(from a second)

Mustafa adjusting the face mask kaffiyeh of one of the girls—to help protect from tear gas and to not be identified by Israelis

Here the deterioration of the demonstration, in my view. Lack of strategic planning on all parties. Palestinians throw a rock—Israeli soldiers retaliate with a tear gas canister or a cluster of them. Burn a tire—the army shoots skunk water. Heave a Molotov cocktail and as Mustafa said, you may count 10 dead Palestinians. Exciting? Yes. Wise? I doubt it. Ditto for the media drawn to such actions—me included—as if a whirlpool sucks us into its center and we drown.

At least at some demonstrations there is a clear, recognizable, reasonable objective that a larger audience can understand. Such as at Al Masara. The immediate objective is to reach the agricultural lands now blocked by the wall or fence. More widely the end of occupation. Or at Bil’in the same, reach village land, the fence itself, and tear it down. And at the recent women’s demonstration at the Jenin muqata (municipal headquarters),  deliver a message to the Palestinian Authority officials in their offices. And Cremisan winery and monastery which I photographed in Bethlehem, a Catholic mass in full view of the settlers. Going back decades, the sit-ins at lunch counters, the Montgomery bus boycott, occupation of factories to shut them down, etc. And more recently the occupation of numerous public sites around the world during the Arab Spring and the Occupy Movement. But Ofer prison? To reach the prison? I do not see the point.

Instead yesterday, tumult. How near the gate can we get? How much firepower do we need to turn these Palestinians back? Will that bullet reach me? Will the wind switch direction so the gas reaches the protesters and not us? Am I out of range, behind effective cover? How can I increase the range of this rifle?

I felt the zing of adrenalin, as I’m sure the older girls did when they lunged ahead, sucked by that whirlpool. Thank god for Mustafa who has the charisma, experience, methodology, and above all else love for the girls. He shepherded them very effectively and might make a centerpiece of my photography. I suspect for the girls showing the action was paramount. Maybe this is good, a first step, but not sufficient. We can discuss some of these issues tomorrow when we evaluate the photos. [We never discussed the issues.]

Early into this scene I noticed a young man grimacing while holding his shoulder. Apparently a rubber-covered metal bullet had struck him. I tried to photograph him. Then the men in the field and beyond them the soldiers. A man angrily approached me, no photos! Mustafa had warned us not to photograph faces of rock throwers because later Israel might identify and prosecute them. But distance photos of soldiers? Problems with this? Thought I: this guy’s an ass hole. I’ll defy him at every turn. Not long after this altercation I spotted a woman on the ground, gassed, others attending to her. I tried to photograph this. The same guy grabbed my camera. Luckily Mustafa was nearby and intervened. Then this mini saga concluded when I observed a man on the ground, thought back to what Mustafa had told us that if hurt, fall to the ground and someone will help you. I photographed him lying there. Turned out he was the guy who’d stopped me from photographing. No one came to his assistance.

I plan to tell the students about the Lakota warrior society, maybe called the Buffalo Society, which comprised older men, respected warriors, whose main job was to moderate and direct the younger men. Otherwise, if left alone, their youthful boundless courage would possibly cause needless injury to themselves and their tribe.

Mustafa tear gassed

LINKS

Al Masara blog with photos: Al Masara: Boys with signs, soldiers with machine guns

“16 injured at protest at Ofer prison,” February 12, 2012
Popular Struggle Coordination Committee for Alternative Information Center

“Clashes in front of Ofer prison during demonstration for Khader Adnan,” with photos, February 21, 2012

“Hunger-striking detainees sign deal with prison authority“

“Time for a Change!“ Nakba message from Mazin Qumsiyeh

“Edward Said Accused of Stoning in South Lebanon,” by Sunnie Kim, July 19, 2000

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With an Open Heart: photos & stories from Palestine & Israel: May Day in Tulkarem

Excerpts from my journal as I examine and portray the troubles in the Levant

PHOTOS

May 2, 2012, Wednesday, Jenin refugee camp, guest house in the Freedom Theater

A much more orderly day yesterday for teaching: in the morning we headed for Tulkarem to photograph a demonstration about prisoners’ rights and a street sweeping event to illustrate need and motivation. With the 4 girls in the workshop, Mustafa, and Ahmed, and about 25 energetic young men, we boarded 2 large buses in Jenin and drove 1 hour or so to this city near the Green Line and Apartheid Wall. The bus swayed and bumped along often narrow winding roads. Two of the girls vomited on the way, after calmly asking the driver for plastic bags (which reminded me that M always carries a bag on planes for that purpose), and finding a seat in the back of our nearly empty bus to deposit the remains of their morning meals.

The first girl arrived at the theater, our designated meeting place, 30 minutes late. Others drifted in. Constant calls between Jonatan, the theater’s managing director, and me. Serveece (shared taxi) to the bus station, can’t find the bus, more calls, meanwhile I suggested they begin photographing at the station. D suggested the theme of workers. I began as a role model. We found the bus outside the Jenin Cinema (built in 2010, after my last journey here in 2009). And then on the bus I suggested they could photograph from the bus if they preset the camera. They all tried this. I might show them my Jordan Valley photo set which is partly from the car.

Mustafa

In Tulkarem we joined hundreds of other strongly motivated people from places like Tubas, Nablus, and even Nazareth. I might have easily been the oldest youth among them and some of the girls among the youngest. Another comedy, but this time not of errors. Early in the event as we marched to the speech site, I noticed the girls held back, did not join the throng, remained together, did little with their cameras. I exhorted them: size up the scene, move, get in there, get close, YALLA! With negligible results. So I went to Mustafa and said, with my hands on his shoulders, Mustafa, I need your help! He looked alarmed. Perhaps he thought I was in danger or ill. The girls are doing very little photography. They need encouragement. Could you please speak to them? He railed at them to get going, YALLA! And they did. At the end of our fatiguing, nearly all-day journey, I praised them all, said (exaggerating) you all did so well, I look forward to working more with you.

Freedom Theater photographic workshop in action

Playing with Mustafa’s hair

It was May Day in Palestine, an occasion to honor the incarcerated and demand better prison conditions. Prisoners’ rights is a main Palestinian theme, has been since and before my arrival 6 weeks ago. More than half the prisoners are on hunger strike. It’s been effective. Israel released 2 recently who’d struck, a woman exiled to Gaza for 3 years and a man. Their cases were widely publicized. Some 5000 remain in prison, about 300 in administrative detention, which means no charges, no court appearance, held merely at the whim of the Israeli government, often indefinitely. Apartheid South Africa had a nearly identical policy.

Add to that torture, isolation, no legal consultant, and the conditions become unbearable. As someone said, we have only our bodies for protest.

The second strand yesterday was the youth-led city cleanup. This was highly photographable. Brooms and shovels and plastic trash bags. Plus zeal. We paraded thru the city, including the souk (market), and swept up. What a dramatic event this was. When we assembled for a group portrait and everyone held their “weapons of choice,” brooms and shovels, high in the air, I thought, this could have also been young women and men with AK-47 automatic rifles.

Click image for enlargement

One might argue: where’s the resistance to occupation in cleaning up the city? Which is a good question. None, directly. Perhaps a distraction. Or perhaps a rallying point for later, more political work. Somewhat equivalent to the Popular Achievement Program run by the Quaker Palestine Youth Program of the American Friends Service Committee.

Now what next steps for the photo workshop? Most likely the usual next steps for photography: download, select, organize, alter and enhance, organize again, and present. Begin that today. I phoned Jonatan while on the bus to Jenin and asked for computers. We will have 2 Macs to work with today [didn’t happen, will eventually], plus my laptop and a projector for demos. I’m not sure how interested they will be in this post production work. Previous teachers simply gathered the camera memory cards after students used the cameras and did all the follow-up. D, one of my lead students who plans to study photography in NYC, told me she wants to learn these steps. The high school group seems well launched. We are jelling. A structure is forming.

I’m not so sure about the other group, the morning section of theater employees for capacity building. What to do today to build momentum? A project, plus the list of photos Johanna suggested for archive building. Perhaps that could be the spine of that section. [Indeed, that’s what’s happening, a blessed coalescence.]

D is 16 yrs old, enters high school next year, told me she has a scholarship to study photography in NYC, might have applied as an exchange student, and every summer visits her sister in Harrisburg Penn. Her sister visits here this summer. D has many photos in the kids’ magazine, might wish to become a photographer. She translates for me, and seems somewhat glum in demeanor. As if frustrated.

Jonatan has been crucial to whatever success we salvage from this chaotic environment. He supervised getting everyone to the bus on time yesterday, and all the infrastructure, and constantly advises me on the intricacies of life at the theater and in the camp. No easy matter. By comparison photographing for the Palestine News Network in Bethlehem and the American Friends Service Committee in Ramallah, my 2 previous assignments, was a breeze. I look forward to my next volunteer work with Friends of the Earth Middle East about the excavation of a cistern and preservation of terraces. And then maybe a relaxing jaunt thru the Negev desert alone in a rented car before I leave for home on May 28.

Click graph for enlargement, courtesy of Addameer, Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association

LINKS

Palestinians Go Hungry to Make Their Voices Heard

Addameer, Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association

Jenin Freedom Theater

The governor of Tulkarem Talal Dweikat was appointed governor of Jenin replacing Qaddura Musa who died Wednesday of a heart attack, May 5, 2012

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With an Open Heart: photos & stories from Palestine & Israel: Musa Al Shaer & his family in Tuqu

Excerpts from my journal as I examine and portray the troubles in the Levant

Musa Al Shaer views his photos from the day’s photo session in the village of Al Masara

Several general impressions of my photographic colleague Musa al Shaer: he is a generous, hospitable man. He invited me to meet his family in Tuqu’, southeast of Bethlehem by about 12 kilometers, and eat with them. He bought the lipstick I plan to give M back home. He drove me to my home in Beit Sahour. He allowed me to photograph him as he surveyed his day’s photographs from the Al Masara demonstration we both photographed, and he showed me many of his photos on-line. He established and runs a charitable society in his village. He also shared intimately that finances are tight with 3 daughters in university (Birzeit, Bethlehem, Jenin), one about to enter university (Nadeen in the States), and 2 boys growing up. He would like to immigrate to the USA, he entered a lottery for which he paid money but lost.

At dinner, the exquisite Palestinian main course delicacy, maklube, that his wife had made, we discussed my query about checking the camera monitor during a photographic session. I launched the topic gingerly by asking, when did you begin work with Agence France-Press (AFP)?

1989.

That would be film days?

Yes. I shifted to digital around 2001.

And now about looking at the monitor. Doesn’t this tend to draw the photographer out of the scene?

Maybe but it also draws the photographer into the scene by showing what has been accomplished so far. I seek something about the event to show, something that stands for the whole [synecdoche], and I check to see if I’ve achieved it.

Ok, I said, that’s valid. That’s one way to work. I prefer something slower, allowing for gestation. And I used the example of his wife with a fetus trying to rush the delivery. That can’t happen (except for a Caesarian section, a procedure that is growing in popularity but that some believe is risky and needless, part of the rushed times). Ditto for the photograph. Or so I believe, mystically.

So my 3 arguments, not all used in this discussion, against incessant monitor checks are 1. distraction, 2. little developing awareness of what the camera sees, that is, anticipation, most useful for wild mind photography which I practice much of the time, and 3. this mystical concept of gestation, that the photos need time to evolve.

I felt heard, understood, and not a troubling thorn.

Two daughters and their older brother then took me for a little tour of their house and grounds. They wanted to show me some of their neighbors, the settlers in Tekoa, a name similar to the name of village. I photographed the children; buds of olives and lemons and prickly pear cactus; the settlement; and the monumental Roman mounded palace fortification, Herodion, in the distance.  (None of the siblings had ever visited. They explained, even tho Herodion is in the West Bank we can’t enter unless we’re with international guests, an unwritten law—no Palestinians allowed)

As we entered the village I made a short video to send to my sister who knows the family’s daughter, Nadeen, in high school in Juneau Alaska on an exchange program. And from the roof of the family home we could view the Dead Sea and Jordan.

Before this festive meeting Musa and I had photographed a non-violent demonstration against the wall and land confiscation in the village of Al Masara. So when I arrived home after the family visit I checked my photos (linked below) from the demo and asked myself, any better or worse than Musa’s? I’d say a little worse, mainly because of my relative inexperience. Or I might be wrong, some might be worth showing. The close-up portraits of soldiers and the panoramic of the soldier line. Maybe a few of the boys. Boys were the most impressive elements to me, along with some speeches, especially the one by Mahmoud, and also the restraint and apparent good will of the military. My theme with this photo set was boys with signs and men with guns.

Prickly pear cactus (edible)

Olive buds

Lemon flowers

Herodion with the Israeli settlement of Tokea in the foreground

LINKS

Tuqu’

Musa’s Agency France Press photos

My photos from Al Masara: With an Open Heart: photos & stories from Palestine & Israel: Al Marasa: Boys with signs, soldiers with machine guns

Tokea’s Voices

Khirbat Tuqu’ & the Silent World

Israeli Settlers Set Fire to Palestinian Agricultural Lands in the Village of Tequ’ in Bethlehem Governorate, August 2007

Welcome to Tokea

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With an Open Heart: photos & stories from Palestine & Israel: Al Masara: Boys with signs, soldiers with machine guns

Resistance in Al Masara slide show

Excerpts from my journal as I examine and portray the troubles in the Levant

As I settled in to what I thought might be a quiet day at the PNN office, only partially staffed because it was Friday, Musa Al Shaer, a photojournalist with Agency France Press (AFP), phoned to invite me to a demonstration against land confiscation at the village of Al Masara around 1 pm, followed by lunch with his family at his home in the village of Tuqu. Musa is the father of N who is currently in her third year of high school in Juneau Alaska. I spoke once with her by phone when she asked if she could show my Eyewitness Gaza movie at the school. And my sister E has been imploring me to meet N’s father, also the family if possible. Mission accomplished.

First the demonstration: the most peaceful, civil, respectful, well-organized, powerful demonstration I’ve attended and photographed yet in the territories. Since 2006 the village, threatened by the separation wall, land cut off and confiscated, has resisted with weekly non-violent demonstrations every Friday after prayer. Much like the village of Bil’in but without the publicity and apparently with less violence–at least this day (I learned later Israeli military has violently reacted to peaceful demonstrations in Al Masara). The scariest part of the day was speeding there from Bethlehem with 2 young men who constantly smoked, played music loud, and careened around curves and up and down hills in a reckless manner, which in the context of Palestine seems acceptable. No police, no management of the roads that I noticed, a complete road rebellion. Perhaps this is one form of exercising individual freedom. Or perhaps it is a comment on the wish to live.

Before the demonstration began I met Mahmoud Zwahre, one of the main leaders of the local popular resistance. He noticed my lapel pin showing Martin Luther King with the message Don’t let the dream die. He told me how much he admires King, and how King’s message is relevant to Palestinians now. When I asked him, who or what do you think killed King? he answered, the enemies of justice. Which is to say, the powers. We agreed that in the United States this comprised—and comprises now–elements of the government, corporations, media, universities, and the military. One might wonder if there is any connection between those enemies of justice thriving in the USA and partners in other parts of the world, including Israel, who gain much by fostering systematic oppression.

Mahmoud Zwahre

After about 15 minutes of waiting, when I had a chance to survey the maps and booklets about the region and the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, we set off to the site of the demo—near the junction of the main road and the village road where people, almost entirely male, would soon attempt to enter their agricultural land which is now behind the first manifestations of the separation barrier/apartheid wall. Every week, the same struggle, partially symbolic, mainly a plea for justice. And every week massive power blocks entrance–M16 machine guns provided by the USA, communication coordination in part sponsored by Motorola, and most importantly massive funding a gift of the taxpayer in the USA.

What does this two-hour military action cost the Israeli government and in turn the USA government and tax payers? How else might that money be spent? Similar questions to those asked in the USA about funding its huge military mega death machine. Euphemistically named defense, when in truth it is offense—and offensive.

The two men I rode with, part of another media organization, readied their video equipment for the confrontation. While waiting they chatted in Hebrew amiably with the Israeli commander, an affable fellow that I might have liked to have as a friend and neighbor. He smiled graciously and seemed genuinely warm-hearted. How would he act during the demo and why were the 3 so cheerily chatting together?

The march began, led by a few young boys with flags and signs, the shabab, that at other sites of conflict might be lying in wait with stones. No stones, not one. When I asked Musa about this later, he told me, the strong village leadership prevents stone throwing. Soldiers and police, distinguished by the tan uniforms and brown helmets of the soldiers and the blue uniforms worn by the police without helmets. The usual division of labor is for soldiers to prevent movement, beat back demonstrators, fire weapons, exercise crowd control generally, while the police arrest and detain. Most everyone wore armored vests, all carried automatic rifles, many carried radio equipment, a few used cameras, most carried sound grenades and tear gas canisters, a few had tear gas rifles, most looked under the age of 30, except for the commander who might have been in his mid 30s.

During the confrontation I made a series of soldier and police portraits, also a panoramic of the soldier line, and I concentrated on showing interactions between individuals, especially the boys lightly armed with signs and flags against the heavily armed soldiers with their gigantic rifles.

The commander

Despite one incident of potential violence when the commander pushed one of the boys back across a line I was truly inspired by the maturity and humanity of both parties, activists and military. Musa thought one reason for the quiet response of the military was the commander, who’d been many times here and seemed to have developed a friendly relationship with Palestinian leaders and media. Musa wasn’t sure how the leaders controlled the rock throwing but it had something to do with adult pressure throughout the village generally, an attitude that dissuaded rock throwing.

At the demo’s end we all walked slowly back toward the village, soldiers, police, kids, leaders, internationals, media, everyone. I could imagine us hand in hand walking to Mahmoud ’s home to accept his gracious invitation to share tea. He called out, have some tea with us.

LINKS

Interview with MAHMOUD ZWAHRE, the Mayor of Ma’sara, member of the al-Ma’sara Popular Committee, May 2009

Interviews from Al Masara resistance, June 2011

Al Masara Demonstration Faces Continued Aggression, February 2010

Al-Masara against the Wall and Settlements January 2009

Love & Soldiers, Wedding in Al-Masara by Sheryle Carlson (2010)

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