A Wedding in Ni'lin

We held a workshop in Jenin today on women's representation and participation in the Palestinian media.  But what I want to tell you about is that one member of our staff was not able to make it to the workshop.  Her sister-in-law was getting married yesterday in the village of Ni'lin, near Ramallah.  Ni'lin is facing the construction of the wall.  It will cut them off from their land.  Land that now has the raw sewage from the nearby Jewish settlement running through it.  They are waging a legal battle against the construction but the building goes on regardless.  So they have been launching a creative non-violent battle as well.  They go out in the evening with noisemakers to remind the settlers on the hill above them that they are still alive and will continue to live even if the wall is constructed.  The response to these noise demonstrations has been the arrival of the Israeli army in the village at 2am with a noise machine, not to mention the response that happens during the protests - tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition.  On Friday, the day of the wedding, there was a protest scheduled.  Palestinians were going to be joined by Israeli and International solidarity activists. Because of this the Israeli army put a curfew on the village. Nobody was allowed in or out and movements were limited within the village as well because it is divided into two halves by an army checkpoint. 

This gets me back to my co-worker.  She had to call and tell us that she wouldn't be able to make it to the workshop because she was stuck in Ni'lin.  The wedding was a somber affair as the bride was not able to make it to Ramallah to get her hair and makeup done and many of the guests were not able to arrive.  Not to mention the tear gas and ammunition in the air due to the fact that despite the curfew, and the inability of Israeli and International activists to join them, the village held one of their largest protests to date.  600 villagers participated.  The Israeli military responded.  24 people were injured, 3 houses were damaged, 4 Israeli activists and one news reporter were arrested for being present.  Ambulances carrying the wounded were not allowed to leave the village.  There were further plans for the residents of Ni'lin, joined by others, to repave one of their roads that was torn up by a bulldozer but I do not know if that is taking place tonight.  If the village stays under curfew, with people unable to go to work, visit hospitals, friends, and family and just live, then there will be a march on Ni'lin starting in a nearby village.  

I am writing this because it is important to know that non-violent protests and demonstrations are being held in towns and villages across the West Bank every week.  And I am telling you about my co-worker because I think people forget that this is a place where people just like you live just like you do.  They have weddings and the bride makes plans for her hair on this big day.  

I am also writing about this because people have been asking me about the attack in Jerusalem a few days ago. It is tragic for family members.  But I just don't think people realize that there are attacks every week that are much closer to me.  And they are not just at protests.  They are the child shot in Hebron and the 2 people shot the next day as they walked in his funeral procession.  They are the Palestinian shepherds that are run over by Israeli settlers' cars as they walk their flocks on the side of the road.  And of course the targeted assassinations. I know that a man taking control of a bulldozer and plowing it into cars right in front of news cameras is quite dramatic and terrifying.  But the systematic violence of the Israeli army and settlers in the West Bank, much of which is not caught on camera because of the restrictions placed on journalists and human rights monitors, is much more terrifying to me.