A Guide
Our delegation went to the Aida refugee camp today and met a very bright and strong minded 27-year old Palestinian man who has lived there his entire life. I had been in the same camp 10 years ago and have carried its realities in my heart ever since. This young man gave a refresher course and update on what it’s like to live in captivity like this.
He took us up to the rooftop of a building that overlooked the camp. From there we could see the apartheid wall surrounding the camp, the 7 observation/gun towers, the worn out streets and buildings, the density of all the people shoved into this small space, the water tanks on the roof (many of which have been shot full of holes by Israeli snipers for sport). It’s a sobering and heartbreaking site.
He showed us where a child had been shot in the street below for no reason by a sniper in one of those damned towers. The new AI gun turret on top of one of the towers. The military base right next to the tower. Tear gas canisters - Aida is the most tear gassed place in the world, he said.
He talked about Israeli theft, from the original Nakba all the way to the present day. The nearby presumed tomb of Rachel, a holy site for all three Abrahamic religions, now taken for Judaism only. The water - Israel now controls 88% of the water in Palestine and then sells it back to Palestinians. The olive trees on the outside of the wall taken by the hostile settlers living on the hill right next to them. The homes once owned by his ancestors. The freedom to go to their beloved Jerusalem or to the Mediterranean Sea. Their children’s sense of safety and well being.
One thing he says Palestinians are determined not to have stolen is their sense of oneness with each other. He says Israel inflicts suffering in different ways in different Palestinian communities, builds the walls of separation, has over 900 checkpoints in the West Bank, has propped up different authorities - all in order to divide Palestinians from each other, to have them focus only on their own troubles in their own locales.
But Palestinians have not succumbed to this divide and conquer regimen, he says. They see each other as one people. Gazans who have arrived in Bethlehem are given refuge and even jobs. Blankets have been sent from Aida to Jenin, which has been attacked in much the same way as Gaza has. He says: “When you hurt one part of our body, you hurt the whole body.” He characterizes the ongoing Nakba as a war against the Palestinian collective identity.
He says Palestinians have something stronger than hope. It is an abiding faith that this will end. He said: “The land knows who its people are and it’s us, not the settlers.”
This man was a guide for more than just what meets the eye in the Aida refugee camp.