Greetings from the House of Fair Trade Newsletter #7

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Written by Andrew Pappone Andrew Pappone

Published: 12 February 2008 12 February 2008

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Dear Friends and Supporters,

About three weeks ago, four university students from France arrived at the PFTA office as part of a year-long research project on olive oil producing countries in the Mediterranean.  Coincidentally, Nasser Abufarha, the director of PFTA was scheduled to attend and give a presentation at a fair trade fair in France about two weeks after their arrival.  To facilitate communication with fair attendees, Nasser asked one of the students, Jean, to accompany him on the trip.  

After the fair, Jean attempted to return to Palestine the day before Nasser and flew to Amman and arrived at the Jordanian border expecting a routine baggage check and passport stamp.  He had been in both Palestine and Israel before (just five days earlier) and had had no problems entering, exiting, or living in the area.  All of Palestine's borders are controlled by Israel, which means that even if someone enters and exits Palestine through the West Bank or Gaza, they receive an Israeli passport stamp, and a taste of a ferocious Israeli border security program.  So, Jean, who had no attention of ever returning to Israel still had to pass through an "Israeli border" to go to Jericho and catch a bus to Jenin (where he left the bulk of his belongings and his three friends).  Israel wanted to know why a French citizen had come to Israel, left for five days to Jordan, and wanted to return.  Jean replied that he had gone home to France via Jordan to visit family and was now "returning to Jenin in Palestine."  Woops!  According to Israel, there is no Palestine, it simply does not exist, and it is incredibly irritating to border guards to hear tourists use the term "Palestine" or "Palestinian" thus implying a claim to the land that is not Zionist in nature.

The border guards wanted to know why Jean wanted to visit Jenin and what he was doing there.  They also tried to make very clear to him their morally reprehensible view that, "Jenin is in Israel, there is no Palestine."  In the end, Jean received a beautiful new red stamp in his passport that read "ENTRY DENIED", and walked back to Jordan.  

The next day, Jean tried again, this time with Nasser who had, in the meantime, returned to Jordan from France.  Nasser went to both the Israeli embassy in Jordan and the border crossing with Jean.  At the border, he explained what was going on, what Jean was doing (which he described as touring the Mediterranean), and that he was finished in Jenin and was returning to Jerusalem to meet his friends.  Therefore, there would be no reason to deny him entry, he had no nefarious intentions, and by preventing him entry, Israel would be hurting only its own image.  The border guard apologized to both of them, claimed there had been a misunderstanding and informed them that Jean would be admitted in very little time, after they received clearance.  Nasser was told to leave the area and Jean was told to wait.  By the time Nasser got into a taxi on the other side of the bridge, Jean was on the phone telling him that the Israeli Ministry of Defense had deemed him, "a threat to the State of Israel", that he had received another beautiful red stamp, and that he was returning to Jordan.  Jean will not be allowed to enter Israel or Palestine for the next ten years.  Ehud Barak (the Israeli Minister of Defense) seems like he should have better things to do.

This story is interesting because it brings to light the quasi-official policy of keeping Palestine closed to tourists, strengthening the isolating hold Israel maintains on its population.  I've never had the courage (or foolhardiness) to tell Israeli border guards my real plan when entering the area.  I suppose that's a good thing, because if I had, I would have been denied the chance to write my thesis by Israel and later would have been denied the chance to visit friends by Israel.  The story also brings up the issue of who owns this land, and Israel's willingness to have its official representatives (ie border guards) openly state that there is no such thing as Palestine.  It feels like we're back in the era of Golda Meir, who, during her time as Prime Minister, declared that there was "no such thing as Palestinians…they simply did not exist," thus ridding Israel of responsibility for the narrative of al-nakba, the event in 1948 when 800,000 Palestinians fled their homes in terror and, until this day, despite UN resolutions to the contrary, have never been allowed to return or receive compensation.

Sometimes, Israel really does make it seem like they own the land.  They certainly do set up checkpoints all over the place, drive their Jeeps and Hummers into villages, walk around the surrounding farm fields in military formation and, in the past few days, have blocked every single inter-city road in the West Bank, completely isolating regions from each other.  But then you see who Palestine really belongs to when you get in a shared taxi and the driver goes around a dirt roadblock by driving through a field, when a father tells you of his family's 600 year history in a certain village, and when a farmer tells the soldiers, "Even if you shoot me, I will still pick my olives."  Palestine is under occupation, but it is certainly still Palestine and the determined people who live here are Palestinian.

Salaam,
Andrew Pappone


The House of Fair Trade Newsletter is a weekly email newsletter sent from the offices of the Palestine Fair Trade Association in Jenin, Palestine with stories and experiences from the ground in Palestine.  You are receiving this email because you or someone you know asked me to put you on the list.  If you do not wish to receive these updates, please let me know.  If you know of anyone who would like to subscribe to this email list, please have them email me with the word "subscribe".   I welcome any questions or comments.
For past issues please contact me or visit auphr.org.

The views expressed in this newsletter are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Palestine Fair Trade Association.

Israel plans new settlement homes

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Written by BBC NEWS BBC NEWS

Published: 12 February 2008 12 February 2008

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[So where is Bush's grand peace plan ?]

Israeli housing minister Zeev Boim says tenders will soon be issued for construction of more than 1,000 new homes for Jews in East Jerusalem.

Israel annexed the area in 1967 and has continued settlement activity despite a recent freeze on settlements on other occupied territory in the West Bank.

The international community regards such building as illegal. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as their capital.

Read more: Israel plans new settlement homes

March 15th: Portland Rally and March

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Written by AUPHR AUPHR

Published: 12 February 2008 12 February 2008

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World Without War: A Mobilization for Resistance and Hope (10 am - 6 pm)
Stop the War, Bring the Troops Home NOW (Rally & March: 2 pm)
South Park Blocks, SW Madison St & SW Park Ave

Come visit AUPHR at the Palestine Tent!

In addition to a protest march to mark five years since the U.S. invasion of Iraq and call for the war and occupation to end, we are planning activities to build a stronger peace movement around the vision of a world without war.

All day, presentations, exhibits, performances and other activities will take place in large tents, to educate the public and ourselves about the wider meanings of the war that connect us and should bring us together to end it.

A diverse and exciting array of musicians will perform for peace and unity.

This program is more ambitious than past anti-war protests, and more expensive. We need your active support. Donate now to support a World Without War!

Read more: March 15th: Portland Rally and March

Greetings from the House of Fair Trade Newsletter #6

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Written by Andrew Pappone Andrew Pappone

Published: 05 February 2008 05 February 2008

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Dear Friends and Supporters,

A few days ago, the Israeli Army came to the office building housing the Palestine Fair Trade Association and demolished an adjacent store.  At about 7pm on Friday, February 2, the IDF came to Jenin City Center with several Jeeps and Hummers, pulled up outside the building and proceeded to take the store apart.  They ripped down the door, smashed windows on the adjoining grocery store, and ripped down the awning on most of the building.  By the time I got to the office the next day, the demolished store was empty, with nothing but a broken door, toilet, and other debris scattered on the floor.  No one here knows exactly what the soldiers were allegedly looking for, or if they found whatever it was, but everyone is in pretty unanimous agreement that no matter what they were hoping to find, it wasn't on the awning they ripped down, or in the toilet pipe they ripped up, or in the glass of the windows they smashed.

In other news, Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinians in a nearby village yesterday.

Read more: Greetings from the House of Fair Trade Newsletter #6