On The Ground In Palestine, Part 2

from Gaza. I am in the West Bank. I am so close, but you have to go a long way over a long there are a lot of like logistical hurdles to get there, just kind of like any kind of travel in the West Bank or any kind of

occupied space. But basically my journey looked like leaving Masafriata, the area of villages in the south hibern Hills or southern West Bank, going north to Ramala, crossing into Kouds and then hanging out and then taking and I got to be in the Goods for e which was amazing to see that, But then hopping on a bus and riding all the way down to a Lats like a kind of a horrible tourist town at the southern end of forty eight. Then cut a bus into Tapa on

the Egyptian side in Sinai. Crossing took forever, so I spent basically twelve hours overnight circuling the Sinai, which wasn't my original plan, it is what happened. And then I went to Cairo, and I spent some time in Cairo. I got there a little bit early. Our entry was delayed, so I ended up having some basic chirot to do compass, which was fine and good, and then went in with a UN convoy, which is really the only way that

you can go in crossing the northern Sinai. There's a lot of checks with Egyptian officials out then you get to the border, go through a bunch of checks with Egyptian officials, then you cross over have a comparatively fewer

but still plenty checks with gasand officials. I also almost cried like looking at a Palaestinian seal crossing in because I was like getting a stamp in my passport the Palestinian authority in Gaza, because I was like, I've never like it's always every court of entry into Palestine is otherwise controlled by the Israelis. This is like the only

one that is under Palestinian control. Even if it's like Palestinian control in a giant open air prison, it's like still something under And then we're inside and I've been working and you know, driving in cars and movement is pretty limited for security reasons. The murdering of the World Central Kitchen workers that happened not long before I came, when like basically a targeted drones strike took out three

vehicles and six or seven people. Still very unclear reasons, but it was not an accident, maybe not directed from the top, but very scary. So there's a lot of controlled movements. So basically you have to kind of a preapproved plan for where you're going to go and what

you're going to do when you're going to move. But yeah, there's a lot of there's for a number of international aid workers here right now, and I'm really privileged to work with mostly Palestinian ones, but a few good internationals too.

but most of my conversations are with healthcare workers. I do speak a little bit of Arabic, but not at like a deep conversational level, like enough to do some basic assessments and pleasantries and you know, meet my needs. A lot of people are aware and are feeling hopeful in this moment with the negotiations, in part because of

the international pressure. It's interesting a lot. I feel like there's a lot more hopefulness in Gaza than I've experienced just talking with people that I experienced in the West Bank. And I think that partly that might be the moment, but also I think it's partly sometimes in In fact, they noticed in the West Bank too, where it's like it is horrible and horrifying and terrifying to be in the eye of the storm or to be in the storm, but it's like you're in it and you don't have

to imagine it elsewhere, if that makes sense. When that all started, like I tried to plug in as best as I could with you know, protest movements around the States, and as I'm sure a lot of people, maybe you and a lot of people might be listening, could like resonate with. It felt very like exciting to have that much motivation or that many people caring about Palestine, but

also really inadequate and really hopeless. Just feel like you're throwing yourself against a wall and nothing's going to change, and feels are really hopeless. And in the West Bank I had Palestinian activists say, I think this has proven that no protest movements do anything, but like in this moment and in this location, I don't hear that, and

I don't believe that that's the case. Like I think that protest movements have a limited capacity to change those people, like the the policies and just those people in power that said, it's so little, so late as far as like any kind of political change in the West and in the US and in Europe. Like today, I visited a cemetery that was built by like a guy and his volunteers he worked with since October seventh, and like

visited the site of the remains of his family. What remains were covered and of like another person's remains of her family, and just like a field of some quality and a lot of just like pavers, stones just thrown down with names written on them in the sand, surrounded by tent encampments, with children fighting to water the plants in order to get a couple of shekels their nation. Like it also really really sucks, and the fact that it's gotten to this point is unimaginably horrific.

such as shopnels, such as conclassifores, such as gunshots. I've seen all of those, but that has not been the majority of what I have seen. The majority of what I have seen is children who do not have access to their anti seasure medications. So the child comes in and what's called satasphoaloptigus, which is a teacher that lasts longer than thirty minutes, and it's gotten to a point where it's self reinforcing and it can't be stopped easily, and it's often and it can be easily fail even

with critical care resources. They have seen children whose parents had to a different form of a medication and with a different dosing and things, and that got confusing because they were either like find someone who's bringing in medication, or like find it from another place and it's not written in Arabic and it's not clear, and so they

end up getting a wrong dose. It's like that on the shot is now the only provider of dialysis in there, there's another hospital that provides, but everywhere is so overly, there's way too many people drawing on those resources that they're having to run people shorter periods of time, more

spread out schedule, so people get critically sick. It's like a lack of clean water because oft of infrastructure, because of mass displacement, because of a extended period where in the Israelis were and the Egyptians were preventing flow of clean water resources into Gaza. So children, adults are getting hepatitis, a turning yellow with jaundice, having persistin diarrhea, dehydration, incredibly high rates of septic shock, and like severe systemic infection

due to all kinds of untreated conditions. Because it's so much work and so dangerous for people to access care, let alone just live that people put things off till they're literally dying. It's not a stable situation, but it's like a tenuously like I said, hanging on my thread situation.

And again I just I am. I am terrified of what will happen if then everybody has to relocate again, because it's going to be like people not going back to square one it'll be going, you know, backward in the whole new depths of pain and suffering, because like if they're pushed out of Raupa to han Uness, it'll be to an already devastated city with now tent cities and people trying to rebuild a hospital where there is no water infrastructure.

I am here. And during like the first few months since the seventh of October, Jews took up a lot of space in protest movements, and I think for good reason, because frankly, white supremacy and time with sami Arab Antipolsinian bias and people not knowing what to think or do about Palestine, and so having Voicesjewish Americans saying like, no, actually, this is bad, Like you can all see that and just go ahead and acknowledge it's bad and we can

move forward. I think is important that said. I think that the voices of Jewish people the voices of white people. Not all Jews are white, of course, but many Jews experienced whiteness and do not generally experience Islamophobia or anti Arabias, although planet some.

felt like lighting. There's been several times that people have asked me my faith and I've answered I'm Jewish, and some of them were interested or excited, some of them were surprised or confused, most who were like, yeah, no problem. And obviously, and nobody has said anything negative about me for that, or for being American for that matter. My experience of Palestinians continues to be of the most understanding, welcoming and people in hospitable people and people most capable

of holding complexity. People here obviously are not fans of the US, not fans in the State of Israel, not fans of most of their experience of Jews, but have no problem with people from the US or people who are Jewish. And that much is my experience in the last Bank. So there's that I've been offered people's foods so many times, and I consistently decline, except for when I've just fed them and I eat something and then I'm like, that's enough, thank you. I don't know, it's

a really magical place. It's a really hard place to be, and I'm grateful I get to be here.

Palestinians have to bear that burden of maintaining that kind of optimism and resilience and all that kind of stuff in the face of all the horrors that they've experienced, like nobody should have to experience that.

But I think that people continuing to show up and not letting it rest, not letting that energy die, not letting this administration feel like anyone's forgotten about the ways that they failed. Also, BDS, please learn about BOYCOPDA investment and instinction. The Israeli government also really is scared of that. They view it as terrorism to do more of it. Not saying that people should do terrorism, but do BDS, which is not terrorism. Decidedly no.

get so much on a high horse about colonialism. Also learn about like the colonial history and reality of North America and try to work towards like supporting nentip clinial struggle there, because to me feels like the utmost of hypocrisy to be like I know and the last ongoing occupation in the world and ignore the occupation that you might be living on and benefit from. Personally, I think

that I think it insulates. I think it does important work towards BILLY and building international solidarity and building anti colonial resistance around the world. To talk about the interconnection between different kinds of colonialism and anti colonial struggle, and it also insulates our movements against claims of anti Semitism and other things to be like, no, it's nothing special

about the Israeli state. Israeli state is a really bad example of settler colonialism, as is the United States, as is Canada, and be able to talk about all of those things as different sides of the same kinds of like genocidal systems.

and ate and got into trouble, everything has gone. And thirty some thousand murdered, sixty some thousand injured does not represent any part of anywhere near the majority of the horror that people are experiencing. But I think it's worthwhile remembering that and also that like numbers are not at all representative, and also just thought like some people are political here, some people are critical, most of them They'll give you damn. I just want to live.