Suheir Hammad in Palestine: poetry

24 May, 2009 — peoplesgeography

pal_logoPalestinian-American artist Suheir Hammad, previously featured, is currently appearing at the second Palestine Festival of Literature, which as you may recall the zionist entity has tried to disrupt and shut down.

Thanks to Marcy Newman, who is in attendance and has a great write-up along with audio she’s recorded of Suheir’s always excellent spoken-word performances, we have more of this wonderful poetry as performed in Palestine.

Here are four of Suheir’s poetry readings at the Festival, the first three in English and the fourth short poem mostly in Arabic, as well as a video clip. Crossposted at PULSE.

Gaza poems (8.23)

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Palestine, People, Poetry. Tags: , . Leave a Comment »

Shooting Back: Israeli occupation filmed by 100 Palestinian cameras

4 August, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont recently filed this report on a B’Tselem initiative to equip 100 Palestinians with small video cameras to film Israeli settler and IDF abuses (thanks Homey). The story also made it to MSNBC (watch here: 2 mins 40).

Peter Beaumont speaks to Palestinians filming abuse from settlers and Israeli armed forces as part of a remarkable project called Shooting Back (5:45)

Meanwhile, more Palestinian youngsters are being shot, two more fatally, in Ni’lin: Ahmed Moussa, aged 10 and Ahmad Amirah, aged 18, as IOF abuses continue in other areas.

Posted in Israel, Israel Watch, Palestine, People, Photography, Video, Violence. Tags: , , . 10 Comments »

“Are you Islamabad?”: A lighthearted look at stereotypes

29 July, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

Vox pops from Arab- and Iranian-Americans, from comedian Dean Obeidallah, Negin Farsad and friends (3.38).

Posted in Arab, Comedy, Humor, Humour, Islam, Middle East, People, USA, Video. Tags: , . 4 Comments »

Dr H. in the Holy Land VII: Hebron and the Christian Peacemaker Teams

27 July, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

Hebron is a town that lies to the south of Bethlehem in the West Bank. In Arabic it is known as Al Khalil. We went by bus and the drive from Bethlehem south was beautiful, a lot of arable land and the green vegetation was lush making a change from the arid scenery that marks the horizon elsewhere. Scattered amongst the hills there were settlements.

Hebron, Old City. Credit: Pharoah Berger

Hebron is full of hustle and bustle and in fact I was surprised to see it so lively. The last stop on the bus was Bab-iz-Zawieh. After getting off the bus we went to meet our guide for the day. Headed towards the old city, there were rows upon rows of closed metal doors – here it is common that the shops in the old cities have often green or blue iron doors that come across the whole shop front. As we walked towards the old city and the further in we went, more and more shops were bolted and closed, I wondered how long they had been closed for – months, years? From the market area of where the bus has dropped us off it felt like we were walking into another world of destitution. People were delighted to see foreigners and always shouted out “Ahlan wa sahlan” or “welcome”. We were met by a man who despite his grey hair, walking stick and slightly stooped posture was as fit as a hare. He beamed at us clearly glad to see us and said follow me in an English accent. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Apartheid, Israel, Israel Watch, Occupation, Palestine, Peace education, People, Travel. Tags: , , , , , . 4 Comments »

Dr H. in the Holy Land VI: Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation

27 July, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

The hospital I am volunteering in gives me hope for this country, it is a symbol of a community working hard despite the daily hardships that they encounter in a land where the word “mam-noa” meaning “forbidden” is often said. Although a very small establishment, it is functional and serves the population here, people all over the West Bank come for their treatment. It is recognized primarily for its rehabilitation service, and people that I have met in Jerusalem speak highly of BASR having come here following strokes.

In addition, it has a brilliant ward for the rehabilitation of children. The children have neurological deficits as the result of cerebral palsy, road traffic accidents, congenital and unfortunately also trauma. The focus is on short term rehabilitation with physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy.

Most of the doctors have been trained abroad and they chose to come back to their country – a statement of their loyalty to the plight of their people. Of course without a doubt had they stayed abroad their life would be easier and more comfortable. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Apartheid, Children, Israel, Israel Watch, Medicine, Occupation, Palestine, People, Water. Tags: , . Leave a Comment »

Dr H. In The Holy Land V: Qalandia Check-Point

27 July, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

Qalandia check point is the main check point into Jerusalem from Ramallah. It is worse than I remember it to be. A humiliating example of every day life for the Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories, in fact I think that animals are often treated better than these people. I had met a guy in Ramallah, who was traveling back to Jerusalem and for this I was grateful. This meant that I did not have to go through the check point alone.

The road leading from Ramallah to Qalandia has the grey cement wall on your right hand side, decorated with graffiti: “CTRL+ALT+DEL, illegal wall, this wall must fall” and pictures of sorts. The ground is littered with rubbish and alongside lie large huge stone boulders – which I suspect were used previously to create land blocks (something that the Israelis often do when they want to close a road). Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Apartheid, Discrimination, Empire, War and Terror, Human Rights, Israel, Israel Watch, Occupation, Palestine, People. Tags: , . Leave a Comment »

Dr H in the Holy Land IV: Land

27 July, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

The battle here is about land… and it has always been. Last night Nicholas took us to his land or his family’s land, it’s called Al Makhror, and now lies on the other side of the checkpoint.

It’s beautiful, hilly and full of trees, the sun was setting in between the valley and the sky was blue. When you look to the left and up you can see the ugly slabs of grey concrete wall on the horizon, and when you look further up you can just about see the tree tops peering above the wall. In fact this wall separates Palestinian land on one side from Palestinian land on the other side.

“I want to come and live here”, Nicholas said.

“How? It’s just hills…. And nothing more?”

“It’s beautiful and it’s my land.”

Yes I agreed with him, it certainly was picturesque, you could feel the breeze at the back of your neck, see the olives trees across the landscape, a goatherd in the distance with his animals, and the sun setting in the middle of two mountains, creating a beautiful orange sky. It was quiet, in the distance to the left you could see Route 60 – the road that only Israelis could drive on. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Apartheid, Empire, War and Terror, Illegal settlements, Israel, Israel Watch, Palestine, People. Leave a Comment »

Dr H in the Holy Land III: Bethlehem

27 July, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

I feel suffocated here… Last week when I came, I kept hearing people talk about being in a “prison”, “animals in a cage”, time and time again. A week later I feel that I am beginning to understand what they mean.

Bethlehem is now being enclosed by the wall also known as a security fence. I can assure you that it certainly is no “fence” as you and I know the term. This fence is 8 metres high in some areas, and is made of solid concrete slabs lined next to each other. Every 200m there is a watch tower, which towers even higher than the 8 m, and has a circular room at the top with glass panels in all directions, where you can often see IOF (Israeli Occupation Force) soldiers sitting and watching. In other areas, the wall is reinforced with barbed wire – for extra security.

Israel states that this wall is a temporary measure, but there certainly seems nothing temporary about it. The wall is mainly built on Palestinian territory and does not follow the 1967 Green Line, which is meant to be the pre-occupation border. The perimeter of the Green Line is 320km in length, but the wall is projected to be more than 750km by the time it is completed. This is a result of the snaking in and out of the wall so that it can accommodate the illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory, therefore increasing the total perimeter. Read the rest of this entry »

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Dr H in the Holy Land II: Week One

27 July, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

Last Sunday, after my horrific arrival, I decided to go to church – the Nativity Church – and I went for Sunday mass. Nicholas, one of the security guards, took me there after finishing his night shift. He is Catholic and we went to the Church of St Catherine. They have 2 masses on a Sunday: an earlier one at 9 am and a later one at about 11 am. Despite this, I still expected the church to be filled; but I was surprised to see so many empty pews in what I presume is one of the holiest churches in the world. What perhaps stupidly surprised me even more was the fact that the mass was in Arabic! For some reason, I had always had this connection that in a mosque the spoken language was Arabic and in a church the spoken language should be generally English – naïve now I know.

Nonetheless it was interesting to try and make out some of the words in my pigeon Arabic. All hymns were in Arabic but the rhythm of the Lords’ Prayer was the same and I could still just about decipher what they were saying. It was mainly filled with Palestinian Christians who were dressed like westerners and tourists. Read the rest of this entry »

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Dr H in the Holy Land I: The Trauma of Entry

27 July, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

I am very pleased that Reclaiming Space will be joined by Dr H., a physician working in Palestine. Dr H will be writing regularly with direct dispatches and we are fortunate to be learning of the situation on the ground through her original pieces.  The good doctor prefers to be known simply as Dr H., or Doctora as she is often referred to. Here is our first installment.

- Ann

I am here in the Holy Land!! But getting through security was a traumatic experience at the airport… all my worries came true with the exception of being denied entry. I had coaching before I came to prepare me for what to expect…last time I was here I guess I was lucky and managed to whirl through security with few questions.

So I guess this email is mainly directed to people who are coming here soon so that they can be prepared for what to expect…. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Israel, Medicine, Palestine, People, Travel. Leave a Comment »
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