United Nonsense

I used to want to work for the United Nations and if pushed to it I would still have to say that I do believe in what the organisation tries to do – despite all its faults. But I just don’t think me sitting in that UN decaled car driving around Jerusalem or the West Bank is something I want to do anymore. I won’t get into the details of the why…or maybe I will, but I think their presence in WB is somewhat useless. The organisation has such high ideals but little muscle to make any of them a reality. When a country such as Sudan commits certain atrocities they have sanctions slapped down on them, at the least. Now, this wasn’t an easy task to do, granted, but Israel has been committing low-level abuses for decades and not a hint of sanctions.

During Ramadan in this year, I was present at the Gilo terminal in Bethlehem and both UNWRA and UNOCHA were there. But what surprised me was that these people stood on the Bethlehem side and stood…and stood. Perhaps there was a moment when they could help explain the rules to some of the people who were turned away from the checkpoint but could they assist in the matter – no. I was chatting to one of the UNWRA women there and she consistently complained that the people did not appreciate her being there. The Palestinian people have watched the wall been built and completed and watched the UN at the same time document it without making a change. I don’t blame them for having a complaint or two. This is all the more frightening when none of the non-local UN staff there had even seen the inside of the terminal and were unsure of how it worked.

UNOCHA is more of an enigma. Why is a humanitarian coordination office here in WB, one of the biggest deployments in the world, when this is not a humanitarian crisis? A humanitarian dignity crisis to be sure, but not an emergency crisis like say, Haiti. Why all the millions pumped into this observation? I am not the only one asking this question.

And furthermore, their staff are not allowed to be in WB after dark, nor are they allowed to be in certain parts of East Jerusalem after 23:00, for reasons of security. It is hardly imaginable that abuses of human rights are going to occur within suitable hours for the UN to be able to witness and document. I realize that these concerns are really for insurance purposes. But are you here to see or are you not?

If your role here is to merely document – make that clear. Do not make out like you are here to make things better and make the Israeli government do things differently. It is clear you have no such power.

Ah, this post could get out of hand. I will stop there. I don’t want to try and get into a analysis of the effectiveness of the UN in Israel. What I do find interesting however is that there are members of the Knesset and firm Israel supporters who moan about the effectiveness of the UN in Israel. Does that make sense to anyone? Of course the sense of that comments depends on which party of the Knesset you are a member of, but non-Knesset, pro-Israel supporters – what exactly do you want the UN to do? Punish you? Stop the workers getting upset at the terminals? Bizarre.

To cut this short, I lost a lot of respect for the UN during my time in the West Bank. I didn’t loose respect for international law but I do have my concerns for whether it matters if it can’t be enforced. Perhaps the UN works like this in all areas of the world in which it is needed. Only further explorations will tell that one.

Grrrrr……

Graff’ glance

Bet Sahour, outside Bethlehem. I have heard a nasty rumour that it may not be an original Banksy but it is definitely a Banksy stencil. Love it.

Wasted hands

Some special finger painting outside Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem. I am not sure why it is there or what is being said, but it fits the area and the mood of this little town.

Checkpoint video from Gilo

A video edited by a colleague of mine, Niina Karling, following the Ramadan Fridays during September 2008 at the Gilo checkpoint at Bethlehem. Perhaps have a look at some of the related videos that pop on YouTube to learn a little more. 

IDF takes on an empty house

We didn’t hear about it until days after the event. The Israeli army pulled up to the house one night in jeeps, hummers and a tank not far from the Church of Nativity, evacuated everyone from the building and let out a barrage of bullets and grenades and bombs, completely destroying the inside of the structure. It still stands but living there would be impossible.

The reason? They thought there was a wanted man, a member of Hamas, hiding in the house. He wasn’t there, there was no one in the house, they waited for hours for him to come out, it wasn’t even his house, but they destroyed it anyway. Neighbours reported hearing the vehicles and then explosions rocked the ground. The family that lived in the house now stay with relatives. They can’t return to their home, they can hardly start again.

We visited the site yesterday. Holes gaped in the ceiling, the kitchen was completely destroyed and shrapnel holes littered the walls. Rubber and foam left over from the furniture was splattered all around and glass cracked under your shoes. Shards of metal around the rooms had to be carefully navigated and the doors lay in splinters. Outside, the perimeter walls were fallen and the big pine tree was tattered but still standing.

Whatever the reason for the demolition, whether justified or not, it is clear that the Israeli army considers resistance to be futile. Dissent intolerable. Out of the front entrance lay a child play home on a glass littered carpet, still standing and seemingly undamaged. Resistance will continue.

Graff’ glance

Just inside Bethlehem, on the other side Rachel’s Tomb….that is, on the other side of the wall.

Graff’ glance

In Bethlehem, near Rachel’s Tomb and checkpoint 300

Ramadan Friday

Today was the second Friday of Ramadan. We arrived at the Bethlehem terminal at O-6-hundred and already the queue stretched and was disorderly and people were sweating from the exertion. We were surprised at the change from the first Friday of Ramadan – at least twice the number of people.

Let me explain briefly for those who may not be in the know before I get into the story. Ramadan is simply speaking the Muslim holy month recognized in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar (not always on the same date every year) and Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. It is especially important for the Muslims to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem, the third holiest site of Islam, during Ramadan. Hence many Palestinians attempt to get across the Bethlehem checkpoint from all over southern West Bank. The Israeli government is generally more lenient during this time and men and women of a certain age may pass the checkpoint without permits – more about that later and in other posts. OK – read more about Ramadan here because I’m not Muslim, nor an expert.

And so the story continues.

There were four of us there and we were on checkpoint monitoring duty. We split up. One in front of the cement barrier before the actual Separation Barrier, one at the metal detectors inside the terminal, one at the ID booths and one counting the number of Palestinians that are actually allowed through the terminal. I was supposed to be at the metal detectors but after getting through the first turnstile I was bounced, grabbed by the police and forced to go back to the Bethlehem side. They don’t much want foreign nationals inside the terminal. So back I went. There is only so much arguing one can do.

Once back beyond the cement barriers I saw that some United Nations officials had arrived. They were supposed to be there over an hour ago. The situation had deteriorated at all sections of the terminal and we needed help. The soldiers were getting hot and angry at the teaming masses of people and that mass was growing. I was afraid that the situation was going to turn violent if some kind of organized chaos wasn’t created. I wasn’t sure if the UN guys were going to help with that. And the people grew hot and the sun rose.

We were in a tight group with two UN officials, four of us, four foreigners and we stood out. We were a target for frustration. While people pushed and shoved and lost their shoes in the mass, we stood and chatted. “Who are the journalists here?!”, exclaimed one man. We feebly pointed to some by the wall…no journalists here. “See, see how they use propaganda!” he shouted referring to a soldier who had lifted a young boy above the pushing people and sat with him at the cement barrier. “While we suffer the media come and make it look like it is the Israeli’s who make things better”. It wasn’t a media stunt and the boy was handed to the soldier by his mother but the scene represented a deeper anger. We nodded in understanding and noticed others were lining up to be vocal.

One pushed in and shouted and spat in Arabic, counting our faults on his fingers. “You organizations come here. For six years you come here and write reports and nothing, nothing has changed! Why are you here? What good do you do?”. And I have to agree with him. We probably don’t do much good in the broader issue. But we are here now and we can help with particular problems now. We can help minimise the abuse and loss of dignity just by being here. The international community is watching. And this means sweet bugger all to his livelihood and children’s future.

Again, we nodded it off. We did understand and he was right, we weren’t fixing it. Probably the most widely reported and documented occupation in history and still it deteriorates. We write reports and take pictures and earn a salary and the arguments that all we do is make the occupation work better rings louder and louder. I will leave that argument for a later post but I renew my duty now, because it is this now in which people need me. As people suffer today, I can help to relieve that in anyway I can. So I interfere when I have to, help where I can, and take pictures when I want to. And in this time I hope that those with greater powers than me will fix it. I refuse to get frustrated like some of the UN personnel who complain that these people don’t appreciate them. If you think people don’t appreciate you, maybe you should work a little harder, arrive on time, and don’t leave before it’s over.

Prayer time is 11:45 and inside the terminal over 300 men were still waiting in the queue and outside the barrier. Those who did not even get past the first barrier kneel in prayer in the hot sun and far from their holy site. When you forcibly prevent people from practicing their religion you ask for trouble.

The third Friday of Ramadan is coming closer.

(Check out some more photos from checkpoints here)

Graff’ glance

As you walk along the Separation Barrier towards Checkpoint 300, aka Gilo, between Bethlehem and Jerusalem…a fitting piece.

Graff’ glance

On a thick, metal security door in the cement wall of Bethlehem.