A Day to Jenin

In the shared taxi, I sit and look out of the windows. We leave bustling Ramallah and curve through the village of Serda and then Birzeit, passing by the lovely campus of Birzeit U. There's one checkpoint, and we are waived through; they'll check us when we come back. I noticed the soldiers gun isn't trained on the car and passengers. Normally it is. We drive down a hill since the checkpoint blocks the historical road, barring any Palestinian use of the traditional route. We enter a settler road, only are we allowed its use until the "new" Palestinian road is constructed. Hill top after hill top there are settlements: red tile roofs, tract housing closely built, fencing around the "borders"--illegal and threatening. We count one, two, three, four, five. I notice outposts. Six, seven, eight. Outposts are the beginning of settlements; they are a few trailers on a hill top, claiming the land. Then the Israeli gov't sends out the electric guys and you see posts with electrical wiring surrounding the trailers. This signals official condoning of the outpost. Nine, ten settlements. And I'm sick of counting because there are hundreds. What I love about Jenin District is that there are no settlements. The land is beautiful there. Farming land with Palestinian villages and no smell of foul sewage like in the Palestinian villages at the foot of the settlements. My friend tells me there were four settlements but after the Israeli Military massacred refugees in Jenin Camp, they were afraid of Jenin's grief and they removed their settlements, relocating the settlers elsewhere in the West Bank.

Just for kicks, watch this video about the Jenin Freedom Theatre. Just click on the video at the bottom about the Trip to Bethlehem. I think it's really useful to hear refugee kids talking like this. Jenin may be a site of promise after all!