notes d'hiverses sur impressions d'ete

i remember that when we were kids, one thing teachers used to tell us about the discrimination policy against jews after 1933 was the compulsory notification of shops as owned by jews.

last week-end, we were in haifa, north of israel, to visit hector's family. They had to leave their village Iqrit in 48, and are now living in another village not very far from their original home. Embedded as I am in the occupation's issue here in the West Bank, I never really took time until now to think about the situation of the arabs living in Israel. This week-end was tough, i kinda discovered ( or at least been able to see it) an apartheid system towards arabs living in israel.

Speaking with one of the daughters, she told me, among others things, that many shops when they look for staff, make a notification ; " only accept people who accomplished the military service", in other words, only accept jews. this time it's the other way round.. some people are not welcome to work in some shops, go to some places, have to bear insults in the bus.

In Akka, a lovely city near Haifa, for the same amount of arabs and jews people, there are 3 schools for arabs and 150 for jews.. This girl is skinny, very small, often silent but when she starts to talk about the whole conflict, you find a very mature young woman, determined, very well informed, speaking arabic, hebrew, perfect english and determined to fight for the rights of arab people in israel, in spite of all the obstacles she will have to face.

i came back to bethlehem, mess at the checkpoint.. only one soldier for dozens of people, some start to complain but they stop soon, don't forget you don't have the power.. again i'm here, angry, sad. but now i cannot ignore that arabs suffer as well, even on the "good" side of the wall..

Israel succeeded in what is probably the smartest strategy ever; today palestinians are more divided than ever. Hamas against Fatah, palestinians against arab israelis; divide to better reign, here is the way. Israel obviously found it.

ce matin, nouvelle incursion a nablis, 6 hommes emportes alors qu'ils priaient.. on ne doutera pas une seconde que cette dame est egalement une terroriste de plus. autre bonne nouvelle, le congres americain vient d'approuver un nouveau package de 155 millions de dollars d'armes pour Israel. A + B =...

this shot was taken this mornin, in nablis. New israeli incursion in the city, they took 6 men in a mosque. No doubt about it, this lady is probably one more terrorist. Other good news people, The US congress approved today a 155 million dollars weapons package for Israel. the logical conclusion should be...

naplouse, une des plus anciennes cites habitees, aujourd'hui entourees de toutes parts par des colonies israeliennes. au sommet de chaque colline, des soldats qui surveillent tout, tirent a l'occasion. la vieille ville est magnifique, enchevetrement de petites ruelles qui sont aujourd'hui devenues le refuge ideal pour les brigades, d'ou des incursions israeliennes frequentes. il est dangereux pour des internationaux de s'y rendre d'ou une solide equipe de gardes du corps pour nous proteger..la fameuse "hostage joke" me tentait peu ce jour la paradoxalement.

hier soir, en regardant la tele, je reconnais le square central, les petites echoppes..mais cette fois, des jeeps israeliennes et des soldats qui embarquent 20 palestiniens, en plein jour, en toute impunite. d'ordinaire, seuls les habitants qui disposent d'une autorisation speciale peuvent quitter la ville, en traversant au prealable un certain nombre de checkpoints ( celui de naplouse est l'un des plus humiliants de cisjordanie selon les palestiniens). Hier, en represaille, les soldats ont refuse le passage de maniere systematique. j'aurai du mal a restituer ce que j'ai ressenti en traversant ce check-point, les hommes d'un cote, les femmes et les enfants de l'autre, des barbeles partout, des portiques et une tension oppressante, comme si tout pouvait deraper en une seconde, ce qui est malheureusement le cas.