SATURDAY 17th January was a really exciting day for the young Palestinians in CADFA’s Beyond the Checkpoints project. For the first time since summer 2023, we managed to get most of the group together in one place – that is, people from the four recent groups who had managed to meet in the UK but because of the state of the roads under occupation did not manage to meet the others in Palestine, and a fifth group who are coming to the UK in February.
We organised somewhere for them to be in Jericho – so in theory possible for people from both north and south to come on a day trip if they started early.
It was still very difficult – everyone started very early, but in Hebron, the group couldn’t get on the road till 7.30 as the Israelis held them all behind a checkpoint.
The group coming from Jenin and Nablus headed down towards the Jordan Valley, but the Israelis had closed the road at the Al Hamra checkpoint, and they had to go back to Nablus and round via Ramallah, taking three hours on the way. As one of the leaders wrote,
“This journey was more than just a way of getting from one place to another; it was a painful illustration of the daily suffering we endure.. patience is our constant companion as our reality restricts our most basic rights to movement and life.”
And Tamara driving from Jerusalem found it so difficult that she turned round and went home.
Later, on the way back, here was lots of worry about people from the north and south getting back safely – they did, but late. The Israelis had blocked the road to Beit Leed so the driver took a tricky road across farmland to get the children home.
In Jenin, the children and their families have been thrown out of their own homes in the refugee camp for over a year now, and the roads to the places they are staying are on difficult roads through various villages.
While in the south, one of the girls from Hebron had to stay with a relative as Israel had closed its checkpoints in her part of the Old City and she couldn’t reach home.
But when they managed to get to Jericho, by all accounts and from enthusiastic messages, pictures and snippets of video, it seems that the young people had a great time..
They met their old friends and also new ones. They played some games, remembered their time in the UK, discussed many aspects of the project and made some social media posts about what is going on in the West Bank now. They had a special meal.
The young people from Hebron had prepared a play for the others and the young people from New Askar had prepared two new dances (dabkeh) which they performed.
Mousa (who came on a CADFA visit to the UK as a student 8 years ago) took some film of the activities which we can expect to see (and will show you) soon.
The photos and reports show how much our young visitors have grown up since we saw them, some of them astonishingly in two whole years! We hear that many who were small and shy are now “so mature and with amazing confidence.” Their leaders said,
“You can see what these visits mean for the young people and the change it has brought to them – they are mature and confident and well- organised-
Many are already moving on with what they want to do.”
In a media workshop the group had general discussions about links with the UK and how to keep interested people in touch without breaching safeguarding guidelines – they reviewed the CADFA social media and started to gather posts for an Instagram page linked to the CADFA one. Some of the things they put in posts tell us about the life they are leading now…
Hebron – complete closure of the south of Hebron, restrictions to movement and curfews – blatant apartheid – new Israeli settlements – invasions to the local areas by big numbers of soldiers and police dogs – blocks across the roads – house searches – schools closed
Al Walaja village – house demolition – army invasion with bulldozers – streets and village infrastructure destroyed. One girl’s pictures of the army taking over her house, arresting her brother, destroyed furniture.
Abu Dis – Israel’s Separation Wall blocking movement, disrupting life.
Aizariyeh – A picture of what is now a point on the Separation Wall but used to be the way into Jerusalem.
Assawiyeh – A photo of someone from their school who was killed by the army
New Askar Camp – A girl put a photo of a tiny road in the refugee camp to show how squashed-up the homes are, with no privacy and no space to play. A boy put a picture of faces of young people who have recently been killed by the Israeli army.
Beit Leed – a picture of the village showing its beauty – but telling of the army invasions
Jenin – where the children have become refugees from the refugee camp since being evicted by the Israel army. A picture of the empty school building where they used to go to school.
The children did an evaluation of the day and have told us nothing but nice things about the experience.
Once again, parting was apparently, very emotional. The question was when they would do it all again.