As a volunteer at the ToN (5.-26.11.2024)
Back on the ToN vineyard after two years
The road to the vineyard is long.
After three flights canceled by the airlines, entry via Jordan is possible and safe. In the West Bank, the highway is closed to Palestinians, and the short path from the highway to the Tent of Nations is blocked by settlers. Another stone blockade has been erected by the settlers and the roads are no longer passable for us. Instead of a 10-minute drive to Bethlehem, we now need 50 minutes, unless a road check or blockade comes in between.
It’s quiet on the vineyard
Only a few visitor groups reach the Tent of Nations in times of war. Among them, however, are high-ranking visitors from the Archbishop of Canterbury and Luise Amtsberg, the Human Rights Commissioner, with an embassy representative. No construction noise can be heard from the settlements. These had always accompanied us in recent years. Now the settlement has grown significantly again, but work on the shells is at a standstill and the new road is not being asphalted. Since the war, very few Palestinians have a work permit. My neighbor in the shared cab, who works for an Israeli construction company, is also unemployed because he has already been arrested once – without justification. This happens all the time at the checkpoints, when the soldiers enter the residential areas … The supposed peace is “only” interrupted by drones, helicopters taking the soldiers to their deployment sites and jet fighters flying north towards Lebanon or Gaza. On the balmy, windless evenings, we hear the explosions from Gaza.
It’s light in the vineyard at night
Two years ago, we were only illuminated by the settlers’ headlights. Now there are lights and cameras installed on the mountain. The gates are always locked, so we always have to announce our arrival by phone. When it is dark, two people go to the two gates to lock or unlock them. Attacks and fear have increased.
It is unsafe on the vineyard and outside
A container and a camper van stand two meters away on the settlers’ side of the property boundary to the side of the Weinvilla, the accommodation for volunteers. The security service drives close to the fence. After the attack on the two Nassar brothers, there were many break-ins. Even the dogs, the donkey and the chickens were stolen. And: in August, settlers erected a wooden hut on the land in the valley and came with a bulldozer to build a road on the Nassars’ land. According to the settlers, the land was given to them by God. The police were called, but did not come, and the Nassars’ lawyer was able to get the construction stopped and the building removed. In times of war, when the military has a lot of freedom for “security reasons”, this is already a success.
On the day of my visit to the women’s carpentry shop in Walajah, a snack cart that had been standing on the street for many years had just been destroyed by the Israeli military because the owner had died and no one else was allowed to continue the business (picture). The village of Walajah is also surrounded by settlements. Since the war, 26 houses have already been demolished. For “security reasons”, the military can also override recognized property.
EAPPI observers, who support the Tent of Nations every Saturday in its rural work, report that the military attacks schools several times a week.
The presence of the EAPPI, which before the war prevented soldiers from attacking with tear gas in the schoolyard and taking children with them, is ignored. Children are arrested because they allegedly wanted to throw stones or made comments about Hamas on social media.
https://www.eappi-netzwerk.de/al-walaja-ein-jahr-im-zeichen-der-abrissbagger/
https://www.eyewitnessblogs.com/children/
https://www.eyewitnessblogs.com/behind-closed-do
Support from Israeli activists, who established contact between families of prisoners before the war, is hindered. The anti-war community is also very small. In Jerusalem, 50 demonstrators are attacked by pro-war protesters and pushed off the street by 25 police officers.