ABC of the youth exchange in Palestine 2018

I find it really difficult to find words to write about the youth exchange in Palestine. Because of that I decided to help myself and to make a ABC about the time.

Apartheid : dictionary « systematic racial discrimination and oppresion fpr the purpose of domination – prohibited. Inhumane acts commited through institutionalized discrimination by one racial group above another”. What you see in Palestine each day. There are streets which are only for Israelis and streets which are only for Palestinians. In the occupied street in Hebron, the footpath for the Palestinian is 1/5th of the road. The rest of the street is only allowed to be used by Israelis.

BDS: Campaign to boycott products from brands which support Israel. Many Palestinians invited us to spread the word and help this way to show disagreement with the acts of the Israeli settlement politics. https://www.bdsfrance.org/

Colony: In the surrounding of the Dheishe-Camp where we stayed during the exchange you can see many colonies. Each year the Israeli soldiers built new buildings. They start with trucks and then continue and continue.

Dheishe Camp: The Dheishe-Camp is a refugee Camp in the westbank, where the association Laylaci is situated. It exists since 1949 and there are around 15.000 people who live on an area of 0,6km².

Education: The children in Palestine grow up with the political situation as it’s part of their daily life. It’s almost impossible for them to be not political… When we talked to children or saw videos they seemed to be so grown up when they spoke about checkpoints, guns, military and terrorism.

Falafel: What we ate most of the days in Palestine. I love it.

Graffiti: After the first Intifada the medias where forbidden in the Dheishe Camp. Because of this, they used the wall to communicate and to send messages when they wanted to strike or anything else. Until now you find many graffitis on the walls and photos of the martyrs.

Hebron: In this city the occupation is extremely visible. The city itself it separated in H1 (under Palestinian control) and H2 (under Israeli control). Israeli soldiers expelled the Palestinians who lived in the main street, which is now completely closed by checkpoints. The street is also called goaststreet because there are almost no more people living there. Before it was the main street for the market and commerce.

In and out: During the time when where at Laylac there was also a group who are making a really interesting project around expressions with artists from France. They made music, a hip hop workshop, painting….

Jerusalem: Where we arrived. A super interesting city. Most of the Palestinians cant go there. It’s a holy place for all religions.

Kahwa: I drank definitely too much coffe during this time. But I like the Arabic coffe so much.

Laylac: The partner organization of Ceméa in Palestine. It was a dream of a youth group from Bethlehem area who initiated the action towards that end. The mission of LAYLAC” is to contribute to the empowerment of the Palestinian youth sector in particularly and the development of the Palestinian Society at large.

Makloube: Famous Palestinian dish, with rice chicken and vegetables. It’s soo good. One evening we cooked altogether with Suhair and of course afterwards we enjoyed 😊

Normalisation: A word we heard a lot during the discussions with our Palestinian friends. The problem is that many people become part of the Israli brainwash and accept the reality. There are people who work for a system that makes them suffer. Palestinians who say thank you after being controlled for 4 hours. It’s “normal” that Israeli soldiers enter the camp in the night to arrest people. No it’s not. And it should never be.

Oslo-agreement: The oslo agreement was a part of the peace process in 1993. It’s an agreement between the Palestinian authority and the government of Israel. The Palestinians we met are not at all ok with this agreement because they see that it doesn’t change their situation at all and is only legitimating the occupation.

Prisoner: Almost every Palestinian knows someone who is/was in prison or was in prison him/herself. The soldiers come and arrest people for “security-reasons” there is no justice in the process and there are many children who are arrested.

Quarter: In Jerusalem there are four quarters. The Christian, muslim, jewish and Armenian quarter in the old town

Return: The Palestinians claim their right to return to their homeland. Their symbol for that is the key.

Sun: It was soo good to have some sun in Palestine. I really enjoyed it after all this time of rain in Nantes … 😉

Tourists: One day we went to Bethlehem. There were so many people who took photos of the wall. Bought banksy postcards or sprayed something on the wall. After really seeing the occupation it was so strange to see that the wall is a tourstic attraction for so many people and that they don’t see whats behind the wall. The people who are shot, arrested, and the harassment.

Us: We where a group of 10 people from Ceméa and from the association JNA. From the association Laylac, there where different people with which we shared good moments. Naji and Mohamed organized a lot for us.

Victim: The people I met told me often that they hate that the jews play the victims of the second world war and that they use this to justify the occupation.
Water: on the roofs of the houses in the Dheishe camp there are black tanks. For water. The water acces is restricted by Israel. Once in a month they open the access and everyone tries to save as much water as possible.

Xylophon: The only word I know with X. I didn’t see a Xylophon in Palestine but we heard a concert which was really great. On our last evening and their was a traditional Dabke Dance show.

Yallah : My time in Tunisia and Palestine really motivated me to learn Arab. (Even if everything I learned in Tunisia turned out to be completely different in Palestine)… we will see 😊

Zone ABC: The Land is separated in Zones A B and C. A: under control of the Palestinan authority B: shared C: under Israeli control. In the reality the israelien military for example also comes in the dheishe camp at night even its zone A.