Galilee

A short video on a two-day trip to the Galilee, North Palestine.

It was strangely uplifting to spend two nights and three days in the Galilee, North Palestine. We visited good friends, made new friends, saw 3000 year old olive trees, walked in the ruins depopulated villages, and shopped and ate in Palestinian towns which survived 62 years of colonial apartheid. We crossed from Bethlehem to occupied East Jerusalem with a wave of an Israeli soldier's hand (who did not bother to check papers of an Israeli car. A few minutes later we crossed the Green line (borders before 1967) that is neither marked or guarded. The imaginary green line had long disappeared since Israeli colonies go deep into the occupied West Bank. But in the areas of West Jerusalem, we could still see many signs of the three dozen Palestinian villages depopulated since 1948. Then taking "route 6" north. This highway was built on newly confiscated Palestinian village lands.

Over 530 Palestinian towns and villages were depopulated. The remaining 130 villages and towns had most of their land taken and now the remaining Palestinians who comprise 20% of the Israeli population live on about 2% of the land while the Jewish population controls the rest (which is mostly Palestinian property). When we take the whole of Palestine (West Bank and Gaza included), we see that Palestinians who remained (some 50% of the population is restricted to less than 10% of historic Palestine. Thus access to land is nearly 9 folds more to the Jewish population (most of it not native) even without the return of refugees.

We visited devastated Palestinian villages like Iqrit (a catholic christian community of which only the church remains), Al-Zeeb (a fishing muslim community where the mosque and the few remaining buildings are converted for recreation of Israelis), and Al_Bassa (that used to be a thriving mixed town of Christians and Muslims and was filled with Jewish immigrants initially from Bulgaria and is now called Shlomi).

But we also visited still heavily populated (and growing) Palestinian towns like Arrabe, Sakhnin, and Acre. One is tempted to feel sad at the inability of the Zionist Jews to see that they could have lived with the natives instead of at their expense. I was saddened to see how Jewish settlements throughout the Galillee are built on Palestinian lands instead of on the very many open spaces. I was saddened to see how these Jewish communities live behind guarded perimeters (gated communities). Palestinian towns, impoverished but still open to visitors.

Throughout the trip we met a few of the 1.5 million Palestinians who remain steadfast and work to reject the schemes of Judaicizing the Galilee (and the Negev, hopefully my next trip). These are inspiring people in everything they do. I am humbled by their dedication. I kept thinking of Tawfiq Ziyad's poem Unadikum (I call upon you) which was rendered into patriotic songs of love of land and people. It says in part,
I call upon you
I press on your hands
I kiss the land
under your shoes
I gift you the light of my eyes
the beats of my heart
and I sacrifice myself for you
as I share with you...

The trip is chronicle in this short video in which I included singing Ziyad's song.
For more information see
Abnaa Al-Balad Movement http://www.abnaa-elbalad.org/
article just published in Haaretz by Ahmed Tibi on http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1160446.html
reality of Palestinians inside the state of Israel
For Al-Bassa http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/al-Bassa, and video on Al-Bassa by Uri Zakhem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4or6gB0xDQ
For Iqrit http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Iqrit/
For Al-Zeeb http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/al-Zeeb and video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE2BLnshMqk

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Galilee
• ethnic cleansing
• Palestinian villages
• Iqrit
• Lifta
• Al-Zeeb
• Al-Bassa
• Shlomi
• Akhziv
• Israeli settlements
• colonies
• natives

[bidurit]

@Dream23fb

HAHAHAHA!!!

When's the last time you looked at the map?

Or listen to the news?.....

This place is called Is-Ra-El

[vabos159]

something worng here.............ho yeah nazareth ls in israel !

[MrKhoury2011]

ITS PALESTINEEEEEEE

[MUSLIMUJAHID]

@bidurit when ever israel was a jew?

[MyMeatYearns4Andrea]

@vbkpartners Let us quote Benny Morris: Israel's occupation is founded on "brute force, repression and fear; collaboration and treachery; beatings and torture chambers; and daily intimidation, humiliation and manipulation."

It's really pretty remarkable how much Nazi terminology the Israelis have taken on. Check out Berl Katznelson's Wiki entry: Israel has proven it was simply a case of sour grapes.

[vbkpartners]

@vabos159 Add to that, the Arabs in Nazareth lead a better life than the Arabs in the Disputed Territories, wwhich were under Jordanian rule for decades.

Is it any wonder, with a beautiful view, and wonderful climate, that Jews would want to live there - If they hadn't created Nazareth Ilit, they would have been blames for destroying the Arab town, instead, they are blamed for tipping the voting percentages. That's how democracy works - there was no occupation, just living side by side.

[vbkpartners]

@12345notavailable And Jews lived in the region for centuries - praying at the Tomb of the Elders-Machpelah and the Western Wall haKotel.

Jews legally acquired lands from landowners, like the Susock family, drained swamps and farmed the land.

There was no invasion. They came, like the Egyptians, Syrians and Bosnians, to escape from their past, and to build a better life.

These Jews built a better economy, in which the Arab immigrants thrived, and enjoyed a better standard of living.

[Alexplus20]

@humoscook shh...enough with that zionist talk lol.

[arabellaboy]

ARAB ARAB ARAB

Israel has too little time left for the dream of the "Jewish State"..10 years maximum.

So it's better for you to start looking for countries that can receive scum bags like you when that happens.

[happyinthelord]

Just two things to say:

1) Galilee is in ISRAEL not palestine. There's no such country or region called palestine.

2) Like it or not, the Land of Israel belongs to the decendants of Jacob.



[humoscook]

Oh Hello - no mention of the Grave of Joseph (yep the one from the bible fame) burned by Arabs in 2004, what about Hebron - who's Jewish population was massacred in the 1920's , what about Zfat in the Galil ( where we have family), what about the Druze village of Peqiin ... where Jews have lived for 2000+ years and where the Druze still protect the ancient Synagauge. Yallah Araboushim stop creating theatre and deal with reality of your inability to live in peace with the traditional owners.

[lotem102]

lol keep dreaming. LONG LIVE ISRAEL!