Read Amira Hass’s story in Ha’aretz http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.698402Saturday, December 26 2015 Umm al-Ara’is and Bi’r al-‘Id by David Shulman
December 26, 2015 Yesterday there was an engagement party for Sa’id’s son; Ezra and Ada went down to celebrate. The little girls, Gamar and Asil, whom we know well from the weekly marches, were all powdered and made up; today when we meet them, we still see traces of yesterday’s eyeliner. They’re busy playing with the coffee pot bubbling over on its bed of stones. Their older brothers are playing soccer under the indifferent eyes of the soldiers, their jeeps parked on the ‘Awad lands. Sa’id is talking to one […]Saturday, September 26 2015 Bi’r al-‘Id by David Shulman 26/9/15 It’s the end of ‘Id al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, and Palestinians in the occupied territories are visiting their relatives and resting and celebrating, away from fields and grazing grounds, so it’s a good day for us to work again on the road to Bi’r al’-Id. You may remember that last time we calculated we’d need some 200 work days or more to finish this task. To prepare twenty meters or so is a day’s work: gathering stones, filling the potholes, arranging the rocks in some mosaic-like order, leveling […]
Sunday, July 12 2015 Bi’r al-‘Id By David Shulman
July 11, 2015 From early morning, when the air is still almost cool, until noon, when the sky is aflame, we work on the rock-and-dirt path to Bi’r al-‘Id. First you gather the medium-size rocks from the side of the road and the hill and arrange them in even rows; then you gather many bucketfuls of gravel and sand, scraped with rakes and picks from the caked surface of the soil, and pour this over the rocks; then you cover it all with earth carried in buckets from wherever you […]Saturday, July 12 2014 Umm al-Ara’is, Susya, Bi’r al-‘Id, Ma’asara by David Shulman Business as usual in the South Hebron hills. There’s a war on in Gaza, but that too is business as usual, the meaningless biannual ritual in which both sides gleefully smash one another before reverting to the status quo ante. The Israeli media are drowning us in words, a vast and raucous flood, and the government is putting out its familiar, mendacious statements; perhaps in recent days only Abu Mazen has spoken the truth. The only solution, he said, is a political one, and Netanyahu is no partner. Meanwhile, […]
Monday, August 19 2013 New article in “Haaretz” about South Hebron hills
“Haaretz” article by Amira Hass about South Hebron hillsSaturday, September 15 2012 Gawawis and Bi’r al-‘Id – by David Shulman I’ve never been expelled from my home or my lands or from anywhere else. No doubt my ancestors could have said something about it. When I came to live in Israel some 45 years ago, I never dreamed that someday I’d be spending my weekends trying to keep Palestinian farmers and shepherds from suffering that prototypically Jewish trauma—at the hands of the Jews. I can tell you. It feels like hell, even if you’re just watching it happen to someone else. There are times when I think I can’t go […]
Tuesday, July 10 2012 The Beating and Why I Come Back for More by Amitai Ben Abba My arm was twisted, bent, injured, violated, but it was not broken. 5 soldiers and 4 settlers were huddled around me. I felt blows from all directions. My hat was in the dirt. I was biting dust, clinging to my glasses with my left hand, and desperately clenching the camera with my right. The blue shirted attacker grabbed my right arm, twisted, bent it. I screamed. The camera was extracted from my hopelessly clenched fingers. They quickly smashed the camera on the ground. Taayush means living together living the revolution […]
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