*December 2007*
_Computers/4/Palestine Mailing 15_ This email includes thumbnail pictures, but if your computer has restrictive filtering they may appear as empty squares. If so, you canview the complete mailing under the "Mailing Archive" button on the website at www.BristolComputers4Palestine.co.uk<http://www.BristolComputers4Palestine.co.uk>
1) Biggest Zaytoun Olive Harvest Trip ever! In October, it was a privilege to be part of a group of ten peoplefrom the Bristol & Bath area who joined the activists from elsewherein the UK for the Zaytoun Olive Harvest trip. The largest Harvest tripso far.
The Bristol group was spread across two locations and here is a verybrief summary:- MARDA: It was wonderful to see old friends in this town, but as in allof Palestine the problems are getting worse every year. Farmers wereagain denied access to the olive trees cut off beyond the newWall/fence around the settlement Ariel, and as a new tactic soldiersnow patrol outside the fence and bully the farmers. A week prior toour arrival the town had been subjected to curfew when the army hadoccupied a rooftop for 24 hours using live ammunition, tear-gas,sound-grenades. We saw damage to windows & water tanks and heard oftrauma to the children. On the positive side some activists stayed onto help on the Permaculture Farm which now has new poly-tunnels andaims to run a design course in the spring.
Kufr Quddum: A few miles north of Marda this town is suffering from afast developing settlement bloc nearby. Electricity had been severedleaving the town on an intermittent generator supply. The main road toNablus has been permanently blocked and the only other road wasblocked occasionally with earth mounds by the army. Along the route ofthe proposed Wall/fence farmers were being issued with restrictedharvesting permits, and these were being revoked day by day by armypatrols on the access routes. There were also shocking stories ofrandom killings by settlers or under-cover military. *Roaming Group*: three of us formed a roaming "media" group. Using a hire-car with Israeli plates we could move more freely and even enter the settlements themselves! We can refute any accusation that the "problems" are in just a few isolated areas. Where-ever we went the evidence of injustice and slow-ethnic-cleanings was more than obvious.
You can view a complete library of pics at *http://picasaweb.google.com/janineofleonid/OlivePickingFriendsOnWestBank and

http://picasaweb.google.com/janineofleonid/WestBankMilitaryIncidentsT....
www.Zaytoun.org <http://www.zaytoun.org/>

Three more are awaiting couriers, so if you're going to Palestine in the near future get in touch.
*3) Palestine film receives plaudits from Palestine * **
http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=2341&ed=148&edid=148 <http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=2341&ed=148&edid=148>
The film has continued to be seen far and wide. While we were picking olives in Palestine, the Zaytoun group in Canada showed the film at a meeting in Toronto. In the UK it has been used by the Reading PSC group, the Palestine Twinning Conference in London, and just recently in mid-Wales. View the trailer, and order copies from www.BristolComputers4Palestine.co.uk <http://www.BristolComputers4Palestine.co.uk>. As a special discount you can buy both the 2005 film "Our sufferings in this land" and "Return to Palestine" for a combined price of only £15 (including P+P world-wide).
The new PayPal facility on the website makes payment easier, from anywhere in the world.
The aim is for as many people as possible see an honest eye-witness account of the injustice happening in Palestine and to encourage campaigning to halt it. If you know of special events, film-festivals, etc anywhere in the world that this film may be suitable for, get in touch. * *
*4) Plans for 2008* * *
*The large response from Bristol seems to prove the old saying /"Think globally - act locally/". With help from other local groups and organisations the plan is to run a regular series of public meetings during the first half of 2008. The aim is for more people to see the films and to hear report-backs from the local Harvesters. Plus, to network the large number of groups in Bristol already involved with Palestine work. * * *
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Bristol_PSC/
If you live in the Bristol consider joining this email groups to be kept in touch with events. You will also automatically receive the excellent Shadi Fadda news reports from Palestine.*
* * Sometime later in 2008, Insha'Allah, there will be a new film. Theworking title is currently "BRISTOL GOES TO PALESTINE" and willhopefully be narrated by various of the harvesters.
* * *5) Shipping desktop Computers*
It is unfortunate this part of the project has been progressing only slowly and at the moment we are not accepting donations of desktop computers. We hope this will be only a temporary setback. However we will be watching the situation closely to learn from the experience and to maximise our chance of success. However, as you've read earlier, donations of laptop computers are extremely useful. *6) Miscellaneous wants*
The Permaculture project in Marda has a laptop but the mains-power-supply has broken. Does anyone here in the UK have a replacement? It's a COMPAC 240V 50Hz 18.5 Volt 2.78 Amp version terminating in a long narrow cylindrical plug. If you have one in your bottom drawer, get in touch. *7) Don't Buy Israeli "Peace Oil"*
Media report:- /Peace Oil, an olive oil made in Israel by Jews and Arabs, would seem an ideal Christmas gift for those wishing to take a stand against consumerism. Despite its laudable intentions, however, Cat has come under fire from those who claim it is undermining products made by Palestinians and brought into Britain by cooperatives such as Zaytoun.
http://www.zaytoun.org/ . http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2223924,00.html
*8) Join a campaign group* Many people may already be in a campaigning, faith or similar group.
However for those that aren't, we recommend the PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN as a broad campaigning and information group. You can join at a national level and receive their excellent quarterly magazine and their website serves as an indispensable information source, see www.palestinecampaign.org/ <http://www.palestinecampaign.org/>. They also have a network of local branches in most areas and cities for you to get actively involved.
* * 9) Palestine projects you can help now at Christmas & the New Year
MARDA PERMACULTURE FARM - Christmas cards This farm aims to improve the quality of life in the region by demonstrating and teaching practical permaculture techniques. This will enable people to produce their own food and energy and innovatively manage waste and water. The cards are £2 each, all of which goes to the project. The cards have a lovely design and a description of the farm project. (Where appropriate you can also do gift-aid). Contact the Permaculture Association Britain (BCM Permaculture Association, London, WC1N 3XX)
EMBROIDERY BEHIND THE WALL Fair-traded high quality products, hand-made by *BajeS* Women's Cooperative in Aizariye, an East. Jerusalem suburb cut off behind the Separation Wall. This project generates income and empowers women living in poverty. The designs combine ancient patterns and techniques with modern designs and finish. The range includes bags, purses, shawls, cushions and many more designs. Goods can be posted. FFI and pics of the product range contact Suzana Zorko  *suzanai2...@yahoo.com <mailto:suzanai2...@yahoo.com> *
WI'AM CENTRE FOR PEACE & CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Corina writes:- Having taken part in the Zaytoun Olive Harvest this October, I am now volunteering at the 'Wi'am' Centre in Bethlehem.
This centre works to promote peaceful and just relations at all levels of society, from the domestic, social, and economic, through to the political issues that influence life here so starkly. The centre is aiming to create a youth computer project and appealing for funding. More information about the work and goals of Wi'am can be found at http://gbgm-umc.org/NWO/99ja/wiam.html Cheques can be posted (payable
to the Wi'am Centre) to: : Wi'am Center, P.O. Box 1039, Bethlehem, West Bank, Dr.Gemnier St. (SOS) Al Karkafeh Build. Number 231 Tel & Fax:  +972(0)2-2770513 /+972(0)2-2777333.

* *
10) Palestine and the Palestinians - /special book offer/ Fed up with high-street travel books that give only the Zionistversion of history. Then you'll want to see this excellent book,produced by the Alternative Tourism Group in Bethlehem this isprobably the only popular tourist guide book written from thePalestinians perspective. Just a few copies of the first edition ofthis excellent guide book available at a discount price of £10including P+P. Email EdwardHi...@yahoo.co.uk
*11) Removal facility* If you no longer wish to receive these mailing, or if you accidentallyget more than one, please let us know.

General view of Marda

This year the Zaytoun Olive Picking Group is much larger, and we split into three separate groups to cover three different towns. Our group of six stayed in Marda, which will now be well known from last years film.

I have been telling the media in the UK about the town being “strangled by a ring of steel”. But when I arrived and saw the gates and the miles of fencing it was a shock to see it with my own eyes. The “Separation Barrier Wall/Fence” stretches along the hillside so-say protecting the settlement of Ariel. This will eventually become the de-facto new border with Israel, even though it is more then ten miles inside the west Bank. And the long silver/grey mesh fence that snakes along the side of the Settler-Road makes you question if there is any wire or steel mesh left in the rest of the world, because it seems there is a danger that it’s all being used up here. The massive gates have a sinister engineering logic with their massive concrete blocks, the criss-cross of the gate, and massive steel cables and fasteners which I assume can be locked up in some way to keep the gates closed. It made me want to cry, I admit.

It is such an injustice that this innocent town of farmers, who just want to get on quietly with their own lives, are being treated in this way.

Our team busied itself going out each day picking the olives with the farmers. Most days in the fields near the main road and alongside the house which you will have seen the film. This is the house which was commandeered by the army as a base. At the moment it seems unused but is fenced off with razor wire and the Palestinians say not to go inside for fear of danger.

I have also been working on media coverage in the UK. I set up a photo-opportunity and presented my film (DVD) to the Mayor of the town. The Mayor is also one of the farmers in the town and needs to leave at 6 am each morning to harvest his olives, so this did require a very early start to the day!

I also talked to local people about their experiences when the Israeli army has locked the gates and prevented vehicles entering or leaving the town. This has already happened several times this summer, for periods ranging from hours to days. When the gate is locked across the road vehicles can not enter or leave the town. People have difficulty getting to work, or students to their education in other towns. Delivery Lorries with supplies for shops in the town, and staff for the clinic, are also blocked. Farmers can not reach their fields on the other side of the road.

In addition to this, we spoke to people who have been victims of army raids into the town. These raids have been happening almost every night over the last week, usually between midnight and four in the morning.

Army raids this week and other incidents:-

Night of Sunday 5th November.
Soldiers walked the length of the town periodically throwing sound-grenades and firing flares into the air.

Night of Monday 6th November
Woman, a Psychologist, was asleep in her home with her two young children (aged 1 and 3 years old) and her elderly mother. At about 3am a large number of soldiers surrounded the house and started throwing stones damaging the door, the walls, and breaking a large window. She went to the door and the soldiers demanded to see her husband. On finding he wasn’t in the house they took them all out into their garden and held them at gun-point, squatting on the ground for about an hour while they questioned them.

During this time they also attacked a neighbour’s house when someone turned on a light in the house.

They then went to another house in the same road, searched and ransacked the house, and arrested a young man. He was released a day later without charge.

Someone in the town phoned the Zaytoun Olive Harvest team and we walked into the town where at about 4.15am we saw and videoed army vehicles driving around and parking in the middle of the town near the mosque. We witnessed a sound-grenade being let off at about the time that people would be going to and fro to the Mosque for early morning prayers.

Night of Wednesday 8th November.
During the night soldiers went to the house of a Farmer. They broke the glass panel in the front door of his house. This is the third time his house has been raided. His son (21 years old) was arrested recently from his family home and held for 8 days, then released this week, without charge.

Night of Thursday 9th November
After visiting this man and neighbour reported that soldiers had been to his house in the night and ordered people out into the street and made them lie down. He said this was a terrifying experience for them and especially their children.

I also met and interviewed a 14 year old boy who was arrested for going near the Separation Wall (Fence) around the settlement. This barrier is in fact a triple set of fences; an outer pair of high razor-wire barriers and a central fifteen foot high wire mesh fence equipped with sensor wires on the sides and at the top. This occupies a strip of land 50 to 100 metres wide including gravel and a tarmac patrol road. He was detained for three weeks and then released.

On Friday 10th in the afternoon the Zaytoun Olive Harvest team were working harvesting olives near the main road. Three Israeli army vehicles arrived with about twenty soldiers who spread out among the trees near the edge of the town and carried out an operation involving beatings, shouting and carrying casualties on stretchers. This caused panic to the farmers, their families, and to the people in the town as they though Palestinians were involved. The Team approached the soldiers who explained it was an exercise but made no apology for carrying it out near the town, or on Friday – the Muslim prayer day. One soldier spoke to the team explaining he thought “Good Arab - Dead Arab”.

Morale in the town has been low, along with the rest of Palestine. Most government workers haven’t been paid for the last seven months. Since the election of the Hammas Government the US and EU have withheld aid grants, and Israel has withheld tax refunds to the Palestinian Authority. One of the many consequences of this is the schools finally closed I the summer and most young children have not been able to attend school.

Despite the crushing oppression of the Israeli occupation and the obvious attempts to strangle the town, there are some positive seeds of hope which are tribute to the Palestinian resilience and organisational skills.

A new Human Rights monitoring office has recently opened in the town. This is a branch of the Jerusalem Legal Aid office and offers legal support throughout the area. For instance it has engaged solicitors to fight the route of the Israeli Wall and destruction of agricultural land, etc. with some notable successes. The office also is planning training courses in human rights and legal work for representatives from across the West Bank.

In addition, there are plans to restart the Permaculture project in Marda. The original project was very successful and attracted students from across the Middle East to study and research techniques in arid Permaculture. Although the first facility was destroyed by the Israeli army during the Second Intifada there are plans to buy land and to start a new centre in the town.

Picture attached (Higher resolution pictures available on request)

Ed Hill has started a project to supply computers and other IT resources to small rural towns in the West Bank like Marda. FFI see www.BristolComputers4Palestine.co.uk. This website also has more pictures.

Olive harvest tours, such as these, are organised by Zaytoun, the UK ethical cooperative that imports Palestinian olive oil to be sold as a fair-trade product. See www.zaytoun.org

Human Rights abuses in the Salfit region of Palestine are monitored by the International Women’s Peace Service, a team of internationals based in the West Bank town of Haris. FFI see www.IWPS.info

If your are inspired or intrigued by this article and may want to do a similar trip yourself, get in touch for advice via the website.

Duration 1 hour and 20 minutes

Ed Hill is a teacher and well-known local activist in Bristol. In autumn 2005 he visited Palestine on a two week Olive Harvest trip organised by Zaytoun (the UK cooperative that imports Palestinian olive oil) and the International Women’s Peace Service. As well as visiting Jerusalem and Bethlehem the group stayed in two small rural towns in the West Bank working with the farmers harvesting their olives. Ed also visited an Orphanage in northern town of Tulkarm delivering money raised by local Faith Groups and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign group PSC in Bristol. Using a pocket video camera he has recorded his experiences and his film aims to present a concise understanding of the history, politics, geography, and culture of Palestine. It dramatically explains the construction of the Separation Wall/Fence, the checkpoints, the Apartheid system of passes, separate road networks, the continual military oppression and the creeping ethnic-cleansing, together with the spirited culture and resistance of a brave people. Through interviews with farmers, teachers, activists, and ordinary people, woven together with the story of the trip, Ed presents a view of Palestine as a case-study which unlocks an understanding of world politics, the hypocrisy of our governments, and the bias of our daily media. He encourages everyone to visit Palestine and his conclusion is that we can’t rely on anyone else for solutions - everyone has the power to make a difference.

Ed is fund-raising for educational resources for a youth project in the town of Marda, which features in the film, and has now been completely fenced off from the rest of the West Bank, the town’s people must come and go via a locked gate controlled by Israeli soldiers.