Qawawis

I just got back from spending 3 days in qawawis - a very small village in the southern West Bank. By small I mean about 5 families. They all live in caves except one. None of the families has electricity or running water, and they are surrounded by Israeli settlements (groups of extreme Israelis who think they have the God-given right to the land they live on and therefore stay in Palestine depsite "political boundaries"). These settlers forced the Qawawis residents off their land for one year, and they were just able to return 4 months ago. Since their return, they have been subjected to trouble by the settlers, who have come onto their land in the middle of the night with guns, threatening them to back in their houses, among other incidents. However, when internationals are present in the village, the settlers seem scared to impose violence on the villagers. So we (ISM) keep a presence in Qawawis at all times.

When we are in Qawawis, there is little trouble, so the past 3 days for me have been very tranquil. I was there with a Spanish guy who also just joined ISM - he speaks Spanish and Arabic and therefore could translate the Arabic into Spanish for me. We basically sat around, played soccer and other games with the kids, ate, and drank a ridiculous amount of tea for 3 days. It was nice when I could take my mind off the fact that all the adults in the community were at all times preoccupied with the fact that the settlers might come at any moment.

Posted by Allison