The Peace Cycle

The Peace Cycle reports from Palestine for more information http://www.thepeacecycle.com

There will be more updates coming soon.

The Peace Cycle today in Ramallah and tomorrow will be cycling from Ramallah to Bethlehem. Wednesday in Bethlehem, Thursday The Peace Cycle will be in Hebron and Friday in Jerusalem. For further information please call George Rishmawi: 0599 180 872

Friday 22nd August 2008 – Day 8 of TPC2008

After a wonderful experience in Nablus, we waved a sad goodbye to the hotel staff and set off through the hilly streets for Sebastiya, some 20 km away. The going was tough at first as we climbed the steep sides of the valley that overlook Nablus.

As we made our way up it was easy to visualize this city under siege, not unlike Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. A huge Israeli military installation overlooked the city and many times innocent Palestinians have been shot by Israeli snipers. In fact we saw evidence of this for ourselves with the hotel windows still bearing the scars of the Israeli invasion – three bullet holes remained in a beautiful stained glass window of the Dome of the Rock – such brutal vandalism and intimidation on the part of the IOF that has to be seen to be believed.

Again the welcome we received from local people as we passed by encouraged and delighted us as cries of ‘Welcome’ and “Ba-Saleem’ constantly greeted us. It’s a paradox really as their kindness and humanity only serves to depress you as to why they could be treated so inhumanely. To add insult to injury their suffering is largely ignored by the international community.

As we reached the ridge overlooking Nablus our delight at the beautiful view (and the downhill leg!) was abruptly cut short as we entered the Aseera checkpoint. We were forced to wait for 30 minutes as the teenage soldiers joked and laughed at holding us up. Again the usual three machine guns were trained on us as well as a high powered rifle from the watchtower overhead. As internationals, to our faces they tried to appear polite – while in Hebrew they were insulting us and laughing about keeping us out in the hot sun. Eventually they bored of us and let us through. As we flew down the mountain we passed two further gateways that the Israelis close at any time without reason. Everywhere we have gone we have seen how expertly the IOF have strategically occupied hilltops and set up elaborate defenses, designed to protect them from the local populace that they continue to occupy. Go figure!

Some wonderful cycling followed with several more ‘flat-hills’ leading to the most beautiful views of Palestine. I think all of us have fallen in love with this land and its people and it’s becoming clear that none of us are going to remain unmarked by our experiences here. By lunchtime we reached Sebastiya, an ancient Roman town and the setting for John the Baptist’s beheading and Salome’s infamous dance for Herod. The tragedy is that inhumanity still exists in this land – for all its inhabitants whether Jewish, Muslim or Christian.

The ruins were very atmospheric and we were the only visitors there. Set among olive groves and dusty paths you could sit in the ancient amphitheatre, look down on the hippodrome and the colonnades. This place should be a thriving tourist site but sadly the occupation has shut down this possibility. So for now the ruins are left to themselves and the Palestinians are robbed of their cultural heritage.

This is part of a chilling strategy to destroy the Palestinian nation – many archaeological sites have been ransacked and items of historical value removed to museums in Israel. We saw for ourselves a site today where the Israelis had attempted to remove a Roman tomb only for their crane to collapse and drop the priceless tomb shattering it on two sides. How many ways can the Israelis steal from the Palestinians and get away from it – how much time do you have?

A long downhill stretch finally brought us to Tulkarem after a hard days cycling. The Deputy Governor welcomed us officially to the town which saw half of its prime agricultural land annexed behind the Apartheid Wall by the Israelis in 2002. More horrors emerged as we visited the site where over 100 young Palestinians have been killed in the past five years protesting about the building of a chemical factory on the windward side of the town. This factory, which spews out noxious fumes and gases over the town of 157,000 Palestinians 24/7 used to be located deep in Israel – until the neighboring Israelis successfully lobbied to have it removed to the West Bank. Now the factory is surrounded by the usual IOF defenses of a vast concrete wall topped with razor wire, watchtowers and electronic surveillance. In the meantime Tulkarem suffers from the highest cancer rates in the WB and many cases of unusual respiratory diseases – even when we were there the fumes were overpowering. It goes without saying what it must be like for the residents of this town who have to live their lives here.

A short ride brought us to the Irtah Womens’ Centre which kindly hosted us tonight. All of us are exhausted after a hard days riding and the injustices we have seen again today. Thank God for the wonderful camaraderie of the cyclists – the jokes and laughs have kept us all smiling through – together with the constant kindness and friendship of the Palestinian people we have met along the way.

Peace Cycle Saturday 23 August 2008

We left Tulkarem at 8.15 am for a 30 km ride to Qalqilya. As the weather was a bit cloudy, we managed to bear the heat and to over win the hills in the lovely landscape. We could see a part of the wall/fence during the ride. After some questions at a major checkpoint we got through after about 10 minutes. The soldiers asked us why we only had a Palestinian flag without having an Israeli one. Our answer was that we were in Palestine and not in Israel.

Around 11.30 am we finally arrived in Qalqilya. This governorate, to the East of the West Bank, is almost entirely encircled by the wall. We were waited for by photographers and by local people who handed out sweets and water (to mark the run up to Ramadan). After a lunch we were received by the deputy governor of the governorate of Qalqilya. He gave a brief presentation of the issues going on in his province. The main one was of course the negative impact of the construction of the ‘security’ wall and linked to that the stolen land and water issues which complicate and paralyse the daily life of people (access to fields, schools, roads, medical infrastructure). 25 Israeli settlements are present. The deputy governor also said that olive trees can get very old (some of them might be 1000 years) and be taken away easily by the Israeli soldiers but they have very long roots like the Palestinians and cannot be destroyed totally.

We had a long rest of 3 hours and ``visited`` the apartheid wall by bike. Lots of encouraging messages in different languages are written on the wall as well as drawings. We were all very impressed and silent while witnessing this. How is this possible in the 21st century? It is a big shame.

Afterwards we visited the local zoo where we could see another example of Israeli aggression: a giraffe was killed after a bombing in 2002 and is still there as a witness of violence which attacks people, animals and nature.

George S. Rishmawi
Coordinator,
Siraj, Center For Holy Land Studies
Beit Sahour, Schoold Street
P.O.Box 48
Palestine
Email: george@sirajcenter.org


sirajcenter dot org

Tel: +972 2 274 8590
Fax: +972 2 274 8774
Mobile: 0599 180 872
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