God blessed me with the gift of empathy and the gift of restoration. To have empathy as a strength and a gift means that I "can sense the emotions of those around ...as though their feelings are your own." As some have put it, "intuitively, you are able to see the world through their eyes and share their perspective...You hear the unvoiced questions. You anticipate the need. Where others grapple for words, you seem to find the right words and the right tone...You help them give voice to their emotional life." (Gallop) As you can see, God gave me this sense to understand others and the voice to communicate with and for them. He also gave me the strength of restoration.
Since I have restoration or restoratative as a strength, I love to solve problems and are often "energized by it." As Gallop notes, people with this strength enjoy " the challenge of analyzing the symptoms, identifying what is wrong, and finding the solution." This strength can sometimes be seen as a weakness, but in the story of the Palestinians and their lack of an international identity...it can only help. God has blessed me with the power to feel others emotions and the gift of bringing things back to life and restoring them. That is why I feel so strongly in sharing the stories of the individuals I meet. Unfortunately I do not have time to document each of them in a blog right now, but inshallah (God willing) I will in the future! Mabsot (enjoy!...thank you, Zaina for the help with my vocabulary!)
What would life be to live in a home that is surrounded by a 7 meter wall? I cannot tell you personally, but I can share part of Abu Sameir and his family's story. Everyday this family demonstrates the strength of this quote...
How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours. (Wayne Dyer)
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| Imagine that once you enter your property, you must walk through a cage, like an animal to get to your home. The home that you PURCHASED and have watched for the past 10 years as the land that you used to cultivate has been stolen and replaced with people who are so afraid of you and loathe you that you and your family must be isolated from not only them, but your neighbors who want you and know you too. Welcome to Abu Sameir and his family's life. |
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| Two of their grandchildren. If these boys haven't been harassed yet, they will face harassment in their future. The family faces daily harassment from their settler neighbors, which includes taunting and teasing while they pray, physical violence, interrogation and arrests. These boys could be accused of throwing stones...how can stones fit through the small openings in the fence? And if your neighbors were armed with military style guns, as all settlers are, could you blame someone for trying to protect their family and land? |
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| A living room behind bars and more bars... |
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| Abu Sameir needs to help her husband out of his bed that he lies on during the day. He is 72 years old and had a heart attack due to the daily stress of his living condition. He and his family refuse to leave their land and are forced to live in these conditions. They keep their home beautifully decorated, as a form of resisting the occupation that they live under. As Abu Sameir's wife explained, he had his heart attack because he lost the land that he spent his life, his energy, his memories on... Abu Sameir has been arrested more than 30 different times for protecting his land and family, not for anything else. His sons have also been arrested and they attempted to arrest his wife, but she was able to resist. Even though they have lost most of their land, they have not lost their dignity or the pride for their land and their family. |
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S. (Abu Sameir's beautiful wife) requested that I not take a picture of her face, but she allowed me to take one of her from behind. This is her looking out from her back door, which is attached to her kitchen. The windows, like all Palestinian homes, are covered with bars (sometimes multiple layers) and in the case of this beautiful family, their home is also surrounded by a 7 meter high wall. The wall, which the Israeli government wanted to be cement, like the other walls, is metal and separates this family from what used to be agricultural land. The only reason why the wall is not cement is not because the family didn't want it, but because the settlers felt that their settlement community would not have a breeze and adequate sunlight. Therefore, their wall is metal and 7 M high. The height was continuously added to since the settlers said that they were being attacked with stones by the family...Every night after the Israeli soldiers put up the wall, the husband would remove it from his land--in a silent protest to the destruction of his land. Of course, he knew he would be arrested, but that did not stop him! The settlers moved in approximately 10 years ago, adding to the 30 years of harassment by the Israeli government, and lastly, the latest addition to this inhumane behavior is the fence has surrounded their home for approximately 3 years. At the front gate to the home, which leads to their village, are two cameras (IDF cameras) and a locking gate that the Israeli government and military controls.
On one occasion, the family was locked inside of their home for one month and were not allowed to leave the "compound." The family's home can be raided at any minute of any day and has. On one occasion, while Abu Sameir was imprisoned, soldiers and settlers broke into his home and occupied it for 1 week. His wife was afraid to sleep in her home alone with her girls, so she stayed at a neighbor's home. Luckily she did so, who knows what they would've done to her or her children. |
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| Doing what all women around the world do, their family laundry. Unfortunately, for S. she is watched daily doing her daily tasks. |
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| This is a view from their front door looking towards the front gate. As you can see, there is a beautiful grape vine hanging over their front entry way. Although they are forced to live in these conditions, they still make the best of them They have a beautiful garden and multiple trees (including an olive tree). |
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| This is a view of just how HIGH the wall is. Honestly, it is incredible....you feel like you are a caged animal being watched. |
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| These are the settlements. As you can see they are all the same, they all look the same, have their own access roads completely inaccessible to Palestinians, have access to the water system, which is NOT a right that is granted to ANY Palestinian, regardless if they live in the West Bank, Gaza or in the West Bank within the walls of Jerusalem (East Jerusalem). |
It is not my job or duty to force any of you to believe and take to heart what I am saying here, but it is my duty to share what I see. I will only state what I saw with my own two eyes and heard with my own two ears. If I left this story untold, then I would be accepting their fate...and that is UNACCEPTABLE in my opinion. My conscience would not allow it. As Thich Nhat Hanh states, "my actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand." Unfortunately, I don't always like my actions, but I am living my life to the best of my abilities and everyday I strive to be a more aware and beautiful person inside and out.
