Excerpts from radio broadcast website

The following from http://whataboutradio.org/ -- from the radio broadcast.

Episode 30: What about Palestine?

As the Annapolis meetings begin, What-About Radio explores the issue of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict with a swath of interviews from experts and activists. UW International Studies Professor Joel Migdal starts things off, followed by student activists and others. The featured interview is with Treye McKinney, a local activist who recently returned from a peacekeeping mission in Palestine.

Extras

Our interview with Noam Chomsky from April 4th, 2007
Listen

Fmr UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix, full speech at UW from October 18, 2007
Listen

Coming soon: complete before-and-after interviews with Treye McKinney, local peace activist who recently returned from Palestine.

UW Radio to Air interview about Trip: Mon. 5-6 pm

Matt Dundas from University of Washington's student radio station interviewed me over the phone before I left for my trip, and then again when I returned. Portions of our interview will air on Monday, 11/26, from 5-6 pm. The radio station is only available over the web at

http://www.rainydawg.org/

(you cannot listen on a regular radio). The program will also include interviews with a professor about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and others.

24 hours after the show airs, it will be archived at

http://whataboutradio.org/

All of Matt's interviews with me will appear on WhatAboutRadio's "extras" link--on the top right hand side of the page (the full interviews will include parts not included on the program).

A big "Thank you!" to Matt for all the time he invested in interviewing me!

Article in Tacoma News Tribune re: trip

Joseph Montes from the Tacoma News Tribune contacted me last week about my trip and interviewed me for an article. I really appreciate Joseph running the story, and for the most part, the article is accurate and portrays my trip in a positive light.

I had emailed Joseph on Fri.--before the article ran--explaining that I was concerned that I spoke too much about my own personal story in the interview, and that if we were going to error on one side, I would rather error on the side of including more stories from Palestine and less about my own story. Unfortunately, I think I emailed Joseph too late. I will post a comment on the article's website (see below) sharing a few more stories from Palestine and pointing readers to this blog.

Thanks again to Joseph for running the story!


thenewstribune.com/news/youandme/story/212473.html

Quest for understanding leads to Mideast

The News Tribune

Published: November 25th, 2007 01:00 AM

How well do you understand the conflict in the Middle East?

That’s the question Treye McKinney asked himself on Sept. 11, 2001. At the time, the 27-year-old was at the University of Oxford in England studying in an exchange program.

A recently converted Quaker, he was reading the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus instructed his disciples to love their enemies.

As he watched President Bush’s response to the terrorist attacks on TV, McKinney was thinking about what Christ had said.

“The president was saying, ‘We are going to go out and get these guys,’” said McKinney, who now lives in Tacoma. “My gut reaction was, ‘There’s got to be a better way to respond.’”

McKinney realized he was naive about the region, so he pledged to spend the next year learning as much as he could. In the years that followed he immersed himself in Israel and the Palestinian territories and their thousands of years of history and conflict.

He also knew he had to go see for himself.

McKinney, a staffer at Tacoma Catholic Worker Guadalupe House, a transitional house for the homeless, returned this month from a monthlong peacemaking mission to Israel and the West Bank. During his trip with a Christian Peacemaker Team, an international organization that sends ambassadors around the world, he traveled, met people on both sides of the conflict and got closer to his goal of understanding.

“He’s absolutely passionate about creating a peaceful place for people whether it’s here in Tacoma or in Israel or Palestine,” said Nora Leider, a co-worker at Guadalupe House. “He’s been learning Arabic, reading and educating himself and other people. It applies to the work he’s done here.”

McKinney came from northern Florida by way of Walla Walla. He landed in Tacoma to work with the homeless and gain experience in communal living in preparation for traveling to the Middle East.

His trip began in Jerusalem and took him to such places as Hebron and Bethlehem. He saw images one might expect: Israeli soldiers bullying Palestinian demonstrators, Palestinian children throwing rocks at Israelis. But he also saw another side of the country.

“All we hear about back here are about events that draw blood,” he said. “We don’t hear about the thousands on both sides working for peace.”

While there will always be more to learn about the Middle East, McKinney is now satisfied. His trip brought confirmation to many things he’d learned, both horrible and good.

“What I saw made me sad,” he said. “But amidst all of the horrible things that are going on, the people who are living there have hope and that gives me hope, as well.”

Joseph Montes: 253-552-7091

joseph.montes@thenewstribune.com

Future with CPT

I received an email last Fri. afternoon telling me I was not accepted to CPT's training in Jan. This is very disappointing news to me, as I have wanted to work with CPT for about five years.

The email I received was only one paragraph long and did not give much detail for my rejection: based on the report from the two delegation leaders, we are not accepting you for training due to similar reasons as last time. I feel hurt and frustrated that CPT appears to be basing this decision off of one or two people who spent two weeks with me. These delegation leaders, while I respect their opinions, didn't have time to engage in any one-one-one conversations with me. I believe their observations to be a mistake, especially since CPT did not contact my references, some of whom have lived in community with me for almost two years. My understanding was that CPT was supposed to interview me, my references, then take the decision to a board, but it appears none of this happened. The person who rejected my application was the same one who rejected me two years ago.

I have asked for more details about the decision, but I do not expect that CPT will reverse it. This is most likely the end of my future with CPT. However, I will be meeting with my Quaker clearness committee next week to decide how exactly to respond and where to go from here. Fortunately, I have the love and support of two communities: Guadalupe House (where I live and work) and University Friends Meeting.

I still plan to give presentations on my trip, but it will take some time for me to be able to talk about the delegation, given some of the hurt I'm feeling right now. However, the presentations were never about CPT, necessarily, but about raising awareness about Palestinian issues.

Thank you for understanding that it will take some time for me to heal and be able to speak about my experience.

Peace.

Weekend Protests in Tacoma & Olympia

The last few days here in Tacoma have been tumultuous, politically speaking and otherwise. Friday, someone said, "Hey, There's a SWAT team outside." I went outside to look and there were two Tacoma SWAT vans in front of our house (see first two pics). They said they were monitoring the protest. I decided to go see what the protest was about.

The protest entailed about 50 people demonstrating against the Northwest Detention Center, which serves as a holding cell for undocumented persons who are being deported (and split apart from their families, in many cases). The center is run by a private organization that makes money off the facility. According to a flyer given out at the protest, "Since 2004, 62 people have died in these detention centers due to ICE's (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, aka INS) failure to provide basic healthcare" (from "Death in US Immigration Detention Centers," Independent Press).

A recent NPR report on Tacoma's Detention Center raised the issue that there may be as many as 20 people having to use one bathroom (12 is the legal limit).

When I joined the protest a few blocks from my house, there were about as many riot police as protesters, and the riot police were in full gear, including about 3 foot long wooden clubs (see pics 3, 4, 5). The protest was nonviolent, in that the demonstrators did not have weapons or do any damage to property, etc.; however, the police saw it necessary to show up with wooden clubs. Who's the more violent here?

There was another protest against the detention center scheduled for Sat. morning; however, the protest started late and several people, including me, decided to drive down to Olympia to support protests there. Right after we left Tacoma, however, one of our friends was arrested after having walked one block with a bull-horn. I'm still unclear what he was charged with, but when people tried to show up at the jail to figure out what to do, riot police surrounded the jail and wouldn't allow them access.

In Olympia, people are protesting the unloading of vehicles from Iraq. The vehicles are being taken to Fort Lewis to be restocked, etc.,--then they go back to Iraq. People successfully blocked semi-trucks from leaving the Olympia port Fri. night. On Sat. afternoon when we arrived, police has just finished gassing and pepper spraying protesters, and there was still pepper spray in the air. I attended a meeting the protesters held in the afternoon about what they would do next, but not a lot was going on while I was there.

Right before we left Olympia, I was able to get a photo of a sign of one of the counter-protesters (which is how all this relates directly to Pal. issues)--see photo "God Bless Israeli Bulldozers." I walked up to the group with my camera and a guy said to me: "Don't take my picture. You take my picture, I'll shove this f***ing flag down your throat." I said, "I'm not going to take your picture. I'm just wondering if I can take a picture of your sign." He didn't care, but I asked permission of the person standing next to the sign, and he said he actually wanted to be in the photo, and he seemed happy for me to take it. It's amazing what can happen when you actually ask people's permission and treat them with respect! I was tempted to antagonize the first man and see if he actually would've used violence, but I think part of nonviolence is helping everyone to be less violent, if possible. On the other hand, it is necessary to expose violence at times.

The last picture in this series actually comes from a website talking about the commemoration and opening of Arafat's tomb, which I was able to visit (before it officially opened). I'll post a pic of me standing next to the tomb (at night) once I've organized all my pics from the trip.























Olympia:











Arafat's Tomb


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7088743.stm

Arrival

I arrived home safely last night with no real problems during the flight. I look forward to talking with people about the experience once I've had a few days to rest.

Peace!

MaSalaama, Palestine

I visited the Church of the Holy Seplecur, the Dome of the Rock, and the Protestant version of the Garden Tomb yesterday (Mon.). The day was frustrating for a number or reasons (ex.: breaking a gift I had just bought), but in general, I detest going to heavily touristed areas where I have to fight the crowds.

I appreciate religious sites for their beauty, history, and architecture, but I also feel frustrated that people spend so much time trying to get a “spiritual high” from these places. We spend so much energy, time, and, especially, money on these sites, but all the major religions seem to often neglect (in general) the most important things: caring for the poor, compassion for others, peace-making, etc. We of course do some acts of charity, but it seems to me that we put more energy into the faith part of religion than the practicing of it.

I fought the crowds again today to visit Hezekiah’s tunnel. In the afternoon, I immensely enjoyed perusing a photo shop. The man who owned the shop has published a book of his fathers photographs, which spans the time period 1920s—1980s in Israel/Palestine. The photographs I saw starkly show the violence of nation/empire building (Britain, Israel), but they also show what life was like for average people throughout the time period. One photograph that really struck me showed the Wailing Wall pre-1967 (when it was under Jordanian control). Behind the wall were houses and buildings. When Israel annexed E. Jerusalem in 1967 (stole it from Jordan), they bulldozed all the buildings in that area; a photograph on the opposite page shows the Wailing Wall post-1967. When Israel annexed this land, all the nations of the world protested by moving their embassies from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, and the embassies remain there to this day. I really enjoyed talking with the owner of the shop, who was born and raised in Jer. and is Armenian (Christian).

I wondered if Armenians could play a greater role in the peace-making here. They have been in Jer. for a long time and have, in other parts of the world, suffered at the hand of other oppressors.

The day that I moved into the hostel where I’m staying, I was walking down the street to the hostel that night (around 11 pm) and I met the owner of the hostel, who was recruiting people to stay at his place. He charges nothing for people to stay at his house but accepts donations. He often goes out late at night to find people who need a place to sleep. He’s Pal. and Suffi Muslim, and I’ve really enjoyed having some conversations with him.

I wish I had a few more days in Jer. Many of the places I’ve visited in Jer. I haven’t exceptionally enjoyed, but I’m glad I saw them.

I fly out for Seattle tomorrow (Wed.) morning very early. I will continue to place posts on my blog updating people on speaking engagements I’ve scheduled, announcements, etc. Don’t stop checking in every once in a while.

And a big “Thank You!” to everyone who’ve been reading my posts everyday or two. I won’t be posting quite as often now, but I look forward to hearing people’s feedback in one medium or another.

The peace delegation and traveling were immensely successful for me! I’ll be posting a few reflections on my blog once I’ve had some time to process.

Peace!

Beth. to Jerusalem

I traveled from Beth. to Jer. today on a Pal. bus. This was not the first time I’d taken Pal. mass transit, but it was the first time I took the bus all the way from Beth. to Jer.—most of the time, I’ve taken the bus part way, then walked through the checkpoint near Beth. and taken a taxi into Beth. When we arrived at the Beth. checkpoint on the bus, we all had to disembark while soldiers checked the bus; then, we had to flash our passports/ID to board again.

I’m staying at a hostel on the Mount of Olives that a friend told me about. The owner of the hostel appears to be Pal. (speaks Arabic), but he only describes himself as having “no citizenship” and no passport. He travels all over the world, though, and says Israel doesn’t give him problems coming back to the country. He will not talk very much about the situation, though, perhaps because he doesn’t wish to offend guests at his hostel. He did tell me when I came in, “Nothing here belongs to anyone. Eat whatever you want in the refrig. Everything is at your disposal.” I was impressed by his hospitality.

Later, I had a conversation with a conservative Christian (Baptist?) there who had a lot to say. We didn’t directly talk about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but he did ask me a lot about my work with the homeless. He spoke harshly of “lazy people” and people who “take advantage of you” at times, and I tried to remind him that it was the prostitutes and other “sinners” Jesus hung out with, and it was the wealthy and powerful that Jesus spoke most harshly to. However, I also pointed out that Jesus showed compassion much more than he rebuked or spoke harshly.

It’s so easy for us to believe that God is telling us to do something or give a message to someone, yet I emphasized that the clearest message from God we have is that we are to love other people. I try to see God in the people I work with (everyone, but specifically the homeless), and sometimes I think I’m going to do something for a homeless person; however, often I’m the one who is taught or helped. And often, the most help we can do for people is not to give them a message, but to listen. This is something I’m still working on.

We also talked about the parable of the Good Samaritan, and I pointed out how the Samaritans of our day might be our brothers and sisters on the other side of the wall. It’s often the people it’s hardest for us to love that it is most important for us to try to have compassion for.

Later, I had dinner with an Israeli peace activist who’s been a refusnik—someone who’s refused to serve in the Israeli military. He initially served 1 ½ years in the military, then decided he could no longer, out of conscience, be in the military. He spent a month in jail for this decision. He had been serving as a sort of activities (sports) coach for military personal, so he definitely wasn’t on the front lines (which could have made it a harder decision for him to refuse).

People in the military prison were fairly understanding of his decision to refuse service, he said. He did not suffer abuse, but says some things are more difficult in life for him now—i.e., getting a job, etc. Currently, he’s working on a certificate to for studies in Middle Eastern music.

His family was not initially supportive of his decision, but they moved from either directly or passively disagreeing with his decision to directly or passively supporting it. Both of his parents and siblings have served in the military.

I asked him about female soldiers I have seen on the front lines of the West Bank and whether they chose to be there (and if male soldiers had a choice); he said male soldiers have less of a choice, but they can manipulate the system by appearing less physically or (perhaps) psychologically fit. Women are, almost entirely, in combat by their choosing.

My friend has worked with youth for the past several years, including working with American Friends Service Committee in Israel. He has traveled some in the West Bank, but it is difficult because Israelis are not allowed, legally, into the West Bank—by Israeli law.

He describes himself as Jewish by culture, but he also finds much spiritual guidance from Judaism as a faith. There are parts of his scripture he doesn’t agree with, though. Initially, he didn’t describe himself as a pacifist, but he now identifies as such, and he attributes this to both spiritual/religious reasons and an ethical ones.

He spoke of how difficult the situation is for Pal.—how they suffer more if they’re arrested (compared to internationals or Israelis) and how Hebron is one of the worst examples of settler and military violence. He said he might even shy away from taking Israelis who “get” the situation to Hebron because seeing things there might just depress them and make them feel like there’s no hope.

I had a very pleasant visit with the Israeli peace activist. Tomorrow, I plan to do a little touring of Jer. and perhaps connect with a few other Israeli peace groups. I’m feeling better after having a few days of not feelings 100%.

Refugee Camps in Bethlehem

I had the opportunity to visit the refugee camps of both Deheisha and Aida, which are essentially right in Bethlehem. I had visited Deheisha before with CPT, but I wanted to see a little more of the camp and visit Ibdaa, a community cultural center in the camp. Below are some of my notes from the visits.

Things continue to go well here. Tomorrow (Sun.) I will probably go to Jer. and spend the rest of my time there.

NOTES

Deheisha: I wanted to get a longer tour of the camp and Ibdaa, but there was a group I had to tag along with so Ibdaa didn't have to give me an individual tour. The group was Musicians without Borders, and since they had visited the camp before and had a specific set of questions, I didn't get as much of a general introduction.

Ibdaa estimates they serve 600 children in the camp, and they are the biggest center in the camp. They started in 1994 as a dance troop—an exchange program between dancers in Pal. and France. They now have dance lessons, theatre, a guest house for travelers, a computer lab, and more. They have two large buildings in the camp; the second building (which I didn't see) houses the Health Community Committee (promoting health in the camp), a sewing class for women in the camp, a kindergarten, a library, and an up-coming media center (the first one in a refugee camp in Pal.). They get essentially all of their funding from proceeds from the dance troop. This has proved beneficial, because when other Pal. organizations lost funding when Hamas came to power, Ibdaa didn't lose funding because they make money on their own rather than relying on donations.

Their main building, which houses a computer lab, restaurant, dance studion, and more, they inherited from the UN—the UN used the building to distribute food to the camp.

Deheisha is considered a 5-star camp compared to other ones. Some of this stems from their size (the largest) and the effort they have put into building community and trying to be as self-sufficient as possible. Other camps look up to them.

I was impressed with the little overview of Ibdaa that I got, but I'm concerned that their success could over-shadow some of the poorer camps. However, despite some of Ibdaa's successes, Deheisha camp still lives in poverty (see some of my other previous notes on the camp).

Aida: I connected with a person in charge of the Al-Rowwad cultural center in Aida Camp. We met in Manger Square, in the center of Bethlehem, because Beth. was having its 7^th annual olive harvesting festival and some of the girls from Aida were singing there. The song the girls sang was quite moving and I enjoyed perusing the booths set up around the square—booths selling olive wood carvings, olive oil, etc.

When we drove to Aida camp, I didn't get to speak long with Al-Rowwad's director because he had a lot going on, but it was nice to connect with him, as we have several friends/acquaintances in common in the US. At Al-Rowwad, I also met the brother of a Pal. friend from Seattle, and he invited me to visit with his family later in the evening.

When visiting with his family, I learned that in the last 3 years, the IDF has arrested 200 kids (all under 20) from the camp, and each of the kids has spend at least several years in jail.

Many people can become collaborators (with the Israelis) to make money (they have none) or to get access to things in Israel like hospitals. Sometimes, people will give the IDF names of "militants" just to get what they need; and the names they give can be innocent people.

There are incurions into the camp by the IDF every few nights, in the middle of the night. If you throw a rock, you can spend between 6 months to a year in Israeli jails. If you are Pal. and caught with a gun, you can get up to 10 years in jail.

Most Pal. living here can't visit their relatives living outside Pal., and there are millions of Pal. living outside the country. All families here have relatives living outside the country. Even within Pal., however, it can be impossible to visit other Pal. living in different cities.

I really enjoyed visiting with the family in Aida camp. They were very hospitable and friendly. They send their greetings to their family living in the US.

Jenin, Nablus, Beth.

I heard several loud sounds during the night, my only night in Jenin (Wed.). When I asked my host about it the next morning, he said the sounds I heard were probably Israeli military incursions (downstairs in my building); the IDF makes multiple incursions into Jenin every night, according to my host, who’s a respected peace worker in Jenin and works with the youth there.

My host gave me a tour of old city Jenin Thurs. morning. We had tea in one of his friend’s shops and chatted with several people. I was told that only 60% of the people in Jenin are employed, so this lends to a lot of depression and violence.

On my way out of the city, I was greeted by someone close to my age, and we tried to communicate in Arabic for several blocks. I told him I was catching a taxi to Nablus, but wanted to grab a falafel before I left. He showed me to his favorite falafel stand, then insisted on paying for my falafel, despite my protests. I felt really bad, him paying for my meal, but figured it would be offensive to him not to accept.

Even though Jenin did seem a little more tense than some of the other cities I’ve visited—there’s less foreigners there, and people are less likely to greet you, smile, etc.—I am always surprised at the generosity of the random strangers I meet. It’s a true testament to the hospitality of the communities.


I met up with my next host in Nablus without difficulty. He’s an architect (has a Master’s degree from a univ. in the UK) and is helping to rebuild the old city of Nablus, which has been badly damaged recently by IDF raids. My host told me that the historic centers in Pal. towns are some of the worst damaged by the IDF. These places used to bustle with business, but now mainly the poor inhabit them.

My host’s architectural firm partners with a community program that offers social services to people made homeless by IDF house demolitions. As soon as someone or a family looses a home, they are given a temp. place to live until something is built for them. The social services program is a wide-ranging service that seeks to aid many of the societal needs in Nablus.

My host gave me a tour of the old city. He’s restoring some of the Turkish baths there that date back over 400 years, and I enjoyed seeing some of the renovations. Some of the doors he places he collects from Pal. demolished houses. We walked by a demolished house with a monument. My host told me that the IDF had come one night and bulldozed the house without any warning, burying alive eight people in the house. All of them died. He said that many of the demolishens happen without warning and that IDF incursions into the town happen every night. Pal. are supposed to have complete control—civilly and security-wise—of Nablus, but my most said that Pal. only have control during the day—at night, the IDF reigns.

I attempted to contact some other friends in Nablus, but was not able to find them, so I headed or Beth. Thurs. afternoon, as I did not have a place to stay in Nablus for the night. On my ride to Beth., I talked with a Greek Orthodox Pal. from Beit Sahour (near Beth.). As I’ve already mentioned, Pal. Christians share most of the same frustrations with the IDF that other Pal. have. One thing this man said that struck me: “Security is for the Israelis. The Pal. have none.” He also said that there’s a big rumor going on in Pal. that the US will attack Iran this month. I told him it was possible, but I didn’t know and that any strikes on Iran would probably be very unpopular with the US public.

I arrived in Beth. without any problems, other than stopping multiple times for checkpoints. These IDF checkpoints are not for Israeli security, as they exist between Pal. towns, not between Pal. and Israeli territory.

I accompanied my host in Beth. this morning (Fri.) to Al-Nu’aman, which is Pal. village caught between the wall and the green zone (essentially, in no-man’s land on the border). Technically, the area is considered by the Israelis as part of Jer., but the village gets no services offered to the rest of Jer. There are no roads leading to the village, so plumbers, technicians, electricians, etc. won’t come there. In fact, the people living in the village are considered illegal by the Israeli gov.’t, even though they lived there long before the wall was built or green line moved next to them. We helped the village build a small play-ground for the children. I wasn’t feeling well—soar throat, weakness—so I didn’t do much work.

This afternoon, I found a ride to E. Jer. and spent time at the Wailing Wall. I was hoping to be invited to spend Fri. evening with a Jewish family, but that didn’t happen. However, I did get to watch everyone worship at the wall for several hours. I was quite turned off at the end when a large group of soldiers showed up, M-16s slung over their soldiers; they began worshipping too—dancing, singing, etc. I wondered why it was ok for them and settlers to bring their weapons to the wall, but everyone else had to go through x-ray machines to come in (no guns allowed, etc.).

I want to comment on something I forgot to mention in my last blog. One of the reasons why I choose to speak more about the Pal. side is that I believe it is tremendously unrepresented in the US media. We hear many things from the Israeli perspective, and I think it’s important to here things from the other side as well.

I feel like I’m leaving some things out from the last day or two, but I’ll have to add these things later if I remember them.