Palestine News Network, Palestinian Territories

The narrative of a young woman: her eyes, life and hope under occupation
04.07.08 – 15:15

Bethlehem / Manar Wahhab – I will begin with the story of leaving in
1948 with the words of my grandmother. `Before the British left in May
1948, they humiliated the Arabs.

We used to think that they sold petrol for only five dinars but when
we opened the bottles we discovered that they sold us water!’

She continued, `I want to tell you what had happened to me and my
family when we lived in Al-Ramlah [a village the Israelis took in
1948]¦my six children and I sat at home [one of her children is my
father]. Two men knocked on the door. When we opened the door, they
told us to leave the house because there would be clashes. We didn’t
believe them. I was cooking for my children. Then we suddenly heard
shelling and bombing. I took my children and went to the Catholic
convent to hide. There we met a lot of people, both Christians and
Muslims. The children were afraid and cried because of the sounds they
heard. There was no food or water anymore. So we were obliged to bring
what we had in our houses. The Israeli soldiers told the boys and men
to visit a specific place if they wanted to get permission to be in
the streets, but the Israelis were lying: when the men went to the
place they all were taken to prison. The Israeli airplanes shelled
most of the houses. The snipers killed many boys, men, women, and
children, even dogs and cats in the street.’

My grandmother went on. `After a few days my brother who lived in
Bethlehem came to Al-Ramlah to take me and my sons with him, my
husband didn’t come but he followed us after that. Many families in
Al-Ramlah left their houses and went to other places. Some of them
went to Nablus, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jordan, and even some immigrated to
America. The Jews took a lot of gold and jewelry from the women. They
sold it and bought weapons with the money. After they won, they were
happy; they drank wine and whiskey. Threw the bottles in the air and
broke them on the streets.’

Starting a new life in Bethlehem for my father and his family wasn’t
so easy and of course for the other refugees because they had to adapt
for the new environment, find jobs and places to live. For my father
and his family, and some other people, they were lucky because they
have relatives in Bethlehem, but others had to build tents and that
what we now call refugee camps.

People thought that they will just stay for a while and go back home,
but unfortunately they did not realize what the days held for them so
they waited and waited. Eventually after so much time passed they
decided to build homes. Refugees used to take food and medical help
from the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) and until this
day we have the refuge card with which we can take food from the
UNRWA. My grandfather found a job in Bethlehem working in a
café, and after that he dug artesian wells. So life continued
and my dad grew up, married my mom, and they had my two sisters and
me. I grew up hearing about how we are refugees and sometimes my
grandmother told stories. Until now I ask and want to know more and
more.

I will always keep asking for our rights. I will always tell and teach
young people about the Palestinian story so as to pass the torch to
every new generation to continue the march for freedom.

The following is a story that happened in 1967 in Bethlehem, this is
also coming from my grandmother’s words. She stayed in Bethlehem and
didn’t go back to Al-Ramlah. `I was with my son [who is my dad now]
going to the market to buy some vegetables and fruits. While we were
walking, we saw airplanes in the sky. At first we thought that they
were Jordanian. A car came and a man shouted from the window at the
people and urged them to go home because these airplanes are Israeli
and would shell the area. We all went quickly to our houses. I held my
son under my arms and ran home. They kept shelling every night. Then
the Israelis soldiers entered Bethlehem. They used to walk in the
streets without any fear. They felt safe and secure. We looked at them
from the windows without making noise so as not to be seen. The war
ended after only six days.’

She added, `On the morning of 5 June 1967, while we sat at home, we
heard bombing and shelling. We went quickly to a nearby cave to
hide. Nearly 60 persons were hiding in the cave. During the nights
nothing happened, we used to go out and to look at the places that had
been shelled in the early morning. At one point we saw many Israeli
airplanes; initially we thought that they belonged to Iraq and that
there is still war out there but unfortunately the war ended in six
days and because of that they also call this war `The Six Day War.’
After this war the Israelis entered the West Bank. After many years
when the first Intifada began in 1987 the Israeli government began to
require permission for people to come and go between the West Bank and
inside the Israeli boundaries. Life continued up until now but with
more hurt more pain, less land, unclear dreams and hope.’

My father lived his life in Bethlehem because he was still a kid when
his family was forced to flee from their city. He cannot remember
much. When I ask my dad about Al-Ramlah he does not say much but he
always tells to me `go to your grandmother she knows everything’ and I
do go to her and ask her about the life there. She always tells me
more things that I didn’t know. My mother is not a refugee. She lived
in Bethlehem all her life. She met my father in Bethlehem and they
stayed in Bethlehem. My dad took me, my sisters and my mom to
Al-Ramlah once when I was a kid but this was the last time and I can’t
remember anything. In my dad’s house there is now a Jewish family
living in it. I remember once I asked my grandmother about if she and
my grandfather went to see their house. She said, `Yes, we did go but
we were shocked because a Jewish family was living in it and this
Jewish family didn’t allow us to go in and visit the house. It was all
very hurtful and difficult. So we can’t think about doing something in
this place because it is not our choice.’

Having a refugee status for me is like a reminder for all of us to
remember that there is a right that we should keep asking and
insisting for until we get it. It reminds us that still there is
occupation, it reminds us of the pain that people feel everyday, it
reminds us of the dear land which we can’t reach, it reminds us of
many things and especially that we have to continue and handle the
pain so as to reach the day that peace and justice will be prevail.

My name is Manar Ghaleb Jaleel Wahhab. I’m 22 years old. I live with
my family: My father Ghaleb, my mother Ivette, and my two sisters,
Dima who is 24 and Rawan who is 21. I’m a refugee from Al-Ramlah
city. It was taken by the Israelis in 1948. I graduated from Bethlehem
University with a B.A in Business Administration as my Major, with a
Minor in Marketing. I live in Bethlehem city near Al Azzeh Refugee
Camp. I live in a Christian – Muslim environment. I went to St. Joseph
School for Girls. Also I’m an old and active member in the St. Joseph
Girl Scout’s. I’m engaged to an Armenian Palestinian young man. His
name is Milad Vosgueritchian.

I like swimming, football, drawing, music (especially I like
violin). I’m learning how to play on this musical instrument with the
help of my teacher who is my father in law. He is also a musician. I
have a talent to play on musical instruments without knowing the
notes. Beside that I have the talent to write (poets and other
things).

I have a sociable personality that reaches towards that of
comedians. When I’m with my friends I try to handle their pain by
entertaining them. I have a strong personality, with self-confidence,
and I like to help people.

I speak Arabic (of course), English, French, and Hebrew. I learned
Hebrew by watching Israeli programs on TV.

My dream is to live one day with my husband in a small house and feel
safety and stability. Also I dream that one day I will have a horse
and ride it freely on my land, which leads to the biggest dream of
all: which is to see Palestine free one day. I hope so.

Living in Palestine is a matter of fighting for living instead of
dying: fighting for success instead of dying with shame, waiting for
hopes and dreams, and looking to the future in a positive way.

Living in Palestine is like being in a big prison. You can feel that
you are turning around yourself; you feel sometimes that you can’t
develop or improve¦why? Because of the depressions that we go
through because the Israeli government in its procedures is always
succeeded in making the Palestinian people ill psychologically. For
example geographically we are actually living on 54 percent of West
Bank and especially with the Wall being here, it’s really awful, ugly,
dividing and it makes me feel really sad, bad, but it gives me more of
a challenge to keep going and fighting for my rights especially to
live freely without any fear or problems. That is the main secret or
thing that Israel couldn’t kill: the dream, the hope, the smile, and
especially the insistence and the steadfastness that the Palestinian
people have to regain their occupied land. For example, my
fiancé, Milad, must go through an Israeli checkpoint daily and
let the solders see his identity card so as to let him pass to his
home. Also I have to pass through this checkpoint every day to reach
my work ¦ This checkpoint is humiliating. You never know how much
time you need to reach your place because it depends on the mood of
the soldiers….is it fair?????

The movement between the Palestinian cities and villages is really
hard because of the large number of checkpoints and the tough
procedures on the checkpoints. There is no freedom and this is what
we, and all the people all over the world, need. The familial
relationships are really negatively affected because of the
checkpoints and the Wall which divide families from each other. They
weaken and lessen the relationships.

We have a depression in our economy, lack of jobs, and increase in the
number of the population. This is really a dangerous problem and it
became more dangerous when they built the Wall. Israel took all the
good land; the agricultural land, the water sources. Actually Israel
took all the good land and put us in a closed hopeless place. (That
also you will see on the map). People don’t know what to do, where to
work, how to bring money. It is absolutely not easy. Our economy is
going down. Families are not able to pay the fees for school and
university studying and because of that a big slice of the nation has
left their studies and work to get money to live. And lots of young
kids are working now to help there families. The siege raised and
doubled this problem.

On the other hand I can say that the problem is not in searching for
food or drink and having fun. It is a nation’s pain, hurt and unheard
voices that are represented in the daily suffering and difficulties
that the people face. We are distracted by watching our occupied
country become worse as we still wait for freedom.

The positive side is that in spite of this hard situation still we
have hope. We can see the light of the candle that pushes us to
continue our march toward our freedom. We still have the smile and
hope because Palestinian people are still longing for their
freedom. We have hope because our land is very valuable to us. It is
something that we feel belongs to us. We feel the pain of our land and
we belong to it. The Palestinians will always be hopeful, generation
after generation. I also find hope through my grandmother’s stories
of Palestine and the original place that we belong to.

It is also important for me to know about the situation, such as that
the Israeli government continues to demolish the houses of the
Palestinian people. ¦Why? Because they are guilty of having a house
on their own land (Palestinians)?!!!! The Israel government wants just
to take land so as to expand the size of Israel. Israeli report: A
demolition of 18,000 (eighteen thousand) houses in the West Bank since
1967. Also the International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights
announced that the Israeli occupation forces killed during the month
of January 96 citizens, 87 of whom died in the Gaza Strip, and 71
citizens were killed in assassination operations, and there where 10
kids among those killed. The Israeli occupation forces increased the
prison population as well. They arrested over 540 citizens, including
more than 50 children under the age of eighteen years old, and three
women and many, many other Palestinian people. The arrests included
numbers of children and women, in addition to dozens of workers who
have been arrested for entering Israel without having permits to
enter. Israel has arrested a quarter of the Palestinian population
since it began its occupation. Most of them are taken for illogical
and unjust reasons. The people in the prisons are affected
psychologically and physically from treatment and torture in prisons
and there is abundant evidence of that. One of the smallest and newest
examples of this is that there is a prisoner from Jerusalem who has
lost 90 percent of his eyesight. He is in Administrative Detention:
that means he was never charged or tried. The Prison Service did not
to treat him despite repeated requests. Every morning we see the
numbers, more people killed, how many were arrested, what is the
solution, and many other topics.

My fiancé Milad and I are trying really hard to save money you
cannot imagine the really hard conditions in which we are living. We
have to build ourselves from the beginning. Our families cannot help
us because they too do not have enough money even to live
normally. This is the situation of almost all the Palestinians. I’m
not saying that there are no rich people; there are rich families. But
the middle class has become the poor class and the poor have become
even more impoverished. Because of that it’s a struggle of
surviving. For example I said before that I finished a B.A in
Business. Me and my sisters all had scholarships from the Catholic
Patriarch and from a American institution because there was no money
to pay. The same happened for my fiancé.

We are a nation that no Wall, no checkpoints, no demolishing of
houses, nor persecutions, can destroy us. We keep insisting on our
freedom ¦we are the powerful nation.

Jerusalem is less than half an hour from Bethlehem but I cannot go
there more than two times a year: Christmas and Easter. You have to
request permission from the Israelis to enter our churches to
pray. Some people don’t get the permission. They are denied, forbidden
to enter Jerusalem their entire lives. Imagine if someone forbade you
to move within your own country. It is easier for me to go around the
world than it is to go to Jerusalem.

I’m a member of the Arab Educational Institute (AEI- Open Windows)
whose mission stands for nonviolence, peace, justice, and human
rights. It works through community building such as schools,
principals, teachers, students, youth, women, and parents through four
programs.

In the Arab Educational Institute they do RRCA which stands for (Read,
Reflect, Communicate and Act). They read from the holy books like the
bible and the Qur’an or from nonviolence books about people like
Gandhi. They read the subject, reflect upon it and then every one
explains his belief. They all then communicate the results together
and they also try to act upon what they read. They also celebrate
things like the United Nations Day for Peace, communicate with
schools, conduct sit-ins and protests against the occupation, all done
in a nonviolent and spiritual manner.

Now I am working as a public relations officer and projects
coordinator in our new small center which was established by my
fiancé and his brother (Milad and Noubar
Vosgueritchian). Establishing this center in the midst of a population
that is diverse was challenging for them.

The center seeks and aims to help society, particularly the kids and
youth that are gifted with a variety of talents and abilities; because
these are the pillars on which a healthy society should
stand. Guiding, directing, and channeling these groups’ abilities
promotes the process of evolvement of opportunities towards the
acquisition of culture, literature and the various forms of
arts. Moreover the vision of the center looks for strengthening the
Palestinian youth by raising their awareness regarding teaching new
concepts and terms such as learning other cultures, including that of
Palestine, human rights, nonviolence, peace and justice.

`Don’t react violently but relax and take it easy.’ That is what I
believe.

We as Palestinians are fed up with violence and believe in the path of
nonviolence which resonates for effectively throughout the world.

Some German non-violence communication teachers (those who follow
Marshall Rosenberg) gave us as Palestinian Muslim and Christian youth
in the AEI a course about NVC (nonviolent communication). It went so
well and we benefited from this experience. For me I learned that I
should not blame the other (sister, friend, neighbors, even
Israelis). I should always think and ask about the reason and
background of the things, and I should have deep insight into the
problem, and also search for the truth before making any decision.

If I did the PR for Palestine I would do my best to reach people in
the world, people who see in life things more than eating, sleeping
and just having fun all the time while at the same time there are
people in other parts of the world fighting for their survival. If I
did the PR for Palestine I would talk to every foreigner who come to
this Holy Land and let him/her see and feel the truth in our eyes, in
our lives, in our facts¦I would speak with tourists and go with
them to different places to let them see with their own eyes what is
happening so as not just to depend on the eye of the camera ( what
they see on TV) which is controlled by Zionist lobby¦ because if
the western world wants to know the whole truth they should stop
depending on what they see on TV and start searching for other ways to
reach the real truth. If I did the PR for Palestine I would distribute
books to the foreigners; books that are written by Palestinian people
and refugees, books for Palestine, and books talking about the
Palestinian pain. Also I will use every technological way like
websites and make use of my Internet access to also spread the word of
truth.

In the end, pressure leads to explosions. That explains what happened
in the Gaza Strip. The breakthrough in the Gaza Strip for me and for
all people who understand what it means to be blocked in without
water, without food, without basic needs, and who understand what it
means to be in a bird cage, can understand what happens in the Gaza
Strip. People there did this not just because they want food and other
needs, people there wanted to feel free. They are under such
tremendous pressure really. Please if you want to feel a small part of
what it is like being locked in your city, do this: enter your room
don’t take food and water. Turn off the electricity and lock the
door. What would you do? Ask yourself really. For me I know this
feeling because I used to live under curfews and closures, especially
the 40 days of curfew in Bethlehem. During curfew no one can go out of
their home, no matter what is his need. If the soldiers saw someone in
the street they would shoot him or throw gas at him, or they would
take him to prison. I watched this many times through the windows, and
it even happened to me. What I’m trying to say is that we must break
through. We are fed-up. We are finished living like this. We want
freedom and dignity like anyone else in the world. At this moment I
will like I will explode. But I am grateful to have a pen and a piece
of paper to write this on, to write down my pain, my fear, my desire
for freedom and my hope that we will achieve it.

Shots, bombs, tanks, bullets, jeeps, military helicopters, F-16s, I
got used to these things. In the beginning when I for the first time
heard and saw tanks and military jeeps I was frightened especially
when there was shooting in the night where the Israelis turn off the
electricity in the area. That also means that they will attack
there. I am used to this now. So now if during the day when I hear
shooting or I see military jeeps I don’t feel so afraid because they
are coming in these days to Bethlehem to arrest people or to pass
through, to remind us that they are in control. I used to collect
bullet shells. Now I don’t find as many. But the numbers of prisoners,
killed, handicapped, and emotionally destroyed by the Israeli
occupiers are too high.

I believe in nonviolence and that education is the most important tool
we have. We have a 90 percent rate of educated people in
Palestine. But now that number is going down because of the Wall, the
land confiscation, the siege and the economic collapse due to
those. There are also families leaving, and if not entire families,
the young people are leaving in droves when they get any opportunity.

My message is one of hope: we want justice and freedom. And we want
you to come here and see the reality.

We are people of life, not people for death.

Written by: Manar G. Jaleel Wahhab
Arab Palestinian Christian refugee
FREE PALESTINE

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress