Iraq Burin

Hello again,

I feels a duty to post again after ending yesterday with "to be continued". Especially since confrontations with settlers maybe the second most scary thing activists do. The most frightening being the taxi drivers' driving. I've not had a settler face down experience so I am quoting the more experienced and the taxi driver "joke" is based on truth but really not as bad as settlers or so I am told.

Today was boring. Hours of sitting and watching....soldiers 0n the distance hillside across the wadi and then settlers in the same area. (The hillside in the background of this picture is the area where they appeared.) But they did not approach the village. We stay from 11 AM until about 4 PM. Someone said, "We should not leave until we are sure the settlers have really gone." - as if such were a possibilities. The settlers live in the settlement about 1.5 km from the village. Their return is almost guaranteed if history really does repeat itself. It might have happened at 4:30 PM today or later tonight or whenever. Attacks/raids seem to happen with more frequency on the Jewish Sabbath - go figure.

I joined an elderly gentleman on the rooftop of the building in the above picture. He used to teach English in Nablus. I asked, "How could two states work with settlements and settler roads dividing the areas so?" He replied, "There can be no peace until the settlements are gone." He told me much more including: "Yesterday the soldiers drove into Iraq Burin during prayer time at the Mosque. The boys came out and started throwing stones. The soldiers responded with tear gas." I doubt this event made the news in the USA; such events seem so common that they don't even seem to make the news here.

I could walk to Iraq Burin from our house. It would a rugged hike; I would guess about two hours. If the road on our side of the mountain were not blocked, we could catch a taxi there and arrive in about 15 minutes. Instead we have to circle around through the city of Nablus paying about triple and taking about an hour. We actually did talk about walking but two of our group are not up for such an effort and the route would not be terribly what with settlers, soldiers, and Palestinians all watching the area and expecting trouble. Such is life in Palestine. The Palestinians will be the first to say, "It is not good now but better than it used to be."

From my lips to your ears. I wish this blog had sound. This guy was classic HEE HAW.

with Peace, Fred