Understanding Occupation: The Dheishe Refuge Camp

The bus slowed down...we were nearing the 300 checkpoint for the first time.

The wall cast an ominous shadow on the Israeli side.

We were quiet...blue Passports in hand...hiding our Palestinian tour guide in the back.  Why?  Because technically speaking, as a Palestinian resident of Israel, it was illegal for her to enter into the West Bank.

We breezed through.

Lunch was our first order of business, followed by a walk through the Dheishe Refugee Camp.

The camp, itself, is not what I expected.  Over the years, it had gone from tents to shacks to small structures to stories-high buildings.  As we wound through the narrow streets, one could see that here, unlike on the other side of the wall, people lived on top of people with little to no space of their own.

The shrieks of children running before us announced our arrival.  People came to their windows to see the American delegation who dared to step off the manicured paths of tourism.

Typically, the only tourist foray into the West Bank is to enter the Church of the Nativity: a massive, ancient structure built over the cave where historians say that Jesus was born.  The square outside of Nativity is pristine and populated with shops, restaurants, and a mosque.  It is designed to mimic the tourist sites of downtown Jerusalem.  Tourists are warned by their guides to stick to the Church of the Nativity and to the square and are usually whisked away within 30-40 minutes of arrival.


Tourists come in and out of the West Bank without ever having to see or understand what life in occupied territory is really like.  Most tourists enter and exit the West Bank blind to the reality of occupation.

As we made our way through Dheishe, we learned something of being a Palestinian refugee.

First, Palestinians are extremely hospitable people, and, at the same time, outraged by the injustice of the scenario that they find themselves in.  The tension of hospitality and outrage is a bizarre tension and it added complex layers to our learning.  Being people who seek to offer hospitality to the stranger, they cannot understand why the same kind of hospitality is not being offered to them.

Second, Palestinians are arguably the most well-educated people group among the Arab/Muslim world.  Over and over I heard them emphasize education as a must for their people while, simultaneously, I heard them bemoan the fact that there are no jobs in the West Bank.


"What good is education if there are no jobs?"  I thought to myself...and then out loud to our Palestinian guide.

"Education validates our humanity." was her response.  "Once educated, we can prove to the world that we exist as innovators who can contribute to the global community....  Once educated, we can prove that we have a voice."

Third, Palestinian refugees adamantly protect the status of refugee.  They see this designation as politically important as the term "refugee" garners international sympathy and support.  Palestinian refugees are doing whatever they can do to invite the global community to see them.

As we made our way through Dheishe, we also learned something of being a Palestinian refugee, but we also learned something of being the occupied.

The West Bank is designated in three ways: Area A, B, and C.  Area A is considered to be territory under Palestinian jurisdiction, Area B is considered shared, and Area C is considered to be territory under Israeli Jewish jurisdiction.  We learned of these designations as we stood on the top of a building overlooking a small portion of the West Bank.  From our 360-degree vantage point, we could see all of the Dheishe Camp, a good portion of Bethlehem, and, surrounding both, were high-rise villages known as Settlements.

Settlements are territories within the West Bank where conservative/extremist Israeli Jews have moved in and taken over.  Because of the slogan, "Never Again!", wherever Israeli Jews go, Israeli troopers must accompany and defend.  What's more, in an effort to protect the settlers, guarded, settler-only roadways must be built.  Naturally, settler roads spiderweb throughout all of the West Bank making it next to impossible for Palestinians to get from point A to point B in an easy fashion.  That is, Palestinians are not able to access nor cross over the wall and gun-protected settler roads.  

The result?  Rather than a trip to a friend's home or, for that matter, to the hospital taking 5 minutes, now, it could take a day.  Naturally, the settler roads drastically interrupt friendship, family, commerce, and life itself as countless Palestinians die on their way to the hospital.

Settlements are internationally outlawed...yet they continue to sprout up and grow all over "the Land."

Just as the orange-tiled roofs of the Settlements stick out, so too do the black and gray water reservoirs affixed to the tops of every Palestinian home.  

Curiosity got the best of me again:

"Why do the Palestinian buildings have the black and gray reservoirs on their roofs while the Israeli Jewish (Settlement) homes do not?"

"The Jews control the water in the West Bank." was the response.

"In Area C, right?" I wondered aloud, remembering that the Jews controlled Area C.
 

"The Jews control the water, the electricity, and all of the roads in Area A, B, and C."

Later, I learned that the summer before, the water was shut off to the West Bank for a month.  There is no water crisis in Israel.  This was not an attempt to conserve water.  This was an attempt to dehumanize, demoralize, and destroy the Palestinian people.

I also learned of the difference between my definition of curfew and the Palestinian experience of curfew.  My understanding of curfew is that one is to be home by a certain time.  If not, relatively mild consequences are sure to come: loss of the car keys, grounding, etc.  

When curfew is imposed in the West Bank, it means that you cannot leave your home for any reason and includes the consequence of a bullet and loss of life if broken.

Question: What do you call it when one people group builds a 3'-thick, 25'-high cement wall around another people group and then controls the electricity, water, and roadways and can impose a life-threatening curfew?

Answer: Occupation.