Supporting Palestine….
February 26th, 2008It’s been 6 months since I last walked on Palestinian soil. Life here has taken over and prevented me from doing a lot of the work I had hoped or envisioned myself doing for the Palestinians. However, it has not made me forget. I miss that place. I especially miss the people there. I’ve spent this time processing what I learned about the history of Palestine, what I saw, what I experienced and how I want to continue my work there.
Teaching Under Apartheid in Palestine
August 23rd, 2007by: Lina
When I first decided to go to Palestine to teach kids English and yoga my main concerns were managing the kids’ behavior, assessing their needs and maintaining their interest. After all, those are the most challenging issues I face everyday in my classroom in Philadelphia. In the US I rarely get through an entire unit and to actually teach without a behavior related incident interrupting class is a very rare event. I quickly found it to be quite the opposite in Tel Rumeida which left me feeling like a fish out of water in the beginning.
Subverting Apartheid
August 23rd, 2007more photos here
This summer, the International Solidarity Movement, Art Under Apartheid and Tel Rumeida Project teamed up to take over 100 Palestinian children from Hebron to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the beach in Jaffa.
This was no easy task.
West Bank Palestinian residents over the age of 16 are not allowed into Israel but those under 16 are allowed. In fact, there is no legal way to prevent them from entering because they do not have ID cards yet. But most of these kids will never get to visit Jerusalem or go to the sea because their parents are not allowed in to take them.
Summer Class schedule
July 16th, 2007| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| Yoga | English | English | English | Art | ||
| 2:30-3:30 little girls |
2:30-3:30 little girls |
2:30-3:30 little girls |
2:30-3:30 little girls |
2:00-3:00 girls |
||
| 3:30-4:30 big girls |
3:30-4:30 big girls |
3:30-4:30 big girls |
3:30-4:30 big girls |
3:00-4:00 boys |
||
| 4:30-5:30 boys |
4:30-5:30 boys |
4:30-5:30 boys |
4:30-5:30 boys |
Trips to the beach and to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem
July 10th, 2007
photo from last year’s trip, sponsored by the Tel Rumeida Project
Most children in Tel Rumeida have never been to the sea before or to the Dome of the Rock and the al Aqsa mosque. The apartheid wall and checkpoints prevent Palestinians over the age of 17 from entering Jerusalem or Israel. Children under 17 who do not yet have Palestinian IDs (hawiyyas) are allowed to enter, but most never get the chance because their parents cannot take them.
This summer Art Under Apartheid along with the International Solidarity Movement and the Tel Rumeida project will join up to take the kids from Tel Rumeida to the mosque and to the beach in Yaffo.
Painting murals on the inside of the community center
April 23rd, 2007When given paper and art supplies, many of the kids draw scenes of violence. In this lesson we talked about how even though they cannot control any of the violence that happens outside, they are able to control what happens inside. We asked them to draw pictures that would be transfered to the walls of the community center, showcasing what they wished the life outside would be like. These are the results:
Teach-in at Tel Rumeida checkpoint
February 1st, 2007by ISM Hebron, February 1st
Today at 2pm ISM Hebron held a teach-in at the Tel Rumeida checkpoint in Hebron. The kids learned about Martin Luther King Jr. and his successful non-violent struggle for the freedom and civil rights of black people in the United States. We compared the situation of black Americans during segregation to the lack of freedom for Palestinians, particularly in the area of Tel Rumeida where they cannot drive, or walk around freely and are subjected to ID checks and house invasions.
