Today the group of German Mennonites that I’m traveling with in Palestine visited a village west of Bethlehem where we were treated to a much-needed lunch and learned about the work of Comet Me, an inspiring and satisfyingly tangible collaboration between Israelis and Palestinians to build off-grid electrical projects in Area C of the West Bank.
The West Bank has been divided into areas A, B, and C since the Oslo accords. Area A is under Palestinian civil and security authority. This is mostly cities, like Bethlehem where I am now. Area B is under Palestinian civil authority, but the Israeli military handles the “security.” And in Area C, Israel has both civil and military authority—which means that Israel is technically supposed to provide education and health infrastructure, roads, and electricity and water to the Palestinians who live in the villages of Area C.
If you’ve been following along with me on my trip, you’ll not be surprised that Israel doesn’t follow through on providing, or even allowing access to, basic needs for Palestinians in Area C. You’ll not even be surprised that within yards of many of these villages are electricity and water lines going to Israeli settlements that are within Area C (whenever I mention Israeli settlements, I can’t forget to mention that they are illegal under international law).
Comet Me was founded by a couple Israelis who saw this problem and wanted to shift the system. Now there’s a staff of mostly Palestinians and a few Israelis who work to install solar electric systems, water, and internet in Area C villages. Each system they build is sponsored by an international government—they have relationships with the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, and Ireland. Families pay for use of the infrastructure, but the international sponsors provide the capital to build the systems in the first place. This is extra helpful when settlers or the military try to demolish the systems—international leverage is key to making sure that human rights are respected in this land.
We were lucky to get to hear from some women of the village (and eat their amazing food!) about their experience of getting electricity after years without. Our host told us the story of her marrying into this village, and being told that they were going to get electricity in a week. That week turned into 21 years! Yet another example of Palestine time. Another woman told about last Friday when a bunch of men were stopped and intimidated by settlers as they were coming back from the mosque. In this village, people don’t feel safe being outside after 7 pm because of the threat of settler violence.
I’ve been struggling to write about the situation in Palestine because everything I’m writing has been said before, countless times. But it really hits hard when I sit in a room with these normal, generous, funny, joyful people who are experiencing such hardship, very intentionally put upon them because of their ethnic identity. So I’ll write it again: the Israeli settlement project is brazenly racist, gratuitously violent, and is somehow granted impunity despite its illegality and immorality. But, today was the first time on this trip that I was in a space with an Israeli who said as much. I’m so grateful to know that there are some Israelis who are actively working alongside Palestinians to support human rights and meet basic needs. There’s nothing like a tangible project to bring people together and know that another reality is within reach.
The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
I’m proud to be part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Each Sunday, Julie Gammack shares a roundup of articles that collaborative members have written in the past week. Check out the most recent roundup, here.