The suffering has increased
by Kathy Bergen**
My last visit to Palestine was in late 2019 when I attended the Sabeel International Meeting in November 2019 and afterwards co-led a group on the theme, “Come and See: Go, Tell and Do.”
The changes in the five years since have been huge. A new road system that Israel has developed around East Jerusalem and into the West Bank is geared specifically to facilitate the travel of settlers from the West Bank and East Jerusalem into West Jerusalem and other points in Israel. The light rail system in Jerusalem is also being expanded for the same purpose. The settlements have grown and many new ones have been established.
The suffering of Palestinians has increased. More homes are being destroyed and Israeli prisons are fuller than ever with Palestinians, including administrative detainees. Torture of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, which has always been part of the Israeli prison system, in this last year has reached its limits of vulgarity. The decimated economy of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is affecting every Palestinian.
One of several Palestinian homes recently demolished in Silwan, East Jerusalem.
Especially in Gaza, but throughout the West Bank, every Palestinian is facing uncertainty. This was difficult and very scary for me to hear. If Israel annexes parts of the West Bank, Palestinians will be left in the large cities in Arab Bantustans without land and without ways to earn a living. Some fear that that they may require permission from the Israeli military to travel from city to another.
We did not visit Palestinians living in Israel, but from conversations I have had with friends, they are also suffering terribly economically. They face daily harassment and imprisonment as second-class “citizens” of Israel.
The overall picture for Palestinians is unpredictable and frightening, yet sumud (steadfast determination) persists. For me, I left with anger for what is happening and resolve to do what I can back in Canada to promote a different path forward.
** Kathy Bergen has been working for Palestinian human rights and a just peace between Palestinians and Israelis since 1982. After living abroad for 35 years – Jerusalem and Ramallah for 17 years, then Geneva, and then Philadelphia – she moved back to Canada to continue this vocation. Currently living in Kitchener, ON, she is a part of three solidarity organizations and local organizing. Kathy enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, watching movies, traveling, and keeping up with the news.