Fundraising by Buba

While genocide is going on in Gaza, as declared by Israeli ministers themselves, the violent, always openly declared program of land annexation by Israeli settlers continues in the West Bank.

I write from At-Tuwani, one of the many Palestinian villages south of Hebron where I am spending a few months with Operation Dove, alongside the Palestinian nonviolent resistance. The people who inhabit these villages have been living under occupation for almost 58 years, surrounded by endless illegal settlements inhabited by settlers. The area where I am, called Area C, is 60 percent of the occupied Palestinian territories, and it is under Israeli civil, administrative and military control, which means that in order to get a building permit you have to apply to the Israeli authority. But building permits are almost always denied. So Palestinians living in the area still build but most of the homes, schools, and livestock facilities receive a demolition order. Bulldozers, escorted by jeeps of soldiers and police, move unannounced through the streets of these villages to destroy bits of life, within minutes.

Whichever way you look, expanses of settlements tower above the landscape, constantly expanding. I became aware of this expansionist dynamic very clearly when I immersed myself in this land again a few days ago. In just a few months, settlements have taken up more and more space, new outposts have sprung up that increase the siege atmosphere, leaving a sense of claustrophobia that almost takes your breath away. Red-roofed terraced houses, equipped with everything necessary for prosperity and growth, contrast sharply with the dilapidation of Palestinian villages, which are not even entitled to access to water sources.

After Oct. 7, the situation has worsened: control of the area has shifted totally into the hands of Israeli settlers, who decide people's daily lives, intimidating, attacking, invading, arresting, stealing time, mocking.

I have two still images in my mind, dating back to my first days here: an elderly Palestinian shepherd, who knows his land well, watches as four armed settler kids, who have just invaded that space of his, having fun scaring him away with eyes full of fatigue. We looked with him in the same direction, trying to take a piece of that fatigue away from him, so that it would weigh a little less.

The next day a boy my age rejoiced at the arrival of the police; we next to him waited for the police to remove the settler who was grazing among his olive trees. It was a very intense moment to share, without even saying a word to each other. How it ended is another story, or perhaps still the same.

In order to support Operation Dove, the Nonviolent Peace Corps of the Pope John XXIII Community, with whom I am in Palestine, I have decided to open a fundraising campaign so that volunteers can continue to walk alongside Palestinian communities, sharing with elderly pastors and young boys the struggle of nonviolent resistance.

Thank you for your support!