United Nations Day for Solidarity with the Palestinian People - Sabeel-Kairos Blog
Lynn McAllister has written a blog for us on behalf of the Sabeel-Kairos organisation on the United Nations Day for Solidarity with the Palestinian People and the ongoing situation in the Holy Land.
The belongings of 73 people who were forcibly displaced by Israeli forces stand in the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank. Photograph: United Nations
Sunday 29th November is the United Nations Day for Solidarity with the Palestinian people, and today, more than ever, that solidarity is needed. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic there has been a spike in the numbers of Palestinian homes demolished by the Israeli authorities. In 2020 Israel has, so far, demolished 700 buildings and, as a result, 869 Palestinians have lost their homes in the West Bank – this includes what the UN noted was the “largest demolition of Palestinian homes in a decade” when the Bedouin village of Khirbet Humsa was demolished on 4th November, leaving 73 people including 41 children homeless.
As well as an increase in home demolitions, whilst the world's attention is focused elsewhere, the lack of travel during the pandemic has meant that farmers have not benefitted from the protective prescence of international volunteers. They have been more vulnerable to the violent actions of settlers who have, for example, prevented farmers and their families from accessing their olive trees during the harvest season, burnt down years old olive trees or stolen the olives from the trees before the farmers could get to them.
Olive harvesting in the Hosan village, Bethlehem. Photo: courtesy of Shireen Elayan
Shireen Elayan lives on the family farm outside Bethlehem; the family has owned the farm for generations. As a Palestinian she is forbidden to use the gate in the fence that divides her family's land, so she has to go around the settlement on a big road, to reach it. The settlers have the key to the gate and she feels very vulnerable.
“The day before yesterday five young settlers attacked us and threw stones at us, when we were picking olives,” she says. “It was frightening, especially for the children who started crying, feeling very afraid. Yesterday six other settlers tried to steal our harvest. It makes me very sad.” (Oct 2020)
Read the full interview with Shireen on the World Council of Churches website.
Despite the many threats to the continued existence of the Palestinians in the Holy Land, Mitri Raheb, a Lutheran pastor in Bethlehem describes planting olive trees as the hopeful vision of the future. He says “if we plant a tree today, there will be shade for the children to play in, there will be oil to heal the wounds and there will be olive branches to wave when peace arrives”. You can sponsor olive tree planting from the UK through Zaytoun or Embrace the Middle East.