Israelis bulldozed, occupied, then abandoned this Palestinian home in Hebron, leaving behind the fairly racist graffiti in the photos below. Half of the total of all US foriegn aid ($15M/day) goes to aid those responsible for this graffiti.
originally uploaded by joeskillet.
My friend Jonas took those pictures. He’s in Palestine now working with a group called Clowns Without Borders. They do circus stuff in the Palestinian camps for the children, most of them have never seen anything like it before. You might find his most recent email interesting so I’m pasting it below. Check out his poi pictures on flickr too.
Things have been semi-quiet here in Al Khalil (Hebron) since the settler attack the other day. Maybe the police report filed regarding the attack on the Palestinian workers and the international human rights workers actually did some good. There has been extra police and military presence in the area- especially outside of Beit Hadassah, one of four illegal settlements here in Al Khalil. Some rocks are still being flung at the Palestinians who have to walk past the settlement, down their own street, to their own houses. Today was shabbat, so there were many settlers and family of settlers roaming the streets. Just sitting there observing, along with other international peace workers and Israeli anarachists– we received calls of “Hitler!” “Nazi!” Among other words that I will refrain from writing here. A group of internationals came to tour Hebron and several rocks were thrown. We went and asked the soldier to stop the settler kids and they did.
Yesterday, some Palestinians were being detained at the checkpoint. So, because my friend Katie and I were practicing our circus skills in the street, we decided to relocate ourselves to the checkpoint and add some levity to the situation. Katie spun her poi and I threw around some juggling pins. We did so for several minutes and received applause from some of the onlookers. The detainees were released soon thereafter into their rightful land. One of the soldiers, an ex-circus performer from Ethiopia, earlier that day joined Katie and another international on the street. He took off his helmet, vest, and even his GUN, laid it beside them, and proceeded to do some backflips on the street. Showing our presence here, especially through non-violent circus action, seemigly is having an effect…
And surely that was true for last night. Katie and I purchased some kerosene and soaked up our poi. Apparently, the word spread around Al Khalil that there was going to be a performance involving the use of fire. We headed to the courtyard of a Palestinian man’s house. Nearly 50 Palestinian children hovered around us. Backup was called in to make sure the children would not get too close as to catch fire. We performed twice, spinning the fire around and around to cheers of “Katie! Katie! Katie!” “Yunis! Yunis! Yunis! (Jonas is Arabic!” It was amazing and super-exciting. I do believe that it was the first time Al Khalil has experienced the art of fire poi–brightening up the lives of these kids living this choking Occupation, under the gun. Most have been born into this wretched settler presence. It was great to help them get their minds off of it, even if for only an hour or two.
Katie and I have been asked to return, to perform every Friday night. We have agreed to do so. In the meantime, we will continue to practice our skills on Shuhadda (Martyr) Street–making our non-violent, fun-filled presence known.
Check out more of these fire photos and more as they come at http://www.flickr.com/photos/35458238@N00/
Peace out! Salamaat
Yunis