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| Monastery home to Cremisan Winery |
Last year I went with Mazin to see what was happening in a small village near Bethlehem called Al-Walaja. Israel was in the process of building the apartheid wall all the way around the village in order to expropriate all of the agricultural land from which it lives, and to contain/imprison its inhabitants. The specific reason for taking the land is to give it to one of the surrounding settlements, Har Gilo; and the wall will further restrict the movements of Palesltinians who live so near to West Jerusalem. If you can imagine a small fertile valley full of oliv e and fruit trees and on the hill across the valley a big city - that would be the land that used to belong to Al-Walaja and the Jerusalem that Al-Walajans are not allowed to visit.
This year Mazin took me and my co-hort Doris to update us on the progress of the wall. But first we went to Cremisan, on the outskirts of the small Christian city of Beit Jala. It is the only Palestinian winery, and is located on the premises of an active Catholic monastery. It includes a beautiful wooded park (the only one in the area) and 1500 acres of agricultural land studded with exquisite terraces, vineyards and olive trees. Israel has given notice that it will build the wall through the middle of the monastery's 1500 acres of land or spare it and build it instead around neighboring Al-Walaja, a clear example of "divide and conquer." The winery has petitioned Israel to build the wall so as to separate the business from Palestine and include it on the Israeli side of the wall -- better for its bottom line.
The Christian residents of this area are furious with Cremisan for asking to become part of Israel and taking the park, vineyards and trees with them. They are organizing protests in the form of a Catholic mass just outside of the gates of Cremisan. Mazin, Doris and I joined them last Friday afternoon for their 4th weekly protest-mass. While it was a lovely ceremony, quite well attended by about 50 people (grown from 30 at the first protest), it was not effective except as an organizing tool. Mazin, the intrepid activist, intends to try to get them to be more militant, and to join forces with Al-Walaja, their Muslim neighbor less than a mile away.T
When the mass was over, we drove that mile to Al-Walaja, passing the Cremisan terraces on the way. Our first stop was to view the dirt road that will be the wall's path coming down a hill towards us and a lone house whose owner has refused to sell to the Israelis. Maybe he has legal title that Israel could not easily challenge, so the wall will encircle the house, leaving only one gate from which to leave and enter the home. Thirty feet from the house itself a special tunnel is being built to go under the wall so this family can get to the Palestinian side of the wall to go to work and school, clinics and friends. I am wondering about this very expensive arrangement. Is it to accommodate the family, or to make them pay a high emotional price for their recalcitrance?
We drove a litle farther up ovver the hill separating Cremsan from Al-Walaja. Here we could see the wall passing within ten feet of a two story house, and then coming to an abrupt halt. Regardless of such gaps in the unfinished project of enclosing the village, the way has already been marked by bulldozed land and an unpaved road. Thus we can easily see how much land Al-Walaja will lose. This sight had a physical effect on me and on Doris. When we got home, we had no appetite for dinner.
This year Mazin took me and my co-hort Doris to update us on the progress of the wall. But first we went to Cremisan, on the outskirts of the small Christian city of Beit Jala. It is the only Palestinian winery, and is located on the premises of an active Catholic monastery. It includes a beautiful wooded park (the only one in the area) and 1500 acres of agricultural land studded with exquisite terraces, vineyards and olive trees. Israel has given notice that it will build the wall through the middle of the monastery's 1500 acres of land or spare it and build it instead around neighboring Al-Walaja, a clear example of "divide and conquer." The winery has petitioned Israel to build the wall so as to separate the business from Palestine and include it on the Israeli side of the wall -- better for its bottom line.
The Christian residents of this area are furious with Cremisan for asking to become part of Israel and taking the park, vineyards and trees with them. They are organizing protests in the form of a Catholic mass just outside of the gates of Cremisan. Mazin, Doris and I joined them last Friday afternoon for their 4th weekly protest-mass. While it was a lovely ceremony, quite well attended by about 50 people (grown from 30 at the first protest), it was not effective except as an organizing tool. Mazin, the intrepid activist, intends to try to get them to be more militant, and to join forces with Al-Walaja, their Muslim neighbor less than a mile away.T
When the mass was over, we drove that mile to Al-Walaja, passing the Cremisan terraces on the way. Our first stop was to view the dirt road that will be the wall's path coming down a hill towards us and a lone house whose owner has refused to sell to the Israelis. Maybe he has legal title that Israel could not easily challenge, so the wall will encircle the house, leaving only one gate from which to leave and enter the home. Thirty feet from the house itself a special tunnel is being built to go under the wall so this family can get to the Palestinian side of the wall to go to work and school, clinics and friends. I am wondering about this very expensive arrangement. Is it to accommodate the family, or to make them pay a high emotional price for their recalcitrance?
We drove a litle farther up ovver the hill separating Cremsan from Al-Walaja. Here we could see the wall passing within ten feet of a two story house, and then coming to an abrupt halt. Regardless of such gaps in the unfinished project of enclosing the village, the way has already been marked by bulldozed land and an unpaved road. Thus we can easily see how much land Al-Walaja will lose. This sight had a physical effect on me and on Doris. When we got home, we had no appetite for dinner.
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| Pritest Mass |
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| Ancient terraces to be lost to the wall. |
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| One family's tunnel under the wall |
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| Mazin and Doris |
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| Al-Walaja's prison wall in construction |
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