Israel & Palestine: Goodbye Ramallah, Goodbye Israelc

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Elegant white stone or stucco buildings next to charred, bombed out ruins; driver speeding, narrow streets. Surreal; is the driver playing chicken with pedestrians, and who enjoys it most? Cars drive up a one way street; and the atmosphere is totally chaotic.

First appointment was with Brigadier General Jibdil Rajoub, the National Security Advisor for Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. General Rajoub is “supposedly” the most powerful man in the Palestinian Authority, he “is” Minister of Foreign Affairs and acts as Arafat’s special envoy to foreign visitors. He’s been commander of the Preventive Security System for the last eight years. General Rajoub addressed Hamas Affairs, and the “fence”. He answered some tough questions:

• Can this regime control violence against Israelis?
• What specifically is being done or not done to correct the situation?
• Your position on suicide attacks, and are they advancing your (the PLO) cause?
• What specifically do you need in order to create the state of Palestine?
• Is it possible to live in peace with the state of Israel?
• It’s been a long time since elections were held – if Chairman Arafat were to run, what would be his chances of re-election?

We joined Mohammed Horani, member of the Palestinian Parliament; one of the growing groups calling for reforms, changing the current Palestinian Authority and PLO leadership and the directives of Chairman Arafat. Mr. Horani addressed his role in the Hamas cease-fire last year.

A surprise interview brought us to Michael Tarazi’s office. Tarazi is a lawyer for the PLO Negotiation Department, active in confiscation issues over settlements and the “fence”. Mr. Tarazi was one of the spokespersons for the PLO at the Hague. A couple of years ago we had the pleasure of interviewing him when he was in the U.S. for the World Affairs Council. A wealth of information, Tarazi is Minister of Negotiation on Sae Berikat, has been head of the Abumazea Plan; and he solidified for us the PLO perspective on the “wall”. (more to come on this)

Interviews ended with the PLO Minister of Information, Navil Amr; a member of the Legislative Council, and a former Minister of Parliamentary Affairs. While serving in this capacity, Mr. Amr repeatedly called for reforms. His life has been threatened by those who do not believe the last Intifadal should have been peaceful. Mr. Amr has been the PLO Ambassador to Moscow and Iraq. His voice has been a strong one shaping the regime yet a dissident one.

If there was a cohesiveness to the day it was that of the settlement issues and the “wall”. On the Palestinian side it is not a security “fence”, but a 30-foot high barrier separating farmers from their fields, people from their businesses, and families from their loved ones. The impression received from Palestinians was that is was a gauntlet; a deliberate slap across the face and some. It is not an issue that will lead to a peaceful coexistence (from the Palestinian perspective) and prevention of terrorist/”suicide” attacks. If anything, one gathered it (the “wall”) may escalate the violence.

We visited with Anne Roberts and her medical staff at Manwra, a health program for women and children, co-sponsored by IBM.

Manwra educates Palestinian women on health issues that affect their families and their own lives. It especially focuses on the health costs associated with Palestine “occupation” issues; that of a woman in labor not being able to get through checkpoints in time for delivery, and literally having to give birth on the ground with armed soldiers nearby; more than a few of these babies do not survive. Manrwa is also dealing with the vitamin deficiencies that result from meat-fish poor diets that lead to malnourished babies and their mothers.

“At the end of the day,” as Captain Jacob Dallal would say, “it remains to be seen what will happen here, but listen up, it is a huge issue.” Our “end of the day” took us shopping in Ramallah where no traffic rules apply, and negotiation is the only way of life. And the Palestinians pride themselves and enjoy the negotiation game. Hmmnn?

Good-bye Israel.

Holy Week, Easter and Passover, streets blocked, barricades and police everywhere. Incidents expected at the Wailing Wall, high tension in the “city”. Time to leave. Yet not an easy task. The time change to daylight savings time lost us an hour so we hustled to Tel Aviv with no time to spare. This is one place where you’d best be there two hours before take off. Stopped at the entrance to the airport, security was tight; long lines of cars waiting to get into Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion Airport. We waited for 35 minutes while our passports were checked and rechecked, and two different people asked the same questions in different ways. Our luggage was looked at, while others, who had been pulled over after our car, were let go.

The same routine took place at the airport – for one solid hour, luggage was checked through security X-ray (2 times); bags were open and all contents examined; questions were asked by three different people in three different ways, and then again: why cameras, were we journalists, why did we go to so many different places, did we go to Palestine, who did we know in Israel and Palestine, did we know them before, why were we doing this job and so on? The questions were asked by young people under 26, coolly, calmly, detached and very professionally. As they said, they were just doing their job.

The economic and human costs of terrorism were clearly felt in Israel and Palestine.

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