Life in Walajah By Suzy Allott

I have to say that I've started writing this a few times, but every time I've given up as the words seemed a little empty. The past few weeks in my new home have been, typically, both great and heart breaking. I'm now working in the village Walajah. It's great to be part of such a small, close community, and as such I'm having to walk up all of the steep hills around here to work off all of the food I'm being fed at every opportunity! It can be so quiet and peaceful here, that it's easy to forget about the 'situation' (as everyone here calls it!), and think that I'm living in some pretty Mediterranean town (which I am).

However, and there's always a however, in the past week and a half there's been three incursions by the army. The first was to demolish a building and a house. After much arguing, a local lawyer prevented the home demolition, but the outbuilding was destroyed. The second was in the early hours. The army came and forced a family out of their home with tear gas and sound grenades. They then forced the father of the family to strip to his underwear in the freezing cold and lay on the ground before arresting him. His crime?

He works for an orphanage in Bethlehem that is supported by the social services part of Hamas. He is still detained. His teenage daughter who I've been helping with her English homework was too upset to attend an exam last week. The third is the one that always gets me. Two days ago the home of Monder Hamad was demolished for the second time this year, to make way for 'the wall' deemed illegal by the International court. So this is my problem: witnessing this was one of the most traumatic points of my life, and this isn't my house, my village or even my country.

How can i scrape together the words to describe how heart breaking it is to watch such a personal injustice occur? A family torn apart by well armed teenagers with all of the power, friends and family kept away unable to offer comfort. A few of us able to help the family empty their lives out onto the street before.... Even as I write it now it seems empty. The soldier's reply to the desperate question: 'where shall we live?'....'We gave you a tent last time.'

So do me a favour, think about how this would make you feel, spare us a thought over the holidays, and next time you hear about Hamas refusing to recognise Israels right to exist bear in mind the continuous humiliations and tragedies inflicted on every Palestinian: man, woman and child.

Suzy Allott.

A former community development worker for Leeds Voice, Suzy visited Palestine for the first time a couple of years ago and is now working with a couple of charities in Walajah and Beit Jala on an independent basis, both of which are near to Bethlehem and are being torn apart by the Israeli wall. She's been going out there for a few months at a time over the last few years and working with the international group Human Rights Watch.

This time however she has sold her house in Leeds and used the profits to pay for an extended stay - as long as she can afford to and as long as the Israeli's keep stamping her visa.

She's doing a bit of everything with them, basic skills training, teaching them how to apply for international funding (she's working with a couple of grassroots womens groups), teaching English, and basically anything else she can help with. She's also trying to learn Arabic! Her main aim both while out there and on her return is awareness raising so anyone who is interested would be welcome to read her stuff.

Suzy has been very active with the PSC group in Leeds for a few years now. She organised the stall, fundraising and film nights, etc, within the social centre which she co-founded.

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