Education as Resistance - Jordan Valley Solidarity
inminds 10 March 2012
On 4th March 2012 Itaf Njoum Karma, a Palestinian teacher and the Jordan Valley Solidarity co-ordinator for the Bedouin community of Ras Al Auja, gave a moving presentation in Brighton on life and resistance in the occupied Jordan Valley where Israel has outlawed the construction of schools for Palestinian children whilst stealing their water resources. Full video of her presentation in included below.
Itaf Njoum Karma, a Palestinian teacher and the Jordan Valley Solidarity co-ordinator
for the Bedouin community of Ras Al Auja
Jordan Valley Solidarity is a network of Palestinian grassroots community groups from all over the Jordan Valley and international supporters. Their aim is simple - to protect Palestinian existence in the Jordan Valley. They do this by supporting communities on the ground by helping them build houses and schools in an area the Israels occupation has denied Palestinians the right to build. They also monitor, record and try to prevent abuse of Palestinian human rights by the Israeli occupation and settlers.
The presentation was part of a teach-in on Palestine organised by the Brighton and Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Itaf Njoum Karma, a Palestinian teacher and the Jordan Valley Solidarity co-ordinator
for the Bedouin community of Ras Al Auja
Video: Education as Resistance
New community school in Samra
On March the 3rd 2012, a group of volunteers from Jordan Valley Solidarity joined the community of Khirbet Samra in the north of the Jordan Valley, to built a new tent school for the children in the community. There are twenty five children between the ages of 2 and 8 years old who will benefit from this new achievement. These are all children who have not been able to attend school, because the nearest one is 20 km from Samra, and the community have reported regular abuse from settlers and soldiers.
The volunteers worked since early in the morning under a rainy sky. The children offered flowers to the volunteers and the families gave their usual warm welcome and traditional food.
It was an extraordinary journey. Everybody enjoyed the day and the result is a new school in the Jordan Valley, which began classes immediately on Sunday 4th March.
This community, tucked away at the head of a valley, is surrounded, with a settlement up above it on the hill, the settlement road covering the ridge of the hill, and a massive army base at the entrance to the valley, which is frequently used for 'youth camps' and 'passing out' ceremonies.
Just under a year ago the harassment of this community intensified, with the army issuing demolition orders, creating constant fear and tension for the community, then returning repeatedly and destroying the community's buildings.
Throughout the last year volunteers from Jordan Valley Solidarity have sought to stand alongside this farming community as they stand firm against Israel's attempts to remove them from their land, and rebuild their demolished shelters.
"[Deportation at the airport] We saw the injured [Turkish] men going through.. a lot had a leg cut out of their trousers or an arm cut out of their top. It had been cut out to treat their wounds.. they were covered in blood, blood that had been there for three days, and some of them had wounds that were still bleeding.. What upset me most was seeing the dozen men, one after another, hobbling across the terminal, with a bandaged foot. I couldn't ask them why so many of them had a bandaged foot, I couldn't ask them what had happened, because if they spoke or if any of us spoke to them the Israelis beat the injured person.. We later found out that they had these injuries on the tops of their feet from when the troops came down from the helicopter on the Mavi Marmara, and they came down firing - they had been shot from above. Some of the men that were killed were shot at close range - head and chest, but a dozen of the men who were shot, among 59 people who were shot, they were shot at the tops of their feet - the bullets were coming down.. They weren't given a wheelchair or a pair of crutches, and if any of the other passengers stood up and tried to offer [help].. that person was dragged away and smacked by these Israelis. The Israeli soldiers sat on the floor, laughed and sniggered and made every one of these Turkish men hobble and hop all the way across, some 200 metres, everyone of them, one by one, made to do that purely for the sick amusement of the Israeli soldiers."