Movement 134

KarenChalkworks
for Quaker Peace
and Social Witness
as an ecumenical
accompanier with
EAPPI, aninitiative
of the World Council
of Churches.
EAPPI monitors
and reports human
rights abuses and
supports prace
workers in Palestine
and Israel.
eappi.org
The
problem
with the
tourlsts
a
Karen Chalk tells a short story
of a community under siege.
"What's the problem with the tourists?"
The Israelisettler, armedwithhis two small children
and with one big gun slung across his shoulder, had
stopped my fellow Ecumenical Accompanier Olav
during his morning run and politely but pointedly
plied him with questions: "How many internationals
are in Yanoun? How long do you stay; why are you
here... and what was the problem with the tourists?"
The first few questions are easy. There are four of
us here, providing a permanent international presence
to this small farming community which is home to
100 people; around 40 adults and 60 children. We stay
for 3 months and are then replaced by a new team of
internationals. We are here to provide presence and
to observe, because Yanoun is surrounded by illegal
settlement outposts, and in 2002 the inhabitants
were driven out by settler violence.
The last question posed by the settler is far more
complicated. By "tourists", the settler meant the
large group who had together come over the hill from
Itamar settlement the previous day. We were alerted
at around 8.30 in the morning that there were 80
settlers at Um Hani's house, but received no more
immediate details. Of course this is alarming, given
the well documented history of attacks on the village
and our knowledge of recent settler violence nearby.
In addition, the sheer number of them was twice the
adult population of Yanoun. We took the short but
tense journey with the mayor to the house, which is
relatively isolated, to find out what was happening.
The settlers were just on the other side of the house
when we arrived; we could clearly see them listening to
their armed guide. They had walking shoes, backpacks
and cameras - a hiking group. Their guide was talking
to them in Hebrew and after a few minutes, during
which time we took pictures of them and some of
-
them returned the gesture they moved on down
-
the hill towards the village well.
The well, providing all the drinking water for the
village, is visited by settlers every so often; the men
sometimes bathe in the well and have been known to
bring their dogs and let them swim in the water too.
The guide Ied them down to this spot as the Yanoun
villagers, mostly out of their houses by now and
watching events unfold, watched from a safe distance
away up the hill. Rashed, the mayor, approached the
group as some of the men in the group were beginning
to get into the well. He had an exchange with the guide,
who he later told us he recognises from the nearby
settlement of Itamar, and the guide then requested of
the men that they moved on, and they did.
So; what's the problem with the tourists? The vast
majority of them weren't armed, they moved through
the village, they began to swim in our drinking water,
but stopped when it was requested. It is undoubtedly
very threatening for the village when large groups
come, as it takes a while to establish their intent, but
these were not injuring anybody.
There are reasons to suggest it is inappropriate for
them to be walking here; the Yanounis are Palestinians
living under occupation in Palestinian territory, and
the hiking group is from an Israeli settlement in very
close proximity. This village has suffered greatly from
direct violence from local settlers in recent years. But
still, even inappropriate behaviour does not have to
be threatening; it would still be possible to argue that
the group weren't really'doing' anything.
The thing to worry about is what this kind of walk
can represent, and its wider context. Without doing
too much violence to the activity, it seems it can be
connected directly to the field of Zionist education
known as Yediat ha-Aretz; literally "knowledge of the
land", which was established in the 1920s to advance
patriotism. The tiyul, or "hike" was an important
feature of this project. Sometimes people do just walk
here, but it didn't feel much like that was the overall
intent of this group. A point was made, a land claim
was being supported, the message felt clear although
it is difficult to articulate when it is equally possible to
look at the group and only see hikers.
The "problem with the tourists", apart from the
gun on their leader and the attempts to swim in the
well, is that they are not quite tourists. We are told
some Israelis come hiking here, the wells are on hiking
maps and they go through peacefully; we are told they
are no problem. Maybe they don't even know or really
understand about the history or politics here, difficult
though that is to believe. But it seems that the hikers
from Itamar were contributing to something quite
difficult to quantify; they were showing the Yanounis
that they can just come right into the village, approach
the well, walk across the fields and make connection
with the land. They were making their presence here,
in the settlements that are illegal under international
law, appear benign and leisurely. They were creating
the incredulity behind the question "what's the
problem with the tourists?"
Movement 11