From the hills of Tulkarem, Palestine

“Keep the thought alive that the Israeli occupation is not the end of the story.” Sami Awad

Tulkarem, Palestine: International peace activists from the initiative „Global Campus“ support together with around 40 Palestinians a partner project to become a place for education in decentralized energy systems and permaculture.

Global Campus Middle East. A Report by Johannes Ewig

Our Palestinian host is a farmer, visionary, and political activist. He and his family are totally commmited to non-violence. They carry the spirit of revolution in their hearts, one evening they invited us to listen to their revolutionary songs. It was wonderful.

Tulkarem is a city of about 60’000 people in the Westbank, located one hour north from Jerusalem. The separation wall directly touches the city. The situation of this farm is a symbol for staying with hope while the conditions around turn more and more insane. The small farm is squeezed in between the wall on one side, with vegetables growing up the barbed wire, and an Israeli chemical factory (built on Palestinian land) on the other side. This factory is only allowed to work when the wind blows from the west to the east, that means over Palestinian land….

When we started, nobody knew how many people would come. We were surprised that as many as 40 people showed up. We started with a walk on the land. Waste is here all over. The farm looked like a junkyard, a lot of plastic and metal pieces, rotten wood and other stuff … the first impression of this site is very sad. So we decided to start with a cleaning action, which was very successful; we decided that one team should continue with the clean-up.

During our time we will work together with local experts to set up a small biogas system and a solardryer. Both will benefit the income of the family. The interest for organic food in Palestine is small, but growing. We are also helping with the olive harvest.

One day, Sami Awad from the Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem came to spend some hours with us.His visit was a gift. He especially emphasized that we should always keep the thought alive that the Israeli occupation is not the end of the story. To hear about his commitment for non-violence, about his radical understanding of the Israel- Palestine conflict, was a moment of connectedness with the deep vision of the „Holy Land“.

In gratitude to have a home in the world and a perspective to work for.