What it takes for a farmer to plow his own field...

Saturday we joined a group called Tay’ush (which means “we live together” in Arabic), a joint Israeli/Palestinian organization, in the village Bet Omar. Here is a picture of one of the Palestinian children sitting on the road looking at the nearby Israeli settlement (the white buildings in the distance). All of the land between the child and the settlement belongs (on paper) to Palestinian families in Bet Omar. However, those families are usually not allowed to use their land.

A group of 50-70 Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals split into 3 groups to accompany several Palestinian farmers to their land. When the farmers attempt to reach their land they are usually stoned by Israeli settlers. When our group arrived at the farmer’s land, soldiers and settlers were waiting at the edge of the land. As soon as we arrived the farmers began frantically spraying their grape vines, afraid that any minute the soldiers would begin arresting or the settlers would begin attacking. Thankfully, it was a peaceful day.

Because there was such a large group of us, the soldiers were there to protect the settlers (although we were a nonviolent group and only intended to plow and spray land that belongs to the Palestinian farmers who cannot use their own land without a caravan folks). While the soldiers were there for the sake of the settlers, their presence also kept the settlers from attacking the farmers. And, since there were so many people from so many countries, that presence perhaps kept the soldiers from intervening in the farmers’ attempts to work their land. The soldiers are in green and the man in white is a settler carrying a weapon, “settler security.”

We spent all morning and afternoon in the fields. The farmers sprayed and plowed their fields. The rest of us pulled some weeds.

It was such a beautiful day inside the field. We shared pita bread, communicated volumes across language barriers, made new friends, cared for the earth and cared for each other. The boys sat around singing (LOUDLY :) songs in Arabic and “We Shall Overcome” in English.

As I threw the Frisbee with some Palestinian children, my teammate wanted so badly to invite the settler children to play. They sat on the stone wall that separates the farmers’ land from the settlement.

The settler children made sure to stay near to the soldiers and their protective weapons. Instead of hiding behind guns and stones, I wish the precious settler children could have joined the precious Palestinian children in frisbee and songs.