Hebron

Go to this link to read an account of the Olive Tree Planting Programme. I'm even interviewed on one day.
http://www.jai-pal.org/content.php?page=803

But for my 2 cents, read on:

Yesterday was a strange day. Hebron. A town to the south of Bethlehem. Also a historical and Biblical town. I have been here once before, but a lot can change around here in one short year, so a lot seems new.
We walk through the streets - ideological settlers in confiscated buildings are above us. As are the nets, put over the Palestinian market stalls on the street, to catch the rubbish thrown at them from the settlers.
But that wasn't new.
We arrive at a checkpoint. Metal detectors, soldiers, guns, gates, lines of people just wanting to walk from one end of their high street to the other, passing one by one through the bars and the stares of the IDF.
But this, also, is not new.
We continue our tour to a part of town where a junction leads to nothing but a blocked off road. A road with Palestinian shops and homes on it. But Palestinians are no longer allowed on this road. This is for Jewish settlers only.
This is new.
New, that is, to my eyes, and new for that road in that town. But this is an occupation. This is apartheid. And this is happening all across the West Bank on a daily basis. The confiscation and destruction of their homes, land and livelihoods is not new to Palestinians.
Undeterred, we, the 'internationals' stop a police van on patrol.

"We're not Palestinian - we want to walk here.'
"You cannot."
"Why?"
"Security. You cannot go there."
"Why?"
"It is not good for you to go there."

Before we can ask why again, they drive off. But we know the answer - the evidence is all around us: the injured kids, the damage to buildings, the hebrew graffiti... Palestinians who try to get back to their street, their shop, their homes have been attacked by the Israeli settlers time and time again.
The police didn't want us to go there because they know we might be attacked too. And that wouldn't be good for PR.

But there is hope. A rehabilitation centre, where local Palestinians work to renovate properties in Hebron helps to ensure people have a safe place to live, and importantly, not to be scared into leaving & letting the zionists win. Their work, supported by governments & NGOs across the world, aids their peaceful resistance to a racist state that wants to 'cleanse' Palestine of Palestinians.
I leave Hebron feeling deeply saddened and yet, inspired by the rehabilitation centre workers, I feel motivated and ready for the day of olive tree planting ahead...