Ramadan reflections about my life in Palestine

04/17/22 • 71 min

This is the fourth year that I use the month of Ramadan to deepen my own spirituality and break with some habits that I don't want to continue with and introduce new habits. They say if you do something for three weeks, it becomes a habit. During the four weeks of Ramadan I do not drink alcohol, I refrain from eating sugar and processed food and I focus on eating fresh vegetables, fruits and balanced meals. I drink more water also. And I start and end the day with yoga exercises and meditation.
During my walks I listen to spiritual podcasts. At the moment I am listening to the podcast "The Way Out is In" produced in Plum Village in France, about the Buddhist Zen tradition of Thich Nhath Hahn. It gives a lot of practical tools for being mindful, being in the present moment and allowing for feelings and emotions and suffering to be acknowledged and accepted as part of life.
During my mediation and calm and quiet moments this month, I have also been reflecting on my life in Palestine and the big decision I took to get married to a Palestinian and move here. Last summer I gave up the house I was still renting in Holland and now I have all my life in Palestine and I raise my children in this place.
In this podcast episode I share my reflections on the life in Palestine, focusing mainly on the cultural differences I experience and comparing how my life would have been different if we had decided to raise our children in Holland.
In this episode I used some soundbites I recorded in the last year of typical street sounds that we hear around us in the Bethlehem area.
Follow Stories from Palestine on social media and YouTube to enjoy photos and videos. Sign up for the weekly e-mail with a link to the latest podcast episode. And check out the webshop where you can order logo merchandise! All links on the linktree: https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

Connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, sign up for the newsletter, read more about traveling to Palestine and if you can, please support the podcast on Ko-fi. All the links can be found here: https://linktr.ee/storiesfrompalestine
Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine

Previous Episode

Life in the South Hebron hills

For the full transcript of this podcast click the transcript tab next to the show notes tab or go to the website: https://storiesfrompalestine.info/2022/04/08/south-hebron-hills/
Sami Huraini is a young Palestinian activist from the village of At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. His village, just as many other Palestinian villages in that region, is in area C, which is under full Israeli military control. Settlers and Israeli military are making life very hard for the villagers, in order to persuade them to move away into towns and cities under Palestinian Authority. But Sami is very clear: we are not leaving. This is our village, this is our land. We will defend and protect ourselves in a non violent way.
Many of the villages in the South Hebron Hills are not connected to water or electricity. The people suffer from continuous attacks by settlers who set fire to their properties, steal their tools and even their life stock, violently attack shepherds, villagers and even children.
The Israeli military is often present but does nothing to prevent the settlers from attacking Palestinians.
In At-Tuwani the youth organized themselves in an initiative called Youth of Sumud. Sami is one of the community leaders and he was arrested in the beginning of this year. Originally without any charges, later soldiers made up some claims against him. He was given an award for human rights defenders who are at high risk. This has helped in getting more media attention and more diplomats to visit At-Tuwani.
Recently they opened a guesthouse where visitors can stay. They are welcome to join for a tour around the South Hebron Hills, to spend some time in solidarity with the villagers, to be protective presence and accompany farmers, shepherds and children.
If you want to know more you can check out their facebook group Youth of Sumud
You can e-mail them : [email protected]
If you want to connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, follow the YouTube channel, get a weekly e-mail or make a donation on Ko-fi, use the linktree: https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

Next Episode

A critical tour in Silwan at the City of David archaeological site

On Sunday 17 April I took the bus from Beit Safafa to the old city to join a tour in Silwan with Emek Shaveh, an Israeli NGO that, in their own words, works to defend cultural heritage rights and to protect ancient sites as public assets that belong to members of all communities, faiths and peoples.
That day was Easter Sunday for the Catholic Church, Pesach for the Jews and Ramadan for the Muslims. As we walked up to Mount Zion we saw a lot of police blockades, police everywhere and Jewish people walking towards the plaza in front of the Buraq wall. We heard helicopters flying over and we realized it was a tense day to go on a tour in Silwan. During the tour we heard shooting several times.
Silwan is a Palestinian village close to the old city. Silwan is the place where the city of Jerusalem started in the Canaanite period, in the Bronze Age time. This is where the first small settlement was established near the Gihon spring.
Today there is a big archaeological site and a lot of excavations are happening in Silwan. With archaeologist and founder of Emek Shaveh, Yonathan Mizrachi, we walked around the visitor center and the excavations and other parts of Silwan, to talk about how archaeology is used to make claims of ownership and to create a justification for taking over the Palestinian area of Silwan.
There are two settler organizations active in Silwan: Elad and Ateret Cohanim. They use different methods to take over houses from Palestinians and create Jewish presence in the neighborhood.
In this episode you can hear from archaeologist Yonathan Mizrachi that there is no evidence that the palace of King David was built in this area. They have not found anything from the 10th century, the time of King David, although the site is called 'City of David' archaeological park.
If you want to know more, visit their website : https://emekshaveh.org/en
If you want to connect to Stories from Palestine podcast on social media, check out the YouTube channel, sign up for the mailinglist or make a donation to support the podcast, then you can use this linktree : https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine