Reflection

"This used to be Paradise"

Barbara Martens    

            I looked across the Beqa’a Valley from my vantage point in the dappled shade under a massive nut tree whose branches formed a protective green, leafy canopy against the late afternoon sun. Meticulously cultivated vineyards, some several hundred years old, spread beneath me and crept up the opposite sides of the valley, lush and green. A large circular tray mounded high with traditional Palestinian food was encircled by Palestinian and international peace activists, our hosts and several lively children. We were enjoying the fabled Palestinian hospitality, evident even during times of hardship and suffering like today.

            The beauty of the land struck me forcefully. “This could be Paradise” I said to my host. “Yes” he responded, following my gaze across the valley, “it used to be Paradise – before the Israeli Occupation”.

            Today the Occupation was especially evident in the Beqa’a Valley.  Just below us, a caravan of flatbed semi-trailers bearing their weapons of destruction – bulldozers and excavators – lumbered along route 60. the Israeli highway that slices through their valley. They were leaving. Their destruction was accomplished. Today, in this eight hour attack affecting 800 people, the Israeli military destroyed 6 cisterns, tore up and confiscated truckloads of irrigation pipe, and toppled 2 power installations in retaliation for alleged water theft from Israeli water mains. (see  links below) Israel does not allow farmers in the West Bank, like my host, to dig wells on their own land. In the meantime, Israel takes much of its own water from aquifers in the West Bank.

            As I observed my host and some of his family quietly watching the departing convoy, I was again moved by their steadfast commitment. They continue living on their land, and continue farming as their ancestors had before them, in their ongoing non-violent resistance to the harsh Israeli Occupation.  They dream of demands for justice from the International Community. They dream that someday their valley will again be Paradise. If you want to see pictures of this event, click here. If you want to see the YouTube, click here.