The Power of Presence

Western societies are so focused on action, on doing things, on an end product and having something to show for our work that we can sometimes overlook the importance of just being. The significance of being, of the power of presence is something that I am sure, will take on a new significance for me over the next few weeks.   

On Sunday 28th June I left the bustling, busy, crowded city of Jerusalem, where I have lived for the past three months and made my way to the tiny village of Yanoun some 12 km south of Nablus. Yanoun is a picture post card setting, a village divided into two, Upper and Lower Yanoun, by a beautiful fertile valley of olive groves and wheat fields. But its idyllic setting is a façade. It isn't just the valley that divides this village. It is also divided into two political areas, with Upper Yanoun in Area C and Lower Yanoun in Area B.*  

Furthermore, life here for the vast majority of villagers is tough and they work very hard to try to provide a basic standard of living for their families. In many respects Yanoun is a village where time has stood still. The farm machinery, or lack of it, the herding of sheep and goats, the production of cheese and yogurt in the simple homesteads, the use of donkeys as a regular means of transport, the infrequency of cars in the village and the centrality of the village well, speak to the western mind of a bygone age.  

Yanoun's population of approximately 100, is a young community, two thirds of the children are under 16. The villagers are mostly farmers, harvesting wheat and chickpeas and virtually all have sheep, goats and chickens and some have olive trees. There are also almonds and figs, and many villagers have small vegetable plots. A few villagers work in Aqraba, about four kilometres from Yanoun, or even travel to Nablus for work. There is a small school in Upper Yanoun, with 14 pupils (2008/09) aged 5 to 12. For secondary education they go to school in Aqraba.

The village is surrounded by Israeli settler outposts. The settlement of Itamar, with an estimated population of 1000 inhabitants was established in 1984, and lies about 10 km from Yanoun, on the way to Nablus. Since 1996, Itamar residents have been confiscating land from residents of Yanoun and have built seven outposts scattered on the hills around Yanoun, the nearest one being Gvaot Olam ("Hills of the Universe") just above Yanoun. It is clearly visible from the village and is the source of Yanoun's greatest heartache.

Since the establishment of the outposts and the stealing of the land in the mid 1990s the villagers have suffered severely from the Israeli presence in the outposts. Not only did they lose land to the settlers but they were also regularly harassed by them. From 1996 settlers made frequent visits to the village to threaten and destroy.

A protracted period of harassment, which lasted many years, culminated in October 2002 with a violent attack on villagers. Settlers descended on Yanoun with guns, fired into the air, burst into homes and beat the men with fists and rifles. They stole, killed and mutilated sheep, burned the generator, polluted the water in the well and destroyed the water tanks. Villagers, terrified and unprotected by Israel, the occupying power charged under international law with protecting the occupied population, felt abandoned and helpless. They decided enough was enough, and with the exception of two families, all left their homes in Yanoun and moved to Aqraba or even further afield. The population of Yanoun at that time stood at 300.

The action of the settlers shocked not only the international community but also Israeli peace activists. This was the first time since the 1967 war that a Palestinian village had been emptied of its entire population by the violence of Israelis in a matter of 24 hours. In the days that followed the events of October 2002 Israeli peace groups and internationals came to Yanoun to establish an international presence so that the villagers would feel secure enough to return. 

Thus began the “International Peace House” in Upper Yanoun now home to me and my EA colleagues until the new EAPPI team arrives in August. The house is a small, simple building able to accommodate four EAs and is never left empty. There is a 24/7, 365 days a year presence of internationals here. It is generally EAs but occasionally internationals from other peace organisations are present if EAs have whole group activities in Jerusalem or elsewhere. 

Reassured by the presence of those who cared, the villagers slowly returned. However not all of them returned, some had suffered too much to trust things could be different; others felt life elsewhere was preferable to facing the possibility of further settler violence or decided to settle in other areas for economic reasons.

The challenges for the people of Yanoun have not disappeared with the presence of the EAs. The villagers' freedom of movement is limited. They cannot venture up the hill towards the settler outposts and most of their land, even that not taken by the settlers, has become inaccessible because of the extensive 'no man's land', now an unwritten but clearly understood closed area between the settler outpost and the village. The villagers are also unable to build or repair existing houses, to install telephone lines or undertake any evident infrastructure to benefit the community especially in Upper Yanoun, the part of the village in Area C. 

Settlers continued to make frequent 'visits' to Yanoun but these visits have declined and there have not been any serious incidents in the last few years. The fear however, is still there and is not without foundation. On my first visit to Yanoun on 18^th June there was a lot of anxiety in the village regarding the wheat. It was ripe and ready for harvesting. The valley was a lovely golden brown and the villagers were waiting impatiently for the one, rather antiquated harvesting machine, due to come and cut the grain. Their anxiety was not that it might rain and the crop be destroyed, there has been no rain here since March. Rather the fear was of settlers descending and setting fire to the wheat, thus destroying a major part of the community's livelihood. That was what had happened a few days previously in the near by village of Burin. Fortunately, the tractor and harvester arrived and the wheat is now safely stored.

The presence of the internationals here has allowed a Palestinian village to live if not to thrive. It is a tribute to the 'power of presence' that at least one third of the community has returned. Yanoun is a success story in that one more Palestinian village remains and has not suffered the fate of so many Palestinian villages, existing in Mandate Palestine before 1948, that have now been totally wiped from the map. Protective presence has allowed 100 fewer refugees becoming yet another statistic and a tiny proud West Bank village retains its identity.