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CONFLICT KITCHEN


ONLY SERVES FOOD FROM COUNTRIES WITH WHICH THE UNITED STATES IS IN CONFLICT

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONFLICT KITCHEN IS CLOSED


MENU


SMALL PLATES $5

served with Arabic bread*

Hummus

chickpea and tahini dip v+

Baba Ghanoush

grilled eggplant and tahini dip v+



Salata Gazawiya

spicy crushed tomato dip with
dill and chili pepper v+

Imtabbal Ari'

roasted butternut squash dip with
garlic and chili pepper v+

Mezze Platter

olives, cheese, labneh and za'atar v


BEVERAGES

Limonana

fresh mint lemonade gf v+ $2

Karkaday

chilled hibiscus drink gf v+ $2

Bottled Water

$1.25

*substitute gluten free flatbread for $.75


LARGE PLATES $8

Fattoush

salad of arugula, herbs, tomato,
cucumber, onion and
toasted Arabic bread v+
Add falafel $3
Add chicken $3

Falafel

crispy fried chickpea patties,
pickled vegetables, herbs, arugula,
cucumber, tomato and tahini
sauce on Arabic bread* v+

Shawarma

thinly sliced spit-roasted chicken,
pickled vegetables, herbs, cucumber,
arugula, tomato and tahini
sauce on Arabic bread*


SWEETS $4

Namoura

semolina and yogurt cake
soaked in sweet syrup,
with toasted pine nuts v

Baqlawa

layers of thin pastry filled with
chopped nuts, soaked in syrup v

 

gf = gluten free
v = vegetarian
v+ = vegan


EVENTS

Event: UNWRA Fundraiser: There is No Life on Other Planets (2nd Edition with New
Interviews)

BOOKS CAN BE PURCHASED ONLINE OR IN-PERSON AT CITY OF ASYLUM BOOK STORE In 2014,
Conflict Kitchen published There Is No Life on Other Planets, a book featuring
interviews with Palestinian children living in the West Bank and Gaza. Ten years
later, we are republishing… MORE >

Event: Join a Local Palestinian for Lunch

Each week a different local Palestinian will be available at Conflict Kitchen to
share their lunchtime with any members of the public that are interested in
joining.

Event: Guest Instagrammer: Noora Said-Foqahaa

Over two weeks, Noora Said-Foqahaa, a Palestinian filmmaker living in Ramallah,
will take over our Instagram account.   Noora, originally from the village of
Anabta, was raised in Ramallah, Palestine.  She is an aspiring filmmaker who
studied at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing… MORE >

Event: Guest Instagrammer: Tamer Hamam

When: May 9th - May 22nd, 2015

Over the next two weeks, Tamer Hamam, a 31 year-old Palestinian photojournalist
working in Gaza, will be taking over our Instagram account. Guest instagramer
Tamer Hamam @itamer83. A #kid protecting himself from the #sun #light by a set
of #newspapers that he sells after a… MORE >

Event: Pittsburgh Palestinian Film Festival

The Pittsburgh Palestinian Film Festival presents recent independent Palestinian
films over a three day program, exploring the diversity of the Palestinian
experience through documentary, fiction, and experimental cinematic
storytelling. The festival will feature four films that offer first-hand,
personal perspectives about life in Palestine and the… MORE >

Event: The Lunch Hour (Palestine)

When: Wednesday, April 29, 2015 Noon-1:30pm

Where: Conflict Kitchen

Please join us for lunch and an informal discussion about daily life in Gaza and
the future of Palestine.  Special guests include: Ahmed Arafat: Ahmed was born
and raised in the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza, Palestine. He currently
works as an IT professional… MORE >

Event: Guest Instagrammer: Natalie Tahhan

When: March 10th-25th, 2015

Over the next two weeks, Natalie Tahhan, a 25 year-old designer living between
East Jerusalem and Doha, Qatar, will be taking over the Conflict
Kitchen Instagram account. A photo posted by Conflict Kitchen (@conflictkitchen)
on Mar 10, 2015 at 10:53pm PDT CK: Tell us about yourself and… MORE >

Event: Guest Instagrammer: Joudie Kalla

When: March 24th-April 8th, 2015

Over the next two weeks, Joudie Kalla, a 37 year-old Palestinian chef, whose
family is from the historic towns of  Safed and Al-Lydd, will be taking over our
Instagram account. CK: Tell us about yourself, your background and how you
became a chef. Joudie: Both… MORE >

Event: There is No Life on Other Planets (Interviews w/Palestinian kids)

Collected in this 40 page book are interviews with Palestinian children living
in the West Bank and Gaza. ………… Special thanks to all of the young Palestinians
who agreed to be interviewed. Additional thanks to our interviewers on this
project, including Abeer A., Lana T… MORE >

Event: Guest Instagrammer: Sami Allalul

When: Feb 24 - March 5, 2014

Where: Conflict Kitchen Instagram

Over the next two weeks, Sami Allalul, a 30 year-old Palestinian film producer
living in the West Bank city of Hebron, will be taking over the Conflict
Kitchen Instagram account. Sami is a film producer at Breathing Stories. A photo
posted by Conflict Kitchen (@conflictkitchen) on… MORE >

Event: Guest Instagrammer: Eman Mohammed

When: April 9th-23rd, 2015

Over the next two weeks, Eman Mohammed, a 28 year-old Palestinian
photojournalist working in Gaza, will be taking over our Instagram account.  
Guest instagramer Eman Mohammed @emanit ,Palestinian man and his grandson
harvesting wheat at their farm in Dair Al-Balah southern Gaza city,Palestine.
Photo… MORE >

Event: Olive Oil From the Daraghmeh Family Farm

Where: Conflict Kitchen

Come on by the restaurant where we will be selling a limited supply of olive oil
we purchased from the Daraghmeh family farm outside Nablus. The olive oil comes
packaged with an interview with farmer Khalid Daraghmeh. Currently surrounded by
Israeli settlements, Khalid’s great grandfather bought the land during the
Ottoman… MORE >

Event: Guest Instagrammer: Momen Faiz

When: April 23rd - May 7th, 2015

Over the next two weeks, Momen Faiz, a 27 year-old Palestinian photojournalist
working in Gaza, will be taking over our Instagram account. Guest instagramer
Momen Faiz @momen_faiz from Gaza a child earns strawberries from a farm on the
border with Israel A photo posted by… MORE >

Event: Olive Oil Soap from Toukan Factory, Nablus, West Bank, Palestine

When: Now

Where: Conflict Kitchen

Come on by the restaurant where we will be selling a limited supply of soap from
the Toukan factory packaged with an interview with factory owner Farouk Toukan.
In June 2014 while touring the West Bank, Conflict Kitchen visited the historic
Toukan Soap factory in Nablus (video above). Since… MORE >

Event: Cuban Dance Class and Lunch Hour w/ Malpaso

When: February 23, 2015 10am-12:30pm

Where: Alloy Studios (5530 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15206)

We are excited to co-host a Cuban Lunch Hour at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater with
Malpaso Dance Company’s founder, artistic director, and choreographer Osnel
Delgado. Join us for just for the lunch discussion or sign up also for a
community dance class with Malpaso at… MORE >

Event: Difficult Work

When: Tuesday, December 9th Doors open at 6:30pm, discussion begins at 7pm

Where: Mattress Factory Museum 505 Jacksonia St [Parking Lot], Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania 15212

The Mattress Factory has teamed up with Conflict Kitchen to present a panel
discussion about the challenges of making, supporting and presenting art about
Palestine, Israel and the US. Conflict Kitchen’s Palestinian version has
recently come under criticism from several lobbying groups, media outlets, and a
local… MORE >

Event: Palestinian Potluck with Conflict Kitchen

When: Tuesday, November 18 at 7pm

Where: East Liberty Presbyterian Church, across from Conflict Kitchen’s old
location: 116 S Highland Avenue

Please join Conflict Kitchen on Tuesday, November 18 at 7pm for a Palestinian
Potluck. You bring a Palestinian mezza or salad, and we will supply the entrees
and dessert. Meet, talk, and break bread with Palestinians from the Pittsburgh
community, neighbors, and friends. What: Potluck… MORE >

Event: Jasiri X & Slingshot Hip Hop (film showing)

When: Monday, Oct 27, 8:30–11:30pm

Where: William Pitt Union - Dining Room A University of Pittsburgh

Slingshot Hip Hop is a 2008 documentary film directed by Jackie Reem Salloum
which traces the history and development of Palestinian hip hop, in the
Palestinian territories from the time DAM pioneered the art form in the late
1990s. Jasiri X — Freeing minds one… MORE >

Event: The Lunch Hour (Palestine) with Laila El-Haddad

When: Thursday October 16th, 1pm-2:30pm

Where: Conflict Kitchen

Please join us for an informal lunch discussion about Palestinian food
with Laila El-Haddad, co-author of  The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary
Journey, and local guests Omar Abuhejleh, owner of Allegro Hearth Bakery and
Ziad Adamo, owner of Ali Baba Middle Eastern restaurant. Laila El-Haddad is a
Palestinian… MORE >

Event: Gazan Dinner and Discussion with Laila El-Haddad

When: October 17th, 8pm reservations needed

Where: Conflict Kitchen (under the big tent). There will be an alternative
location in case of bad weather.

Join us for a Gazan dinner and discussion with Laila El-Haddad, co-author
of  The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey. Laila El-Haddad is a
Palestinian freelance journalist, author, blogger, and media activist from Gaza
City. She is currently based in the United States. El-Haddad is the… MORE >

Event: The Lunch Hour (Palestine)

When: Noon-1:30pm September 30th

Where: Next to Conflict Kitchen

Please join us for lunch and informal discussion about events and the future
in Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip. Special Guests include: Pittsburgh Dr.
Nael Althweib from Biet Lehem, West Bank, Palestine and Pitt Professor Ken Boas,
Chair of the Board of the Israeli Committee Against… MORE >

Event: One Day an Elephant Stepped on an Ant House (Interviews with Afghan kids)

Where: Available for purchase at Conflict Kitchen

One Day an Elephant Stepped on an Ant House The U.S. and NATO forces have been
in Afghanistan for 12 years now. Collected here are interviews with Afghan
children (mostly under 12 years old) whose lives have spanned those years.
Special thanks to PARSA, the… MORE >

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INTERVIEWS

The text on our food wrappers is
taken directly from interviews we conducted
with Palestinians living in both Palestine and Pittsburgh

<



FOOD

Musakhan is the national dish of Palestine. It’s just a round piece of bread
with chicken, onions, and a ton of sumac. That’s it! Simple but delicious. You
eat it rolled up like a sandwich or flat like a pizza. When I eat musakhan I
always think of my mom and aunts cooking it in huge trays, layer after layer.
We’d sit and eat, drinking tea and Turkish coffee, playing card games. At times
we’d even forget about the wall.

The Arab Bedouin culinary tradition centers around what’s available—goat, sheep,
camel, and horse meat, as well as milk, cheese, and butter. The predominant dish
among Bedouins in Syria, Jordan, and Palestine is something called mansaf, a
mixture of lamb and garlic boiled in a fermented yogurt sauce called labne. In
the old days, you could also get raw wheat from farmers, which was boiled with
the mansaf. Nowadays we use rice, which is shipped in.

The new generation of kids don’t like the traditional food! Maybe when they get
older. They like fried chicken—even Kentucky Fried Chicken.



Even though we’re only 10 or 15 miles from the sea, Israel lies in between, so
people in the West Bank and Jordan are not really fish eaters. Our bay is called
Al-Aqba; it’s too small to meet the needs of the people, so we have to import
fish. One kilo of good fish costs seventy shekels–a whole day’s wage–and it’s
probably only enough to feed one child. For this reason, people don’t really eat
fish.




FOOD CUSTOMS

It’s a Bedouin tradition to always serve tea and coffee to guests. The first cup
is a “welcome” cup, and we’ll fill it up one-third of the way. If you push the
cup back, we will fill it another third. You don’t need to say anything, just
push it back. Push it back a third time and we’ll add more, making one full cup
of coffee. But if you ask for more than this, you’ll be seen as a greedy,
unwelcome guest. At this point you should shake the cup to say “no, no more
coffee.”

Food tourism is a strange concept for Palestinians. It’s more common among
Israelis—although, of course, they steal all the recipes from us [laughter]. If
you come to eat in a Palestinian home, you’re going to be a guest, not a
customer. I work with Palestinian women here in Nazareth and I explain that
inviting people into their homes is a way of sharing their stories. The tourists
want to hear what they have to say. Otherwise the women think, “Why would people
pay for something that we would give them for free?”



We take our tea with herbs. In the wintertime it’s served with sage; in summer,
with mint.




RESISTANCE

We have protests at the wall every Friday in Bil’in. We film them and upload
them to YouTube. At one protest, Israeli soldiers aimed tear gas canisters
directly at protesters only a few meters away. When they shot our friend Bassim,
it made a big hole in his chest and killed him. The canister was made in Western
Pennsylvania; you can see that printed on the side.

How can you compare Israeli F-16s, which are some of the best military planes in
the world, to a few hundred homemade rockets? You are punishing the Gazans who
have been under your siege for eight years already. You are attacking, arresting
and killing guilty and innocent people alike. You have 1.8 million people in an
area half the size of New York City, but without proper housing, water or
infrastructure, and no way to make a living. They are banned from dealing with
with anyone outside Gaza. You are pushing them to the absolute extreme. So what
do you expect? Palestinians are not going to just let you in and drop their
arms. No, they are going to kill and they are going to die. Not because of
religion. It doesn’t have anything to do with religion. It has to do with the
way they are living and coming of age under this oppression. We are creating and
perpetuating a culture of death.





RESISTANCE (CONT.)

Land confiscation and Israeli settler attacks happen every day. Our experience
is not unique. But instead of violent resistance, or giving up and leaving,
we’ve decided our resistance should reflect our Christian beliefs. For this
reason, we open our farm to Israelis and internationals so they can come and see
what is happening here. We refuse to be enemies. We believe that education is
more powerful than antagonism.

The Israelis can’t evict us because our family has a deed from the Ottoman
Empire. But I’ve had to stop going to school in order to protect our land and
trees from the settler attacks. I’m the smallest of my brothers, so I’m too
young to be arrested. My older brothers can’t help; they would just be put in
prison. It’s happened over fifty times. The police justify arrests by saying
that we have been fighting with the settlers. If we don’t stay here, Israel will
take our land and we will never live here again. We made twenty tins of olive
oil this year, but we made no profit from it because my father was in jail for
resisting the settlers. We had to sell it at a loss in order to quickly raise
money to pay his police fine.





OLIVE TREES

Olives are more than just food to Palestinians. We see olive trees as symbolic
of our character—strong, resilient, and extremely difficult to uproot. Every
single olive tree planted has its own significance, so it’s extremely traumatic
when Israel bulldozes one of our orchards. Whenever my uncle sees me, he greets
me with an olive in hand and says, as-salamu alaykum, salam, “peace be with
you.”

We have some very, very old olive trees. Some are from my grandfather’s time,
and others are anywhere from 500 to 3,000 years old. Recently, the settlers came
and cut some of them down. They cut our throats when they cut our trees.



The olive harvest is a month-long festival that starts in the north and works
its way south. If one family doesn’t have enough workers, others will join them
to help. This is part of our social tradition. All the schools and some public
facilities close during the olive harvest to give people the opportunity to join
their families.




OLIVE TREES (CONT.)

We have been making our olive oil soap [available at Conflict Kitchen] in Nablus
the same way for 142 years, using the same process. But now we have to import
the olives from Italy. There’s not much local olive oil anymore because most of
the trees have been destroyed. This is occupation. The Israelis import soap to
the West Bank—even though we produce it here!—so we export most of our soap to
Jordan. The only reason the soap factory stays in business is that it is owned
by a very wealthy family. They pay out of their own pocket to cover losses from
the business, just to keep this tradition alive.

By the time the olive harvest season is over, our fingers are callused and
stained with oil. Once my cousin, who was studying in an East Jerusalem Hospital
and had to pass through a checkpoint every day, was denied entrance because the
fingerprint scanners couldn’t read his fingers in that state. The soldiers see
him every day and know his name, but wouldn’t let him through for a week until
his fingers had healed.





NAKBA

The only large scale demographic shift in Palestine in the last 5,000 years
happened in 1948, when 530 Palestinian villages and cities were completely wiped
out. This was the largest refugee crisis since the second World War. And it’s
still the largest refugee population on earth today. There are 7 million
displaced or refugee Palestinians, out of a total population of 12 million. The
day after Israelis celebrate Independence Day, we commemorate al-Nakba, “the
catastrophe.” But catastrophe is not the right term; it sounds like an
earthquake or something unpreventable. What happened was an intentional and
ongoing offensive.

We are refugees; we came in 1948 from Jaffa. When we were expelled, they said,
“You have to leave Jaffa for just one night and then you can come back.” I was
eight years old at the time. So we left everything, even the food in the kitchen
drawers. Then they told us that Jaffa had fallen to the Zionist troops. My
mother said, “You told us we would be gone only one or two nights! Now we have
to go back to get our things, to get our money.” So we took the risk and tried
to return by car. The soldiers shot at us on the way to Jaffa. My father was a
sailor and had a special naval grenade that was used to kill the fish, made from
canned beef tins. He threw grenades back at the soldiers while we were driving.
But it was dangerous, and eventually we abandoned the idea of returning home. We
were lucky to make it back to safety, others fared far worse.





NAKBA (CONT.)

In 1940, the Zionists assembled something called the “village files.” They sent
scout groups with an intelligence officer that looked like they were just kids
going out for a weekend hike. The Palestinians, being hospitable, would take
them to the leader’s tent or home. They’d ask innocent questions like: “Where do
you get your water from? Who’s in charge of the village? How many families live
here?” In this way, the Israelis compiled information on each community—their
water, defense capabilities, who they could likely recruit as an Israeli
collaborator, everything. This intelligence became critical in the military
destruction of 530 Palestinian villages in 1948. It was all systematically
designed.

My village was destroyed in 1948, but I know every inch of the land. Israel now
uses it as a resort for hikers and picnics because of its beauty and the natural
springs there. All of the buildings in the village were demolished. But my
father would take us there as children and make us trace the place where the
houses were. He’d say, “this is your grandfather’s house, this is your uncle’s
house. This is where we had our trees. This is your land.” We will never forget.
This is our dignity. My youngest son knows everything about this village even
though he’s never seen it. Even the third and fourth generation, they imagine it
and dream about it, though they have seen it only as a forest.





RELIGION IN DAILY LIFE

Our village is called ‘Ayn Adi,and it has become a symbol of religious
coexistence. Here, you cannot tell the difference between Christians and Muslims
and no one asks “what’s your religion?” All the families come out for weddings
and funerals. When a new building is built, everyone comes out to help.
Christians even helped to build the mosque.

There are four types of women who wear head coverings. The first group are pious
girls of the Muslim faith who wear them voluntarily. The second group are young
women who wear head coverings because their family or others pressure them into
it. The third party cover their heads to show they are older women who should be
respected. And the fourth group are those who want to cover up some mischief,
because when you wear the veil, people assume you are a Muslim and will not
question you!



I think Muslims in Palestine are more liberal than those in the rest of the
world. We are not as closed-minded because we’ve always lived among Christians
and Jews. When Hamas came into power in Gaza they were trying to impose Shari’a,
which is unusual for Palestinians. Next election, the Islamist movements will
lose a lot of ground. Palestinians think that religion is between the individual
and God. We don’t need the state telling us what to believe.




SETTLEMENTS

The Israeli settlements in the West Bank perform three key functions. The first
is territorial; it’s about fragmenting and isolating Palestinian communities.
The second purpose is to control the distribution of resources. Water, land, and
government services are taken away from Palestinians and given to Jewish
settlers. The third function is surveillance. In the Occupied Territories, all
the settlements are on hills; this gives them a military advantage and lets the
settlers watch the Palestinians. If Palestinians cross boundaries to harvest
olives, the settlers can see this and attack them.

Settlements look like American suburbs plopped down in the middle of the desert.
They have lawns and swimming pools, while we depend on a truck to haul water 15
or 20 kilometers for drinking and watering our sheep. When the Israeli army is
here, they prevent the truck from reaching our village. There is a water pipe
that runs under our land up to the settlement nearby. If they wanted to provide
us with water, it would be easy. But they want us gone.





SETTLEMENTS (CONT.)

The settlers used a trick to establish some of their outposts. First, they get a
permit to dig into an area that they claim is a biblical site. Then they move
their mobile homes there for the excavation. After a while, the army will notice
there is no biblical site. They remove the permit to do the excavation, but the
settlement remains.

You must ask the Israeli army for protection from the settlers. You can imagine
how well this works! At times, the army will agree to accompany a farmer working
close to the settlements. But some of the settlers are so fanatic and aggressive
that they will even stone the Israeli army.



Let’s say in twenty years we reach an agreement under which all these
settlements are to be demolished. What will happen to the people who are living
in settlements? They are creating a new refugee problem. Israel knows this. They
intend for the settlers to never leave.




MARRIAGE/DATING

Our faith dictates that the woman has to decide on her spouse. If a love
interest occurs within the family (cousins marrying cousins, for example), it’s
almost guaranteed that the family will approve. My son left the choice up to his
mother, my wife. She heard from neighbors where to find the girls: south of
Jerusalem, north, center, in every part of the city! Once she found suitable
partners, she took our son to see each of them. They sit together in a room once
or twice just to talk, to converse, see how things feel—see if they have, as we
call it, “the chemical touch,” through their eyes.

My friend is a Dutch Israeli who went to school in America and met a Gazan man.
They fell in love, married, and had a child. I was at the wedding here in
Israel—there was no groom! Just the bride. Because she’s not allowed to go to
Gaza and he’s not allowed to go to Israel. But they’re lucky! Since she’s Dutch,
he might get naturalized in Holland and come to Israel on his Dutch passport. He
could end up living just a couple miles from his home in Gaza. This would be a
precedent-setting case; Israel doesn’t want any non-Jews to become citizens.





MARRIAGE/DATING (CONT.)

Before a traditional marriage, the groom’s family will ask, “How much money do
you want from us?” The normal price is 300 grams of gold [about $6,000 –
$10,000]. That’s very expensive; and then it costs thousands of dollars to have
the wedding on top of it. But the gold is for the bride alone: that’s her money,
not her husband’s. It’s up to her if she wants to share.

Some friends my age date, but it’s really hard here. Not all families will allow
their kids to date a stranger they’re not engaged to. I think that if you’re
going to get engaged you should know each other for at least a year as friends.
Here in Nablus, in our religion, when a couple gets engaged they are essentially
married. If they break up while engaged, judges will consider it divorce.





MOVEMENT AND TRAVEL

When the Palestinian Authority (PA) was created in 1994, the Occupied
Territories were divided into three zones. Zone A (17%) includes the main cities
in the West Bank and Gaza where the Palestinians were given authority to run the
civil administration and security control in this area. In Zone B (22%), which
includes those cities’ surrounding villages, the PA runs civil administration
and security is supposed to be shared between Palestine and Israel. Zone C, the
largest part (61%), is completely under Israeli control. We can’t do anything
over there without getting permits from the Israelis: we can’t build, can’t
plant crops, can’t leave. This is where all the settlements except Hebron’s are
located, and where the Jewish-only settlement roads are located, which trap
Palestinians going city to city. Area C has a great deal of resources and
fertile land, but there is no industry there for us because we are not allowed
to develop it.

It’s difficult to move from place to place in Palestine because of the
checkpoints. It can take me three hours to get to my university five miles away
in Abu Dis. Sometimes the checkpoint is closed when I try to pass through, so I
have to return home and miss class. It really depends on whether the soldier on
duty that day wants to let you in. It’s their personal decision. They’re not
following any set guidelines.



I’m on my school’s soccer team. It’s too hard for our bus to make it through the
checkpoints to another school, so we can only play against ourselves.




MOVEMENT AND TRAVEL (CONT.)

My husband was killed twenty years ago. He is a martyr. He was wanted by the
Israeli army, and they killed him. Even now there is collective punishment for
my whole family. For example: my son was six months old when his father died. He
wants to go abroad to Cairo to continue his study, but he was prevented from
leaving because of his father’s crime. Last year he had his high school exit
exams. He scored a 96%, and got a scholarship to go to a college wherever he
pleases outside of the country. But Israel prevented him from leaving; they said
he was a security risk. If your father, brother, uncle, or anyone in your family
has been detained by the Israeli police, you will never get a permit to leave.
His dream is to be an engineer, but this dream has been destroyed. Even now,
twenty years after they killed my husband, they are still punishing my family.

We are only residents in Jerusalem; we’re not citizens of any state. I know a
man who married a woman from the West Bank, not far from the separation wall.
They’ve been trying for nine years to get residency status for her in Israel.
But they still have not succeeded, and he has to go renew her permit every six
months. There are tons of stories like this. Some kids are allowed to live in
Israel or East Jerusalem until they turn 18, and then get kicked out because
their West Bank “citizenship” is activated; which of course isn’t citizenship at
all.





THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY

We have two problems. The first is the occupation and the second is the
Palestinian Authority. The PA is not working for the people; they’re only
interested in business, in putting money in their pocket. Some Palestinians
would welcome a return to the full occupation. Many would prefer the way of life
before 1988, before the settlers arrived. Of course, there are others who
believe we can have a state with freedom and democracy here, but the PA is not
working in that direction. I was put in jail for 14 days just for questioning
the Palestinian Authority.

I was an intern at a hospital in the West Bank before I came to the US. It’s
really bad over there. The Palestinian Authority did not set up a way to govern
the hospital system. They have some supplies, but their physicians are not
really trained. They can’t do even simple procedures at Palestinian hospitals,
with the exception of one in Ramallah. Palestinians have to go to the Israeli
hospital in Jerusalem for advanced care. It’s terribly expensive and the PA
doesn’t pay for treatment at those hospitals. So who’s fault is this? Who is
responsible? Is it the Palestinian Authority? Is it Israel? I think it’s both.





THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (CONT.)

In 1994 Israel recognized the Palestinian Authority. They essentially picked the
leaders of the PA, because everyone who wasn’t corrupt and was fit to lead the
PA had either been assassinated, imprisoned or was in exile. The Israeli
government agreed to set a Palestinian path to statehood. But by 1999, it became
clear they wouldn’t adhere to these terms. They built segregated roads, and
suddenly we had no way to get into Jerusalem. The settlements started building
up; they constructed a massive wall that separates us from Israel and cuts
through our fields. All this happened after the Palestinian Authority came to
power. The situation became even worse than it was under full occupation.




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