Marhaba from Palestine - Jenin
Anna in the Middle East
Anna Baltzer
Several days ago while attending an embroidery workshop for local
women, we received a frantic call from the north about a killing. We
called around to see if any other human rights groups had
internationals in Jenin, but it seemed everyone had headed south to
document settler violence around Hebron. The next day, we traveled
to Rumani, a village on the northwestern edge of the West Bank. We
brought along our friend Ashraf translate for us, a soft-spoken
Palestinian nonviolent activist studying at the American University
in Jenin. When we arrived in the village, we were told that the
family we'd be visiting was very religious, so Ashraf would have to
stay with the men while we took the report from the victim's wife,
the only adult witness. My colleagues and I were guided into a room
full of women from the village, sitting with somber faces around the
victim's mother and wife. I realized this was the Palestinian
equivalent of "sitting Shiva" in the Jewish tradition, when family
and friends gather right after a death to mourn and comfort the next
of kin.
A short documentary of the psychology of life in a refugee camp