The Bedouin school of Tires at Han El Ahmar


Last August an unusual, ecologically-friendly structure of used tires and mud was opened as a primary school for the children of the Jahalin Bedouin tribe in the Judean desert. It was immediately served with a demolition order by the civil administration of the I.D.F. in Judea, a consequence of speedy intervention by the security officer of nearby Kfar Adumim.


Tomorrow the High Court of Justice will deliberate on whether that demolition, temporarily stopped by court order, will be carried out. The nearby settlers and the organization, "Regavim" ("For Saving the Nation's lands") insist it must without further delay.


Three Jahalin children have been killed, two injured and maimed for life, trying to reach the U.N.R.W.A. school in Jericho to which they had been assigned, being refugees from the Negev. The tribe had been expelled from the area near Tel Arad in the early 1950's. The parents stopped sending their little children at all. They started planning their own school and turned to the authorities for aid. They were met with administrative silence, and worse. All their tents and rough huts were served demolition orders. They were supposed to disappear, not appeal for help!


The school was built by the Jerusalem Bedouin Cooperative, a self-help group, with the assistance of local Israeli volunteers (mainly from "Rabbis For Human Rights") and an Italian socio-ecological N.G.O., Vento Di Terra, which specializes in aiding poor, indigenous populations by encouraging self-help and civil society.


Four temporary classrooms, designed by architect Valerio Marazzi of Milan were constructed from used truck tires, mud and some wooden beams. The Bedouin collected and purchased the materials, filled and plastered the tires with mud from local red clay and coated the outside with used falafel oil. The whole thing cost very little.


A reluctant promise by the Palestinian Authority to supply four teachers would only be fulfilled if there was a building standing by the beginning of August. This was an act of desperation after decades of neglect by both the Israelis and the Palestinians. Repeated requests for their basic rights to health, education, electricity, water and building permits have been either ignored or rejected. They watched their neighbours in Kfar Adumim just above them, pampered by the authorities, receive all the amenities and building rights they were denied.


So they built themselves a school.


Since August 60 children, aged 6-10, have been learning there daily. The look of delight and enthusiasm on their faces that first day of school was unforgettable. The look on those faces if the bulldozers come is unimaginable. The State of Israel, while encouraging Jews to settle nearby has taken no responsibility, despite humanitarian international law, for their situation. This is area C, where only Jews are allowed to build.


As a Jewish Israeli, a son of Holocaust refugees I know personally what education means to the children of refugees. As a religious person I see in education not only a basic human right, but also a spiritual value. I identify with their educational aspirations, and think we all should. I also admire their courage. I pray that tomorrow's court sitting will exemplify the noblest Jewish ideals of love of mankind, but fear that we will again see Jewish indifference to the rights and suffering of the non-Jews in our midst.


In chapter 1 of Isaiah's well known prophecy (Ketzinei Sdom, Am Amorrah") he describes the corruption of ancient Israel, words which still ring true today. He demands justice above all. Isaiah tells us of the indifference to the suffering of the poor. None are poorer than these Bedouin. It is in a case like this that our humanity is tested.


"Tzion BeMishpat Tipadeh" it says...Zion in Justice will be redeemed.


Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann

Director of Field Activities, Rabbis For Human Rights

The Bedouin school of Tires at Han El Ahmar


Last August an unusual, ecologically-friendly structure of used tires and mud was opened as a primary school for the children of the Jahalin Bedouin tribe in the Judean desert. It was immediately served with a demolition order by the civil administration of the I.D.F. in Judea, a consequence of speedy intervention by the security officer of nearby Kfar Adumim.


Tomorrow the High Court of Justice will deliberate on whether that order, temporarily stopped by court order, will carried out. The nearby settlers and the organization, "Regavim" ("For Saving the Nation's lands") insist it must without further delay.


Three Jahalin children had been killed, two injured and maimed for life, trying to reach the U.N.R.W.A. school in Jericho to which they had been assigned, being refugees from the Negev. The tribe had been expelled from the area near Tel Arad in the early 1950's. The parents stopped sending their little children at all. They started planning their own school and turned to the authorities for aid. They were met with administrative silence, and worse. All there tents and rough huts were served demolition orders. They were supposed to disappear, not appeal for help!


The school was built by the Jerusalem Beduin Cooperative, a self-help group, with the assistance of local Israeli volunteers (mainly from "Rabbis For Human Rights") and an Italian socio-ecological N.G.O., Vento Di Terra, which specializes in aiding poor, indigenous populations by encouraging self-help and civil society.


Four temporary classrooms, designed by architect Valerio Marazzi of Milan were constructed from used truck tires, mud and some wooden beams. The Bedouin collected and purchased the materials, filled and plastered the tires with mud from local red clay and coated the outside with used falafel oil. The whole thing cost very little.


A reluctant promise by the Palestinian Authority to supply four teachers would only be fulfilled if there was a building standing by the beginning of August. This was an act of desperation after decades of neglect by both the Israelis and the Palestinians. Repeated requests for their basic rights to health, education, electricity, water and building permits had been either ignored or rejected. They watched their neighbours in Kfar Adumim just above them, pampered by the authoities, receive all the amenities and building rights they were denied.


So they built themselves a school.


Since August 60 children, aged 6-10, have been learning there daily. The look of delight and enthusiasm in their faces that first day of school was unforgettable. The look on those faces if the bulldozers come is unimaginable. The State of Israel, while encouraging Jews to settle nearby has taken no responsibility, despite humanitarian international law, for their situation. This is area C, where only Jews are allowed to build.


As a Jewish Israeli, a son of Holocaust refugees I know personally what education means to the children of refugees. As a religious person I see in education not only a basic human right, but also a spiritual value. I identify with their educational aspirations, and think we all should. I also admire their courage. I pray that tomorrow's court sitting will exemplify the noblest Jewish ideals of love of mankind, but fear that we will again see Jewish indifference to the rights and suffering of the non-Jews in our midst.


In chapter 1 of Isaiah's well known prophecy (Ketzini Sdom, Am Amorrah") he describes the corruption of ancient Israel, words which still ring true today. He demands justice above all. Isaiah tells us of the indifference to the suffering of the poor. None are poorer than these Bedouin. It is in a case like this that our humanity is tested.


"Tzion BeMishpat Tipadeh" it says...Zion in Justice will be redeemed.


Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann

Director of Field Activities, Rabbis For Human Rights

בית הספר בחאן אל אחמר: בסכנת הריסה

באוגוסט האחרון נפתח בית ספר יסודי לילדים בדואים משבט הג'הלין בחאן אל אחמר שבמדבר יהודה. בנית בית הספר הקטן הזה היה מעשה של גבורה, העצמה אזרחית, ושיתוף פעולה בין הבדואים המקומיים, וישראלים ואיטלקים, חברי ארגונים אזרחיים אידיאליסטיים. על בניית בית הספר כתבה בזמנו העיתונאית עמירה הס בעיתון הארץ. אז, כתוצאה של עבודתו של עו"ד שלמה לקר, ופרסום העניין בתקשורת צו ההריסה שהוגש לבדויים הוקפא בצו ביניים.

לפני כן קבוצה של מתנדבים, בעיקר מטעם "שומרי משפט, רבנים לזכויות האדם" הגיעה יום-יום בחום הכבד של יוני - יולי לסייע לבדויים ולאדריכל הסביבתי ממילנו, ולריו, לבנות את המבנה הייחודי מצמיגים משומשים ובוץ, בנסיון להעמיד 4 כיתות לימוד מוכנות לפני פתיחת שנת הלימודים. בכך קיוו לזכות ב4 המורים שהבטיחה הרשות הפלסטינית לספק, אם יהיה בנין. זה היה מעשה של ייאוש של הורי ילדים קטנים. הם ידעו שלא היה כל סיכוי שהמנהל האזרחי יאפשר בניה כזאת, למרות הזכות האנושית הבסיסית לחינוך שיש התעלמות מוחלטת ממנה מצדו , כמו משאר זכויות האדם שלהם .

בעוד שבוע, ב22.02.10 יישב בג"ץ לדון בעתידו של בית הספר. העותרים הם ארגון רגבים, "להצלת אדמות האומה" והנהלת הישוב היהודי השכן ,כפר אדומים. הם דורשים לבצע צו הריסה שהוקפא כאמור מתחילת שנת הלימודים. אנשי כפר אדומים, הידועים בין היתר בגלל השקעתם הרבה בחינוך ילדיהם (יש שלט גדול בכניסה לישוב המצביע על כך) אינם שקטים מהמשך פעילותו של בית הספר הצנוע והעני לידם. המתנחלים חוששים כנראה שזאת התחלה של ישוב קבע במקום, והרי ידוע שהבדויים, שהגיעו לשם אחרי גירושם מהנגב ב1948 הינם "בלתי חוקיים", כל האהלים והצריפים שלהם כבר מזמן קיבלו צוי הריסה. לאן עליהם לעבור? אין תכנית ואין תשובה. העיקר שייעלמו ויפסיקו לקלקל את היופי המדברי שם והמשך התפשטות כפר אדומים, ה"חוקי".

הזמנות הבדויים לשכנים לבקר ולדבר איתם לא זכו להיענות עד כה. אחד ממנהיגי הועד המקומי של הג'הלין שאל אותי באירוניה " האם יתנו לנו לבנות שכונה לבדויים שם בישוב שלהם כמו שבנינו אנחנו את שאר הבתים שלהם? אנחנו רוצים לחיות כמו כל בני האדם" אמר לי אבו חמיס בפגישתנו האחרונה, "עם חשמל, מים, כבישים טובים, בית ספר ושרותי בריאות. להם נותנים לבנות, רק לנו לא."

לבית ספר מגיעים בכל יום כ60 ילדים בדויים מהסביבה בגילאים 6-10. אני יכול להעיד מביקורי במקום על שמחתם הגדולה ללמוד סוף-סוף. עד השנה לא היו יושבים ללמוד באופן מסודר. הם סבלו מהעדר תחבורה לבית הספר לפליטים של האו"ם UNRWA ביריחו אליו הופנו ובגלל הסירוב של המנהל לקחת אחראיות עליהם, למרות שהם בשטח C, אזור שליטה ישראלית מלאה. בקשות במשך השנים נענו בשלילה. פניות לרשות הפלסטינית זכו לתשובה ש"אתם באיזור שליטה ישראלית".

מאז בנית גדר ההפרדה המצב הוחרף בגלל העדר תחבורה ציבורית ערבית סדירה בכביש ירושלים-יריחו ואיסורי חנית אוטובוס ליד הכפר. שלושה ילדים נהרגו בתאונות דרכים, ושניים נפצעו קשה בדרך לבית ספר. ההורים הפסיקו לשלוח ילדים קטנים. אבו סולימן, ממנהיגי ההורים הסביר לי שיש גם בעיה מיוחדת לבנות בחברה השמרנית שלהם הורים היו מוכנים לתת להן לנסוע לבית ספר מעורב רק עד כתה ד'. רוב הבנות כלל לא למדו. לדידו היתה ירידה בדעת קרוא וכתוב בשבט בשנים האחרונות.

לכן החליטו לעשות מעשה ולבנות לעצמם בית ספר.

כיהודי ישראלי בן של פליטי שואה המכיר אישית את משמעות החינוך לבני פליטים וכאדם דתי שרואה בחינוך ילדים מעשה בעל משמעות רוחנית אני מזדהה עם שיאפותיהם החינוכיות. אני מתפלל שהיותנו יהודים יהיה מקור לחסד בהחלטות המשפטיות והמנהליות בעניין הזה, ולא מקור לאכזריות.

נאמר ש"ציון במשפט תפדה" והכוונה כמובן למשפט במובן של צדק, לא ככלי של עוולה.
גם נאמר -פעמיים! - בפרשת משפטים שקראנו בשבת האחרונה בבית הכנסת:

"וגר לא תונה ולא תלחצנו כי גרים הייתם בארץ מצרים" (שמות, כ"ב, כ')
"וגר לא תלחץ ואתם ידעתם את נפש הגר כי גרים הייתם באץ מצרים" (שמות, כ"ג, ט')


הרב יחיאל גריינימן,

מנהל מחלקת שטחים,
שומרי משפט, רבנים למען זכויות האדם

Wednesday, 26th november 2009:

Why? An Expression of Frustration.

by Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann

Last night I was awoken with some alarming information. Armed settlers had broken into the El Kurd home in Sheik Jarrah at approximately 2:00 a.m. This is the home which was invaded about a month ago by the same settler group (Nahalat Shimon). They were then removed from the rest of the house, but allowed to stay in one room, which was an extension built 'illegally" onto to the original structure. The family - refugees from 1948 - is due to be evicted next week anyway, because the court sees the extension as an inidcation of "breach of contract" and so ending their recognized status as protected tenants. They will be the fourth family evicted in the area as the settlers and their government supporters continue to "liberate' and "Judaize" the neighbourhood.

Apart from the apparent injustice of the whole thing there appears to be collusion between the settler organization, the courts, the municipality and business interests in the U.S.A. That's what surprised me last night. The police removed the settlers, after reading the court decision, rather than backing up the settlers, which they have so often done in the past.

But beyond all that I am still unable to understand the logic behind the settlers' behaviour last night. Why couldn't they just wait and go in under police escort as has been done in the past? And why do thisin the middle of the night?

Furthermore, these people claim to be "religious". I can't comprehend their behaviour in that context either. I always thought that the message of Torah was the pursuit of justice, the pursuit of peace and minimally basic decency in neighbourly relations. There are many, many laws in the Torah regarding decent treatment of sojourners (Gerim) in our midst, and the general statement that the laws are given so that others should say "what a wise and just law" this is. How do they justify such behaviour to themselves? Do they not understand that it is "hillul haShem' of the worst kind? They have the courts, the police, the city authorities, the border guards behind them, the apathy of the Israeli public and press regarding Palestinians and their rights regaarding the whole matter, not to speak of extremely wealthy American supporters to finance them. So why do they need to resort to violence in the middle of the night? In what way does it serve their interests? In what way does it reflect on the justice of their cause? What reflection is it of their understanding of Torah?

And why is there this thundering silence from Israeli society as this travesty of justice continues in our midst? Why are we unable so far to change that?

Yehiel Grenimann
Director, Occupied Territories Department,
RHR

1. Yanosh and Eva:

The old oak tree in Pilsudski square, Warsaw, provided them with privacy. It stood there in the square, house-like in its immensity, its thick branches crowned with a safe canopy of leaves under which children played. The agile ones would climb up into their haven, whispering secrets, telling jokes, teasing those below. Brave boys would hang from them shouting, imitating "Tarzan of the Apes". More often it was quiet there, particularly as evening approached and it grew colder.

rewrite of first paragraph

A TIME TO BE BORN
A tale of survival and recovery.
Written by Yehiel Grenimann

1. Yanosh and Eva:

The old oak tree in Pilsudski square, Warsaw, provided them with privacy. It stood there in the square, house-like in its immensity, its thick branches crowned with a safe canopy of leaves . Agile ones would climb up into their haven, whispering secrets, telling jokes, teasing those below. Brave boys hung from them shouting, imitating Tarzan. As evening approached it grew colder and became a quiet spot.

It was there that Yanosh and Eva would meet after school. He was learning in a Polish state high school, she in the Peretz Yiddish school. His parents did not approve of the relationship, neither did hers. They were "too young". She was too politically radical and too "Jewish" for them; he from too assimilated a family, lacking Jewish loyalty, or pride.

He inscribed their initials into the bark, etching in the date in Roman numerals. He translated it for her. June 7th. 1933.

She laughed watching him. He worked away at the tough material with his Swiss pocket knife. It glinted in the afternoon sun.

Yanosh loved this handy red knife. Marek had given it to him as a birthday gift when his father last returned from overseas. Marek's father, a diplomat, would enchant the boys with stories of exotic far-away places, like Jamaica or Australia. He often brought gifts for his son from these travels. Marek already had a pocket knife just like this one.

Yanosh promised Eva that when they were old enough he would marry her and they too would travel far away to one of those distant lands. There no one would stop them seeing each other, and no one would attack or spit at Jews or Communists any more, like they did in Warsaw.

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Warsaw, October 1944:

It had been a long night. The sounds of explosions and shooting outside had terrified them. A strange, eerie silence now reigned.

Eva looked pale. She was curled up in the corner, wrapped in her blanket, staring at nothing.

Yanosh crawled over to the window to look outside. He lifted the curtain, and glimpsed out. He looked up at the sky. Night was receding before the first rays of the morning sun.

Down below he could see human silhouettes moving between the darkened ruins of once elegant buildings, which were still smoldering.

The tanks were gone. So were the German soldiers.

A new beginning to the novel

A TIME TO BE BORN

a tale of survival and recovery.

Written by Yehiel Grenimann

1

Yanosh and Eva

The old oak tree in Pilsudski square, Warsaw, provided them with privacy. It stood there in the square, house-like in its immensity, its big leaves hanging from long twisted branches. Sometimes children would climb them and boys would hang from the twisted tree limbs imitating Tarzan of the apes.. More often it was quiet there, particularly as evening approached and it grew colder.

They would meet there regularly after school. He was learning in a Polish state high school, she in a Yiddish school, Peretz it was called. His parents did not like the relationship, neither did hers. She was too radical politically and too “Jewish” for them; he from too assimilated a family, lacking Jewish loyality or pride

He inscribed their names into the tree, a sign of their mutal commitment. He cut the date in Roman numerals as he had learned in school to show her how clever he was. Then he translated them for her. June 7^th. 1933. She laughed watching him work away at the tough bark with his little Swiss pocket knife. It glinted in the afternoon sun.

He loved this handy red knife, given him by his friend Yanek. Yanek’s parents had been overseas many times.They often brought small gifts on their return from a trip.Yanek’s father was a diplomat, who often would enchant Yanosh with his stories of exotic far-away places, like Jamaica or Australia.

Yanosh promised Eva that when they were old enough he would marry her and they would travel far away to one of those distant lands. There no one would attack or spit at Jews or Communists any more, and no one would stop them seeing each other.

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