I Saw it in Palestine

Over the last week, a Che Guevara quote has been running through my head, much to my surprise: "At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that a true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love." I do feel ridiculous saying it, but as I've been preparing to leave Tuwani once more (I'll be back so enough, mind you) I keep thinking about how much I love the people of the South Hebron Hills and how natural it feels to stand with them as they nonviolently resist all of the terrible violence and injustice that faces them.

I don't feel like a revolutionary, unlike Che. Lately, the ways that our work usually is described feel hollow and twisted. I've been thinking of myself just as part of the revolution's camera crew - because Tuwani's revolution will be uploaded to youtube! It's clear to me that the village has it all organized - to stay on their land sheep need to be grazed, crops planted, clothes washed, food cooked, children sent to school, and the violence of Israeli settlers and soldiers endured. Demonstrations have to be planned, lawyers called, relationships with the media developed. Ad the foreigners can film, just so everyone else can get on with the resisting and the living that needs to be done. We do so little. "Really, you are witnesses. You can just film," as one friend of ours says.

It's trite, but I'm so blessed to be able to live with people that I love so much.