6.11.06

I keep reminding myself that my main objective in this blog is to tell of how we, as Palestinians, live in Palestine. While I go off track often, I enjoy comming back to this every now and then.

"Hamzet Wasel"- Connection Point (for lack of a better translation) is a programme on Palestinian TV that allows families from West Bank to meet their family members from Gaza- through video conference (of course).
This is what our lives have come to. We cannot meet our own fathers, daughters of friends in person. The fact that this is a weekly programme with a new family every week just illustrates how this is a common problem, a problem that is alien to the thinking of almost anybody else on this Planet. For where else in this world do you get someone with relatives a 100 km away, and yet can't get even close to seeing them.
Rima, is glad that for the first time in 5 years her parents will see her family, will enjoy seeing Tamara and Yazan playing around. Still, then will not be able to hold them. It will remain less than perfect, however it is something that refreshes the mind. You should have seen the smile on her face thinking of how beautiful Yazan and Tamara looked on Eid day and how much she would have loved for her parents to see them then.
Many people would not understand what this means, because they have never seen Erez, they were never stopped by Israeli Army, and they were never treated with contempt because of the colour of their ID card. Here in Palestine, this is the normal course of events, and we live with that. That is why we have to rely on every possible mean to defy the constraints put on us. If this can be done with technology- then technology it is. It remains less than perfect but it fills a gap.

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