SOLIDARITY NETWORK
By Jackie Gugliotti
We arrived at the university and were introduced to Sari Nusseibeh, the university president and well-known politician. He was extremely personable and engaging, as were the other people in his office. Nusseibeh had recently been arrested for hiring �foreigners� (or Palestinian professors from the surrounding Palestinian territories) to teach at Al-Quds. Nusseibeh spoke to us about the wall, the �right of return� and nonviolence. He expressed his belief in Gandhi�s non-violent methods and detailed the different ways he and like-minded others had resisted the Israeli occupation using non-violent methods. He stressed to us that most, though not all, Palestinians agree with nonviolent methods and that a major issue that inhibited the Palestinian movement was lack of a common vision.
After our meeting with Nusseibeh, we attended a meeting of the Palestine Legislative Council where they discussed the issue of the wall. As the meeting was conducted in Arabic, it was rather difficult to follow the proceedings. During a break, Nabil and Said were able to arrange a brief meeting with a handful of the Council members. The Council members shared their perspectives of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and also their respective thoughts on the Palestinian struggle, nonviolent resistance, rebuilding the infrastructure of the Palestinian state and establishing a democracy.
After our meeting concluded, we hung around and spoke with other people for awhile and decided that we would all like to go out to the Dead Sea, famous for its density and beautifying qualities. We headed over to our new hotel, the City Inn Palace, set deeper in the city of Ramallah. We quickly settled into our rooms and then were off to the Dead Sea. As we neared our destination, someone pointed out where the Jordan River feeds into the Dead Sea, and soon we were able to see where Palestine ended and Jordan began. The Dead Sea, with its smooth and peaceful surface, was truly an amazing sight.
Within moments, most of us were in the water and effortlessly floating, twirling and bobbing on the top layer of water. We were all trying to avoid getting the extremely salty water in our eyes, but some of us were not that lucky. After playing in the water, we decided to give ourselves some spa treatment by applying the smooth, metal-gray mud to ourselves. Soon we were almost completely covered and looking good, and took pictures of ourselves this way.
We then headed back to Ramallah and our hotel, where we ate dinner and relaxed a little. Late that evening, we had a meeting in the hotel lobby with Hani Al-Hassan and Rheema Hassan. Rheema spoke about the Palestinian defense group Hamas and the recent assassinations of Hamas leaders Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantizi. They both elaborated on the conflict and construction of the wall.
After the meeting some decided to head out to a nargeela bar and the others went to bed.