Most Americans see the Occupied Territories through the lens of the media. It’s hard to connect with the Palestinian people, or to grasp what it’s really like to live from day to day under an oppressive military occupation.
That’s why I’m very proud to be able to present this series of audio reports from the West Bank and Gaza by Seema Jilani. Seema is a medical student at Baylor University in Houston, and also a reporter for radio station KPFT there. She travelled to the Occupied Territories in January of 2005 with the Jewish American Medical Project. The group lived and worked in the territories for two weeks - visiting clinics and hospitals, seeing patients, collecting stories and information.
Everywhere we went, Seema had her tape recorder. She recorded at checkpoints, clinics, city streets, playgrounds and cemeteries. Her tapes capture the sounds and voices of Palestinian life: casual conversations, heartrending stories, expressions of fear, anger and hope…
She’s now edited and compiled her tapes into five half-hour reports. They were first broadcast on KPFT about a month ago. She’s given me permission to post them here. Listening to them, you will get a very real sense of the Palestinian character and experience.
To listen, simply click the play button. There is a brief introduction, then Seema’s report. Note that the tapes were made with simple equipment, often under difficult circumstances - they’re fuzzy at points, but always audible. I’m posting the first two today. I hope to get the next three up later this week.
Human Cost of the Occupation, Part I
[audio:Jilani.01.mp3]
Here, Seema talks about arriving, and the interrogation at the airport. Most of the report focuses on restriction to freedom of movement in the West Bank. Seema interviews a man who was kept as a hostage with his family during an Israeli incursion; reports live from the Qalandya checkpoint; talks with a physician about a critically ill pediatric patient who was denied passage to a hospital; and observes an intervention by a woman from the Israeli human rights group Machsom Watch at a checkpoint.
Human Cost of the Occupation, Part II
[audio:Jilani.02.mp3]
In this piece Seema interviews both Arabs and Jews about their prespectives on the conflict, suicide bombings, and the political situation, and visits the Bidya Medical Clinic.
Congratulations to Seema for her great work on this project. My thanks to her for making these reports publically available. I hope readers will consider telling others about these reports or linking to them. It seems to me they provide a valuable perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and deserve a wide listenership.
Addendum: the next two pieces in the series are now posted, here.
After returning from the JVP delegation Health and Human Rights Project in Israel and the occupied West Bank of Palestine I listened to your beautifully recorded “The Human Cost of Occupation” and felt again the frustration, helplessness, and unfairness of the mistreatment of the Palestinians.I would love to hear this on NPR or Democracy Now or another nationally broadcast radio Program. I just came back a week ago, and I heard the same stories coming from repeatedly traumatised people. The situation hasn’t improved since Seema Jilani made her report and over the time of my two week visit many Palestinians I spoke to expressed their despair. The separation wall has been extended, closures of West Bank areas have increased, settlements continue to encroach on Palestinian land, and home demolitions continue. Here in the US where we plan our futures on freedom and equality and the rights guaranteed by our constitution it is impossible to accept this injustice. Also it is easy to see how it is difficult for Palestinians to plan for the future.
Thank you for your kind words. This journalism piece was my passion for about 2 years and I still consider it my “baby.” It is hard to express to people here in the US exactly what is happening there, and the only real way to do it is to bring back the voices of the people being affected in both Israel and Palestine; they are *so* poignant and express things I could never do justice just talking about.
I remember what it was like having just come back from the trip and the stories still haunt me; in fact, it took me a long time to get back to my normal life without thinking of the people I met and their horrific stories. I think I needed a debriefing, to be quite honest.
Anyway, thank you for your support; it means a lot to me. Take care and feel free to contact me (the webmaster knows how to reach me.)