Jurish

Jurish, Doma

We left Rosh Ha’ayin at 14:10.  A soldier was guarding the hitchhiking station toward Ramallah at the Za’tara junction.

We reached Jurish at 15:00.  Susan and Nadim drove on to Doma, Harriet and I began our English club activity.  More girls arrived than usual.  We were glad to meet again with those we hadn’t seen for a long time who rejoined our activity.  We learned “Imagine,” John Lennon’s song.  I asked the girls which lines they identify with and which not, which lines they disagree with.

They couldn’t identify with these:

IMAGINE THERE'S NO HEAVEN

NO HELL BELOW US

Since the girls are religious and lead a religious life they believe in life after death, in paradise and hell, and said that the way a person leads their life has consequences, God judges them, decides whether they’ll go to heaven or to hell.

When we came to the line,

IMAGINE THERE’S NO COUNTRIES

S. said that because of the reality of their lives – living without a state – it’s hard for them to identify with it, and because John Lennon and his ancestors lived in a normal country with all the resources they had available to them, he could allow himself to write something like that.  Had they been born into a world which was a single country, as Lennon wrote, AND THE WORLD WILL BE AS ONE, perhaps they wouldn’t object to it if they could remain devout Moslems.

Regarding the rest of the song, the girls agreed they wished for peace in the world, and that people not go hungry.  After we talked about the meaning of Lennon’s words, the girls asked to write their own “Imagine”s.  Here are the highlights of what some of the Jurish girls wrote:

IMAGINE THAT I COULD TRAVEL TO PARIS EVERY WEEK

IMAGINE THAT I COULD GO TO THE BEACH EVERY DAY

IMAGINE THAT I COULD HAVE THOUSAND SHOES

IMAGINE THERE IS NO ISRAELI ARMY ARROUND US

IMAGINE THAT EVERYODY WILL LAUGH WITH ME

IMAGINE THAT I COULD BE A CLOTH DESIGNER

Two of the girls devoted considerable effort to their “Imagine.”  Here are significant portions of what they wrote:

The first:

IMAGINE THAT WOMEN CAN TAKE ALL RIGHTS

IMAGINE THAT ALL KIDS COULD START BEAUTIFUL GOOD LIFE WITH ALL RIGHTS,

IMAGINE THAT THE WORLD BECOME BETTER, AND EVERYONE GOOD TO EACH OTHER,

IMAGINE THAT I COULD HAVE MY OWN HOUSE AND CAR AND LIVE INDEPENDENT,

IMAGINE… IF CONTINUE, I WON'T FINISH.

The second:

IMAGINE THAT THERE IS NO OCCUPATION,

IMAGINE THAT NO PEOPLE FIGHTING ALL THE TIME,

IMAGINE WE ALL LIVE IN PEACE,

IMAGINE WE CAN TRAVEL ANYWHERE,

IMAGINE THAT THE WOMEN ARE ALL RESPECTED AND THEY ARE GREAT LEADERS,

IMAGINE IF I COULD GO TO SPACE AND EXPLORE THE PLANET,

IMAGINE THAT I CAN HIKE ON MOUNT OF EVEREST,

IMAGINE IF I COULD VISIT AFRICA AND HELP THE YOUNG CHILDREN THERE,

IMAGINE IF I COULD BE SUCCESSFUL AND COULD HAVE MY OWN LIFE.

Susan:

While the girls in Jurish were learning English, Nadim and I went to Doma where we met A.  Chana Zohar had suggested we contact Kav LaOved.  As you recall, A., who’d worked for an Israeli contractor, was injured on the job when he fell from scaffolding at a construction site in Har Adar.  As a result he was hospitalized in Hadassah for more than twenty days.  Kav LaOved promised to look into the case.

On our way back to Jurish we saw two IDF soldiers standing at the concrete barriers on Highway 505 at the entrance to Qusra.

Hadas:

At 17:05 we returned to Rosh Ha’ayin.  On the way, at Za’tara junction, we saw two army command cars driving on Highway 505.  An army jeep stood among the olive trees on a hill at Harth junction.

We reached Rosh Ha’ayin at 17:50.