While bombs fall in Gaza, tension mounts in the West Bank, where for years Daoud Nassar, a Christian Palestinian, has created “the tent of nations”, a place of nonviolent resistance on a farm threatened with eviction: «Even today, no one for us he is an enemy. But he serves justice »
Reaching the Nassar family farm, on the hill overlooking the Palestinian village of Nahalin, south-west of Bethlehem, is now more complicated than ever. The only asphalt road accessible to residents was closed by one of the roadblocks imposed by the Israeli army, while the new carriage road that runs nearby is reserved for the five Jewish settlements surrounding the area.
While the conflict in Gaza is turning into an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, tension is also running high in the West Bank. Between the militarization of the territory and the growing aggressiveness of the Jewish settlers, daily life has become a dangerous gamble. “Palestinian cities and villages are cut off from each other and we are systematically separated from our lands”, sighs Daoud Nassar, who with his brother Daher and sister Amal manages the plot – forty hectares of arable land – belonging to their family for four generations. «The olive harvest was very complicated, and many farmers around here gave up cultivating their fields…».
The gate that opens after a tortuous path between the villages welcomes what, for the past 24 years, these Palestinian brothers of Christian faith have transformed into the “Tent of the Nations”. Theirs is a long history of nonviolent resistance to expropriation attempts but also to the logic of inevitable separation along ethnic and religious lines which often seems the only possible one in this tormented land. But the Nassar brothers disagree. The writing that stands at the entrance to the property, painted with colored paint on a large boulder, is eloquent: “We refuse to be enemies”, he says.
“It was 1991 when the State of Israel tried for the first time to nationalize the farm, which according to official documents from the Ottoman era was purchased by my grandfather in 1916,” says Daoud, now 53 years old. «Since then, an exhausting legal battle has been underway with demolition orders and postponements, requests for new documents and hearings postponed indefinitely. A situation that has forced us into constant precariousness and subjected us to heavy pressure.” While new settler settlements grew around the hill, the Nassars struggled with a series of bans with a potentially lethal impact on their activities: “In addition to not being able to build new structures, we were cut off from the electricity and water networks” , explains Daoud, who found himself facing a surreal daily life together with his wife Jihan and their three children.
“We could have reacted with force, as others choose to do, or sat down and cried and become victims, or left everything and walked away. But we didn’t want to accept any of these options,” he explains. «We refuse to be victims, just as we refuse to hate: no one can force us to do so. As Christians we believe in nonviolence and justice. And so, we began to consider all obstacles as challenges to overcome: we don’t have electricity? We install solar panels. Do they take away our water to irrigate the fields? We install cisterns to collect rainwater. Do they ban us from building on the land? We create spaces underground.” In fact, many rooms of this organic farm – and even a welcoming chapel – were created by adapting the existing caves on the property. Created from a cavity, with small high windows (and a mural featuring a quote from the Gospel of John: “I am the vine, you are the branches”), it is also the apartment used to host visitors, pilgrims and volunteers.
Faced with threats of eviction, in fact, the farm has transformed over the years into a place open to anyone, from the surrounding area or from afar, who wants to come and support the Nassar’s fight by lending a hand in the countless daily tasks: cultivation and irrigation of the fields , harvesting of fruit and olives, harvesting, and then preparation of preserves, recycling activities, maintenance of dry stone walls and cisterns.
«Helping us are Christians and Muslims, as well as, sometimes, Jews committed to human rights and the environment, given that on the farm we have an organic and sustainable approach: we build bridges between people and between people and the land », says Daoud, who exudes a positive charisma and has a contagious smile. «We want to give everyone a breath of hope, to convey the message that collaborating is possible. In the summer, then, we organize a camp for around fifty children from the surrounding area: every day we give them the opportunity to escape from a difficult, often traumatic, situation and stay in contact with nature and animals. Through many activities such as music, theatre, mosaic workshops, we help them discover their potential, believe in themselves and escape the victim mentality that surrounds them: we always try to focus on the glass half full.”
A remarkable effort today, as bombs fall incessantly on Gaza and the West Bank is also on fire. “The situation is really tough,” confirms Nassar. «Property confiscations and demolitions are the order of the day, while moving has become almost impossible. My eldest daughter, who attends school in Ramallah, about thirty kilometers from here, has to leave home at 5 in the morning so as not to be late for her 9 o’clock lessons. All Palestinians live day by day.” And foreign volunteers also suffer the effects of the restrictions: “Getting them here is much more complicated, and today we cannot welcome those who do not already have some experience”, explains Daoud.
Yet, despite
everything, in recent months young people have never stopped knocking on the Tent of Nations: «The last two came from Belgium and the United Kingdom and many others would like to join us between spring and summer. For us their presence is vital, not only for support in our work but also because it guarantees us a certain international visibility and therefore protection: we would be happy to have Italian guys too! However, we will have to see the situation on the ground to understand whether it will be possible to open the doors.”
In the midst of the hell that has been unleashed in the Holy Land, is it still possible to “refuse to be enemies”? Daoud hesitates only for a moment.
«Among the Palestinians there is great frustration and even anger. Israel has experienced a very serious trauma but the solution is not to burden others with restrictions and constraints that are impossible to bear. Justice is needed: thinking only of one’s own safety, forgetting the rights of others, will not bring stability. I fear for young Palestinians, who are growing up hostage to this anger, which is why through our activities we always try to transform negative energy into a positive force, which can build and not destroy. As Christians we continue to see no one as an enemy, even if we denounce wrongdoings. We are the people of the resurrection: we can be reborn from suffering, without being trapped in the circle of hatred.”