The Boy from Killcrossduff

A couple of weeks ago, a French Parliamentary report was published that focused on the use of water as a weapon on the West Bank. In fairly robust terms, water, or more specifically, Israel's control and the distribution of that water, was described as

a weapon serving the new apartheid...

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The report goes onto say

Some 450,000 Israeli settlers on the West Bank use more water than the 2.3m million Palestinians that live there...In times of drought, in contravention of international law, the settlers get priority for water...the separation wall being built by Israel allows it to control access to underground water sources and to direct the flow westward.

And that brings me to Qaqiliya. I paid a return visit to the city two days ago to meet up with a friend Suhad, who was going to show me around and tell me her story.

Qalqiliya used to have some of the most fertile soil anywhere in the West bank and as a result produced some of the best citrus fruit crops in the country. Those days are pretty much behind them. For a town that used to rely on agriculture for employment, Qalqiliya now has the second highest level of unemployment in the West Bank, 'bettered' only by Khan Younis in Gaza.

And for Suhad it is down to one thing: The Wall and what flows from it. The Separation Wall zig zags across the West Bank like a drunk, often cutting off Palestinian farmers from their land and families from their homes. Qalqiliya is different from many of the other communities affected by The Wall, because it is surrounded on three sides, which makes access to the town difficult, but easy to control.

Many people will have seen images of The Wall, and some may have wondered why it was built. In the summer of 2002, in the context of continuing attacks on civilians in Israel during the Second Intifada (some of which originated from Qalqiliya), the Israeli government began construction of a separation barrier (“The Wall”) – a complex series of walls, barriers, trenches, and fences – within the western border of the occupied West Bank. Much of The Wall's route does not coincide with the 1967 Green Line, and at one point near the town, The Wall is located something like 12km east of the Green Line. (My italics)

Whereas the border between Israel and the West Bank used to be the internationally recognised Green Line, the border has now become, the almost universally condemned Wall. Security was, and is the reason successive Israeli governments have given for the construction of The Wall but the reality seems to be, that it is little more than a land grab and as equally importantly of what lies beneath the land, the water.

I asked Suhad when she first knew what was happening around Qalqiliya. She said 'You have to understand that we were under curfew for days and weeks. If people left their house, they were shot. Women were shot in their kitchens making coffee. We didn't know what was happening. It was only when we could leave our houses that we could see what had happened.' And by then of course, The Wall had been built.

In order to build The Wall, land belonging to Palestinian farmers was confiscated. Compensation is offered, but as Suhad told me, 'The money offered is very little and if we did accept it, that would legitimise what the Israelis have done.' What also has to be remembered is that on the West Bank side of the Wall is a 300 metre No Man's Land, that required citrus orchards and olive groves to be ripped up. Nothing is permitted to be grown in this area over a certain height and local people have been threatened with having their homes demolished, as they fall within the prohibited zone. And this is a prohibited zone that appeared decades after the houses were originally built.

I was shown a house that falls within the 300 metre exclusion zone; a fine two storey, solidly built affair, with an, as yet, unfinished third storey. The building is likely to remain unfinished, as the owner used to invite Internationals to his roof, as it offered a great view over The Wall. This was frowned upon by the Israeli military, who sent a letter to him saying that unless he desisted, his house would be demolished. As things stand at the moment, he is prohibited from going on to his roof as well.

We drove to the checkpoint that is now the (un)official border between Israel and the West Bank at Qalqiliya. Here Palestinian men, if they are aged over 40, have a large family and have no history of activism in any of the resistance movements, can pass across into Israel, for a days work. The checkpoint opens at 6am and the men start queuing at 4am.

It's basically a corrugated shed divided by bars that leads upto the first security gate of three, that people have to pass through before they emerge on the other side. It's a grim place, functional, with shadowy figures behind the smoked glass windows of the tower that rises above the main building. But humour is to be found; there is a sign listing the rules and regulations concerning passing through the checkpoint which finishes by saying ''Enjoy Your Transit''.

As we were leaving, some of the few remaining fruit growers arrived, laying out boxes of fruit and some of the largest cabbages I have ever seen. These would be bought by the men returning from Israel, as food is cheaper this side of the wall. Suhad tells me that before the wall went up, Israeli buyers would come to Qalqiliya, buy the produce, slap a 'Produced in Israel' sticker on it, and export in to Europe.

If The Wall is a device for snatching the best land for Israel often for the expansion of existing, or construction of new settlements, it is no good without water. This area of the West Bank is particularly fertile and that is due to the large amount of water aquifers, many of which now lie on the Israeli side of the wall, a resource to which the Palestinian farmers have no further access, without Israeli granted permits. The permits allow farmers to visit and cultivate their land but not without passing through checkpoints that involve production of paperwork for the farmer, his livestock and vehicle. Like farmers the world over, the farmhouse and the land are contiguous, but here that doesn't matter. To access the land a farmer will often have to make a trip of several kilometres to the checkpoint that allows him access.

Suhad was born in Qalqiliya. Her family still have land her (on the wrong side of the Wall), which is now all but useless. She is angry, she is bitter, but she channels all those feelings into her role as a guide for visiting Internationals (as foreigners who visit the West Bank are called) and tries to show the devastating economic, social, psychological and political damage the occupation has dealt on her city.

Entire streets, which once had flourishing business' have become economic wastelands; social deprivation due to the collapse of the local economy and as a result of Israeli conditions for Palestinians working in Israel, has increased and there is an entire generation of young Palestinians who have known nothing but ever present soldiers, military incursions, arrests, arbitrary lockdowns, sometimes for weeks at a time and the daily humiliation of seeing a parent being subjected to searches and interrogations as he crosses a checkpoint.

Many weeks ago, I spoke to a man in Jerusalem, who had served almost 20 years in prison for planting a bomb in Jaffa Street. He said to me then that the youngsters in the Old City, who are subjected to the harassments of the soldiers, are the stone throwers, or worse, of the Third Intifada. He also said that he fears for the psychological safety of the soldiers themselves, who carry out orders, that from what I've seen have turned them into young men and women who are casually contemptuous of the Palestinians at best or at worst, see Palestinians as the constant and perpetual enemy within that needs to be banished from the land or destroyed.

When In started blogging from the West Bank, I wrote that this was not going to be a 'balanced' record of my time here, but it was going to be fair. By that I meant that I would try and tell the story of the ordinary, average, normal, everyday, Palestinians I meet, who struggle to get their story across or their message out, to a largely indifferent or hostile world, of what it is like to be under military occupation since 1967. To some that will appear one sided. If so, this is not the blog for you and there are plenty of places to get the Israeli narrative.

Some of the worst disappointments Palestinians have suffered have been at the hands of their own. They have been let down or abandoned by a succession of Arab governments and leaders; Palestinian refugees in Arab countries are in most cases treated as second or third class citizens, with few or no rights or legal protection. They have been let down by their own leadership, who have either missed opportunities or been seduced by the prestige and trappings of power and of being welcomed in European capitals or Washington, but rarely deliver. Drive or walk around Ramallah and see the wealth that some enjoy or as Sam Bahour, an American-Palestinian entrepreneur described them, 'Audi Happy Ministers'; I suspect if peace broke out tomorrow and the aid money was reduced there would be some very unhappy people.

And most that I talk to think they have been forgotten by the wider international community, especially America, who always seem to come down on the side of Israel and their conditions for peace whilst at the same time, successive Israeli governments allow and encourage the expansion of settlements, which to Palestinians remains the stumbling block to any meaningful peace discussions.

My interest lies in Suhad and Louis and Jehad and Ayman, all trying to build a life for themselves and their children, often under the most brutal and soul destroying conditions, when the simple, daily chores of life, often become something filled with uncertainty or life threatening, and yet they persevere. As someone said to me, he resists simply 'by being'. If you come to the West Bank, try and visit Qalqiliya and Suhad. Spend some time in her company and see what happens when the far removed world of international politics comes crashing to ground in the centre of your city.

This is not going to be a history of the Settlement movement (to our collective relief I'm sure), but let us take a quick trip back to the heady days of 1967. The Six Day War had been won, the Old City of Jerusalem had been annexed and it was time for a political reckoning.

I think there is a misconception that the Settler movement is the crazed love child of rabid right wing zealots and God; it isn't. It was under a Labour government that the settlers began to move into the West Bank and it was that government with a sly nod and a wink, that said 'Off you go, we won the war, so there's nothing to stop you.''

Winning the war and annexing the Old City linked modern day Israel directly to its Old Testament past and a precedent was now set for future settlements, usually backed up with useful scriptural quote.

In 1968, Hebron was occupied by settlers and it was a Labour politician, Yigal Allon, who visited Hebron and said

There have always been Jews in Hebron, the cradle of the nation, until they were violently uprooted...It is inconceivable that Jews be prohibited from settling in this ancient town of the patriarchs[quote]

.

All this is best summed up by Abba Eban, who by and large, strikes me as an eminently sensible man,with a large degree of insight; 1967 was a turning point in Israeli history because it saw ''a sudden passing from vulnerability to omnipotence'' and ''produced an intoxication...''

Eban, who was Israel's foreign minister at the time, explained that although 1967 and its aftermath was a military salvation, with massive political gains it was a total psychological failure, because the victory was interpreted providentially and messianically.

Once it became a messianic thing, the government and parliament were no longer sovereign

Which brings us to now. A couple of weeks ago I visited Hebron, courtesy of the Alternative Tourist Group, which as its name implies gives an alternative and to my mind, more accurate and realistic view of what's happening on the ground in the West Bank.

There are dozens of settlements on the West Bank, with thousands of inhabitants; some are economic settlers, those who want a cheap home, with good schools and facilities for their families. The majority are ideological, there because the Old Testament tells them they are re populating the ancient land of Judea and Samaria (and the government makes it financially attractive). Settlers have been tolerated because they speak to a wider feeling held in Israeli society, something that harks back to the days of the early pioneers who arrived as a people without a land in a land without a people.

Most settlements occupy the high ground (at least physically if neither morally or legally)- ridges and hills that look down on Palestinian villages, towns and cities. Hebron is different, because it is in the heart of the old city, where the streets are too narrow to allow anything bigger than a donkey or handcart to pass and settlers have taken over the buildings above the shops. As a result, the shopkeepers have had to erect a metal cage above their heads, as the settlers drop rocks, household waste and in more imaginative moments, so I was told, shit and piss onto the heads of passersby below.

Hebron is a large city, the largest on the West Bank with a population of 165,000 Palestinians, 500 or so settlers (based in the old city and the settlement of Kiryat Arba) and something approaching 2,000 soldiers, there ostensibly to protect those settlers from the wrath of the Palestinians. It is the city of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, home and the last resting place of Abraham and Sara, Isaac and Rebecca and their son, Jacob, which makes it a holy site for both Jews and Muslims with a fair sprinkling of Christians thrown in for good measure.

The West Bank is divided into three areas, A, B and C. A is ostensibly under the direct control of the Palestinian Authority, B is under joint Palestinian and Israeli military control and C is under sole Israeli control. Hebron is divided into H1 and H2. H1 equates to Area A and H2 corresponds to Area C. This demarcation was introduced in 1997, three years after Baruch Goldstein, a settler from Kiryat Arba, ran amok with a machine gun, killing 29 Palestinians at prayer in the Ibrahim mosque and wounding dozens more, before he in turn was killed by a mob. Goldstein is now a poster boy for the Settler Movement at large.

As I said earlier, Hebron is a large city and was once a prosperous city. No longer. Restriction of movement, curfews, closure of business' and the creation no go areas for Palestinians have seen the city decline. Needles to say, settlers have carte blanche to go where they like and seemingly to do what they like, without let or hindrance.

Jews in the Territories, even when they riot and use violence against Palestinians or the army, are usually accorded what amounts to immunity by both the military and judicial establishments

Aeyal Gross, Haaretz

Take a walk along Shuhada Street, once the bustling heart of Palestinian Hebron. Apart from the army controlling access to the mosque and synagogue and armed settlers taking a stroll down to the supermarket. If I understand correctly, Christians, but only Internationals (that's someone like me) can come along here, Jews from where ever they may hail (but not necessarily all Israeli citizens as 20% of them are non Jewish) are welcome, but no Palestinian (including Christians) and no International Muslims.

Whilst walking along Shuhada Street I bumped into a trio of middling age Israeli women and we had some lunch together. They were from an organisation called Machsomwatch,

a movement of Israeli women, peace activists from all sectors of Israeli society, who oppose the Israeli occupation and the denial of Palestinians' rights to move freely in their land. Since 2001, we have conducted daily observations of IDF checkpoints in the West Bank, along the separation fence and in the seamline zone, on the main roads and on out-of-the-way dirt roads, as well as in the offices of the Civil Administration (DCOs) and in military courts. We regularly document what we see and hear. The reports of these observations are published on the Machsomwatch site, and sent to public officials and elected representatives. Through the documentation which discloses the nature of everyday reality, we are attempting to influence public opinion in the country and in the world, and thus to bring to an end the destructive occupation, which causes damage to Israeli society as well as to Palestinian society.

They were an impressive threesome - they didn't think they were doing any thing exceptional or out of the ordinary, their main motivation it seemed to me, was that somebody from Israel needed to say

What is happening here is wrong and we will not tolerate it any more

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The reason that settlers and the settlements are in the news so much at the moment is that they have gone and blotted their collective copybook, which is quite an achievement in a country, where to an interested observer, it seems that being a settler grants you immunity from prosecution for almost anything. It's like having a Get Out Jail card, but without ever having to do the jail bit.

Last month 50 or so, and here we have a wealth of description to choose from - 'activist' 'hilltop youth' 'misguided youths' 'anarchists' - nothing more than a 'radical element' within the wider settler community - chose your own euphemism, and many did - attacked an IDF post, injuring the Deputy Commander of the Ephraim Brigade.

Gideon Levy, who writes for Haaretz and is not everybody's cup of tea, although he is certainly mine, wrote a piece called -

GOOD MORNING, ISRAEL

Good Morning, Israel. You've woken up. Years of rioting against Palestinians, uprooting of trees, vandalism, arson, destruction, dispossession, theft...but one rock to the head of a deputy brigade commander, Lt Col Tzur Harpaz, made all the difference. An all out riot. Jewish terrorism. There are militias in the West Bank, settler-terrorists in a no man's land. And all this due to a rock that drew a few drops of sacred Jewish blood.

He goes on to say

You can't chastise those young people after years of not only apathy toward their parents misdeeds but also the warm embrace of most of society and sweeping support from the IDF and every Israeli government. You can't speak about them as brotheer - pioneers, give them huge budget allocations, promise they'll be allowed to remain where they are for ever, view them a slegitimate, not to say principled, segment of society, and then suddenly turn your back on them, condemning and attacking them. And all due to a rock... The violent demonstartions at the Ephraim Brigade base are the opposite of anarchists, as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called them. They just want to preserve the existing order, just as most Israelis, led by the Prime Minister, do...

When something like this happens, the IDF being attacked by fellow Jews, you don't want to be left standing on the sidelines with condemnation

Rightist group Im Tirtzu also condemned the attack and called to punish those responsible We call for the investigation and severe punishment of those people who adopted the ways of Arab terrorists and activists from the extreme left (my italics), a statement said

Haaretz 13/12/11

With a certain amount of schadenfreude, Gush Shalom, the Israeli peace bloc, took out this ad in Israeli papers:

b]PALESTINIAN DEMONSTRATORS ARE BEING SHOT
IN THE FACE OF RAMPAGING SETTLERS,
THE ARMY DID NOT MAKE EVEN A SINGLE ARREST.

FOR 44 YEARS, THE IDF HAS PAMPERED THE SETTLERS
AND ENABLED THEM TO MISTREAT THE PALESTINIANS.

NOW THE GOLEM
TURNS ON ITS CREATOR

And, if you are in any doubt where Gush Shalom stand on the threat of the settlers, you can find this on their website:

Settler leader Katzover no longer pretends to support democracy
Benny Katzover, one of the founders and prominent leaders of the settler movement, takes off all masks. He declares himself in clear and unambiguous words to be a sworn enemy of democracy, striving to dismantle and destroy the democratic regime in Israel and replace it with a "Jewish" dictatorship of a nationalist – theocratic – racist character. Katzover no longer sees any need to pay even lip service to democracy, as he and his friends did for many years. He now speaks openly and brazenly, without apprehension of being hurt by this candor. He sees and feels that the liquidation of democracy has now become a tangible and realistic option on the Israeli public agenda.

Finally, with a piece of bad timing that's hard to credit, some rabbis from the West Bank released a letter to the Jerusalem Post:

WEST BANK RABBIS: ALLOW LIVE FIRE AT STONE THROWERS
Anyone who faces a danger to their life, including being pelted by stones or other dangers, must be allowed to open fire against the attackers without having to worry about being tried or having their weapon confiscated

This was written in support of members of the IDF or settlers who open fire on, and kill protesting Palestinians and this followed the death of a young Palestinian protester called Mustapha Tamim at a place called Nabi Saleh. Once the attack took place on the IDF by the settlers, it wasn't long before accusations of double standards were to be heard, from all sides, including Israelis.

The wild eyed, extremist settler youth who set mosques alight and have now started to attack IDF soldiers are indeed terrorists, and need to be hunted down as such

Jeff Barak, Former Editor in Chief of Jerusalem Post - quoted in same

The restraint of the brigade commander and his deputy (who came under attack) is worthy of praise... But if I was in the position of the deputy commander and they were throwing bricks at my head and endangering my life, I would shoot them. You shoot terrorists.

Uri Saguy, Former head of Military Intelligence

I personally saw the people, the rioters, that threw stones at our soldiers and commanders. I have not seen such hatred of Jews towards soldiers during my 30 years of service

Maj Gen Avi Mizrahi, OC Central Command

The reason settlers are important is that successive Israeli governments have encouraged them covertly, by simply ignoring their excesses and in many instances, criminal behaviour or, like in the case of the present government actively encouraged the expansion of settlements in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In 1993 there were 116,000 settlers in the West Bank; by 2011 that figure had risen to 300,000 and that doesn't include the thousands of settlers in East Jerusalem, where Palestinian areas are coming under increased pressure from government and hard core settlers.

Land here is finite and the land being used for illegal settlements is land that Palestinian leaders want to use for a future Palestinian state. Israel rejects those claims and the settlers take that as encouragement to take more and more of what doesn't belong to them.

Recently I stayed in Bethlehem with a Palestinian family who live across the valley from an Israeli settlement. Some years ago, whilst one of the daughters was at home alone, machine gun fire from the settlement hit the house. The gunfire wasn't aimed at the house specifically, it was random and hit several homes in the street. The family returned home to find the young girl traumatised by her experience, to such an extent that almost a decade on, she has behavioural problems, learning difficulties and a speech impairment.

Her father, a veteran human rights activist, is almost philosophical now. In the past he has been humiliated and attacked by soldiers and settlers, but this will not stop him from saying what is happening to him, his family and people is wrong.

In his book, From Beirut to Jerusalem, Thomas Friedman from the New York Times used a quote to describe Lebanese factional politics -

When I am weak how can I compromise?When I am strong, why should I compromise?

and I fear this, is the situation the Palestinians find themselves in now. They may have growing international opinion on their side but Israel holds all the cards and it holds the American ace up its sleeve, particularly in an election year.

Settlers are a group convinced that what they do is God's will. They feel both right and righteous and I fear this makes them particularly dangerous. When all is said and done, the problem is quite simple -

Israel wants all the land while the Palestinians want some of the land. It is no longer an issue of security. If Israel is not secure now, when will it ever be?

It is they, the settlers, with government connivance, who are setting the political agenda in the West Bank and until the issue of the settlements is resolved, there is no prospect of peace in this wretched country.

I was taught always to see all sides of the argument, to be balanced, especially when talking about politics and religion. Always allow the other side the right of reply, give them a chance to put their side of the story. It seems to me that the Palestinian story is getting harder to tell, whilst the Israeli version is accepted without very few, if any questions asked. There is a difference between being balanced and being fair and from now on fairness wins.

Before I arrived in Jenin I knew precisely six things about the city: I knew that in 2002 it had been the centre of some of the fiercest fighting between Palestinians and the IDF; I knew there was a large refugee camp; I knew it had a theatre and I knew that one of the founders of that theatre, the charismatic Juliano Mers Kharmis had been murdered outside the building in early 2011; I knew it had a cinema and I knew where I was going to stay.

That, I'm sorry to say, was my sum total of what I knew. What I didn't know was that Jenin now boasts a fledgeling and extremely enthusiastic Parkour team.

I visited the theatre after making contact with Jonatan, another of the co founders. He invited me along for lunch to meet him, his family and some of the volunteers who work with him at the theatre. Hopefully there would be something going on that I could stay and photograph and Jonatan worked his way down his list of what was happening that afternoon, 'There's Parkour and some performers from the circus in Ramallah coming at 2.30...' That was enough. I'd been hooked on watching Parkour ever since I'd seen some clips on You Tube a few years ago and it really came to world attention when the makers of Casino Royale used that incredible chase scene in the opening minutes of the movie.

Parkour, Free Running call it what you will, originated in the dreary, 1960's Parisian suburbs in the late 90's and now is a worldwide phenomenon that I believe may be demonstrated in and around the Olympic site in London in the run in to the games. In Jenin, things are at a more modest stage. Mia an expert in street theatre based in London and now working at the theatre, is putting on a performance that includes a whole range of skills from stilt walking to stunt stick fighting and wanted to incorporate the grace, athleticism and commitment that is Parkour. This is where Chris, an instructor from London, comes in.

He arrived here less than 10 days ago with the brief to turn some enthusiastic youngsters into a team that can run, jump, spin, pivot, and climb over a series of obstacles in the most fluid, graceful way possible, in order to move from A to B. When I joined Him, Mia and a dozen members of the team in a small garden area of Jenin, it was Day 5of their intense training schedule. We were also joined by David, a film maker from Dublin and a long term collaborator with the theatre. And I have to say that he showed a nifty move or two climbing into a tree in order to film the workout.

The training area at first glance wasn't too exciting. A small park / garden area with some fountains, walled flower beds, concrete benches to sit on ringed by some trees. It was also next to one of the busiest roads in Jenin and directly outside the local PLO offices, which were guarded by increasingly bemused police officers. But for Chris this was perfect. He said that if this environment was available in London it would be packed with Parkouristas (I have no idea if this is the correct term, but I like it) on a daily basis.

I wasn't totally convinced but he was, and that was the important thing. He quickly got the team going through a series of exercises that not only warmed them up but by constant repetition of moving in a certain way, reaching for a hand hold in a particular fashion, trained and tought the body how to work. They jumped into trees and descended with varying degrees of success; they learnt how to jump, to my eyes at least, gaping chasms with style (and safety) and to come to a dead stop teetering on their toes; they stretched, they bent, they reached and they grabbed and loved every minute of it.

To me theatre is not something I've particularly enjoyed. I went at school, saw a couple of plays here and there (I did meet Al Pacino after a production of American Buffalo in London but that's for a different time and place) but I would never find myself in the situation of internal angst over 'Which theatrical powerhouse production shall I see tonight.' That is never going to happen. Theatre in the UK can be prohibitively expensive, you may have to travel to London (with ensuing costs), possibly stay the night as there's no public transport after the show finishes etc. etc. I know there is really good rep and regional theatre and matinees are affordable, but I simply can't be bothered. I see it as high brow and elitist, and it's unlikely that opinion will change!

The Freedom Theatre is not there for the benefit of Tarquin or Tabitha (cliché but it works for me), it is there for children, teenagers and adults who have spent the entirety of their lives, under a military occupation and at times, a particularly brutal military occupation. It is for people who have either had very little or what they had they lost and rebuilt (often more than once). It provides a place where creativity is welcomed and encouraged and nurtured. And that is what Parkour was all about. These are youngsters who live in the city, some of the surrounding villages or the camp - a place subject to military incursions and arbitrary arrests, which happened just a week ago, when some members of staff were arrested then released by the military authorities. Jenin is a socially conservative city and Mia explained to me how big a deal it was even training out on the streets, outside the PLO HQ, attracting the stares and comments of interested passers-by or the aforementioned police officers. This is huge stuff.

She and Chris take their responsibility and time here very seriously. They know that the foundations they lay will be built upon by either themselves or future volunteers to the project.

The session ends after a couple of brutal hours and we return to the theatre, where the circus performers have been waiting patiently for us to get back; along with a theatre full of 10 year old school kids who have come along for the show. Who says theatre can't be fun?

I would recommend taking a glance at some Parkour on You Tube (there's a free running group in Gaza as well) or look at John Wreford's images of Parkour in Cairo www.wreford.photoshelter.com.

ps great lunch as well...

I went for lunch to a small sandwich shop. Being lunchtime it was busy and there were no free tables. One man, eating alone gestured that I should take a chair at his table. After the usual round of welcomes, we started chatting. Tariq is in his early 30's an ophthalmic surgeon in Jenin and grabbing a quick bite to eat before heading off to Nablus to carry out some routine operation.

He was born in Jenin, studied in Paris and has now been living and practising here for the last six years. He spoke extremely fondly of his time in France and he obviously missed it very much. He told me at one point he almost married a French woman which would have given him the opportunity of an EU passport, but he wanted to come back to Jenin. Actually, it was something more than that; he had to come back - this is where his skills would be most needed most without doubt, but the need to be here was something more visceral.

Like other Palestinians I've met who have studied abroad and returned home, it wasn't easy for him at first. After all, moving from a sophisticated world capital to what is essentially a small rural backwater in the northern West Bank, which if people have heard of at all, its likely to be described as one of those pesky 'hotbeds of terrorism' or perhaps the large refugee camp that's here or even less likely, the Freedom Theatre, that helps local youngsters.

It's fair to say it was a culture shock returning to Jenin after five years in Paris, but without doubt, it is here that he belongs. He told me that he fears that the answer to Palestine's tragedy is no longer in the hands of Palestinians - in reality it never was - but I think he meant that his leaders have run out of ideas and the world has essentially forgotten about them. In 2002 the refugee camp in Jenin was at the centre of some of the hardest and brutal fighting of the Second Intifada and the city, particularly the camp is still subject to Israeli military incursions. Tariq said the time of the Intifada was incredibly difficult but he feels the most powerful form of resistance for him is simply 'being' and being here. He was telling me that the Israelis can do what they will, the rest of the world can ignore us, but none of that really matters in the end because. 'I am not leaving. This is my home and her I stay.'

He wasn't melodramatic or even particularly emotional when he told me this - it was a simple declaration, that he will not be moved from his land or his home.

He then said: 'I have to go to Nablus now, but I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Jenin and as you are my guest, I will pay for your lunch'' and with that he was gone.

It's a medical fact - long term exposure to Jerusalem can send you over the edge, stark staring mad, crazy as a box of frogs - chose your own euphemism. Temporarily at least. And it helps if your already peeking over the edge of a personal religious abyss.

Jerusalem Syndrome, medically acknowledged a a genuine psychotic and behavioural condition, is triggered by people's proximity to so much religious fervour. There is enough passion here to go around, so don't worry that you might miss out. If you hear the calling to be an Old Testament hero or a New Testament prophet, this is the place for you brother (or sister)!

If you think Scripture isn't been adhered to strictly enough, here is the place to smite those slackers. The only price you have to pay in 21st century Jerusalem is a stay, temporarily, at the pleasure of the Municipality's excellent mental health facility, where two weeks of rest seems to do the trick.

People who sin seem to vex a particular brand of ultra muscular Christians (although both Jews and Muslims have succumbed to JS), those so immersed in Bible Study and convenient conspiracy theory, that the here and now is little more than an inconvenience en route to the perfect hereafter. But they seemed determined to add me to this particular love train, whether I want to go or not.

I have it on very good authority, courtesy of Texan ex drug gang banger, that early 2012 is pretty much it for planet Earth. The heavenly shit is about to hit the fan. the Anti Christ is getting ready to rumble, and those of us who wish to be saved had better have our affairs in order, or at least ordered that special Rapture last supper. There is A Second Coming but no Second Chances.

Jerusalem has always attracted extreme people with extreme views and the personality of the city doesn't help anyone. There are some Ultra Orthodox Jews who shun everything post 18th century, apart from mobile phones. Their latest thing is to insist that women sit at the back of buses if they have the temerity to use the same public service as a Haredi man. There are the members of the Settler Movement who are taking over vast tracts of Palestinian land, and not content with violently abusing anyone who resists their illegal (under international and Israeli law) actions, they have now branched out into attacking the Israeli army, which didn't play well amongst the political elites and chattering middle classes. Palestinians simply shrugged and said 'welcome to our world'.

Then there are the Latins, the Greek Orthodox, the Russian Orthodox, the Ethiopians, the Armenians, the Anglicans, the Lutherans... all competing for their piece of holy real estate . Add into this spicy gumbo, the Christian Zionists and Evangelicals, and you can see why Jerusalem attracts people who, if not actually on the edge, are teetering precariously close.

My Texan friend, from Laredo way (it sounds like the intro to a particularly mawkish country song) explained it to me this way: Israel should never have won any war since 1948 that it has fought against surrounding Arab nations. The only way it could have happened was if God was on their side and this can be proved by the use of a complicated mathematical formula, which is something like this -

Multiply the Books of the Old Testament by the 10 Commandments, divide by the 12 Apostles (if you care to drop Judas this still works), subtract the amount of the sayings of the Prophet found in the Koran and finally add 666. The result is 3.2 which is the exact percentage the US State Department gave Israel of surviving, intact, the 6 Day War of 1967. God was on their side. I prefer to put it down to better training, better equipment and a will to win.

But those who appear craziest are often in the know and then won't I look foolish.