Thoughts before leaving for the Holy Land— 2023

On October 13th, along with 5 friends, I will return to the West Bank for a 10-day olive picking program (Keep Hope Alive) sponsored by Joint Advocacy Initiative and Alternative Tour Groups. This will be my 3rd time participating in this program and my 6th visit to the region. I will stay on for another 10 days and plan to visit several Palestinian friends; Israeli Buddhist human rights activists; a Buddhist teacher I met during an earlier visit and with whom I have corresponded; and to visit Garden of Hope, a mindfulness center being developed in the West Bank by Issa Souff, a Palestinian man who studied with Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village in France.

It has been 4 years since my last trip. My intention this time is to learn more so as to continue my human rights advocacy work with eyes looking through the lens of climate change: to see first-hand the effects of occupation under the current political regime and to listen to what people (Palestinians and Israelis) have to say about their day-to-day lives and their views of the future, particularly as affected climate change. I will ask questions such as the following:

FOR PALESTINIANS—

1. Are you experiencing effects of climate change in your daily life?  If so, what changes have you noticed?
2. Have you observed or experienced any shifts in agriculture or changes in farming practices due to changing climate conditions?  Examples?
3. How does the Israeli occupation affect your and your community’s ability to adapt to or mitigate the effects of climate change?
4. How do you see climate change, intersecting with the Israeli occupation, affecting the overall political and social dynamics in the region?
5. How do Israeli policies and practices influence access to essential resources such as water, food, or shelter in your area? Have you experienced any changes in accessibility of resources as the effects of climate change become more challenging?
6. What are your thoughts regarding how the Palestinian Authority is responding to climate change?
7. Focusing on climate change, what are your greatest concerns regarding the future living under occupation? 
8. What message do you want to send back to people in the US?

FOR ISRAELIS—

1. Are you experiencing effects of climate change in your daily life?  If so, what changes have you noticed?
2. Have you observed or experienced any shifts in agriculture or changes in farming practices due to changing climate conditions?  Examples?
3. How are you and your community adapting to or mitigating the effects of climate change?
4. How do you see climate change, intersecting with the Israeli occupation, affecting the overall political and social dynamics in the region?
5. How do Israeli policies and practices influence Palestinian access to essential resources such as water, food, or shelter?  Are you aware of any changes in policies and practices related to provision of resources as the effects of climate change become more challenging?
6. Focusing on climate change, what are your greatest concerns regarding the future?  For the Palestinians living under occupation? 
7. What message do you want to send back to people in the US?