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Tent of Nations
The Tent of Nations is an organic farm that has been owned by the Palestinian Christian Nassar family since Ottoman times. It is located south of Bethlehem in the West Bank which has been occupied by the Israeli army for 57 years. It is a hilltop farm at 900m. It is one of the few (possibly the only) hilltop farm in Palestine that is still in owned by Palestinians. Hilltops are strategically important and also most all of the illegal Jewish settlements are built on hilltops.
The farm is now suffering frequent and increasing incursions by violent settlers from five surrounding illegal settlements.
Chris and I volunteered at the farm from 12 – 31 August at a time of high tension in the region. The family had put out an emergency call for international volunteers to act as a deterrence during a period of particularly high risk.
We worked on the farm but also acted as part of an international protective presence witnessing and documenting any settler incursions.
The family run the farm according to these principles:
Refuse to give up
Refuse to hate
Undertake proactive, non-violent resistance based on Christian faith
Strive for justice
It was a very rewarding but also quite intense experience.

You can find more about the history of the farm and the Nassar family’s 34-year land dispute on their website:
https://tentofnations.com/

The family are facing two crucial court cases on 11 September (in the Israeli Military Land Re-Registration Court) and on 8 October (in the Israeli Supreme Court). The family are appealing for international support to raise awareness about these two cases. There is also an up to date statement about these legal processes on the website.
https://tentofnations.com/

The family is always eager to host international volunteers and you can also find full details about this on the website. This is how we applied and were accepted.
https://tentofnations.com/

Graham’s account of the trip (Chris’s account will also follow):

Volunteering at the Tent of NationsDownload

 

And here are 29 photos from our trip to the Tent of Nations 🙂

Our first night in (a very quiet) Jerusalem, on our way to Bethlehem in the West Bank and thence to the Tent of Nations
Banksy mural in Bethlehem

 

“We refuse to be enemies” sign at the entrance to the camp.
View from the volunteers’ dining area
A police checkpoint and subsequently rubble dumped by settlers blocks the main entrance to the farm. The journey from Bethlehem previously took 7 minutes and cost 5 shekels one way by shared taxi. Now it involves a 45 minute trip up and down through a string of surrounding villages and costs 70 shekels in a private taxi.
Our daily schedule 🙂
We slept in a cave for 3 weeks. This gave us some sense of security when there was a risk of rocket attacks. We were often woken in the night be Israeli jets flying to Gaza or to Lebanon.
The nine Nassar family siblings were born on the farm and grew up in the caves. They also use some of the caves for water storage and for wine making.
Pruning indigenous holly oak trees
Graham pruning young olive trees on a Palestinian farm in Palestine 🙂
Compost toilets with one of the five surrounding illegal Jewish settlements in the background. The Tent of Nations has been denied running water and mains electricity whereas many of the settlements (including the one in the picture) have swimming pools.
View of an illegal settlement from the toilet block.

 

Watering the young olive trees and grapevines – often on steep terraces – is a huge challenge. The full containers are delivered by tractor to the top of the slope.
Two volunteers on the steep olive terraces. The entire olive plantation was deliberately burnt a few years ago and has been replanted. An illegal settlement is at the top of the picture. The Nassar family land stretches up the valley on the far side to a thin band of horizontal rock (below the white landfill). The road on the far side of the valley is one of three roads that have been built illegally by settlers on the Tent of Nations land.
Watering by hand because the Tent of Nations is denied running water or mains electricity. The illegal settlement in the background advertises, amongst other things, a swimming pool that is available for rent by couples.
All of the illegal settlements have a large water tower such as the one that can be seen in the picture.
Watering is a significant group effort twice weekly
Due to water restrictions, all clothes washing was done once a week a large top-loader machine.
The shower near our cave.

 

Tent of Nations football pitch with an illegal Jewish settlement behind.
Looking after the animals
The farm has many hens and ducks.
Daher’s trusty old tractor.
Organically grown, hand harvested Sumac drying in the sun.
A great deal of work goes into improving security on the farm. For example, solar panels and glass windows need to be protected from projectiles with wire mesh. This is meshing protecting the foundation for one of the large tents that has previously been damaged by vandalism.
There are locks on everything …
Returning from the fields for lunch.

 

 

Photo by Chris from the field where we were working.
Departing the Tent of Nations
Palestinian sunset