Nawal Barakat lives in the village of An Nabi Samwil. It’s only eight kilometers northwest of Jerusalem—but it might as well be a world away. Barakat is among 300 residents who are trying to improve their lives—even though they cannot restore or expand their homes, pave their roads, or construct retaining walls or livestock pens. With at least 90 percent of people unemployed in the village, it has been very difficult to eke out a living, in part because most people from the village cannot enter Jerusalem without permits, as most of them are West Bank ID-holders. Conversely, Palestinians with Jerusalem IDs and Israeli citizens can freely enter the village, using the settler bypass road. A large Israeli security tower monitors the movement of people, and those found in Jerusalem without permits are fined or detained. The permits are virtually impossible to obtain, especially for young people between the age of 22–30. “People try to find ways to leave, but when they go find employment in Jerusalem, they get arrested for not having a permit,” said Barakat. “They go to prison, then try to find a job after they get out. But every time they go out, they end up getting arrested. They are spending most of their time in prison. The ones who do end up working pay their earnings to lawyers and to the Israeli government.” In the small, close-knit village everybody feels targeted, said Barakat. “We have a big problem with the checkpoint,” she said. “Anything and everything must go though the checkpoint.” Sometimes, if people leave the village, it might take them hours to come back because the checkpoint is closed. “It’s a tremendous sense of oppression we feel with the checkpoint,” she said. For this reason, residents often prefer to organize their happy and sad events outside the village. “People are not allowed into the village, either, so if we are having a wedding, we have to do it somewhere else and everyone has to leave and go to the wedding hall outside town,” she said. “This is also true if we have a death. People can’t come in to offer condolences so they have to do everything outside the village.” One day, Barakat wanted to host a children’s activity in the village, so she carefully prepared. “I organized an activity for children on olive trees and I had purchased all sorts of things that I needed to keep the children happy.” At the checkpoint, a soldier told her she had purchased more than what was allowed. “I was held at the checkpoint for hours,” she said. “I had food supplies with me and they wouldn’t allow me to bring them in.” Finally, her fellow villagers arrived in cars, and each carried a little food supplies, bringing them into town. “It was such a difficult experience for me,” said Barakat. “I started crying when I felt I wasn’t allowed to enter my own home.” Ultimately, the event for children was a great success. “We gave them presents, and it was truly a beautiful day with good cheer,” she said. Young people feel bleakYet the ever-changing restrictions on quantity and types of food allowed into the village continue. “Only two cartons of eggs are allowed, and small quantities of meat but if you want to keep a lager quantity in the freezer—that’s not allowed,” said Barakat. At one point, a humanitarian aid organization came to a very poor man in the village, and wanted to offer him a chicken that lays eggs. “But the Israeli soldiers wouldn’t allow the chicken to come across the checkpoint, so we had to take the chicken to another village and they carried the chicken in the cage on their backs, and brought it to the village,” she said. Most young people in An Nabi Samwil say they see no future. “I’m a math teacher, and I can find common language and common ground with these young people,” said Barakat. She’s also a mother. “My son was arrested, went to prison, and never took his final exams,” she said. “After he was released, he now works as a day laborer. He lost his opportunity to get educated. My daughters went to university but my son did not.” When she took her computer outside the village to get it repaired, on her way back in, she was blocked at the checkpoint. “In the past, before 7 October, we used to contact the Palestinian District Coordination office and they would contact the Israelis,” she said. “But now there is no coordination between these sides.” Surviving thorough empowermentEven amid this kind of oppression, Barakat established a women’s association to empower women and improve education for girls. “We had started seeing early marriages even going down to ages of 14 and 15 years old,” she said. “But raising awareness and pressuring the community to stop the early marriages, we have succeeded, and now there is not a single marriage that is not at least 18 years old.” Barakat’s character continues to be shaped by the many hardships she endures. “We must seek change in the overall situation,” she said. She has brought together women and offered them training on nursing and first aid. “There is no clinic in the village, and this is a big shortcoming,” she said. “A big concern is neonatal care.” There have been several cases of women giving birth at home without a doctor or a midwife. Another woman gave birth in the car because she couldn’t leave—and the car was waiting at the checkpoint. “Due to the fact that women are not able to find jobs, and people are unable to travel, the women only stay at home. “It is creating lots of domestic violence,” she said. “I have been contacting many organizations and they are offering psychosocial support to the women so they can live a normal life.” Walking with ecumenical accompaniersFor many years, ecumenical accompaniers from the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel have walked and worked with the people of An Nabi Samwil. “They even joined us during the olive picking season,” said Barakat, who along with others in the village expressed deep appreciation for the accompaniers’ presence in the community. “With God’s grace, we are strong and we are attached to the land,” she said. At times, she goes through times of total despair. “I went through a painful period when I started a center in town, and the Israelis came and demolished it,” she said. But they rebuilt the center out of wood, so they can try to avoid avoid the threat of demolition. “It’s very simple, very basic,” she said. “We are strong women. We are not afraid. And we are always going to recreate the things after they get destroyed.” Two years ago, a group of settlers came over to the village. “All the women were so afraid, that they rushed to my house,” she said. “At that time, there were no young men the village—they were all under arrest at that point.” Barakat decided the women should not be afraid. They made signs that said: “We want freedom. We want dignity. We want justice.” And they stood in front of the settlers. “We showed the whole world the signs we carried, and we showed were not afraid,” she said. “What I see, is that nobody can help us—and this is why we have to be self-reliant.” From now on, she’s encouraging women in An Nabi Samwil to get the skills and education they need to survive. “All of my efforts are directed toward self sustainability, for women to be empowered to address issues they are facing,” she said. “I’m implementing a project whereby income is generated inside the town, where education is better, and where people take matters into their own hands.” | 
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