Palestinian Hospitality

This report came in today from The Middle East Peace Making Delegation that recently returned from Gaza. Here is a description of the real people who live and work there and a picture of the humanity and hospitality the group experienced. It is a stark contrast to the news reports we hear and the propaganda we are inundated with in our media. Read on....

Hello, dear friends, here is the promised report on our Palestinian home visit in Beit Umar. Kathy (CPT Team), Joy, Camilia and I visited with the family of Abu Nabil Al Qam.

The extended family of Abu Nabil Al Qam lives in a spacious multi-storied house, in which different nuclear families live on different floors. We were hosted in the only heated room on their floor by the patriarch and matriarch of the family, who have been married for 60 years.

This was a very traditional family. The woman, Um Nabil, did all the cooking, cleaning up, getting chairs when others arrived and putting them out of the way again, carrying in the wood and stoking the fire, etc. while Abu Nabil inclined on the sofa.

Both of them were cordial and warm towards us in spite of the language barrier. They only spoke Arabic. Kathy speaks some Arabic, and one of the daughters speaks fairly good English, however she was with us only for a while in the evening.

We were served a typical meal of rice and chicken and flat bread (baked in an electric special bread maker) and tea. Um Nabil served us 4 on plates, the rest ate from the big platter, without utensils. Joy and I shared a plate simply because there was so much food piled on to it that we could not each eat such a big portion. As soon as we were half way done, Um Nabil separated more chicken pieces with her hands from the big platter and piled it on our plates.

There were several adults and children present and more came in during the course of the evening. Some of them were members of the extended family, some friends who just dropped in. I could not tell for sure who was who. The men were talking in one half of the heated room (on one side of the stove which stood in the middle) and the ladies were all on the other side of the room, with the English speaking daughter among us. The children moved freely among either group. One of Abu Nabil’s adult sons is retarded, and it was good to see how he was always part of what was going on, being included, joking in his way with others, and completely integrated. He was a cheerful sort.

Our hostess had asked us earlier at what time we would like to go to sleep. We had not had that privilege before and opted for 8:30 p.m. Promptly at 8:30, the guests were cleared out of “our” room, the family withdrew to other parts of the house and left the only heated room for us. There was a pile of heavy blankets on one of the sofas. AFTER we had turned off the light and were tucked into our sleeping bags (this time nice and warm and not in our regular clothes), Um Nabil came back into the room in her nightie and picked up the pile of blankets we did not need. Not only had they given us the warm room, but also the blankets they need for themselves! Palestinian hospitality!!

Early the next morning, Um Nabil came in carrying a thick log to put on the fire (on the left side of the picture, - the opening is not visible here). Inside the stove is a tray with gravel on it which she uses to place pots for cooking food.

We enjoyed the comfort of a “real” bathroom but avoided the commotion of showers. When I came back to the warm room after my turn in the bathroom, Abu Nabil was sitting on the sofa next to my clothes. Fortunately I was wearing my long kaftan for easy changing in such situations. I proceeded to dress under my kaftan while Abu Nabil watched my proceedings. It was a bit awkward, I have to admit. When I finally reached for my long pants it dawned on him what I was doing and took flight. I guess all he wanted was to warm up.

Um Nabil fixed breakfast for us with all the typical things we had encountered by then, stirring the tahini with her fingers. The only additional and very tasty thing added was a hot dish of some tomato puree.

This was the only time during our Palestine/Israel visit that we were warm during the meeting, dinner, night, and breakfast.

A memorable experience in more ways than one.
Peace to you all,
Karen