Ta'moon, slaughter and settlements

Yesterday I had a very welcome and relaxing day in the village of Ta'moon near the Jordan Valley, the most noteworthy event there being the slaughter and skinning of two lambs in celebration at the birth of a boy. (Just one is killed for a girl). Most of the meat is then given to the poor of the village, but we were lucky enough to get some too. T'was delicious!

I felt a little wobbly when they were being brought up to the knife, but otherwise nothing beyond morbid curiosity. Two guys held it down while a third sliced through the neck, bled it out whilst it died somewhat slowly, then carved the head off, hung it up by it hind legs and hacked it all down to the bone. (They threw the skin and wool away which seemed a little wasteful, particularly because each one nearly 2000shekels each - around 300 pounds / $450)

After this we went to see our host’s tomato crop, and were a little disappointed to learn that the seeds come from Israel. Seems like the two places are unavoidably linked in a way that would be very difficult to change. I've recently been asking why the University and surrounding towns here sell so many Israeli goods, and the also-disappointing answer I always get is that it's because they are seen as the best - Jordanian goods aren't favoured either.

Also Palestine doesn't really produce a substantial amount of anything beyond olive oil, fruit and veg, the only Palestinian grown goods in the University shop are something like Onions and cucumbers. (Palestinian chocolate is apparently awful).

Back in Ta'moon We met our host's brother who works on one of the many illegal Jewish settlements and has a Palestinian boss, never having any contact with the settlers themselves. More hard to avoid evils! You gotta work. Our host was prevented from doing likewise as he was blacklisted for refusing to become a spy.

But! Some posters have just magically sprung up around the Uni - http://www.karama.ps/ - advocating a ban on Israeli goods. This kind of thing happens every year or two apparently, with little lasting effect. The status quo is always re-established here, nothing changes too much. But Inshallah we shall see what happens this time.