| Annie Higgins: She is finding friends, not looking for victims Bread and conscience Profile by Gamal Nkrumah |
| Click Here for Annie's Essays And observations |
Ahwak, 'I am passionate about you', by Abdel-
Halim Hafez, is Annie Higgin's favourite Arabic
song. The lyrics of the song might well refer to her
love affair with Palestine. Higgins, an American-
born peace activist and an independent international
who has been living among Palestinians in the Jenin
Refugee Camp for the past six months first went to
Palestine with the International Solidarity
Movement (ISM) to stay with Palestinians in the
Balata Refugee Camp near Nablus.
She fell in love with Palestine and knew she would
return.
"My main goals were twofold: one, to use my
presence to help people in ways they felt would be
beneficial and to acquaint people outside Palestine
with Palestinians at home, in more normal settings...
to get to know them as friends rather than as
victims," Higgins explained.
Many of her friends in the ISM were subsequently
detained by the Israeli authorities and summarily
deported says Higgins, whose acquaintance with
Egypt long predated her encounter with Palestine.
She first came to Egypt in 1986 to study Arabic at
the American University in Cairo (AUC). She
returned again in 1992 to study at Al-Azhar on a
Fulbright-Hays fellowship.
"I originally took up the study of Arabic because I
felt that I was hearing only one side of the story. I
decided to learn the language and hear Arabs
speaking for themselves in their own language."
Higgins says that her commitment to Palestine was
sparked by Edward Said during a lecture he gave
at the University of Chicago during the Gulf War:
"Both the spirit and the words of his talk made me
see that the injustices done to the Palestinians are
injustices to all and redressing these wrongs
pertains to all who cherish some degree of
autonomy in their lives."
In spite of her slender frame everything about the
strawberry blonde with sparkling blue eyes and a
ready smile is robust. She is a bundle of energy,
hopping from one anti-war demonstration to
another, from one refugee camp to another.
"Palestine's liberation is America's liberation,"
Higgins told a crowd of anti-war protestors in
Cairo, speaking in impeccable Arabic.
"Are you Tahani?" one boy asked. Word was out.
She had become a minor celebrity among anti-war
protestors in Cairo after the widespread circulation
of a photograph in which she holds her "American
(female) Against the War" banner written in black,
green and red letters against a white background --
the colours of the Palestinian -- and many other
Arab countries' -- flags.
"You cannot impose democracy on Iraq by
dropping bombs," Tahani -- as the crowds prefer
to call her -- tells her listeners. She said that US
policies are harming other people, innocent victims,
lamenting her compatriots' seeming complacency.
"It is almost as if my fellow Americans don't want
to find out the truth."
But it would be a mistake to assume that there is
any sentimentality in her work.
"At one of the moments of exuberance over an
American woman opposing the aggression against
Iraq a man offered to carry me on his shoulders,"
Higgins scowls, beating her chest in mock outrage.
"I balked, so a woman carried me on her shoulders
while the crowd cheered," she tells me, describing
her experiences at the downtown Cairo
demonstration that took place on 20 March.
Visiting Egypt has allowed Higgins an opportunity
to familiarise Cairene anti-war protestors about the
latest developments in Jenin.
"They need no reminders over here," her face lights
up. Still, the crowds are fascinated by her
thought-provoking, upbeat and promising tales of
the lives of the Palestinians of Jenin Refugee Camp.
It was they who christened her Tahani, which
means "felicity" in Arabic. But "Tahani is just a
longer version of Annie, really," she tells me in jest.
Higgins believes that Palestine has provided her
with a priceless educational experience.
"Palestinians are a generous people. They share
what little they have. I am always awed by their
generosity to each other and to foreigners."
Her mission entails correcting the "false picture" of
Palestine in Western eyes. She says the truth must
be told, and told loud and clear.
"Silence contributes to the oppression of the
Palestinians," Higgins warns. "Before I went to
Palestine I knew something of the Palestinians'
predicament. But now I know that silence, keeping
quiet about the Palestinian problem, is the crux of
the Middle East crisis."
Higgins was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois.
She favourably compares the Jenin Refugee Camp
to her native city: "Can you imagine if a Palestinian
went to my home city, Chicago, and asked to
spend the night at the house of a total stranger?"
More to the point: "There are thousands of
homeless people in Chicago. There are no
homeless people in Jenin Camp -- even after the
April 2002 massacres and the systematic
demolition of houses."
Hawiya -- identity -- is the one Arabic word all
Israeli soldiers know. Higgins, perceptively,
touches a raw nerve. "But the Israeli soldiers don't
know what their identity is. They realise that the
Palestinians have traditions and they envy the
Palestinians their strong sense of identity."
She decries the veneration of foreigners and so-
called foreign experts. "Many Palestinians living in
the camps hope that someone will come from the
outside and bring magic solutions."
Tragedy generates narrative. The hope that springs
out of the ashes of despair can't help offering a
story.
"Once you mention the word Palestine it
immediately becomes a political subject," says
Higgins. She doesn't consider herself a "political
type". She feels that her mission is to honour the
human voice. "Honouring the right to speak," is
how she puts it. But she realises that her mission
has political implications.
"Seeing my interest in exposing the oppression of
the Palestinian people, the inhabitants of the Jenin
Camp warmed to me. Any foreigner qualifies as a
voice to the outside world. To the Palestinians
every foreigner is a journalist who can potentially
broadcast their plight to the outside world."
And for Annie Higgins the plight of the Palestinians
catalyses human relationships and solidifies lines of
communication. Her public persona is reinforced by
distinctive Palestinian paraphernalia, a politically
correct kufiyya, a tiny silver olive tree, the dangling
photographs of two young martyrs of whom she
was especially fond.
And Palestine and the Palestinian cause emerge as
a consuming passion which infects most people
who care to listen to the stories she tells about her
life in Jenin Refugee Camp.
Ironically it was Egypt, and not Palestine, that was
her first introduction to the Arab world. And, she
loves Egypt with a passion, too, loves "the
vibrancy, the colour and the generosity of spirit".
Different groups of demonstrators were pouring
into Tahrir Square, the hub of Cairo. While I left
early and made my way back to the office to work
on this profile, Higgins, I was told later, stayed on
inspiring and being inspired by the crowds. Higgins
feels a special affinity with children and at the Cairo
anti-war demonstrations she says that she had
several interesting encounters with children.
"One, about eight years old, asked me why
America wants to hurt Iraqi and Palestinian
children. I said I didn't know, but told him I was
glad that he cares about children in Iraq and
Palestine. And I told [the children] that they
reminded me of my young friends in Jenin." Indeed,
her encounters with the children of Cairo who took
part in the anti-war demonstrations that rocked the
city were reminiscent of her experiences with the
children she left behind in Palestine. "I felt as if I
were back in Jenin Refugee Camp with cadres of
children providing a friendly following."
"Many people gave me a thumbs-up or said 'thank
you' as I passed them. Would a crowd of
Americans treat an Arab with such respect these
days?" she asks, flinging her hands wide open as if
in despair.
After a two-hour chat over coffee and a photo
session with Al-Ahram Weekly's photographer
Randa Shaath, Higgins and I walked from the Nile
Hilton, passing the Arab League headquarters, as
we headed to the demonstration at 1.30pm. Police
had cordoned off the American and British
embassies.
"When I left about 9pm Tahrir Square was still full
of demonstrators against America's aggression on
Iraq. The [Egyptian] security forces returned my
greetings as I headed for the Internet café," Higgins
told me later. "Candles illuminated the proceedings
and there was a festive air. I thought of the skies of
Baghdad illuminated by rockets," she added.
Higgins moves on to the prickly topic of Palestinian
collaborators. She notes that the Palestinians never
use the term jasuss, or spy, but rather prefer to use
ameel, or collaborator. She witnessed an incident in
which one such alleged collaborator was
hospitalised after a revenge attack.
"Not one of his family wanted to stay with him in
hospital. But, an elder complained, 'what good will
it do to kill him? These young people are being
used.' That was a wise observation," Higgins said.
The Israelis often wonder how the Palestinians
possess the stamina and patience to endure their
brutal occupation.
"I love rooftops," Higgins said, explaining that like
all Palestinians in Jenin she felt constantly watched
by the Israelis.
She recalls a brush with the Israeli army. She saw
Apache fighter helicopters coming straight at her as
she was reading on the rooftop.
"I never ran so fast in my life. I was sure they were
coming for me."
Higgins speaks of the predicament of those hunted
by the Israelis: "Nobody wants to have a wanted
man in their house. These wanted men are on the
run. They are constantly moving from house to
house."
Her yearning for peace and justice in Palestine is
movingly real. Her single-minded dedication to
Palestine is all the more endearing because her
mannerisms are underpinned by an engaging
lovability, a vulnerability and fragility.
In Palestine, she lives in much the same manner as
her hosts and in humility she learns a little about
their ways. A touching bedtime scene poignantly
captures the mutual love and affection that binds
visitor to host: "As we are settling onto our
floor-level mattresses for the night, Raghda kisses
me on the four diamond-points of my face, 'That's
how you kiss a shahid [martyr] on the bier'. She
has expeience with a number of family members,"
Tahani muses.
The American media is hopelessly biased against
the Palestinians, even to the extent of plastering
over the death of a young American woman who
was run over by an Israeli armoured .00bulldozer.
If there were any doubts about that, Rachel
Corrie's tragic death removed them. "I feel freedom
of speech in Palestine," she assures me. "More so
than in the United States. And Rachel Corrie
offered her own life as a price for her convictions
defending Palestinian children."
Higgins says that she has been silenced in the US.
"Once you mention Jenin in the US you are
considered no patriot because you are critical of
Israel. I've been silenced just for mentioning the
word Jenin," she says, though she insists that she
does not want to "advertise" the tragedy of the
Jenin massacre.
"I want to show the human side. I want to tell the
world why it is we do not want Jenin destroyed.
The beautiful culture of the Palestinian people is
worth saving. I want the world, and especially
America, to get to know the Palestinian people a
little better."
Higgins wrote a scathing letter of criticism to the
Christian Science Monitor recently because of what
she felt was the paper's biased coverage in Israel's
favour.
"Israel has nuclear weapons and has not signed the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and uses its
conventional weapons for massive bloodletting and
bulldozing, even of humans," Higgins wrote in
protest against an editorial in the Christian Science
Monitor.
At a lecture she gave at AUC Higgins was
challenged to say something about democracy, or
the lack of it, in the occupied territories under the
Palestinian Authority. "There is no American
democracy," she responded, and spoke instead
about the brutal reality of America's blind backing
of Israel. For Higgins this double standard remains
confusing.
When, Higgins wonders will the crimes against
humanity committed by Israel in the occupied
territories become too glaring to be overlooked?
An accomplished academic, Higgins obtained a
PhD in 2001 from the University of Chicago's
Department of Near Eastern Languages and
Civilisations. The subject of her doctoral thesis was
The Qur'anic Exchange of the Self in the Poetry of
Shurat (Khariji) Political Identity.
Higgins lectured at the University of Illinois before
giving up teaching to serve as an international in
Palestine. She describes herself as an "independent
scholar" but she doesn't rule out a return to
academia.
She has presented papers on topics as diverse as
the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon; Qur'anic
Borrowings in Ummayyad Poetry; Tuareg Poetry
and a paper entitled The Qur'an: God Speaks to
the Seminar of Islam, Meadville- Lombard
Theological Seminary, Chicago.
Higgins' father was a lawyer, and apolitical. Her
mother, who went on anti-Vietnam War protest
marches and scrupulously read Congressional
Reports, was more of a political animal. The
youngest of four sisters, Higgins says that she was
brought up in an environment in which visitors were
always welcome. "We've always had visitors in our
house," she explained, saying that she was
socialised early to accept cultures and traditions
other than her own.
As an adult Higgins never made much money and
was never particularly interested in making a fast
buck. Her university job paid the bills and helped
her save a little money.
"I saved half my salary, but I didn't have specific
plans," she explains. "I never do. I just quit my job
at the university and left for Palestine. Most of the
Palestinians I got to know in Jenin couldn't
understand why I gave up my job as a lecturer in
America to come and live among them in a refugee
camp."
She returns to the subject of Palestinian generosity:
"I was accustomed to being poor but I never felt
deprived. I don't spend much money. And it
doesn't really cost much to live in Jenin Camp. I'm
so privileged. The doors are open before I actually
get to the doorstep. I don't have to ask people to
let me in."
There was another impulse behind Higgins' decision
to move to Palestine, and it had much to do with
family values. Her upbringing was one dynamic,
religion another.
"I think I understand the Bible more now. Jesus
walked in this very place called Jenin."
She smiles broadly and shrugs her shoulders: "I feel
like I am bringing one loaf of bread to Palestine."
"The Palestinians, like Jesus, are always trying to
feed people. Jesus was talking and talking, telling
people to look beyond the material, and then he
suddenly turned round and asked his listeners if
they were hungry. That is typically Palestinian."
Halim Hafez, is Annie Higgin's favourite Arabic
song. The lyrics of the song might well refer to her
love affair with Palestine. Higgins, an American-
born peace activist and an independent international
who has been living among Palestinians in the Jenin
Refugee Camp for the past six months first went to
Palestine with the International Solidarity
Movement (ISM) to stay with Palestinians in the
Balata Refugee Camp near Nablus.
She fell in love with Palestine and knew she would
return.
"My main goals were twofold: one, to use my
presence to help people in ways they felt would be
beneficial and to acquaint people outside Palestine
with Palestinians at home, in more normal settings...
to get to know them as friends rather than as
victims," Higgins explained.
Many of her friends in the ISM were subsequently
detained by the Israeli authorities and summarily
deported says Higgins, whose acquaintance with
Egypt long predated her encounter with Palestine.
She first came to Egypt in 1986 to study Arabic at
the American University in Cairo (AUC). She
returned again in 1992 to study at Al-Azhar on a
Fulbright-Hays fellowship.
"I originally took up the study of Arabic because I
felt that I was hearing only one side of the story. I
decided to learn the language and hear Arabs
speaking for themselves in their own language."
Higgins says that her commitment to Palestine was
sparked by Edward Said during a lecture he gave
at the University of Chicago during the Gulf War:
"Both the spirit and the words of his talk made me
see that the injustices done to the Palestinians are
injustices to all and redressing these wrongs
pertains to all who cherish some degree of
autonomy in their lives."
In spite of her slender frame everything about the
strawberry blonde with sparkling blue eyes and a
ready smile is robust. She is a bundle of energy,
hopping from one anti-war demonstration to
another, from one refugee camp to another.
"Palestine's liberation is America's liberation,"
Higgins told a crowd of anti-war protestors in
Cairo, speaking in impeccable Arabic.
"Are you Tahani?" one boy asked. Word was out.
She had become a minor celebrity among anti-war
protestors in Cairo after the widespread circulation
of a photograph in which she holds her "American
(female) Against the War" banner written in black,
green and red letters against a white background --
the colours of the Palestinian -- and many other
Arab countries' -- flags.
"You cannot impose democracy on Iraq by
dropping bombs," Tahani -- as the crowds prefer
to call her -- tells her listeners. She said that US
policies are harming other people, innocent victims,
lamenting her compatriots' seeming complacency.
"It is almost as if my fellow Americans don't want
to find out the truth."
But it would be a mistake to assume that there is
any sentimentality in her work.
"At one of the moments of exuberance over an
American woman opposing the aggression against
Iraq a man offered to carry me on his shoulders,"
Higgins scowls, beating her chest in mock outrage.
"I balked, so a woman carried me on her shoulders
while the crowd cheered," she tells me, describing
her experiences at the downtown Cairo
demonstration that took place on 20 March.
Visiting Egypt has allowed Higgins an opportunity
to familiarise Cairene anti-war protestors about the
latest developments in Jenin.
"They need no reminders over here," her face lights
up. Still, the crowds are fascinated by her
thought-provoking, upbeat and promising tales of
the lives of the Palestinians of Jenin Refugee Camp.
It was they who christened her Tahani, which
means "felicity" in Arabic. But "Tahani is just a
longer version of Annie, really," she tells me in jest.
Higgins believes that Palestine has provided her
with a priceless educational experience.
"Palestinians are a generous people. They share
what little they have. I am always awed by their
generosity to each other and to foreigners."
Her mission entails correcting the "false picture" of
Palestine in Western eyes. She says the truth must
be told, and told loud and clear.
"Silence contributes to the oppression of the
Palestinians," Higgins warns. "Before I went to
Palestine I knew something of the Palestinians'
predicament. But now I know that silence, keeping
quiet about the Palestinian problem, is the crux of
the Middle East crisis."
Higgins was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois.
She favourably compares the Jenin Refugee Camp
to her native city: "Can you imagine if a Palestinian
went to my home city, Chicago, and asked to
spend the night at the house of a total stranger?"
More to the point: "There are thousands of
homeless people in Chicago. There are no
homeless people in Jenin Camp -- even after the
April 2002 massacres and the systematic
demolition of houses."
Hawiya -- identity -- is the one Arabic word all
Israeli soldiers know. Higgins, perceptively,
touches a raw nerve. "But the Israeli soldiers don't
know what their identity is. They realise that the
Palestinians have traditions and they envy the
Palestinians their strong sense of identity."
She decries the veneration of foreigners and so-
called foreign experts. "Many Palestinians living in
the camps hope that someone will come from the
outside and bring magic solutions."
Tragedy generates narrative. The hope that springs
out of the ashes of despair can't help offering a
story.
"Once you mention the word Palestine it
immediately becomes a political subject," says
Higgins. She doesn't consider herself a "political
type". She feels that her mission is to honour the
human voice. "Honouring the right to speak," is
how she puts it. But she realises that her mission
has political implications.
"Seeing my interest in exposing the oppression of
the Palestinian people, the inhabitants of the Jenin
Camp warmed to me. Any foreigner qualifies as a
voice to the outside world. To the Palestinians
every foreigner is a journalist who can potentially
broadcast their plight to the outside world."
And for Annie Higgins the plight of the Palestinians
catalyses human relationships and solidifies lines of
communication. Her public persona is reinforced by
distinctive Palestinian paraphernalia, a politically
correct kufiyya, a tiny silver olive tree, the dangling
photographs of two young martyrs of whom she
was especially fond.
And Palestine and the Palestinian cause emerge as
a consuming passion which infects most people
who care to listen to the stories she tells about her
life in Jenin Refugee Camp.
Ironically it was Egypt, and not Palestine, that was
her first introduction to the Arab world. And, she
loves Egypt with a passion, too, loves "the
vibrancy, the colour and the generosity of spirit".
Different groups of demonstrators were pouring
into Tahrir Square, the hub of Cairo. While I left
early and made my way back to the office to work
on this profile, Higgins, I was told later, stayed on
inspiring and being inspired by the crowds. Higgins
feels a special affinity with children and at the Cairo
anti-war demonstrations she says that she had
several interesting encounters with children.
"One, about eight years old, asked me why
America wants to hurt Iraqi and Palestinian
children. I said I didn't know, but told him I was
glad that he cares about children in Iraq and
Palestine. And I told [the children] that they
reminded me of my young friends in Jenin." Indeed,
her encounters with the children of Cairo who took
part in the anti-war demonstrations that rocked the
city were reminiscent of her experiences with the
children she left behind in Palestine. "I felt as if I
were back in Jenin Refugee Camp with cadres of
children providing a friendly following."
"Many people gave me a thumbs-up or said 'thank
you' as I passed them. Would a crowd of
Americans treat an Arab with such respect these
days?" she asks, flinging her hands wide open as if
in despair.
After a two-hour chat over coffee and a photo
session with Al-Ahram Weekly's photographer
Randa Shaath, Higgins and I walked from the Nile
Hilton, passing the Arab League headquarters, as
we headed to the demonstration at 1.30pm. Police
had cordoned off the American and British
embassies.
"When I left about 9pm Tahrir Square was still full
of demonstrators against America's aggression on
Iraq. The [Egyptian] security forces returned my
greetings as I headed for the Internet café," Higgins
told me later. "Candles illuminated the proceedings
and there was a festive air. I thought of the skies of
Baghdad illuminated by rockets," she added.
Higgins moves on to the prickly topic of Palestinian
collaborators. She notes that the Palestinians never
use the term jasuss, or spy, but rather prefer to use
ameel, or collaborator. She witnessed an incident in
which one such alleged collaborator was
hospitalised after a revenge attack.
"Not one of his family wanted to stay with him in
hospital. But, an elder complained, 'what good will
it do to kill him? These young people are being
used.' That was a wise observation," Higgins said.
The Israelis often wonder how the Palestinians
possess the stamina and patience to endure their
brutal occupation.
"I love rooftops," Higgins said, explaining that like
all Palestinians in Jenin she felt constantly watched
by the Israelis.
She recalls a brush with the Israeli army. She saw
Apache fighter helicopters coming straight at her as
she was reading on the rooftop.
"I never ran so fast in my life. I was sure they were
coming for me."
Higgins speaks of the predicament of those hunted
by the Israelis: "Nobody wants to have a wanted
man in their house. These wanted men are on the
run. They are constantly moving from house to
house."
Her yearning for peace and justice in Palestine is
movingly real. Her single-minded dedication to
Palestine is all the more endearing because her
mannerisms are underpinned by an engaging
lovability, a vulnerability and fragility.
In Palestine, she lives in much the same manner as
her hosts and in humility she learns a little about
their ways. A touching bedtime scene poignantly
captures the mutual love and affection that binds
visitor to host: "As we are settling onto our
floor-level mattresses for the night, Raghda kisses
me on the four diamond-points of my face, 'That's
how you kiss a shahid [martyr] on the bier'. She
has expeience with a number of family members,"
Tahani muses.
The American media is hopelessly biased against
the Palestinians, even to the extent of plastering
over the death of a young American woman who
was run over by an Israeli armoured .00bulldozer.
If there were any doubts about that, Rachel
Corrie's tragic death removed them. "I feel freedom
of speech in Palestine," she assures me. "More so
than in the United States. And Rachel Corrie
offered her own life as a price for her convictions
defending Palestinian children."
Higgins says that she has been silenced in the US.
"Once you mention Jenin in the US you are
considered no patriot because you are critical of
Israel. I've been silenced just for mentioning the
word Jenin," she says, though she insists that she
does not want to "advertise" the tragedy of the
Jenin massacre.
"I want to show the human side. I want to tell the
world why it is we do not want Jenin destroyed.
The beautiful culture of the Palestinian people is
worth saving. I want the world, and especially
America, to get to know the Palestinian people a
little better."
Higgins wrote a scathing letter of criticism to the
Christian Science Monitor recently because of what
she felt was the paper's biased coverage in Israel's
favour.
"Israel has nuclear weapons and has not signed the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and uses its
conventional weapons for massive bloodletting and
bulldozing, even of humans," Higgins wrote in
protest against an editorial in the Christian Science
Monitor.
At a lecture she gave at AUC Higgins was
challenged to say something about democracy, or
the lack of it, in the occupied territories under the
Palestinian Authority. "There is no American
democracy," she responded, and spoke instead
about the brutal reality of America's blind backing
of Israel. For Higgins this double standard remains
confusing.
When, Higgins wonders will the crimes against
humanity committed by Israel in the occupied
territories become too glaring to be overlooked?
An accomplished academic, Higgins obtained a
PhD in 2001 from the University of Chicago's
Department of Near Eastern Languages and
Civilisations. The subject of her doctoral thesis was
The Qur'anic Exchange of the Self in the Poetry of
Shurat (Khariji) Political Identity.
Higgins lectured at the University of Illinois before
giving up teaching to serve as an international in
Palestine. She describes herself as an "independent
scholar" but she doesn't rule out a return to
academia.
She has presented papers on topics as diverse as
the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon; Qur'anic
Borrowings in Ummayyad Poetry; Tuareg Poetry
and a paper entitled The Qur'an: God Speaks to
the Seminar of Islam, Meadville- Lombard
Theological Seminary, Chicago.
Higgins' father was a lawyer, and apolitical. Her
mother, who went on anti-Vietnam War protest
marches and scrupulously read Congressional
Reports, was more of a political animal. The
youngest of four sisters, Higgins says that she was
brought up in an environment in which visitors were
always welcome. "We've always had visitors in our
house," she explained, saying that she was
socialised early to accept cultures and traditions
other than her own.
As an adult Higgins never made much money and
was never particularly interested in making a fast
buck. Her university job paid the bills and helped
her save a little money.
"I saved half my salary, but I didn't have specific
plans," she explains. "I never do. I just quit my job
at the university and left for Palestine. Most of the
Palestinians I got to know in Jenin couldn't
understand why I gave up my job as a lecturer in
America to come and live among them in a refugee
camp."
She returns to the subject of Palestinian generosity:
"I was accustomed to being poor but I never felt
deprived. I don't spend much money. And it
doesn't really cost much to live in Jenin Camp. I'm
so privileged. The doors are open before I actually
get to the doorstep. I don't have to ask people to
let me in."
There was another impulse behind Higgins' decision
to move to Palestine, and it had much to do with
family values. Her upbringing was one dynamic,
religion another.
"I think I understand the Bible more now. Jesus
walked in this very place called Jenin."
She smiles broadly and shrugs her shoulders: "I feel
like I am bringing one loaf of bread to Palestine."
"The Palestinians, like Jesus, are always trying to
feed people. Jesus was talking and talking, telling
people to look beyond the material, and then he
suddenly turned round and asked his listeners if
they were hungry. That is typically Palestinian."