An author painted a picture of two different Palestines in the Lincoln Room of the Holmes Student Center Tuesday.

In one, bright strip malls, pools and the equivalent of $100,000 U.S. awaited Israelis willing to live on illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

In the other, dozens of Palestinians stood huddled around checkpoints as heavily-armed Israeli soldiers denied them passage for hours at a time.

Anna Baltzer, a Jewish-American and author of the book “Witness in Palestine,” painted these two pictures to a small audience made up of members of the DeKalb Interfaith Network and a few NIU students as part of her book promotion tour.

Baltzer has traveled to Israel and the occupied territories several times since 2003 during her work with the International Women’s Peace Service. Her book is based on her experiences in the Palestinian occupied territories.

Baltzer said she intends to educate people with her book and allow them to draw their own conclusions about the events in Israel and the occupied territories.

“I’m not trying to do propaganda or anything. I just show what I witnessed,” Baltzer said. “I don’t expect people to take my word for it, I hope they go out and do their own research.”

Her presentation focused on the civil rights violations which are being committed against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Baltzer spoke about the checkpoints on Palestinian roads that stop Palestinians for hours at a time or refuse them passage altogether, making simple things like getting to a hospital, holding down a steady job or working toward an education almost impossible.

Baltzer told stories of soldiers refusing Palestinians passage, even during medical emergencies.

“The problem isn’t the soldiers, but the way the system is built up so that some people have no rights,” she said.

She likened the checkpoints to going through American airport security.

“Imagine if you had to go through this long, drawn-out process two, four, six times a day,” Baltzer said.

Baltzer showed photographs of the occupied territories that depicted the checkpoints, people engaging in non-violent resistance against the Israeli occupation, and the 25-foot walls that have been built to separate the occupied territories from Israel.

“The wall is supposed to be a way of securing Israelis. How does preventing Palestinians from getting to work and school and hospitals secure anybody?” Baltzer asked.

The presentation also focused on the Israeli settlements within the Palestinian territories. The occupation of West Bank and the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces has been condemned by the United Nations Security Council since 1967, Baltzer said.

Baltzer said the Israeli settlements are counterproductive to peace.

“The Israeli government gives Israelis money to live in these cities,” Baltzer said. “Why would the government pay their own citizens to live on territory that belongs to the so-called enemy if they wanted to protect them from them?”

Baltzer’s presentation opened many eyes.

“I had no idea about the walls,” said sophomore communication major Shane Madej. “To see the pictures was just overwhelming.”

The presentation highlighted some of the misconceptions people make based on the lack of coverage in the United States.

“Because of the media coverage [in America], I didn’t realize there was an international peace presence [in Palestine],” said NIU alumna Rehana Abdallah.

Baltzer will continue her book promotion tour and will have visited more than 100 cities by its conclusion. She took donations after her presentation and answered further questions from the audience.

“In some ways [the book signing] renews my faith in Americans,” Baltzer said. “People that are here are clearly interested in what is going on.”

Corrections – published on 4/20/06

An article in Wednesday’s Northern Star titled “Painting a picture of border conflict” said Israelis moving to settlements in the West Bank are rewarded the equivalent of $100,000 U.S. by the Israeli government. They are actually rewarded with 100,000 Israeli shekels, or the equivalent of about $20,000 U.S.