On Friday 19 July, the residents of Kafr Qaddum gathered for a demonstration against the Prawer Plan, an Israeli government plan that will ethnically cleanse the occupied al-Naqab desert. Protesters were violently attacked by Israeli soldiers who repeatedly raided the village firing tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and sound grenades.
At approximately 11:00, residents attempted to construct a defensive barricade at the eastern edge of the village to prevent soldiers from entering; however, while they were building, nearly 50 Israeli soldiers ran down the main road closest to the illegal Israeli settlement of Qedumim, attempting to make arrests. The soldiers chased the people, including small children, back to the center of the village, where they fired tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets directly at the people. Nearly 25 soldiers then took a position on the top of the hill overlooking the village, which prevented many people from traveling down the main road in order to attend the Friday Ramadan prayers.
In the hours that followed, the Israeli army attempted to surround the village; they hid themselves in the olive groves and in the private gardens of several residents, effectively trapping the people inside their own homes. Several times the army attacked the protesters, firing tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and sound grenades. Some residents reported that the soldiers also fired live ammunition, just as they did during last week’s demonstration, when they fired at four teenage boys.
No arrests were made, though three people suffered from tear gas inhalation.
Tear gas canisters and sound bombs shot at protesters during the demonstration (Photo by IWPS)
Kafr Qaddum is a 3,000-year-old agricultural village that sits on 24,000 dunams of land. The village was occupied by the Israeli army in 1967; in 1978, the illegal settler-colony of Qedumim was established nearby on the remains of a former Jordanian army camp, occupying 4,000 dunums of land stolen from Kafr Qaddum.
The villagers are currently unable to access an additional 11,000 dunums of land due to the closure by the Israeli army of the village’s main and only road leading to Nablus in 2003. The road was closed in three stages, ultimately restricting access for farmers to the 11,000 dunums of land that lie along either side to one or two times a year. Since the road closure, the people of Kafr Qaddum have been forced to rely on an animal trail to access this area; the road is narrow and, according to the locals, intended only for animals. In 2004 and 2006, three villagers died when they were unable to reach the hospital in time. The ambulances carrying them were prohibited from using the main road and were forced to take a 13 km detour. These deaths provoked even greater resentment in Kafr Qaddum and, on 1 July 2011, the villagers decided to unite in protest in order to re-open the road and protect the land in danger of settlement expansion along it.
Kafr Qaddum is home to 4,000 people; some 500 residents attend the weekly demonstrations. The villagers’ resilience, determination and organization have been met with extreme repression. More than 120 village residents have been arrested; most spend 3-8 months in prison; collectively they have paid over NIS 100,000 to the Israeli courts. Around 2,000 residents have suffocated from tear-gas inhalation, many in their own homes. Over 100 residents have been shot directly with tear-gas canisters. On 27 April 2012, one man was shot in the head by a tear-gas canister that fractured his skull in three places; the injury cost him his ability to speak. In another incident, on 16 March 2012 an Israeli soldier released his dog into the crowded demonstration, where it attacked a young man, biting him for nearly 15 minutes whilst the army watched. When other residents tried to assist him, some were pushed away while others were pepper-sprayed directly in the face.
The events of the past week are part of a continuous campaign by the Israeli military to harass and intimidate the people of Kafr Qaddum into passively accepting the human rights violations the Israeli occupation, military and the illegal settlers inflict upon them.
19th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine
Today, around fifty Palestinians together with Israeli and international activists marched from the centre of Nabi Saleh down the main road towards the stolen spring.
Protesters made barricades of burning tyres to prevent Israeli forces from raiding the village.
Soon after that, several Israeli border police officers appeared behind a house on the right side of the main road and started shooting rubber coated steel bullets at protesters.
More Israeli border police then arrived at the bottom of the main road, running towards protesters and shooting more rubber coated steel bullets.
An Israeli woman activist was shot in her upper thigh with a rubber coated steel bullet from close range and had to be taken to hospital in Tel Aviv. She underwent a very minor surgery to get the bullet removed and will remain in hospital until Sunday.
Israeli forces continued shooting rubber coated steel bullets and tear gas canisters from various locations inside the village.
According to a resident of Nabi Saleh, yesterday night at around 3am, an Israeli bulldozer was working in the spring. Settlers from Halamish also went to the spring to talk to the soldiers. Palestinian youths went to the hilltop in front of this area to see what was happening and verbal confrontations between settlers and them erupted. Israeli forces, defending the settlers as usual, shot several tear gas canisters at Palestinians.
Previously this week, on Tuesday, clashes between residents of Nabi Saleh and Israeli forces erupted in the same spot where Rushdi Tamimi was shot last November. Israeli forces shot rubber coated steel bullets and injured Mohammed Tamimi (10) in the leg. Mahmoud Tamimi (22) was then shot with live ammunition also in the leg. Read the full report here.
19th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Mirkez, Occupied Palestine
On the 16th of July, Omar Jabril, 28, was pasturing his sheep in the surroundings of Mirkez, in the middle of firing zone 918, when three settlers assaulted him, injuring him severely. Some villagers witnessed broken teeth and a large amount of blood on the victim. Israeli soldiers finally intervened, stopping the settlers and bringing Omar back to his village. Neighbors underline the fact that the assault happened during Ramadan, a period of increased vulnerability for the Palestinians, who fast through the whole day. The Israeli occupation forces left to the comumnity the responsibility of bringing him to the Khalil hospital. The victim’s family doesn’t believe in the usefulness of filing a complaint to the Israeli authorities.
According to a neighboring family, if the army hadn’t come to rescue him the shepherd would be probably dead by now. It is important though to note that the soldiers came from the same outpost than the settlers. The International Solidarity Movement heard yesterday that Omar Jabril is now resting in Yatta.
Mirkez is located in the South Hebron Hills, in a zone declared a “closed military area” by the Israeli army. This part of Massafer Yatta is also an Israeli natural reserve. Around 1000 Palestinians are still living in there, facing continuous harrassment from settlers and military trainings on their land.
Blocks marking the start of “Firing Zone 918” (Photo by Activestills)
On 16th November 1999 the Israeli military forcibly removed over 700 cave dwellers, eighty-three families, from their caves in the South Hebron Hills, because the Israeli family said they needed the area for a military firing range (designated as a closed military zone for training, or “firing zone 918”). The soldiers confiscated and put the belongings of the Palestinians into military vans. They demolished scores of caves, cave entrances, and wells. Flocks of sheep were scattered. The people and their flocks had to spend the cold winter away from their caves. The people resisted by going to the Israeli High Court. On 29th March 2000 the villages won a partial, temporary victory, when the Israeli High Court ruled that residents who had signed on to the lawsuit in the Israeli High Court could return to their cave homes and land, pending a decision of the case. Finally the High Court decided that all residents could return. (In: Arthur G. Gish: At-Tuwani Journal: Hope & Nonviolent Action in a Palestinian Village, Herald Press, 2008)
For more information on firing zone 918 see also here. Sign a petition calling for abolishing the firing zone here.
18th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Qalandiya, Occupied Palestine
Yesterday, around 150 Palestinian journalists protested at Qalandiya checkpoint demanding freedom of movement for journalists. Israeli forces violently suppressed the demonstration by throwing sound bombs and shooting rubber coated steel bullets at journalists, resulting in five people injured.
At 12am, journalists arrived on buses from across the West Bank, gathering at Qalandiya checkpoint to protest against the restriction of movement and the lack of recognition of their international press cards by Israel.
Palestinian journalists showing their International press cards (Photo by ISM)
More participants gradually arrived at the roundabout where the rally was taking place. Journalists sang chants demanding freedom of movement for journalists. One journalist said: “we are journalists recognized by the International Federation of Journalists and hold international press cards but we cannot exercise our job freely. Israel does not allow us to work in Jerusalem or Haifa while Israeli journalists can work everywhere”.
Israeli border police officers soon arrived at the roundabout and started to violently push protesters backwards, throwing sound bombs directly at demonstrators. Although the crowd dispersed, the journalists soon rallied again, continuing chanting and protesting. Once again, Israeli border police, now joined by soldiers, pushed back the crowd throwing more sound bombs and then shooting rubber coated steel bullets from a short distance.
Steadfast demonstrators remained at the roundabout for ten more minutes until at around 12:45pm, the protest was finished. Five people suffered minor injuries from sound bombs thrown at their feet and were treated by medical personnel at the scene.
Palestinian journalists are constantly targeted by Israeli forces. According to the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms, during the first six months of 2013, there were 78 occasions where Israeli forces attacked Palestinian media in the form of physical abuse, arrest, detention, prevention from coverage, and prosecution.
Mousa Rimawi, general director of MADA, stated at a MADA press conference in Ramallah two days ago:
“Media freedoms status in Occupied Palestine still raises concerns in terms of the numbers and types of violations committed against Palestinian journalists. Violations against Palestinian journalists are one of the highest globally, and are life-threatening, where the Palestinian journalists are concerned for their life and safety, especially those who cover peaceful demonstrations and the popular resistance activities against the occupation, settlement, and the apartheid wall. Regardless of the threat, Palestinian journalists never back down and continue to exercise their profession and duty, and they have earned many appreciations and awards”
“The Israeli Occupation insistence to continue its attacks on media freedoms is due to its desire to blur the truth and hide its constant attacks on the Palestinian people’s rights is a main reason for the increase of its violations against media freedoms during the past years. Another reason for this increase is the official International community forgiving attitude towards the continues and rising Israeli violations against media freedoms”
Israeli Border Police officer pushing back a journalist (Photo by ISM)Israeli forces throwing sound bombs at journalists (Photo by ISM)
18th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement | Haifa
Ilan Pappé is an Israeli academic and activist. He is currently a professor at the University of Exeter (UK) and is well known for being one of the Israeli “new historians” – re-writing the Zionist narrative of the Palestinian Israeli situation. He has publicly spoken out against Israel’s policies of ethnic cleansing of Palestine and condemned the Israeli occupation and apartheid regime. He has also supported the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, calling for the international community to take action against Israel’s Zionist policies.
Activists from the International Solidarity Movement had the opportunity to talk to Professor Pappé about the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, Israeli politics and society and the role of the international community and solidarity activists in Palestine, resulting in a three part series of interviews which will be released on the ISM website in the coming weeks.
This is the final section; the role international community and solidarity activism in Palestine. Find part one on the ethnic cleansing of Palestine here and part two on Israeli society and politics here.
International Solidarity Movement: If, as you said in the previous interview (Israeli politics & society), support from the European Union (EU) and the USA is not going to stop, what could the international community do or what should change in order to force Israel to implement and respect international standards?
Ilan Pappé: We need a European spring. In the sense that we all know that if the European political leaders would only reflect what the European people want, the policy of European countries would be much tougher on Israel. Today, governments do not reflect what the people want or think. So the question is how do we transfer the pro-Palestinian sentiments of the people of Europe to the governments of Europe. By the way, this situation is the same in the USA.
I don’t think that Americans are more pro-Palestinian than Europeans, but they are starting to have enough of Israel and they would like the USA to concentrate on their own growing internal issues. But again, political leaders do not represent this wish. We had the same problem in South Africa; it took 21 years for the first European civil act against South African apartheid, which came in the form of economic sanctions. So it’s a very long process. What the international community must do is find ways of convincing their political leaders that it is both ethically and politically better to adopt a much tougher policy against the illegal Israeli occupation. The EU is a good example here because they have strong connections and relations with Israel, they essentially treat them like a member of the EU. When the boycott campaign started, it was the EU who first tried to get Israel to act in a different manner. That was just a small beginning, there is still a lot to be done, but for me, this is the right direction: a process from below towards the political elites.
ISM: There are many European politicians that would like Israel to be a member of the EU. Do you think this is possible, and if so, what will that lead to?
IP: Maybe is a good idea because then Israel would need to change its entire governmental policy, which is currently violating many EU laws. On the other hand, that could be a problem because it may just lead the different governments of the EU to accept Israel’s cruelty and violations. I still think that the best strategy is to explain to these pro-Israel politicians that history will judge them really badly because of their positions. The problem is that politicians don’t have the tendency to look beyond tomorrow. The only way is to explain to them that when this situation changes (in our case, when the occupation ends and when Palestine will be free), they will be on the wrong side in the history books, because they were the politicians that were supporting a state of apartheid.
It is similar for those politicians who were supporting Benito Mussolini. If politicians feel comfortable with being on the wrong side, that’s okay. But if they want to be portrayed in the history books as people who were working for peace and justice, they need to change their positions and friendships before it is too late. Israel has been kept alive because it serves a lot of strategic and military functions for the West, not because of its morality. Reality isn’t how the Christian Zionists see the world; thinking that Israel should be supported because it represents some kind of moral value. This kind of support has been overcome today, and this is also thanks to the work of the BDS campaign, it is one of the few victories we had.
ISM: In which way is international solidarity useful? What is or what should be the role of international activists in Palestine?
IP: I think that international aid, which is a bit different from solidarity movements, is often problematic. On one hand, it allows the Palestinians some level of existence, but on the other it kind of pays for the occupation and for Israel’s mistakes and violations. But the International Solidarity Movement is different: it is not about money but about people coming to help other people. As long as this injustice is happening, I think it is really important that ISM keep coming. All international activists that come to Palestine should be VIP’s. I mean they should Visit, they should Inform and they should Protest. ISM is doing all these three together, but maybe sometimes one less than another, because of particular circumstances or because of the lack of resources, and this is a pity. I think it’s essential to do them all together.
I think that ISM’s main role is to be the ISM’ers of the outside world. I once visited the Basque country, and I noticed that there was a distance between ISM and the boycott movement there, which is a shame because they should definitely work together. What ISM sees in Palestine is the result of the BDS movement’s work outside Palestine, and it works. It is not only about solidarity on the ground, which is very important, but also solidarity from outside.
You cannot replace the liberation movement – the Palestinians have to liberate themselves, nobody can help them with that, not even I, but we can and we must show solidarity with their liberation. This solidarity can be shown on the ground, but mostly by acting in the country that activists come from. It is about finding the right balance. I remember one of the first ISM groups that came to Jenin, after the terrible massacre of 2002. The fact that somebody came, was interested and sympathetic and supportive, meant a lot to the people.
We can see how much effort the Israelis are putting into preventing you from coming here, and I think that’s a good indication – proof that you are doing something right. I would be worried if tomorrow Israel said all ISMers are welcome – that would mean you’re not doing something right.
Protest against the construction of the wall in Al Walaja
ISM: What about the BDS campaign, do you think that an academic and cultural boycott could be an effective instrument against the Israeli occupation?
IP: I was always a great supporter of the BDS movement. As it did in South Africa, it will also play an important role in changing the reality on the ground here. But it is a long process and we need to be patient.
In the case of Israel, the academic and cultural boycott is particularly important, because Israel sees itself as a European and democratic country in the middle of the Arab world. ‘European’ not because of the economic relations it has with Europe, or because it sells tomatoes in Holland – among others it also has strong economic relations with China, Russia and Africa – but because it is part of the European cultural and academic elite. If European academic and cultural institutions say that they do not want to work with Israeli institutions because of Israel’s behaviour, I think it would send a very strong message.
The cultural and academic boycott (unlike the economic one, which only affects the occupied territories) makes a huge and direct impact on Israeli society, and it is only when that happens that Israelis will talk about what is happening in Palestine. For example, the only time that the Israeli press – and sometimes international media as well – talks about the occupation is when someone like Stephen Hawking says he is going to boycott an event organized by Israeli personalities. Before the spread of the boycott movement, it was only when there were bomb attacks in Israel that Israelis remembered that there is an occupation. Now this issue is brought up more regularly, when a famous pop group or author refuses to come, or when an important university in the USA says that they do not want to work with Israeli universities. This type of boycott is really important, and it is the main thing that the international community can do.
Pro-Palestinian activists hold a boycott protest during a football match between Scotland and Israel
International solidarity movements sometimes think that they should have an opinion regarding, for example, the one-state or two-state solutions, but this is actually not their business. It is up to the Palestinians and Israelis to decide how they are going to live. What international movements can do is to create the conditions for a reasonable dialogue. But we need to end the occupation before starting to speak about peace. The Israeli trick has for many years been to try to convince the world that peace will end the occupation. But we know that actually this goes the other way around: we end the occupation and then we will start to talk about peace. I think that ISM, the BDS movement and the Palestinian solidarity movements are all grassroots organizations that do not accept the Israeli diktat “Peace will end the occupation”. These organizations are not part of the peace talks but instead they work on ending the occupation and the apartheid.
ISM: What would you say to people that believe that cultural and sport events should not be politicized?
IP: Well, it was very effective in the case of South Africa. In fact white South Africans only began to think about apartheid when the big sports teams of South Africa were not invited to international sporting events. Moreover, I think that sport is political. For example, Israel is going to host the UEFA Under-21 football tournament, and the Palestinian football team has not been invited. Palestinian players from Gaza will not even be able to go to Israel and see the tournament. Sport is political if it is not free for everyone to participate.
Academia as well is clearly political. Israeli academics, when they are abroad, think they are Israel’s ambassadors. Synagogues abroad see themselves as Israel’s embassies. When Israeli academics see themselves as ambassadors, and represent something that most decent people abroad will see as unacceptable, then people have the right to show their rejection.
And nobody tells these people that they represent Israel, they say it themselves. There was a big debate in the Basque country about the Israeli singer Noah – whether people should boycott her concert or not. People went to her website and saw she had written that she represents Israel on her tour. So she wasn’t coming just as a singer, but as a representative of Israel. We are in 2013 and if you say that, it means you represent what Israel represents, and what Israel is doing today. Therefore you are a legitimate target of the boycott.
This is the last of a three part interview series: Ilan Pappé in conversation with the International Solidarity Movement.
