Author: ISM Media Group

Reflections from an Irish Activist in Palestine (Part 3/3)

Part III

Jewish settlers driving by give antagonistic glances and stares, while cars and bus loads of visitors to the nearby Jewish cemetery and ‘tomb’ of the ancient biblical figures of Jesse and Ruth every now and again have one ruthless passenger who rolls down the window and comments, ‘Drop dead!’ Being called a ‘Nazi’ by Jewish settlers is a regular occurrence here – you just have to get used to it and not get pissed off.

Fawaz, a 21 year old English student, informed me this evening that he twice evaded a beating from the army and police as a result of the mere presence of International Solidarity Movement activists. It’s good to get positive feedback and to know that one is at least preventing such crimes.

Later on in the day two semi-drunk Israeli soldiers of Russian origin aggressively break up our peaceful Tuesday evening by demanding we stop filming them. Understandably so, seen as we had earlier recorded them knocking back some cans of beer in the vicinity of the Palestinian house we were taking care of. They sexually harass one of the female internationals present before cowering behind their military outpost once again.

The story behind Issa’s house in Tel Rumeida district is a key part of the successful nonviolent resistance waged here. The legal owners of the property carry blue I.D., meaning they are residents of East Jerusalem. The Israeli police informed them 7 years ago that they would lose their blue I.D. if they continued to live in the Hebron region, so they went back to Jerusalem and soon after the army occupied their house. They remained their on and off for the next 6 years. When they eventually left in early 2007 settlers occupied the house and stripped it bare. All this despite the fact that Palestinian activists managed to legally receive confirmation from the Israeli High Court that only the owner should be allowed to live there, or a tenant of the owner. Now, though the house was ransacked by the army and settlers, Palestinian ISM’ers intend on developing it into a nonviolent base to confront the occupation. It’s geographically positioned in a very significant area. Surrounded by olive groves, it finds itself located between the Tel Rumeida and Beit Hadassah settlements, hotbeds of extremism which have caused fear amongst the local Palestinian community for decades.
Atrocities have been committed against moderate, orthodox and extremist Israelis – but the concept that this is a war between two equals is a fallacy. It’s more like pitching Barcelona against Doncaster United in the F.A. Cup (no offence intended).

The life of an activist in Hebron at the moment can be summarised as follows – early to rise in order to be at military checkpoint watch. Long periods of time being alert which needs to be constructively filled to pass the day due to the nature of the work involved. Anyone who has seen the Thin Red Line will know what I am talking about. Patience is the greatest of all virtues here. Not losing your cool is tough when you daily see such violations of peoples’ civil liberties. And even when things are quiet, matters can escalate in a matter of minutes. Yesterday morning I walked out the door with a colleague to do checkpoint watch at Tel Rumeida hill and Shuhadah st., especially in order to ensure local kids and teachers starting school were not attacked by settlers nor harassed by soldiers. The Palestinian kids school in the H2 district, Qurtuba, suffered an arson attack just a few weeks ago and the school is still under repairs.

We were very surprised, as were our neighbours, to see a small machine gun stationed at a new checkpoint just 10 metres from the ISM apartment. A blue landmine (we’ve yet to confirm whether it was live or a dummy – the latter is likely) was positioned under the temporary roadblock, constructed just one hour before. So each and every person, man woman and child, were obliged to walk down a narrow passage by the road with an intimidating machine gun facing them and a very obvious belt of ammunition adjacent to it. At 10pm the same day soldiers were demanding the men who wanted to pass the checkpoint pull down their trousers. A couple of phone calls later from people who know the law alleviates the situation and the soldiers are disempowered from engaging in their completely unacceptable behaviour.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Israeli and U.S. government on August 17th, regarding a 25% increase in the already colossal aid they are granted annually, though yet to be passed through Congress – which is but a mere formality at this stage, goes to the core of the problems which exist here. $33 billion is to be granted over a 10 year period and half of this is planned to be spent on defence – or rather, offence. This blood money will be delivered efficiently and the occupation will be bankrolled for the next 10 years. So who will bankroll the nonviolent communities which need to grow and continue their quintessential work in the Occupied Territories? I can safely presume that those who have managed to read this far do not have over-bulging bank accounts, and are probably weighed down with debt most of their lives. But we have to push ourselves as much as possible to shake the bushes when we get back home and do all we can to ensure people know how and why to contribute to the ISM’s work in Palestine.

In our common humanity we reap the seeds we sow, or all too often, we reap the seeds our governments choose to sow in our names. It’s an anarchist cliché at this stage, but it’s well worth remembering: ‘war is the health of the state.’ It rings true when one also takes into consideration the internal tensions and huge amounts of finance spent on weaponry by Israel, the P.A., Hamas, etc. So rather than gun factories being built, all of us who have worked with the ISM know that the anti-occupation forces here could do with a lot more nonviolent infantry, video and digital camera factories, checkpoint observers, rakes and mattocks to assist farmers tend to their land under attack from colonial settlers, ropes and tractors to remove roadblocks, bolt cutters to cut the Apartheid fence and sledgehammers to bring down the wall. And even if you can only come for a short time, which unfortunately I was only able to afford this summer, the relationships one can develop with locals and the knowledge one can gain and share is invaluable.

And that is why I guess it is important to remember that the work of the international ISM’er is 20% in Palestine and 80% back in their home turf. I am so grateful to have worked alongside Palestinians and internationals whose efforts to struggle on despite the odds is truly inspiring. Celebrating our common Palestinian/International humanity and our nonviolent action victories, our ability to remain nonviolent despite the daily violence we face, and telling our stories (by the way, thanks for reading this far) is so important to ensure that the next wave of ISM’ers know what to expect upon arrival.

No Pasaran

Palestinian Human Rights Worker Arrested at Qurtuba School in Hebron

Tel Rumeida, Hebron. 11.9.07.

At 7.25pm 11.9.07. ISM activists received a phone call saying there was a disturbance outside Qurtuba school. The school is in Tel Rumeida, Hebron opposite the Beit Hadassah settlement.

A group of 10 settler girls were on the school pathway having a BBQ with a gas cylinder and a burner. A Palestinian Human Rights Worker was filming the situation to gain evidence of settler trespass on school land. The police turned up and told the HRW to stop filming. The HRW was then arrested at 7.30pm on a claim of assaulting a police officer. The police confiscated the HRW’s phone and bundled him into the back of a police van. He was taken to Kiryat Arba police station.

The arrest was caught on film by ISM activists. Attempts were made by adult settlers to prevent filming of the incident. One activist was spat at by a 10 year old settler girl. Four soldiers watched over the group of settler girls, who were making access for Palestinians to their homes difficult.

The army have consistently failed to prevent settler children from from stoning Palestinian kids as they use the pathway. A large presense of international HRW’s is needed daily to insure safe passage to the school. The school was attacked and set on fire on the 6th of August.

The spurious charges against the Palestinian HRW were dropped and he was released at 11pm. The trespass of land by settler girls and their protection by the army and police is further evidence of settlers advance onto Palestinian property and land in Tel Rumeida district, Hebron.

Thanks to the (Cowardly) High Court

[ selected comments by the representative of the People’s Committee of Bil’in, Basel Mansour, to Israelis that participated in the demonstration in the village after the decision by the Israeli High Court ] FOr the Hebrew version click

Lovers of peace, friends of freedom and justice… our partners in the struggle and in the creation of this partial victory — I bless you in the name of our Palestinian people, in the name of the residents of Bil’in, that you came to know, and that came to know you, and that you stood by
their side ever since they began their opposition to the fence and the settlement that squats on a large part of their land. You came to us without considering the consequences — the Zionist occupational government attempts to implant the deceptive and distorted idea that the
Palestinians are your enemy and want to kill you. By way of this shared journey, we proved the opposite and together we demonstrated the truth –that Israelis can stand beside Palestinians and live with them in peace and security, and even struggle with them against injustice and
occupation, on the fundamental basis that this occupation is an enemy of humanity.

You succeeded in overcoming the army’s roadblocks in order to arrive here through a difficult mountainous path and were vulnerable to its shooting attacks. In this way many of you were wounded by bullets that originated from the unmerciful occupation army — and not from Palestinians, that the occupation attempts to distort and portray as a vicious animal that wants
to devour Israelis or throw them into the sea.

You were braver than your fearful government. You participated in the struggle actively and in every way — morally, physically, in the courts and in the media. In the battlefield, you were on the frontlines, calling with us for freedom, in your belief that only the manifestation of justice
will guarantee the creation of peace and security for our two peoples, and not the building of walls and the expanding of weapons warehouses.

You have been real partners — awake with us late at night, in confronting the almost daily invasions of village homes by the army; together with us you opposed many attempts to arrest, and you yourselves were injured and arrested — and you conveyed the true picture to the Israeli society. You disputed the positions of the government and the army in every arena —
until the entire world was a witness to this special connection that was created on the land of Bil’in, that united the conversation and the meeting between cultures, creeds and religions. A connection like this must be victorious, history must immortalize it.

Honorable audience, one of the biggest difficulties in this campaign was how to organize and manage the connection with the Israelis in solidarity, after our Palestinians people have always suffered injustice from the Zionist occupation. This was done while Palestinians aspire to lives of
freedom, respect, and culture, and the mobilization of the most amount of Israelis possible and international representatives to stand up to the injustice. Once the Israelis in solidarity understood all of this, they became dedicated to the work and became real warriors that earned the trust of all. They contributed much by revealing the true face of the occupation — its tactics, its lies and its organized terror against Palestinians — in opposition to those that attempt to normalize and whitewash the occupation.

These people were always willing to take upon itself whatever was asked of it by the People’s Committee, and more than this, often took the initiative, offering ideas and suggestions. In this way, they demonstrated that they were true fighters — not only fans or friends, or cogs in the machine of the occupation. They are heroes in the non-violent campaign of the brave.

Honorable audience, recently a decision was taken by the body called the Israeli High Court of Justice, to cancel sections of the fence in Bil’in and to return a small amount of the stolen lands. This decision was taken after a long campaign with the participation of peace workers from every land, and the shooting injuries of almost a thousand demonstrators, in addition to tens of arrests and many more assaults.

We went to this occupational court not out of faith in it, but to prove that these courts are nothing but tools of the occupation. They are like a soldier that shoots you in the head and kills you, and then wraps your head in a white cloth, to be portrayed as a first aid worker. In its
decision, this court proved to be cowardly and causes injustice, and we turn your attention to the fact that our campaign was against the principle of the wall and not opposition to its route.

Therefore we will continue in our struggle, until the occupational government destroys the wall and the settlements in all of Palestine, and we will build together, with our bodies, real bridges of love and security and peace, in order to conquer the wall and we will crush all of the plans
of the occupation until we reach the ocean that knows no border — and on its safe shores, we will sing the song of freedom and peace, together — far from the injustices of the occupation and its roadblocks and barriers.

Blessings and respect to all of the Israelis, each and every one individually, that believe in peace and our legitimate rights, and welcome to Bil’in.

Attack on Child by Settlers

Tel Rumeida, Hebron, 8.9.07

A local human rights worker reported that seven settler children and one adult attacked a Palestinian child in Hebron. The incident happened at 10 am outside Beit Hadassa settlement in Tel Rumeida, Hebron.

The children were directed to beat up the victim by the adult and started punching and kicking him. An ISM human rights worker (HRW) intervened and protected the Palestinian. The boy was moved away from the settlers. At this point a soldier from the nearby checkpoint started to move the settlers back. The settlers then started throwing stones at the activist and the child who was ushered away to safety by the HRW.

After the attack another ISM activist arrived on the scene. He asked the soldier why he didn’t intervene earlier. The soldier replied “what can I do against kids”.

The situation was calmed down by the presense of the international HRWs.

Need for Activists in Susiya

Last October, the IOF and settlers from the illegal Susiya settlement demolished 150 Dunums (1 Dunum=1/4 acre) of olive groves belonging to the Palestinians of Susiya. The timing was chosen with care: the trees were destroyed just before Susiya Palestinians could harvest their olives, following their Ramadan fasting. An economically starved area, the poverty-stricken Susiya residents depend on olives for income and consumption.

Susiya camp is far from the public eye, and it is here that the IOF and settlers have shown little to no restraint in their greedy and destructive land-grab practices, virtually unaccountable to any authority. The police and the Civil Land Administration actively collaborate with settler and IOF illegal acts of vandalism, destruction, harassment, abuse, and menacing of the Palestinians of Susiya.

Ramadan begins in a few days. It has been around Ramadan and the Olive Harvest right after Ramadan that settlers have taken advantage of the low numbers of international witnesses and the special time of year to really harass Palestinians and prevent them from harvesting.

In the absence ISMers for just two days (international numbers are limited and the two of us who have been in Susiya region long-term were both away), police and IOF soldiers had come to numerous tents to question and harass the residents.

This may be just the first step: since the 1980s, the Palestinian residents have been repeatedly evicted from their lands; their lands have been downsized and appropriated under the auspices of “Special Security Areas” and “Closed Military Zones,” which have lent to settler expansion. The year 2001, in addition to previous and subsequent years, saw extreme and repeated IOF acts of destruction and violence –such as the forceful eviction of Palestinians in the Susiya region; destruction of their dwellings, fields, olive orchards, and livestock (buried alive), and the bulldozing of even the emergency tents supplied by the Red Cross.

Although the Israeli High Court of Justice in 2001 ruled that the IOF expulsions were illegal, and followed its ruling with an interim injunction allowing the return of the Palestinian residents until another decision was issued by the court, nothing has occurred to actually benefit the repeatedly-abused Palestinians. The interim injunction itself, while highlighting the illegality of the IOF evictions, nonetheless prevents Palestinians from building on their own land. Instead, it graciously suggested that the Palestinian landowners apply for building permits to the Civil Land Administration, a farce of a body which routinely denies Palestinian bids at building permits.

The Palestinians of Susiya have welcomed international and Israeli solidarity activists with a graciousness that is humbling and inspiring. Ahlan wa Sahlan to Susiya to stand beside these resilient people.