Category: Journals

Volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement are encouraged to write personal reflections about the work they engage in with Palestinian communities, the events they experience, and the people they meet. These journals offer the human context often missing in traditional reports or journalism. These articles represent the author’s thoughts and feelings and not necessarily those of the International Solidarity Movement.

At-Tuwani: communion tea

By Diane Janzen

running quickly over the hills
to approach settlers harvesting Palestinian wheat fields
a confusion of angry words, sickles, and wheat churn in the air
police and soldiers use threats of arrest to clear the area
as we walk away i breathe with the images of the last hours in my
mind and on the tape in the video camera slung over my shoulder
the family, who is trying to prove ownership of this land, says
‘come, come to our house and drink tea’

in broken Arabic we ask, ‘where are the soldiers, the house?’
‘just down from that hill over there’
heavy feet as we approach the family sitting next to the rubble of
their house that a bulldozer and bagger demolished in fifteen short minutes
‘sit, sit on a mat that we managed to take from the house, and drink tea’

another dash through the hills to document
settlers harvesting more Palestinian wheat fields
this time with a combine that is allowed to leave the field
with the harvested wheat inside
police tell the Palestinian family to make a complaint at the police station in Hebron
something that takes time, and often feels pointless
‘come to our house. eat.’
‘drink another glass of tea after you finish eating – it’s good for you’

a visit to the village of Mufakara to see how things are the conversation moves to the devastating event of two months ago when settlers poisoned Palestinian grazing land
‘Ali, how many sheep have you lost from the poisoning?’
‘three large sheep and two small sheep’
we talk about the loss of other families in the village
‘Mahmoud has lost twenty-five adult sheep and twelve lambs’
for all a loss that so far has not had any compensation
i finish my first glass of tea
Ali tells his daughter, ‘quick, pour her more tea’

these are the times when drinking tea feels like taking communion
a symbol of brokenness, pain and confusion
why?
drink, and remember what you see
drink, and remember how you feel

Collective Punishment in Bil’in

by Allison and Rann

It was 12am on Sunday morning. We were headed to bed in Bil’in when we were alerted that Israeli soldiers had again entered the village. We, along with countless residents of Bil’in standing watch on rooftops, watched the military jeeps driving around the land near the annexation barrier, away from the village itself, for close to an hour before deciding to give up our post and go to sleep.

We were not able to quite lie down before we were called back to the roof — the soldiers had entered someone’s home.

In a pattern that has been repeating itself over the last week or so, the Israeli soldiers, approximately 25 in number, had chosen to harass a new member of the Popular Committee Against the Apartheid Wall in Bil’in, the local Palestinian organizing body. We, the two ISMers along with one resident of Bil’in, drove toward the soldiers, stopped the car, and got out in order to investigate the situation. Immediately we were faced with a group of soldiers directly in front of us, all pointing their M-16s at our faces. They began speaking to us in Hebrew, but then in English they ordered us to back away from the house, return to the car, and drive away. The soldiers stated that they were executing a military operation and that we were interfering with it.

After a few more questions, we decided to follow the orders of the soldiers and drove back to the ISM apartment, where we stayed up waiting for news from the Palestinians whose homes were searched. The ‘military operation’ in question involved no more than casual harassment and intimidation. Try to imagine for a moment that a gang of soldiers entered your home at 1am, pointed guns at your family members, demanded identification and searched the house for no other reason than your involvement in non-violent organizing. Just one more example of Israeli democracy in action.

We found out in the morning that the Israeli soldiers had searched several homes, taken identification cards, and verbally harassed the Palestinians of Bil’in that night. They left several hours later.

What happened early Sunday morning in Bil’in was not an isolated incident. The Israeli army has repeatedly come to harass the people of Bil’in at night, choosing different areas to ‘search’ each night.

Bil’in is also not the only village in the West Bank that is being intimidated, stripped of its privacy and peace of mind. Boudrus has also experienced similar harassment by Israeli soldiers in the middle of the night. The pattern seems to be similar every time: the jeeps come to Boudrus, spend some time harassing the villagers, then drive over to nearby Bil’in and do the same again. Incidents like these are well-documented and have been ongoing for many years.

Why is this happening? According to Lieutenant Colonel Tzachi Segev, commander of the 25th Battalion of the Armored Corps, which is operating in the Bil’in area: “The stronger the activity against the fence, the stronger our operations will be. We reserve the right to enter the village at any hour … Sometimes there is no escaping collective punishment, even if it has a negative impact. Collective punishment is closure, prohibiting people from entering a certain village, blocking the Bilin-Safa road [referring to the neighboring village] as a lever of pressure if the village does not behave properly.” (Meron Rappaport – Gandhi Redux)

Collective punishment is forbidden by the fourth Geneva Convention. It is illegal to punish entire segments of civilian population for the actions of a few individuals, whatever those actions may be. In this case, groups of civilians are being punished for organizing peaceful demonstrations. The right to organize and peacefully demonstrate is protected by the universal declaration of human rights and by Israeli law. In violating these rights, Israeli soldiers are committing war crimes

I Wish You Knew

by Hannah

I’ve been meaning to write for days. I’ve been meaning to sit down, have a free moment, compose my thoughts, figure out how to translate my experiences into something understandable to a world where injustice is not quite as daily, quite as random, quite as violent. I wish I could just say “There was curfew in Marda today” and that you all would understand. That you would know without my telling you that that meant Israeli army jeeps were driving through the village at 5:30 am (and for many, many, many hours after that), that they were throwing sound bombs and tear gas, and shooting rubber-coated bullets randomly, that there was a complete atmosphere of fear. I wish you would know that when three international observers arrived, we were kept out of the village by army, detained by border police, and threatened with arrest. That we were told we could only enter if we were press, but then when the press arrived they weren’t allowed in either.

I wish you would know that a boy’s id was taken from his home and he was told to come to the next village to pick it up, but that his father wouldn’t send him because he was afraid his son would be killed. Or that a young man was arrested and his family couldn’t locate him all day (they now know he’s in Qedumim settlement / detention center). Or that each time soldiers were asked for justification of their actions, they would say, “it’s closed because we say so. This is our territory.” I wish more than anything that you could know everything that is behind this statement, every way in which it manifests itself, every way in which the world completely ignores what is happening here.

I wish I could trust that the media would tell you that a group of disabled palestinians (in wheelchairs and on crutches, many blind people, etc.) were shot at with tear gas by the army at a demonstration today in Bil’in before they got anywhere near their destination (which was on their land).

I can’t even remember what is usual and not anymore. I am not surprised by things. I am only angry. And resentful. And even hateful sometimes. I don’t know how to change this. I don’t know how to get away. I don’t think anyone should be able to get away, not when others can’t. And yet how can I think clearly? Saturday was a wonderful demonstration in Marda, although even as I say that I think about the hundred or so soldiers who lunged towards the crowd – but they only beat a couple people, only arrested a couple Israelis, and only temporarily. Only Sunday we tried to accompany farmers to their land and were shot at by a private security company that guards wall work. Monday we tried again to accompany farmers to their land, and this time were met by hundreds of soldiers who began firing tear gas before they could even tell who was there. 200 rounds of tear gas. Before they could even see us. It’s better, of course, in the grand moral scheme of the world, that no distinction be made between Palestinian farmers and International peace workers. But it’s scary. It’s confusing. And of course, the result should be that we are all treated as human, not that we are all treated as expendable.

There’s a newly involved Israeli who has come to a couple demos recently. The other day we were standing in Marda looking up to the top of the hill with the bulldozers, and she said, “this is just crazy. They’re just taking someone else’s land.” As a taxi driver noted a few days ago, “if I don’t like my neighbours and want to build a fence to separate us, I’d build it on my yard, not my neighbour’s.” Even more simply, after I explained to a new IWPS volunteer yesterday a few of the happenings of the past couple days, she said, “now that’s not nice.” And still, I can’t even bring myself to think any of this. Because I am not surprised anymore. Only angry.

I was in west Jerusalem for about an hour today, walking down the street looking at the half-naked teenagers with their orange ribbons in solidarity with the settlers of gush katif, and I just thought, “you have no idea.” If Palestinians could see this, I thought, I’m not sure they would be quite as patient as they are. Although they probably already know. They’re probably already so used to this, more used to this than I am, that nothing fazes them at all. Some have a patience that I can’t always quite fathom (“this too shall pass”), and others just use avoidance (“if I stay in my home and don’t let my kids out then everything will be tolerable”).

I am going to sleep in Marda now, going to be a presence in case the army returns.

I will send this only so you have a little bit of news from here. Realize not all the pain in the world is here. This is only my little corner. And I do only what I can. We all do. And it’s never enough. Never ever enough.

With sadness and anger,
Hannah

Large military force secures destruction of olive trees

By Alison

For photos of today’s demonstration see:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95353139@N00

At 7 am this morning, I joined a group of Palestinian villagers, Israelis, and internationals in the centre of Marda. We intended to go to the land where over a thousand olive trees have been cut to make way for the Apartheid Barrier in the last few days. Hundreds of border police were waiting for us on the villagers land. As we approached the land, the border police immediately started shooting tear gas and did not stop. Around 200 canisters of tear gas were shot over the next two hours. Two villagers were hit directly by gas canisters one of them required hospitalization. About twenty Palestinians were treated for tear gas inhalation.

No Wall work was happening at first, but the farmers quickly noticed that a bulldozer had begun to uproot trees near the top of the hill east of where we were standing. The group walked towards the olive trees and was immediately met by tear gas. Soldiers fired approximately 200 canisters of tear gas in the next two hours, hitting two Palestinians directly. One farmer was taken to Rafidiya hospital and two Red Crescent ambulances treated 20 Palestinians.

As the clouds of teargas began to disperse and some Palestinian men put out a fire that was caused by the gas, two military vehicles drove into the community. We walked back to the village at this point, scared that they might be coming to arrest villagers (as they did yesterday in Beit Surik). In the village there was a confrontation between the soldiers, and the Palestinians and other demonstrators. Some Palestinians threw some stones from the top of the house that the soldiers were very close to. The soldiers got out of their jeeps with guns in hand, and shot tear gas into some of the homes, filled with women and children.

One older woman had been affected harshly by the tear gas, and was trying everything she could think of to relieve the pain. It made me so angry to see these women trying to deal with the tear gas that the soldiers shot into their homes. The women were scared, especially when the soldiers shot several sound bombs in addition to the tear gas. Two soldiers eventually came into one house looking for the boys who were throwing the stones, but they did not find anyone to arrest.

May Day Demo, 2005

by Lena

May day in the West Bank, and as a village marches in protest against the wall that will cut them off from over 50% of their land, the digger continues, picking away at the hillside relentlessly. Bil’in is one of the places that has protested vigorously against the wall – demonstrations are held here at least once a week, usually twice, and the pattern seems well established. A combination of villagers, internationals and Israeli activists and peace groups march from the mosque in the middle of the villiage to the destruction site. They are dispersed before they reach it and spend the day getting shot at – usually by tear gas, sound bombs and ‘rubber’ bullets (which are actually metal coated with a thin layer of rubber). The Palestinians retaliate with their weapons of resistance – stones – and have had ample opportunity to perfect their catapulting skills. I’m telling you, if catupulting was a new olympic sport they would be certain of a gold – if only they had a state and were allowed to compete.

On Sunday there were about 150 Palestinians, 8 Israelis, 9 internationals, loads of photographers and a film crew from Al Arabia. The view on one side of the track leading to the site is beautiful – rolling hillsides of olive trees and farmland with a couple of villages and some scattered houses. On the other side there is a massive quarry supplying, no doubt, materials for the wall and the settlement which is visable next to it. It is one of eight, and apparently they are going to be joined up to make a huge city, once the wall has annexed the neccessary land. The settlements look horrible – I just can’t get over the uglyness of what is being done in Palestine. It’s obvious when the Israeli apartheid machine has got a bit of land in it’s clutches because it’s covered in concrete. Criminal, literally.

As we approached the site we were met on the track by big kids with guns, who were unable to produce the neccessary documentation to prove that the area was a ‘closed military zone’ and that they therefore, apparently, have the right to disperse the protestors. Needless to say, this didn’t stop them and within twenty minutes or so the explosions of sound bombs were ringing in our ears and mists of white tear gas were rising from canisters shot into the crowd and the trees. No stone-throwing had taken place before they started firing. Everyone scattered, and a few minutes later I was on the other side of the hill with one other international and a few ‘shebab’ (the stone-throwers) choking, eyes and nose streaming, face stinging, head pounding. Its been two and a half years since I’ve felt that disorientation, at a demonstration against the wall in the West Bank village of Jayyous, which is now cut off from its land and has lost trees, greenhouses, water sources, access to family members outside… All that time the wall has been being constructed, crushing the Palestinians into open-roofed prisons. Meanwhile, the international community has done nothing – apart from ruling it illegal at the court in the Hague, but who is Israel to take any notice of international law? We need sanctions. It worked for South Africa.

Most of the day was spent hanging out at the top of the track by a house (poor family) while the Palestinians around us and in the olive trees played their crazy game with the stones and the soldiers and the tear gas and rubber bullets. Our job was to witness and record what was going on, make sure that injured people could get to the waiting ambulance, know what was happening if people were arrested. At one point we came out into the track with our hands up shouting “Internationals! Don’t shoot!” in order to put out a fire that had started on some dry grass after a gas cannister or sound bomb had exploded there. And then suddenly the stakes of the game changed and in amongst the gas and rubber bullets live ammuntion was being fired. And everything carried on, just as it was. Perhaps most of the younger shebab – aged six or so upwards – had gone home by then. A couple of the ones around us commented on which rounds were potentially lethal (I think i can probably tell the difference in the sound by now) and then carried on catapulting stones. Apparently its unusual but not unheard of for them to use live bullets at these demonstrations.

At about five o’clock the army retreated closer to the destruction site and we moved forwards. There was a lull in the procedings as Palestinians who had been working on the settlement finished their shift and walked past us along the track. The man I was chatting to, who was part of the local Committee Against the Wall which organises the demonstrations and keeps a track of whats going on, told me that they are all people from outside the village, from other parts of the West Bank. There were quite a lot of them, most of them looked a bit shifty as they passed. Some greetings were exchanged.

Not many shebab were left by this point, although it was quite hard to tell as they were mostly in the trees. Most of the internationals also left; i stayed on with a two others. Some of the Palestinians started shouting and laughing – a soldier had got really wound up and had taken off his gun and helmet and was offering to fight one of the shebab – ‘man to man’, no doubt. What had they been calling him? Coward? The other two internationals disappeared into the trees somewhere and i started filming a few young lads who were messing about playfighting. They couldn’t have looked less like terrorists if they tried. When the other internationals re-appeared J said to me “I’ve been hit”. They had been standing under a tree as a soldier was firing about 200 meters or so away. Something had hit J just above his groin, it had pierced his skin but had not ripped his clothes and was not a serious injury. The boy standing with him had also been hit, in the head. He had disappeared with someone else. J was trying to work out what had hit them, and thought perhaps it was a piece of the tree which had splintered off as a rubber bullet hit it. He said his ears were ringing from a loud noise. It was only when we got back to the ISM flat that someone told us the round had been live.

J went back to where it happened with another international and they found fragments of lead in the trunk of the tree. A couple of people went to the hospital to see how the boy was. He had fragments of lead in his head. That night we ate in stunned silence, J struggling to digest what had happened to him.

Two others were taken to hospital that day – one had a tear gas cannister fired at his head and the other sustained a leg injury, possibly from rubber bullets. There were eleven injuries in total.

There was a big demonstration three days earlier, during which soldiers were using gas-powered guns not previously used in the West Bank. They fired rapid rounds of plastic bullets filled with a white powder that caused intense pain to the people shot. The powder is currently being analysied. Two Palestinians were arrested and beaten up whilst in custody. They tried to charge one of them with attempted murder, apparently because an undercover Israeli special forces agent fell and hurt his head. The Palestinian has a good lawyer and now faces a lesser charge.