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.

Tel Rumeida: Child settler violence through the lenses of an international activist

by Sunny

5 May 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

A group of approximately 10 to 15 soldiers displayed their ineptitude in dealing with a group of rowdy settler children, roughly between the ages of 8 to 14, who were attemptng to enter Tel Rumeida.

It was an embarrassing episode for the Israeli occupation soldiers who paid more attention to ISM volunteers who were simply filming the situation.  When a settler later confronted me, violently grabbing for my camera, the soldier’s attempts to restrain him were meek and pathetic. It was an emabrassing situation which showed signs of settlers being allowed to behave as they wish with impunity, behaviour which would not be tolerated if it came from the Palestinian side.

As I walked down Tel Rumeida with another ISM volunteer, we were approached by a Palestinian child who claimed to have been confronted by a group of settler children. As we walked to find out what was going on, we found a group of 20 settler children between the ages of 8 to 14, the majority being boys, acting in a rowdy fashion near the junction where H2 meets H1. Surrounding them were roughly a group of 10 to 12 Israeli soldiers.

As we approached the scene, I witnessed several of the children who could not have been more than 10 years old walking in the direction of the barrier separating H1 from H2. If the soldiers were attempting to stop these children, then their efforts were meek, as the children merely brushed aside the soldiers.

As we questioned the soldiers regarding the situation, they shunned us away by replying, “You dont need to know, go away.” As we continued to question them  they continued to ignore us.

As the problem continued, the children became more boisterous,  challenging the soldiers’ authority when ordered not to walk in the direction of the barrier. As the soldiers formed a line blocking their path, the children easily walked through the gaps.

As the soldiers were ineffective in blocking them off they reformed the line right in front of the barrier. Their tactics proved to be worthless as some of the children were seen getting really close to the yellow gate. The occupation forces had absolutely no control of a situation created by a group of misguided children.

While this was going on, Palestinians who were looking on from outside their homes, stared in disbelief as the soldiers showed no signs of being in control of the situation.

As we filmed the behaviour, the children came in our direction attempting to snatch our cameras and our keffiyahs, or traditional Palestinian scarves. As we looked to the soldiers expecting them to intervene, they turned a blind eye and instead they demanded that we switch off our cameras. When asked why they are incapable of dispersing the children, as usual they hesitated and chose the “I dont have to answer any question” stance.

Seconds later an elderly female settler arrived at the scene and marched towards the soldiers. As she approached them she began speaking to them in an extremely aggressive tone even at times pointing her finger in their faces.  She directed her verbal onslaught at the soldiers for a full five minutes after she herself was prevented from entering H1. She continued her verbal barrage without being reprimanded for her behaviour.

As my colleague and I were filming the scenes, we were continuously told to switch off our cameras and move away. As we asked them why they were so keen to remove us and not the settlers, the soldiers began filming us and one soldier had pushed away my colleague.

We refused to move from our position.

As the female settler retreated she walked past me referring to me as “garbage” and telling me “to go back to your own country and help your own people.”

As the settlers dispersed from the location they headed towards Gilbert Checkpoint, we followed them to ensure no further troubles took place. As we caught up with them many of the kids were seen confronting a lone Palestinian woman. There were approximately 5 to six soldiers at the scene who chose to ignore the problem.

As the settlers made there way back into the illegal settlements, we stayed at the location. Three minutes later more settlers were seen walking down Tel Rumeida from a distance heading towards us. One of the settler men, as they came near, was seen confronting a Palestinian man. He had to be discouraged by an Israeli soldier. As I began filming, the settler ran towards me at full speed, violently shoving the camera out of the way. He then confronted me in order to intimidate me. As I began filming again, he continued to grab for my camera, becoming more and more aggressive at the same time. A soldier at this point had attempted to intervene,  but he used less than minimal force in attempting to restrain the man as he continued to threaten me, and reach for my camera.

The soldier finally managed to convince the settler to calm down and walk away, while I, doing nothing wrong, was told to shut off my camera. As he walked away towards the illegal Zionist settlements, so did the others. The soldiers remained to ensure there was no further breach of peace.

Although it was all over. The occupation forces may have believed that they had successfully managed to control the problem. However this was not the case. Imagine the scenario if a group of Palestinian children had attempted to walk into the illegal settlement?

Despite the aggression of the settlers, what appears to be more worrying in this case is the younger settlers: the children. One of the local Palestinian families who have had their rooftop occupied by the Israeli occupation forces have been the victims of a number of attacks coming from young settler girls between the ages of 10 to 12. The children are taught from a very young age to be hateful towards the Palestinians. The hard right, fundamentalist, and Zionist principles passed on from generations clearly shine through these children when considering the events on Tel Rumeida.

Sunny is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Wheat farmers under fire in Gaza: We must continue to work our land

by Nathan Stuckey

23 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

For more photos click here

Today we went farming with the family of Ahmed Saadat.  We arrived in Khuzaa at about 7 AM and met Ahmed. He told us that the Israeli’s had already shot at his family when they went to their land to begin work.  We went to the land, which lies 300 meters from the border and directly on the buffer zone.  You immediately know the buffer zone, nothing is planted in it, no trees are left, and everything has been destroyed, only weeds grow there.

Ahmed and his family began to work, ten people on their knees harvesting wheat by hand.  To harvest the wheat they pull it up by the roots and tie it into sheaves to be taken to a threshing machine.  The land is quite large, in the past perhaps they would have hired a combine to harvest the wheat so that they would not have to do it by hand, but now it is dangerous to bring equipment near the buffer zone.  Now, they work by hand.

At about 7:45 AM an Israeli Occupation Forces Humvee pulled up onto a hill north of us.  Soon shots began to ring out, these were not directed at us, they were directed at farmers harvesting wheat to our northwest.  At about 8 AM soldiers in a tower next to the Humvee launched either tear gas or a smoke grenade, it landed extremely close to the tower, which was about 400 meters from us.  This was soon followed by shooting at us.

Bullets whistled past our ears, they slammed into the ground around us, most of them about 20 meters away from us.  The farmers were scared, but most of them kept working.  They have little choice, the IOF shoots a lot in this area, it is inevitable that they will be shot at while they try to harvest their wheat.  After a minute or two of shooting the bullets stop.  Soon the Humvee drives down off of the hill and moves further down the border.  All morning long the Humvee drives up and down the border, accompanied by two jeeps.

The farmers continue to work harvesting wheat.  At about 8:30 Ahmed receives a phone call.  It is from Ma’aan organization. They say that the Red Cross has called them asking Ahmed and advising him to leave the area. He is advised to go two kilometers from the border because of the danger.  The Red Cross had been called by the IOF asking them who we were, and if we were internationals with the farmers.

Ahmed laughs, two kilometers is the other side of Khuzaa.  The farmers continue harvesting their wheat until about 11 AM.  While they work chmed tells us a little bit about his family.  Like most Gazans, they are refugees. His family is from Salame, near Jaffa.  They were expelled in 1948.  His family still has the documents proving that they own the land they were expelled from.  Now, his family works what land they have managed to buy in Gaza over the years.

He said, “What am I to do, Israel expelled us from our land, now they steal more of it, they shoot at us, but we need this wheat to live, we must continue to work our land.”

Gaza: The march for prisoners within a prison

by Nathan Stuckey

18 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

April 17th is Palestinain Prisoners Day.  All over Palestine demonstrations were held in solidarity with the approximately 5,000 prisoners still held in the occupations jails.  Bait Hanoun was no exception, this week the weekly demonstration against the occupation and the no go zones were in support of the prisoners.  The residents of the prison that is Gaza demonstrated in solidarity with the residents of the other Israeli prisons.

We gathered on the road in front of the half destroyed Bait Hanoun Agricultural College.  There were about 50 of us, members of the Bait Hanoun Local Initiative, the International Solidarity Movement, other international activists, and a small group of local high school students who had just got out of school.  We could hear the drone of jets overhead.  We raised our banners and flags, began to play music over the megaphone and started to walk down the road into the no go zone.  At the edge of the no go zone we paused, a bucket of paint was produced and we all marked a banner comparing the Gaza Ghetto to the Warsaw Ghetto with our finger prints.  As we did this a giant white observation balloon began to rise over the wall in front of us.

The balloon completed the picture of Gaza as a prison, surrounded by no go zones where Israel routinely kills anyone who enters them, its air filled with drones which routinely murder people, its sea patrolled by Israeli warships which fire daily at fisherman trying to feed their families, even a giant underground metal wall under the border with Egypt.  Israel is proud that it does not have the death penalty, but it would be unnecessary in any case: trials are not considered necessary precursors to the murder of Palestinians.

From the extrajudicial executions carried out by drones in Gaza to the murder of Palestinians in Israeli custody, such as the Bus 300 affair, to the “confirming the kill” murder of an already injured 10 year old Imam Darweesh Al Hams, to dumping sick prisoners by sides of the roads in the to die like Omar Abu Aruban, Israel kills Palestinians without the need of courts, not even the need of courts like the apartheid courts of Israel with 99.7% conviction rates for Palestinians.

We raised our banner again and continued to walk into the no go zone into land where Israel has already declared we need no trial, where the death penalty has already been approved for us.  We walked through the shoulder high thistles that have grown up in place of the orchards that used to grow here, that obscure whatever stones might mark the houses that used to be here before Israel ethnically cleansed the area.  We walked on paths that we had worn on our previous demonstrations.  We walked until we reached the ditch that bisects the no go zone.

Saber Zaneen from the Local Initiative of Bait Hanoun said “We would like to welcome Hanna Shalabi to Gaza.  We will contine to struggle until all of our prisoners are released.  We will never forget our prisoners, Khaddar Adman, Mustafa Bargouthi, Aziz Dweik, Ahmed Saadat, and many others.  They will never be forgotten.”

A Polish activist spoke when Saber was finished. “We are here today in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners, their sacrifices for freedom inspire us all.”

As we made our way back to Bait Hanoun we paused by the edge of the no go zone.  We sat down by some giant concrete blocks which we had painted with Palestinian flags in an earlier demonstration.  Abu Isa began to sing.  He was singing songs for the prisoners.  A cameraman kneeled in front of him, filming while Abu Isa  sang.  While everyone in the circle clapped in time, Abu Isa leaned forward and began to play the drums on the metal helmet of the cameraman.  Everyone began to laugh, even the cameraman had a big smile on his face when he got up.  We were all alive, still trapped in the prison that is Gaza, still living under the occupation, but still human, still able to laugh.  Israeli prisons have failed just as surely as the “Break Their Bones” strategy did at crushing the Palestinian struggle for freedom.  Israeli prisons are brutal places of torture, bad food, and denial of family visits. But prisons also serve universities for the struggle, a place for people to learn more about how and what they are fighting for.  Hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have gone through Israeli prisons. They were marching with us today.

Nathan Stuckey is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.

Beit Hanoun remembers Vittorio: “When he spoke you had to listen”

by Nathan Stuckey

11 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

One year ago Vittorio Arrigoni was murdered.  Since coming to Gaza, Vik, as everyone knew him, had been a regular at Beit Hanoun’s weekly demonstrations against the no go zone and the occupation.  Vik had devoted his life to ending the occupation.  Sadly, he did not live to see his goal accomplished.  The people of Beit Hanoun have not given up though, they continue to demonstrate, they continue to risk their lives every Tuesday in demonstrations against the occupation.  This week, the demonstration was in memory of Vik.

We gathered at the same place we have gathered for the last three years, on the road outside the half destroyed Beit Hanoun Agricultural College.  The early arrivals seated on a low stone bench beside a wall on the east side of the road.  Finally, the t shirts arrived, in memory of Vik we had prepared t shirts with his photo for everyone to wear.  People quickly pulled the shirts over their own and we gathered in the road.  Bella Ciao started to play over the megaphone.  Young men with flags and a large photo of Vik led the procession toward the no go zone.  How many times had Vik taken this walk with these people?  We marched into the no go zone, we made our way down the paths that our previous demonstrations had worn through shoulder high thistles.  No one is allowed in the no go zone on pain of death, people are shot for even being close to the no go zone.  Want was once some of the most productive farmland in Gaza, home to large orchards, has been reduced to a giant field of thistles.  The houses that used to do the no go zone have all been ground to dust under the treads of bulldozers.  The ethnic cleansing that gained steam after the massacre of Deir Yassin on April 9, 1948 has never stopped in Palestine; the land we walked on was a land that had been ethnically cleansed.

We stopped at the ditch that bisects the no zone.  The flags that we had left on previous demonstrations almost hidden by thistles, the photos Rachel Corrie and Hana Shalabi were gone.  Sabur Zaaneen from the Local Initiative of Beit Hanoun spoke, “From Rome, to Chicago, to Ireland, people remember Vittorio, he is not forgotten and the struggle to which he devoted his life will continue until the occupation disappears.”  When he finished the crowd broke out in chanting, “Vittorio is not dead,” “Vittorio is with the fisherman, Vittorio is with the farmers.”  Rosa, an Italian activist spoke, “Vittorio is still with us, I know this, I feel it even more strongly today, I feel it every time I go out with the fisherman.”  Derrick, an Irish activist spoke, “Vittorio was a giant, and not just in size, when he spoke you had to listen.”  I pray that the world listens, for what Vittorio said again and again is a vital message, the occupation must end, we must have justice, Israeli crimes must not be allowed to continue.  There really isn’t much more to say, every week we gather for this protest, and everything that we say is basically a repeat of that, the occupation must end, we must have justice.  This we say, only this.

Nathan Stuckey is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.

Children’s Day in Khan Younis

by Nathan Stuckey 

10 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Poverty is pervasive in Gaza.  After 44 years of occupation, and six years of siege the economy is in tatters.  Exporting anything is basically impossible, farming is crippled by the no go zones which encircle Gaza leaving over 30% of agricultural land off limits, the fishing industry has been devastated by the 3 mile limit on fishing imposed by Israel.  Gaza survives on the tunnels.  All this being said, as a Palestinian friend once proudly told me, no one starves in Palestine.  This is true.  Palestinians have created an amazing network of charity organizations that help to blunt the worst effects of the occupation.  Today, in Khan Yunis, we saw this network at work.

The municipality of Khan Yunis teamed up with the Ethar Initiative to provide a day of fun for local children from poor families.  Ethar is a volunteer group which works to help disadvantaged children and families; they provide opportunities for women to make money to support their families as well as sponsoring days like this one.  Today about 80 children from several local school were brought to the Municipality building of Khan Yunis for a party.  The celebration started at ten o’clock.  First, was singing, children volunteered eagerly from the crowd to have the chance to come and sing in front of everybody.  Then the children moved on to games, blind man’s bluff, musical chairs, an apple eating contest, and games with balloons.   The winners of each game were rewarded with a goodie bag containing coloring books and school supplies.  In the end though, who won didn’t matter, all of the children were sent home with a goodie bag.

Days like today remind us that the people fighting the occupation aren’t just politicians and those that go to demonstrations.  Farmers who continue to farm their land despite harassment from settlers, fisherman who continue to fish despite being shot at by the Israeli Navy, and volunteers that work to provide the children with some happiness amongst the problems that surround all fighting the occupation.  The Naqba, the Naqsa, the occupation, two Intifadas and the massacre of Gaza have not broken Palestinian steadfastness.  This steadfastness wouldn’t be possible without the efforts of volunteers who work to provide so much of what the occupation tries to take away, hope, joy, and whatever small moments of pleasure that can be seized.

Nathan Stuckey is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.