Sharing Each Others’ Pain

By Peggy Gish
CPT Hebron

“A donkey was stolen by an Israeli settler from the Karmel settlement, and we saw it inside the settlement compound. Please come with us to photograph it for evidence when we make our complaint.” two Palestinians asked the CPT and Operation Dove team in the South Hebron Hills village of At-Tuwani.

Two days after an Israeli soldier and a settler told a Palestinian family they were not allowed to use their land either for their sheep or for raising vegetable crops, team members watched nearby while three Palestinian children continued to let their flocks graze.

Another day, the team videotaped Israeli settlers combining and hauling away wheat planted by a Palestinian family on their land, while Israeli soldiers watched and did nothing to stop them.

By mid-June, an unofficial tally counted at least 57 adult and 46 young sheep and goats from the villages of At-Tuwani and Mufakara have died from poison Israeli settlers spread on Palestinian grazing land in March and April of 2005.

As I leave the West Bank tomorrow to return to work with the CPT team in Iraq, I can’t help but think of the differences and similarities between life under occupation in both places. In Iraq there is an inadequate supply of medical equipment and medicines, while in the West Bank, the people are blocked when they try to reach clinics or hospitals. In the West Bank the water is allocated in an unfair proportion favoring Israeli Jews. In Iraq, the available water is mostly impure. In Iraq there isn’t the overt confiscating of the homes and land, but their economy is hurt by U.S. economic policies that allow for systematic takeover of natural resources and exploitation by international corporations.

Palestinian families in At-Tuwani tell us, “Yes, we have our problems but the problems in Iraq are much greater.” In turn, Iraqis tell me, “The Palestinian occupation is the ‘mother of all problems,’ and needs to be resolved in order to have peace in the whole region.” I am impressed by the ability of the Iraqi and Palestinian people and many other compassionate people around the world to look beyond their own troubles and be able to care for the sufferings of others. In both places, we are encouraged by organizations and individuals who take significant personal risks to work non-violently.

Immatin, West Bank under curfew as punishment for non-violent resistance

Military jeeps invaded Immatin early this morning and announced curfew until 6 PM. One of the soldiers told an international volunteer that the area would be opened when work on the wall for today was completed.

However, some of the villagers defied the curfew to perform Friday prayer at the village mosque. Soldiers surrounded the mosque and threw tear gas and sound bombs on its door step. Villagers reported that military jeeps were driving around the village throwing teargas and sound bombs. Residents reported that the army loaded stones into the jeep and threw them toward the houses. These events follow a demonstration against the Wall that took place in the village yesterday in which 300 Palestinians joined by Israeli and international activists non-violently protested the theft of their land for the construction of the Annexation Wall.

Israeli military and border police were scattered throughout the village’s olive groves before the non-violent demonstration left the village and walked toward the location where Israeli bulldozers were uprooting olive trees. Israeli soldiers said the area was a closed military zone (they did not produce a warrant) and immediately began firing sound bombs and tear gas at the non-violent and peaceful demonstration. The tear gas canisters shot from special guns were not shot into the air but were aimed directly at the protestors.

Some Palestinian youth responded by throwing stones at the soldiers. Palestinian medical personnel reported over 31 demonstrators were injured by teargas canisters, rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas. Mahfouz Abu Turk, a Reuters photographer was hit in the head with a rubber bullet and was treated on location by Palestinian medical personnel. Neta Golan, an Israeli activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was taken to the Qalqilia Hospital after Israeli soldiers fired a tear gas canister at her from 6 meters away. She was treated for burn wounds and a ruptured muscle in her right thigh and was released.

Three Israeli activists, Jonothan Pollak, Eli Fabrakant and Karil Kiatkovski from `Anarchists against the Wall’ were arrested and taken to the illegal Israeli settlement of Qedumim where they were charged with illegal assembly and entering a closed military zone. They faced a judge today and were released on conditions.

After the demonstration retreated to the village, Israeli soldiers and border police entered the village and surrounded the clinic where injured people were being treated, detaining twenty of them. Women from the village grabbed the detained men away from the army as other residents and activists surrounded them. As more people congregated near the clinic, the military and border police began firing tear gas and rubber bullets inside the village. The military commander also assaulted a non- violent Palestinian protester.

Salfit District Week of Non-violent Resistance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Where: Salfit District, West Bank
When: Saturday, July 16 – Thursday, July 21, 2005

Residents of the Salfit District join with international and Israeli peace activists to hold a week of non-violent resistance actions from Saturday, July 16 through Thursday, July 21. These actions are organized by the Popular Committee Against the Wall and supported by the International Solidarity Movement and International Womens Peace Service.

Activists will march along the route of the Apartheid Wall to see first-hand the ongoing construction of the Wall and meet with residents who have been severely impacted by the confiscation of land for the Wall. They will also learn about the growing non-violent movement in the region, which has held more than 50 non-violent protests against the Wall during the last year.

The section of the Wall around the illegal Ariel settlement is located approximately 20 km inside the Green Line. It’s slated to confiscate approximately 6,243 acres (24,972 dunums) from the villages of Hares, Kifl Hares, Marda, Iskaka and Salfit Many other villages in the Salfit district, including Mas-ha, Az-Zawiya, Rafat, and Deir Ballut have also lost land due to the construction of the Wall.

  • Sat, July 16 Marchers will gather at Marda at 9:00 a.m. to meet with village residents, then march from Iskaka to Salfit along the route of the Wall
  • Sun, July 17 March from Salfit to Kifl Haris, Deir Istia, Wadi Qana, and Haris
  • Mon, July 18 Visits to villages of Sarta, Biddya, and Mas-ha
  • Tues, July 19 Visit Hani Aamer’s home which has been enclosed by the Wall in Mas’ha, visits to Az Zawiya and Rafat, meet with families who have land confiscated due to Wall construction
  • Wed, July 20 Meeting with the village council, participants in the summer camp, and Women for Life in Az Zawiya, 10-2 p.m.
  • Thurs, July 21 Deir Ballut, march to nearly completed school where construction has been frozen by the Israeli army; visits to Kafr ad Dik and Bruqin.

46 killed, 462 injured, 1249 arrested in three months

Saed Bannoura, IMEMC & Agencies

The Palestinian Ministry of Interior issued a new report on the continuous military violations carried out by the Israeli army in the occupied territories between March 1 and June 30, 2005. In dozens of military invasions and operations carried out by the army in the Palestinian territories, 46 Palestinian residents were killed and 462 were injured. Additionally, the report said, 1,249 Palestinians were arrested during army raids on Palestinian cities, towns, villages and refugee camps.

Israel has also released 900 prisoners after the Sharm Al-Sheikh cease-fire agreement.

Israeli military orders annexed around 33,803 Dumans (approximately 10,000 acres) of farmlands for the Wall, settlements, settlement roads, and military usage. The Israeli army repeatedly invaded Palestinian areas and carried out military operations, especially in the West Bank cities of Hebron, Nablus, Tulkarem and Jenin. Military roadblocks and checkpoints remained closed in most cases, barring the residents from leaving their areas. Dozens of residents, including children, were injured in separate attacks carried out by
extremist settlers in the West Bank.

The most recent attack was carried out by an extremist settler group of the Ramat Yeshai illegal outpost in Hebron. One child and two residents were injured. Also on July 13, settlers attacked and burned a home in Aseera al-Qibliyya village near the West Bank city of Nablus.

The Interior Ministry report also noted that Palestinian resistance fighters fired 434 homemade shells since the Sharm al-Sheikh understanding was reached on March 8, 2005. 197 of the shells landed and exploded in Palestinian areas. Eight residents were killed, 71 injured and 5 homes were damaged.

All Eyes On Gaza Disengagement

What May Come After the Evacuation of Jewish Settlers from the Gaza Strip?
A Warning from Israel
By Uri Davis, Ilan Pappe, and Tamar Yaron

We feel that it is urgent and necessary to raise the alarm regarding what may come during and after evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip occupied by Israel in 1967, in the event that the evacuation is implemented.

We held back on getting this statement published and circulated, seeking additional feedback from our peers. The publication in Ha’aretz (22 June 2005) quoting statements by General (Reserves) Eival Giladi, the head of the Coordination and Strategy team of the Prime Minister’s Office, motivated us not to delay publication and circulation any further. Confirming our worst fears, General (Res.) Eival Giladi went on record in print and on television to the effect that “Israel will act in a very resolute manner in order to prevent terror attacks and [militant] fire while the disengagement is being implemented” and that “If pinpoint response proves insufficient, we may have to use weaponry that causes major collateral damage, including helicopters and planes, with mounting danger to surrounding people.”

We believe that one primary, unstated motive for the determination of the government of the State of Israel to get the Jewish settlers of the Qatif (Katif) settlement block out of the Gaza Strip may be to keep them out of harm’s way when the Israeli government and military possibly trigger an intensified mass attack on the approximately one and a half million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, of whom about half are 1948 Palestine refugees.

The scenario could be similar to what has already happened in the past – a tactic that Ariel Sharon has used many times in his military career – i.e., utilizing provocation in order to launch massive attacks.

Following this pattern, we believe that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz are considering to utilize provocation for vicious attacks in the near future on the approximately one and a half million Palestinian inhabitants of the Gaza Strip: a possible combination of intensified state terror and mass killing. The Israeli army is not likely to risk the kind of casualties to its soldiers that would be involved in employing ground troops on a large scale in the Gaza Strip. With General Dan Halutz as Chief of Staff they don’t need to. It was General Dan Halutz, in his capacity as Commander of the Israeli Air Force, who authorized the bombing of a civilian Gaza City quarter with a bomb weighing one ton, and then went on record as saying that he sleeps well and that the only thing he feels when dropping a bomb is a slight bump of the aircraft.

The initiators of this alarm have been active for many decades in the defense of human rights inside the State of Israel and beyond. We do not have the academic evidence to support our feeling, but given past behavior, ideological leanings and current media spin initiated by the Israeli government and military, we believe that the designs of the State of Israel are clear, and we submit that our educated intuition with matters pertaining to the defense of human rights has been more often correct than otherwise.

We urge all those who share the concern above to add their names to ours and urgently give this alarm as wide a circulation as possible.

Circulating and publishing this text may constitute a significant factor in deterring the Israeli government, thus protecting the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip from this very possible catastrophe and contributing to prevent yet more war crimes from occurring.

Please sign, circulate, and publish this alarm without delay! call for action from peace and human rights organizations now:

Please send notification of your signature to Tamar Yaron: tiyaron@hazorea.org.il