Tag: Beit Hanoun Local Initiative

Land Day: From Gaza to Sakhnin we are all united with Bil’in

by Nathan Stuckey

27 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Thirty six years ago on March 30^th 1976 demonstrations against the confiscation of Palestinian land by the Israeli government spread throughout Palestine. Six Palestinians were killed, over a hundred wounded, and hundreds more arrested. Land day was one of the first large mobilizations of Palestinians with 1948 Palestine. This year, on Land Day, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from all over the world will march towards Jerusalem. Today, in Beit Hanoun, Land Day came early. The weekly Tuesday demonstration against the occupation and the no go zone was in honor of Land Day and the six martyrs who gave their lives defending their land thirty six years ago.

We gathered on the road in front of the Beit Hanoun Agricultural College in preparation for the march into the no go zone. There were about 50 of us, the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative, the International Solidarity Movement, other foreign activists, and Gazan activists from all over Gaza. Palestinian flags flew high, music played over the megaphone, and we unfurled banners in memory of the martyrs of 1976. Young men carried olive trees, hoes, shovels and water. We would plant the trees in the no go zone today. We marched slowly toward the no go zone.

The no go zone has been overgrown with thistles, for some reason the Israeli’s have stopped bulldozing the ground so often. Perhaps they are satisfied that they grounded most signs that people used to live here, that the no go zone used to be a place of thriving orchards, completely to dust under the treads of their tanks of their bulldozers. We made our way through the thistles using paths cut by our previous demonstrations in the no go zone. We made our way to the trench the Israeli’s dug to bisect the no go zone. The trench is lined with flags from our past demonstrations. Today it is also lined with pictures of Rachel Corrie and Hana Shalabi from last week’s demonstration.

Young men set to work with their hoes. They cleared two areas of thistles, dug holes, and planted young olive saplings. While the trees were being planted the crowd chanted, “From Gaza to Sakhnin we are all united with Bil’in.” Usually, the chant is from “from Gaza to Jenin we are all united with Bil’in”, but this week Sakhnin was honored for its role in the first Land Day.

After the trees were planted we set about our second task for the day, erasing the trench which scars the no go zone. Young men set to work with hoes and shovels filling it in with dirt. Israeli soldiers appeared on top the concrete tower from which they usually shoot at us. This time, they did not shoot, they merely watched.

The young men continued to work at filling in the ditch. Perhaps the soldiers were afraid of shooting, afraid of inspiring even demonstrations on the 30^th. Perhaps they realized that to these demonstrators, freedom is more important than life. The young men worked steadily. Soon a good part of the trench was filled in. They shouldered their shovels and hoes and we began to walk back towards Beit Hanoun. We paused at the edge of the no go zone by some giant concrete blocks painted with Palestinian flags, we ate cookies and drank orange juice. Today, we went to the no go zone and planted olive trees, God willing, on Land Day we will plant olive trees in Al Quds.

Nathan Stuckey is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement

Entering the deadly zone, demonstration in front of Erez

7 February 2012 | Chroniques de Palestine

A Palestinian plays football in the no go zone near Erez during the weekly demonstration against the occupation in Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, February 7, 2012. Every Tuesday Palestinians and supporters march from Beit Hanoun into the “buffer zone” or “no go” zone , where the fertile land has been made inaccessible to Palestinians due to the imminent danger of shooting by the Israeli army. | (c) Anne Paq/Activestills.org, Beit Hanoun, 07.02.2012

Since 2008, demonstrations are organized in front of Erez in Beit Hanoun. This is in defiance of the “no go zone” imposed unilaterally by the Israelis. Any person who approaches the Green Line is under risk of being shot at. In fact many farmers; or rubble collectors have been shot in these border areas. The “no go zone” is not really defined. The Israelis announced a 300 meters line not to be crossed but people have been shot as far as 1,5 kilometer away from the border. All this “shoot and kill” policy means than more than 30% of the agricultural land in Gaza has been made inaccessible to Palestinians due to the imminent danger of shooting by the Israeli army. This is affecting thousands of farmers along the roughly 50km-long border with Israel. Many lands in these areas have been bulldozed. Houses were destroyed especially during Operation Cast Lead. The zone has become a strange no-mans land with not one tree standing. For more information see here.

A group of Palestinians and supporters are seen with flags and foot balls in the no go zone near Erez during the weekly demonstration against the occupation in Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, February 7, 2012. Every Tuesday Palestinians and supporters march from Beit Hanoun into the “buffer zone” or “no go” zone , where the fertile land has been made inaccessible to Palestinians due to the imminent danger of shooting by the Israeli army. (c) Anne Paq/Activestills.org, Beit Hanoun, 07.02.2012

In defiance of this policy, Palestinians and their supporters walk with great courage every Tuesday into the buffer zone. Last time I went to the demonstration in Beit Hanoun, Vik (Vittorio Arrigoni, a long-termer Italian solidarity activist and journalist who was killed on 15 April 2011 by suspected members of a Palestinian Salafist group in Gaza) was there. I would certainly not have imagined than one year and an half year ago I would be back in the same demonstration where a football game would be held in his memory. The demonstration was also held in memory of Mustafa Tamimi from the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. All suddenly the demonstration took a different meaning. It was somehow heartwarming to hear a familiar name: Nabi Saleh, here in Gaza, connecting all the places involved in the popular resistance. The more connections are being built, the stronger it will become. It was also good to walk for Vik.

We met as last time near the destroyed building of the agricultural college of Beit Hanoun and walked into the direction of Erez, together with flags from different countries and footballs. One noticeable sad difference with last year was the absence of women in the demonstration; apparently it has become too sensitive now for them to participate. When we reached the open field we continue further and further until a distance of about 50 meters from the concrete Wall and Erez crossing.
In 2010, we could only approach within 250 meters. Unlike the demonstrations in the West Bank, here we see only rarely Israeli soldiers. Yet they are there, hidden in their military towers and they can shoot at any time, as they did last week and here, there is nowhere to hide or take cover. You feel completely vulnerable.
After a few launch in the air of the footballs, we retreated a bit to enjoy a football game between a team made up of internationals and a team of Palestinians.

Saber Zaaneen, the coordinator of the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative, leads the chant during the weekly demonstration against the occupation into the” no go” zone in Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, February 7, 2012. Every Tuesday Palestinians and supporters march from Beit Hanoun into the “buffer zone” or “no go” zone , where the fertile land has been made inaccessible to Palestinians due to the imminent danger of violence by the Israeli army. | (c) Anne Paq/Activestills.org, Beit Hanoun, 07.02.2012

Beit Hanoun is currently the only place in the Gaza Strip where such regular demonstrations are held. Saber Zaaneen (photo n.1) , the coordinator of the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative, is one of the main organizers of the protest. See below some extracts of an interview I conducted in October 2010:

” On 2nd July 2008, the Israeli army announced the existence of a “buffer zone”. As Palestinians, we refuse to call it “buffer zone”. A buffer zone is between two countries, but the so called “buffer zone” is on Palestinian lands and we do not accept it. We call it “zones where Palestinians do not have access”. [OCHA uses the term “no go” zone]. In Beit Hanoun we are particularly affected because we have the greenline on the north and on the east. We decided to do something to oppose this decision and resist. We had to support the farmers. I love what they are doing in Bil’in, Ni’lin, in Al Ma’sara to resist the Wall. We were inspired by them and we decided to do the same in Gaza. On 27 July 2008, we organized our first demonstration against the “buffer zone” to say: we are here and we will not move. We went to the direction of Erez, carrying some Palestinian flags. Hundreds of people came. But when we approached, the Israeli army shot at us, even before we reached the 300 meters. The Israeli army then increased the shootings. Farmers were shot, even if they were standing after the line. Many young people collecting rubble were also shot.
(…)

There is a high price to pay. It can be death. I am not supposed to die there because I am an unarmed civilian, but I know it can happen. I think of my family and it is hard, but this is my duty. Anyone who wants freedom has to pay. We will continue to struggle until we got our rights. We will never stay silent.”

2 youth dead in attack on Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip

by Rosa Schiano

22 January 2012 | il Blog di Oliva

Israeli Apaches and land forces shelled an area east of Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday morning, January 18 2012.

Two young men were killed and another was injured. As we hurried to the scene we met an ambulance driving at high speed. Upon arriving we heard immediately that one of the young men, 20 year old Mohammed Shaker Abu Auda, had died instantly, while the other man was rushed to the hospital.

We went to the Beit Hanoun hospital morgue, and we saw the massacred body of Mohammed. While we were at the morgue we heard that the other young man was in critical condition at Kamal Adwan Hospital. While we were moving to that hospital, we learned that Ahmed Khaled Abu Murad Al-Zaaneen, 17 years-old, had also died.

We waited for his funeral.

Mohammed Shaker Abu Auda, martyred at the age of 20

Family members and friends told us that the two young men went near the border to find building materials to sell. The poorest youth of Gaza frequently go to the border, in the so-called no go zone of 300 meters imposed by Israel, to find building material to sell.

They also told us that the two young men were catching birds.

The body of Ahmed was at about 300-400 meters from the border.

Saber Zaaneen of the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative told us that Ahmed was losing blood from his head but that “he was still alive, he was breathing heavily” when he found him.

The ambulance could not reach the body of Ahmed immediately because tanks and soldiers were continuing to shoot and it was too dangerous to approach the area.

The ambulance was forced to back away because of the continuous fire.

The entire time the father of Ahmed was crying, “I want to see my son! I want to see my son!”

Ahmed was still alive when he reached the ambulance.

The day after, we went to the mourning tent and we met the families of the two victims.

Ahmed’s mother did not stop crying. I remained seated with her and the other women of the family, silently, I was speechless at so much pain.

Then we went to the other mourning tent. Here, the brother of Mohammed, Zahor Abu Auda, told us that the two young men were catching birds to sell them for pets.
If they were lucky, they made 100 shekels from the sale of the birds (100 shekels are equivalent to about 20 euros).

His mother can’t walk, Mohammed took care of her.

Zahor told us, “Let the world know that the Israelis killed a man that was only trying to get money to live. The Israeli forces, supported by the Americans. kill people in Gaza regularly and nobody hears about it, the world is silent.”

Missile fired by an Israeli Apache during the attack

Meanwhile we knew that Israeli spokespersons were spreading the story that the two victims were armed militants and that they were about to place explosives in the area of the border.

These Israeli declarations and their powerful influence on the mass media induce a feeling of powerlessness. Members of the families and friends told us that Mohammed and Ahmed were not part of armed groups.

Mohammed and Ahmed were civilians, they were just workers.

We join the appeal of Zohar, and we will continue to give a voice to the people of Gaza so that the silence will never completely obscure all of this pain over the agony of the mothers and over the bodies massacred.

Rosa Schiano is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement. You can read more of her writing at il Blog di Oliva.

Further into the No Go Zone

by Nathan Stuckey

19 January 2012

Every Tuesday we gather next to the half destroyed Beit Hanoun Agricultural College. At eleven o’clock, we set out into the no go zone. This week there were about thirty of us, members of the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative, the International Solidarity Movement, and other activists from Gaza. At eleven o’clock the megaphone starts to play Bella Ciao and the flags are hoisted in the air, soon we start to march down the road into the no go zone. Today feels strange, something is different, there is only one body in the sky, the Israeli blimp that constantly hangs over Beit Hanoun watching our every move is missing, today only the sun is over us in the sky, the sun and some Israeli F16’s.

Entering the no go zone is always a strange experience. First, you always remember the danger, Israel claims the right to shoot anyone who enters the no go zone, every week, someone is shot for doing what we are doing. They are shot for going to their land, sometimes to gather cement to rebuild the houses shattered during the massacre the Israeli’s call Cast Lead, sometimes searching for metal to recycle and sell for a few shekels, sometimes shepherds with their sheep. The no go zone is like a dystopian future, the people who used to live there have all been expelled, they live as internal refugees in the prison that is Gaza. When you walk in the no go zone you are sometimes reminded that people used to live here, you find shredded irrigation pipes, wells, the foundations of houses, and today, for the first time, I saw an old quarry that used to provide rocks for building. The orchards and fields that used to cover the no go zone have been thoroughly erased, there is no more evidence that they even existed. In 1948 the Zionists plant forests to hide the ethnically cleansed Palestine villages, in Gaza, they do not bother, they just grind the evidence up under the treads of bulldozers. The orchards have already disappeared, there is no trace of them, most of the houses have disappeared, with time even the wells and the remaining foundations will slowly be ground to nothing. Only the quarry will remain. The land here is not like the rest of Gaza, walking is difficult, the bulldozers have left it completely scarred, jagged mini hills and ridges are everywhere.

Today, we walk deep into the no go zone. Deeper than we have ever gone before, to land no Palestinian has been on since 2000. Sometimes it feels like a nature walk, instead of watching out for tigers or lions we watch out for jeeps or tanks. We finally reach the barbed wire that lays about 20 meters in front of the wall, there is no way through it. A smaller balloon than the usual one begins to rise over the wall. Sabur Zaaneen from the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative speaks, “We would like to welcome all of the activists who have to come to Gaza with the Miles of Smiles Convoy, I hope that many more activists come to Palestine to work in the towns and refugee camps of Palestine where they can confront the state terrorism of Israel directly.” We climb a nearby hill and plant a flag. We spot a jeep; it drives up to the concrete tower embedded in the wall. The soldiers climb the stairs and begin to shoot at us. We begin to walk back to Beit Hanoun. The soldiers climb down from the tower, get in their jeep and drive to higher hill overlooking the no go zone. They get out, and aim their guns at us again. It does not matter that they are under no threat, that we are a completely nonviolent demonstration of civilians on their own land. In Gaza, the occupation is reduced to its most basic, the tracks of bulldozers and the crack of rifles. The bulldozers erase all evidence that anybody ever lived there, the rifles erase the people that live here. We will not be erased. The olive trees that we plant in the no go zone will feed the children of Gaza. The martyrs will live on in our hearts. The popular resistance will outlast the occupation.

Resistance continues, demonstration in the No Go Zone

by Nathan Stuckey

11 January 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

The No Go Zone – Click here for more images

Every Tuesday we gather in front of the Beit Hanoun Agricultural College, members of the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative, the International Solidarity Movement and other activists from all over Gaza. We gather, and we march into the no go zone. Sometimes we are shot at, sometimes there is no response. We accept both of these. We cannot control when the Israeli’s will shoot at us, at unarmed civilian demonstrators on their own land. We are not discouraged by the appearance that nothing changes, you never know when change will happen, but you can be sure that if you do nothing, nothing will change. So every Tuesday, we march into the no go zone, the rest of the week, everyone struggles against the occupation in their own way. Teachers teach, farmers farm, fisherman fish, but under occupation all of these things can become revolutionary things, life itself can become a revolutionary act.

The megaphone announces the start of the demonstration; Bella Ciao is our marching song. We set off down the road into the no go zone. There about thirty of us, men, women and children, somehow, it feels like more this week. We do not take the usual path into the no go zone, once inside the no zone we turn to the left. We walk toward the road that leads to Erez, one of the few gates into and out of the prison that is Gaza, few Gazans are permitted to use it, it is mostly for NGO workers. We stop about twenty meters from it; we plant a flag in the ground. This flag joins the others we have planted in the no go zone, unlike wheat which requires months to go grow and is inevitably destroyed by the periodic assaults of Israeli bulldozers in the no go zone flags can be planted fully grown. Eventually Israeli bulldozers will come and grind them beneath their wheels and we will have to plant new flags to replace them, but until then you can see our flags wave over the no zone. The wall that surrounds Gaza is studded with Israeli flags, in case anyone should forget who it is that imprisons Gaza.

We planted our flag, then, Sabur Zaaneen from the Local Initiative spoke, he denounced “encounters with the leaders of the occupation and negotiations with the occupation, instead we must work toward the prosecution of the leaders of the occupation in international forums.” He also said that “resistance to the occupation must continue, it will continue until the end of the occupation, the resistance must unite to confront the occupation.” As we walked back to Beit Hanoun it was impossible not to admire our flags floating in the wind, three of them lining the no go zone, and the wheat that we had planted last month, growing. Israel can destroy, but things will always grow again. Oppression inevitably breeds resistance, a resistance that will continue to grow until the oppression is removed.