20 August 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Monday, August 6, Mershid (19), son of Muhamad Abdalah Dawabsheh, checked for oncoming cars and started to cross the road between Nablus and Ramallah with his herd of goats. The time was approximately 5 p.m., and he was leading the herd towards the small village of Duma after a day of grazing. An Israeli car appeared as he was walking down the road but instead of slowing down it picked up speed and drove through the herd, killing 12 goats.
Driving through the herd, the front bumper including registration plate was ripped from the car. The Israeli settler stopped his car to retrieve his plate from the ground. As Mershid saw the armed settler he got scared and ran away.
The whole incident was witnessed by Muhamad’s nephew, who was standing some 50 metres from the scene. As he started for the herd, the settler saw him, got in his car, and hit another three goats including the leader of the herd (the only male) as he drove off, leaving registration plate and bumper behind. In all, 15 goats were killed and 2 mortally injured, now hovering between life and death.
As Muhamad arrived on the scene, he called the Israeli police. When no help was offered, he turned to the Palestinian Authority (PA) police. They asked him to come to the police station with pictures of the dead goats and car plate. He refused, arguing it is their job to go to the crime scene to gather evidence.
In the meantime, the Israeli Military arrived at the scene about one and a half hour after the incident. According to Muhamad, the commanding officer seemed uninterested, asking only if it was his goats killed and if it was his son herding them. When demanding a copy of the report, Muhamad was told to keep quiet and stop asking questions.
An officer from District Coordination Office (DCO) arrived with the purpose of notifying Muhamad that he could not help him. For reasons unknown to Muhamad, the DCO officer refused to help find the guilty settler. Muhamad was informed that he had to go to an office in the illegal settlement of Bet El if he wanted to pursue the case.
This might seem like an easy venture, but Palestinians are forbidden access to the Israeli settlements built illegally on Palestinian-owned land.
A PA officer arrived to the scene in a private car, but stopped in proper distance when he recognized the Israeli forces presence. He asked Muhamad to go and take pictures with a PA phone as evidence for the police report.
Yet, with experience from similar incidents in mind, Muhamad seriously doubts the results of any such PA report.
The family of Muhamad has been living and farming on the land of Duma for countless generations. One of their main products is goats’ milk and cheese. The goats are like family to Muhamad and he clarified to International Solidarity Movement volunteers that the loss is just as painful.
Muhamad Abdalah Rashid Dawabsheh. Photo by Markus Fizgerald. Click for more pictures
His herd consists of some 100 goats. Males are sold and females are kept to produce dairy products and offspring. The death of the male means a huge economic loss for the family of 8. The goats have undergone selective breeding for many generations and are considered some of the finest. For Muhamad, it is impossible to put a price on the lost goats. They provide a living for the family and, for him, the mere question of pricing and money is an insult to the importance of the animals.
Duma is a little farming village 21 km southeast of Nablus. Muhamad is head of one of two big families in the villages. Until the PA, subsequently to the Oslo-accords in 1994, appointed their own regional strong man, Muhamad was considered the unofficial head of the village.
Duma is surrounded by 3 settlements: Shilo, Ma’ale Efrayim and Migdalim, and Muhamad believes the guilty settler is from one of these settlements. For the last 2 years, the villagers have experienced countless settler attacks. Not a single one has been solved, and Muhamad has little faith that the PA or DCO will act differently in this case.
The village of Duma is considered Area B (Palestinian civil control, Israeli military control), but the enclosing Area C (full Israeli control) makes it a problematic task to farm on considerable parts of the land, belonging to the village.
Yet Muhamad states that he will stay on his land and his sons will farm it when he is gone.
“I was born on this land and have been working with olives and goats here for 40 years. I have other places I could go, but I want to stay here. This is my place, this is where I belong.”
Palestinian fans hold the sign "Freedom for prisoners" during the opening match of the "Palestine Championship" between the local national team and Vietnam in the West Bank town of Al-Ram, between Ramallah and Jerusalem, on 14 May 2012 (photo: AFP - AHMAD GHARABLI)
During the latest wave of hunger strikes, many Palestinian movements emerged in support of the strikers’ struggle. It is clear that there is persistent action on the ground, but it is still limited to the active circles connected to the families of the prisoners.
At the peak of the strike, when it was crucial to have massive support, many voiced frustration with continued Palestinian apathy, especially when in Scotland and Spain, for instance, thousands marched for the prisoners. Meanwhile, in Ramallah and Nablus, only hundreds bothered to demonstrate.
Despite the long history of Palestinian resistance, current popular action remains limited to small-scale participation. One has to ask, what went wrong?
Before discussing the major factor influencing every single aspect of Palestinians’ lives – the Israeli occupation, one needs to look at the process Palestinians went through since the Oslo Accord of 1993 and the subsequent creation of the Palestinian Authority (PA) that contributed in many ways to Palestinian apathy. Although those who signed Oslo thought they were heading in a positive direction, it is clear today that what they received was a lie. In lieu of a contiguous sovereign Palestinian state, Oslo has given the PA glorified local governance over disconnected city centers. In hindsight, Oslo has been a disaster for the Palestinian cause. The agreement gave much to the Israelis – the colonizers – with minimum concessions, while giving little to the Palestinians – the colonized – while extracting maximum concessions.
One cannot examine the absence of a massive movement on the ground without also taking into consideration the context of separation and division. At present, Palestinians are a separated and divided people. Half of the Palestinian population live in the diaspora and exile, the vast majority in squalid refugee camps in neighboring countries, denied their right of return to their homes and villages. Gaza, ruled by Hamas, and the West Bank, ruled by Fatah, are separated by the occupation. Within the occupied West Bank, divisions also exist. Jerusalem is isolated from the surrounding Palestinian population due to Israeli settlement expansion and occupation. Palestinians with Israeli citizenship were also ignored by Oslo and live in continued isolation from their brethren while suffering daily discrimination in the Jewish “democracy.” Accomplishing the physical unity of Palestinians as a nation to fight apartheid is, thus, difficult. And it’s difficult not only as a result of Israeli policies, and internal division, but also due to Arab countries that host Palestinian refugees, but do not allow them to resist from their borders.
Oslo’s implications pertain not only to geography, demography and land. There were also implications for Palestinian civil society in the occupied territories. Civil society began to be transformed from being part of the liberation movement to “development.” The phenomenon of “NGOzation” has infiltrated Palestinian society. International funders too often dictate to Palestinians their agendas and priorities, killing the spirit of the freedom fighters and resistance in the process.
The Oslo agenda was designed in a way that those trapped in it would have little or no interest in challenging it. Oslo has created the illusion of a “state,” a state for people with no rights and no sovereignty over their borders, resources or fate.
Any decision to dissolve the PA or change its mandate, especially to put an end to the security coordination with Israel, should be made outside the framework of the Palestinian leaders who have vested interests and are terrified at the prospect of losing them. The sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people as a whole, the PLO, is the body to make such decisions. The PNC (Palestinian National Council), the legislative body of the PLO, had its last meeting in 1996, where its members were appointed, not elected as they should have been according to the PLO constitution. Since Oslo, the PLO has lost its mandate and rebellious identity to the “quasi-state” of the PA. We should not expect that the same heads of the PLO, who also run the PA, would want to voluntarily surrender their power. The PLO is occupied by the same faces who have sat there for decades, stifling all sense of change, snuffing out the resistance element of the Palestinian cause. We should not expect such an ossified institution to bring a new vision.
Apathy, therefore, became a natural result of the frustration at the unchanged leadership. This leadership lacks any strategy or comprehensive vision, except the ultimate soap opera of “negotiations.” Furthermore, the security coordination with Israel is designed to ensure Israelis’ “security” not Palestinians’. In many cases, it also impedes the people from challenging the occupation with its security forces that sometimes block protesters from reaching checkpoints and have no tolerance toward anyone who dares to criticize Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas). It creates confusion; where do we start our fight? Against the PA leaders who failed the people but still hold on to power? Or the Israeli occupation forces that have trapped the PA in such a role and still control Palestinian lives? In order to fight, you need to set your target with clear eyes.
That is relevant to the West Bank under the PA and Fatah, however, Palestinians under Hamas in Gaza face similar challenges, and a regime even more oppressive toward critical voices that might challenge its rule.
Some also have concerns based on their experiences of the second intifada, where an unorganized armed resistance led to armed militias and security chaos. Many Palestinians are afraid an uprising will spiral out of control, and the same chaos will return.
Yet, the main reason for the Palestinian apathy and fatigue remains the occupation and colonization that has not relented since the creation of the PA in Oslo.
Israel attempts to crush peaceful resistance with no regard for Palestinian lives. And that, naturally, deters people from participation. When people go to participate in a protest against the occupation, they take the risk of getting shot, beaten, or arrested. Two-hundred and seventy-five Palestinian martyrs have been killed by the Israeli army since 2000 in popular resistance rallies. (Information taken from the Popular Resistance Coordination Committee).
Arrest means a verdict in a military court. Imprisonment is a near certainty and is far more of a persecution than prosecution. The system is heavily stacked against a fair day in court for Palestinians. According to Haaretz, in 2010, 99.74 percent of the trials of Palestinians in Israeli military courts ended in convictions. Arrest and then charges means a “security file” will accompany any attempt to travel, whether for leisure or studies. It kills the already near-impossible chance of getting a permit, either for work in Israel or to visit family or friends. Arrest means one becomes a target – and in many cases one’s family does as well.
Palestinians have sacrificed much for their steadfastness and resistance, with tens of thousands killed, hundreds of thousands jailed, arrested or tortured, and many others losing their homes or lands or source of income. Their sacrifice is met with non-stop Israeli colonization, their resistance is met with brutal Israeli repression, and their screams met with international silence. Combined, it has made Palestinians question the worth of their sacrifice.
Israel has “architectured” the Oslo agreement to make the occupation more efficient. To Palestinians in city centers, the occupation has become slightly less direct. There, you will hardly feel the occupation, unless you have to go through checkpoints every day or you see the Israeli army raiding your neighborhood at night to arrest your neighbor. Many people abandoned the option of filing for a permit to enter “Israel” to visit friends or family or simply Palestine. Many people gave up the idea of traveling abroad because they would need permission from Israel and they would need to cross Israeli “border” points. Most Palestinians have a “security file” in Israel and, if not them, a family member surely does. People just continue to live their lives, adapting to the reality, with the Israeli occupation sapping their will to resist. They fear losing the little they have left if they challenge the status quo.
Understanding this complexity under which Palestinians live post-Oslo explains the current situation where the will to resist has been drained from the people of resistance. In order to break down Palestinian apathy and fatigue, one will have to break down the many reasons that led to it, starting with Oslo.
Abir Kopty is a Palestinian blogger. Follow her on Twitter @abirkopty.
18 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On 18th October 2011 teachers from Qordoba school stood in protest at checkpoint 56 for a sixth day of resistance against the increased ‘security’ measures imposed upon them by the Israeli occupying forces. In the past week this peaceful protest has been met with an alarmingly intolerant – and at times violent – response from the Israeli soldiers. On the first day, nine young children were hospitalized.
By the third day of demonstration the international press had taken up the story.
On the fourth day soldiers sought to quash the mounting pressure by using tear gas and sound grenades in the streets of Bab a-Zawyia .
The teachers are also facing pressure from the settlers. In an interview with ISM this morning, the head mistress, Ibtesam Aljondy, explained they had received warnings that if the school was left empty, settlers would occupy the buildings. This threat, coupled with the need to return to a normal learning schedule for the children and concerns for their safety, has resulted in the school being reopened during the last two days. A handful of teachers and volunteers have been holding lessons whilst up to twelve of their colleagues have continued to demonstrate. The absence of children at the demonstration has led to a significantly reduced press presence.
During the protests negotiations have been taking place between the Palestinian Authority and the District Co-ordination Office of the Israeli occupying forces. This reached an unfavourable conclusion at 5pm Tuesday, when Ms Aljondy was telephoned by the PA and told that the DCO are not willing to reverse the new measures. Under military law the teachers of Qordoba School will have to pass through the metal detectors in the checkpoint or be refused entry.
ISM volunteers spoke with a source from the PA who wishes to remain anonymous. He expressed disappointment at the situation, stating that for the teachers to be treated in this way gives the wrong impression to their students.
The protests will continue. Ms Aljondy has told ISM that each morning half the teachers will take a substantial detour to reach the school, and half will remain outside the checkpoint to highlight the issue. She has asked ISM for our continued support in this action.
The whole incident was witnessed by Muhamad’s nephew, who was standing some 50 metres from the scene. As he started for the herd, the settler saw him, got in his car, and hit another three goats including the leader of the herd (the only male) as he drove off, leaving registration plate and bumper behind. In all, 15 goats were killed and 2 mortally injured, now hovering between life and death.
