On January 19th we, a group of concerned Jews, spray painted the infamous Nazi slogan “Arbeit Macht Frie” (“Work Makes You Free”) on a sign placed by the Israeli occupation authorities at the Kalandia checkpoint that read “The Hope of Us All”.
The Sign “the hope of us all” and the New Ramallah Terminal were inaugurated on the 20th of Dec 2005. The new terminal is set up so that there is no physical contact between the soldiers and the Palestinians. The soldiers scream commands to the Palestinians over loud speakers as they are made to go through a series of electronic gates and turnstiles. The new Terminal embodies the occupation in its alienated, bureaucratically cruel form. it is situated between one Palestinian area and another and flanked on both sides by the annexation barrier effectively turning Ramallah into a ghetto.
“Arbeit Meicht Frie” was written at the entrance of Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. In spray painting on that sign we did not mean to say that Ramallah is Auschwitz. We did, however, wish to point out that there are many disturbing parallels between the tactics used by the occupation and those used by the Nazis. For example, the attempt to beautify dehumanizing institutions through empty phrases like “The Hope of Us All” and “Arbeit Macht Frie”. We believe that it is important to heed these disturbing parallels as warning signals in order for another Holocaust never to happen again, to any people. We wrote a paragraph explaining our action in Arabic and English and distributed it to people as we were painting the sign, and we posted that paragraph next to the slogan.
Unfortunately the Israeli authorities have decided to use our action for their own purposes and are accusing the Israeli human rights group Machsom Watch of “defacing the checkpoint”. (See Kalandia terminal crossing compared to Auschwitz By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH Jan. 24.) These accusations are baseless. None of the people involved in writing the slogan have anything to do with Machsom Watch. The Israeli Military is attempting to find excuses to deny witnesses access to the checkpoints where human rights are systematically violated.
The morning of Thursday, January 12, myself, and other Palestinian and international activists were invited to the branch of Jerusalem University in Ramallah for a conference that Barak Obama, the US senator from Illinois, was holding with students. The others were skeptical about him, but I assured them that he is a very progressive politician and he would be supportive of the Palestinian cause.
Barak Obama began the conference by saying how surprised he was that it was cold and raining in Ramallah, that it went against his preconceived notions about the climate in the Middle East. He spoke about his background and how he was the underdog in his race for the Senate. He explained to us that even though the US has made many foreign policy mistakes, that he believed in our system of checks and balances. He then offered to start a dialog with the audience.
One student asked how Arab governments can create a paradigm shift and improve relations with the US. When he answered the question, I tried not to give in to frustrated laughter because, I kid you not, this is what he said (I am paraphrasing and my comments are in parenthesis):
The Arab governments need to embrace democracy, not theocracy. When you allow the will of God to influence the laws of your country, you will not win the support of the US. (What about Israel claiming they have the God given right to rule this land?) The Arab governments need to renounce violence against civilians. (What about 100,000 dead Iraqis, were all of those people terrorists, Baathists, foreign fighters or were some of them civilians?) The US is opposed to theocracy and terrorism and if the Arab governments want to create a paradigm shift, they need to address these concerns of ours.
So then I asked him, “You say the US is opposed to theocracy and terrorism, how can you explain to the Palestinian people how the US can be opposed to these things but still supports a state that has racist, oppressive, unjust and apartheid policies. And do you see how this paints an inconsistent picture to the people of the Middle East?”
He began his answer by saying he would not accept the assumptions I made and therefor was not going to address that part of my question. He said he could understand the Palestinian view that the policies of the US were one sided but he said the relationship with Israel was not going to change. My high hopes for Barak Obama’s foreign policy ideas were shot down!
Obama said this was his first trip to the Middle East, that he had just come from Qatar and Jordan. I imagine he stayed in some pretty fancy hotels. I’m not sure that if you are a powerful American politician on your first ever trip to the middle east that you can really get a good idea of what things are like here.
So Barak Obama, I would like to send you an invitation. I invite you to consider that maybe your preconceived notions about the weather in the Middle East are not the only notions that were incorrect. Barak Obama, I would like to invite you to stand in line at Qalandia checkpoint, I would like you to witness the humiliation Palestinians face there, I’d like to invite you to take part in a peaceful demonstration like Mohammad Mansour was doing when his friend was shot and killed, or Roni, who was shot in the neck and who is now paralysed from the waist down. I’d like to invite you to acknowledge that there are families on the Palestinian side of the wall who cannot travel 5 minutes away to the next village to see their familes on the Israeli side of the wall. I would invite you to meet Ahmad, a five year old boy I met on the way back from Jenin whose father was killed by Israeli soldiers. I would like you to consider that if a Palestinian wants to leave the country by plane, he or she cannot leave via Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, he or she must travel by land to Jordan and leave via the airport in Amman. This is the Middle East’s only democracy, Mr. Obama! I would invite you to consider how the unconditional support for Israel with US tax dollars affects 4 million Palestinian people who just want to live their lives and be free from oppression.
Bil’in is a small village located six km east of the green line, west of Ramallah. The village rests on 4,000 dunams (about 1,000 acres) and is home to 1,700 residents, whose livelihood depends on agriculture and work outside the village. Most of the villages land lies between two streams (the Modi’in stream in the south and the Dolev stream in the north); the western tip of the lands of Bil’in are covered with the houses of the Kiryat Sefer section of the Israeli settlement Modi’in Illit.
The barrier Israel is building confiscates about half of the lands of the village. According to the Israeli government, 1,700 dunams of Bil’in’s land will remain west of the wall. In addition, the route itself – whose width is between 50 and 150 meters – takes about 250 dunams. In sum, the wall confiscates from Bil’in at least 1,950 dunams (the actual figure is expected to be even higher). It stretches near the last house of the village, surrounding it from three sides.
A Real Estate Wall under the Guise of Security
The Modi’in Elite settlement outpost is currently under construction
As in other villages, the Israeli government argues that the route of the wall in Bil’in was determined purely for security reasons. However, a brief visit to the village shows this to be false. The fence is mostly down the hill, in a topographically low point, easily allowing shooting above it. It goes six km east of the Green Line and 1.8 km east of the built and populated area of Modi’in Illit. The route crosses two streams, which necessitated complex and very expensive engineering work.
Had the aim of the fence been to defend the residents of Israel, it would have been put along the Green Line. Had its aim been to protect the present residents of Modi’in Illit, it would have been erected in superior topographic conditions near the built and populated area of the settlement.
The only reason for the route chosen is the expansion plans for Modi’in Illit. Right now, two new sections are being built in the settlement: the Matityahu East (also known as Heftsiba and Green Park) area, on 870 dunams of the lands of Bil’in west of the barrier; and the Neot Ha’Pisga area, on 560 dunams belonging mostly to the nearby Palestinian village Kharbata, but also confiscating some land belonging to Bil’in north of the Dolev stream.
In Matityahu East, 3,008 housing units are being built, while in Neot Ha’Pisga, 2,748 flats are planned. According to the plan, the Matityahu East section will reach the route of the fence itself so that its outermost houses will be located meters from the barrier! A master plan prepared by the Israeli Ministry of Housing allocates the remaining 600 dunams of the lands of Bil’in west of the fence, between Matityahu East and the Dolev stream, for another new section in Modi’in Illit, in which 1,200 housing units will be built.
Hence, the route of the wall in Bil’in was determined in light of the various construction plans of the settlement Modi’in Illit. Recently, the Israeli Government admitted, in response to a High Court of Justice petition, that “the route of the fence on the lands of Bil’in was designed, among others, to safeguard two new neighborhoods of Modi’in Illit, one which is already in advanced building stages… and the other… where building, on the western side, already began.” In other words, the route of the fence was designed to protect the future settlers who will live in the future areas to be built on the confiscated lands of Bil’in west of the barrier.
From a Small Settlement into a City
The story of Modi’in Illit started in 1992, when the small ultra-orthodox settlement Kiryat Sefer was established on the lands of the villages Kharbata, Deir Qaddis and Ni’lin, as well as on the western tip of the lands of Bil’in. In 1996 the name of the settlement was changed into Modi’in Illit, and it began to expand. At present Modi’in Illit is a 5,800-dunam (more than 1450 acres) settlements, all located east of the Green Line.
According to the master plan prepared by the Ministry of Housing, 150,000 settlers will live in the area by 2020 – most of them in Modi’in Illit itself. The Central Bureau of Statistics reports that in September 2005, 29,300 people lived in Modi’in Illit – 12.7 percent more than in 2004. Modi’in Illit is the second largest settlement (with respect to its population) in the West Bank, following Ma’ale Edomim, and will soon become the most densely populated settlement.
Unlike most settlements, Modi’in Illit is not an ideological one. Its ultra-orthodox residents came here only since the Israeli government offered them cheap housing. In many respects, the residents of this settlement are a victim of the policy of the government, which decided to bring them here and to inevitably create a conflict between them and the Palestinian land owners. This process was greatly enhanced recently, with the expansion eastward of Modi’in Illit, outside the boundaries of its built area. This expansion also violates an explicit commitment, given by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to U.S. President George Bush on December 2003. According to that agreement all building outside the already built-up areas of the settlements will cease.
Matityahu East: the Largest Illegal Outpost in the Territories
In the midst of procedures at the High Court of Justice, it was revealed that the Matityahu East section – the main reason for the route of the fence in Bil’in – is being constructed in violation of Israeli planning laws and without legal permits. In addition, the section violates international law in general, and the Fourth Geneva Convention that forbids the settlement of the occupying population in the occupied areas in particular.
The Matityahu East section is being built according to plan number 210/8/1, which was not approved yet by the Israeli planning authorities in the West Bank. The section has an approved building plan from 1999, plan number 210/8. However, the later allows only 1,532 housing units to be built (compared with 3,008 according to the new plan), and the division of lands therein (public areas, streets etc) is different than in the new plan. In reality, the construction in Matityahu East is being done according to plan number 210/8/1, which has no validity under Israeli law. According to the Israeli government, 750 housing units have already been illegally built in Matityahu East.
A letter written by the Comptroller of the Local Council Modi’in Illit in March 14, 2005 shows that the Comptroller sent warnings against the illegal building in Matityahu East already in January 2004, to both Council members and the Ministry of the Interior – but nothing was done to stop it. Following the complaints of the Comptroller, the local Council decided to fire him rather than address the violations.
While the authorities allow large-scale illegal building to continue in Matityahu East, the Civil Administration was quick to issue a warrant against building in the Bil’in Center for the Joint Struggle for Peace – a small building, sized seven square meters, which the residents of Bil’in and Israeli peace activists erected near Matityahu East on December 25th, 2005. Just a few hours after the walls of the building were completed, a warrant was delivered to the people of Bil’in forbidding any further building there and summoning them to a hearing at a planning committee of the Civil Administration. In addition, the army forcefully evacuated two caravans put in the place – one on December 22nd and the second on December 25th. This is a clear example of double standard in the enforcement of the law in the West Bank.
The High Court Petition
The issue of the fence in Bil’in is now in the High Court of Justice, where a hearing on the subject is to be held on February 1st, 2006. A petition against the fence was issued in September, by attorney Michael Sfard; it includes an extensive discussion of the future building plans of Modi’in Illit, some of which were only recently exposed.
In the petition, attorney Sfard claims that the route of the fence in Bil’in was not determined by security considerations, but rather by the interests of the settlement and of real estate companies. The route carefully follows the existing and future construction plans of Modi’in Illit, and was designed to allow unscrupulous real estate developers operating in the settlement (among them the companies Heftsiba and Green Park) to collect huge profits, on the backs of the people of Bil’in, whose lands are being stolen from them before their very eyes.
Despite an Israeli checkpoint that prevented journalists from accessing the village, a peaceful march of one thousand people, Christians and Muslims, went forward on Sunday in the West Bank Village Aboud. The march was stopped by Israeli soldiers three hundreds meters from bulldozers digging up Abud’s land to construct the annexation barrier.
Latin Patriarch Michael Sabbah led a short worship and then planted an olive tree, symbolically protesting the destruction of hundreds of trees by the construction of the annexation barrier. The route of the wall on Aboud’s land will de facto annex Bet Arye and Ofarin settlements together with 4000 Dunams (around 1000 Acres) of Aboud’s agricultural land to Israel. The march was joined by Israeli and international activists .
Patriarch Michel Sabbah addressed the crowd and the Israeli soldiers guarding the bulldozers:
“With our faith and love, we demand the removal of this Wall. We affirm that it is a mistake and an attack against our lands and our properties, a mistake and an attack against friendly relationship among the two people. (…) In your faith and your love you shall find a guide in your political actions and in resistance against every oppression. You may say that love is an unknown language to politics, but love is possible in spite of all the evil we experience, we shall make it possible!”
After the Patriarch’s departure, one hundred people stood in front of the soldiers singing slogans against the Wall. Israeli activist Jonothan Polack was arrested for trying to plant an olive tree.
On Wednesday the 7th, another demonstration calling for the release of the four CPT hostage in Iraq was held in al-Manara, Ramallah, at 4:30pm. On the same day, a press conference calling for the release of four was held in Nablus.
Ramallah residents, Palestinian women from the Women For Life group (who had come all the way from the Salfit region) and international supporters and friends made up the quiet, dignified demonstration. Just as darkness started to fall, candles were lit as a symbol of hope for the release of the four. Large fiery torches were also lit, as a way of making a visual impact and drawing attention to our calls for freedom. There was a decent amount of media there, and we can only hope and pray that the message got through to the kidnappers in Iraq, and that our friends will be released soon.
We held up pictures and large posters of the four hostages, showing them in Palestine and Iraq protesting against the apartheid wall and for the human rights of prisoners and detainees. US citizen Tom Fox was pictured protesting against the wall. James Loney was pictured in Iraq advocating for detainees rights. The large poster of Harmeet showed him with Palestinian children on a farm in Jenin. There were also signs in Arabic and English calling for their release.
AP Photos of the demonstration:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/051207/481/mm10112071723 http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/051207/481/mm10212071724
CPT Pictures of the four:
http://www.cpt.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album142
