Category Archives: Eye-Witness

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Can Two Walk Together?

Uri Avnery
“COMPARED TO the Knesset it could have been, this is a very good Knesset!”

I heard this, in so many words, from at least ten former Knesset members and others, as we were drinking orange juice in the Knesset foyer. I could have said it myself (and probably did).

It was the opening session of the new Knesset, and former members were invited to a reception with the new ones. Then we were seated in the plenum hall.

I did not attend the last few times, but this time I was curious to see the new members – 49 out of 120, an unprecedented number – some of whom I had never even heard of before.

It was really a good sight. Some of the new people were leaders of the social protest movement of summer 2011, some investigative reporters from the media, some social workers. Some fascists remained, but the worst were gone.

The change was not large enough to make me jump into the air from sheer joy, but enough to be glad. Beggars cannot be choosers.

IT WAS a ceremonious occasion, with trumpets and all. Up to a point.

Unlike the British, Jews have no talent for pomp and circumstance. Real Jewish synagogues – not the Western European copies of Catholic churches – are quite chaotic.

In my ten years in the Knesset, I took part in many “festive” sessions, in honor of this or that historic event or personality, and not one of them was really uplifting. We just haven’t got it.

This one was no exception. The President of the State, Shimon Peres, who enjoys much respect abroad but very little in Israel, arrived with an escort of motorcyclists and horse riders, trumpets sounded. He entered the building, made a dull speech full of platitudes. So did the oldest Knesset member (a youngster of a mere 77 years, 12 years younger than I.)

Many members were dressed casually, in shirt sleeves or sweaters. Few wore ties. Very Israeli. During the speeches, members wandered in and out. All the Arab members left immediately after being sworn in, with Hanin Zuabi in the lead, before Hatikvah, the national anthem, was intoned.

FOR THE new members it was, of course, a day of deep emotion. I remember my own first day. It was exciting indeed.

Looking at Ya’ir Lapid, I could not refrain from thinking about the superficial similarity between him and myself at the time. We were both elected as heads of completely new parties we had founded. I was 42, the youngest member at the time, and he is 49. We were both journalists by profession. Neither of us has a matriculation certificate. Our voters came from exactly the same sector of the population: Israeli-born, well educated and well positioned Ashkenazi young people.

Yet there the similarity ends. I represented a tiny faction, his is the second largest. I brought with me a revolutionary new outlook for Israel – peace, a Palestinian state next to Israel, separation of religion and state, equality for Arab and Eastern Jewish citizens. He brings a cocktail of pious slogans.

Nevertheless, the first day in the Knesset is like the first day at school. Exciting. Every new member brought with him his whole family, with the children in their best clothes, to gaze down from the gallery at father or mother sitting below in this proud company.

In this first meeting, members old and new are not allowed to say anything, except the two words “I undertake” (to serve the State of Israel). If I may be permitted to indulge for a moment in memories: I was determined to make my mark and present my message on the very first day. Studying the Knesset statutes, I discovered a loophole. I demanded to move a motion for the election of the new speaker, and had to be called to the rostrum. So I made my first speech right there: a proposal to appoint an Arab speaker in order to symbolize the equality of all citizens. David Ben-Gurion, who, as the oldest member, served as temporary speaker, looked at me with wonderment mixed with distaste, an expression immortalized in a rare photo.

WHEN IT was over and Binyamin Netanyahu stood up, like all of us, a curious thing happened: Ya’ir Lapid jumped from his seat, ran up to him and embraced him. It was more than a casual gesture.

As I have said before, Lapid’s future depends on his now making the right decisions regarding his role in the new coalition and his terms of joining. Tension is in the air. The minimum Lapid needs to satisfy his voters is well beyond the maximum Netanyahu can politically afford to give him.

To strengthen his hand, Lapid has ganged up with Naftali Bennett, in order to keep the orthodox factions out. The manifest aim is to compel the orthodox to serve in the army.

This raises the ancient question voiced by the prophet Amos (3:2): “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”

Bennett is an ultra-rightist. Some of his detractors call him fascist-lite. He is totally committed to a Greater Israel, the expansion of the settlements and opposition to any contact with the Palestinians – except, perhaps, an offer for negotiations on terms the Palestinians could not possibly accept.

True, Bennett has a knack for hiding his real ideology behind a facade of bonhomie. He pretends to belong to the same social sector as Lapid: White, Ashkenazi and liberal, the Israeli equivalent of the American WASP (White_Anglo-Saxon_Protestant). The small size of his kippah serves the same purpose. (It always reminds me of an admonition a British judge in Palestine gave to aspiring lawyers: “Let your summing-ups be like a lady’s skirt: long enough to cover the matter and short enough to be attractive.”)

But Bennett really belongs to quite a different sector: the “national-religious” camp of the fanatical settlers. The nationalist part of his ideology is far more important to him than the religious one. With him in the cabinet, any substantive movement towards the two-state solution would be impossible.

If Lapid doesn’t care, what does that tell us about him? He chose to start his election campaign in the capital of the settlers, Ariel. He emphasized that Jerusalem, “the eternal capital of Israel”, must remain undivided. That already is a non-starter for peace.

When my friends and I first brought up the two-state solution in the aftermath of the 1948 war, we insisted that the borders between Israel and Palestine must be open for the free movement of people and goods. We had in mind a close and friendly relationship between two sister-states. What Lapid preaches is the very opposite: the two-state solution as a final and total “divorce”.

WHEN LAPID chooses Bennett as his favored bedfellow, he implicitly declares that the issue of the Orthodox serving in the army is more important to him than peace.

If he preferred peace to the service issue, he would choose the religious Shas party instead of Bennett. That would be very unpopular, but make peace possible.

Shas is a hawkish party, though it started out dovish. But like its Torah-Jewish sister party, it really doesn’t care about anything beyond the narrow interests of its community.

On the evening of the Labor Party’s victory in the 1999 elections, tens of thousands of delirious voters spontaneously streamed to Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square to celebrate what was seen as a liberation from Netanyahu’s (first) government. When the victor, Ehud Barak, appeared on the balcony, the shout went up from the thousands: “Anything but Shas! Anything but Shas!”

A few days later, at the opening session of the new Knesset (the last one I attended until this week) I went up to Barak and whispered in his ear: “Take Shas!”

Four years ago, when TzipI Livni could have set up a government instead of going to elections, she needed Shas. Shas, as is its wont, demanded a lot of money for its clientele. Instead of paying up, Tzipi kept her virtue and refused. The result: Netanyahu back in power.

This is the same dilemma we are facing now. Pay the Shas-man and have a go at peace, or take Bennett and talk about “service equality”. (It’s just talk anyhow. A law to ensure real equality of military service would mean civil war.)

WHAT ABOUT the real boss? No, I don’t mean Sara’le Netanyahu, who also starred at the opening session. I mean Barack Obama.

Without warning he announced this week that he is coming to Israel. Immediately after the formation of our new government. He will go to Ramallah, too.

Should we be happy or not?

Depends. If it is a consolation prize for Netanyahu after his election setback, it is a bad sign. The first visit of a US President since George Bush jr. is bound to strengthen Netanyahu and reinforce his image as the only Israeli leader with international stature.

But if Obama is coming with the intention of exerting serious pressure on Netanyahu to start a meaningful peace initiative, welcome.

Netanyahu will try to satisfy Obama with “opening peace talks”. Which means nothing plus nothing. Even Bennett can agree to that. Not to mention Lapid and Livni. Yes. Let’s talk. “Without preconditions”. Which means: without stopping settlement expansion. Talk and go on talking, until everyone is blue in the face and both Obama’s and Netanyahu’s terms are over.

But if Obama is serious this time, it could be different. An American or international blueprint for the realization of the two-state solution, with a strict timetable. Perhaps an international conference, for starters. A UN resolution without an American veto.

If this happens, the new Knesset with all the fresh, young faces will be called upon to hold a real debate and take fateful decisions. And – perhaps, perhaps, perhaps – make history.

 

Uri Avnery is a longtime Israeli peace activist. Since 1948 he has advocated the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. In 1974, Uri Avnery was the first Israeli to establish contact with the PLO leadership. In 1982 he was the first Israeli ever to meet Yasser Arafat, after crossing the lines in besieged Beirut. He served three terms in the Israeli Knesset and is the founder ofGush Shalom (Peace Bloc). Visit his Web site.

 

More Articles on RamallahOnline by Uri Avnery or visit Gush-Shalom.org

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Is the Arafat poisoning story a provocation to incite a Third Intifada?

Maidhc Ó Cathail

Maidhc Ó Cathail

Maidhc Ó Cathail

By Maidhc Ó Cathail
The Passionate Attachment
July 7, 2012

Recently, there’s been a lot of talk from suspect sources both from within and outside Israel of an imminent Third Intifada. One year before 9/11 drew America into Israel’s “war on terror,” the September 2000 armed march to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount led by then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon provoked the Second Intifada. It’s worth considering whether the belated investigation into Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s 2004 death commissioned by the Israel-friendly Emir of Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV network might have been intended as the provocation to spark off a third Palestinian uprising.

With the Al Jazeera-enabled “Arab Spring” already having provided the alleged jihadist threat as a justification, Tel Aviv has been loudly preparing public opinion for “preemptive” military action across its borders withEgypt, Syria and Lebanon. An uprising in the Occupied Territories is all that’s required to provide the pretext to resolve its internal “demographic threat” once and for all. Notwithstanding its much-touted “fears” ofglobal jihadism on its doorstep, the seemingly besieged Jewish state may be closer to realizing its dreams of a Greater Israel than ever.

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Glyn Secker’s Testimony

END OF VOYAGE: Israeli forces violently commandeer the “Irene” in international waters and head toward Ashdod instead of Gaza.

Glyn Secker, Captain of the Jewish Boat to Gaza

Getting to Farmagusta was a long long trip, the longest passage we’d made – two nights and three days, and having to manually helm every minute of the way as we never managed to get the auto-pilot working. Usually after such passages there’s the expectation of being able to catch up on sleep, to relax a little and to re-charge ourselves. But we were only too aware that as the last port of call this stop was going to be be the most demanding of all: we had intentionally chosen a port which was not set up for small craft and knew that even finding a berth was going to be a challenge. Then we had an intensive schedule of press conferences, loading the boat with the aid and the banners, re-fueling and watering enough for double the length of the final passage (in case we were forced to return), getting the passengers on board, and all this under the watchful eyes of the port authorities whose attitude we were uncertain of.

We arrived as Sven-Y-Two as a tourist boat. A local fisherman allowed us to use one of his berths and then amazingly organized fuel from the town which he brought in jerry cans, and water, and helped me buy the outboard motor for the Gaza fishermen, spending most of the afternoon driving me round the town looking for a dealer open on the weekend. The port police were friendly but of course bound by their own cumbersome procedures, then surprised us by summoning other officials to come to us rather than us having to find them in town.

Meeting up with the London team and the passengers was straightforward and a mixture of hugs and kisses and anxiety and frenetic action. The press conference the next morning generated its own momentum and and it was then that I really began to feel the whole project lifting off. And it did so with a bang  – the AP team were local Turkish Cypriots and as a matter of routine sought permission from the port authority to film our departure despite all the strictures to keep beneath the radar. Our hearts sank when returning to the port we were greeted by the sight of a police car. Not to arouse suspicion we had invented a story that we had just met up with a group of friends on a separate holiday and that we wished to take them for a spin around the bay. But we then discovered that the regulations required the port police to hold the passports until people return. At this point we realised the story may not hold, and we were at a loss as to what to do. After more discussion between the authorities it became clear that they had probably cottoned on to whom we really were and simply stated  ‘Look, if you all just want to get on the boat and go and not return, that’s fine with us.’ !  So we were then into a frantic scramble to get away before there were any calls to higher authorities or they changed their minds. Hurriedly we laid out all the aid to be photographed, got all the banners out, got all passengers on board and within half an hour had cast off. The friendly fisherman had invited the AP media on board and as we left the port holding aloft the banners he cast off and circled us giving them the shots which went around the world and which alerted the IDF to our imminent arrival.

The weather was still very kind to us and we made better progress than expected. Not wanting to time the encounter with the IDF in the dark we slowed down and when the morning had warmed up I suggested that a good way to de-stress would be to stop the boat and for us all take a swim in the sparkling deep blue water. We put out a long line with a fender on the end and in we all plunged – a swim to remember. Reuvan was amazing, confidently swimming away from the boat and me trying to keep him within reach of the safety line!  I think I was the only one who had any breakfast – home made muesli (wonderful almond nuts).

And then finally after all these days and weeks of anticipation we identified a frigate on the horizon. It shadowed us for some considerable time, keeping on our port side about  five miles off. Then we saw a number of  smaller craft lined up and realized that the encounter was approaching. We rehearsed our strategies and waited, with adrenalin levels slowly rising. Shortly there came a call on Ch 16 over the VHF from the frigate asking us our intentions and the flag of the boat. I informed them that we were heading for Gaza port, that we were in international waters and had no intention of entering Israeli waters. They replied that Gaza was within a prohibited area and that we should change our course. I responded by stating that that did not accord with international law, that we were unarmed, had no materials which could be put to military use, that we carried a consignment of aid for Gaza and that we expected safe passage. They then warned us that they would intercept us, that this could be dangerous for the crew and damaging for the boat. I reiterated that as a British flagged boat they had no legal right to intercept us and that we intended to maintain our course to Gaza. There was no reply and we continued on our passage for perhaps another twenty minutes – presumably they were waiting for us to cross the boundary of their unilaterally declared prohibited zone.

There then developed a sight which will remain with me for the rest of my life – with the frigate in the background, two gunboats, two landing craft and four high powered ribs spread out in a semi-circle speeding towards us at perhaps 35 knots, with their bow waves and wakes flashing in the sunshine. It was surreal, it was like an action movie, and entranced by the sight I had to remind myself this was actually happening – this overwhelming force for a 9.7 metre 40 yr. old boat, the majority of its Jewish occupants over 60 years old, with no weapons and a publicized policy of passive resistance.

The next we knew there were two ribs very close alongside with the commander on a megaphone again warning us of the dangers if they boarded us. I reiterated our legal rights,  and for what it was worth I accelerated, just to make a point that outpacing them was fantasy. Then as planned Itamar addressed the commandos in Hebrew and English, calling on them not to obey the orders to take actions which are illegal under international law. The ribs closed in, and the boarding commenced.

All the crew and passengers (apart from myself as I was steering) held hands.They boarded us simultaneously from both sides. At that moment we cut the engines and sat over the access points to the cut offs to prevent them restarting the engines. The wheel is on the starboard side of the boat. I was surrounded by three commandos, I held on to the wheel as hard as I could. It reminded me of being on violent picket lines with the police trying to break through. One grabbed my left arm, another my right arm. The third stood by with a Tazer gun. After a struggle they managed to prize my hands from the wheel and threw me down on the floor. I managed to crawl behind them and remove the engine starter keys but one of them saw me and prized the keys from my hands.

On the opposite side of the cockpit Yonatan Shapira and his brother Itamar had been identified by the IDF commander in charge. He sought to separate them from the others. Yonatan clasped Rami in a hug to prevent himself being removed. The senior officer then moved one sideYonatan’s lifejacket covering his left breast, placed a Tazer gun in contact with his clothing and fired it directly into his heart. Yonatan let out a dreadful scream and the force of the Tazer caused him to lose control of his muscles. He was pulled off Rami and across the cockpit to the middle. He was then hit twice more by the Tazer gun, screaming out again.  Both he and Itamar were forcefully pulled off our boat  onto the IDF rib on port side.They were driven at very high speed over the waters, which had now become moderately rough (the wind had increased to a F4) and it would have been very uncomfortable especially for Yonatan still recovering from the Tazer shocks. They were taken to the frigate where they were treated normally, then to shore and released on bail without charges.

Meanwhile I had turned off the fuel supply to the engines. After some time (the engines only burn 1 1/2 litres per hour) when the  fuel in the pipes had been used up the port engine started to fail. (The starboard fuel shut-off failed to work). After many attempts to restart the engine the IDF took the boat in tow. The boat is designed to go through the water at a maximum speed of about 8 knots. They towed us through the rough waters at 12 – 14 knots. The boat was bouncing about violently, it was dangerous for the remaining passengers and crew, including Reuvan, our 82 year old holocaust survivor. We all sustained bruises and the passage to Ashdod was exhausting. There was something like eight commandos on the boat in addition to ourselves so it was grossly overloaded. It was surprising that the boat did not begin to break up, the whole structure was groaning and making cracking sounds. It was clear that they intended to seriously mistreat the boat. During  the passage they tore down all the banners and flags – including the red ensign (the UK flag) which legally has to be displayed in all foreign waters.

As a gesture of defiance I decided to cook lunch! Not easy in the circumstance but I managed to produce omlett (with garlic) sandwiches which Reuvan, Lillian and I think Eli and I shared. Whilst in the galley I took the opportunity of chucking out of the window the carving knife, the bread knife, a chisel and two hammers from the tool box, remembering that similar items had been photographed as evidence of weapons on previous boats.

I’d like to point out that in the USA it is illegal for the police or the army to fire Tazers directly into the heart as there have been a number of cases of heart failure and death as a result of such targeting.

The fact that Yonatan was released without charge makes it very clear that the use of the Tazer on him was purely malicious.

Contrary to IDF reports, there was therefore, considerable resistance, be it non-violent, to the IDF’s illegal hijacking of our boat, and there was considerable, unprovoked and very dangerous violence perpetrated by the IDF.

On arriving at Ashdod we were greeted by perhaps 100 people in uniforms of one sort or another within an a secure area created by ships containers. We were obliged to pass through a tent where we were subjected to detailed body searches and luggage searches. I was the last out as I insisted on making an inventory of the boat valuables, though I was unable to get any officer to countersign it it, it was taken by a female officer from I believe their foreign office, but this was not clear. Before I was allowed back on the boat to do the inventory it was searched, including the use of a dog. None of us of course had any illegal drugs, but I have to admit of a nervous moment when someone asked me if any previous owner might have stashed anything away – this hadn’t occurred to me. Whilst waiting I was approached by a Major who stated that he was in charge of  Gaza boarder security and he offered to transport our aid to Gaza. He arranged for us to go onto the boat, I extracted the aid from the lockers and he placed it where he could find it later. The boat was in a state of chaos, having been ransacked by those searching it. I don’t suppose they intend clearing out the fridge and other food, so god knows what it will be like after a few weeks in what is still a hot time of year. Combined with the split bellows on the loo pump whoever goes on the boat next will need a good face mask and a strong stomach.

I was taken to the Immigration and Boarder Authority where I experienced a truly Kafkaesque moment. We were presented with a form to sign which stated that I was due to be deported being suspected of residing in Israel illegally. When I pointed out that the only reason I was in Israel at all was that the IDF had kidnapped me and forcefully brought me into Israel on the orders of the government, the reply was that it did not matter who had brought me in, but that now I was there I was there without permission and so due for deportation. They were not amused by my laughter.

The regulations allowed for a rapid departure at their expense if I signed the form, but I was anxious not to be seen to recognize the Israeli law creating the blockade and therefore the basis for deportation.Then equally bizarrely, they stated that I could add whatever statement I wished to the form and could have a photocopy, so I added a clause stating that I did not recognize the legal basis for the deportation as it had no basis in international law, and duly signed.

Eventually the lawyers then arrived – really great people. I checked that my understanding of the law was correct and that if I had opted to go to court to appeal the deportation the result would have been the same and they confirmed I had it right. The IDF had smashed up the sat phone I had hired in front of me. I hope they will explain to the insurance company why they had not just taken it so that it could be returned later.

I was then taken to the detention centre at Ben Gurion airport. Again we and our luggage were all subject to yet more detailed searches. The smallness of the minds of those whose job it is day in and day out to carry out these numbing tasks can only be guessed at. Then, I was alone with Vash, banged up for the night – banged being a very appropriate word describing the door slam behind you. Having many times visited clients in detention or prison as a social worker it was odd indeed being on the other end but my complete self confidence in the absolute correctness of our principles and our understanding of international law never deserted me.

Despite asking for water I was left without a drink for 12 hours. When I asked again in the morning I was told to drink the tap water – which was warm. Later they provided a cup of tea and a roll and a towel, so I was able to shower. The officers who were to take me to the airport were Ethiopian Jews and were required to put me in ankle cuffs for the journey. I told them it was not at all necessary – they were rather embarrassed and apologized but said they were obliged to use them. At least they carried my bag to the minibus. I was taken directly to the plane on the tarmac and had to climb a metal staircase up to the access, the cuff chain clanking on the steps – reminded me of Winton Marsarlis’s song about the chain gangs.

They removed the cuffs out of sight of the other passengers and then another Kafqeresque moment when I am welcomed aboard by the chief steward as any other passenger, informed that there will be a meal and drinks provided and wished me a comfortable journey! There was sophisticated inflight entertainment – it was a Boeing 777 – but there was no news service at all, very odd, I was in an El Al bubble.

I didn’t think anyone at home knew of my flight arrival time as I didn’t know it until I was on the plane, but the lawyers must have told Miri and it was absolutely great, in fact overwhelming, to be greeted by Vanessa and a welcome party of close friends – amazing, what a two days, never to be forgotten.

Its fantastic coming back to amazing support that’s buzzing.  I’m overwhelmed with the results I think it was really successful.  We made our point to the world very powerfully that there are probably hundreds of thousands of Jews around the world who are appalled at the Israeli policies to the Palestinians; the violations of their humanity and their human rights.

Glyn Secker, Captain of the Jewish Boat to Gaza. This article was first published at Jewish Boat to Gaza here.

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Watch and be angry and inspired

Mazin Qumsiyeh

Today (Wednesday) was another honorable and painful chapter in the struggle of the village of Al-Walaja.  Apartheid soldiers assaulted children and adults protesting peacefully, injured many, and arrested six Palestinians.  The destruction of the beautiful ancient village land was stopped for over 1.5 hours.  I was especially touched by the courage of Omar and his two children, one of them was hit by a soldier with his gun on top of his head.  Please see this video and be both angered and inspired by the courage of the Walajans.  The villagers need our support in many ways especially to demand Israel release those they abducted.  Come join us PLEASE and act.

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home

http://www.qumsiyeh.org

Professor, Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities

Chairman of the Board, Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People, http://www.pcr.ps

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Court Declares Israel Acted in Self-Defense in Brutal Slaying of Professor Kahled Salah and Son in 2004

Supreme Court of Israel, Jerusalem. Taken from the Crown plaza hotel. (2006, Wikimedia Commons)

Genevieve Cora Fraser, 3 August 2010

It all seemed so hopeful in January when I visited Salam, the widow of murdered Palestinian professor Kahled Salah, in her new home in America. She described how six months earlier, five years after the attack, she had been summoned before an Israeli court in Jerusalem for a hearing into the deaths of her husband and their 16 year-old son, Mohammed. Her hope was that there would soon be a trial in open court.

“I want justice for Kahled and Mohammed,” she said. “I want the world to know what the Israeli soldiers did.”

In the early hours of July 6, 2004, Dr. Salah and his teenage son were gunned down in cold blood in their Nablus home by Israeli snipers. Earlier that evening, 1,000 Israeli troops had gathered to hunt down known resistance fighters who had been spotted in the neighborhood. But after they were killed, at some point, the order was given to turn their efforts on the Salah household.

Nablus is both a valley and mountain community, with a 3,000-year Old City and modern market places and shops located in the valley, and terraced homes and apartment buildings constructed along the twin North and South Mountains. The Salahs lived on Asikka Street on Al-jabal Al- Shamali Mountain, the North Mountain. Across the valley is the South Mountain, also know as Atour Mountain where Moses was reported to have been handed the tablets, the commandments set down by God. But on that evening in the summer of 2004, the doctors living above and below the Salahs were quietly evacuated while the trap was set to ensnare the professor and his family.

Neighbors later informed Salam that the week before, the IDF had been making inquiries into where the Salahs lived. Professor Salah received his doctorate from the University of California, Davis. Both he and his wife had permanent US residence status and two of their children were born in California. And despite offers to live elsewhere, he had returned to Palestine with his family and was instrumental in establishing the Engineering Department at An-Najah National University in Nablus.

Kahled and his son, Mohammad, had appeared on Israeli television stating that Palestinians and Israelis should fight it out on soccer fields, not with guns. Kahled had never owned a weapon and believed in reason, not violence. He was a noted peace activist and always prayed for his children to live in peace. But he had a premonition he shared with Salam that he would be martyred.

I visited the family in Nablus exactly six months to the day after the attack. Salam, along with her daughter and a young son who survived the attack, had moved in with her mother to escape the memories that haunt her to this day. But on that day in January 2005, Salam drove me to the apartment where they had once lived in peace. Her home had been her pride and joy. The happy couple had fallen in love in college and invested in carpets and hand crafted ceramic tiles and other luxuries to blunt the hardship of their lives under occupation. Now, blood soaked the rolled carpets. Israeli snipers who had perched on rooftops and balconies surrounding the apartment entered, following the killing, and rampaged through their home. The kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom, and living room had been sprayed by machine gun fire. Clothes were shredded and pots and pans were sieved with bullet holes.

Salam described that night of horror when the metal front door was welded shut by the heat of missiles fired from tanks and helicopter gunships. She showed me the spot where the family huddled in the dark and made phone calls pleading to make it stop. She showed me her bedroom window. It was open that night as her husband stood pleading for their lives and was subsequently gunned down. Mohammad rushed from the protection of their hiding place to help his dying father. Shots were fired, and the son soon joined his father in death as Salam cradled them in her arms. She pleaded with the soldiers to allow her neighbors, the doctors, to attend to her dying husband and son, to allow the ambulances gathered at the scene to take them to the hospital. She was ridiculed, and her request was denied, until they were confirmed dead.

Finally, an Israeli judge ordered a hearing on the circumstances surrounding their deaths. The court scheduled the hearing on the exact day, the fifth year anniversary of the killings. Despite the anguish of memory and despair, Salam believed that at long last justice would be served. She traveled back to Palestine to meet-up with her daughter who still lives in Nablus. Even with the court order in hand, it took three attempts before they were allowed to pass through the checkpoints to get to Jerusalem. But they finally made it and testified before the judge, sparing no details about the brutal attack.

I recently called Salam just to say, Hi, and asked if she had heard anything from her lawyer. Her voice was filled with despair. The court had met twice since her visit, and her request for a trial was denied. “They claim the soldiers acted in self defense,” she said. “They had casualties too.”

“How can that be –one thousand soldiers against unarmed civilians?” I asked.

“I was told an Israeli soldier died in the raid, and that it was only right that Palestinians should die too,” Salam explained in a monotone. She was obviously drained from the ordeal.

“But your husband and son had nothing to do with the resistance fighters,” I said dumb-founded. “So, what do you plan to do?”

“How can I seek justice, if I can’t take it to trial?” Salam asked. “Israel has all the power. It is a form of torture – what they are doing to me. But I will not give up. I plan to appeal. I will keep fighting until justice is served for Kahled and Mohammed,” she stated emphatically.

NOTE: Genevieve Cora Fraser, a human rights and environmental activist, is the author of the soon-to-be released, “Palestine: Waiting by Lazarus’ Tomb,” a 561 page collection of her prose and poetry published from 2003 – 2009.

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The weekend in protests

Demonstrators enveloped in tear gas retreat to cover

2 August 2010 | ISM Media

Reports of all the weekend demonstrations in the West Bank attended by ISM activists.

Bil’in: tributes paid to Olympia and music from rappers in solidarity with Palestine (July 30th)

Dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation and stun grenades in Bil’in’s weekly demonstration, and two people were injured. On Friday 30 July the people of Bil’in were joined by several groups of internationals, including a group of rappers from Britain and the US. A large group of the demonstrators managed to approach the soldiers who had already entered the gate. Two people were detained for a while, following large amounts of tear gas, eventually forcing the protestors back towards the village. One Israeli protestor was hit by a tear gas canister in his leg, while a British citizen was dragged several meters by soldier, causing his back bruising and bleeding.

Demonstrators enveloped in tear gas retreat to cover

Demonstrators enveloped in tear gas retreat to cover

About 200 protestors – Palestinians, Israeli and internationals – were today carrying posters asking for a boycott of Israel, and also honoring Rachel Corrie’s hometown Olympia, where the co-op recently introduced a boycott of Israeli goods. There were groups of people from Spain, Italy and France, as well as individuals coming independently to show solidarity. People were singing and dancing all the way up to the road leading to the illegal Apartheid Wall. As the protestors were approaching the fence, a number of soldiers ran through the gate and lined up on the road, preventing people from getting close to the gate. A large group of protestors started singing, and a truck with speakers approached playing music. Protestors asked to cross the soldier’s barrier, but were prevented, and pushed back.

At one point the soldiers attacked one international protestor, and when people tried to help him, they detained another protester. This British citizen was dragged several meters by the soldiers, causing heavy bruising to his back. In the middle of the chaos the army started shooting and throwing tear gas and stun grenades at the protestors. As people ran back towards the village, tear gas continued to be shot, making it hard to see and breathe. One Israeli was hit by a low flying tear gas canister in his leg.

Once again the army showed that they don’t hesitate to use brutality and violence again non-violent protestors in Bil’in. There were two fires caused by tear gas canisters in the fields, but luckily people were able to put them out. The demonstration was ended by a performance from an MC, whose presence with a group of other rappers was a sign of solidarity with Bil’in and Palestine.

Signs paid tribute to the co-op in Olympia, Rachel Corrie's home town, which has introduced a boycott on Israeli goods

Signs paid tribute to the co-op in Olympia, Rachel Corrie's home town, which has introduced a boycott on Israeli goods

An Nabih Salih: one injury and one arrest as IDF violence continues unabated (July 30th)

This Friday around one hundred Palestinians, Israelis and internationals gathered in the village An Nabi Salih to protest against the illegal settlements stealing the village’s water supply and farmland. The demonstration was met by Israeli soldiers firing metal teargas canisters at body height – illegal under international law – hitting one international in the leg. A 13 year old boy was briefly detained and one Israeli activist was arrested during the three hour demonstration.

The group of protesters demonstrating against land and water theft by neighbouring settlements such as Halamish were just beginning to clap and chant when completely without provocation, the soldiers – who had arrived to prevent the villagers from accessing parts of their land that even the Israeli government admits belongs to them – fired a metal tear gas canister at directly into the crowd. One young British woman was struck directly in the calf, and had to be carried away from the soldiers to a safe place. She sustained severe bruising but doctors at Ramallah hospital confirmed that no bones were affected after taking an x-ray.

The protest continued; the soldiers started firing more tear gas into the crowd, again using the potentially lethal metal canisters fired at body height. They arrested a 13 year old boy, who they then used as a bargaining chip against the villagers, stating that they would only release him if the villagers agreed to call off the protest. The offer was refused, but the villagers managed to secure the boy’s release nonetheless. Minutes later, the army departed.

The protest resumed about 30 minutes later, with villagers marching peacefully down to the intersection with the main road, chanting loudly. Soon, around 6 military jeeps turned up, presumably from the base located inside the Halamish settlement, and soldiers jumped out and starting chasing protesters, looking for people to arrest, and firing tear gas at the fleeing activists. They then came into the village, and arrested an Israeli activist as he attended to a boy who had cut his knee while running from the soldiers. He was grabbed around the throat by one soldier, and viciously manhandled by two, taken into the jeep, and away to the Halamish settlement. Despite the typically violent repression of the An Nabi Salih protest, the villagers courageously continued throughout and the three hour protest was a success.

Protesters face up to soldiers at Bili'in

Protesters face up to soldiers at Bili'in

Ni’lin: calls for increased international presence in the village (July 30th)

On Friday, July 30, the village of Nil’in commemorated the second anniversary of the murder of Ahmad Mousa, a ten-year-old Palestinian boy. Mousa was shot in the forehead with a 5.56mm caliber live bullet in July 2008. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.

The Friday demonstration, which began after midday prayers, was conducted in memory of Mousa, and in light of the constant oppression that residents of Nil’in are subjected to. A Popular Committee representative received a group of international activists at their media office. There, the representative relayed the recent history of Nil’in and the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).

Mousa was the first of five martyrs in the last two years of Nil’in’s resistance. Israel began construction of the Apartheid Wall on Ni’lin’s land in 2004, but stopped after an injunction order was issued by the Israeli Supreme Court (ISC). Despite the previous order and a 2004 ruling from the International Court of Justice declaring the Wall illegal, construction of the Wall began again in May 2008. Following the return of Israeli bulldozers to their lands, residents of Ni’lin have launched a grassroots campaign to protest the massive land theft, including demonstrations and direct actions.

A young boy of a similar age to Mousa joins the march in Ni'lin

A young boy of a similar age to Mousa joins the march in Ni'lin

Since then, the IOF has placed snipers on the rooftops in Nil’in, abused and arrested residents of the village, and destroyed property. According to the Popular Committee member, the army has also tried to force some Palestinians from Nil’in to become collaborators, in order to make them divulge information about the popular struggle.

On Friday, Palestinians were joined by international solidarity activists. The demonstrators marched to the Apartheid Wall where a confrontation arose between young Palestinians throwing rocks and Israeli soldiers shooting tear gas. After about thirty minutes, the soldiers entered the village and attempted to arrest the activists. However, the soldiers were not successful, and the demonstration ended with no arrests or injuries.

“Now more than ever, Nil’in needs international activists to join in our struggle against Israel’s land confiscation and illegal occupation,” said the representative from the Popular Committee. He said he has seen the effect that internationals have on the military’s decision to not use deadly force against the demonstrations.

Al Ma’sara: holding firm despite military violence (July 30th)

Approximately 60 people attended the weekly non-violent demonstration in Al-Ma’sara on Friday. Half of the demonstrators were internationals from mainly Italy, Denmark and Spain.

The internationals followed the Palestinians’ lead and chanted along, showing their support in the fight against the illegal Israeli occupation. The purpose of the demonstration was to reach the Palestinian land that the illegal settlement Efrata and the building of the Apartheid Wall has stripped the village of.

As usual the demonstrators were stopped by the IOF on the main road. The IOF momentarily surrounded the demonstrators with jeeps and threw sound-bombs at the unarmed participators. The Palestinians and the internationals then marched towards the main entrance of the village while chanting “Free, free Palestine.”

Three military jeeps blocked the road, preventing the demonstrators from reaching the Palestinian land. The soldiers allowed the demonstrators to pass by the jeeps, but immediately blocked the road behind them. More military jeeps arrived in front of the demonstrators, and as a result the demonstrators were almost surrounded by soldiers. Members of the Al-Masara Popular Committee spoke in front of the soldiers, demanding their right to the land that belongs to the Palestinians according to international law. The soldiers responded by throwing sound-bombs.

Israeli occupation forces were out in large numbers to repress peaceful protests

Israeli occupation forces were out in large numbers to repress peaceful protests

Al Ma’sara is one of nine intertwined villages which are surrounded by the illegal Israeli settlement Efrata, which is a part of the Gush Etzion settlement block. The 9000 Palestinian inhabitants of the nine villages are enclosed by almost as many illegal settlers. In November 2006, Israel began the construction work for the Apartheid Wall on the villages’ land, which would annex an additional 3500 dunums (35,000 square metres) if completed. This means that Al-Ma’sara and the eight other villages would be stripped of more than half of their land.

Al-Ma’sara is an agricultural village, with the majority of the population relying on the land for sheep and goat farming, and for harvesting crops such as grapes, olives and seasonal fruit and vegetables. In addition to being the village’s main source of income, the land is also Al-Ma’sara’s chief source of natural water. Therefore, Israel’s plan to strip the inhabitants of a large part of this land would cut off their main water supply, thereby breaching international law both in terms of the individual needs of the villagers and of their crops and animals; violating the villagers’ human rights and their income.

Since November 2006, the Al-Ma’sara Popular Committee has been organizing weekly non-violent demonstrations against the Apartheid Wall, the illegal settlements, and against the occupation as a whole. The non-violent protest started as a reaction to the soldiers’ destruction of the grape and olive fields. Whilst in the beginning  protestors were able to march straight to the construction site of the Apartheid Wall and temporarily block bulldozers from their work, the protestors are now stopped on the main road in the at the entrance of the village.

Beit Ommar: resistance again met with weapons used at close-range – one journalist hurt

The absurd use of force by the IDF against nonviolent demonstrations continued this weekend in the village of Beit Ommar.  On Saturday, July 31, Palestinian men, women, and children together with international activists marched toward the Karmei Tsur settlement to protest the illegal settlement and the continued confiscation of Palestinian land before being stopped and surrounded by soldiers approximately 100 meters from the edge of the settlement.  Standing together on privately owned, Palestinian land, the crowd was told that they were now in a closed military zone and had 5 minutes to get past the ambiguous boundaries of this arbitrary zone or they would be arrested.

When the demonstrators refused to comply with this act of intimidation, they were met with the typical onslaught of sound bombs and tear gas.  Particularly shocking was the soldiers’ deliberate targeting of journalists and children.  One journalist was injured after being hit by a tear gas bomb, and soldiers were photographed shooting tear gas canisters directly at young boys and girls standing up the hill.  Even after the demonstrators had walked back into the village, soldiers continued to shoot tear gas into the village streets, in front of homes, and onto the residents’ porches – causing families to flee their homes in order to escape the choking gas.

The start of the march in the village of Ni'lin

The start of the march in the village of Ni'lin

Hebron: an IDF donkey ridden by a fanatical Israeli settler prove a point (July 31st)

On Saturday, 31 July, Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals gathered to demonstrate against the illegal settlements and closure of Shuhada Street in Hebron. The protestors were immediately met by about 50 Israeli soldiers and border police who prevented them from continuing the march through the Old City. During the second confrontation the army started pushing people backwards, but no injuries or arrests were made.

About 100 people joined the protest in, carrying posters asking for justice for the Palestinians in Hebron, and the opening of Shuhada Street. Among the protesters was a donkey dressed up as an Israeli soldier, with an Israeli flag strapped to the head. One Palestinian who was dressed as an Israeli settler was leading it. The idea was to show how the Israeli settlers in Hebron are protected by the army, even when they are attacking and harassing Palestinian citizens. Palestinians are likely to be arrested or mistreated further by the army in situations where the settlers attack them.

As the army blocked the way at the gate leading up to Shuhada Street at Bab al Balladyeh, with soldiers and border police lining up facing the protesters, the commander stepped forward and grabbed the Israeli flag and a poster reading “IDF” from the donkey. After about 20 minutes of singing and chanting slogans, the protesters turned around and went around the old city, still singing and playing a drum. At one point water was thrown from where settlers have occupied the second floor of a house.

Arriving back at the starting point of the demonstration, there were no soldiers present, but they came out from the gate soon after people gathered at Bab al Balladyeh for the second time. Even though the protesters were standing still, soldiers started to push people back, so people responded by sitting down in the street, still singing slogans. At one point the soldiers targeted an international photographer, but he managed to run away before they reached him. The demonstration ended without any arrests, but once again the army proved that they want to repress peaceful demonstration using force and threats of arrest.

Iraq Burin (July 31st) – report coming soon

More news and reports from ISM here

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Gaza: the bombs that remain

Dealing with the bombs that remain. (Credit:UNMAT/MAG)

GAZA CITY,Eva Bartlett,  Jul 7, 2010 (IPS) – At precisely 12 noon on a Thursday afternoon, among the rolling sandy hills in southern Gaza, a controlled explosion destroys another round of white phosphorous shells left in Gaza following the 2008-2009 Israeli war on Gaza.

Explosives experts from the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and the United Nations Mine Action Team (UNMAT) are working together to eliminate the remainders of a deadly Israeli attack. The Israeli bombings from land, sea and air left behind large amounts of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in civilian areas.

Dealing with the bombs that remain. (Credit:UNMAT/MAG)

Dealing with the bombs that remain. (Credit:UNMAT/MAG)

In a precise, technical routine which takes into account all possible dangers to the MAG and UNMAT workers as well as Palestinian residents living in Gaza, the explosives experts are, detonation by detonation ridding Gaza of the remaining white phosphorous shells.

In order to deprive them of oxygen, shells are first sealed in plaster casts, then moved into large sand-filled containers, until their day of detonation.

Controlled detonations occur twice weekly, coordinated with the Hamas government and the Israeli army, whose war planes fly over the detonation site during the afternoon.

On the day of the seventh round of UXOs to be detonated, there are eight shells to destroy. Two are completely full and six are broken open but unexploded.

Inside each shell are 122 sponges soaked with the lethal chemical, designed to scatter far upon explosion.

“Some white phosphorous shells can be only liquid,” explains Mark Buswell, MAG’s technical director. “But the kind used in Gaza were sponges, more difficult to get rid of.”

The use of sponge-filled white phosphorous shells by Israel’s in its attack on Gaza 18 months back also meant that the probability of injuring civilians was greater.

The controlled detonations stop these shells harming civilians in the future and allow the lethal chemical weapon to burn off in containment pits in the ground, far enough away from the nearest houses to cause harm.

Twenty minutes after the first detonation, when the majority of the thick, white smoke has burned off and dissipated, MAG technicians prowl for stray sponges, move them to the pit, and re-ignite them together.

A solitary clump burns in five to ten minutes, although if covered by sand it can lie dormant for days, re-igniting with the poke of a child’s stick or kick of a shoe.

Jim Hill, a Canadian medic working with MAG in Gaza, explains their work. “We are here in case there are injuries from white phosphorous burns, smoke inhalation or unexpected detonations resulting in injuries.”

Hill and other medics accompany the team as it slowly safeguards sites where the rubble clearance has finally begun, well over a year after the destruction.

With over 4,000 houses completely destroyed and 16,000 houses partially or badly damaged, the risk of UXOs is huge.

Buswell says their work is only just beginning.

Israel’s 23-day-war on Gaza December-January 2008-2009 killed more than 1,500 Palestinians, and left more than 5,320 wounded. Among the casualties were those hit or affected by white phosphorous bombings. ( Credit:UNMAT/MAG)

Israel’s 23-day-war on Gaza December-January 2008-2009 killed more than 1,500 Palestinians, and left more than 5,320 wounded. Among the casualties were those hit or affected by white phosphorous bombings. ( Credit:UNMAT/MAG)

“When white phosphorus lands on skin it burns deeply through muscle and into the bone, continuing to burn until deprived of oxygen,” says Amnesty International.

Dr. Nafez Abu Shaban, head of the Burns Unit in Al-Shifa Hospital of Gaza City, told the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) that he was seeing patients “who sustained severe burns due to which the muscles and body cells are completely destroyed.”

Among Israeli soldiers’ targets were homes, schools where thousands of Palestinians were taking refuge, UN buildings storing humanitarian aid, and hospitals. Over half of Gaza’s 27 hospitals and 44 medical centres were destroyed or damaged.

The Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City and the Al-Wafa Rehabilitation Centre east of Sheyjayee — housing over 50 patients, the majority invalid and dependent on life-support machinery — suffered multiple bombings, including direct white phosphorous hits.

Israeli officials first denied using white phosphorous but later admitted and justified its use as a smokescreen for soldiers.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says its use among a concentration of civilians is “simply prohibited”, and notes that white phosphorous can spread up to several hundred square metres, with the “potential to cause particularly horrific and painful injuries or slow painful death.”

Over a year after the Israeli war on Gaza, the risk of UXO poses as real a threat as the fresh bombings.

These UXOs may detonate even decades later, MAG notes. In rural areas farmers ploughing or workers scavenging stones and steel can inadvertently set the bombs off. The anti-tank mines used by Israeli soldiers to demolish houses, and several of which remain, pose a risk to workers removing rubble or to families returning to their homes to sift for belongings.

As of August 2009, the UN reported 12 people killed from UXO explosions, six of who were children. Twenty-three were reported injured, including four children.

In March 2010, UNMAT and MAG began to destroy the 343 UXOs collected so far, including white phosphorous shells.

Mark Buswell compared the threat of an explosion in Gaza to “an explosion which could damage a city centre area the size of the City of London (2.6 square kilometres)”

  • For more news and information from Eva Bartlett, please visit her online blog here.

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Narratives Under Siege (1): Dialysis in Paralysis

Ahmed Zourob receives dialysis treatment at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Because of the siege, his level of treatment is inadequate and he can no longer obtain the medication he needs. (PCHR)
Ahmed Zourob receives dialysis treatment at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Because of the siege, his level of treatment is inadequate and he can no longer obtain the medication he needs. (PCHR)

Ahmed Zourob receives dialysis treatment at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Because of the siege, his level of treatment is inadequate and he can no longer obtain the medication he needs. (PCHR)

PCHR, Gaza City, Palestine—Ahmed Zourob is one of the 164 patients who fill the Dialysis Unit at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City everyday. Like the others, he is here because his kidneys, deteriorated by disease, cannot adequately perform their function; as with many of the patients here, he relies on the medical treatment he receives at Al-Shifa to survive. Yet, now under siege for more than three years and thus unable to provide necessary medication, plagued with equipment in perpetual disrepair, and confronted with an acute shortage of electricity, Al-Shifa’s dialysis unit is experiencing its own state of deterioration. “We have witnessed almost a fifty percent shortage in the medicine and machines we need to run this unit at its capacity due to the Israeli occupation and closure, not to mention the problems arising from the electricity crisis” says Dr. Mohammad Shatat, Deputy Director of Al-Shifa’s Dialysis Unit, the largest such unit in the Gaza Strip. The consequences, he says, have been a visible decline in the health and prospects for recovery and survival of the patients.

Dialysis treatment is not easy under any circumstances. Patients suffering from chronic kidney failure must spend up to four hours each treatment attached to a dialysis machine which circulates the blood from their body through a filtration system to remove toxins and before returning it to their bodies. In normal conditions, patients receive dialysis treatment three times a week and are also required to take up to five different types of medicine, including antibiotics and a combination of  hormones and supplements which protect the kidneys from further damage and prevent the onset of anemia, Dr. Shatat explains.

Yet the Israeli-imposed closure has made dialysis treatment significantly more difficult for the 300 kidney patients at Al-Shifa and their families. Before the closure, says Dr. Shatat, the medicine required by the patients was available in the hospital pharmacy and provided to patients suffering chronic diseases free-of-charge. Now, as a direct result of the closure, the hospital pharmacy has run out of many essential medicines, including those required by dialysis patients. Patients and their families must find alternative sources for the drugs, paying out-of-pocket for these medicines at artificially high prices in pharmacies outside the hospital, in the cases in which such the medicine can be found at all.

Ahmed was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2008, and he has been unemployed for about as long. The closure has worsened Ahmed’s condition by simultaneously denying him access to the medication he needs through Al-Shifa and denying him of an economic livelihood that would allow him to purchase his medication outside the hospital. “Three months ago the hospital told me that my medicine was no longer available in the hospital pharmacy, but without a job I cannot afford the medication on my own. I don’t know what I can do.” Without access to the prescribed medication, Ahmed’s condition has steadily deteriorated in the past year and he has recently been diagnosed with anemia.

Under its policy of closure, Israel has also disallowed the import of medical equipment, including new dialysis machines and spare parts needed to repair those machines which are no longer functioning. As a result of inadequate resources, dialysis treatment has had to be reduced for all patients from three to two times a week, which presents grave implications for the health of the patients, says Dr. Shatat: “Dialysis treatment serves the purpose of the kidneys, so it is vital for these patients; if they fail to receive the required treatment the consequences can be deadly.” Indeed, four patients from the Dialysis Unit died in April 2009 immediately following the reduction in treatment.

The entire healthcare sector in the Gaza Strip suffers from an acute shortage in medicine and medical equipment due to the Israeli-imposed closure. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 110 types of medicine and 123 types of medical equipment have run out in the Gaza Strip during the first six months of 2010; another 76 types of medicine are expected to run out in the coming three months.

The dire situation in Al-Shifa’s Dialysis Unit caused by the restriction of goods into Gaza is exacerbated by constant electricity cuts, a result of the energy crisis effecting the Gaza Strip. For the 1.5 million Palestinians inside Gaza, constant electricity outages have become just another burden of daily life. In Al-Shifa’s Dialysis Unit, however, the sudden and frequent outages which come in addition to the regular electricity cuts place the patients’ lives and the medical machines at great risk. “When the electricity goes out during a dialysis cycle,” Dr. Shatat explains, “approximately 300cc of blood is caught outside the body of the patient and cannot be returned. We have lost several dialysis machines due to sudden changes in electricity levels, but the risk posed to patients’ lives is much greater.”

Israel permits the entry of only enough fuel to run the Gaza Power Plant at 45% of the capacity needed to adequately supply the demand in Gaza. The entire Gaza Strip now experiences power outages of up to twelve hours a day, disrupting all aspects of the lives of Palestinians who are already living with hardships caused by the Israeli closure.

Accordingly, Al-Shifa depends on four generators for its electricity, and they are old and in constant need of repair. “The generators are meant as backups, not to be run all the time,” says Dr. Shatat. “Now the generators are used to power all the hospital wards and so they need repairing. But the Israeli closure makes it very difficult to obtain the parts we need; we’ve been waiting for a year for batteries, prohibited under ‘security concerns.’”

Under these difficult conditions, increasing numbers of patients in Gaza suffering from serious injuries and diseases are forced to seek treatment outside of the Gaza Strip. Yet the process for obtaining the necessary permits for transfer from Gaza to hospitals abroad is long and arduous. Hundreds of patients—including women and children—are denied each month by Israel under the guise of “security concerns.” Since 2007, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights has documented the cases of 67 patients who have died because they could not obtain the necessary treatment in Gaza and were denied a permit to seek medical treatment abroad.

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Protestors hold firm around Palestine this week

Palestinian children confront Israeli soldiers (ISM, 2010)

International Solidarity Movement, 6 July 2010

An Nabi Salih

The Friday protest in An Nabi Salih was passionate and vibrant as ever. Israeli Army jeeps pre-emptively invaded the village, setting up a roadblock at the main crossroads. Dozens of villagers, joined by a handful of international and Israeli activists, marched down the main street to meet them. The number of protestors soon grew as most of the people in the village came out into the streets to demonstrate against the soldiers.

The An Nabi Salih demonstration is specifically against the expansion of the nearby Halamish settlement, annexing An Nabi Salih’s land. But there is also a strong message against the Occupation in general.

Palestinian children confront Israeli soldiers (ISM, 2010)

Palestinian children confront Israeli soldiers (ISM, 2010)

Crowds of women and children in particular assailed the soldiers, singing and clapping. Chanting went on for almost two hours, with the soldiers still refusing to leave the village, until some local youths began throwing a few stones down the main street. The Israeli soldiers responded with disproportionate violence, firing volleys of tear gas canisters up the street at head-height, making a mockery of this supposed crowd-dispersal technique.

Skirmishes between soldiers and local youth went on almost until sundown, with the soldiers making forays deeper into the village but failing to capture any of the stone-throwers. Two Israeli activists were detained, however, for no other reason but criticising the soldier’s illegal invasion of the village. Both were later released without charge.

After some five hours of confrontation, the soldiers left An Nabi Salih, to the joy and relief of the villagers.

Ni’lin

This Friday, as every Friday for over two years, the villagers in Ni’lin together with international activists gathered to protest against the illegal annexation wall.

The demonstrators gathered in the olive groves outside the village after noon-day prayers, then marched towards the wall. When the march neared the wall the Palestinians chanted and waved their flags. Some shabaab (Palestinian youths) threw stones against and over the wall. Surprisingly there was no reaction from the soldiers on the other side, besides taking pictures of the shabaab. After about half an hour the protest ended and the protesters walked back to the village.

Bil’in

At the Bil’in weekly demonstration about 150 protestors carried a message to the Palestinian leadership, expressing the need for unification. A large banner showed a picture of Arafat and Yaseen together. The Israeli army was waiting on the other side of the Wall, responding with tear gas and stun grenades which set fire to several olive trees. Soldiers then charged through a gate in the Wall, chasing protestors back towards the village. Soldiers continued to fire on the retreating crowd, though luckily there were no injuries.

Heat from tear gas canisters and sound grenades set fire to the dry ground in several places, with smoke and gas forcing the people of Bil’in further back. Ammunition starting fires is a serious problem this time of the year, when the ground is dry. Many olive trees have been severely damaged, resulting in fewer olives for harvest this year.

Wadi Rahal

A few dozen Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals walked Friday at noon from Wadi Rahal to the site where Israel plans to build the illegal Apartheid Wall. There was plenty of energy, chanting and drumming (local and Israeli drummers). The army did not allow passage, and tried to push the demonstrators backwards. After a long non-violent struggle (i.e. the demonstrators acting non-violently) the soldiers started shooting tear gas and sound bombs, the first landing on a little boy’s leg. Two Israeli activists were arrested, illegally, for participating in the non-violent protest. The demonstration went on in a schoolyard nearby, still with great spirit and energy.

Iraq Burin

Some 50 villagers from Iraq Burin gathered for the regular Saturday afternoon protest this week, supported by five ISM activists. The Israeli Army attempts to completely close off the village each week, clearly hoping that the disproportionate violence of their behaviour will be invisible outside Iraq Burin. Activists are forced to take extraordinary measures to reach the village and document military violence.

tear gas attack (ISM)

tear gas attack (ISM)

On arrival in the village, ISM activists met with a local man, 22, who was detained and beaten after last week’s protest. He confirmed that he was punched and kicked repeatedly in police custody; he now walks with a pronounced limp and has constant pain in his back. He will not be able to continue his regular work for at least three months, and will have no income for that period.

After noon-day prayers, the protest group marched up a hill, across village land that is threatened by settler violence. As usual the group was met by a unit of dozen soldiers waiting at the top of the hill. There was some chanting against the Occupation, and a tense stand-off for a few minutes, the two groups standing about 50 metres apart. One of the Palestinian youths threw a single, small stone at the soldiers, falling well short of their group. Soldiers responded by firing tear gas at the Palestinians and internationals, aiming their canisters directly at the demonstrators, at head height. Some canisters narrowly missed hitting both Palestinians and internationals, and there were a few minutes of panic as the protestors retreated across the rocky, open ground, desperately hoping not to be hit.

Lighter skirmishes followed, until the soldiers left the village land after about an hour, bringing the demonstration to an end.

Hebron

On Saturday around two hundred Palestinian and International protesters gathered in the Old City of Hebron to protest against the illegal settlements and the closure of Shuhada street. Speeches were held by politicians from different parties, including Mustafa Barghouti. A massive amount of soldiers attempted to intimidate the participants and block their way into the Old City. But the demonstrators resisted non-violently and despite persistent violence from soldiers successfully paraded the Old City.

Beit Jala

On Sunday in Beit Jala some 30 protesters marched through a street that leads to the Apartheid Wall’s construction site. To the sound of the working bulldozers nearby, the march was stopped by a group of soldiers and a barbed wire they had installed earlier. The protesters demanded to go through to the Palestinian land being annexed and destroyed by the wall construction, and some touched the barb wire to show their contempt to the occupying army.

The soldiers soon launched an assault with sound bombs and then tear gas canisters, which were shot at the populated street far beyond the protesters. One person was treated for heavy tear gas inhalation. At a different spot the army incursion was met with stone throwers. The army then began terrorizing a main street in Beit Jala, traumatizing passers-by and the entire population of the area.

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The Battle For Al-Walaja

The Battle For Al-Walaja (Palestine Monitor 2010)

Palestine Monitor, Aaron Dearborn, 1 July 2010

Hidden between the ancient cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, lies the village of Al-Walaja. Home to around 2,000 people, mainly agricultural workers, the land is rich in olive trees, summer crops and other natural resources. But the village is at a crossroads.

between the ancient cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, lies the village of Al-Walaja

between the ancient cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, lies the village of Al-Walaja

This year has witnessed a surge in Israeli military crackdowns, as Al-Walaja joins Bili’n, Ni’lin and Beit Jala, as the scene of heated weekly anti-wall demonstrations and popular resistance.

Since the first construction workers and soldiers arrived to begin clearing land for the Wall almost four years ago, locals say they have received an increasing number of eviction orders, arrests, threats and intimidation from IDF soldiers.

The current plan for Al-Walaja will see the town surrounded on all sides by the wall. Only one entry and exit point, under complete military control, will remain. The position of nearby settlements mean the Wall will encroach further onto village land, shrinking Al-Walaja before surrounding it.

However the bulldozers have not been allowed to move in unchallenged. Every Friday villagers gather at the construction sites in the fields of Al-Walaja to demonstrate against the seizure of their land.

Activists occupy a bulldozer during a recent demonstration that saw Mazin Qumsiyeh arrested. (Photo: Kara Newhouse)

Activists occupy a bulldozer during a recent demonstration that saw Mazin Qumsiyeh arrested. (Photo: Kara Newhouse)

Local organiser Mahmoud Al-Araj says these areas are considered ’closed military zones’ by the Israeli government, and army patrols move in quickly to stop the demonstrations.

“When Israel started building the wall, we started demonstrating against the confiscation of our land. We started on Fridays and one or two days during the week to bring people to stop the bulldozers,” he says. “So we had many peaceful demonstrations, and we get much beating and arrests from the Israeli soldiers who use weapons against us.”

Earlier this year, human rights groups were outraged by footage of villager Nabeel Hajajala, 14, being pepper sprayed, kicked and beaten by several soldiers during a demonstration.

“I saw the soldier videoing, I went down and took the mobile from him. The soldiers attacked me and pepper sprayed me. They tied my hands and put me in the jeep and started to hit me and spray me again. They took me to the checkpoint and after that to the police station”, Hajajala told me.



“In the jeep they punched me, and from the top of my head I was bleeding. Still they sprayed in my mouth and eyes and hit me with the back of a gun and kicked me until we reached the checkpoint.”

Dr Mazin Qumsiyeh is a Palestinian peace activist and former Yale professor who has twice been arrested at Al-Walaja rallies. He says the risk of arrest and injury is something protesters are prepared to face. “In any kind of popular resistance there is a price to be paid and we are willing to pay that price. That price can range from mild harassment, intimidation, tear gas-which we smell of every week at demonstrations, all the way to being shot and killed. That’s what happened to my friend Bassam Abu Rahmah in Bili’n who was not doing any more than I do regularly. That’s just the risk you take in popular resistance.”



Since 2007, the people of Al-Walaja have received four different maps outlining the proposed route of the wall. The first official proposal threatened to divide the town in two parts, completely cutting off one part of the village from the other. The village formally complained to the Israeli high court and the plan was eventually overturned. However the three most recent plans have shown the wall being built in a way that completely surrounds the village on all sides with only one exit and entry point manned by IDF soldiers.

Village Council President Saleh Hilmi Khalifa rejects Israel’s claim that the separation wall is necessary to protect its citizens.

“If you take a photo of the region, you discover that these sayings are lies. The distance between the citizens and any Israeli units is too far, we are too far from the Israeli regions. If there is any problem with the Israelis’ security, why are they building the wall in our lands? Why don’t they build it on their lands?” he says.

Dr Qumsiyeh agrees, believing Israel is only interested in expanding the current expanse of Jerusalem to what is referred to as ‘Greater Jerusalem’.

“Al-Walaja has never had any conflict with the Israelis and if Israel is worried about the people of Al-Walaja coming into Israeli areas they could build the wall on the green line. But they choose instead to encircle the village with the wall and this tells me that it is not about security for the Israeli communities”.

“Israel has actually divided Al-Walaja into two areas. One of them is actually apart from the expanded boundaries of Jerusalem. Nobody recognises (these boundaries) except Israel, which says East Jerusalem is part of its capital. They expanded its borders so that nearly half the land of Al-Walaja is part of Jerusalem municipality. But not the people of Al-Walaja. They want the land but they don’t want the people that come with it.”

One villager, Ahmed Barwoud, has already had to stand back and watch as his farmland. was torn up to make way for the wall. Barwoud has lived here for over sixty years, since before Israel was created.

“This is something to remind me of the lands that were taken from us in 1948. This is another Nakba. The Israelis came and marked the lands and they brought the bulldozers and started to work,” he says.

Barwoud’s home is also the final resting place of his parents and grandparents. Israel’s current plans will place the graves of his ancestors on the other side of the wall in a Jerusalem municipality far exceeding the green line.

Ahmed Barwoud has been living in Al-Walaja for longer than Israel has existed. (Photo: Nicky Elliott)

Ahmed Barwoud has been living in Al-Walaja for longer than Israel has existed. (Photo: Nicky Elliott)

His farm has become a meeting point for demonstrators in Al-Walaja, where both Palestinians and internationals gather before a protest.

“They are standing with me because this is our issue, maybe today its my disaster and tomorrow it will be their disaster. The disaster includes all of us.”

But while Barwoud appreciates the support from internationals, he says his lands will not be saved unless foreign governments make a determined effort to confront Israel’s expansion.

“There are some people who stand significantly with us and that’s good, they demonstrate with us, its a really good stance. But what I say is they have to stand against their governments which support Israel, that is better than them coming here. They have to stand against Europe because it supports Israel and America is the biggest supporter of Israel.”

If they don’t, Barwoud says the struggle will be carried forward by his children.

“In the future, when they take my land, I will only hate the occupation more and more, and I will hate the supporters of Israel more and more. I will teach my children to be strong and how to take their lands back.”

Learn more about the popular struggle here http://www.popularstruggle.org/