Tag Archives: Ramallah

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Honored to be a “Freedom Rider”

Mazin Qumsiyeh
Mazin Qumsiyeh
I was honored to be a freedom rider and it was team effort at its best (those who rode and the many who worked behind the scenes).  Two other Palestinians were also arrested with us who were there as a reporters/observers not participants. All eight of us were released eventually pending potential trials. Fajr kindly gave us a ride to the edge of Beit Sahour from Ramallah (we were released at Qalandia checkpoint) where my wife met us there with my car and then she and I gave a ride to Nadim and Badi’ to Hebron.  I thus arrived home at 1:30 AM and the phones started ringing again at 7 AM.  I am extremely tired and with a headache but wanted to send you a brief report and links to stories about this amazing and inspiring experience. While released, we are still charged with “illegal entry to Jerusalem” and with “obstructing police business” pending potential trial.
This was one of the most heavily covered media events I ever participated in.  It was also streamed live on the internet and nearly 100,000 people signed a petition of support for us freedom riders

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Land Confiscation, Actions, and more

Mazin Qumsiyeh

Back to the (ab)normal and unpredictable situation here in Palestine.  I give talks to visiting international delegations, we deal with problems, we organize activities, we attend events including various forms of non-violent resistance, I teach students, I do clinical service, I write on my upcoming books, eat great food, have wonderful conversations etc.  I keep up with the news of my friends who were on the boats to Gaza. The Canadian abductees arrived home. Some Irish abductees were re-imprisoned. Israeli armed guards prevented them boarding planes at the last minute (more at http://witnessgaza.com/).  But the world is outraged and politicians while still attached to their failing positions, are feeling besieged by their own people.  Delegations from Sweden, Ireland, the US, and many others pass through Palestine and then stay in touch via the internet learning and becoming even more active against the idiotic policies of mainstream Western politicians.  Thousands of people are finally saying: we will not take it anymore. The Empire and its servants are pushing for a war on Iran now (after they pushed for an illegal war on Iran) but judging from average people reaction and the jitters in the stock market, there is no constituency for war.  I do not think it will happen.  Racism will lose anyway, with or without their racist wars.

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My visit to Palestine and why the wall will fall

Israeli separation barrier at Abu Dis, June 2004 (en wikipedia where it was uploaded as own work)

Israeli separation barrier at Abu Dis, June 2004 (en wikipedia where it was uploaded as own work)

I just came back from a short trip to Palestine and Israel. It felt good going home to Ramallah where I grew up and lived the first (and best) 17 years of my life. I also visited my extended family in Ramleh who stayed after 1948. The last time I was back was in 2003 in the midst of the 2nd intifada to see my grandmother for the last time. Things have changed since then. There are now fewer checkpoints but more security surrounding them. There is of course the eight meter separation wall built around towns and villages, cutting through streets, neighbourhoods and olive groves. Settlements surrounding Palestinian towns and villages are dotted all around the West Bank in full view. There are roads only used by settlers to reach their settlements and bypass Palestinian towns and villages. Palestinian homes now get water once or twice a week – I was very surprised that people run out of water and have to pay money to buy it.
Going back home brought back memories of the occupation while growing up in the 1970’s and 1980’s in Ramallah – the army Jeeps streaming through the streets, announcing curfews through the speakers, bloody demonstrations, smell of burning tyres, young boys dragged into the army Jeeps and the bizarre behaviour (that’s what I used to think anyway) by the soldiers when they see the Palestinian flag being raised at demonstrations (The good news that after 25 years the Palestinian flag is now flying on every building, street lights, inside cars and people’s homes. We now have progress. At least the demonstrations achieved something!)
Despite the insecurity, life with family and friends and living in a close community was beautiful. I was fortunate to have loyal and loving family, friends and neighbours. Everyone looked out for each other and despite the hardship of the surrounding occupation, we were relatively happy despite the international news that portrayed otherwise. My big family – my parents and 5 children – lived together in a small 2br apartment, five siblings slept in one small room on a double bed, and we ate and shared from the same plate on a small table in the kitchen that we also used to study on. We didn’t have the comforts of everything but we were happy and made sure we looked out for each other.
As a young girl I was not aware of why we had demonstrations and curfews all the time. My family made sure we didn’t talk about politics and I grew up illiterate about the Israel/Palestine conflict (except my grandmothers 1948 stories of course). My parents wanted us to know that Israelis were normal just like us and made sure that we visited my dad’s many Jewish friends in West Jerusalem and my mum made them Palestinian food (stuffed chicken with rice mince and pine nuts – very yummy – kobbe, tabouli, stuffed zucchini and eggplant) every time they came to Ramallah to visit on Saturdays. I knew the soldiers were the same as my dad’s friends but back then could never reconcile how they could be the same guys beating young boys and taking them away in their Jeeps.
My family packed up and left in 1986 to Australia due to the constant occupation and lack of future opportunities for five bright and talented children. It took me some time to adjust to a quiet and at times “boring” life without the constant curfews and demonstrations. My curiosity to understand what is happening in Palestine started then and I devoured books that explained the conflict. The books I read were more political and historical in nature of course.
But a chance encounter with an Israeli woman in 1996 at a personal development course in Sydney changed the way I thought about the political conflict. Batsheva heard me speak and asked me where I came from, I said “Palestine”. She stared at me for a while. I realised that she was Israeli because of her accent. I was concerned that she was going to scream or swear at me. But then she came close to me and said “I am sorry for what my people did to your people”. The long hug and cathartic cries followed. I could not let go of her. She became my second mum and we became good friends. Inviting her over my place for a taste of Palestinian food was a sign that she became family.
The experience made a difference in how I viewed the conflict. Political and historical narratives are dwarfed when people see each other as human beings. I was still young then to understand the importance of this chance encounter. Batsheva was on my mind last week as I was going through the streets of Bethlehem surrounded by the separation wall; as I was going through Kalandia checkpoint waiting my turn to get through the turnstiles to be scanned and asked why I was going to Jerusalem; as I saw the settlements surrounding Palestinian towns and wondering whether its inhabitants were just like Batsheva.
Batsheva is not your average person but she is like every other human being. We all have the capacity to open our hearts to see and hear each other’s narrative and source of suffering. Once we do, the separation wall will surely fall and the checkpoints will melt and disappear. That’s when Israel and Palestine will deserve to be called the “Holy Land”. Maybe then we will let go of labels, flags, checkpoints and borders. Who needs them when their neighbour is just like Batsheva?

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SEPTEMBER

Mazin Qumsiyeh

Mazin Qumsiyeh

In memorium: friend of Palestine, a great French activist, who founded friends of Al-Rowwad Theater (Aida Refugee Camp)in France,  Jean-Claude Ponsin passed away at age 81.  We shall not forget such great human beings.

 

Some of my friends in Fatah and others will not like some of what I have to say here. Others will respect and even appreciate it including some members of Fatah central committee.  The situation is becoming intolerable and some of us feel we cannot remain silent. I personally owe it to the 50,000 of you who occasionally read my emails and the many who specifically email to ask me about this issue of September. The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back leading to this essay was an email from Dr. Saeb Erekat today that included a document claiming to be strategies of the Palestinian leadership in going to the UN in September for recognition.  The same day, Israeli authorities initiated laws in the Knesset to make Israel more Jewish (see below) AND approved 930 new houses for a new Jewish only settlement of Har Homa C.  This is an adjacent hill to Har Homa A and B and is on Jabal Al-Deek, land of my village of Beit Sahour. Words from unelected representative can be lost in the din of jack-hammers and bulldozers tearing the ancient landscape. Declarations to the media about 122 countries recognizing Palestine (about the same as was the case in 1989) mean little to villagers and refugees who are losing daily in their struggle to get their concerns heard by those driving SUVs and Mercedes cars in the streets of Ramallah and who go unhindered through checkpoints with VIP cards.

 

I talk and work with activists on the ground daily.  The message they all relay is that there is a widening rift between all political parties and the people.  They know it and admit it (many leaders said they can no longer mobilize people).  The answer is known: go back to the people and reignite the revolutionary spirit that exists within each of us.  The therapies for the metastatic growth of settlements on Palestinian land, to the increase in racist Israeli laws, to the plight of refugees all do not involve documents by Erekat or a resort to biased International fora that issues resolutions they were never willing to implement.

 

Under the category of “What we have to do?” Erekat’s document starts with “1. Open a strategic dialogue with the U.S. administration on the question of membership. It is evident that the use of the United States’ ‘veto’ makes it impossible for Palestine to become a member state. “After 37 years of opening “strategic dialogue” with the US, 18 years of direct negotiations under the auspices of the US, under what logic can such a dialogue lead to anything. Just think of the standing ovations given to the war-criminal Netanyahu in the US Congress to see that this is an illusion. If the PA could not even get Obama to stick to his own words on simple matters (e.g. settlement activity must be stopped), what makes Erekat and company think that talking more will get Obama to help establish a Palestinian state.  Our own representatives refuse to even boycott Israeli officials (our UN representative attends a farewell party to the Israeli representative).  Ofcourse every one knows that we Palestinians are the ones being pressured and not the Israeli government.  The trap of Oslo that created a class of people dependent on their livelihood on aid ensured that independent Palestinian decision-making is impossible.  Under these circumstances, what makes anyone think that it is possible to change the status quo without removing the structures of dependency created by the Oslo trap?

 

In a second point of “What we have to do?” Erekat states that “Recognizing a Palestinian State on the 1967 borders and becoming a UN member will make it easy for the Palestinian leadership to make a decision on the final status negotiations immediately, on all issues without exception (Jerusalem, borders, settlements, refugee, water, security, and the release of prisoners and detainees).”  This is extremely dangerous and misleading.  Why is UN recognition linked to unconditional return to fruitless negotiations? What makes anyone with any logic believe that the US would change without us first changing and applying some real pressure? And since when is the Palestinian struggle reduced to a Palestinian “state” in Part of the West Bank (no Palestinian or Israeli leader now believes even in getting the whole of the West Bank)? Many Palestinians point out that records of previous “negotiations” show that Qurei, Erekat and Abu Mazen were willing to give up on refugee and other rights in return for this emasculated state (see leaked Palestine documents and Abu-Mazin – Beilin agreement and Geneva accords).

 

In a third point, it states: “In light of President Obama’s speech on 5/19/2011 in which he talked about our choice to go to the UN saying: “for the Palestinians, their efforts to delegitimize Israel will ultimately fail, the symbolic actions to isolate Israel from the UN in September will not create an independent state. It is clear that the Obama administration understands that we are going to the UN for:

-An attempt to isolate and delegitimize Israel.

-That it is a symbolic act.

-Such effort will not lead to the creation of an independent state.

This understanding is contrary to what we want to achieve from applying for a membership for the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. We do not seek to delegitimize Israel or isolate it nor is this a symbolic act.”

How many liberation movements in the world do you know of that refuse to even try to isolate a repressive apartheid regime? Just like many other situations before, this Palestinian authority wants to get Israel off the hook.  Just like when they shelved consideration of the Goldstone report or when they lobbied Israel against release of Palestinian political prisoners (supposedly so that Hamas would not gain points).  Just like when many of them said publicly that they do not boycott Israeli products but only “settlement products” (as if there is a difference in apartheid products).  Just like when they issued instructions to their security services to stop popular resistance activities (only allowing vigils in the middle of cities but no friction with Israeli occupation soldiers).  The list goes on and on.

 

As for the event at the UN being a symbolic act, indeed that is what is being contemplated.  The PA should instead get beyond symbolism and do serious actions like demand the UN rescind Israel’s membership (since it failed to respect the UN charter and violated its own promises to comply with its obligations). A real effort would entail asking UN member state to deal with Israel like they dealt with Apartheid South Arica since Israel fulfills all the requirements of an apartheid regime under the relevant International convention.

 

A few years ago, Mr. Erekat came for a  tour in the US.  When some leading Palestinian Americans started questioning him on the failure of Oslo, he just got angry and said to about 40 of us that he has a PhD and that “who are you all to question things”.   This is simply unacceptable. The cause of 11 million Palestinians cannot be left to a few individuals (no matter how or if well-meaning).

 

The fear of aid cut

 

US Aid to the Palestinian authority is done in a way to implement US policy which in turn (due to AIPAC and other lobbies) serves Israeli occupation policies.  For example most USAID dollars go to infrastructure (mostly roads) that create temporary jobs and relieve the responsibility of the occupier.  Most roads are alternative roads that help solidify the apartheid system (ie. roads around settlement blocks etc).  The bulk of the aid goes directly to support the salaries of Palestinians employed by the Palestinian authority.  Most of that budget goes toward salaries for security employees.  Per Oslo II, that security is to ensure that there is no friction with Israelis (ie. suppress any resistance including nonviolent resistance).  Because the salaries and political stability of the subservient Palestinian authority has come to depend on this aid, it is very easy to use it as leverage to extort high level officials.  We saw this for example in the shelving of the report by the Goldstone commission.  We saw it in 2006 and 2007 (when aid was cut following the elections, quickly the elites had to undermine the government and go back to supporting the status quo). In short, aid from the US harms Palestinian national interest and serves to perpetuate the occupation because it entrenches the status quo, reieves Israel from the cost of being an occupier, and restricts political freedom to liberate ourselves.

For more on this, please read http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/occ&aid.html

 

I urge the central committee of Fatah which acted boldly to remove Dahlan from his position as its media person to act boldly to go down the path of further and bolder changes.  Setting term-limits on service would be an appropriate first step for Fatah and could set the stage also for setting term limits for PA positions.  My humble and open recommendation is for the Palestinian leadership to come back to the people and get new blood periodically.  With this new blood, a mobilization of the Palestinians in exile can be done to effect real change by building appropriate short, medium, and long term strategies for example by lobbying, media work, and BDS (Boycotts, divestments, and sanctions).  Internally, the Palestinian house needs to be put in order by implementing existing agreements to create a representative Palestinian National Council (of the PLO).  That would create an atmosphere of real popular resistance that could indeed quickly change the dynamics on the ground.[See my book on lessons from 130 years; http://www.qumsiyeh.org/popularresistanceinpalestine/ ]

 

There are hundreds of Palestinian lawyers, political science professors, and other experts who can be consulted to build a real strategy and direction towards liberation.  Engaging in open dialogue about these things is good for everyone.  The status quo cannot be tolerated.  It is better to do this now than wait till September when the people (having falsely raised their hopes of an end to the occupation) will see the leaders who kept talking to them about September flounder and fall.

 

It really makes no difference whether one is apathetic or one is colluding with the status quo of an occupation profitable to the occupiers (thanks to the Oslo accords). After all, silence is complicity.

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Palestinians will soon come full circle: Years have been wasted making concessions to their colonizers. Palestinians were right to call for a secular state at the outset

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/04/palestinians-secular-state

 

[After passing laws that discriminate in land rights, in civil rights, in privileges, in residency, and even in marriage among many others, now comes new laws on freedom of speech, and then there is this…]

Lawmakers seek to drop Arabic as one of Israel’s official languages

“Another clause states that Jewish law will be a source of inspiration to the legislature and the courts. This would mean that MKs would be asked to legislate in the spirit of Jewish law, and courts to adjudicate by it in cases where no other express law exists.”

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/lawmakers-seek-to-drop-arabic-as-one-of-israel-s-official-languages-1.376829

 

Must read especially to those who still believe in Oslo accord: Palestinian low salaries also linked to Israeli social struggle

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/palestinians-low-salaries-also-linked-to-israeli-social-struggle-1.376283

 

Check the label: Boycott Israeli dates

http://www.nakba.co.uk/blog/index.php?%2Farchives%2F2643-Check-The-Label-Boycott-Israeli-Dates.html

http://www.inminds.com/boycott-israeli-dates.php

 

INTERVIEW (in German): Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh – Akademiker und Aktivist im Nahostkonflikt (SB)

http://www.schattenblick.de/infopool/politik/redakt/intv0003.html

 

Am I allowed to be a Palestinian Jew? by Audrey Farber

http://mondoweiss.net/2010/12/am-i-allowed-to-be-a-palestinian-jew.html

 

Hidden video camera inside Israeli prison (from women held when they tried to come to spend a week in Palestine ‘Welcome to Palestine’ participants)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYRxrYPGZS4

 

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

A Bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home

http://qumsiyeh.org

http://palestinejn.org

http://pcr.ps

http://IMEMC.org

http://www.alrowwad-acts.ps

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine. He serves as chairman of the board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Sahour He is author of “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle” and the forthcoming book Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment.

A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
http://www.qumsiyeh.org
http://www.pcr.ps

Articles by Dr. Qumsiyeh on RamallahOnline.com.

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Palestinian Authority; Running on Empty.

It is unclear how long the PA will continue to serve a purpose. (Via Aljazeera)

It is unclear how long the PA will continue to serve a purpose. (Via Aljazeera)

It is unclear how long the PA will continue to serve a purpose. (Via Aljazeera)


Sami Jamil Jadallah

Perhaps it will do good for Salam Fayyad to pick up the phone, better yet to talk the short walk to the office of the Israeli Military Governor for Judea and Samaria (the Boss) and ask for the $300 millions needed by the PA. The $300 million should represent the first of many payments to come for services rendered to the Israeli Occupation since Oslo. Israel owes the PLO/PA some $ 50 Billions for services rendered.

On one hand we are told the PA is working on completion of its “state institutional buildings” in time for the declaration of the independent Palestinian state and we hear of praised from the World Bank and the IMF of the wonderful job Fayyad and the PA are doing in building state institutions. Well the performance of the World Bank and IMF in this messed up world economy raises lots of valid questions about the roles if not the competency of these two institutions to solve the world problems.

On the other hand, we are told Fayyad and the PA are unable to meet the salaries, payroll and running costs of the PA and that the PA does not have enough money to keep running for one month. So where is this great success the World Bank and IMF are talking about?

Perhaps someone from the World Bank and the IMF can explain to all of us, what kind of “state” Fayyad runs if it does not have enough money to keep going for one month and is living on the sole, international welfare. Raising the question of whether the Palestinians want to have a state that is totally dependent on international welfare? We know they accepted to rely on UNRWA for over 60 years.

What kind of state the guys in Ramallah are talking about? And what kind of institutional buildings that has been going on for sometimes? We are not aware of any efforts or plans underway to building governing institutions that are transparent and accountable to the people and can withstand public scrutiny.

So far, we are not aware of building a viable executive branch of government that is non-partisan, representing the nation and people and not a narrow partisan politics or personal business interests. An executive branch that is equal to other branches of government. Not aware of any efforts in this regards moving away from the “personality cult” that has afflicted and badly damaged the Palestinian cause of liberation from the early days of Arafat till now. An executive branch that is accountable before the people and not to Fatah or the PLO.

We are not aware of any plans to build a legislative branch that is free and independent of the executive branch, one that is the people’s representative, strong enough and independent enough to withstand marginalization by the executive branch as we have seen in the last 20 years, if not the last 45 years. The PLC and since Oslo served no purpose as the people’s representatives, accountable to one but the people who elected them, ineffective, and useless as ever.

We are also not aware of any plans to build an independent judiciary, that is free and independent from the executives, one that can dispense justice in transparent way where the poor and powerful are equal in the eyes of the law and courts. Where defendants and accused are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law with the right of defense to challenge witnesses and evidence in an open court. A judicial system free from partisan politics as we have seen both in Ramallah and Gaza. What is out there now is nothing to be proud of.

We are not ware of any plans to disengage the Palestinian economy from that of the Jewish Occupation, not aware of any plans to seek rebuilding of an economy that serve the general public and does not serve the narrow interests of a powerful oligarchy that has total control and monopoly over the Palestinians economy, an economy where the talents and educations of the Palestinian are its best assets.

True there has a been a boom in housing constructions but that narrow economy is in the service of the oligarchy and the banks with people overburdened with mortgage and consumer loans. Reports say the people are indebted to the banks to the tune of over $2 billions in an economy that is totally dependent on salaries and payroll of the PA. When the salaries come if they do come, they go directly to pay loans leaving consumers with little money for the daily livings. A payroll that is totally dependent on the good well of the Americans and Europeans and how they feel the PA is keeping its commitment in serving and securing the Jewish Occupation.

Not aware of any plans to develop, train and qualify a labor force that can move away from rebuilding Jewish settlements and away from working in settlement factories. The late Arafat and his team were always too keen on making sure that hundreds of thousands of Palestinian laborers are able to work inside the Green Line, but never in his tenure did he made any efforts to give these hundreds of thousands of labors a choice away from the humiliating process of seeking the daily jobs inside Israel. Supplying cheap labor to Israel was a top priority under Oslo.

The only thing we know of is that billions of dollars invested in the Palestinian Security Forces making sure its meets its commitments to Israel, to the Jewish Occupation and to the safety and security of the these marauding Jewish criminal settler’s terrorists. This is the only priority for the PLO/PA, Israel and international donors.

We all know the functions and duties of the Palestinian Security Forces toward the Jewish Occupations and Jewish settlers but we are not aware of the function and duties of the Palestinian Security Forces toward the Palestinians people. OK I concede the minor role the security forces play in solving petty crimes, managing traffic but not ware of one instant when the security forces prevented one single attack by Jewish criminal settlers on a Palestinian village or preventing the burning of an olive field or the poisoning of one single water well.

We understand the security forces could not fight the IDF provide safety and security for the people but we do not understand why the security forces does not intervene and protect the people from the daily and repeated crimes of these attacking Jewish criminals?

Frankly the PA, the PLO has been running on empty for a long time and so far we have not seen liberations of Palestine, we have not seen return of refugees, we have not seen the removal of one single security check points, have not seen the stopping or preventing of land confiscations, or house demolitions, certainly nothing is done about the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from East Jerusalem. Nothing the PLO or the PA committed to was ever accomplish, nothing but total failures and lies. No need to talk about the tens of billions fleeced and remains unaccounted for. Forget about Jerusalem it was promised to Israel.

If I were to make a bet, I will bet that the PLO will not go to the UN and will not keep commitments it made in Istanbul today and will “postpone” its decisions till next year waiting for the “right conditions” and buying time for itself, its leaders certainly buying time for the Jewish Occupation to take more and more land and create more and more facts on the ground, facts the Palestinian leadership will have to accept at the end of the day of its commitments to a negotiated settlement.

Sami Jamil Jadallah

Sami Jamil Jadallah

Sami Jamil Jadallah is an international legal and business consultant and is the founder and director of Palestine Agency and Palestine Documentation Center www.palestineagency.com and founder and owner of several business in technology and services. Sami also runs an online website (Jefferson Corner). His articles are also featured on PalestineNote and Veterans Today.

Articles on RamallahOnline by Sami Jamil Jadallah

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Cruel and sadistic intoxication of power

May 15th, Ramallah Nakbah Rally (Nick Marouf, RamallahOnline)
May 15th, Ramallah Nakbah Rally (Nick Marouf, RamallahOnline)

May 15th, Ramallah Nakbah Rally (Nick Marouf, RamallahOnline)

Mazin Qumsiyeh, 18 May 2011

My family updated you using my email on what happened on Nakba day (the three messages are now posted at my blog).   Hundreds of us were kidnapped by the apartheid soldiers from demonstration and hundreds were injuried and scores were martyred.  Before I give my report I wanted to thank everyone who took action. I have far too many emails to thank each of you who wrote me and I do not know who are the hundreds of others who called or wrote to officials, media etc (I do know from inside information that hundreds did write just to the US embassy as an example).  The level of communication and action around Nakba was inspiring and critical around the world.  Ben Gurion said about the ethnic cleanmsing of Palestine that “the old will die and the young will forget”.   Coming on the heels of an Israeli Knesset law to bar and suppress any commemorations of the Nakba, the day would actually turn out to be amazing. This day was the most important May 15 event since the weeks after May 15, 1948 when thousands of refugees “infiltrated” (as the Zionists labeled it) the borders to return to their homes and lands (a return that also meant many of them were shot on site or expelled).

 

Our day started in the beautiful village of Al-Walaja at 11 AM as the villagers symbolically burned a refugee tent and decided to walk to their lands, much of it lies beyond the 1948  “Green line” ( itself dissolved by the Israeli occupation 1967 ).  I was video documenting this historic event on the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba                     (the ethnic cleansing of 500 Palestinian villages and towns). Some 800 people from Al-Walaja, other Palestinians, and internationals walked down the hills to the valley that delineates the 1948 green line. Army jeeps gathered on the road between us and the old land of Al-Walaja. Shireen and Basil approached the officers in an attempt to talk and explain that it is a peaceful march and that we just wanted to visit our lands. The answer was an empathic “get back” and an immediate attack by soldiers on the peaceful demonstrators. I noticed Ahmed down on the ground, pepper sprayed in his eyes and mouth and obviously in severe pain. I tried to help him while trying to film at the same time, within 3-5 minutes I was led away with 4 others including Ahmed. As they roughly and sadistically hit and pushed us into their military vehicle, Ahmed’s conditions was worsening and he was refused medical care. The 4 youth were handcuffed in the back and I was handcuffed in front (perhaps due to my age). As we drove off, we started to hear the sounds of tear gas canisters and stun grenades.

 

I and the other pleaded with the soldiers and officers to provide medical care to Ahmed, but they would not even give us a paper-towel or a cloth to wipe his face (fluids running down his nose, mouth and ears). I finally used my T-shirt (which says “Got human rights? Palestinians don´t “!) to wipe the pepper spray off his face. Time passes slowly when you are in pain physically and psychologically.  But while all of us had bruises (the pharmacist Basil Al-Araj even suspected he has fracture in his rib), we all focused on encouraging and helping Ahmed.  2 hours later we did get paper towels but I was the only one capable of helping Ahmed because my hands were in front of me. We were first transferred to border police vehicle (with a particularly nasty woman soldier). We arrived at the military camp near Rachel’s tomb area. Half an hour after we arrived there (2+ hours after our detention), the doors to the container opened and 8 internationals stream in including one girl. They are not handcuffed and they relay that the soldiers after taking us near the green line chased villagers into the village and began arresting everyone they encountered including internationals. Everyone was just trying to run away they said. We remained at this camp for another 2 hours. I managed to get free from the plastic handcuff which really angered the soldiers when they discovered it, and I was tightly shackled with “Hatts-Made in England” metal handcuffs.

 

We are then all loaded to drive to the military compound called Atarot. I have been there in my last arrest, the soldiers and the interrogation rooms are elevated and a holding container is about 2 meters “depression” with metal roof. There we are to wait without using our phones (but we do in a clandestine way). Soon 5 more people form Al-Walaja were brought in including 2 children (twins ages 12). The children and 2 of the adults were taken from their houses (one in his slippers).  For the rest of my life I will not forget the terrorized look and tears of the children (we tried to encourage and joke with them).   Soon 15-20 more  people are brought in (arrested at Shufat refugee camp). I noted at least 4 masked undercover plain-cloth thugs accompanying them (these are the notorious “Musta’ribeen”, Israeli undercover agents who infiltrate demonstrations, sometimes throwing rocks to incite others and give excuse for the uniformed officers to shoot.) We are told that hundreds of Palestinians were injured and and hundreds arrested from around the Jerusalem area (Shufat, Qalandia, Eisawiyya).

 

Two youths from the Shufat group are badly injured; one had his head bandaged by a Palestinian paramedic earlier. The other whom I examined had contusions on his face including what appeared to me a broken bone (zygomatic arch) and a huge swelling around his left eye. He is shaking, dizzy, and in pain. I asked the officers to get him urgent medical care. One officer finally says: wait here. Then he goes and gets another officer who has the form that we all had refused to sign (the one that says “we did not get hurt during our arrest”). The message was clear: sign and we will get you medical care. The guy can´t even see to sign and he refuses. After much fuss and later (to quiet us down) they came back and took the two injured away; we hope they are cared for properly.

 

After much nagging on our part, one interrogator comes and asks if the two young children have celebrated their 12th birthday yet. The answer was no and he had no choice but decide to “question” them (more though scaring and screaming at them) then tell a fellow officer in Hebrew to call their parents to get them. (This takes another 1.5 hours). Israeli law allows charging and jailing Palestinians above age 12.  As I would find out when they took me to prison, the prisons are full of 12-18 year-old kids.

 

As night fell and we kept nagging, we are brought sandwiches at around 10 PM, fully 10-11 hours after our arrest. Then painfully slow, 40+ remaining prisoners began to get questioned. My turn comes around 12:30 AM (13 hours after our arrest). The lawyer says, you should not say anything; I instead take this opportunity and many others before and after to engage with these apartheid officers to get them to see the absurdity of it all. The bureaucracy meant that actually between the time of our first handcuff and our final release, we interact with over 150 apartheid officials and it is in my opinion good to try to talk to those who would talk (most tell us to shut up).  The interrogator tells me I am charged with participating in an illegal demonstration and throwing stones. I tell him I wrote a book on popular nonviolent resistance. He refuses to discuss politics; I refuse to sign paper that had his notes in Hebrew about what we discussed I go back to the pin. More waiting in bitter night coldness that we are not dressed for. The internationals are released once they sign a paper that say that they will not get near the wall and friction points for 15 days (if they do they would have to pay 5000 Nis or $1200 USD). We wail more and our spirits are high as rumors spread of successful Nakba events around the world. Many activists are released; five of us are left from the demo in Al Walaja and four from the Shufat demo. The later will go to Maskubiyya (the Russian compound) and we will go to Ofer. We finally leave this cold miserable place to Ofer at 4 AM. At Ofer, we are transferred to a military jeep with particularly nasty border police that insist I keep my head down. They use foul language and threats and occasional smack. They keep us like sardines in this jeep till 6 AM. We are then taken for “processing” which takes more than two hours from strip-search to photographs in prison uniform (mug-shots), to finger printing, to getting all our belongings logged in and stored, to being asked to change to the dark green prison uniforms. Each step involves changing handcuffs (I lost count how many times but must be at least 10 times in those few hours). The five of us get prison numbers 1932710 to 1932714.  We are put in a 3 m x 3 m holding cell for one hour they put us in and we are moved around 11 am to another area of the prison.

 

There an officer asks us individually which faction block we want to go to (Fatah, Hamas, PFLP etc.). He insists there are no sections/blocks for independents like me so I told him that I cannot choose other than to suggest that since we from the Walaja demo have the same lawyer, we should probably be assigned together.  He says he will see. Three of us end up in block 15 (Fatah).  After some checks, the gate to block 15 opens and they remove our handcuffs and we enter a hall that includes 12 rooms (on two floors).  Each small room accommodates 10 inmates. Today the block is near maximum capacity of 120 people in a space is this size of an average famil house in the US. We are greeted by a very friendly “dober” (Liaison between the block and the authorities). Who then takes us into one of the rooms to meet some key inmates and explains the rules to us. I am tired and can’t focus but also I am honored and privileged to meet good people. I was surprised at how many youths are around. I am assigned room 5 with 7 other people already in it (two of whom are teenagers). In a way I was lucky because the room-head (Mohammed Saleh) is also head of the culture/education committee. After a shower (pajama provided kindly by the inmates), I was relaxing in my bed as he held his daily workshop to some 8 teenagers. The subject was the trilateral attack on Egypt and Egyptian-Palestinian relationship.

 

Prison life is regimented and orderly.  When roll call came, we stand up in our rooms next to our beds and the room metal doors are unlocked and several officers are standing tehre and they look at us as vultures while they call either our first or last name and we supply the rest of our name information. Time out is till 6 PM and during time out of rooms, the room doors are opened every half hour for 3 or so minutes in case you want to get something or return to your room.  I am told the Palestinian Authority pays Israel 17 dollars /day to keep each prisoner. Israel wants to maintain prisoner number (now in the thousands) as bargaining chips. I am impressed by how organized and clean the prisoners kept their crammed quarters. We agree that if I end up staying, I will learn Hebrew and teach English. In their weekly gathering I was also asked to give them a seminar on my book on history of Popular Resistance in Palestine. They bring me a book about Hebrew and I start to jot down notes about English and give the first two pages about alphabet and pronunciation to Mohammed. We discussed many things.

 

Around 10:30 PM and as I was beginning to doze off, I heard loud knowck on the locked metal door and my name is called.  I am told I am going and to get my things.  I quickly change back to the prison uniform, stick my hands out the opening of our room door to be re-shackled.  The door is open and I find Ahmed (the other Ahmed, not the one injured) sitting and waiting.  Then they bring Basil.  By that time all the block is up at the doors and small windowns checking out what is happening wishing us good wishes.  Tears well up in my eyes as we are slowly led away leaving those good people behind.  After some processing, change of cloths, reshackling (our feet also shackled), we are loaded onto the a prison transport vehicle.  We are told our lawyer must retrieve our identity cards and valuable belongings (wallet, phone). We are dumped with no money and no phone in the middle of the night outside of the prison.  The mistreatment upon release is intended to send a message not come back (actually that was the last thing the officer told me). We manage to find a way home.

 

The first thing I did when I got home after reassuring my immediate family and quickly scanning emails was to watch the video of the amazing and inspiring breach of the apartheid borders at Majdal Shams area.

 

We are sad that 20 people were murdered in trying to peacefully cross the borders (created by an apartheid racist system).  We are sad that Munib Masri Jr, 22 year old Palestinian-American and grandson of the famous Palestinian Philanthropist Munib Al-Masri was critically injured (among many hundreds) after being shot by an Israeli sniper using bullets that are paid for by US taxpayers. We are sad and angry about all of this and much more.  But we are also inspired and energized by the remarkable collective effort.  We are all  more certain than ever that this apartheid system is destined to fail like the one in South Africa failed.  Perhaps 15 May 2011 will be looked at as the beginning of the end. The Arab Spring is chipping the Apartheid system. The light is at the end of the tunnel.  Let us follow it up.

 

A reporter asked about my arrest at the US State Department Press Briefing.  This and your efforts must have had a hand in our quick release http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2011/05/163509.htm#ISRAEL

 

New York City march on Nakba day

 

Al-Walaja story (7 new home demolition orders)

 

 

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine. He serves as chairman of the board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Sahour He is author of “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle” and the forthcoming book Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment.

A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
http://www.qumsiyeh.org
http://www.pcr.ps

Articles by Dr. Qumsiyeh on RamallahOnline.com.

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Hamas rallies for unity in Ramallah

Palestine Monitor, May 6, 2011: Al Manara Square, West Bank

For the first time since the bloody fratricide following the 2006 Palestinian elections, Hamas supporters were allowed to publicly protest in the West Bank. More than two hundred supporters celebrated the recently announced Palestinian National Unity under green headbands and flags.

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Optimism and Change

Mazin Qumsiyeh

Mazin Qumsiyeh, 14 April 2011

According the latest survey of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, some 26.2% of families live in poverty and 14.1% live in deep poverty for a total of 40.3% living in poverty or deep poverty in the WB and Gaza. The situation in Gaza is worse than in the WB. By contrast, any casual visitor to Ramallah is struck by 5 star hotels, fancy banquets, hummers and SUVs, and the latest models of Mercedes cars. And throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, over 200 thousand employees draw salaries from foreign aid channeled through the “Palestinian authority” with lots of strings attached (to support the status quo). De facto one party rules function in the WB and in Gaza with economic incentives against radical change in toe. Even a simple thing like university student union elections, parties were excluded. With so many people benefitting from a continuation of the status quo, some find it hard to envisage meaningful change. But wasn’t that the situation in Egypt for decades and that is now dramatically changing? Now the Egyptian ex-President (a lackey of Israeli and US foreign policies) and his two wealthy sons are under detention and will be indicted soon. The Egyptian airline canceled its regular flights to Tel Aviv. The Egyptian government just ordered a review of the sale of natural gas to Israel (where it was sold below value with some benefits to the wealthy Egyptian elites); this was costing the Egyptian people 3-4 billion annually. And the demonstrators in Cairo marched to and surrounded the Israeli embassy demanding its ouster.*

In my talks in the US, I predicted that the President of Yemen will be next (he is the most subservient to Israeli and US governments). A million marched in Yemen last Friday. Syrian President (good on rhetoric but also serving status quo) is besieged. The list goes on. Youth in many Palestinian cities including in Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Gaza are mobilizing. There are ongoing hunger strikes, protest tents, and conventions (one in Bethlehem Saturday will have over 1000 attendees). The winds of change are blowing. Israeli elites are shaken and have begun to debate among themselves what to do (maybe even accept a larger Bantustan and call it a Palestinian state without the refugees allowed to return). But it is too little, too late. A global intifada is ongoing. We the people, insist on justice (which brings a durable peace). On the ground here in Palestine, our struggle is one person at a time, one village at a time. In my talks abroad, I gave the example of Al-Walaja village. To really understand the Palestinian struggle come visit us and work with us. If you can’t do that, watch this excellent documentary:
Al-Walaja story
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Gaza war crimes investigation: Israeli drones (with Arabic subtitles)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/mar/23/isreael-gaza-drones-arabic

*Israeli Embassy in Cairo under siege
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/04/09/dr-ashraf-ezzat-israeli-embassy-in-cairo-under-siege/

Action: On Tuesday, some people from the Jenin Freedom Theater (founded by Juliano Mer-Khamis) came to our village and presented the film Arna’s children (which everyone should see). On Saturday at noon in front of the Muqata’ there will be a demonstration by artists and friends of art demanding the Palestinian authority bring the killers to justice. I recalled this paragraph from my 2004 book “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli Palestinian Struggle” (http://qumsiyeh.org/sharingthelandofcanaan/) that was put in practice by the Freedom Theater thanks to Jule’s work: “Perhaps we need to teach children to value themselves, value teamwork, respect others, and defend the rights of minorities. This is not as simple as it seems. Adults need to learn to accept, in a very positive fashion, views that are foreign to them. In other words, someone who expresses his views should be listened to and respected regardless of how sacred the ‘holy cows’ are. Would you be willing to listen rationally to a view radically different from your own on your religion or your way of doing things? Would you be willing to defend wholeheartedly the right of that person to present his view?”

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine. He serves as chairman of the board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Sahour He is author of  “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle” and the forthcoming book Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment.

A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
http://www.qumsiyeh.org
http://www.pcr.ps

Articles by Dr. Qumsiyeh on RamallahOnline.com.

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Meanwhile, Gaza’s agony sharpens and deepens

Map of Gaza Strip, Stand December 2008 (WikiMedia Commons, Lencer)

Marian Houk, UN-Truth.com, 23 March 2011

What is the worth, the value, of assigning blame here? It doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t stop anything.

This weekend, Hamas went crazy, and Israel too.

There. Now, what?

It’s simply no longer possible to say who went crazy first, or who went crazy more. This discussion is sickening.

Israel attacked and killed people in Gaza on Friday. It announced on Sunday that one of the dead included a senior Hamas commander.

This is perhaps the explanation for why Hamas went crazy on Saturday morning — suddenly firing about 50 mortars into the Israeli perphery in about 15 minutes (is this possible?) — and taking responsibility for the act.

Then, it continued. There was more.

On Tuesday, the IDF announced that 7 rockets and mortars had been fired from Gaza into Israel that day — making a total of 60 projectiles fired from Gaza since the weekend, it said.

IDF attacks on Gaza — retaliation, prevention, whatever — killed some 10 Palestinians, including a number of what the IDF admitted were “uninvolved civilians”, mostly kids, and injured some 40 more. The IDF offered medical care to the wounded — a clear sign that something had gone badly wrong, and that Israel was recognizing some responsibility. And the IDF announced it was starting an investigation. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed regret, “but”…

In its statement, the IDF said its mortar fire on northern Gaza (which killed 3 kids + uncle, and wounded more) came AFTER — “a short while later” – Palestinian firing from site. The language used in the IDF statement, posted here, is very telling: “Initial reports indicate that terrorists [sic] were among the injured. Regrettably, uninvolved civilians were also present at the site and were injured. The Civil Administration offered medical assistance to those injured and the assistance is being coordinated with the Palestinian Authority in both Ramallah and Gaza”.

While the IDF usually claims that its attacks on Gaza are “prevention”, this IDF mortar attack Tuesday afternoon on northern Gaza appears to have been clear retaliation.

The Los Angeles Times has a very poignant account from Gaza posted here Tuesday on its Babylon and Beyond blog. It reported that “Relatives of those killed said they prevented a group of Palestinian militants from firing mortars into Israel from an area that is adjacent to their houses just half an hour before Israeli tanks fired the shells”.

The LATimes account, written by Ahmed Aldabba from Gaza City, continues: “But militants waited until people went for prayers at the neighborhood’s mosque and sent a round of mortar shells beyond the Israel-Gaza borderline, which is a little less than half a mile away from the bombed area. ‘I was going out of the mosque when the shells hit the kids’, said Mohammed Helo 42, the children’s uncle, at the morgue of Shifa hospital in Gaza, where the bodies were taken. ‘I did not know what was going on. All I heard was thunderous explosions then the moans of people who were just walking by. Limbless bodies were scattered all around’.”

Later, a Grad missile was fired from Gaza into Ashdod on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, the IDF spokesperson announced, “An Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft targeted a terrorist in the northern Gaza Strip, in the same location from which the Grad missile was fired towards Ashdod. A hit was confirmed”.

A short while later, a Grad missile was fired from Gaza into Beersheva.

Ashdod is north of Gaza, Beersheva is to the east — and the range is greater than ususal: it is the maximum range reached by projectiles fired from Gaza in response to Israeli attacks during the IDF’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza from 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009 (which was announced as a response to months, years, of attacks from Gaza onto Israel…

What next?

Now, Israeli Vice President Silvan Shalom has echoed on Wednesday morning the call made by former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni last Friday — for a launch of Operation Cast Lead Two…

Israel had the choice, and it chose to up the ante at this time.

This was a rational, though brutal and wholly unadmirable, decision.

It was Hamas who lost its cool. Firing from Gaza into Israel periphery as revenge is crazy, futile, and also crime of war. Fear is not policy [as Israeli former Mossad Chief Efraim Halevy recently told journalists in Jerusalem]. Nor is revenge.

Was Israel trying to block the proposed Abbas visit to Gaza? [Netanyahu told the Knesset on Tuesday what he told CNN's Piers Morgan in an interview last week: The Palestinians can't have it both ways -- they must choose between reconciliation with Hamas or peace with Israel]…

Or, was Israel making the choice to Hamas perfectly clear, making a blunt and brutal test of whether Hamas is ready to be the “address” Israel says it needs, ready to be responsible for stopping all attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip? Was it an Israeli counter-offer, in stark contrast to other uncertainties?

For, this comes in the midst of piously-announced but wary preparations for a possible proposed visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) to Gaza for reconciliation or unity purposes.

This meeting was suggested by Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh on 15 March in response to youth protests in the West Bank and Gaza demanding an end to the Palestinian division. Abbas has since claimed credit, saying it was really his initiative.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, when Hamas claimed credit for the first time in a long time for firing nearly 50 mortars into Gaza, it also attacked youth demonstrators who had apparently been given a permit for their protests, then attacked journalists’ offices looking for photos and videos of the attacks. (Hamas later apologized for the attack on the journalists offices.)

The proposed Abu Mazen visit — which did raise Palestinian hopes and expectations — would really have been a lot of hard, difficult and embarassing work. So, it is, in a way, easier for everybody like this.

No way this proposed visit is going to happen now, of course.

Meanwhile, more people are dying, suffering, grieving, raging — and the already ready-to-blow situation is getting worse.

Tuesday night, the UN’s Robert Serry issued a statement after the IDF mortar reprisal in N Gaza: “firing into densely populated areas is extremely dangerous” + raises serious questions.

Later, UNSG BAN Ki-Moon issued a statement, though his spokesman, which “strongly condemns the killing of three Palestinian children and their uncle and the wounding of 13 other civilians by an Israeli tank shell in the Gaza Strip earlier today. He is very concerned at an escalating situation in Gaza and southern Israel. He reiterates as well his condemnation of rocket fire by Palestinian militant groups in Gaza, including from populated areas, against civilian targets in southern Israel. He calls on all to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and human rights law”. This is posted on the UN website here.

So, now what?

What is the policy, now?

Meanwhile, how does this factor into the equation? Israel has just admitted it’s holding the Deputy Director of the Gaza Power Plant, Dirar Abu Sisi, who was seized on board a train in Ukraine on 18-19 February, where he went on 18 January to join his Ukrainian wife and file for citizenship — apparently because they have concluded that life in Gaza is no longer the best choice for them or their six children. The Gazan engineer was forcibly removed from the train he was on, hooded and handcuffed and driven by car to Kiev (where he was headed by train), then taken to an apartment where he was questioned by men who introduced themselves as Mossad, and in short order flown to…Israel, where he has been in jail for over a month. A judge has just partially removed a gag order on the case, but permitted continued Israeli media restrictions on reporting for another 30 days… Abu Sisi has not been charged, he will be held in Israel for at least another day, and there is no reasonable explanation for this startling development.

 

 

Marian Houk PASSIA 2004

In the photo below, taken at a roundtable discussion in Jerusalem in July 2004, Marian Houk is the woman wearing the sort-of-orange-colored eyeglasses. Photo courtesy of PASSIA:

Marian Houk, a writer, reporter, journalist and analyst with long experience at the United Nations — in New York and in Geneva and more — as well as with the Middle East. She has reported on, and for a time also worked for, the United Nations. She is a former President of the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) at UNHQ/NY (1986), and is currently based in Jerusalem.

Marian Houk is the Editor of UN-Truth news site.

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Five locals injured in Bil’in’s weekly demonstration

Modi’in Illit’s neighbors from Bil’in protested the confiscation of their land for the expanding settlement in 2006. Photo by Yotam Ronen/Active Stills
Modi’in Illit’s neighbors from Bil’in protested the confiscation of their land for the expanding settlement in 2006. Photo by Yotam Ronen/Active Stills

Modi’in Illit’s neighbors from Bil’in protested the confiscation of their land for the expanding settlement in 2006. Photo by Yotam Ronen/Active Stills

18 March 2011 | Friends of Freedom and Justice, Bil’in

The slogan of this week’s peaceful demonstration in Bil’in was to ‘End the Division and Occupation.’ Many international and Israeli activists participated alongside local residents of Bil’in and neighboring villages. Joining them were also the hunger strikers of the 15/March movement currently staying in Al- Manara Square, Ramallah. The protestors were holding Palestinian flags, banners of the leader, Marwan Al Bargoti, as well as posters of the martyrs Bassem and Jawaher Abu Rahmah whilst chanting “End the division and occupation”.

When the protestors arrived to the East gate of the wall the soldiers attacked the protesters with tear gas canisters, rubber coated bullets, sound bombs and chemical spray.

Tear gas canisters were shot directly at the protesters’ heads rather than up in the air, which led to injuries. Five locals were physically wounded: Nashmi Abu Rahmah, 16 years old, when a rubber bullet was shot at his right hand; Iyad Burnat, head of the Popular Committee, 38 years old, by a tear gas canister that was shot at his head; Mohamad Al Khatib, 17 years old, by a tear gas canister shot at his leg; Mohamad Burnat, 20 years old, also by a tear gas canister shot at his leg; and Asia, a 22 year old Italian activist, when she twisted her left ankle whilst running from the attack. The victims were treated on the location of the protest in Bil’in.

A dozen other people fainted due to inhalation of concentrated and poisonous tear gas. Many also suffered from the colored and foul chemical liquid that was sprayed over the protestors by the Israeli army during the peaceful demonstration organized by the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in. The demonstration started after the Friday prayers, and proceeded from the village’s mosque to the apartheid wall.