a visit to forgotten villages

We joined a Zochrot trip to the center of Israel, to land that currently is managed by a local kibbutz. Zochrot, an Israeli organization, coordinates older folks and their families who used to live in the area and commemorates the Nakba and the memory of the village through a ceremony and dialogue. Here, Palestinians who once lived in the destroyed village of Al-Kufrayn post a sign and discuss what the place used to look like with a crowd of Palestinians, Israelis and internationals in attendance. Tension emerged at the end of the program, when an Israeli suggested that all this currently unsettled space could be given to refugees. The kibbutznik who responded said, "This isn't a political discussion. We are here to commemorate the situation only." Maybe even leftist Israelis are hesistant to discuss the right of return...

birthright?

My friends Hannah and Dunya run an amazing program called Birthright Unplugged and Birthright Replugged. In Unplugged, young Jewish people from the US and Canada take part in the opposite of "Birthright Israel," which is a free 10-day propaganda program to create more immigrants Israel, and instead visit the occupied West Bank of Palestine - talking with Palestinian families, organizations, activists and generally figuring out what they can do as young Jewish folks to end this oppression. Here the group visits Munira's home in Mas'ha which is completely surrounded by the Wall and fence. http://www.birthrightunplugged.org

In Replugged, they bring children (before the age of when they are issued an Israeli identification card) from West Bank refugee camps to visit three places they will never see again once the Wall is completed and/or they turn 16: Jerusalem and its holy sites, the ocean, and (prior site of) the now-Israeli village their parents or grandparents were forced to leave. Here the children are displaying their photographs of the trip at their exhibit in Balata refugee camp in Nablus.

a rotten business

Today I accompanied Abu Saed and two Israeli activists from Rabbis for Human Rights, an organization headed by leftist rabbis who, among other things, organize volunteers to come to the West Bank and plant olive trees on disputed land with Palestinians.

Abu Saed is from Hares and his land borders Revava, a nearby Israeli settlement. Yehiel and Yosua from Rabbis for Human Rights brought 100 donated olive tree saplings and tools and the four of us began to unload the van next to the road, the red roofs of Revava visible past the razor wire criss-crossing the land. In a matter of minutes, the private security guards (armed with rifles) from Revava showed up.

"What are you doing?" they asked.
"Planting trees on my land," Abu Saed replied.
The guards insisted that in fact, it was not his land and that it was bought by Revava. Abu Saed was prepared for this, as he brought along the documents proving his ownership. But that wasn't enough... the guards said they will have to "check" so there will be no planting for a few days. We offered to go ahead and plant anyway, but Abu Saed decided he didn't want to risk the trees being pulled out by vengeful settlers (as would probably happen). So we will wait.

As we were putting the tools back into the van, Yosua, 76-year-old man who arrived in Palestine from Germany in 1937 at the age of 6, looked over towards Revava. With the most amazing similarity to Billy Crystal's speech in the Princess Bride, he spoke out loud to no one in particular, "I wish you luck, but this occupation is a rotten business."

video of nablus invasion

Watch a very short film with footage from day one of the nablus invasion:

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

People report that the Israeli army is currently leaving Nablus. There are still some soldiers maintaining outposts in occupied houses and the army has not yet "found the wanted persons," leading most residents and experienced volunteers to assume that they will be back within a day or so.

nablus today

Israeli soldiers stand beside a burned out military jeep during a raid in the West Bank City of Nablus February 26, 2007. Israeli forces continued the operation, which began on Sunday, putting 30,000 Palestinians under curfew as soldiers searched for wanted militants. REUTERS/Eliana Aponte (WEST BANK)

Yesterday before sunrise, over 80 military vehicles entered Nablus, the second-largest city in the West Bank. It is now the second day of the Israeli army invasion and more than 30,000 residents are still under curfew, instructed by the army's announcements yesterday via taken-over transmissions from radio and television stations not to leave their homes nor attempt to hide wanted persons.

The army, in vehicles and stationed in houses taken over with force, continue to search homes and buildings, according to major news sources. Already, there has been one death - a 42-year-old Palestinian father, Anan al-Teibi, was shot in his own home today. He was not a wanted person. His 19-year-old son was wounded and currently in the hospital. Numerous people are injured, detained or arrested.

The invading forces are blocking major roadways and hospitals. Volunteer medical teams, such as the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC) work around the clock to supply emergency medical assistance, ambulances, food, and medicine to entrapped families. International activists from IWPS are currently accompanying them in their work, documenting the situation and acting as human rights monitors. IWPS volunteers report that despite the potential violence, many Palestinians are currently resisting this illegal invasion in a non-violent manner by breaking curfew to walk in their own city streets.

There have been at least three reports so far of the army forcing Palestinians to accompany them while walking through the old city and entering and searching buildings. This is known as using people as "human shields." This is explicity made illegal by international humanitarian law, not to mention outlawed by Israel's own Supreme Court in 2005 (not that this sort of thing usually prevents Israel's military or government from doing illegal things anyway).

According the the official IDF website, "Operation Hot Winter" chose to enter Nablus, part of "Area A," or those areas supposedly off-limits to the Israeli military, as they are on the search for weapon laboratories and to "lower the terrorist threat." However, many Palestinian
officials believe this invasion is coming at a time to make sure peace efforts are more impossible to achieve, including a cease-fire and the building of a unity government.

more on israeli activism

Just the other day, a few members of Anarchists Against the Wall were finally tried in court for an action from 2004. Although their lawyer argued the legitimacy of civil resistance in instances of nations breaking international law, they were found guilty. Those on trial pointed out the hypocrisy of the situation and distraction from actual international crime:

"This trial, had it not taken place in a court of the occupation, in the democracy imposed on 3.5 million Palestinian subjects devoid of basic democratic liberties, would have been the trial of the Wall; that same wall that was defined as illegal by the highest legal authority in the world; that same wall that is used as a political tool in the campaign of ethnic cleansing being undertaken by Israel in the Occupied Territories; that same wall that in its previous route, that route of the relevant days, was thrown out even by Israeli courts! It was not us who should have been standing accused here, but rather the architects and enforcers of Israeli Apartheid."

While some received community service hours, Yonatan P. refused to comply with this nor suspended sentences (a conditional sentence resulting in imprisonment if such activities are repeated) and stated he "will ask not to have a conditional sentence imposed... but an active one, as any demonstration taking place in the Occupied Territories is declared illegal assembly, according to the extensive and anti-democratic system of closed military zone warrants. In this state of affairs, any conditional sentence imposed upon me will quickly become an active one." Read more about it HERE.

Yonatan and many other dedicated Israeli activists will continue to demonstrate against apartheid - today is the second-year anniversary of the famous weekly Bil'in village demonstration against the Wall and illegal Israeli settlement expansion. Even though there (someday) may be considerable international pressure for Israel to respect human rights and comply with international law, there must be also be a shift in public opinion in Israel to oppose apartheid and feel responsible for the actions of its government and military. The growth of these and other activist groups is a source of hope - for instance, more young people seem to be refusing and speaking out against required military service. Visit New Profile, a "movement for the civil-ization of Israeli society," which supports conscientious objection. Read the great letter from Shministim, a group of high school seniors condemning the occupation and refusing military service. Consider writing a quick email of support to Hadas Amit, a conscientious objecter serving her fifth consecutive prison term at amitdrch@gmail.com. Take more action supporting these refuseniks HERE.

village of lifta

Lifta is an Arab village that was depopulated in 1948, when Israel declared a state. Located near Jerusalem inside of Israel, Lifta is one of the few remaining "abandoned" villages inside "1948" that have not been demolished or planted with pine trees to cover up the rubble. The people that used to live there are probably scattered in refugee camps in Jordan or the West Bank. Lots of refugee families talk of their grandparents' keys they still keep to their homes in such villages... however, they can't even cross the border into Israel to visit them.

nakba

In mid-May, two holidays occur. One is Yom Ha'atzmaut, or "Israeli Independence Day" to commemorate May 14, 1948 when the British Mandate ended in Israel. It is also the same time as another holiday which is not recognized inside Israel, Nakba Day. The Nakba, or "catastrophe" in Arabic, refers to the displacement of over 750,000 Palestinian residents who lost their lands and homes, and the destruction of over 500 Palestinian towns when the state of Israel was created in 1948. (Zochrot, 2007)

The following comes from Zochrot, an Israeli organization dedicated to commemorating the Nakba, from www.nakbainhebrew.org:

In the Zionist collective memory, Palestine of 1948 was 'a land without a people, for a people without a land.' Yet, the place where Israel was founded was never empty. This was home to almost one million Palestinians living in over 700 villages and cities, most of which were depopulated and renamed in the period during and immediately following 1948. The Palestinians who were expelled during the Nakba have since grown to become the largest refugee population in the world. In addition, within Israel a quarter of a million Palestinians live as 'internally dispaced' refugees - citizens in their country but defined by law as 'absentees,' denied the right to their land, homes and property.

The Nakba is the central, unspoken trauma at the core of the Israel/Palestine conflict. Bringing the Nakba to light, and undoing its ongoing injustice, is essential to achieving reconciliation between all the peoples of this land.

It is because of this event and the subsequent war of 1967 that there exists an estimated 5.5 million Palestinian refugees or displaced people living in Palestine (including refugee camps), abroad, or inside Israel (Passia.org, 2007). In 2005, the number of displaced people was equal to 74% of the total worldwide Palestinian population. With this situation, it is unrealistic for peace negotiations to not include anything about the "Right of Return," or the right of Palestinians to return to the land from which they were forced to flee in 1948. It is a stated human right in numerous international doctrines and United Nations resolutions.

Palestinian families leaving behind their homes, olive trees and planted fields in Al-Faluja Village, 1948. (Photo: Palestinian Refugees: Photo Album)

anarchists against the wall

Anarchists blockade downtown Tel Aviv for the second time in a month (photo: www.awalls.org)

You know how sometimes activists in the states are viewed as irritating to conservative or just sort of liberal folks? It seems radical activists living in Israel have it way worse - most of these folks are despised by Israelis. Not only did they probably get out of military service via refusal or something else, but they also stand against everything Israel is built upon: namely, Zionism, an ethnic state, borders, walls, and a military culture. Not ALL Israelis support what's going on in Palestine: there are quite a few "Zionist Left" organizations which are opposed to the occupation only, but very few on the radical left really challenging Israeli apartheid. Despite low numbers (Israeli is a tiny place), they create thought-provoking actions often. Click here for a video and more press: http://awalls.org/Rothschild_video

national unity exists

Yesterday we got a call to attend the demonstration described below. There didn’t seem to be much Western press in attendance. I hope this news reaches the U.S. especially, as the only news regarding Palestine lately refers to the political infighting between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza. Not only does it paint an untrue portrait of outright civil war in Palestine, but I think it also encourages viewers to falsely view all Palestinians as violent and unwilling to resolve conflict. On top of that, it is distracting the world from the daily violence inflicted upon this place by the Israeli occupation and apartheid culture. Read on for my report of yesterday’s amazing demo:

A Call to Fight the Occupation – Not Each Other
3 February 2007
by the International Women’s Peace Service – Palestine


With the intention of forming a human chain across Ramallah from the Hamas-controlled parliament building to the Fatah-controlled PA headquarters, an estimated 500 to 1,000 Palestinians gathered yesterday in the West Bank city of Ramallah to protest the internal violence plaguing Palestine. The demonstrators, from towns all over the West Bank, held hands and stretched out from the parliament to the center of town, at which point everyone began marching, singing and chanting with signs and banners towards the PA Headquarters.

Organized by the Palestinian Farmer’s Union, the demonstration gathered farmers, workers, schoolchildren, women’s groups and international activists together to demand an end to the recently violent conflict between Fatah and Hamas. The infighting has resulted in numerous injuries and deaths, mainly in Gaza, leaving many Palestinians calling for national unity and support from leaders in ending the violence. Many demonstrators feel such internal conflict weakens Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation, as one large banner depicted a destroyed olive tree and read, “Let’s work together to protect the land, and halt Palestinian bloodshed.”

At the PA headquarters, the crowd chanted for about ten minutes outside the entrance when the gates opened and armed Palestinian guards welcomed the demonstrators inside the government compound. After a few moments, a presidential spokesperson arrived and informed the people of President Abbas’ strong support for national unity and an end to the fighting among Fatah and Hamas members.

again/still

It's my third time visiting Palestine, and not much is different. I was just commenting to my co-volunteers on how I've already written about such and such issue, I can't do it again... but my housemate here pointed out the truth: repetition is life here. If reading the same stories over and over feels exasperating, imagine living it.

A few days ago, we were called by Maher, a town leader in a village in the north of the West Bank, very close to the actual 1967 green-line border of Israel. In fact, it's right next to an Israeli town where 70% of this Palestinian village population worked before the intifada (or "uprising") began and Palestinians were no longer allowed entry inside Israel. When we arrived, Maher led us to a home and explained how, as the family was religious, we would be visiting with the women and a family member would translate for us. We entered a room where 50 women sat on floor mattresses against the wall. It was the final day of the three day mourning period in which family members and neighbors sit with the father, brothers, sisters, spouse, and mother of the deceased from morning til night. We sat next to the mother and wife of Omar, a 28-year-old Palestinian man who was assasinated while walking with his wife and 30-day old baby from his brother's house next door after an evening visit. Plain clothes officers jumped out from entrance way in his apartment building and shot him 3 times, put the baby in his arms and told his wife that if she screamed, the baby would die as well. They ran towards the road where military jeeps stood waiting.

Did the family contact a lawyer? They said no. See, Omar's brother is in prison. After a long period of hiding from the military police, he was finally imprisoned last year. Omar's family knows he has been tortured and fears even more retaliation if they initiate a legal battle with the Israeli military.

Almost EVERY single Palestinian family has had a few people imprisoned in Israeli jails and few people die from Israeli bullets. Where would your anger lie?

First and last visit to the sea

This is the first time that these two brothers have been to the ocean. They live in D'heisha refugee camp in the city of Bethlehem.

Before the age of 16, Palestinian children do not yet have huwwiyas, or identification cards. These cards determine how and where they can move. With an i.d. card from the West Bank, the boys cannot enter Jerusalem (where the holiest sites of their religion stand), enter into "Israel" (or the line that Israel has decided is their new border), or cross the Wall. They will be essentially landlocked into the West Bank.

So we went on a little trip with the boys. First, we went to Zacharia - a once-Palestinian village where the Israeli suburb of Zakaria sits among ruins of an old mosque and school where their mother lived 50 years ago. She is forbidden from returning to see the place her family lived for generations, but wanted her sons to go and bring back photos and the oranges she misses. We also brought them to visit the mosque in the old city of Jerusalem, and swam and played soccer by the sea in Jaffa. As the wall is almost completed, it will probably be the last time they are able to do so.

Invasion in Balata

You know something is going to happen when you hear the drones overhead.

That’s what people at Balata refugee camp say indicates something like the 4 day invasion that happened this past Sunday through Wednesday. The drones, or spy planes, are some sort of remote-controlled mechanical things that buzz at a low volume all day and night over the camp, monitoring people’s movements over the 2 square kilometer camp that over 30,000 people call home.

Left photo: Jeeps in Balata under curfew.

Little is being publicized about this incident – even though 8 people were murdered and many injured, including medical volunteers and international activists. We came there to accompany the emergency medical team, patrolling the streets to be nearby in case clashes between the army and civilians occurred, to bring food and medicine to families in occupied homes (the soldiers use homes as bases), or to ensure that injured people could be transferred safely from the ambulance inside the blocked entrances of the camp to the ambulances on the outside. The noises never ended: stones hitting military vehicles, sound bombs exploding, tear gas spewing out, soldiers announcing complete curfew over loudspeakers, huge bulldozers smashing through the boys’ homemade roadblocks (to keep the vehicles out of their streets), live ammunition being shot into the air, at houses, at people. The first night I arrived, the 22-year-old boy across the street from our temporary medical clinic was shot by an Israeli military sniper while he was looking out his bedroom window. The army arrived a few hours later, pulled the family out of the home, shot bullets into the furniture and walls, and set some sort of explosive onto their front porch. Were they ransacking the house to make it look like they were searching for someone after the boy was shot? Maybe to cover up for a sniper’s erroneous shot at an innocent person? There are lots more stories. For more updated and detailed information about the invasion, please visit: http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/

Balata is in Nablus, a beautiful city in the West Bank hills declared to be in Area A meaning Palestinian Authority control over civil and security issues. However, this is apparently not ever the case for Balata. The camp is known for its resistance to the occupation, and military operations occur on a frequent basis to hunt down and kill the “fighters.” For the average Balata resident, it means a number of days shut inside your home with war noises all around and your neighbor running into your house with the name of the next relative or friend killed by the army. Not to mention a growing anger towards a country that first displaced you and your family and now regularly makes everyday living something like hell.

For my two friends, international activists also accompanying medical teams, it also meant injury. Waiting behind an occupied home with medics, soldiers threw a shrapnel bomb into the corner of the alleyway. Fortunately, they arrived at the hospital with only small wounds to the arm and shoulder. Still, little news reached the world about Balata these past four days.

Right photo: Funeral procession for two unarmed 17-year-old boys killed Sunday by military snipers while sitting on a roof.

Sheep and spotlights

Left photo: The watchtower of the illegal settlement outpost monitors the daily activity of nothing in Yanoun.

The loudest noises heard in Yanoun are the sheep and goat herds baaing along in the fields. The tiny village, split into Lower and Upper Yanoun, consists of about 16 families and is set on a little hill overlooking a quiet valley dotted with olive and flowering almond trees. Few cars come and go, the nearest small city is about a one-hour walk away, and most people spend their days herding sheep and goats. However, the average villager in Yanoun lives anything but a peaceful life.

Bright spotlights and a watchtower overlook the little village from the hilltop outposts (extensions) of the settlement of Itamar which surround the village. Itamar, an Israeli colony in the West Bank established in 1984, was initiated by followers of Rabbi Meir Kahane. Kahane’s Kach party was banned in Israel in 1998 because of “inciting racism.” They believe peace will occur only if Arab people are transferred out of the occupied territories. For more info on their movement and Itamar, check out their website at www.schechem.org/itamar.

Armed settlers regularly terrorize the villagers. There are accounts of numerous attacks on people, including stoning, beating, and shooting. Sheep were injured and killed, homes damaged, water and electricity infrastructure were destroyed, and a 90 year old shepard was beat with his own cane and lost an eye. Where can Yanoun villagers register complaints and seek security? Nowhere. Yanoun is in Area C of the West Bank which, according the Oslo Accords, places the village under complete Israeli control of security affairs. The Israeli military doesn’t do much in the way of policing Israeli settlers and protecting Palestinians… most of the time, they act to protect the interests of settlers. Right-wing Israeli settlers worked hard to make the Gaza Disengagement a sad media story featuring evacuated families suffering from the evil ways of the Israeli government… however in reality, there exists a close, supportive relationship between right-wing Israeli movements and mainstream governmental policy in Israel, as the continual support for West Bank settlements demonstrates.

In October of 2002, the last of the families of Yanoun packed their things and left for the nearby city of Aqraba because of the terror they faced from settlers on a regular basis in the past years. The next day, Ta’ayush, an Israeli peace group, organized internationals and Israelis to accompany the villagers back to their homes. Since then at the request of the villagers, there has been a continual international presence in Yanoun – to document events and hopefully deter violent settlers from entering.

small scale occupation

Kids from Revava, a nearby Israeli settlement, raise an Israeli flag over the structures they've built on the former land of a Palestinian farmer from Deir Istya.

A few days ago, we were called to monitor an unfortunately not-so-uncommon situation in the neighboring village. Some youth from the Israeli settlement of Revava had constructed 2 playhouse-like buildings, a flag pole, and a blue 6-foot-high Star of David on the land right below the settlement. The owner of the land, Abdel from Deir Istya, came upon the structures a few days ago: the army says the Revava settlers have papers that leased the land to them. Abdel says this isn't true. Who is believed?

It seems like a youth movement is building in the West Bank. The children of ideological (those that believe the land belongs to Jews/Israel) settlers have taken up the cause of their parents, supporting right-wing causes and traveling in large groups to stand with the to-be-evacuated settlers in the old city of Hebron this week. Reports from Hebron describe teenage girls spitting, kicking, throwing stuff and screaming at Palestinians and human rights activists.

The kids of Revava, along with their mayor who joined them, mostly just sent us hateful glares and rude comments. Again, this entire situation is illegal, according to international UN law: citizens may not be transferred to occupied territory from the occupying country. Settlements in the West Bank require security from Israel, therefore continuing and escalating the military presence in the region.

bullets

A boy in the village of Kufr Ei-Dik holds photos of his family shot with bullet holes. Two days ago, soldiers with military dogs ran into his home (and his 2 uncles and grandfather's homes as well), demanded everyone outside in the rain, and ransacked the place, throwing sound bombs into rooms, and shooting tons of bullets into dressers, clothes, refridgerators, walls... these photos were inside his closet. While in his grandparent's home, military dogs mistakenly attacked his 78-year-old grandmother in her bed - she was taken to a hospital nearby. The soldiers were looking for his 23-year-old cousin and finally found him and took him away, on unknown charges. Different legal systems exist for people living in the occupied Palestinian territories and for those living inside Israel... it's possible for Palestinians to be held in administrative "incommunicado" detention (without being able to speak to lawyers or family or have a trial) for up to 6 months, according to an Israeli legal organization.

Part of the work of IWPS is to monitor and document human rights abuses in the area in which we live, such as recording the evidence and images of the above situation. Inshallah (hopefully), someday there will compensation for war crimes and abuses in Palestine, and there will be some record of what happened...

Bil'in again

Last week's Bil'in demonstration focused on being able to walk, along with Israeli activists and internationals to the village's land (where currently an Israeli settlement is being illegally expanded). It didn't work. Sometimes I think of it like this: pretend are Canadian and you went to Sweden. Maybe you bought some land there and built some houses and sold them to your other Canadian friends. Maybe you even built a little fence around your compound. But is it okay to raise the Canadian flag, impose immigrant restrictions, have the Canadian military protect you, and announce it to be part of Canada? The same thing is happening here and some people think it's just fine.

more on bil'in

check out these journalist photos and updates from ISM:

http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=bil%27in&c=news_photos

http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/12/22/legal-palestinian-%e2%80%9coutpost%e2%80%9d-removed-immediately-hundreds-of-illegal-israeli-settlements-remai/

last week was pretty amazing! bil'in villagers set up a "caravan" (or trailer) on the land that legally belongs to them, but is illegally being expanded into more apartments for israeli settlers. it lasted, palestinian flag flying, with palestinians, internationals, and israeli activists spending time in the caravan, for two days. the army came in the dark at 7pm to arrest the people inside and lift the metal caravan away... no reason was given as to why the caravan or people there had to go.

voices

"They say to the people 'there is democracy here,' but no.... we're brothers, but this occupation is a problem. The soldiers are here to kill your soul. They want us to get used to this and to say to our children, 'it's a good occupation.' They are playing with our future."

Osamah, waiting to pass from Ramallah to East Jerusalem at Qalandia Checkpoint

art on walls

Stencil art on the wall next to Qalandia, the now-checkpoint, soon-to-be "border crossing" between the West Bank and East Jerusalem.