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.

Home

Hares, the village where IWPS (www.iwps.info) is based, is located close to the largest israeli settlement in the west bank (ariel) and some of the more right-wing extremist settlements as well. Here at the crossroads near our village entrace, the largest watchtower ever was just built by the army 3 days ago! you can see the bus stop awning below it for a size scale.

just the other day, 3 jeeps came into the village. after driving around a bit, soldiers jumped out with rifles pointed at various locations and videotaped the school, shops, and roads. they said it was for "intelligence gathering." army incursions into the village happens almost every other day. it definitely succeeds in frightening people on a regular basis.

Aboud

some awesome girls demonstrating against the wall in the village of aboud. the army created a razor-wire fence and prevented the people from crossing.

CPT in Iraq

here in the city of ramallah in the west bank, we stood with about 100 international activists and palestinians at a vigil for the Christian Peacemaker Team workers who are being held hostage in iraq. for more information about the CPTers, check out: http://www.cpt.org/

Bi'lin

some happy pictures to not bombard you with sadness! some of my friends in bi'lin, a village near ramallah. the villagers here have been demonstrating against the wall EVERY week on a regular basis.

also here are some photos of the demonstration at bi'lin. the israeli settlement nearby is illegally expanding, contstructing more homes and roads into the olive groves of bi'lin, without permission. here, villagers hold signs in hebrew, arabic and english reading "this land belongs to (name of a person in the village)." the peaceful demo was met with violence from the military anyway (see below as a man from bi'lin was beaten and arrested.

This photo is from last year, but I wanted to include it anyway. It's from a demonstration in the village of Saffa where the giant cement "security" wall was being built directly on Saffa's land. Here, an older man breaks down in tears as he watches his own olive trees being torn out of the ground to make way for a wall being built to "protect Israel".

please see this!

If you are in any of the places this show is touring, please consider checking out "An Olive on the Seder Plate": a multimedia performance exploring how progressive Jews wrestle with the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It's funny and incredible and I highly recommend it: http://www.libertycabbage.org/

soldiers

Kids in army uniforms are everywhere. When you turn 18 years old as an Israeli citizen, you begin your 3 year mandatory military service. It has become part of the normal every day life in Israel to sit on a bus next to green-clad soldiers with backpacks heading home for the weekend or to see teenaged girls shopping with rifles slung across their backs. Initially it is shocking to see someone who looks like they are in middle school holding a gun, but you sort of get over it and just begin to accept it as normal.

Do they want to be there? There seem to be a lot of answers. Some Israelis I've met say: No way, this is slavery, completely forced on me, I would rather be studying/ working/ traveling/ doing anything else but giving away 3 years of my youth. Others say: I don’t like it but it is necessary for my country, or the famous “I’m just doing my job” line. Still others probably love the power it gives them.

What is it like here in Palestine when high-schoolers have guns, camo, and a walkie-talkie? I still think that lots of 18 year olds in any society are trying to get out of being treated like a kid... finally here they are able to call the shots. They can control other people’s lives now! And too often, you see it at checkpoints or demonstrations where these young people act in an unnecessarily violent or condescending manner towards Palestinians.

Why don’t the ones who hate it find some way out of it? There are some ways to do so – psychological or physical exemption, claiming you are a pacifist (but this only works if you are female!?!), etc. I asked a couple of people why more don’t find a way out if they would rather not be there, and the answer was basically that it is really looked down upon to do that... of course most people this age just want to fit in and be accepted.

What about refusing? Well, not only are you probably outcast from the mainstream youth culture, but you also might face jail time. However, the movement of “refuseniks” is growing; and it is a really exciting thing to hear. Last week at a demonstration, I met an 18 year old anarchist who told me about an action at her high school involving chaining herself to fence in protest of a visit from a military lecturer. So there is hope for changing this increasingly militarized, violence-is-normal society. Click here to read an inspiring and awesome letter written by high school students refusing to join the military: http://www.shministim.org/letterenglish.html

enclosed

Today we visited the home of Muneera, a woman living with her husband and 6 children in the village of Mas’ha. But instead of just walking into her home like any normal place, we are again reminded that this is Palestine, and people are not free to do whatever they wish.

Muneera’s home is completely, on all sides, surrounded by the Israeli “security fence.” When you look from the house, you see a giant cement wall out the door. The rest of the enclosure is made up of a tall metal fence with barbed wire curling around the top. There is one door-sized gate in the fence next to the cement wall. This is how Muneera lets us in with the key the army gave her. Her family must unlock and lock the gate each time they enter or leave.

About 50 yards behind the house is Elkana settlement, built 15 years ago. Just like having a new housing development built behind your home, right? Except this week she told us that the residents (settlers) were throwing stones at their house, making loud noises in the middle of the night and reminding the Palestinian family of their sad situation.

Muneera’s home was built 33 years ago and she has lived there for 23. So when Israel notified her that there was to be a settlement built on her land, and that she would have to relocate, she refused. Even with some compensation, it is not very acceptable in Palestinian society to sell their land to Israelis and to increase excuses for military occupation. Muneera chose to stay because it is her home and show it to the world with the hope that publicizing this ridiculous situation could bring about change.

The family lives an uncomfortable life. Her husband’s greenhouses and chicken farm were destroyed during the beginning of the second intifada, leaving little income for the family. Muneera tells us that the children are not healthy emotionally, growing up in a cage atmosphere where friends’ parents refuse to allow visits. And she leaves very infrequently, fearing that if no one is in the house, something will happen to it.

There is one beautiful thing here. With the assistance of some local organizations and a mural artist, children from the village gathered here last year and painted bright scenery of birds flying and other images of peaceful lives onto the gray cement wall. (see photos!)

stones and bullets

For the past couple of days, Ana and I have been sitting at a bus station in Qawara Bani Zeit. Well, really a covered blue cement bench next to a road. We were sitting there as it is right next to the boys’ school. In the past, there have been some pretty serious interactions with the army in the schoolyard.

Often, military jeeps will pass through the town. You know it because the whole community starts this whistling to alert everyone else at the other end. The armored trucks seem to slow down at the boys’ school, (some will say) provoking youth to respond by throwing stones. The soldiers can retaliate as they see fit... tossing loud sound bombs or tear gas into the schoolyard, shooting rubber bullets, or perhaps live ammunition as they did in 2003, killing 2 kids. Another time, some students were chased out to a nearby hillside where 16-year-old Rafat was seriously injured from gunshots. Kids are harassed on their way to school, sometimes prevented from arriving, and in general, seem to be targeted for little games by soldiers.

You will often see photos of Palestinian shebab (young boys and men) hurling stones at protests towards soldiers. I’ve seen it at demonstrations, too. Stone throwing is a complicated issue. People debate whether or not it is a nonviolent act. Tossing stones at bulletproof tanks will not likely cause harm, but I think it can be argued that it intends to... rendering it, in my opinion, as NOT a nonviolent act of resistance. What it definitely DOES do is encourage soldiers to respond with crowd-dispersing or deathly weapons, that is for sure. Why do they do it in the first place? At the most recent protest, I asked an 18-year-old what he thought about it... he replied that the soldiers have guns, Israel has bulldozers, what else do these kids have... nothing but the ground they are standing on.