Needed: INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE ONGOING GENOCIDE IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES!
Dear friends,
My name is David and I am anarchist from Israel. There is an emergency situation in Palestine. Dozens of innocent Palestinians, women, children and old people, are killed every day in Rafah. Dozens of of houses have been destroyed already. More than thousand people were made homeless, and the killing and destruction only get worse. According to unofficial numbers, there are more than 20,000 innocent Palestinian refugees. Anarchist activists were beaten and arrested tonight. Take a solidarity action now!
We need your help! There is an emergency situation right now in the Gaza Strip and the town of Rafah, in particular, with scenes that bring to mind Israel's invasion of Jenin and Nablus in the spring of 2002. So far today, 18 Palestinians were killed, but the action continues. Last weekend, 116 homes were destroyed, making over a thousand people homeless (please see www.btselem.org ). Hundreds more are slated for destruction. The Ha'aretz daily reporter (www.haaretz.com ), Amira Hass, filing dramatic daily reports from inside Rafah, describes the scenes of people grabbing their children and whatever comes to hand and fleeing their homes, anticipating the entry of the bulldozer-tanks. There are dead people in the streets, injured people are not being taken to hospitles.
Even Yossi Sarid MP from the Yahad Party (the social-democrats, formerly called Meretz), normally a staunch defender of the Israeli Occupation Forces, described actions in Rafah as "war crimes". Many -- Israelis, internationals and Palestinians -- are desperately trying to halt the bloodshed. The Israeli women's peace movement just placed an ad in Ha'aretz calling for an immediate halt to the violence and renewal of negotiations for what they call "a peace agreement that will extract us from all the occupied territories" ("True and enduring solutions," we wrote, "are attained by negotiation, not destruction, revenge or humiliation"). Although we, anarchists from Israel, are against any kind of peace between the ruling classes, we decided to participate in the united front against the genocide in Gaza strip. This morning, forty women drove to Gaza to see if they could intervene physically, but they are being prevented from entering Gaza by the occupation army. The women have set up an encampment at the Sufa checkpoint and say they will not leave until the army stops its actions there. Other peace and human rights organizations have placed newspaper ads, and many are organizing a larger delegation to join the women on Friday, in which a big demonstration will take place.
In addition, the ruling of Israel's High Court of Justice allows the IDF to continue its mass house demolitions in Rafah, and gives the IDF full discretion as to when to allow a court hearing prior to demolition. In issuing this ruling, the Court has shirked its obligation to balance security considerations with the rights of Palestinian civilians who are not involved in the hostilities. When addressing events in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Court consistently disregards its obligations regarding human rights and international law, and uncritically adopts the position of the security establishment. Since the beginning of the Intifada, the IDF has demolished some 1,800 homes in the Rafah Refugee Camp. Since the beginning of 2004 alone, 284 homes have been demolished in Rafah, leaving 2,185 Palestinians homeless. House demolition on such a massive scale cannot be justified as "urgent military need."
Amnesty International is launching a report today entitled Israel and the Occupied Territories: Under the rubble: House demolition and destruction of land and property. In this report, the organization analyses the main patterns and trends of forced eviction, house demolition and destruction of property by the Israeli army and security forces in Israel and in the Occupied Territories in the light of international human rights and humanitarian law.
You can find the report as well as a web action on AI's website:
The report: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde150332004
Press release: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE150502004
Stop destruction of homes and land by Israeli army - take action! http://web.amnesty.org/pages/isr-180504-action-eng
Slideshow: http://www.amnesty.org/resources/slideshow/slideshow-detect.htm?id=isr-180504-eng
Gush Shalom, Israel's peace movement, reports:
We heard what happened in Rafah while preparing in the Gush office for the already announced Friday protest at the Gaza entrance. We couldn''t think of a more fitting reaction than sending out a call to come - once more - to the Defense Ministry for an immediate protest. On the way there, with our banners and shields, we felt rather futile compared with those on whose behalf we were going to protest: the Rafah demonstrators in the middle of whom a helicopter gunship had sent a missile wounding dozens and among the ones killed several kids...
Still, the protest of some 250 - with besides Gush Shalom a very visible (and loud) presence of the dissident reservists (Courage to Refuse) and the Anarchists - had more spirit than the mass rally some days earlier. People easily found each other in furious chanting and the blag flags were there again. Nobody was surprised when some of the young took the initiative of blocking the street. More and more left the sidewalk. Police who started coming, closed off the Kaplan road for traffic, but before they could isolate us we had started marching. Chanting while walking from the Defence ministry gate through the whole Kaplan street into Ibn Gvirol, and from there towards the Rabin Square.
Reactions of passers-by were not unfriendly, and we nearly thought that the police for once decided not to show the usual behavior on this day of shame, but then suddenly they come from nowhere diving into the crowd and singling some out for arrest. Gush Shalom spokesperson Adam Keller was the first - seven polices dragged him, forcing him face-down on the street, and from seeing how they handled his arms and legs it seemed a miracle that he afterwards was not among the three (out of eight arrested) who had to go to hospital. The others were treated no better: Matan Cohen (wounded) , Yonathan Pollack (the "recidivist" anarchist), Elad Orian, refusnik David Zonscheine, Lezer Peled (wounded), Roni Avidov, Gal Chajad (wounded).
Some thirty demonstrators came to the police station, with two of them being able to function as lawyers (adv. Micheal Sfarad, himself a refuser, and activist advocate Yael Varda). After we had seen the wounded three handcuffed but on their feet coming out of the sstation to enter an ambulance, at 11pm the message came that the other arrestees would spend the night at Abu-Kabir (the Arabic name of this prison dating back to the pre-'48 period) after which the judge would decide what to do further.
Israelis who can, please come to the court(s) Thursday morning, May 20. Six of the eight will appear before the Duty Judge in the Magistrate Court (Mishpat Hashalom) Weitzman Street where they can be expected to be heard from 9am on.Matan and Roni will appear before a judge in the Juvenile Court (Shocken building), at about the same time. We hope that all will have the support of some friends and family.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Israel/Tel-Aviv Second appearance of the anarcho-communist initiative in the huge peace demo: TWO STATES FOR TWO NATION - TWO STATES TOO MUCH 15/05/04
The Zionist left and center peace initiative, agree in principle to give back the territories occupied 1967... on condition they are exempted from the obligation for the 1948 refugees. This evening, they assembled people demo from all parts of the country to a huge demo. May be 200,000 who are 5% of the Israeli Jewry. The anarcho-communist initiative assembled about 25 people for distributing the leaflet appended below. Surprising was the absent of the animals rights anarchists of Ma'avak Ehad who had some animals rights action instead. We distributed all the 2000 copies of the leaflets we had, and at the end of the demo when the Zionist sang their nationalist anthem we shout "Zionism is racism".
TWO STATES FOR TWO NATION - TWO STATES TOO MUCH
If the state of Israel and the Palestinian Authority will reach a "peace" agreement, it will not result from Israeli wish for "security" to citizens and the Palestinian wish for "independence". It will be - more than any thing else, a part of configuration of international powers' interests that such concept are alien to their way of thinking. The Geneva accords, initiated by politicians and businessmen, if signed and applied as intended (two different things) will be expression of these interests, and so will be any other political agreement one can imagine. The label most appropriate for the description of the treatment of the Israeli state towards the inhabitants and citizens who are not included in the category of full rights Jews is APARTHEID: a chauvinist separation rule, which confiscate the land from the peasants, restrict the freedom of movement of people in their way to work, and even obstruct the ability of the Palestinian capitalists from developing its economy. All this, while trying to get the cooperation of the Palestinian leadership.
Some people, who regard themselves as peace activists asked themselves seriously, beyond the official answers of the left, what can be the reasons for the common policy towards the Palestinians of all Israeli governments - both from the left and the right? We claim that it is not simply the conquering of one people by the other stile of the ancient empires; nor just the expression of the belief in a undivided land of Israel drawn from the bible; neither is it stemming from the pressure of the strong lobby of the settlers' leaders, though it surely play a role too.
The apartheid rule must be seen as something that serves several powerful interests. First, it served the Israeli economy - meaning the Israeli capitalists, by supplying cheap labor power which was mainly used by the small and medium employers in the manufacturing and building businesses. "The Israeli Arabs" who were under military rule during the 1948-1966 years are serving this role and more than these, the inhabitants of the regions occupied in 1967. Only lately, as if as result of the El-Aktsa Intifada, and the massive "import" of temporary work immigrants, the free access to that work power was stopped. The big Israeli companies, profited from the 1967 occupation mainly because it opened for them a big consumer market with no competitors. The military establishment, which was always a powerful one in Israel, and its top personal enjoyed and still enjoy the ensured careers in the government and its industries after finishing the military service, have the vested interests to prolong the apartheid (and the conflict) to ensure their position and their rights. It is the interest of the United States of America, which is helped by the services given to it by the Israeli state, in the region and all over the world, since the 50s of the previous century, that Israel will stay under a permanent threat so it will continue to need its support.
* * *
A reminder: serious talks about the establishment of a Palestinian state started only 15 years ago, towards the end of the first Intifada. Nearly all of leaders of the main Zionist left and the more radical left of the present, that seems they succeeded to rewrite their history in a kind of Orwelian way, did not even imagined such an agreement. Even at the beginning of the Oslo period they still talked about autonomy. The PLO and the anti-Zionist left were talking about the establishment of a secular state of all its citizens. The Palestinian authority did not exist at all till Israel helped to establish the PLO in this role. The peace agreement of two states for two nations entered the agenda only when following the first Intifada, and the changes in the global world economy, it started to fit the interest of sections of the Israeli and US capitalist.
What such a peace means? If we continue the description of the situation in the extended Israel as apartheid, and compare it to that which existed in South Africa, we can see that PEACE means the subduing of the Intifada to a comprador Palestinian leadership that will serve Israel. PEACE like that, called often "normalization", is related to processes occurring all over the world under the label of globalization, and initiatives for regional businesses cooperation to culminate as "free trade region of all the Mediterranean countries" All over the world, agreements of such kind lead to the take over of the local economies by multi-national concerns, infringement on basic human rights, deterioration in the status and conditions of females and children, social violence and destruction of the environment.
Will such agreement and peace bring at least the cessation of violence? We do not think so: the economic hardship and gaps will increase, the refugees problem will stay un solved, and the legitimacy of international economic support given to the huge number of unemployed in the Gaza strip and parts of the West bank (as partly happened after the Oslo agreement and even lately). In such case, they will have to relay on "their" state - a small and dependent mini-state that is doubtful if it will be up to it.
States act within a system of interests which common people like us are not high on their concerns. If we want to bring about any change for the better, to decrease gaps and to stop the mutual killing, we better not behave as obedient puppets of political leaders financed by Europeans and Americans, who do not do any thing more the a democratic protest, but act instead to fell down the national partitions - and mainly resist the military forces that cause mutual and continuous slaughter.
We better not promote a political program, not that of the Geneva accords and not an alternative one. Instead, put on the agenda the demand for entirely different way of life and equality for all the inhabitants of the region. Even if we act in an independent (local) way we still have to remember that as long there are states and the capitalist system will continue, every improvement we succeed to achieve will be partial and under permanent threat. Thus, we have to see our struggle as part of the struggle carried in the whole world against the world capitalism and call for a revolutionary change based on the abolition of the class suppression, exploitation, and the building of a new society - a classless anarcho-communist one. Society in which there will not be coercion by the state, the organized violence will be abolished, the chauvinism will be non existing, and all other evils of the capitalist era will be removed.
THIS LEAFLET IS DISTRIBUTED BY ISRAELI NATIONAL TRAITORS ANARCHISTS Contact: haifa_anarchists-A-yahoo.com
NOT RULERS - NOT RULED
TWO STATES FOR TWO NATION - TWO STATES TOO MUCH
If the state of Israel and the Palestinian Authority will reach a "peace" agreement, it will not result from Israeli wish for "security" to citizens and the Palestinian wish for "independence". It will be - more than any thing else, a part of configuration of international powers' interests that such concept are alien to their way of thinking. The Geneva accords, initiated by politicians and businessmen, if signed and applied as intended (two different things) will be expression of these interests, and so will be any other political agreement one can imagine. The label most appropriate for the description of the treatment of the Israeli state towards the inhabitants and citizens who are not included in the category of full rights Jews is APARTHEID: a chauvinist separation rule, which confiscate the land from the peasants, restrict the freedom of movement of people in their way to work, and even obstruct the ability of the Palestinian capitalists from developing its economy. All this, while trying to get the cooperation of the Palestinian leadership.
Some people, who regard themselves as peace activists asked themselves seriously, beyond the official answers of the left, what can be the reasons for the common policy towards the Palestinians of all Israeli governments - both from the left and the right? We claim that it is not simply the conquering of one people by the other stile of the ancient empires; nor just the expression of the belief in a undivided land of Israel drawn from the bible; neither is it stemming from the pressure of the strong lobby of the settlers' leaders, though it surely play a role too.
The apartheid rule must be seen as something that serves several powerful interests. First, it served the Israeli economy - meaning the Israeli capitalists, by supplying cheap labor power which was mainly used by the small and medium employers in the manufacturing and building businesses. "The Israeli Arabs" who were under military rule during the 1948-1966 years are serving this role and more than these, the inhabitants of the regions occupied in 1967. Only lately, as if as result of the El-Aktsa Intifada, and the massive "import" of temporary work immigrants, the free access to that work power was stopped. The big Israeli companies, profited from the 1967 occupation mainly because it opened for them a big consumer market with no competitors. The military establishment, which was always a powerful one in Israel, and its top personal enjoyed and still enjoy the ensured careers in the government and its industries after finishing the military service, have the vested interests to prolong the apartheid (and the conflict) to ensure their position and their rights. It is the interest of the United States of America, which is helped by the services given to it by the Israeli state, in the region and all over the world, since the 50s of the previous century, that Israel will stay under a permanent threat so it will continue to need its support.
* * *
A reminder: serious talks about the establishment of a Palestinian state started only 15 years ago, towards the end of the first Intifada. Nearly all of leaders of the main Zionist left and the more radical left of the present, that seems they succeeded to rewrite their history in a kind of Orwelian way, did not even imagined such an agreement. Even at the beginning of the Oslo period they still talked about autonomy. The PLO and the anti-Zionist left were talking about the establishment of a secular state of all its citizens. The Palestinian authority did not exist at all till Israel helped to establish the PLO in this role. The peace agreement of two states for two nations entered the agenda only when following the first Intifada, and the changes in the global world economy, it started to fit the interest of sections of the Israeli and US capitalist.
What such a peace means? If we continue the description of the situation in the extended Israel as apartheid, and compare it to that which existed in South Africa, we can see that PEACE means the subduing of the Intifada to a comprador Palestinian leadership that will serve Israel. PEACE like that, called often "normalization", is related to processes occurring all over the world under the label of globalization, and initiatives for regional businesses cooperation to culminate as "free trade region of all the Mediterranean countries" All over the world, agreements of such kind lead to the take over of the local economies by multi-national concerns, infringement on basic human rights, deterioration in the status and conditions of females and children, social violence and destruction of the environment.
Will such agreement and peace bring at least the cessation of violence? We do not think so: the economic hardship and gaps will increase, the refugees problem will stay un solved, and the legitimacy of international economic support given to the huge number of unemployed in the Gaza strip and parts of the West bank (as partly happened after the Oslo agreement and even lately). In such case, they will have to relay on "their" state - a small and dependent mini-state that is doubtful if it will be up to it.
States act within a system of interests which common people like us are not high on their concerns. If we want to bring about any change for the better, to decrease gaps and to stop the mutual killing, we better not behave as obedient puppets of political leaders financed by Europeans and Americans, who do not do any thing more the a democratic protest, but act instead to fell down the national partitions - and mainly resist the military forces that cause mutual and continuous slaughter.
We better not promote a political program, not that of the Geneva accords and not an alternative one. Instead, put on the agenda the demand for entirely different way of life and equality for all the inhabitants of the region. Even if we act in an independent (local) way we still have to remember that as long there are states and the capitalist system will continue, every improvement we succeed to achieve will be partial and under permanent threat. Thus, we have to see our struggle as part of the struggle carried in the whole world against the world capitalism and call for a revolutionary change based on the abolition of the class suppression, exploitation, and the building of a new society - a classless anarcho-communist one. Society in which there will not be coercion by the state, the organized violence will be abolished, the chauvinism will be non existing, and all other evils of the capitalist era will be removed.
THIS LEAFLET IS DISTRIBUTED BY ISRAELI NATIONAL TRAITORS ANARCHISTS Contact: haifa_anarchists-A-yahoo.com
NOT RULERS - NOT RULED
Friday, May 14, 2004
Israel-Palestine, Anarchists in the "peace" demo of Saturday 14/05/04
Hey all, On Saturday, May 15, we - anarchist activists - are intending to hand out an anarchist flayer in the psuedo-peace demonstration. The flayer was designed and written by anarchists from Haifa, Tel Aviv and other places, and it reflects the only genuine, principled, opposition to the Zionist "left". You can read it in the attached PDF file. If you can come and help us, it will be great. If you have placards, black / BlackNRed flags, T-Shirts etc., go ahead! We are intending to meet there in 19:00 pm, near the monument of Saint Rabin, and hand out the flayers. It is important to raise our voice and prove that there is another way forward, a revolutionary one.
There are buses to the demo from most of Israel's cities and towns, organized by Peace Now. You can read the flayer and the details regarding the transportation in Ma'avak Ehad Forum (http://www.onestruggle.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=142 and http://www.onestruggle.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=127).
If you have questions, please contact haifa_anarchists@yahoo.com , or 054-4464787.
In Solidarity,
D.
There are buses to the demo from most of Israel's cities and towns, organized by Peace Now. You can read the flayer and the details regarding the transportation in Ma'avak Ehad Forum (http://www.onestruggle.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=142 and http://www.onestruggle.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=127).
If you have questions, please contact haifa_anarchists@yahoo.com , or 054-4464787.
In Solidarity,
D.
Thursday, May 6, 2004
Israel-Palestine, Biddu: The struggle against the wall. 06/05/04
From: Tanya reinhart* To: mashacamp@yahoogroups.com Biddu is a beautiful Palestinian village, surrounded with vines and fruit orchards, a few miles to the east of the Israeli border of 1967. In the last couple of months, the village, that has lived in peace with its Israeli neighbors even during the present Intifada, has become yet another symbol in the history of Israel/Palestine. The misfortune of this village is that its lands, as well as the lands of the other small Palestinian villages nearby, border the "Jerusalem corridor" - a sequence of Israeli neighborhoods to the North of Jerusalem. Israeli control of this land would enable territorial continuity "clean of Palestinians" from this corridor to the settlement of Givat Zeev, built deep inside the occupied West Bank, close to Ramallah. In the massive annexation project of Sharon and the Israeli army, this is the kind of land one "does not give up". For this reason, Israel is imprisoning the villagers inside a wall, and is grabbing their land. Biddu, and the ten villages around it, are allowed only one option - to sit quietly and watch as the fruit orchards that they have nourished from one generation to another, turn into the real-estate reserves of the Jerusalem corridor.
But rather than obeying, the village of Biddu united with the other nearby villages to defend their land. In the new model of popular resistance that has developed along the line of the wall in the West Bank, the whole village - men women and children - are going out to put their bodies between the bulldozers and their land. A basic principle in this form of struggle is that of non-violence. Use of arms is strictly forbidden, and there is also visible effort on the part of the communities to restrain the youth from throwing stones. A second principle of the resistance is that it is a joint struggle of Palestinians and Israelis, whose fate and future are intertwined. Like in other areas of the wall, the people of Biddu have called on the Israelis to join them. -"Raise the voice of reason, the voice of logic, above the sound of the bullets and the sound of the oppression ..." - they wrote in an open letter to the settlements and the Israeli neighborhoods around them.
Indeed, Israelis have answered the call - from the young activists against the wall**, to the neighbors from the Mevaseret Tzion neighborhood in the Jerusalem Corridor. Thirty of the latter have also joined an appeal that the villages submitted to the supreme court of Israel, against the appropriation of their land. But in the eyes of the army, this new model of Palestinians and Israelis demonstrating together is the most dangerous. In Biddu the army has already posed snipers on the roofs, used live ammunition and killed five Palestinians. Dozens of others have been wounded. Following the media coverage and the protest, the army's use of live fire has decreased, but its violence has not. On April 17, Rabbi Arik Asherman was arrested in Biddu, when he tried to protect a Palestinian child strapped on to the hood of a military jeep
In response to the violence of the army, the women of Biddu called for a quiet and small protest demonstration of women only, on Sunday, April 25th. About 30 Israeli women answered the call - women of diverse ages and from a wide array of occupations. In Biddu, we met with Palestinian women, and with women from the international organizations active in the occupied territories. A quiet protest walk started - less then a hundred women, carrying posters. There was no man in sight, nor children, who could potentially throw stones. We constituted no threat whatsoever. But for the army, this does not matter. "We will not allow this demonstration" - a voice in uniform announced. Tear gas and stun-grenades directly followed. Paralyzed where I stood, I watched a hallucinatory scene. In the midst of the fog of smoke and tear gas, there were still a few women standing, silently lifting their posters in front of the soldiers. But then, out of the fog burst warriors on horses and charged into the women holding the posters. I have seen cops on horses before, but this was a different sight. It was dead clear that their batons were meant for breaking bones. Molly Malekar, the director of the Bat-Shalom organization, ended her quiet protest against the army's violence with a broken shoulder, and a severe blow to her head.
The army blocks any route of protest. It is no longer allowed even to stand silently with posters. And this does not hold only for Palestinians. From the army's perspective, we Israelis are also given only one option - sit silently and watch as our country loses its human face. But since Israel is still, officially, a democracy, it is not permissible for the army to be the body that determines the limits of the freedom to protest. It is necessary to form an independent committee of inquiry into the army’s violence in Biddu, and to bring those responsible to justice.
For more on Biddu see Gideon Levy's article 'Fighting the fence'
Yediot Aharonot***, Tuesday, April 20, 2004; Translated from Hebrew by Netta Van Vliet
==================
* Tania was a long time anarchist activist and academian. She had a column in the Yediot Aharonot*** daily
** Mostly from the Anarcists Against The Wall initiative
*** Yediot Aharonot is the main Israeli daily - read by majority of Israelis
But rather than obeying, the village of Biddu united with the other nearby villages to defend their land. In the new model of popular resistance that has developed along the line of the wall in the West Bank, the whole village - men women and children - are going out to put their bodies between the bulldozers and their land. A basic principle in this form of struggle is that of non-violence. Use of arms is strictly forbidden, and there is also visible effort on the part of the communities to restrain the youth from throwing stones. A second principle of the resistance is that it is a joint struggle of Palestinians and Israelis, whose fate and future are intertwined. Like in other areas of the wall, the people of Biddu have called on the Israelis to join them. -"Raise the voice of reason, the voice of logic, above the sound of the bullets and the sound of the oppression ..." - they wrote in an open letter to the settlements and the Israeli neighborhoods around them.
Indeed, Israelis have answered the call - from the young activists against the wall**, to the neighbors from the Mevaseret Tzion neighborhood in the Jerusalem Corridor. Thirty of the latter have also joined an appeal that the villages submitted to the supreme court of Israel, against the appropriation of their land. But in the eyes of the army, this new model of Palestinians and Israelis demonstrating together is the most dangerous. In Biddu the army has already posed snipers on the roofs, used live ammunition and killed five Palestinians. Dozens of others have been wounded. Following the media coverage and the protest, the army's use of live fire has decreased, but its violence has not. On April 17, Rabbi Arik Asherman was arrested in Biddu, when he tried to protect a Palestinian child strapped on to the hood of a military jeep
In response to the violence of the army, the women of Biddu called for a quiet and small protest demonstration of women only, on Sunday, April 25th. About 30 Israeli women answered the call - women of diverse ages and from a wide array of occupations. In Biddu, we met with Palestinian women, and with women from the international organizations active in the occupied territories. A quiet protest walk started - less then a hundred women, carrying posters. There was no man in sight, nor children, who could potentially throw stones. We constituted no threat whatsoever. But for the army, this does not matter. "We will not allow this demonstration" - a voice in uniform announced. Tear gas and stun-grenades directly followed. Paralyzed where I stood, I watched a hallucinatory scene. In the midst of the fog of smoke and tear gas, there were still a few women standing, silently lifting their posters in front of the soldiers. But then, out of the fog burst warriors on horses and charged into the women holding the posters. I have seen cops on horses before, but this was a different sight. It was dead clear that their batons were meant for breaking bones. Molly Malekar, the director of the Bat-Shalom organization, ended her quiet protest against the army's violence with a broken shoulder, and a severe blow to her head.
The army blocks any route of protest. It is no longer allowed even to stand silently with posters. And this does not hold only for Palestinians. From the army's perspective, we Israelis are also given only one option - sit silently and watch as our country loses its human face. But since Israel is still, officially, a democracy, it is not permissible for the army to be the body that determines the limits of the freedom to protest. It is necessary to form an independent committee of inquiry into the army’s violence in Biddu, and to bring those responsible to justice.
For more on Biddu see Gideon Levy's article 'Fighting the fence'
Yediot Aharonot***, Tuesday, April 20, 2004; Translated from Hebrew by Netta Van Vliet
==================
* Tania was a long time anarchist activist and academian. She had a column in the Yediot Aharonot*** daily
** Mostly from the Anarcists Against The Wall initiative
*** Yediot Aharonot is the main Israeli daily - read by majority of Israelis
Sunday, May 2, 2004
Israel, Tel Aviv, Violence against the anarchists in the first of May rally 02/05/04
Stewards and members of the "Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed" [learning and working youth - national/Zionist socialists youth movement associated with the Labor Party] attacked the anarchists and tried to prevent them from entering the rally. Today, there was a first of May event and a rally at the Tel Aviv museum square - organized by a joint first of May comity of the "Hashomer Hatsair", "Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed", "Hadash" [the communist party front] "Tseirey Yahad" and others. Stewards and other members of the "Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed" tried to prevent from joining the assembly a group of anarchists (which included activists from the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative, the "Maavak Ehad" anarchist collective, and others). They attacked the anarchists and asked the police force on duty to keep them out. They announced that the entrance of the anarchist activists is forbidden.
The anarchist who arrived with black and redNblack flags and a flier with the heading of "The First Of May is Ours" told in advance they intend to distribute leaflets and carry their flags. At first, the police and the stewards of the "Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed" prevented their entrance. Later, after the intervention of the lawyer Gabi Lasky, the general secretary of the "Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed", and Tamar Gojanski - the ex-parliament member of Hadash, which headed the comity that organized the assembly, the entrance of the anarchists to the square was allowed.
After the anarchists enter, the stewards of the "Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed" tried again and again to confiscate the fliers in spite of repeated talks with the general secretary of the "Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed".
At the end of the rally, when the other participants of the demo started to sing Israel's national/Zionist anthem, Ha'Tikva, the anarchists seat down on the ground and shout "Zionism is Racism!" (and joined the singing of the Internationale). Participants in the demo, all of them from the Hano'ar Ha'Oved Ve'Halomed, started to beat and kick the anarchists, and tried to break the camera that documented their violent actions.
The anarchist who arrived with black and redNblack flags and a flier with the heading of "The First Of May is Ours" told in advance they intend to distribute leaflets and carry their flags. At first, the police and the stewards of the "Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed" prevented their entrance. Later, after the intervention of the lawyer Gabi Lasky, the general secretary of the "Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed", and Tamar Gojanski - the ex-parliament member of Hadash, which headed the comity that organized the assembly, the entrance of the anarchists to the square was allowed.
After the anarchists enter, the stewards of the "Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed" tried again and again to confiscate the fliers in spite of repeated talks with the general secretary of the "Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed".
At the end of the rally, when the other participants of the demo started to sing Israel's national/Zionist anthem, Ha'Tikva, the anarchists seat down on the ground and shout "Zionism is Racism!" (and joined the singing of the Internationale). Participants in the demo, all of them from the Hano'ar Ha'Oved Ve'Halomed, started to beat and kick the anarchists, and tried to break the camera that documented their violent actions.
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