In addition to the nearly daily demonstrations of the villagers of Bil'in together with Israeli Anarchist Against The Wall, for the last two months, a grand demonstration was initiated. The villagers comity against the fence recruited enforcement from the neighboring villages and the city Ramalla. The anarchists recruited the radical organization of Israel under the umbrella of "the coalition against the fence".
After a week of preparations, we converged to the region Bil'in is part of with busses and private cars few hundred activists from Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv. We were prepared with various tactics to go around the blocks the Israeli state would put on our way - as they usually do, but they did not.
We discovered later why they did not even tried in a symbolic way to hinder our convergence to Bil'in.
We arrived to the region through the modern wide roads used by the Israeli settlers, and crossed the unguarded debris blocking the traffic to and from the much less convenient network of roads for use of the Palestinians. We last part of the travel to Bil'in we did by cabs who can maneuver in the narrow roads.
On arrival to the Bil'in village, we were warmly greeted and socialized with people in the center of the village. On the pavement, the locals organized an Exhibition: On its two sides were large letters that read NO TO THE SEPARATION WALL. Between them there were collections of the enemy ammunition: used tear gas canisters, remnants of shock grenades, teargas grenades, and some "graphity written with rubber coated bullets and other used ammunition.
After all the participants arrived, (and the media workers included Al-Jazera, and the Israelis) we started the march towards the route of the fence where the heavy machinery work on the lands confiscation from the Bil'in village. On the route, the speaker of the village comity called the anarchists and the internationals to relocate to the head of the march - which we did.
So we marched accompanied by the bit of a drum and slogans, many of us in the shade of a huge Palestinian flag of 50X6 meters till about one kilometer from the building site. Here started the confrontation. The soldiers tried to block our way a chain of theirs with not so gentle way, but still without batons or real vicious behavior.
About hundred of us broke the first line of the soldiers - mainly going around them through the fields and among the olive trees. The rest of the demonstrators were blocked more efficiently using in addition to tear gas shots, for the first time, plastic bullets (less lethal they say than the usual rubber coated metal bullets).
Our group - Palestinians, Israelis (mostly anarchists) Internationals, and even dignitaries (Israeli Palestinian members of parliament and members of the Palestinian parliament, was blocked about 50 meter from the work site - still mainly by physical power only.
During this engagement, the "secret weapon" of the Israeli state was exposed: prison riot suppression unit persons disguised as demonstrators tried to provoke a violent clash with the Israeli army and police to justify a harsh suppression of the demonstration... However, the demonstration was highly organized, and they were immediately approached by village activist to enforce the nonviolence program... This exposed them to be outsider provocateurs. When reposed, they put their masks of and arrested two Palestinians.
The group of the 100 or so demonstrators and the soldiers were in a kind of non friendly draw. All the time the army succeeded to prevent reinforcement to us from the main body of the demonstration, but refraining from brutally dispersing us.
After more than an hour it was clear that we will not be able to break the block and stop the work of the heavy machinery. A negotiation started in order to get the release of the two arrested Palestinians in return for our retreat to the one kilometer distance.
During the negotiations, two Israelis got themselves arrested to be in solidarity with the two Palestinians.
At one point, a high officer promised that if we retreat, after 15 minutes the 4 arrested will be released. So we retreated not counting too much on him keeping the promise.... And he did not.
A second wave of advance towards the building site failed due to diminished energy of the demonstrators and an intensive use of tear gas. So we regrouped to the one kilometer point. Bout 11 of the demonstrators decided to increase the number of arrested in a solidarity protest. They defied tear gas shots and reached the soldiers standing near the work site... and failed. The army agreed to arrest only two of them. Too many Israeli arrested is not good for public relations... So, after 3 hours from beginning of the demonstration we started the long way to the village and than home.
Along the demonstration, and later - including the main news programs of the Israeli radio and TV, the demonstration was reported - with lot of video clips taken in the demo.
The media reported on 300 Israelis and 700 participants. It also reported on the experiments done in the suppression of the demo. They also gave a false explanation to justify the failed provocation of the undercover agent provocateurs who tried to incite by their stone throwing.
They gave the ridiculous lie that they had to throw stones to keep them from being exposed.... (Which was of course the opposite - throwing the stones when no real demonstrators did it exposed them.
22:40 - last update: The 4 arrested Israelis were released. the two Palestinians were detained in the Ofer military compound. Israeli activist are now in the middle of formal complain in the police station against the undercover agents provocateurs and testifying about the bogus accusations against the two palestinians.
Ilan
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, a joint grand-demo. 28 Apr
In addition to the nearly daily demonstrations of the villagers of Bil'in together with Israeli Anarchist Against The Wall, for the last two months, a grand demonstration was initiated. The villagers comity against the fence recruited enforcement from the neighboring villages and the city Ramalla. The anarchists recruited the radical organization of Israel under the umbrella of "the coalition against the fence".
After a week of preparations, we converged to the region Bil'in is part of with busses and private cars few hundred activists from Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv. We were prepared with various tactics to go around the blocks the Israeli state would put on our way - as they usually do, but they did not.
We discovered later why they did not even tried in a symbolic way to hinder our convergence to Bil'in.
We arrived to the region through the modern wide roads used by the Israeli settlers, and crossed the unguarded debris blocking the traffic to and from the much less convenient network of roads for use of the Palestinians. We last part of the travel to Bil'in we did by cabs who can maneuver in the narrow roads.
On arrival to the Bil'in village, we were warmly greeted and socialized with people in the center of the village. On the pavement, the locals organized an Exhibition: On its two sides were large letters that read NO TO THE SEPARATION WALL. Between them there were collections of the enemy ammunition: used tear gas canisters, remnants of shock grenades, teargas grenades, and some "graphity written with rubber coated bullets and other used ammunition.
After all the participants arrived, (and the media workers included Al-Jazera, and the Israelis) we started the march towards the route of the fence where the heavy machinery work on the lands confiscation from the Bil'in village. On the route, the speaker of the village comity called the anarchists and the internationals to relocate to the head of the march - which we did.
So we marched accompanied by the bit of a drum and slogans, many of us in the shade of a huge Palestinian flag of 50X6 meters till about one kilometer from the building site. Here started the confrontation. The soldiers tried to block our way a chain of theirs with not so gentle way, but still without batons or real vicious behavior.
About hundred of us broke the first line of the soldiers - mainly going around them through the fields and among the olive trees. The rest of the demonstrators were blocked more efficiently using in addition to tear gas shots, for the first time, plastic bullets (less lethal they say than the usual rubber coated metal bullets).
Our group - Palestinians, Israelis (mostly anarchists) Internationals, and even dignitaries (Israeli Palestinian members of parliament and members of the Palestinian parliament, was blocked about 50 meter from the work site - still mainly by physical power only.
During this engagement, the "secret weapon" of the Israeli state was exposed: prison riot suppression unit persons disguised as demonstrators tried to provoke a violent clash with the Israeli army and police to justify a harsh suppression of the demonstration... However, the demonstration was highly organized, and they were immediately approached by village activist to enforce the nonviolence program... This exposed them to be outsider provocateurs. When reposed, they put their masks of and arrested two Palestinians.
The group of the 100 or so demonstrators and the soldiers were in a kind of non friendly draw. All the time the army succeeded to prevent reinforcement to us from the main body of the demonstration, but refraining from brutally dispersing us.
After more than an hour it was clear that we will not be able to break the block and stop the work of the heavy machinery. A negotiation started in order to get the release of the two arrested Palestinians in return for our retreat to the one kilometer distance.
During the negotiations, two Israelis got themselves arrested to be in solidarity with the two Palestinians.
At one point, a high officer promised that if we retreat, after 15 minutes the 4 arrested will be released. So we retreated not counting too much on him keeping the promise.... And he did not.
A second wave of advance towards the building site failed due to diminished energy of the demonstrators and an intensive use of tear gas. So we regrouped to the one kilometer point. Bout 11 of the demonstrators decided to increase the number of arrested in a solidarity protest. They defied tear gas shots and reached the soldiers standing near the work site... and failed. The army agreed to arrest only two of them. Too many Israeli arrested is not good for public relations... So, after 3 hours from beginning of the demonstration we started the long way to the village and than home.
Along the demonstration, and later - including the main news programs of the Israeli radio and TV, the demonstration was reported - with lot of video clips taken in the demo.
The media reported on 300 Israelis and 700 participants. It also reported on the experiments done in the suppression of the demo. They also gave a false explanation to justify the failed provocation of the undercover agent provocateurs who tried to incite by their stone throwing.
They gave the ridiculous lie that they had to throw stones to keep them from being exposed.... (Which was of course the opposite - throwing the stones when no real demonstrators did it exposed them.
22:40 - last update: The 4 arrested Israelis were released. the two Palestinians were detained in the Ofer military compound. Israeli activist are now in the middle of formal complain in the police station against the undercover agents provocateurs and testifying about the bogus accusations against the two palestinians. Ilan
After a week of preparations, we converged to the region Bil'in is part of with busses and private cars few hundred activists from Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv. We were prepared with various tactics to go around the blocks the Israeli state would put on our way - as they usually do, but they did not.
We discovered later why they did not even tried in a symbolic way to hinder our convergence to Bil'in.
We arrived to the region through the modern wide roads used by the Israeli settlers, and crossed the unguarded debris blocking the traffic to and from the much less convenient network of roads for use of the Palestinians. We last part of the travel to Bil'in we did by cabs who can maneuver in the narrow roads.
On arrival to the Bil'in village, we were warmly greeted and socialized with people in the center of the village. On the pavement, the locals organized an Exhibition: On its two sides were large letters that read NO TO THE SEPARATION WALL. Between them there were collections of the enemy ammunition: used tear gas canisters, remnants of shock grenades, teargas grenades, and some "graphity written with rubber coated bullets and other used ammunition.
After all the participants arrived, (and the media workers included Al-Jazera, and the Israelis) we started the march towards the route of the fence where the heavy machinery work on the lands confiscation from the Bil'in village. On the route, the speaker of the village comity called the anarchists and the internationals to relocate to the head of the march - which we did.
So we marched accompanied by the bit of a drum and slogans, many of us in the shade of a huge Palestinian flag of 50X6 meters till about one kilometer from the building site. Here started the confrontation. The soldiers tried to block our way a chain of theirs with not so gentle way, but still without batons or real vicious behavior.
About hundred of us broke the first line of the soldiers - mainly going around them through the fields and among the olive trees. The rest of the demonstrators were blocked more efficiently using in addition to tear gas shots, for the first time, plastic bullets (less lethal they say than the usual rubber coated metal bullets).
Our group - Palestinians, Israelis (mostly anarchists) Internationals, and even dignitaries (Israeli Palestinian members of parliament and members of the Palestinian parliament, was blocked about 50 meter from the work site - still mainly by physical power only.
During this engagement, the "secret weapon" of the Israeli state was exposed: prison riot suppression unit persons disguised as demonstrators tried to provoke a violent clash with the Israeli army and police to justify a harsh suppression of the demonstration... However, the demonstration was highly organized, and they were immediately approached by village activist to enforce the nonviolence program... This exposed them to be outsider provocateurs. When reposed, they put their masks of and arrested two Palestinians.
The group of the 100 or so demonstrators and the soldiers were in a kind of non friendly draw. All the time the army succeeded to prevent reinforcement to us from the main body of the demonstration, but refraining from brutally dispersing us.
After more than an hour it was clear that we will not be able to break the block and stop the work of the heavy machinery. A negotiation started in order to get the release of the two arrested Palestinians in return for our retreat to the one kilometer distance.
During the negotiations, two Israelis got themselves arrested to be in solidarity with the two Palestinians.
At one point, a high officer promised that if we retreat, after 15 minutes the 4 arrested will be released. So we retreated not counting too much on him keeping the promise.... And he did not.
A second wave of advance towards the building site failed due to diminished energy of the demonstrators and an intensive use of tear gas. So we regrouped to the one kilometer point. Bout 11 of the demonstrators decided to increase the number of arrested in a solidarity protest. They defied tear gas shots and reached the soldiers standing near the work site... and failed. The army agreed to arrest only two of them. Too many Israeli arrested is not good for public relations... So, after 3 hours from beginning of the demonstration we started the long way to the village and than home.
Along the demonstration, and later - including the main news programs of the Israeli radio and TV, the demonstration was reported - with lot of video clips taken in the demo.
The media reported on 300 Israelis and 700 participants. It also reported on the experiments done in the suppression of the demo. They also gave a false explanation to justify the failed provocation of the undercover agent provocateurs who tried to incite by their stone throwing.
They gave the ridiculous lie that they had to throw stones to keep them from being exposed.... (Which was of course the opposite - throwing the stones when no real demonstrators did it exposed them.
22:40 - last update: The 4 arrested Israelis were released. the two Palestinians were detained in the Ofer military compound. Israeli activist are now in the middle of formal complain in the police station against the undercover agents provocateurs and testifying about the bogus accusations against the two palestinians. Ilan
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, a joint grand-demo. 28 Apr
In addition to the nearly daily demonstrations of the villagers of Bil'in together with Israeli Anarchist Against The Wall, for the last two months, a grand demonstration was initiated. The villagers comity against the fence recruited enforcement from the neighboring villages and the city Ramalla. The anarchists recruited the radical organization of Israel under the umbrella of "the coalition against the fence". After a week of preparations, we converged to the region Bil'in is part of with busses and private cars few hundred activists from Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv. We were prepared with various tactics to go around the blocks the Israeli state would put on our way - as they usually do, but they did not.
We discovered later why they did not even tried in a symbolic way to hinder our convergence to Bil'in.
We arrived to the region through the modern wide roads used by the Israeli settlers, and crossed the unguarded debris blocking the traffic to and from the much less convenient network of roads for use of the Palestinians. We last part of the travel to Bil'in we did by cabs who can maneuver in the narrow roads.
On arrival to the Bil'in village, we were warmly greeted and socialized with people in the center of the village. On the pavement, the locals organized an Exhibition: On its two sides were large letters that read NO TO THE SEPARATION WALL. Between them there were collections of the enemy ammunition: used tear gas canisters, remnants of shock grenades, teargas grenades, and some "graphity written with rubber coated bullets and other used ammunition.
After all the participants arrived, (and the media workers included Al-Jazera, and the Israelis) we started the march towards the route of the fence where the heavy machinery work on the lands confiscation from the Bil'in village. On the route, the speaker of the village comity called the anarchists and the internationals to relocate to the head of the march - which we did.
So we marched accompanied by the bit of a drum and slogans, many of us in the shade of a huge Palestinian flag of 50X6 meters till about one kilometer from the building site. Here started the confrontation. The soldiers tried to block our way a chain of theirs with not so gentle way, but still without batons or real vicious behavior.
About hundred of us broke the first line of the soldiers - mainly going around them through the fields and among the olive trees. The rest of the demonstrators were blocked more efficiently using in addition to tear gas shots, for the first time, plastic bullets (less lethal they say than the usual rubber coated metal bullets).
Our group - Palestinians, Israelis (mostly anarchists) Internationals, and even dignitaries (Israeli Palestinian members of parliament and members of the Palestinian parliament, was blocked about 50 meter from the work site - still mainly by physical power only.
During this engagement, the "secret weapon" of the Israeli state was exposed: prison riot suppression unit persons disguised as demonstrators tried to provoke a violent clash with the Israeli army and police to justify a harsh suppression of the demonstration... However, the demonstration was highly organized, and they were immediately approached by village activist to enforce the nonviolence program... This exposed them to be outsider provocateurs. When reposed, they put their masks of and arrested two Palestinians.
The group of the 100 or so demonstrators and the soldiers were in a kind of non friendly draw. All the time the army succeeded to prevent reinforcement to us from the main body of the demonstration, but refraining from brutally dispersing us.
After more than an hour it was clear that we will not be able to break the block and stop the work of the heavy machinery.
A negotiation started in order to get the release of the two arrested Palestinians in return for our retreat to the one kilometer distance.
During the negotiations, two Israelis got themselves arrested to be in solidarity with the two Palestinians.
At one point, a high officer promised that if we retreat, after 15 minutes the 4 arrested will be released. So we retreated not counting too much on him keeping the promise.... And he did not.
A second wave of advance towards the building site failed due to diminished energy of the demonstrators and an intensive use of tear gas. So we regrouped to the one kilometer point. Bout 11 of the demonstrators decided to increase the number of arrested in a solidarity protest. They defied tear gas shots and reached the soldiers standing near the work site... and failed. The army agreed to arrest only two of them. Too many Israeli arrested is not good for public relations... So, after 3 hours from beginning of the demonstration we started the long way to the village and than home.
Along the demonstration, and later - including the main news programs of the Israeli radio and TV, the demonstration was reported - with lot of video clips taken in the demo.
The media reported on 300 Israelis and 700 participants. It also reported on the experiments done in the suppression of the demo. They also gave a false explanation to justify the failed provocation of the undercover agent provocateurs who tried to incite by their stone throwing.
They gave the ridiculous lie that they had to throw stones to keep them from being exposed.... (Which was of course the opposite - throwing the stones when no real demonstrators did it exposed them.
22:40 - last update: The 4 arrested Israelis were released. the two Palestinians were detained in the Ofer military compound. Israeli activist are now in the middle of formal complain in the police station against the undercover agents provocateurs and testifying about the bogus accusations against the two palestinians. Ilan
We discovered later why they did not even tried in a symbolic way to hinder our convergence to Bil'in.
We arrived to the region through the modern wide roads used by the Israeli settlers, and crossed the unguarded debris blocking the traffic to and from the much less convenient network of roads for use of the Palestinians. We last part of the travel to Bil'in we did by cabs who can maneuver in the narrow roads.
On arrival to the Bil'in village, we were warmly greeted and socialized with people in the center of the village. On the pavement, the locals organized an Exhibition: On its two sides were large letters that read NO TO THE SEPARATION WALL. Between them there were collections of the enemy ammunition: used tear gas canisters, remnants of shock grenades, teargas grenades, and some "graphity written with rubber coated bullets and other used ammunition.
After all the participants arrived, (and the media workers included Al-Jazera, and the Israelis) we started the march towards the route of the fence where the heavy machinery work on the lands confiscation from the Bil'in village. On the route, the speaker of the village comity called the anarchists and the internationals to relocate to the head of the march - which we did.
So we marched accompanied by the bit of a drum and slogans, many of us in the shade of a huge Palestinian flag of 50X6 meters till about one kilometer from the building site. Here started the confrontation. The soldiers tried to block our way a chain of theirs with not so gentle way, but still without batons or real vicious behavior.
About hundred of us broke the first line of the soldiers - mainly going around them through the fields and among the olive trees. The rest of the demonstrators were blocked more efficiently using in addition to tear gas shots, for the first time, plastic bullets (less lethal they say than the usual rubber coated metal bullets).
Our group - Palestinians, Israelis (mostly anarchists) Internationals, and even dignitaries (Israeli Palestinian members of parliament and members of the Palestinian parliament, was blocked about 50 meter from the work site - still mainly by physical power only.
During this engagement, the "secret weapon" of the Israeli state was exposed: prison riot suppression unit persons disguised as demonstrators tried to provoke a violent clash with the Israeli army and police to justify a harsh suppression of the demonstration... However, the demonstration was highly organized, and they were immediately approached by village activist to enforce the nonviolence program... This exposed them to be outsider provocateurs. When reposed, they put their masks of and arrested two Palestinians.
The group of the 100 or so demonstrators and the soldiers were in a kind of non friendly draw. All the time the army succeeded to prevent reinforcement to us from the main body of the demonstration, but refraining from brutally dispersing us.
After more than an hour it was clear that we will not be able to break the block and stop the work of the heavy machinery.
A negotiation started in order to get the release of the two arrested Palestinians in return for our retreat to the one kilometer distance.
During the negotiations, two Israelis got themselves arrested to be in solidarity with the two Palestinians.
At one point, a high officer promised that if we retreat, after 15 minutes the 4 arrested will be released. So we retreated not counting too much on him keeping the promise.... And he did not.
A second wave of advance towards the building site failed due to diminished energy of the demonstrators and an intensive use of tear gas. So we regrouped to the one kilometer point. Bout 11 of the demonstrators decided to increase the number of arrested in a solidarity protest. They defied tear gas shots and reached the soldiers standing near the work site... and failed. The army agreed to arrest only two of them. Too many Israeli arrested is not good for public relations... So, after 3 hours from beginning of the demonstration we started the long way to the village and than home.
Along the demonstration, and later - including the main news programs of the Israeli radio and TV, the demonstration was reported - with lot of video clips taken in the demo.
The media reported on 300 Israelis and 700 participants. It also reported on the experiments done in the suppression of the demo. They also gave a false explanation to justify the failed provocation of the undercover agent provocateurs who tried to incite by their stone throwing.
They gave the ridiculous lie that they had to throw stones to keep them from being exposed.... (Which was of course the opposite - throwing the stones when no real demonstrators did it exposed them.
22:40 - last update: The 4 arrested Israelis were released. the two Palestinians were detained in the Ofer military compound. Israeli activist are now in the middle of formal complain in the police station against the undercover agents provocateurs and testifying about the bogus accusations against the two palestinians. Ilan
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Palestine-Israel - Three Miracles Amidst a Sea of Tragedies - another take on Bil'in struggle 24 Apr
The following is the first of two articles describing the events of april 21, 2005. it's one of many texts i've written available at www.annainthemiddleeast.com along with pictures.
my updates are intended for a largely american-jewish audience that i send them out to.
while hannah was preparing for the wonderful alternative passover seder that we just hosted, i went down to saffa alone, where the village council had invited internationals and israelis* to take part in an action against the wall. from saffa across the valley where the bulldozers are working is the village of bil'ain, where there have been a recent series of demonstrations against the wall, very big and very persistent. repeated demonstrations have been effective in several places where the wall's path was later changed (slightly) in the courts, but not before many people in the village were arrested or injured because of their determined resistance. last time i was here it was budrus. this time it's bil'ain.
the villagers of bil'ain were marching down to the bulldozers several times a week until the army decided to nip things in the bud with an almost constant military presence in the village itself. many people have been wounded with rubber bullets and by now many of the older demonstrators are too scared to protest the appropriation of their land, leaving only the shebab (young boys) with their stones and cheers. saffa is in a similar situation, and consequently the demonstration coordinator decided to cancel yesterday's eventâ??to avoid any young people being hurt or arrestedâ??and just take the israelis and international (me) activists on a tour of the recent destruction in the area.
the small group of us walked the short way from the village to the bulldozers, and then along the path, commenting on the irony of our privilege to get near the uprooting of trees whose owners would risk being shot or arrested if they got so close. we stopped to rest in an olive grove along our hike and three soldiers approached us to ask what we were doing. actually, they wanted to know what the two palestinians with us were doing, and demanded seeing their id's. they wrote down the id numbers. i asked if our friends would be punished for going to their land; the soldier ignored me.
our group walked solemnly back to the village where we found a standoff between the shebab throwing stones and the army shooting rubber bullets and tear gas into the village. we didn't know how it had started, but it was clear that neither side wanted to back down. the young boys wanted the soldiers out of their village, and the soldiers wanted the boys to stop throwing stones towards the army. it wasn't a zero-sum scenarioâ??i.e. both sides could have had their immediate wants satisfiedâ??nonetheless, it went on forever. i understood the shebab's dilemma: if they were the first to back down, the army could continue stunting nonviolent demonstrations by blocking roads and declaring closed military zonesâ??something that is very commonâ??without having to worry about their own safety. i found it harder to understand the soldiers who kept yelling at me and my israeli friends to get out of the way so they could shoot one of the boys. to me it felt like more of a macho thing: they weren't about to let a bunch of kids kick them out... they would show them who was boss. obviously, if they wanted to kids to stop throwing stones, they would just go back down to where the bulldozers were working. this wasn't a demonstration; these were kids who ran out of their houses when they saw the soldiers coming.
things started to get very heated and two israelis stepped out into the path of crossfire to deter the soldiers from shooting. the young soldiers were noticeably annoyed. the young boys stopped throwing stones so that the two israelis would not be hurt. after a brief conversation with the activists, the soldiers turned to leave and the village youth let out a great cheer. they felt they had won (there's quite a bit of macho in them too). several young boys began to throw stones as the soldiers left, until they were out of sight... but they never got out of sight. they got mad. the soldiers ran back towards the village and started shooting. i instinctively ran into the area of crossfire and began waving my hands in the air and screaming as loud as i could, "don't shoot!" a bullet flew over my head and hit a branch above me. several leaves fell on my head. my heart skipped a beat and i choked back a sob.
the shebab were all running away as the soldiers approached, except a brave few who continued to throw stones. one waited too long and a soldier jumped in from the side and grabbed him around his neck, pulling him away. his face turned bright red and i was afraid he would choke. the soldiers then left quickly with the boy, having gotten what they wanted; now they had won.
as soon as the shebab realized what had happened the started to scream, running after the soldiers en masse. a woman who had been watching from her house ran out onto the balcony and began to wail. it was her nephew. she, her sister, and all the young men ran after the boy until another group of soldiers stopped them from going any further. the group watched horrified as their friend stumbled to keep up with the soldier holding him around his neck, until he was behind the trees and out of sight.
the crying women would not be held back. they pushed their way past the soldiers (who are in general far more tolerant of aggressive women than confrontational men) and i followed. we ran down a steep path and slid off a steep drop until we landed on the path of the wall, where the boy was being held on the ground with his hands tied behind his back. his name was mohammed. the women ran to him, and began prying the soldiers hands off of him, trying to free him from their grip. the main soldier told the women to leave, and one woman responded by kissing his hand and begging him to let mohammed go. mohammed yelled at his aunt to leave. i didn't know why until he turned his head and i saw that he could not bear to hear her cry. his strong face had broken into tears at the sight of her.
i asked the soldiers what they were doing and they announced that mohammed was being arrested. i asked why, and they said "for throwing stones." i saw one more sensitive-looking soldier and pulled him away. "look, i know this boy was throwing stones, and i know that's difficult for you, but you have to understand that you are invaders in his village, protecting the people stealing his land. how would you react if someone came into your house with a gun and started carrying out your tv... and then your stereo... and then your bed... wouldn't you throw a lamp at him or something?"
the soldier listened to me and i appreciated that. but then another soldier told him to stop talking to me and to take mohammed into the jeep. i stood in front of the jeep doors, holding on to them to physically prevent the soldier and boy from entering. i continued speaking: "please think about what you're doing. you have the power to let him go or to ruin his life forever. do you really think imprisoning him is going to prevent the boys from throwing stones in the future? what are you trying to accomplish?" the more aggressive soldier came from the side and yanked me out of the way, and the soldier and mohammed got into the jeep.
i went around to the side to keep talking and i saw mohammed's face. he was covered in sweat, miserable, hopeless. i asked him what his name was, and wrote it down. then i asked him if he wanted me to deliver any message to his parents, and he just looked down. i felt like a jerk. just for being there, for witnessing his humiliation and despair.
several more israeli activists began to approach and i asked one of them to translate for me because now two of the soldiers claimed they didn't speak any english. the activist said it wasn't any use, but i insisted, perhaps more for my sake than anyone else's. i turned to the man in the passenger's seat: "do you think this young man is a threat to israeli security?" he nodded.
"so you think that imprisoning this young man will secure israel?" he said yes again.
i pointed towards his family sitting and crying: "how do you think this will affect them? do you think his brothers and cousins will grow up to be suicide bombers or peace-makers?" he got my point, but he didn't want to hear it or respond. as he shut the door in my face, i hurried, "you've got one guy, but you're making 1,000 more enemiesâ??." the driver started the engine of the jeep and my friend and i ran in front of it, refusing to move. i gave my card of digital photographs from that day to another friend in case i was arrested. we agreed we weren't moving until he was released. the driver stopped the engine, annoyed, and got out. i could see the mohammed's family watching. i could see the sensitive soldier thinking. several soldiers were discussing something.
then suddenly kobi called me over away from the army and we turned around to watch together. the soldiers were opening the back door and out came the mohammed. a soldier untied his hands and handed him back his i.d. the women watching behind me stood up with joy and dismay. mohammed walked quickly and calmly back to his family who smothered him with kisses. on the way he looked over to me and mouthed the word, "toda," meaning "thank you" in hebrewâ??he thought i was israeli. we both smiled.
mohammed walked up to the village ahead of us and before long i heard an incredible cheer erupt in the village. he was home. i allowed myself a moment of happiness at the drop of victory amidst the ocean of defeats; but i was sobered up soon enough. after a cup of tea courtesy of ahmed we were on the way to a demonstration in nearby bil'ain, where 8 people had already been shot by rubber bullets (real bullets with a thin coat of rubber around themâ??easily capable of killing someone, despite their name), including 1 israeli and 1 journalist. nobody was seriously injured, but the protest was still young.
the demonstration had started out as a children's parade, with young girls and boys marching with banners conveying the damage being inflicted upon their families and futures by the wall. by the time we arrived the young children had gone, and several shebab were throwing stones. we were informed that the army had run out of the tear gas (i thought this was good news until i remembered that rubber bullets were the next step up), but within a half hour the tear gas was flying again. my eyes began to sting and i had to squat down covering my eyes to recover. a palestinian man yelled at me not to touch my eyes with my fingers, that i was only pushing it in further. he was more experienced than i in being gassed. i guess most palestinians are. he was right, and i soon felt better. i was beat. i was ready to go home.
then suddenly a jeep raced by, halted to a stop, and let out two soldiers who ran into the forest where the shebab had regrouped. within seconds, the soldiers re-emerged from the forest pulling another young man, this one bigger and more resistant than the first. i rushed towards them and he began to tell me that he didn't know what was happening. he asked me to help him. i recognized the soldiers from saffa and suspected this was another attempt at "winning" the game (if it had been a "wanted" man, they wouldn't be hunting him during a stone-throwing standoff.
filled with a sense of purpose and perhaps invincibility from the earlier near-arrest, i threw my body between the man and the soldier who was holding him by his neck. i tried to position myself in such an awkward way that the soldier would have to stop walking or it would hurt me. it worked. kobi came next to me and began to use his body to separate the man from the standing soldiers, meanwhile talking to them in hebrew. the soldiers tugged to hold on, and the man's face turned redder as the grip around his neck tightened. he yelled out and in a burst of energy somehow ripped himself away, freed for a few seconds. this was his chance.
a soldier was about to lunge for him so i grabbed the soldier's arm and screamed, "run!!" i don't know what came over me. but he ran. the soldier shook me loose after a few moments and began to run after the man, who had small head-start. he ran like crazy... so crazy that he didn't see where he was going.
in his path lay a cliff several meters high, separating one terrace of olive trees from another. in his frenzy, the man didn't realize the depth of the cliff and ran off it, knocking his head against a sharp branch that pushed him to land back-first on a huge rock. everyone froze.
the man began to release an almost inhuman moan. i ran to the cliff's edge and looked over to find him lying spread eagle with blood all over his face. i turned around and scaled down the cliff, something i would normally be scared to do but somehow now it didn't matter. i kneeled in front of the man and heard his friend say everything was going to be ok. i repeated the encouragement, although i was not so optimistic. i asked the injured man his name, and he responded, "****" i sat with him until a medical team arrived shortly after and took him away on a stretcher with the help of several villagers and israeli activists. when he was gone i realized that the army was gone too. one look at him over the cliff's edge and they were gone in an instant, as stunned as the rest of us.
i was sure **** would be paralyzed, if not worse. i looked down at my hand that he had grabbed in desperation to avoid spending his life (or part of it) in interrogation or prison. now would he spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair? i tried to remember the feeling of joy i had experienced just a few hours before, but it was gone. i needed to see ****, to make sure he was alright. i hitched a ride with ****'s cousin, the first car i saw driving to the hospital in ramallah. 30 minutes later we were rushing into the emergency room, where we found **** all bandaged up, but conscious and standing with help. he smiled when he saw me come in. i asked how he was and he closed his eyes, "alhamdullah."
i asked his father standing near his bedside what the doctors had said, and he repeated, "alhamdullah." **** was pretty banged up but he was going to be ok. i asked where it hurt and he pointed to his leg, probably broken. i asked about his back and head, and he pointed to a scar on the latter where he said a bullet had grazed the bridge between his eyebrows. in the chaos had i missed a gun shot? imagine the chances of a bullet missing his head by that close! my answer was the same either way, "alhamdullah": "thank god." he smiled again and i knew it was time to finally go home.
http://www.annainthemiddleeast.com
http://www.iwps.info
================================
* [Ed. notes: The Israelis are the people of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative.
See:
(en) Palestine-Israel, Bil'in 21.4.05 a war zone update by Adar
http://www.ainfos.ca/05/apr/ainfos00377.html
my updates are intended for a largely american-jewish audience that i send them out to.
while hannah was preparing for the wonderful alternative passover seder that we just hosted, i went down to saffa alone, where the village council had invited internationals and israelis* to take part in an action against the wall. from saffa across the valley where the bulldozers are working is the village of bil'ain, where there have been a recent series of demonstrations against the wall, very big and very persistent. repeated demonstrations have been effective in several places where the wall's path was later changed (slightly) in the courts, but not before many people in the village were arrested or injured because of their determined resistance. last time i was here it was budrus. this time it's bil'ain.
the villagers of bil'ain were marching down to the bulldozers several times a week until the army decided to nip things in the bud with an almost constant military presence in the village itself. many people have been wounded with rubber bullets and by now many of the older demonstrators are too scared to protest the appropriation of their land, leaving only the shebab (young boys) with their stones and cheers. saffa is in a similar situation, and consequently the demonstration coordinator decided to cancel yesterday's eventâ??to avoid any young people being hurt or arrestedâ??and just take the israelis and international (me) activists on a tour of the recent destruction in the area.
the small group of us walked the short way from the village to the bulldozers, and then along the path, commenting on the irony of our privilege to get near the uprooting of trees whose owners would risk being shot or arrested if they got so close. we stopped to rest in an olive grove along our hike and three soldiers approached us to ask what we were doing. actually, they wanted to know what the two palestinians with us were doing, and demanded seeing their id's. they wrote down the id numbers. i asked if our friends would be punished for going to their land; the soldier ignored me.
our group walked solemnly back to the village where we found a standoff between the shebab throwing stones and the army shooting rubber bullets and tear gas into the village. we didn't know how it had started, but it was clear that neither side wanted to back down. the young boys wanted the soldiers out of their village, and the soldiers wanted the boys to stop throwing stones towards the army. it wasn't a zero-sum scenarioâ??i.e. both sides could have had their immediate wants satisfiedâ??nonetheless, it went on forever. i understood the shebab's dilemma: if they were the first to back down, the army could continue stunting nonviolent demonstrations by blocking roads and declaring closed military zonesâ??something that is very commonâ??without having to worry about their own safety. i found it harder to understand the soldiers who kept yelling at me and my israeli friends to get out of the way so they could shoot one of the boys. to me it felt like more of a macho thing: they weren't about to let a bunch of kids kick them out... they would show them who was boss. obviously, if they wanted to kids to stop throwing stones, they would just go back down to where the bulldozers were working. this wasn't a demonstration; these were kids who ran out of their houses when they saw the soldiers coming.
things started to get very heated and two israelis stepped out into the path of crossfire to deter the soldiers from shooting. the young soldiers were noticeably annoyed. the young boys stopped throwing stones so that the two israelis would not be hurt. after a brief conversation with the activists, the soldiers turned to leave and the village youth let out a great cheer. they felt they had won (there's quite a bit of macho in them too). several young boys began to throw stones as the soldiers left, until they were out of sight... but they never got out of sight. they got mad. the soldiers ran back towards the village and started shooting. i instinctively ran into the area of crossfire and began waving my hands in the air and screaming as loud as i could, "don't shoot!" a bullet flew over my head and hit a branch above me. several leaves fell on my head. my heart skipped a beat and i choked back a sob.
the shebab were all running away as the soldiers approached, except a brave few who continued to throw stones. one waited too long and a soldier jumped in from the side and grabbed him around his neck, pulling him away. his face turned bright red and i was afraid he would choke. the soldiers then left quickly with the boy, having gotten what they wanted; now they had won.
as soon as the shebab realized what had happened the started to scream, running after the soldiers en masse. a woman who had been watching from her house ran out onto the balcony and began to wail. it was her nephew. she, her sister, and all the young men ran after the boy until another group of soldiers stopped them from going any further. the group watched horrified as their friend stumbled to keep up with the soldier holding him around his neck, until he was behind the trees and out of sight.
the crying women would not be held back. they pushed their way past the soldiers (who are in general far more tolerant of aggressive women than confrontational men) and i followed. we ran down a steep path and slid off a steep drop until we landed on the path of the wall, where the boy was being held on the ground with his hands tied behind his back. his name was mohammed. the women ran to him, and began prying the soldiers hands off of him, trying to free him from their grip. the main soldier told the women to leave, and one woman responded by kissing his hand and begging him to let mohammed go. mohammed yelled at his aunt to leave. i didn't know why until he turned his head and i saw that he could not bear to hear her cry. his strong face had broken into tears at the sight of her.
i asked the soldiers what they were doing and they announced that mohammed was being arrested. i asked why, and they said "for throwing stones." i saw one more sensitive-looking soldier and pulled him away. "look, i know this boy was throwing stones, and i know that's difficult for you, but you have to understand that you are invaders in his village, protecting the people stealing his land. how would you react if someone came into your house with a gun and started carrying out your tv... and then your stereo... and then your bed... wouldn't you throw a lamp at him or something?"
the soldier listened to me and i appreciated that. but then another soldier told him to stop talking to me and to take mohammed into the jeep. i stood in front of the jeep doors, holding on to them to physically prevent the soldier and boy from entering. i continued speaking: "please think about what you're doing. you have the power to let him go or to ruin his life forever. do you really think imprisoning him is going to prevent the boys from throwing stones in the future? what are you trying to accomplish?" the more aggressive soldier came from the side and yanked me out of the way, and the soldier and mohammed got into the jeep.
i went around to the side to keep talking and i saw mohammed's face. he was covered in sweat, miserable, hopeless. i asked him what his name was, and wrote it down. then i asked him if he wanted me to deliver any message to his parents, and he just looked down. i felt like a jerk. just for being there, for witnessing his humiliation and despair.
several more israeli activists began to approach and i asked one of them to translate for me because now two of the soldiers claimed they didn't speak any english. the activist said it wasn't any use, but i insisted, perhaps more for my sake than anyone else's. i turned to the man in the passenger's seat: "do you think this young man is a threat to israeli security?" he nodded.
"so you think that imprisoning this young man will secure israel?" he said yes again.
i pointed towards his family sitting and crying: "how do you think this will affect them? do you think his brothers and cousins will grow up to be suicide bombers or peace-makers?" he got my point, but he didn't want to hear it or respond. as he shut the door in my face, i hurried, "you've got one guy, but you're making 1,000 more enemiesâ??." the driver started the engine of the jeep and my friend and i ran in front of it, refusing to move. i gave my card of digital photographs from that day to another friend in case i was arrested. we agreed we weren't moving until he was released. the driver stopped the engine, annoyed, and got out. i could see the mohammed's family watching. i could see the sensitive soldier thinking. several soldiers were discussing something.
then suddenly kobi called me over away from the army and we turned around to watch together. the soldiers were opening the back door and out came the mohammed. a soldier untied his hands and handed him back his i.d. the women watching behind me stood up with joy and dismay. mohammed walked quickly and calmly back to his family who smothered him with kisses. on the way he looked over to me and mouthed the word, "toda," meaning "thank you" in hebrewâ??he thought i was israeli. we both smiled.
mohammed walked up to the village ahead of us and before long i heard an incredible cheer erupt in the village. he was home. i allowed myself a moment of happiness at the drop of victory amidst the ocean of defeats; but i was sobered up soon enough. after a cup of tea courtesy of ahmed we were on the way to a demonstration in nearby bil'ain, where 8 people had already been shot by rubber bullets (real bullets with a thin coat of rubber around themâ??easily capable of killing someone, despite their name), including 1 israeli and 1 journalist. nobody was seriously injured, but the protest was still young.
the demonstration had started out as a children's parade, with young girls and boys marching with banners conveying the damage being inflicted upon their families and futures by the wall. by the time we arrived the young children had gone, and several shebab were throwing stones. we were informed that the army had run out of the tear gas (i thought this was good news until i remembered that rubber bullets were the next step up), but within a half hour the tear gas was flying again. my eyes began to sting and i had to squat down covering my eyes to recover. a palestinian man yelled at me not to touch my eyes with my fingers, that i was only pushing it in further. he was more experienced than i in being gassed. i guess most palestinians are. he was right, and i soon felt better. i was beat. i was ready to go home.
then suddenly a jeep raced by, halted to a stop, and let out two soldiers who ran into the forest where the shebab had regrouped. within seconds, the soldiers re-emerged from the forest pulling another young man, this one bigger and more resistant than the first. i rushed towards them and he began to tell me that he didn't know what was happening. he asked me to help him. i recognized the soldiers from saffa and suspected this was another attempt at "winning" the game (if it had been a "wanted" man, they wouldn't be hunting him during a stone-throwing standoff.
filled with a sense of purpose and perhaps invincibility from the earlier near-arrest, i threw my body between the man and the soldier who was holding him by his neck. i tried to position myself in such an awkward way that the soldier would have to stop walking or it would hurt me. it worked. kobi came next to me and began to use his body to separate the man from the standing soldiers, meanwhile talking to them in hebrew. the soldiers tugged to hold on, and the man's face turned redder as the grip around his neck tightened. he yelled out and in a burst of energy somehow ripped himself away, freed for a few seconds. this was his chance.
a soldier was about to lunge for him so i grabbed the soldier's arm and screamed, "run!!" i don't know what came over me. but he ran. the soldier shook me loose after a few moments and began to run after the man, who had small head-start. he ran like crazy... so crazy that he didn't see where he was going.
in his path lay a cliff several meters high, separating one terrace of olive trees from another. in his frenzy, the man didn't realize the depth of the cliff and ran off it, knocking his head against a sharp branch that pushed him to land back-first on a huge rock. everyone froze.
the man began to release an almost inhuman moan. i ran to the cliff's edge and looked over to find him lying spread eagle with blood all over his face. i turned around and scaled down the cliff, something i would normally be scared to do but somehow now it didn't matter. i kneeled in front of the man and heard his friend say everything was going to be ok. i repeated the encouragement, although i was not so optimistic. i asked the injured man his name, and he responded, "****" i sat with him until a medical team arrived shortly after and took him away on a stretcher with the help of several villagers and israeli activists. when he was gone i realized that the army was gone too. one look at him over the cliff's edge and they were gone in an instant, as stunned as the rest of us.
i was sure **** would be paralyzed, if not worse. i looked down at my hand that he had grabbed in desperation to avoid spending his life (or part of it) in interrogation or prison. now would he spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair? i tried to remember the feeling of joy i had experienced just a few hours before, but it was gone. i needed to see ****, to make sure he was alright. i hitched a ride with ****'s cousin, the first car i saw driving to the hospital in ramallah. 30 minutes later we were rushing into the emergency room, where we found **** all bandaged up, but conscious and standing with help. he smiled when he saw me come in. i asked how he was and he closed his eyes, "alhamdullah."
i asked his father standing near his bedside what the doctors had said, and he repeated, "alhamdullah." **** was pretty banged up but he was going to be ok. i asked where it hurt and he pointed to his leg, probably broken. i asked about his back and head, and he pointed to a scar on the latter where he said a bullet had grazed the bridge between his eyebrows. in the chaos had i missed a gun shot? imagine the chances of a bullet missing his head by that close! my answer was the same either way, "alhamdullah": "thank god." he smiled again and i knew it was time to finally go home.
http://www.annainthemiddleeast.com
http://www.iwps.info
================================
* [Ed. notes: The Israelis are the people of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative.
See:
(en) Palestine-Israel, Bil'in 21.4.05 a war zone update by Adar
http://www.ainfos.ca/05/apr/ainfos00377.html
Saturday, April 23, 2005
For Justice in Palestine (G8, Scotland) 23 Apr
We, Palestinians, Israelis* and supporters, call every person who believes in freedom, justice and the right to self-determination to join us in the Adalah bloc at the anti-G8 demonstrations this July in Scotland. Adalah is Arabic for justice, and together we will try to give voice to our sisters and brothers in Palestine by exposing the ongoing injustice and oppression of the Israeli occupation with its U.S. support. The G8 summit will take place this year in Scotland (Gleneagles, 6-8 July). A large-scale demonstration and other acts of protest are currently being organized to confront the participating world leaders and to provide a voice for radical resistance. As Israelis and Palestinians, we also reject the global powers' attempt to capitalize and exploit our region.
Part of the summit's agenda is addressing the Disengagement plan of Ariel Sharon. According to Sharon's statements, withdrawal from Gaza strip will also take place this summer. It's important to remember that Sharon's so called Disengagement plan will not put an end to the Israeli occupation. On the contrary, Sharon's plan will perpetuate Gaza Strip as the biggest prison in the world. It is clear that the Disengagement is a cover-up for further crimes like the Apartheid Wall, land confiscation and construction of more Israeli settlements in the West Bank of Palestine, military oppression and control of the Palestinian population.
The Adalah bloc will act in the Anti-G8 demonstrations and direct actions in Scotland, trying to expose other activists and the general public to the Palestinian struggle. We are trying to build a group that will be open to everybody - queer and straight, women and men... It is also important to us to use open forms of protest: diverse, challenging, thought provoking and fun.
If you would like to take part in the formation of the Adalah bloc, including by distributing this call to other groups and individuals, suggesting and producing creative ideas for actions, and fundraising for transportation for activists from Palestine who would otherwise not afford to come, contact: adalahbloc@maktoob.com
==================================
* [Ed. Note: Anarchists against the wall and others]
Part of the summit's agenda is addressing the Disengagement plan of Ariel Sharon. According to Sharon's statements, withdrawal from Gaza strip will also take place this summer. It's important to remember that Sharon's so called Disengagement plan will not put an end to the Israeli occupation. On the contrary, Sharon's plan will perpetuate Gaza Strip as the biggest prison in the world. It is clear that the Disengagement is a cover-up for further crimes like the Apartheid Wall, land confiscation and construction of more Israeli settlements in the West Bank of Palestine, military oppression and control of the Palestinian population.
The Adalah bloc will act in the Anti-G8 demonstrations and direct actions in Scotland, trying to expose other activists and the general public to the Palestinian struggle. We are trying to build a group that will be open to everybody - queer and straight, women and men... It is also important to us to use open forms of protest: diverse, challenging, thought provoking and fun.
If you would like to take part in the formation of the Adalah bloc, including by distributing this call to other groups and individuals, suggesting and producing creative ideas for actions, and fundraising for transportation for activists from Palestine who would otherwise not afford to come, contact: adalahbloc@maktoob.com
==================================
* [Ed. Note: Anarchists against the wall and others]
Friday, April 22, 2005
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in 21.4.05 a war zone update by Adar 22 Apr
Seven demonstrators (six Palestinians and one Israeli) and a news agency photographer were injured by rubber coated bullets, the Israeli soldiers repeatedly shoot at the demonstration in Bil'in against the robbery of the village lands for the expansion of near by [Israeli] settlements and for the building of the apartheid fence. Another step of escalation in the violence of the army against the village. How you can summarize a demonstration of 6 hours net (not including traveling time) which all along it there was not any full 5 minutes period without the shooting of a salvo of rubber coated bullets? May be you have simply to start from the beginning. But, do not expect that this pattern of beginning, middle and end will dictate by itself a logical sequence of the evolving of the happenings.
The opposite will be truer. So, never the less, we will start from the beginning that was quite optimistic. We went out of the village about 70 demonstrators. Palestinians, Israelis from the Anarchists Against The Fence group, and Internationals. We advances in the path that lead to the route of the fence and discovered to our surprise that only three soldiers are waiting for us.
The policy decided on by the comity was to refrain from stones throwing and to try to advance towards the fence building site. The tear gas grenades thrown on us by the soldiers did not deter us. "this is a nonviolent demonstration and we will not move from here. You can throw as much gas as you wish. We will not run away."
We said and we did so. The forces of the border police joined very soon the three lone soldiers. We continued singing and shout against the fence. The commander of the border police said to us: " it is your right to demonstrate. Only with out stones... And indeed, no stone was thrown and the demo continued. While we were at it, additional jeeps of the border police arrived with a closed military zone order. And just from no where a soldier appeared to be aiming his riffle towards a young demonstrator who stood about 200 meters away. Two other soldiers told him "let it go, do not shoot" but he insisted and said: "I have to teach him a lesson". And he shoot rubber bullets - a retaliation for nothing. This was the match that ignited the fire...
The teenagers of the village responded with stone throwing... and so it went on.
From that act and on, continued a 5 hours saga of shooting of salvos of rubber coated bullets with short pauses in between that let us to have a a short rest... and to balance these, from time to time they gave us a "commercial" amounts of tear gas. Along the prolonged confrontation, 7 were injured from rubber bullets - five Palestinian villagers, one Israeli, and also a Palestinian photographer of a French news agency. The injured were treated at the site by teams of the red crescent ambulances. The Israeli army mouthpiece denied for unknown reason that any Israeli was injured in the demonstration. The pictures: https://israel.indymedia.org/feature/display/3028/index.php tell a different story.
Along the confrontation, the army used a group of Palestinian workers returning from their day work who passed there as a human shield from the stones. They detained the workers for a long time ordering them to stay between them and the demonstration - cynic mode of exploitation as addition to the daily mode of exploitation of the occupation.
While the shooting continued, the army advanced its invasion into the village from various directions. At one stage the Jeeps entered deep into the village in pursuit after demonstrators with no obvious criteria. The took hold of a villager named Fadi Mustafa about 22 of age treated him roughly - pushing and hitting. Israeli demonstrators tried to stand between him and the raging soldiers but were pushed violently away.
Fadi was very distressed and said repeatedly he did nothing. The soldiers did not let him go and continued kicking him and the Israelis that stood near him. While hi tried to escape from the soldiers he fell down to a deep ravine, was injured in his head and back and was rushed to the hospital in Ramalla. His condition seemed serious at the beginning but later it was reported he was improving. After that incident or probably because of it, the army retreated from the village. Up to 01:30 - the time this report was written, the army have not returned to the village.
The answer to the first question, that was to remind you: "how you summarize for a report a demonstration of such scale", is: "you do not summarize". You write a whole page and making the readers of the indymedia tired.
The more important question is how we continue (first of all the Palestinians but also us the Israelis) with the nonviolent popular struggle against the fence, without loosing moral along the bumpy road the occupation forces of the state of Israel force on us.
Following Is the answer I extracted from the late poet David Avidan:
"What justify more than all
the dream, the huge despair
the knowledge that there is no justification
and the search every minute a new
the excitement and the distress
is the simple fact that they* have nowhere to go"
======================
* In the original it was "us", but as I am Israeli I changed it to "them"... not any intention to diminish the solidarity with them.
The opposite will be truer. So, never the less, we will start from the beginning that was quite optimistic. We went out of the village about 70 demonstrators. Palestinians, Israelis from the Anarchists Against The Fence group, and Internationals. We advances in the path that lead to the route of the fence and discovered to our surprise that only three soldiers are waiting for us.
The policy decided on by the comity was to refrain from stones throwing and to try to advance towards the fence building site. The tear gas grenades thrown on us by the soldiers did not deter us. "this is a nonviolent demonstration and we will not move from here. You can throw as much gas as you wish. We will not run away."
We said and we did so. The forces of the border police joined very soon the three lone soldiers. We continued singing and shout against the fence. The commander of the border police said to us: " it is your right to demonstrate. Only with out stones... And indeed, no stone was thrown and the demo continued. While we were at it, additional jeeps of the border police arrived with a closed military zone order. And just from no where a soldier appeared to be aiming his riffle towards a young demonstrator who stood about 200 meters away. Two other soldiers told him "let it go, do not shoot" but he insisted and said: "I have to teach him a lesson". And he shoot rubber bullets - a retaliation for nothing. This was the match that ignited the fire...
The teenagers of the village responded with stone throwing... and so it went on.
From that act and on, continued a 5 hours saga of shooting of salvos of rubber coated bullets with short pauses in between that let us to have a a short rest... and to balance these, from time to time they gave us a "commercial" amounts of tear gas. Along the prolonged confrontation, 7 were injured from rubber bullets - five Palestinian villagers, one Israeli, and also a Palestinian photographer of a French news agency. The injured were treated at the site by teams of the red crescent ambulances. The Israeli army mouthpiece denied for unknown reason that any Israeli was injured in the demonstration. The pictures: https://israel.indymedia.org/feature/display/3028/index.php tell a different story.
Along the confrontation, the army used a group of Palestinian workers returning from their day work who passed there as a human shield from the stones. They detained the workers for a long time ordering them to stay between them and the demonstration - cynic mode of exploitation as addition to the daily mode of exploitation of the occupation.
While the shooting continued, the army advanced its invasion into the village from various directions. At one stage the Jeeps entered deep into the village in pursuit after demonstrators with no obvious criteria. The took hold of a villager named Fadi Mustafa about 22 of age treated him roughly - pushing and hitting. Israeli demonstrators tried to stand between him and the raging soldiers but were pushed violently away.
Fadi was very distressed and said repeatedly he did nothing. The soldiers did not let him go and continued kicking him and the Israelis that stood near him. While hi tried to escape from the soldiers he fell down to a deep ravine, was injured in his head and back and was rushed to the hospital in Ramalla. His condition seemed serious at the beginning but later it was reported he was improving. After that incident or probably because of it, the army retreated from the village. Up to 01:30 - the time this report was written, the army have not returned to the village.
The answer to the first question, that was to remind you: "how you summarize for a report a demonstration of such scale", is: "you do not summarize". You write a whole page and making the readers of the indymedia tired.
The more important question is how we continue (first of all the Palestinians but also us the Israelis) with the nonviolent popular struggle against the fence, without loosing moral along the bumpy road the occupation forces of the state of Israel force on us.
Following Is the answer I extracted from the late poet David Avidan:
"What justify more than all
the dream, the huge despair
the knowledge that there is no justification
and the search every minute a new
the excitement and the distress
is the simple fact that they* have nowhere to go"
======================
* In the original it was "us", but as I am Israeli I changed it to "them"... not any intention to diminish the solidarity with them.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Palestine-Israel, The struggle against the apartheid fence at Bil'in continue - report and invitation for next week. 21 Apr
First, report of L.P. from the site: "The Israeli terror organizations attack Bil'in. One seriously injured after he was pushed from a cliff, and 7 are less seriously wounded in today demonstration. After few weeks of struggles the Israelis changed to a higher level of suppression, when they attack the inhabitants of Bil'in village who demonstrate together with international and Israeli activists against the robbery of their lands for the expanding of the near by settlement and for the building of the apartheid wall. During the ongoing demonstration, the border police invaded the village with big forces shooting to every direction, rampaging. Fadi Mustafa was pushed by the Israeli criminals to the ravine from a 20 feet high cliff and is transferred to hospital - wounded seriously in head and back.
A bit earlier, the bastards shoot lot of rubber coated bullets, wounded 7 - among them one of the anarchists who came from Israel and a photographer of the AFP news agency."
A comrade reported from the hospital in Ramalla that the person who was pushed from a cliff and another one who was shot at his forehead are in relatively good condition.
During the day the main radio broadcasting channel reported partially on the demonstration.
The electronic media nana.co.il report 18:23 21/04/2005 Bil'in: Palestinian demonstrator fell from a cliff and was seriously wounded during demonstration against the building of the separation fence at the village Bil'in near the Israeli town Modi'in. "Anarchists against fences" claim that the Palestinian was confronting the border policemen who pushed him down from a 20 feet cliff.
Palestine-Israel, A call for a joined struggle from Bil'in
From slavery to freedom - from separation to partnership - by Uri Ayalon
Demonstration with the people of Bil'in against the settlements and the fence that are being built on their lands
The coming Wednesday. The Passover weekdays. We will join the people of the village Bil'in near Ramalla, for a nonviolent demonstration of protest against the separation fence and the settlement who annex more than half the lands of the village (about 2,300 Dunams - 575 acres)
Even these days, intensive building works are done, in the area between the route of the fence, to the green line at the West - as part of the expanding of the settlements Kiryat Sefer, Eastern Matityahu, and the town Modi'in Elit. together with the inhabitants of Bil'in - men and women, we will protest loudly against the expanding of the settlement, the building the fence, and the jeopardizing the option for life together. We will also plant olive trees along the route of the fence.
In Bil'in about 1500 working people - most of them earned their living from work in Israel. These days, the village economy is based more on agriculture, and the unemployment rate is very high. Since the high court of justice dismissed the complain of the inhabitants of Bil'in against the new route of the fence which was ratified by the government, the village started a nonviolent struggle against the fence. Nearly daily, the people of Bil'in are marching towards the route of the fence trying to stop the work of the bulldozers, which are uprooting the olive trees and separating between them and their lands.
Like in the neighboring village Budrus, so in Bil'in, the army try to suppress violently the popular struggle of the village. Among other atrocities, the soldiers invade the village days and nights, shooting rubber coated bullets, entering hoses, detain and hit people.... A month ago, the border police soldiers set a fire in one of the hoses by throwing into it a shock grenade. Till this day, in the village Bil'in here are already tens of injured from shooting of rubber coated bullets, shock grandees hits, tear gas and physical violence of soldiers.
For Wednesday the 27th of April, the people of Bil'in are inviting whoever still believe in the values of justice, equality and solidarity, to join them and create together a real alternative to the policy of annexation and dispossession of the Israeli government.
Traveling need to be coordinated with the communication women:
Haifa, Solel Bone, 08:00, yana 050-8575729
Tel Aviv, El-Al terminal ant the Arlozorov train station 09:00 Sheli
Jerusalem, Gan Hapaamon - 09:15, Eli,
a-infos translation
A bit earlier, the bastards shoot lot of rubber coated bullets, wounded 7 - among them one of the anarchists who came from Israel and a photographer of the AFP news agency."
A comrade reported from the hospital in Ramalla that the person who was pushed from a cliff and another one who was shot at his forehead are in relatively good condition.
During the day the main radio broadcasting channel reported partially on the demonstration.
The electronic media nana.co.il report 18:23 21/04/2005 Bil'in: Palestinian demonstrator fell from a cliff and was seriously wounded during demonstration against the building of the separation fence at the village Bil'in near the Israeli town Modi'in. "Anarchists against fences" claim that the Palestinian was confronting the border policemen who pushed him down from a 20 feet cliff.
Palestine-Israel, A call for a joined struggle from Bil'in
From slavery to freedom - from separation to partnership - by Uri Ayalon
Demonstration with the people of Bil'in against the settlements and the fence that are being built on their lands
The coming Wednesday. The Passover weekdays. We will join the people of the village Bil'in near Ramalla, for a nonviolent demonstration of protest against the separation fence and the settlement who annex more than half the lands of the village (about 2,300 Dunams - 575 acres)
Even these days, intensive building works are done, in the area between the route of the fence, to the green line at the West - as part of the expanding of the settlements Kiryat Sefer, Eastern Matityahu, and the town Modi'in Elit. together with the inhabitants of Bil'in - men and women, we will protest loudly against the expanding of the settlement, the building the fence, and the jeopardizing the option for life together. We will also plant olive trees along the route of the fence.
In Bil'in about 1500 working people - most of them earned their living from work in Israel. These days, the village economy is based more on agriculture, and the unemployment rate is very high. Since the high court of justice dismissed the complain of the inhabitants of Bil'in against the new route of the fence which was ratified by the government, the village started a nonviolent struggle against the fence. Nearly daily, the people of Bil'in are marching towards the route of the fence trying to stop the work of the bulldozers, which are uprooting the olive trees and separating between them and their lands.
Like in the neighboring village Budrus, so in Bil'in, the army try to suppress violently the popular struggle of the village. Among other atrocities, the soldiers invade the village days and nights, shooting rubber coated bullets, entering hoses, detain and hit people.... A month ago, the border police soldiers set a fire in one of the hoses by throwing into it a shock grenade. Till this day, in the village Bil'in here are already tens of injured from shooting of rubber coated bullets, shock grandees hits, tear gas and physical violence of soldiers.
For Wednesday the 27th of April, the people of Bil'in are inviting whoever still believe in the values of justice, equality and solidarity, to join them and create together a real alternative to the policy of annexation and dispossession of the Israeli government.
Traveling need to be coordinated with the communication women:
Haifa, Solel Bone, 08:00, yana 050-8575729
Tel Aviv, El-Al terminal ant the Arlozorov train station 09:00 Sheli
Jerusalem, Gan Hapaamon - 09:15, Eli,
a-infos translation
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Palestine-Israel, Alt. media*, An Interview with Israeli Activist Jonathan Pollak 20 Apr
Jonathan Pollak (at right in black), along with Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights (left) at a protest against the Wall in Atil, Tulkarem in January, 2003. As the Israeli and international activists arrived at that spot, the Israeli military intelligence officer was telling Palestinian farmers to leave their farmland and return to their village, otherwise, the officer said, "I will see you in your homes tonight."
(Photo: Marty Federman)http://electronicIntifada.net/artman/uploads/pollock2-483.jpg Jonathan Pollak is an Israeli activist who grew up in Tel Aviv and lives in Jaffa. He has been involved in nonviolent direct action in the West Bank for the last two-and-a-half years, participating in more than 200 protests with Palestinians in the West Bank with the Israeli nonviolent direct action group Anarchists Against the Wall and with the International Solidarity Movement. On April 3, 2005 an Israeli soldier shot Jonathan in the head with a teargas canister from an M-16 from a distance of approximately thirty meters at a peaceful protest against the Wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in. Bil'in is one of tens of West Bank Palestinian villages losing land because of Israel's wall construction. Pat O'Connor interviewed Jonathan Pollak by telephone on 7 April 2005.
Pat O'Connor: Why are people protesting in Bil'in and other villages?
Jonathan Pollak: Palestinians are protesting, and others with them, against the theft of their land, against the steps the Israeli government and Israeli army are taking to make their lives impossible — basically to commit a quiet ethnic cleansing. They are making life so impossible that people have to leave and the border areas near the Green Line are being emptied of Palestinians. The Israeli government is constructing the Wall in a way that is making enclaves of the West Bank and rendering a Palestinian state impossible.
Pat O'Connor: What is happening generally in the village of Bil'in, and why you did you go there?
Jonathan Pollak: In the last two or three months there has been resistance in Bil'in to the construction of the Wall that's taking a lot of their land. I don't know exact numbers, but the Wall there is planned according to the construction plan of a new settlement and it's being built very close to the last houses of the village. So for the last two months or so there have been demonstrations there on almost a daily basis, at least three times a week. We've been trying to support this with an Israeli presence and an international presence, and that's why I've been going there a lot.
Pat O'Connor: What happened on April 3, 2005, the day you were shot in Bil'in?
Jonathan Pollak: It was a very quiet demonstration. People were torching tires at the entrance of the village to demonstrate. We then went down, a small group, something like ten of us, and were just staring at the bulldozers and didn't reach them.
After a while we started going back to the village, and at some point I heard a shot. I looked back and I saw that it was the soldiers who shot it from about 30 meters, and I saw the canister flying directly at me. I had time to turn my head so it didn't hit my face. It hit centimeters above my right temple. I saw the canister bounce back and then fainted. I fell down for 30 seconds or a minute, and then found myself in a Red Crescent ambulance.
At some point the soldiers came to the ambulance and demanded that I get out of it in order for them to evacuate me from there. There wasn't an Israeli ambulance, but they still demanded that. I refused the army, and the ambulance drove towards a nearby checkpoint and I was moved into an Israeli ambulance which took me to the hospital. I was diagnosed as suffering from internal bleeding in the brain in two places and had twenty three stitches.
Pat O'Connor: Was there a reason why the Israeli soldiers fired the teargas as far as you could tell?
Jonathan Pollak: Nothing that I could tell. As I said it was very quiet that day. We were just going back to the village. Nothing happening.
I don't think the shooting was aimed specifically at me. Generally, as a tactic the soldiers are shooting teargas canisters directly at the group as one of their methods for dispersing a crowd. Of course it's completely against even their own regulations, telling them they have to shoot the canister in the air and not directly at the group, but in reality it happens all the time that they shoot the canister at the group. Numerous Palestinians have been injured by it, and also Israelis have been hit in the past.
Pat O'Connor: How are you feeling now?
Jonathan Pollak: My head hurts a lot and I'm very dizzy. I still have problems walking. I need a walker to move around. The doctor said I have to stay at home for a month and rest.
Pat O'Connor: The press reports that I first saw said that teargas was shot by soldiers, that it hit the ground and then showered rocks that hit you, that you were hit by rocks.
Jonathan Pollak: That's just a lie from the Israeli military spokesperson. As I said, I saw the teargas canister fired at me directly from where the soldiers were standing, and I saw it hit. There were definitely no stones that hit me. Secondly, if it was a stone it would not have caused so much damage. And thirdly it doesn't really matter even if it did hit a stone. Because even according to their own regulations they are not supposed to shoot the canister straight in the direction of the demonstrators.
In order for the canister to hit a rock, and create such an impact that the rock would hit my head, and cause internal bleeding and an injury that would require 23 stitches, well, it just doesn't make sense. It can't happen.
Pat O'Connor: The Israeli military spokesperson lied about what happened. Does this type of thing happen often?
Jonathan Pollak: They always do. It happens all the time. Reading an IDF spokesperson responded is the best way to know what didn't happen, basically. Their statements have no relation to reality or to the truth whatsoever.
Pat O'Connor: Why do you think then that their statements get reported so often then by the press?
Jonathan Pollak: I think that people like the press choose to believe it over the demonstrators, especially the official Israeli press, because the spokesperson is easier for them to relate to. Another reason, I think, is that the mainstream media here is very persistent in following the Israeli narrative, which the army spokesperson represents much better than we do.
Pat O'Connor: So the other day you were shot in the head. Is it common that protesters, whether Israeli or Palestinian or international are hurt or harassed in this way?
Jonathan Pollak: It's very common for Palestinians to be hurt in that way or even worse. It's less common for Israelis. There have been only three injuries to Israelis of this or greater severity in a year and a half of daily demonstrations. There have been hundreds of severe injuries to Palestinians and six deaths.
There was one demonstration in February 2004 in the village of Biddu, where they've had a lot of demonstrations. On that day we saw three Palestinians die from live ammunition. At least one of them was shot in the head by snipers standing on a rooftop nearby. That happened in front of my eyes so I can testify to it.
There's been one person shot in the head as well in the village of Beitunia. Another guy was shot in Biddu in the upper part of his stomach. He died. There was one person who died apparently from inhaling teargas inside his home in Biddu the same day the three were shot dead.
Pat O'Connor: Is this violence preventing people from going out to protest? Would it deter you?
Jonathan Pollak: I'm sure that the amount of violence that the Israeli army is illegally using is deterring some people from protesting. I don't think it will deter me in the future, but we have to remember that I am under much less risk as I am an Israeli and this is an apartheid state. When I get shot in the head, and I get wounded relatively lightly - I have no permanent damage - this gets coverage in the papers and the electronic media. When a Palestinian just a few days ago, a youth from the village of Saffa, near Bil'in where I was shot, was shot was shot with a rubber bullet in his eye causing him to lose his eye, there was no coverage at all.
So yes, I think the violence is deterring people, but it will not deter people forever. I think people are becoming angrier and more aware of the situation, and I think that Israel better understand that if it will break the popular and essentially nonviolent resistance, it will only encourage a more violent and brutal resistance, because you cannot expect people to just quietly accept their lives being taken away from them.
Pat O'Connor: Beyond physically injuring people, what about other kinds of military pressure? In villages like Bil'in and Budrus the military is coming in and going into Palestinian homes regularly.
Jonathan Pollak: I think this is part of the same strategy. The Israeli army is using collective punishment, which is forbidden according to international law, to deter people from protesting, and I think this is a very short-sighted view of the conflict. Again, they are arresting people and going into villages on a regular basis. In Budrus and Bil'in the army has been going into the village at night, taking males between the ages of 10-50 out of their homes, photographing them from three sides and arresting people who they suspect of participating in demonstrations or of throwing stones. Generally it's just harassment. They hope to break the people that way.
Jonathan Pollak (center in red) during a protest against the Wall with internationals from ISM and hundreds of Palestinians in the village of Jayyous in November, 2002. A few hours after this photo, Israeli soldiers declared Jayyous' farmland a closed military zone, telling the peaceful protesters that they would use force against them if they did not leave their farmland. After the protesters sat on the ground, Israeli soldiers attacked the protesters with teargas, concussion grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets. The soldiers detained and beat Jonathan and arrested nine international activists from the ISM (Photo: Pat O'Connor)
Pat O'Connor: What typically happens on the day of an actual protest?
Jonathan Pollak: Well, usually we gather in the center of the village and we go down to the land, some hundreds of people. Most of them are Palestinians, some are Israelis and international activists. And we go down to the land with the aim of blocking the bulldozers that are destroying the people's land and separating them from their other land, their main source of income after four years of closure.
At that point, usually much before we reach the bulldozers, the army reacts with a lot of violence, using teargas, concussion grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets. At that point sometimes clashes begin with stone throwing. Sometimes we do manage to get to the bulldozers.
Pat O'Connor: Who actually organizes and calls for the protests ?
Jonathan Pollak: The villagers, the people who are affected directly by the wall. The people who won't be able to eat if the Wall is constructed.
Pat O'Connor: How frequently are protests occurring now and what are the reasons for the protests?
Jonathan Pollak: Now it is almost one a day for the last month. And for the first time in a long time, it's not only protests around the Wall. There've been protests against checkpoints, against military roads and against military bases lately.
Through the smokescreen of the disengagement plan, Israel is increasing the pressure and increasing the occupation in the West Bank, increasing its grip on the West Bank, and it's effecting people's lives, and people are more and more able to see that the talk about peace is merely talk, and that the Sharon government has no plan to implement it and to provide more freedom to the Palestinian people.
Pat O'Connor: Why do you as an Israeli choose to do this, and how do Palestinians respond to you?
Jonathan Pollak: I choose to do it because I see it as my moral obligation. The occupation in general, and this Wall specifically is being constructed in my name without me wanting it. It is being constructed in my name even though I think it's a horrible crime, and I see it as my obligation to try and stop it, to do everything I can do in order to stop it, and to say that the struggle for freedom, wherever it is, is my struggle as well, and until there will be freedom for Palestinians as well, there will be no freedom for anyone.
My reception has always been very warm and very welcoming by the Palestinian side. It has never been a problem for them that I am an Israeli. If anything, the opposite.
Pat O'Connor: How do you evaluate the effectiveness of the popular, nonviolent resistance that has been going on?
Jonathan Pollak: I think that, partly because of the tactics and strategy of the PA, people have been discouraged from the popular movement or popular resistance lately. I think the only thing that can make it more effective again is if it will, once more, become more massive, if more people participate in it. In the last few months we are seeing people returning to popular resistance to the occupation, but still I feel it is not including enough people yet. I hope that people are able to see through the smokescreen of Sharon's plan and of the government's plan and that they try to resist it.
Pat O'Connor: The US press is reporting on the Gaza disengagement plan and the Israeli government plan to expand the settlement of Maaleh Adumim, as well as talking a lot about prospects for peace. What do you see happening on the ground?
Jonathan Pollak: They are building a new settlement in the area between Maaleh Adumim and Jerusalem, as they are doing in many other places. I think it should be considered a new settlement. It's an Israeli whitewash calling it an extension of the settlement.
I see the disengagement not as a plan for pulling out and not as a plan with prospects for peace. I see it as a plan for furthering the control of the Israeli government in the Occupied Territories. It will offer no real freedom to the Palestinians, even in Gaza. The Palestinian economy is completely controlled by Israel, and disengagement includes in it basically no real sovereignty to Gaza. Borders will be completely shut, and Israel will control all the passages from Gaza to the outside world.
Other than that, it is clear to anyone who has eyes in his head that the Israeli government is only implementing the disengagement in order to whitewash all of its activities in the West Bank. While talking of peace and how the Palestinians are not following their commitments, Israel is continuing to construct the Wall in a path that would take 7% of the West Bank, which would leave 7% of the West Bank on the Israeli side. And the 7% is a deceptive figure. The 7% does not include the route of the planned Wall that would cut into Ariel and Qedumim, which would annex 1% - 2% more of the West Bank as well. Further, it is a dry figure that doesn't convey the creation of harsh movement restrictions, as the planned route cuts deep into the West Bank. Other than that, in places where the Wall has been moved, Israel is now planning on building new walls to "protect" settler roads. That is the case in Hebron and with road 443 from Jerusalem to Modi'in. Basically, Wall sections that have been cancelled or disqualified by the Supreme Court are now being built as separate walls or separate "means of protection" for the roads. So it enhances the role of these roads as restrictions on Palestinian movement.
Settlements are being expanded. The military presence in the West Bank continues and checkpoints are still standing. No real freedom is provided to the Palestinians. It's merely a tool for Israel to maintain its presence and control in the West Bank while reducing the international pressure.
The biggest joke is that this was even admitted by Sharon's consultant Dov Weisglass in an interview in Haaretz.
Pat O'Connor: Some people are saying that with all of the settlement construction, and the construction of the Wall and the new plan for Ma'aleh Adummim, that it is really the end of any hopes for a two state solution, and that what is happening is creating an apartheid situation for Palestinians. What do you think of this analysis? Where do you see things heading?
Jonathan Pollak: I was never a great supporter of the two state solution. I never thought it had a great chance to begin with because of the power relations between Israel and its economy, and the Palestinian entity. After almost 40 years of occupation, the Palestinian economy is completely dependent on the Israeli economy. And we've seen with Oslo that the two state solution is being used by Israel to use the Palestinian Authority as a neighborhood bully to do the dirty work instead of Israel - to maintain a quiet, hidden occupation, while relieving the pressure from the international community and still being in control of everything that happens, offering no real option of sovereignty or freedom to the Palestinian people. And we've seen in Oslo and we see it now, that the PA is fully cooperating with it. Their strategy is not one of liberation, it is one based in a state that doesn't exist.
It seems that now we are heading towards a continuation of the current situation - which is apartheid, which is Palestinians living under apartheid. I think that people need to understand that nothing generally has changed much. It's just a continuation of the same situation of the last forty years. It's building up of it. It's maintaining it. It's enforcing it.
Pat O'Connor is an Irish American volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement. He managed humanitarian aid programs for 11 years in Africa and the Middle East, including three years in the Gaza Strip.
Some Israeli media coverage of the shooting of Jonathan Pollack # The Jerusalem Post, Fence protester wounded by tear gas grenade, Margot Dudkevitch, 3 April 2005: "An Israeli protester was lightly wounded on Sunday afternoon, when a tear gas grenade thrown by soldiers to disperse Israeli and Palestinian security fence protesters near Ba'alin close to Maccabim hit a rock showering demonstrators with splinters." # Ha'aretz Daily, Fence Protester hit in the head by teargas canister, Tamara Traubman, 5 April 2005: "Pollack said that he, too, was leaving - going toward the village, away from the fence construction site - when he suddenly heard a shot. 'I turned around, toward the firing, and saw a gas canister flying toward me,' he said. The canister hit him in the head, causing a deep cut that split his head to the bone and required stitches. He lost consciousness for a few seconds and suffered heavy bleeding and dizziness... In response, the IDF said: 'We exercise judgment with regard to every demonstration. Usually, we let them demonstrate, but this time, there were disturbances of the peace. The force fired a gas grenade that hit a rock and Jonathan Pollack's head was sprayed.'"
-----------------------------
* Pat O'Connor, The Electronic Intifada, 18 April 2005 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3775.shtml#top
(Photo: Marty Federman)http://electronicIntifada.net/artman/uploads/pollock2-483.jpg Jonathan Pollak is an Israeli activist who grew up in Tel Aviv and lives in Jaffa. He has been involved in nonviolent direct action in the West Bank for the last two-and-a-half years, participating in more than 200 protests with Palestinians in the West Bank with the Israeli nonviolent direct action group Anarchists Against the Wall and with the International Solidarity Movement. On April 3, 2005 an Israeli soldier shot Jonathan in the head with a teargas canister from an M-16 from a distance of approximately thirty meters at a peaceful protest against the Wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in. Bil'in is one of tens of West Bank Palestinian villages losing land because of Israel's wall construction. Pat O'Connor interviewed Jonathan Pollak by telephone on 7 April 2005.
Pat O'Connor: Why are people protesting in Bil'in and other villages?
Jonathan Pollak: Palestinians are protesting, and others with them, against the theft of their land, against the steps the Israeli government and Israeli army are taking to make their lives impossible — basically to commit a quiet ethnic cleansing. They are making life so impossible that people have to leave and the border areas near the Green Line are being emptied of Palestinians. The Israeli government is constructing the Wall in a way that is making enclaves of the West Bank and rendering a Palestinian state impossible.
Pat O'Connor: What is happening generally in the village of Bil'in, and why you did you go there?
Jonathan Pollak: In the last two or three months there has been resistance in Bil'in to the construction of the Wall that's taking a lot of their land. I don't know exact numbers, but the Wall there is planned according to the construction plan of a new settlement and it's being built very close to the last houses of the village. So for the last two months or so there have been demonstrations there on almost a daily basis, at least three times a week. We've been trying to support this with an Israeli presence and an international presence, and that's why I've been going there a lot.
Pat O'Connor: What happened on April 3, 2005, the day you were shot in Bil'in?
Jonathan Pollak: It was a very quiet demonstration. People were torching tires at the entrance of the village to demonstrate. We then went down, a small group, something like ten of us, and were just staring at the bulldozers and didn't reach them.
After a while we started going back to the village, and at some point I heard a shot. I looked back and I saw that it was the soldiers who shot it from about 30 meters, and I saw the canister flying directly at me. I had time to turn my head so it didn't hit my face. It hit centimeters above my right temple. I saw the canister bounce back and then fainted. I fell down for 30 seconds or a minute, and then found myself in a Red Crescent ambulance.
At some point the soldiers came to the ambulance and demanded that I get out of it in order for them to evacuate me from there. There wasn't an Israeli ambulance, but they still demanded that. I refused the army, and the ambulance drove towards a nearby checkpoint and I was moved into an Israeli ambulance which took me to the hospital. I was diagnosed as suffering from internal bleeding in the brain in two places and had twenty three stitches.
Pat O'Connor: Was there a reason why the Israeli soldiers fired the teargas as far as you could tell?
Jonathan Pollak: Nothing that I could tell. As I said it was very quiet that day. We were just going back to the village. Nothing happening.
I don't think the shooting was aimed specifically at me. Generally, as a tactic the soldiers are shooting teargas canisters directly at the group as one of their methods for dispersing a crowd. Of course it's completely against even their own regulations, telling them they have to shoot the canister in the air and not directly at the group, but in reality it happens all the time that they shoot the canister at the group. Numerous Palestinians have been injured by it, and also Israelis have been hit in the past.
Pat O'Connor: How are you feeling now?
Jonathan Pollak: My head hurts a lot and I'm very dizzy. I still have problems walking. I need a walker to move around. The doctor said I have to stay at home for a month and rest.
Pat O'Connor: The press reports that I first saw said that teargas was shot by soldiers, that it hit the ground and then showered rocks that hit you, that you were hit by rocks.
Jonathan Pollak: That's just a lie from the Israeli military spokesperson. As I said, I saw the teargas canister fired at me directly from where the soldiers were standing, and I saw it hit. There were definitely no stones that hit me. Secondly, if it was a stone it would not have caused so much damage. And thirdly it doesn't really matter even if it did hit a stone. Because even according to their own regulations they are not supposed to shoot the canister straight in the direction of the demonstrators.
In order for the canister to hit a rock, and create such an impact that the rock would hit my head, and cause internal bleeding and an injury that would require 23 stitches, well, it just doesn't make sense. It can't happen.
Pat O'Connor: The Israeli military spokesperson lied about what happened. Does this type of thing happen often?
Jonathan Pollak: They always do. It happens all the time. Reading an IDF spokesperson responded is the best way to know what didn't happen, basically. Their statements have no relation to reality or to the truth whatsoever.
Pat O'Connor: Why do you think then that their statements get reported so often then by the press?
Jonathan Pollak: I think that people like the press choose to believe it over the demonstrators, especially the official Israeli press, because the spokesperson is easier for them to relate to. Another reason, I think, is that the mainstream media here is very persistent in following the Israeli narrative, which the army spokesperson represents much better than we do.
Pat O'Connor: So the other day you were shot in the head. Is it common that protesters, whether Israeli or Palestinian or international are hurt or harassed in this way?
Jonathan Pollak: It's very common for Palestinians to be hurt in that way or even worse. It's less common for Israelis. There have been only three injuries to Israelis of this or greater severity in a year and a half of daily demonstrations. There have been hundreds of severe injuries to Palestinians and six deaths.
There was one demonstration in February 2004 in the village of Biddu, where they've had a lot of demonstrations. On that day we saw three Palestinians die from live ammunition. At least one of them was shot in the head by snipers standing on a rooftop nearby. That happened in front of my eyes so I can testify to it.
There's been one person shot in the head as well in the village of Beitunia. Another guy was shot in Biddu in the upper part of his stomach. He died. There was one person who died apparently from inhaling teargas inside his home in Biddu the same day the three were shot dead.
Pat O'Connor: Is this violence preventing people from going out to protest? Would it deter you?
Jonathan Pollak: I'm sure that the amount of violence that the Israeli army is illegally using is deterring some people from protesting. I don't think it will deter me in the future, but we have to remember that I am under much less risk as I am an Israeli and this is an apartheid state. When I get shot in the head, and I get wounded relatively lightly - I have no permanent damage - this gets coverage in the papers and the electronic media. When a Palestinian just a few days ago, a youth from the village of Saffa, near Bil'in where I was shot, was shot was shot with a rubber bullet in his eye causing him to lose his eye, there was no coverage at all.
So yes, I think the violence is deterring people, but it will not deter people forever. I think people are becoming angrier and more aware of the situation, and I think that Israel better understand that if it will break the popular and essentially nonviolent resistance, it will only encourage a more violent and brutal resistance, because you cannot expect people to just quietly accept their lives being taken away from them.
Pat O'Connor: Beyond physically injuring people, what about other kinds of military pressure? In villages like Bil'in and Budrus the military is coming in and going into Palestinian homes regularly.
Jonathan Pollak: I think this is part of the same strategy. The Israeli army is using collective punishment, which is forbidden according to international law, to deter people from protesting, and I think this is a very short-sighted view of the conflict. Again, they are arresting people and going into villages on a regular basis. In Budrus and Bil'in the army has been going into the village at night, taking males between the ages of 10-50 out of their homes, photographing them from three sides and arresting people who they suspect of participating in demonstrations or of throwing stones. Generally it's just harassment. They hope to break the people that way.
Jonathan Pollak (center in red) during a protest against the Wall with internationals from ISM and hundreds of Palestinians in the village of Jayyous in November, 2002. A few hours after this photo, Israeli soldiers declared Jayyous' farmland a closed military zone, telling the peaceful protesters that they would use force against them if they did not leave their farmland. After the protesters sat on the ground, Israeli soldiers attacked the protesters with teargas, concussion grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets. The soldiers detained and beat Jonathan and arrested nine international activists from the ISM (Photo: Pat O'Connor)
Pat O'Connor: What typically happens on the day of an actual protest?
Jonathan Pollak: Well, usually we gather in the center of the village and we go down to the land, some hundreds of people. Most of them are Palestinians, some are Israelis and international activists. And we go down to the land with the aim of blocking the bulldozers that are destroying the people's land and separating them from their other land, their main source of income after four years of closure.
At that point, usually much before we reach the bulldozers, the army reacts with a lot of violence, using teargas, concussion grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets. At that point sometimes clashes begin with stone throwing. Sometimes we do manage to get to the bulldozers.
Pat O'Connor: Who actually organizes and calls for the protests ?
Jonathan Pollak: The villagers, the people who are affected directly by the wall. The people who won't be able to eat if the Wall is constructed.
Pat O'Connor: How frequently are protests occurring now and what are the reasons for the protests?
Jonathan Pollak: Now it is almost one a day for the last month. And for the first time in a long time, it's not only protests around the Wall. There've been protests against checkpoints, against military roads and against military bases lately.
Through the smokescreen of the disengagement plan, Israel is increasing the pressure and increasing the occupation in the West Bank, increasing its grip on the West Bank, and it's effecting people's lives, and people are more and more able to see that the talk about peace is merely talk, and that the Sharon government has no plan to implement it and to provide more freedom to the Palestinian people.
Pat O'Connor: Why do you as an Israeli choose to do this, and how do Palestinians respond to you?
Jonathan Pollak: I choose to do it because I see it as my moral obligation. The occupation in general, and this Wall specifically is being constructed in my name without me wanting it. It is being constructed in my name even though I think it's a horrible crime, and I see it as my obligation to try and stop it, to do everything I can do in order to stop it, and to say that the struggle for freedom, wherever it is, is my struggle as well, and until there will be freedom for Palestinians as well, there will be no freedom for anyone.
My reception has always been very warm and very welcoming by the Palestinian side. It has never been a problem for them that I am an Israeli. If anything, the opposite.
Pat O'Connor: How do you evaluate the effectiveness of the popular, nonviolent resistance that has been going on?
Jonathan Pollak: I think that, partly because of the tactics and strategy of the PA, people have been discouraged from the popular movement or popular resistance lately. I think the only thing that can make it more effective again is if it will, once more, become more massive, if more people participate in it. In the last few months we are seeing people returning to popular resistance to the occupation, but still I feel it is not including enough people yet. I hope that people are able to see through the smokescreen of Sharon's plan and of the government's plan and that they try to resist it.
Pat O'Connor: The US press is reporting on the Gaza disengagement plan and the Israeli government plan to expand the settlement of Maaleh Adumim, as well as talking a lot about prospects for peace. What do you see happening on the ground?
Jonathan Pollak: They are building a new settlement in the area between Maaleh Adumim and Jerusalem, as they are doing in many other places. I think it should be considered a new settlement. It's an Israeli whitewash calling it an extension of the settlement.
I see the disengagement not as a plan for pulling out and not as a plan with prospects for peace. I see it as a plan for furthering the control of the Israeli government in the Occupied Territories. It will offer no real freedom to the Palestinians, even in Gaza. The Palestinian economy is completely controlled by Israel, and disengagement includes in it basically no real sovereignty to Gaza. Borders will be completely shut, and Israel will control all the passages from Gaza to the outside world.
Other than that, it is clear to anyone who has eyes in his head that the Israeli government is only implementing the disengagement in order to whitewash all of its activities in the West Bank. While talking of peace and how the Palestinians are not following their commitments, Israel is continuing to construct the Wall in a path that would take 7% of the West Bank, which would leave 7% of the West Bank on the Israeli side. And the 7% is a deceptive figure. The 7% does not include the route of the planned Wall that would cut into Ariel and Qedumim, which would annex 1% - 2% more of the West Bank as well. Further, it is a dry figure that doesn't convey the creation of harsh movement restrictions, as the planned route cuts deep into the West Bank. Other than that, in places where the Wall has been moved, Israel is now planning on building new walls to "protect" settler roads. That is the case in Hebron and with road 443 from Jerusalem to Modi'in. Basically, Wall sections that have been cancelled or disqualified by the Supreme Court are now being built as separate walls or separate "means of protection" for the roads. So it enhances the role of these roads as restrictions on Palestinian movement.
Settlements are being expanded. The military presence in the West Bank continues and checkpoints are still standing. No real freedom is provided to the Palestinians. It's merely a tool for Israel to maintain its presence and control in the West Bank while reducing the international pressure.
The biggest joke is that this was even admitted by Sharon's consultant Dov Weisglass in an interview in Haaretz.
Pat O'Connor: Some people are saying that with all of the settlement construction, and the construction of the Wall and the new plan for Ma'aleh Adummim, that it is really the end of any hopes for a two state solution, and that what is happening is creating an apartheid situation for Palestinians. What do you think of this analysis? Where do you see things heading?
Jonathan Pollak: I was never a great supporter of the two state solution. I never thought it had a great chance to begin with because of the power relations between Israel and its economy, and the Palestinian entity. After almost 40 years of occupation, the Palestinian economy is completely dependent on the Israeli economy. And we've seen with Oslo that the two state solution is being used by Israel to use the Palestinian Authority as a neighborhood bully to do the dirty work instead of Israel - to maintain a quiet, hidden occupation, while relieving the pressure from the international community and still being in control of everything that happens, offering no real option of sovereignty or freedom to the Palestinian people. And we've seen in Oslo and we see it now, that the PA is fully cooperating with it. Their strategy is not one of liberation, it is one based in a state that doesn't exist.
It seems that now we are heading towards a continuation of the current situation - which is apartheid, which is Palestinians living under apartheid. I think that people need to understand that nothing generally has changed much. It's just a continuation of the same situation of the last forty years. It's building up of it. It's maintaining it. It's enforcing it.
Pat O'Connor is an Irish American volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement. He managed humanitarian aid programs for 11 years in Africa and the Middle East, including three years in the Gaza Strip.
Some Israeli media coverage of the shooting of Jonathan Pollack # The Jerusalem Post, Fence protester wounded by tear gas grenade, Margot Dudkevitch, 3 April 2005: "An Israeli protester was lightly wounded on Sunday afternoon, when a tear gas grenade thrown by soldiers to disperse Israeli and Palestinian security fence protesters near Ba'alin close to Maccabim hit a rock showering demonstrators with splinters." # Ha'aretz Daily, Fence Protester hit in the head by teargas canister, Tamara Traubman, 5 April 2005: "Pollack said that he, too, was leaving - going toward the village, away from the fence construction site - when he suddenly heard a shot. 'I turned around, toward the firing, and saw a gas canister flying toward me,' he said. The canister hit him in the head, causing a deep cut that split his head to the bone and required stitches. He lost consciousness for a few seconds and suffered heavy bleeding and dizziness... In response, the IDF said: 'We exercise judgment with regard to every demonstration. Usually, we let them demonstrate, but this time, there were disturbances of the peace. The force fired a gas grenade that hit a rock and Jonathan Pollack's head was sprayed.'"
-----------------------------
* Pat O'Connor, The Electronic Intifada, 18 April 2005 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3775.shtml#top
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Palestine-Israel, AATW in Bil'in 15-4-05 - a very violent Friday demonstration - by Shaul Rosi and Yael from israel.indymedia.org 16 Apr
Shaul: "It was a real scaring. We arrived to Bil'in in two groups. The first group of 9 at noon (1:00 pm) The demo start at 1:30PM. Another group of three (including me) about 15 minutes later, directly to the mess. All the Israelis were dispersed. Part of them fledging from the soldiers, others hiding in a house, it was really distressing. The first thing we have seen was a jeep in the middle of the village, and near it border policemen shooting teargas and rubber coated bullets. Bad beginning, even for Bil'in. The jeep have gone. the following thing we seen was 6 or 7 border policemen standing in the middle of the village. 'what are you doing here?' No response. they have gone. Later, a jeep approach a house, soldier get out of it, intending to enter. 3 Israelis running towards the house.
The soldiers abandoned the idea. Later, the same soldiers blocked the way of 10 internationals. I retreated. Near the Mosque, stones, rubber, gas, stones..... people say there was shooting with live ammunition.
The demonstration reorganize a new and marching towards the the route of the fence. relatively many people for Bil'in. We arrived to the end of the village, where the border police were waiting. Stones, and rubber, lot of rubber coated bullets. The border police shooting without limit. I have ever been so afraid. We shouted and screamed... but it is not the kind of things that convince persons with rifles. The border police retreated a bit towards the fence route, and we followed them. Few stones more were thrown, and they returned in a big way. Though it is not exceptional, it is still hard to see a soldier sitting on the ground, aiming a rifle, and shoot people. And there is nothing you can do. You can not prevent this. Three soldier take the initiative. Entering a house, climbing on the roof, and shooting from there. Reasonable according to their mode of action. They can see very clear from the roof. Any other way they are distracted. Our shouts did not help and they sniped from the roof for about 10 minutes. In 10 minutes they could shoot lot of rubber bullets and even some teargas. They got down, joined the others, and continuing shooting.
Around 3:00pm - about two hours after the demonstration started, the border police arrived to the obvious conclusion, and accepted what we suggested from the beginning: they left the village and returned to the fence route. Though they now took positions where the stones do not reach them, they still continued shooting tear-gas canisters for another half an hour. Then it finished.
The damages: One with rubber bullet in the leg, one was injured his hand when he tried to return the soldiers a shock grenade. Two internationals arrested.
And a problem: how 12 people can return home at 17:00 Friday after noon from the the future orthodox city*? With God help..."
Rosi Abrahamov: "I must say me too was afraid today...
It was hard and I felt that the machoist game between the the village youngsters and the soldiers were overdone up to absurd. I felt a bit redundant, and at one stage I felt that the demo was redundant too. 'i guess it comes with the territory'.
From a person who was in the demonstration from the beginning, I want to point that the soldiers came prepared for us with a closed military region decree for the whole of the village straight at the beginning. All the village was a forbidden zone. The demonstrators retreated to the village, but it did not stop the jeeps from advancing into the village alleys, to through tear gas canisters into houses, and to shoot to all directions.
As for the question about the way home - you can easily catch a cab for free (:"
Yael: in response to Rosi.
"Rosi, I can understand how in the mess and the clouds of tear gas the interaction between the village youngsters and the army could have seemed to you as a kind of a machoist game. However, this definition of machoist game is based on the assumption that the powers are balanced, which is not the case. The stone throwing is better perceived as it is: a protest cry, a despair cry which do not really endanger the armed soldier, protected by helmet and armor... the high price gadgets the village youngster who is shoot at with shock grenades, rubber coated bullets, and some time by live ammunition, do not have.
And no, you were not redundant at that demonstration. We know what happened in in the demonstrations in the beginning of the present Intifada without a declared Israeli presence - people lost their life (recall the Bidu demos against the fence). Our presence in the demonstrations is not only materialistic = to try to prevent the escalation of the [Israeli] violence. It is also significant in the partnership and solidarity level. At long last there is a really joint Israeli-Palestinian struggle that is not only consisted/summed in a sticker of Peace Now movement, in which the word 'peace' is written in both Hebrew and Arabic.
Even this demonstration was not redundant. This, in spite the desperation and the sizifian helplessness we feel and show, and the fence that get built, and the world that keep silent. The resistance to the building of the fence have great importance. First, in the level of public opinion - in the international media you can see it even clearer. And more important - this struggle influenced the judicial aspect in the petitions of last year [to the supreme court of 'justice']
The change in the route in Budrus, in spite of being 'the exception of the rule that testify for it', is a victory derived from the combining of the wide scale nonviolent popular struggle that was in the village together with decision of the international court of Hague.
And may be the most important of all: a person who would arrive from no where to the [occupied] regions will not understand why the Israeli army have an interest in suppressing a nonviolent struggle? Is it possible the army prefer confrontation with explosives and rifles?! And the reply amazing each time a new is YES. The army, or more accurate the state that mobilize it cannot deal with such kind of resistance. Resistance that just by its existence and nature prove who is the occupier and who is the occupied, who is the all mighty powerful and who is the weak. The violent Israeli response to the non-violent Palestinian resistance prove/show to what extent Israel afraid from it and its implications. It tries again and again to define the non-violent struggle as violent. So, the enemy stay enemy, the fear stay fear, just by the book. The insistence on the nonviolent struggle undermine the efforts to depict the Palestinians as those who understand only force, and expose the real power balance as it really is.
And with a more personal take: I am sure that like me, you understand most of what I wrote. You were there too. This text was written mainly for those who look from the side on this struggle, often only through the mainstream media, and get a twisted impression on it.
------------------------------
* [Ed note: The new city of Upper Modi'in is a settler project on the West side of the fence route at Bil'in region. Being built on part of the Bil'in lands, and more so with the latest robbery enabled with the protection of the fence.]
The soldiers abandoned the idea. Later, the same soldiers blocked the way of 10 internationals. I retreated. Near the Mosque, stones, rubber, gas, stones..... people say there was shooting with live ammunition.
The demonstration reorganize a new and marching towards the the route of the fence. relatively many people for Bil'in. We arrived to the end of the village, where the border police were waiting. Stones, and rubber, lot of rubber coated bullets. The border police shooting without limit. I have ever been so afraid. We shouted and screamed... but it is not the kind of things that convince persons with rifles. The border police retreated a bit towards the fence route, and we followed them. Few stones more were thrown, and they returned in a big way. Though it is not exceptional, it is still hard to see a soldier sitting on the ground, aiming a rifle, and shoot people. And there is nothing you can do. You can not prevent this. Three soldier take the initiative. Entering a house, climbing on the roof, and shooting from there. Reasonable according to their mode of action. They can see very clear from the roof. Any other way they are distracted. Our shouts did not help and they sniped from the roof for about 10 minutes. In 10 minutes they could shoot lot of rubber bullets and even some teargas. They got down, joined the others, and continuing shooting.
Around 3:00pm - about two hours after the demonstration started, the border police arrived to the obvious conclusion, and accepted what we suggested from the beginning: they left the village and returned to the fence route. Though they now took positions where the stones do not reach them, they still continued shooting tear-gas canisters for another half an hour. Then it finished.
The damages: One with rubber bullet in the leg, one was injured his hand when he tried to return the soldiers a shock grenade. Two internationals arrested.
And a problem: how 12 people can return home at 17:00 Friday after noon from the the future orthodox city*? With God help..."
Rosi Abrahamov: "I must say me too was afraid today...
It was hard and I felt that the machoist game between the the village youngsters and the soldiers were overdone up to absurd. I felt a bit redundant, and at one stage I felt that the demo was redundant too. 'i guess it comes with the territory'.
From a person who was in the demonstration from the beginning, I want to point that the soldiers came prepared for us with a closed military region decree for the whole of the village straight at the beginning. All the village was a forbidden zone. The demonstrators retreated to the village, but it did not stop the jeeps from advancing into the village alleys, to through tear gas canisters into houses, and to shoot to all directions.
As for the question about the way home - you can easily catch a cab for free (:"
Yael: in response to Rosi.
"Rosi, I can understand how in the mess and the clouds of tear gas the interaction between the village youngsters and the army could have seemed to you as a kind of a machoist game. However, this definition of machoist game is based on the assumption that the powers are balanced, which is not the case. The stone throwing is better perceived as it is: a protest cry, a despair cry which do not really endanger the armed soldier, protected by helmet and armor... the high price gadgets the village youngster who is shoot at with shock grenades, rubber coated bullets, and some time by live ammunition, do not have.
And no, you were not redundant at that demonstration. We know what happened in in the demonstrations in the beginning of the present Intifada without a declared Israeli presence - people lost their life (recall the Bidu demos against the fence). Our presence in the demonstrations is not only materialistic = to try to prevent the escalation of the [Israeli] violence. It is also significant in the partnership and solidarity level. At long last there is a really joint Israeli-Palestinian struggle that is not only consisted/summed in a sticker of Peace Now movement, in which the word 'peace' is written in both Hebrew and Arabic.
Even this demonstration was not redundant. This, in spite the desperation and the sizifian helplessness we feel and show, and the fence that get built, and the world that keep silent. The resistance to the building of the fence have great importance. First, in the level of public opinion - in the international media you can see it even clearer. And more important - this struggle influenced the judicial aspect in the petitions of last year [to the supreme court of 'justice']
The change in the route in Budrus, in spite of being 'the exception of the rule that testify for it', is a victory derived from the combining of the wide scale nonviolent popular struggle that was in the village together with decision of the international court of Hague.
And may be the most important of all: a person who would arrive from no where to the [occupied] regions will not understand why the Israeli army have an interest in suppressing a nonviolent struggle? Is it possible the army prefer confrontation with explosives and rifles?! And the reply amazing each time a new is YES. The army, or more accurate the state that mobilize it cannot deal with such kind of resistance. Resistance that just by its existence and nature prove who is the occupier and who is the occupied, who is the all mighty powerful and who is the weak. The violent Israeli response to the non-violent Palestinian resistance prove/show to what extent Israel afraid from it and its implications. It tries again and again to define the non-violent struggle as violent. So, the enemy stay enemy, the fear stay fear, just by the book. The insistence on the nonviolent struggle undermine the efforts to depict the Palestinians as those who understand only force, and expose the real power balance as it really is.
And with a more personal take: I am sure that like me, you understand most of what I wrote. You were there too. This text was written mainly for those who look from the side on this struggle, often only through the mainstream media, and get a twisted impression on it.
------------------------------
* [Ed note: The new city of Upper Modi'in is a settler project on the West side of the fence route at Bil'in region. Being built on part of the Bil'in lands, and more so with the latest robbery enabled with the protection of the fence.]
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in 13-4-05 update* by Media, kobi snitz and Adar 14 Apr
13:54 (Nana.co.il) "Demonstrations in the village Bil'in against the fence and against Caterpilar company. Anarchists Against The Fence informed Nana news about an on-going demonstration in Bil'in against the confiscation of the lands and against Caterpilar manufacturer of the D9 buldosers. The court hearing of the inditement of Cori Reichel's parent - who was trampled to death by a military buldoser, against Caterpilar company, that starts today". 16:28 (Nana) "Two anarchists who demonstrated against the separation wall were arrested in the village Bil'in by the border guard".
23:00 (Adar) - At about 23:00 at night the army invaded the village once again. 2 jeeps accompanied with about 20 soldiers entered the house of Rani, a young man in a wheel chair. They took his cellular phone and some I.D's.
Fortunately, there were a lot of israelis and internationals at the time at Abdalla's house. We, a group of 5 israelis that has just left the village, got a phone call and did a u turn back to the village. We grouped with the other israelis, internationals and palestinians and marched to Rani's house. The army had just got out of the house, and the soldiers were very surprised to see a group of more than 30 people coming towards them, showing no sign of fear. The soldiers started going back to the road near the fence, at first walking, then running. We escorted them out, and shouted at them to return the things they have stolen. At some point they just threw the cell phone and cards to the ground. It's owner picked them up. "Turn around"-we shouted. "What are you doing here? This is harassment and nothing more. Look at us - we are here and nobody is threatening us." The soldiers left the village. Internationals and some israelis stayed for the night. One more day and night in occupied Palestine 23:45 (kobi) The two israelis arrested will be held overnight and be arraigned tomorrow morning at 11:30 at the jerusalem magistrate court
==================================
* http://www.ainfos.ca/05/apr/ainfos00229.html
(en) Palestine-Israel, billin 13-4-05: The joint struggle and the "diplomatic" process by kobi snitz
23:00 (Adar) - At about 23:00 at night the army invaded the village once again. 2 jeeps accompanied with about 20 soldiers entered the house of Rani, a young man in a wheel chair. They took his cellular phone and some I.D's.
Fortunately, there were a lot of israelis and internationals at the time at Abdalla's house. We, a group of 5 israelis that has just left the village, got a phone call and did a u turn back to the village. We grouped with the other israelis, internationals and palestinians and marched to Rani's house. The army had just got out of the house, and the soldiers were very surprised to see a group of more than 30 people coming towards them, showing no sign of fear. The soldiers started going back to the road near the fence, at first walking, then running. We escorted them out, and shouted at them to return the things they have stolen. At some point they just threw the cell phone and cards to the ground. It's owner picked them up. "Turn around"-we shouted. "What are you doing here? This is harassment and nothing more. Look at us - we are here and nobody is threatening us." The soldiers left the village. Internationals and some israelis stayed for the night. One more day and night in occupied Palestine 23:45 (kobi) The two israelis arrested will be held overnight and be arraigned tomorrow morning at 11:30 at the jerusalem magistrate court
==================================
* http://www.ainfos.ca/05/apr/ainfos00229.html
(en) Palestine-Israel, billin 13-4-05: The joint struggle and the "diplomatic" process by kobi snitz
Israel-Palestine, Behind the smoke screen of the Gaza pullout by Tanya Reinhart* Apr 14
Sharon travelled to the USA as a hero of peace, as if he had already evacuated Gaza and only the follow-up remained to be worked out. What has completely disappeared from the public agenda is what is happening meanwhile in the West Bank. The media continue to deluge us daily with disengagement storms, like the Nitzanim bubble. But for now the disengagement the Gaza pullout - exists only on paper. On the ground, no settler has yet received compensation. Even those who agreed to accept compensation are now waiting, because if they have a chance to get Nitzanim - the pearl of Israeli real estate - why hurry? In the meantime, three and a half months before the projected date of evacuation, it is still not clear where the evacuees will be housed until the discussions regarding their final relocation destination are concluded. Contrary to the prevailing impression, no infrastructure has been set up even for their temporary dwellings. The Settlement Department of the Jewish Agency, responsible for providing the 'caravillas'[the caravans that were supposed to host the evacuated settlers temporarily] has so far received no order from the government. (Petersburg, 'Yediot Ahronot', 8 April 2005)
If Sharon intends to evacuate the Gaza settlements, he is doing so with outrageous inefficiency. He is far more efficient in the West Bank. There, plans are carried out precisely as scheduled. Right from the start, during the first agreements between Sharon and Netanyahu one year ago about the disengagement plan, it was agreed that the disengagement would not be put into effect before the 'separation fence' was completed on the western side of the West Bank(1). Indeed, the construction of the wall is moving towards completion. In July the announced date for the beginning of the Gaza evacuation the wall surrounding East Jerusalem and cutting it off from the West Bank will be in place. The Palestinians who live there will be able to leave only with permits. The centre of life in the West Bank will become an enclosed prison. As well, the northern wall, which has already imprisoned the residents of Tul Karem, Qalqilya and Mas'ha, and which has robbed them of their lands, continues to advance southwards. Now the bulldozers are headed for the lands of Bil'in and Safa, bordering the settlements of Modi'in Elit. The farmers who are losing their lands are trying to stand their ground, together with Israeli opponents of the wall. But who would hear about their sufferings and about their struggle, amid the tumult over the disengagement?
The disengagement plan was born in February 2004, at the height of a wave of international criticism over the wall project, on the eve of the opening of deliberations at the international court in The Hague. In the ruling that was handed down in July, the court determined that the route of the wall was a blatant and serious violation of international law. Moreover, the court indicated that there was a danger of a further change in the demographic composition as a result of the departure of the Palestinian population from certain areas (para. 122). In other words, the court warned of a process of transfer.
According to UN data 237,000 Palestinians will be trapped between the wall and the Green Line and 160,000 others will remain on the Palestinian side, cut off from their land. (The route that was approved at the government's meeting in February 2005 reduces their number only slightly) (2). What is to be expected for those people, for the farmers who lose their land, for the imprisoned who are cut off from their families and their livelihoods? In the ghost towns of Tul Karem and Qualqilya and the villages around Mas'ha, many have already left in order to seek subsistence on the edges of towns in the centre of the West Bank. How much longer will the others be able to hold on under conditions of despair and atrophy, inside villages which have become prisons?
“Transfer” is associated in the collective memory with trucks arriving at night to take Palestinians across the border, as occurred in some places in 1948. But behind the smoke screen of disengagement, a process of slow and hidden transfer is being carried out in the West Bank today. It is not easy to judge which method of transferring people from their land is crueler. Nearly 400,000 people, about half the number of Palestinians who were forced to leave their land in 1948, are now candidates for voluntary emigration to refugee camps in the West Bank. And all this is currently being passed over in silence because maybe Sharon will disengage.
===============
(1) Here, e.g. are some reports from April last year: The prime minister took a commitment that the separation fence will be completed before evacuation starts... Security echelons estimate that the fence can be completed at the earliest towards the end of 2005. In other words: It is possible that Israel will not be able to complete the evacuation at the date that was promised to the U.S. (Yosi Yehushua, Yediot Aharonot, April 19, 2004). Netanyahu announced that he intends to support the disengagement after the three conditions he posed were met [including] completion of the fence before the evacuation” (Itamar Eichner and Nehama Duek, Yediot Aharonot, April 19, 2004).
(2) The figures are from the ICJ advisory opinion of July 9 that can be found at http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/idocket/imwp/imwpframe.htm. Similar figures were given in the Israeli media, e.g.Meron Rappaport, Yediot Aharonot, May 23, 2003; Akiva Eldar, Ha'aretz, February 16, 2004. The new line of the barrier as approved by the Israeli cabinet in February 20, 2005 reduces the size of Palestinian land to be annexed by the barrier by 2.5%, mainly in the Southern Hebron area, where work is only starting (so the barrier route can still change many times, as the work progresses). There were smaller adjustments in other areas, dictated by decisions of the Israeli Supreme Court, which means that some of the encircled villages should get some of their land back. But this does not effect the total number of Palestinians encircled by the wall. In Khirbet Jbara in the Tulkarm Governorate, the cabinet approved moving a 6km section of the Barrier closer to the Green Line. As a result, the Palestinian population in this area will no longer be located in a completely closed area, but rather on the West Bank side of the Barrier. This will reduce the overall Palestinian population completely isolated from the West Bank by about 340 persons (according to UN OCHA report of March 2005 on the preliminary analysis of the effects of the new wall route approved in February 2005. www.ochaopt.org)
===================================
The Hebrew article is attached and can be found also in http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3071994,00.html
-----------------------------------
* [Ed. Note: Professor Tanya Reinhart is a long time anarchist activist academian. She have a column in the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot most of the Israelis read.
If Sharon intends to evacuate the Gaza settlements, he is doing so with outrageous inefficiency. He is far more efficient in the West Bank. There, plans are carried out precisely as scheduled. Right from the start, during the first agreements between Sharon and Netanyahu one year ago about the disengagement plan, it was agreed that the disengagement would not be put into effect before the 'separation fence' was completed on the western side of the West Bank(1). Indeed, the construction of the wall is moving towards completion. In July the announced date for the beginning of the Gaza evacuation the wall surrounding East Jerusalem and cutting it off from the West Bank will be in place. The Palestinians who live there will be able to leave only with permits. The centre of life in the West Bank will become an enclosed prison. As well, the northern wall, which has already imprisoned the residents of Tul Karem, Qalqilya and Mas'ha, and which has robbed them of their lands, continues to advance southwards. Now the bulldozers are headed for the lands of Bil'in and Safa, bordering the settlements of Modi'in Elit. The farmers who are losing their lands are trying to stand their ground, together with Israeli opponents of the wall. But who would hear about their sufferings and about their struggle, amid the tumult over the disengagement?
The disengagement plan was born in February 2004, at the height of a wave of international criticism over the wall project, on the eve of the opening of deliberations at the international court in The Hague. In the ruling that was handed down in July, the court determined that the route of the wall was a blatant and serious violation of international law. Moreover, the court indicated that there was a danger of a further change in the demographic composition as a result of the departure of the Palestinian population from certain areas (para. 122). In other words, the court warned of a process of transfer.
According to UN data 237,000 Palestinians will be trapped between the wall and the Green Line and 160,000 others will remain on the Palestinian side, cut off from their land. (The route that was approved at the government's meeting in February 2005 reduces their number only slightly) (2). What is to be expected for those people, for the farmers who lose their land, for the imprisoned who are cut off from their families and their livelihoods? In the ghost towns of Tul Karem and Qualqilya and the villages around Mas'ha, many have already left in order to seek subsistence on the edges of towns in the centre of the West Bank. How much longer will the others be able to hold on under conditions of despair and atrophy, inside villages which have become prisons?
“Transfer” is associated in the collective memory with trucks arriving at night to take Palestinians across the border, as occurred in some places in 1948. But behind the smoke screen of disengagement, a process of slow and hidden transfer is being carried out in the West Bank today. It is not easy to judge which method of transferring people from their land is crueler. Nearly 400,000 people, about half the number of Palestinians who were forced to leave their land in 1948, are now candidates for voluntary emigration to refugee camps in the West Bank. And all this is currently being passed over in silence because maybe Sharon will disengage.
===============
(1) Here, e.g. are some reports from April last year: The prime minister took a commitment that the separation fence will be completed before evacuation starts... Security echelons estimate that the fence can be completed at the earliest towards the end of 2005. In other words: It is possible that Israel will not be able to complete the evacuation at the date that was promised to the U.S. (Yosi Yehushua, Yediot Aharonot, April 19, 2004). Netanyahu announced that he intends to support the disengagement after the three conditions he posed were met [including] completion of the fence before the evacuation” (Itamar Eichner and Nehama Duek, Yediot Aharonot, April 19, 2004).
(2) The figures are from the ICJ advisory opinion of July 9 that can be found at http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/idocket/imwp/imwpframe.htm. Similar figures were given in the Israeli media, e.g.Meron Rappaport, Yediot Aharonot, May 23, 2003; Akiva Eldar, Ha'aretz, February 16, 2004. The new line of the barrier as approved by the Israeli cabinet in February 20, 2005 reduces the size of Palestinian land to be annexed by the barrier by 2.5%, mainly in the Southern Hebron area, where work is only starting (so the barrier route can still change many times, as the work progresses). There were smaller adjustments in other areas, dictated by decisions of the Israeli Supreme Court, which means that some of the encircled villages should get some of their land back. But this does not effect the total number of Palestinians encircled by the wall. In Khirbet Jbara in the Tulkarm Governorate, the cabinet approved moving a 6km section of the Barrier closer to the Green Line. As a result, the Palestinian population in this area will no longer be located in a completely closed area, but rather on the West Bank side of the Barrier. This will reduce the overall Palestinian population completely isolated from the West Bank by about 340 persons (according to UN OCHA report of March 2005 on the preliminary analysis of the effects of the new wall route approved in February 2005. www.ochaopt.org)
===================================
The Hebrew article is attached and can be found also in http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3071994,00.html
-----------------------------------
* [Ed. Note: Professor Tanya Reinhart is a long time anarchist activist academian. She have a column in the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot most of the Israelis read.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Palestine-Israel, billin 13-4-05: The jpint struggle and the "diplomatic" process by kobi snitz 13 Apr
A small demonstration was held today with a modest goal. To march to the northern end of the construction area where work is halted by a court order, and carry out a symbolic act such as writing on rocks or planting signs in the ground. The demonstration also marked the day that the Corrie family launches its civil case against the Caterpillar company which sold the Israeli army the bulldozer which was used to kill Rachel Corrie.
The commander of the Border Police unit which enables this part of the war crime which is the separation wall is named Oren Tibi. Tibi might not be of the social class which makes decisions in Israel but he has internalized their diplomatic posture and implements it in the domain which he controls. Tibi sets the boundaries of negotiation, Tibi decides that Palestinians are unworthy and Tibi congratulates himself before resorting to violence. The terms for negotiations this morning were whether or not a small group of Palestinians will be allowed to proceed further down the road and walk to their land. When some youth started throwing stones at a distance Tibi made an extended speech about his benevolence and the unworthiness of Palestinians before issuing a short deadline and ordering his troops to attack the demonstration.
The Border Police invaded deep into the village using tear gas shock grenades and arrested two Israeli activists*. The activists were dragged on the ground and beaten but further abuse awaits them at the police station in the form of more sermonizing. It turns out that many of the police officers are often eager use their captive audience for long heart to heart discussions. While to some, it might seem as if the police are being enlightened by the situation and are opening up to hear from the activists, in my opinion the more likely explanation is a wish to bond with the Israelis and thus separate them from the Palestinians and also a yearning for affirmation after facing angry people all day. Thus, in my opinion, in this context these dialogues offer more psychological support for the Border Police than they do political enlightenment as well as eroding the trust between Palestinians and their Israeli supporters.
======================
Pictures at:
https://israel.indymedia.org/feature/display/2978/index.php
* [Ed. Note: Like most of the other cases, of this context, the "Israeli activists" stands for people from the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative who are in nearly daily involvement in struggle.]
The commander of the Border Police unit which enables this part of the war crime which is the separation wall is named Oren Tibi. Tibi might not be of the social class which makes decisions in Israel but he has internalized their diplomatic posture and implements it in the domain which he controls. Tibi sets the boundaries of negotiation, Tibi decides that Palestinians are unworthy and Tibi congratulates himself before resorting to violence. The terms for negotiations this morning were whether or not a small group of Palestinians will be allowed to proceed further down the road and walk to their land. When some youth started throwing stones at a distance Tibi made an extended speech about his benevolence and the unworthiness of Palestinians before issuing a short deadline and ordering his troops to attack the demonstration.
The Border Police invaded deep into the village using tear gas shock grenades and arrested two Israeli activists*. The activists were dragged on the ground and beaten but further abuse awaits them at the police station in the form of more sermonizing. It turns out that many of the police officers are often eager use their captive audience for long heart to heart discussions. While to some, it might seem as if the police are being enlightened by the situation and are opening up to hear from the activists, in my opinion the more likely explanation is a wish to bond with the Israelis and thus separate them from the Palestinians and also a yearning for affirmation after facing angry people all day. Thus, in my opinion, in this context these dialogues offer more psychological support for the Border Police than they do political enlightenment as well as eroding the trust between Palestinians and their Israeli supporters.
======================
Pictures at:
https://israel.indymedia.org/feature/display/2978/index.php
* [Ed. Note: Like most of the other cases, of this context, the "Israeli activists" stands for people from the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative who are in nearly daily involvement in struggle.]
Monday, April 11, 2005
Palestine-Israel, Demonstration at the dump near Dir Sharef by kobi snitz 11 Apr. 2005
The people of Dir Sharef can smell the occupation when they drive out of the village. They can taste it in olives and in the water and breath it in when the wind blows from the quarry. Dir Sharef is a village of 5300 people in the Nablus district of Palestine. Today, for the first time, a demonstration was held against a new garbage dump which has been operating in the area for two years. The dump has recently received a lot of attention after a story in Ha'aretz exposed a plan to dump millions of tons of Israeli trash at the dump and that the dump does not meet environmental standards. See the story in Haaretz (in Hebrew)*
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/563570.html The demonstration marched from the village towards the quarry where the dump is located. About 150 people from the village and from Nablus turned out and were joined by internationals and Israelis. The marchers did not have to get very far to see and smell the damage done. Along the side of the road is a fast flowing river of sewage that runs very close to the main water source for 300,000 people who live in Nablus and 13 surrounding villages. A Grant from the German government is available for a water treatment plant but the Israeli authorities prevent Palestinian construction in area C. The quarry itself generates large amounts of dust that are probably the cause of a large number of respiratory illness in the area. At the far end of the quarry is the dump. The site is under preparation but the dumping has already started. In addition to the sewage, the dump site is also located close to the aquifer. The Israeli infrastructure ministry has decided that the site is unsuited for household dumping but tons of household garbage is already dumped there. The dump site is chosen because it is cheaper to dump in Palestine but the dumping is not completely free. The settler regional council is charging the operators of the dump for the permission to use the site. Needless to say none of the proceeds will be used for the benefit of the Palestinians on whose land the dump is located.
Over the dump there is a mysterious factory which appeared a year ago. The factory is at an Israeli industrial area but is rumored to be Palestinian owned. Some people were of the opinion that the plant is used to recycle motor oil but that could not be verified at the site. The factory pours its waste down the hill towards the olive groves. A black smelly substance that the farmer says has made the olives inedible.
On the way back to the village an army jeep arrives. The soldiers are truly confused at the site of Israelis marching in Palestine. They wondered if we the Israelis have guards with them and were told that the only protection the Israeli activist require is from the soldiers themselves. This did not impress the soldiers who called for reinforcements and followed the marchers into the village in a provocation that could have ended badly. Throughout their incursion into the village the soldiers insisted that they are there for the protection of the Israelis. One of the Israelis present was Itai Levinsky who was shot in the eye last year by the IDF while at another demonstration. Like the other Israelis present he has had all the IDF protection he can stand...
-----------------------------------------------------
* Media reported during the day that demonstrators try to prevent trucks from dumping garbage near Kdumim...
"About 200 people of: Anarchists Against The Wall, Green Action, and Palestinians, arrived at the garbage dump between Kdumim and Nablus. They are trying to provent the entry of garbage trucks arriving fro the Sharon region of Israel..."
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/563570.html The demonstration marched from the village towards the quarry where the dump is located. About 150 people from the village and from Nablus turned out and were joined by internationals and Israelis. The marchers did not have to get very far to see and smell the damage done. Along the side of the road is a fast flowing river of sewage that runs very close to the main water source for 300,000 people who live in Nablus and 13 surrounding villages. A Grant from the German government is available for a water treatment plant but the Israeli authorities prevent Palestinian construction in area C. The quarry itself generates large amounts of dust that are probably the cause of a large number of respiratory illness in the area. At the far end of the quarry is the dump. The site is under preparation but the dumping has already started. In addition to the sewage, the dump site is also located close to the aquifer. The Israeli infrastructure ministry has decided that the site is unsuited for household dumping but tons of household garbage is already dumped there. The dump site is chosen because it is cheaper to dump in Palestine but the dumping is not completely free. The settler regional council is charging the operators of the dump for the permission to use the site. Needless to say none of the proceeds will be used for the benefit of the Palestinians on whose land the dump is located.
Over the dump there is a mysterious factory which appeared a year ago. The factory is at an Israeli industrial area but is rumored to be Palestinian owned. Some people were of the opinion that the plant is used to recycle motor oil but that could not be verified at the site. The factory pours its waste down the hill towards the olive groves. A black smelly substance that the farmer says has made the olives inedible.
On the way back to the village an army jeep arrives. The soldiers are truly confused at the site of Israelis marching in Palestine. They wondered if we the Israelis have guards with them and were told that the only protection the Israeli activist require is from the soldiers themselves. This did not impress the soldiers who called for reinforcements and followed the marchers into the village in a provocation that could have ended badly. Throughout their incursion into the village the soldiers insisted that they are there for the protection of the Israelis. One of the Israelis present was Itai Levinsky who was shot in the eye last year by the IDF while at another demonstration. Like the other Israelis present he has had all the IDF protection he can stand...
-----------------------------------------------------
* Media reported during the day that demonstrators try to prevent trucks from dumping garbage near Kdumim...
"About 200 people of: Anarchists Against The Wall, Green Action, and Palestinians, arrived at the garbage dump between Kdumim and Nablus. They are trying to provent the entry of garbage trucks arriving fro the Sharon region of Israel..."
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Palestine-Israel, Dir Balut, demonstration against the fence and the shooting of the Abdula Family - by Adar* 10 Apr
Friday 8.4 2005, following the shooting and injuring four of the Abdula Family members Wednesday, by the fence [privatized] security personnel, with live ammunition, when they came to work their land near the fence. Live ammunition, on a family members who came in an ordinary day, with no demonstration, disturbance ore law breaking... There are no ordinary words to describe it. Shooting that was in response to nothing. Just because of the mere existence... May be the word I am searching for is simply 'occupation'. This time in the most brutal form. 300 people of the village demonstrated on Friday in protest of the shooting, the separation fence, and the occupation. We arrive to the demonstration of Dir Balut Friday - two days after the shooting.
Among the four injured Abdula family members, the condition of 26 of age Samir Abdula - who seemed at the day of shooting as relatively lightly wounded, aggravated. Samir, a bullet penetrated his leg, return to the village riding a donkey with no need of help. When he arrived to the clinic - located in the neighboring village, it was found he lost lot of blood. Afterwards, he was detained by israeli army road block and it took long time till he arrived to the Rafidia hospital in Nablus. There it was found that the bullet severed a major artery, and he need to have an operation on it a Jordanian hospital.
At present, humanitarian organizations are looking for money to cover the operation expenses.
Halil, age 58, was hit with two shoots penetrating his pelvis near his groin, was operated on and is hospitalized in the surgery ward of Beilinson [Petah Tikva town East of Tel Aviv]. Hamda aged 24, who was shoot at his chest was operated on too, and is hospitalized at Ramalla. Majid who was shoot at his shoulder is hospitalized in the Israeli Tel Hashomer.
About 300 village people demonstrators - women, men, youth, together with Israeli peace activists** and internationals are marching from the village towards the fence building site. A women of the Abdula family is waving the blood soaked shirt of Majid.
An impressively big number of soldiers are waiting for us on the mountain slope. The first "greetings" are tear gas and shock grenades. Directly into the middle of a group of elderly women. A 60 years old women is hit and injured in her hand and from inhaling gas and evacuated back to the village.
Today, the wind blows towards the soldiers and border police and they stopped after a while the use of the gas.
We tell the soldiers why we arrived here today. How two days ago, in the exact place, four people were shoot. They hasten to clear to us: it was not us... These were private security people. And they are right. They have different uniform. The badges with their names (if they carry ones) have for sure different fonts... The soldiers are formally bound by laws the private security personnel are not bound with.... But all of them were given their mandate from the same Israeli state, and in the name of the same agenda.
A local bargaining with the soldiers enable a slow approach of the demonstrators towards their fields near the fence building rout where they carried their Friday prier.
* Free ainfos translation - see picture at:
https://israel.indymedia.org/newswire/update/index.php
=========================================
* [Ed. Note: Not to monopolize and patronize Israeli who are not of the Anarchists against the wall initiative who join the activities, even the anarchists put in their reports the general label "Israeli peace activists".]
Among the four injured Abdula family members, the condition of 26 of age Samir Abdula - who seemed at the day of shooting as relatively lightly wounded, aggravated. Samir, a bullet penetrated his leg, return to the village riding a donkey with no need of help. When he arrived to the clinic - located in the neighboring village, it was found he lost lot of blood. Afterwards, he was detained by israeli army road block and it took long time till he arrived to the Rafidia hospital in Nablus. There it was found that the bullet severed a major artery, and he need to have an operation on it a Jordanian hospital.
At present, humanitarian organizations are looking for money to cover the operation expenses.
Halil, age 58, was hit with two shoots penetrating his pelvis near his groin, was operated on and is hospitalized in the surgery ward of Beilinson [Petah Tikva town East of Tel Aviv]. Hamda aged 24, who was shoot at his chest was operated on too, and is hospitalized at Ramalla. Majid who was shoot at his shoulder is hospitalized in the Israeli Tel Hashomer.
About 300 village people demonstrators - women, men, youth, together with Israeli peace activists** and internationals are marching from the village towards the fence building site. A women of the Abdula family is waving the blood soaked shirt of Majid.
An impressively big number of soldiers are waiting for us on the mountain slope. The first "greetings" are tear gas and shock grenades. Directly into the middle of a group of elderly women. A 60 years old women is hit and injured in her hand and from inhaling gas and evacuated back to the village.
Today, the wind blows towards the soldiers and border police and they stopped after a while the use of the gas.
We tell the soldiers why we arrived here today. How two days ago, in the exact place, four people were shoot. They hasten to clear to us: it was not us... These were private security people. And they are right. They have different uniform. The badges with their names (if they carry ones) have for sure different fonts... The soldiers are formally bound by laws the private security personnel are not bound with.... But all of them were given their mandate from the same Israeli state, and in the name of the same agenda.
A local bargaining with the soldiers enable a slow approach of the demonstrators towards their fields near the fence building rout where they carried their Friday prier.
* Free ainfos translation - see picture at:
https://israel.indymedia.org/newswire/update/index.php
=========================================
* [Ed. Note: Not to monopolize and patronize Israeli who are not of the Anarchists against the wall initiative who join the activities, even the anarchists put in their reports the general label "Israeli peace activists".]
Friday, April 8, 2005
Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle against the fence at billin continue. 08 Apr
Thursday night, Anarchist Against The Wall activists were invited to dinner in bil'in with the local activists of the joint struggle of the last weeks. The invitation included the option to stay the night - in order both to detere Israeli army nightly harasments and for the Friday demo. Friday, As part of the straggle against land confiscation for the benefit of the settlements Kiryat-Seffer and Matityahu, a demonstration with the participation of about 300 Palestinians, Israelies and international activists took place today in the village of Bilin.
The demonstration that started as an organized and non-violent walk towards the construction area of the separation wall, developed into a confrontation between the people of Bilin and soldiers and border police. This included stone throwing from one side, and tear gas and rubber bullets from the other.
After about an hour of confrontation outside the village, the demonstrators were pushed back and the demonstration was finished. Nevertheless the soldiers and border police entered the village and confrontation continued for several hours. As a result of the soldiers activity that included throwing of a shock grenade into the mosque, six demonstrators were wounded and one arrested. The village people expect that the army will invade at night as it has done several times lately.
The demonstration that started as an organized and non-violent walk towards the construction area of the separation wall, developed into a confrontation between the people of Bilin and soldiers and border police. This included stone throwing from one side, and tear gas and rubber bullets from the other.
After about an hour of confrontation outside the village, the demonstrators were pushed back and the demonstration was finished. Nevertheless the soldiers and border police entered the village and confrontation continued for several hours. As a result of the soldiers activity that included throwing of a shock grenade into the mosque, six demonstrators were wounded and one arrested. The village people expect that the army will invade at night as it has done several times lately.
Wednesday, April 6, 2005
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, The daily struggle against the fence - Monday update: 5 Palestinians were injured, 5 Israelis were detained, 06 Apr
Monday, Jonathan Polak of the anarchists against the wall was seriously injured by a tear gas canister shoot directly to his head*.
Today, in another round of demonstrations, while the Bil'in village continue to resist to the separation fence - Israeli "security forces" continue the violence. In the demonstration to day 5 Palestinians were injured - two of them by rubber coated bullets, the other three from beating of the border police. Five Israelis and two Palestinians were arrested. The two palestinians were released after a short time.
The demonstration was relatively peaceful, but when the "civilian administration" officer responsible to the area departed, the situation escalated. The border police forces start to shoot on the demonstrators with rubber coated bullets, threw on them shock and tear gas grenades. Two of the injured were taken to the Ramalla hospital - one of them a member of the local committee against the fence.
Arrested comrade's report:
"....... The commander of the border guard unit that detained 5 of us [at the site of the demo] is a settler of "Gush Katif" in the Gaza strip. This same unit is scheduled to evacuate the resisting settlers of Gush Katif. In a long [non-formal] conversation developed with him while we waited for the regular police that would take us to the police station, he showed a surprising insight: ("If I was in their shoes - meaning the Palestinians, I would not be satisfied with just throwing stones".) These words were in spite the repeated use of the same famous excuses of Adolf Eichman (Nazi bureaucrat who was kidnapped in Argentina and sentenced to death in Israel) "I am under the obligation to execute orders of my superiors".)
His second-in-command is a Druze - an Israeli Palestinian citizen from the Galilee village Beit Jan, who himself lives in an "illegally-built" house [a common occurrence in the Israeli Palestinian regions as part of their suppression is the refusal of permits to build new houses or to expand existing ones]. A fact that does not prevent him from taking part in the destruction of the houses of Palestinians [in the occupied regions] on the pretext that they did not have building permits.
The Ethiopian [Jewish immigrant] who strangled me with such great passion [link to the pictures:
https://israel.indymedia.org/usermedia/image/10/bilin.jpg
https://israel.indymedia.org/feature/display/2902/index.php] told me later in secret that if there had not been cameras around he would also have shot me in the head.
The policeman at the police station said that, in essence, Israeli law is a "joke" as the supreme court of justice or the Knesset [Israeli parliament] can change it at whim. The only law that one must obey is Mosaic/Biblical law. According to him, the [Nazi] Germans understood that Jews are the truly pure and superior race and that was the reason they tried to exterminate us. The Arabs are wild animals, but it is not their fault as it is a decree from the Bible.
---------------------
Then they offered to release us if we signed a bail condition not to approach the separation fence for 15 days - we refused. They made it clear that such a refusal meant that we would remain under arrest till tomorrow morning, and the restrictions that the judge would impose would be all the harsher... we still refused to sign it.
Then, we were offered to agree not to approach the fence at the Bil'in region for five days.... and we signed it. A few minutes before the expected release, the policeman said in embarrassment that the bail and guarantee must be extended for 7 days. We said that we already signed for 5 days. He said we needed to correct that. We said it was absurd. He told us not to be stubborn over an increase of two days. We asked why he was insisting. He said that "it is an instruction from higher up in the hierarchy" (General Security Service? The prosecution? Higher level in police command?). We still refused. We were threatened in response with detention till a judge released us tomorrow.... and we still refused... And they gave up and released us.
Thanks to I.V. who came from Tel Aviv to Givat Zeev [near Jerusalem - about 80km] at 10.00pm to take us home. Thanks to Kobi who signed a third-party bail order with the Tel Aviv regional police. Thanks to Oded that did not turn off the camera. Thanks to Shai who accompanied us with his camera and his good humour. Thanks to Ilan [not me] who brought a sweatshirt, some vegan food and cigarettes to the police station. Thanks to [the lawyers] Gabi and Dov who advised us and put pressure on the policemen.
Personal conclusions:
1) There is a serious lack of participation by women in the Israeli group [of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative].
2) When detained, it is recommended that you lie on the ground and not be walked by the policemen/soldiers to their cars.
3) It is highly recommended that you bargain about the conditions of any restrictions when detained.
4) If we were organized before the action (including coordination with the Palestinians) we could happily stop the work on the fence.. even if only for a few minutes.
Pictures: https://israel.indymedia.org/newswire/update/index.php
====================
* (en) Palestine-Israel, Bil'in-Tel Aviv, The daily struggle against the wall/fence and the war crimes continue
http://www.ainfos.ca/05/apr/ainfos00037.html
** Israelis in this and similar contexts refer to participants of the Israeli Anarchists Against The Wall initiative.
Today, in another round of demonstrations, while the Bil'in village continue to resist to the separation fence - Israeli "security forces" continue the violence. In the demonstration to day 5 Palestinians were injured - two of them by rubber coated bullets, the other three from beating of the border police. Five Israelis and two Palestinians were arrested. The two palestinians were released after a short time.
The demonstration was relatively peaceful, but when the "civilian administration" officer responsible to the area departed, the situation escalated. The border police forces start to shoot on the demonstrators with rubber coated bullets, threw on them shock and tear gas grenades. Two of the injured were taken to the Ramalla hospital - one of them a member of the local committee against the fence.
Arrested comrade's report:
"....... The commander of the border guard unit that detained 5 of us [at the site of the demo] is a settler of "Gush Katif" in the Gaza strip. This same unit is scheduled to evacuate the resisting settlers of Gush Katif. In a long [non-formal] conversation developed with him while we waited for the regular police that would take us to the police station, he showed a surprising insight: ("If I was in their shoes - meaning the Palestinians, I would not be satisfied with just throwing stones".) These words were in spite the repeated use of the same famous excuses of Adolf Eichman (Nazi bureaucrat who was kidnapped in Argentina and sentenced to death in Israel) "I am under the obligation to execute orders of my superiors".)
His second-in-command is a Druze - an Israeli Palestinian citizen from the Galilee village Beit Jan, who himself lives in an "illegally-built" house [a common occurrence in the Israeli Palestinian regions as part of their suppression is the refusal of permits to build new houses or to expand existing ones]. A fact that does not prevent him from taking part in the destruction of the houses of Palestinians [in the occupied regions] on the pretext that they did not have building permits.
The Ethiopian [Jewish immigrant] who strangled me with such great passion [link to the pictures:
https://israel.indymedia.org/usermedia/image/10/bilin.jpg
https://israel.indymedia.org/feature/display/2902/index.php] told me later in secret that if there had not been cameras around he would also have shot me in the head.
The policeman at the police station said that, in essence, Israeli law is a "joke" as the supreme court of justice or the Knesset [Israeli parliament] can change it at whim. The only law that one must obey is Mosaic/Biblical law. According to him, the [Nazi] Germans understood that Jews are the truly pure and superior race and that was the reason they tried to exterminate us. The Arabs are wild animals, but it is not their fault as it is a decree from the Bible.
---------------------
Then they offered to release us if we signed a bail condition not to approach the separation fence for 15 days - we refused. They made it clear that such a refusal meant that we would remain under arrest till tomorrow morning, and the restrictions that the judge would impose would be all the harsher... we still refused to sign it.
Then, we were offered to agree not to approach the fence at the Bil'in region for five days.... and we signed it. A few minutes before the expected release, the policeman said in embarrassment that the bail and guarantee must be extended for 7 days. We said that we already signed for 5 days. He said we needed to correct that. We said it was absurd. He told us not to be stubborn over an increase of two days. We asked why he was insisting. He said that "it is an instruction from higher up in the hierarchy" (General Security Service? The prosecution? Higher level in police command?). We still refused. We were threatened in response with detention till a judge released us tomorrow.... and we still refused... And they gave up and released us.
Thanks to I.V. who came from Tel Aviv to Givat Zeev [near Jerusalem - about 80km] at 10.00pm to take us home. Thanks to Kobi who signed a third-party bail order with the Tel Aviv regional police. Thanks to Oded that did not turn off the camera. Thanks to Shai who accompanied us with his camera and his good humour. Thanks to Ilan [not me] who brought a sweatshirt, some vegan food and cigarettes to the police station. Thanks to [the lawyers] Gabi and Dov who advised us and put pressure on the policemen.
Personal conclusions:
1) There is a serious lack of participation by women in the Israeli group [of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative].
2) When detained, it is recommended that you lie on the ground and not be walked by the policemen/soldiers to their cars.
3) It is highly recommended that you bargain about the conditions of any restrictions when detained.
4) If we were organized before the action (including coordination with the Palestinians) we could happily stop the work on the fence.. even if only for a few minutes.
Pictures: https://israel.indymedia.org/newswire/update/index.php
====================
* (en) Palestine-Israel, Bil'in-Tel Aviv, The daily struggle against the wall/fence and the war crimes continue
http://www.ainfos.ca/05/apr/ainfos00037.html
** Israelis in this and similar contexts refer to participants of the Israeli Anarchists Against The Wall initiative.
Sunday, April 3, 2005
Subject: (en) Palestine-Israel, Bil'in-Tel Aviv, The daily struggle against the wall/fence and the war crimes continue 03 Apr
It was just a Sunday demonstration in the chain of of struggle of the Bil'in villagers, against the apartheid wall that rob them of significant part oft heir fields and orchards. Like usual, in spite of army formal instructions forbidding shooting demonstrators directly with tear gas canisters, and rubber coated bullets from short range, or to the head, the soldiers do shoot so. In previous demonstrations in the occupied territories rubber coated bullets killed children and blinded many. (Nearly blinded one of the anarchists against the wall initiative.)
------
Media report on to day demo in Bil'in:
"Jonathan Polak was injured in a demonstration against the fence in Bil'in. Policemen of the border police dispersed tens of Palestinians and "anarchists against the fence" activists in the village Bil'in in Modi'in region.
Jonathan Polak was lightly injured from a canister of tear gas that hit his head. He arrived with tens Israeli demonstrators members of "Anarchists Against The Fence, to help the local villagers in their protest against the fence. Initial report from first aid services was that the injury was not too serious.
Local villagers told the reporter that tens of the Bil'in villagers demonstrated to day, and as usual, this time too they were joined by Israeli activists. They said that when the about 150 participants of the demonstration started to disperse, the border police shoot them with tear gas canisters.
While taken by the ambulance to the hospital, Polak himself told the reporter: "There were no confrontations at the demo. When we wished to disperse the policemen shower on us large amount of tear gas. They directed the shooting of the canisters directly to the bodies of the demonstrators, as they do in all demonstrations - shooting them directly at the demonstrators.
Polak said that one of the canisters hit his head directly. "It hurt me very much", and denounced the policemen who aimed the shooting on the demonstrators in order to hit them." ---- end of media report.
>>>>>>
The following call to action was distributed this afternoon to the activists: Following the injuring of our comrade Yonatan Polak toady, when he was shoot at at his head with a tear gas canister from short range, in a non-violence demonstration against the wall, we will go tonight (19:30) in front of the defense ministry (Hakirya, Kaplan st.). (The canister cut Jonathan's head to the bone, fractured the skull bone and caused an hemorrhage of the brain. He is now in the Tel-Hashomer hospital for treatment.)
We will converge there in order to tell the Israeli army: Stop shooting Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals demonstrators to curb the struggle against the wall. We demonstrate with the demand to stop the violence and shooting on demonstrators and stop the building of the apartheid wall!
The demonstration started even before the stated hour, as the people of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative and sympathizers started to converge earlier. We were about 70 people. We held placards and torches, and called various slogans. During the demo, a phone call from a Palestinian activist from Bil'in was delivered to us using a loud speaker. In his speech he thanked the anarchists and the other peace activists for joining the struggle.
After about an hour we decided that it is not the proper time to block the traffic and marched instead to the city center.
------
Media report on to day demo in Bil'in:
"Jonathan Polak was injured in a demonstration against the fence in Bil'in. Policemen of the border police dispersed tens of Palestinians and "anarchists against the fence" activists in the village Bil'in in Modi'in region.
Jonathan Polak was lightly injured from a canister of tear gas that hit his head. He arrived with tens Israeli demonstrators members of "Anarchists Against The Fence, to help the local villagers in their protest against the fence. Initial report from first aid services was that the injury was not too serious.
Local villagers told the reporter that tens of the Bil'in villagers demonstrated to day, and as usual, this time too they were joined by Israeli activists. They said that when the about 150 participants of the demonstration started to disperse, the border police shoot them with tear gas canisters.
While taken by the ambulance to the hospital, Polak himself told the reporter: "There were no confrontations at the demo. When we wished to disperse the policemen shower on us large amount of tear gas. They directed the shooting of the canisters directly to the bodies of the demonstrators, as they do in all demonstrations - shooting them directly at the demonstrators.
Polak said that one of the canisters hit his head directly. "It hurt me very much", and denounced the policemen who aimed the shooting on the demonstrators in order to hit them." ---- end of media report.
>>>>>>
The following call to action was distributed this afternoon to the activists: Following the injuring of our comrade Yonatan Polak toady, when he was shoot at at his head with a tear gas canister from short range, in a non-violence demonstration against the wall, we will go tonight (19:30) in front of the defense ministry (Hakirya, Kaplan st.). (The canister cut Jonathan's head to the bone, fractured the skull bone and caused an hemorrhage of the brain. He is now in the Tel-Hashomer hospital for treatment.)
We will converge there in order to tell the Israeli army: Stop shooting Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals demonstrators to curb the struggle against the wall. We demonstrate with the demand to stop the violence and shooting on demonstrators and stop the building of the apartheid wall!
The demonstration started even before the stated hour, as the people of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative and sympathizers started to converge earlier. We were about 70 people. We held placards and torches, and called various slogans. During the demo, a phone call from a Palestinian activist from Bil'in was delivered to us using a loud speaker. In his speech he thanked the anarchists and the other peace activists for joining the struggle.
After about an hour we decided that it is not the proper time to block the traffic and marched instead to the city center.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
