This is a call for donations to the legal fund of anarchists against the wall (AATW) http://www.awalls.org This group is actively supporting the Palestinian popular resistance to the so called Israeli "separation wall". This wall constitutes a theft of much of the land that Israel has not yet taken away from Palestinians and will create a situation where Palestinians are effectively enclosed in small unlivable cantons.
AATW has been active both through direct action and demonstrations against the wall. It insists on a joint struggle of Palestinians and Israeli and Its contribution to the struggle has been recognized by all those involved in the struggle.(see the above link for letters of support).
The group's work has also been recognized by the Israeli authorities which have rewarded it with violent repression, hundreds of arrests and dozens of indictments. The legal costs of defending against these charges is around $20,000 and counting. AATW is now calling for donations its legal fund in order to fight back against the legal persecution and continue its part in the fight against the wall.
For more details and for instructions on how to donate please see http://www.awalls.org
for more information please contact ksnitz@gmail.com
This is the site of an Israeli group known as "Anarchists Against the Wall" (AATW) which has been supporting the popular Palestinian resistance to the Israeli "separation wall".
This site does not contain and should not be understood as an official party line or a manifesto. The group has dedicated all its efforts to activities on the ground, and has left propaganda and the drawing of party lines to others. The actions which AATW been involved in are direct actions such as dismantling the wall/fence when possible and participation in Palestinian demonstrations. Much has been written by and about AATW, the links below are just a sample and should not necessarily be understood as an endorsement of the opinions represented there.
Anarchists Against the Wall first strated working as a group at the beginig of April of 2003, with the establishment of the Mas'ha peace camp against the wall. As construction of the wall was nearing, the village Mas'ha was facing the loss of 96% of their lands, which the wall left on the "Israel" side.
A camp of two tents was set up on the village's lands that were to remain on the other side of the wall. For four months a constant presence of Palestinians, Israelis and internationals was kept. During this period the camp was a base for information dissemination and direct-democracy decision-making. A number of wall related direct actions were planned and prepared at the camp. On July 28, 2003 Plestinians, international and Israeli activists forced open a gate in the wall at the village of Anin (See Haaretz article at:
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=323022 ) Late in August of 2003, with the wall almost complete, the camp moved to the to-be-demolished yard of a house in Mas'ha. Following two days of mass arrests the yard was demolished and the camp had ended, but the spirit of resistance it symbolized did not die with it.
A few Months later, November 9, 2003 – the international day against the wall – We removed about 20 meters of the wall at another joint action at the village of Zbuba, near Jenin.
Once again, at December 26, 2003, we returned to Mas'ha to force open a gate in the wall; a gate that was supposed to provide easy access for people to their lands, but in fact was closed for the 2 months prior. As we shook the gate, soldiers on the other side of it opened fire on us. One of us was struck twice with live ammunition, and his evacuation to an ambulance through the gate was prevented. He nearly died of blood loss, and reached the hospital in critical situation.
A few days later, daily demonstrations in the Village of Budrus began, and our presence in them was constant. Through its persistence in community mobilization, struggle and nonviolence, the village of Budrus was able to achieve significant victories. The most celebrated one is that the path of the wall was almost completely pushed away from the village's lands, only through the villages struggle. Without bowing in front of the occupation; without petitioning to the Israeli courts. Another victory, maybe even more important, was that for a good part of year, almost every village, to which the construction of the wall reached, rose up against it. Hundreds were injured and 9, all Palestinians, were killed in those nonviolent demonstrations, but the people were not deterred and continue trying to stop the bulldozers together with Israeli and international activists.
Those who wish to support the efforts of AATW and are in Palestine can get notices of upcoming demonstrations by subscribing to the email list Actleft on yahoo groups.
Thanks to the legal repression by the Israeli authorities donations for the legal defense fund are also urgently needed. AATW is faced with mounting legal expenses and is raising money to defend people who face indictments as a result of their political activities. You can donate online by following the link below http://www.awalls.org/donate.htm using PayPal, which is a secure and confidential tool.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Israel-Palestine, Bil'in, [MEDIA] article - THE OLD MAN AND THE BLOOD 13 Jun 2006
This article is in the context of a Friday Bil'in demonstration - one of around 60 we have had over the past 16 months. One of the many Israeli media reporters drawn to the Bil'in demos approached me about a month ago and, after sensing "good" material, asked for an intensive "interview" the following Friday during the demo if her editor accepted her proposal for an extended report. He did, and a week later we had a few hours together both before the demonstration itself and during the demonstration. One of the photographers from the daily joined us too and the resulting report was published in Israel's second-biggest daily two weeks later: a large photo from the demonstration on the front page of the magazine, followed by two pages of text and pictures from the demo.
What follows is an English translation of the text of the front page of the supplement Matrix of the daily Maariv, and the article itself:
GRANDPA STONE - What causes Ilan Shalif, Doctor of Psychology, to leave his grandchildren, climb the hills and spend his Fridays in the endless fight of the anarchists in Bil'in? Liat Shlezinger (28.5.06)
THE OLD MAN AND THE BLOOD
by Liat Shlezinger
Ilan Shalif is already 70 [really only 69 - I.S.] but it does not prevent him arriving every Friday at the demonstration against the separation fence in Bil'in and confronting the soldiers of the Israeli IDF.
"Armed" with only a yellow water bottle and matching yellow pouch, Ilan Shalif is on his way to another battle against the separation fence. Every Friday for the last year and a half, like a watch whose battery never runs out, he travels the road from Tel-Aviv to the Palestinian village of Bil'in. He has not missed even one demonstration... Well, he did miss one when he had an open-heart bypass operation [it was really two demos I missed then, and two more when I was banned from travelling to Bil'in after being released from police custody - I.S.]. But, he stresses that a week later he was back running with the kids [the Israeli Anarchists Against The Wall - I.S.] and dodging the rubber-coated bullets as they whistled by.
In the village of Bil'in, where the most violent demonstrations of the left have been taking place recently, people are "crazy" about him. They call him "grandpa". While others of his age prefer to spend time with their grandchildren, Shalif at 70 prefers to spend his Fridays in the company of shock and teargas grenades.
My idea to join him in the demo was regarded at first as an intriguing experience, but surely not as massive physical effort. However, after a short march with the demonstrators, at quite a fast tempo, I looked around me and saw that Shalif was nowhere to be seen. Actually, he had long ago overtaken me and I just could not match his speed!
Each demonstration in Bil'in begins with a long march accompanied by the singing of the villagers and the demonstrators, who wave flags all the way up to the point of confrontation with the soldiers at the fence separating the village lands and the areas of Modi'in Illit [the settler town built on the lands of Bil'in and other neighbouring Palestinian villages - I.S.]. Shalif is marching fast under the hot sun and his position is at the head of the demonstration. When the confrontation between the demonstrators and the soldiers starts, he sits down on one of the big stones and looks around. From time to time he wipes the drops of sweat from his forehead and cleans his round glasses.
Right behind Ilan sits his son Gal, 42, guarding his father. He puts a firm hand on his shouder every time he wants to go nearer and join the demonstrators [in confronting the soldiers - I.S.]. "Father, sit down", he says in an authoritative voice. "Father, enough. Not this time. It's not for you any more. Father, it's not possible this way." He worries about his father. Every Friday, Gal serves as Ilan's chauffeur to Bil'in and back to Tel-Aviv. But more importantly, Gal defines himself as "his personal guard".
"I know my father... If I don't go with him, he will do something stupid and get injured. He is a person who is getting on in years, but often he behave like a child," he says, smiling. [The reporter does not know the details of my medical vulnerability after the heart bypass operation a few weeks before, as a result of which Gal agreed to accompany me to the demonstration in return for a say on cautious behaviour for both of us - I.S.] It is now the end of the second week of May, and in a few days' time Shalif, a father of two and Doctor of Psychology (Ph.D.) is due to undergo a complicated and quite dangerous operation on his abdomen in Germany. [From which I returned after three weeks and am still recuperating - I.S.] "Sure he is supposed to be resting now", says Gal in reply to my amazement, "but he is actually much more relaxed here! If he were at home, he would be so much more stressed, and anyway, no-one can tell him what to do". _________________________
"I think the soldiers treat me more gently because of my age, maybe they even pity me. Once, a few months ago, we were sitting on the road in protest. The soldiers came and carried all of us away, one by one, except for me. At one point I looked around and saw I was left alone on the road". [She fails to mention that at first a soldier had tried to grab me, but a Palestinian comrade held my hand to prevent my arrest and asked the soldier if he was not ashamed to grab an old man... Only then they left me alone there - I.S.] __________________________
The demonstration is getting more violent, even in comparision to those of the past few weeks. Three demonstrators are taken to hospital. Gal seems worried. "Soon they are going to open my father up for an operation", he says. "I don't intend to let someone open him up here, with batons".
Despite the difficulty of being a bodyguard to a rebellious 70-year-old, he looks at him with great pride. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to guard him. I don't have the courage to get hit for things I believe in, but he has. That's why I admire him".
WOW, RESPECT!
The village of Bil'in is located east of the settlement of Modi'in Illit. The demonstrations that have been taking place there every Friday for the last year and a half are part of the struggle of the village's Palestinian population against the separation fence which threatens to take about 60% of their agricultural lands. On these lands the villagers grow olive trees for their livelihood, and theres are exactly the lands where new residential neighbourhoods of the the settler town Modi'in Illit are due to be built. Ten days earlier, the citizens of Bil'in even petitioned the (Israeli) supreme court of justice in a bid to prevent the confiscation of the lands. The demonstrations at Bil'in also see the participation of left-wing Israeli activists, many from the extreme left like the "Anarchists Against The Wall", who arrive with organized transportation from the centre of Israel and demonstrate side by side with the Palestinians. In addition, there are also international activists from organisations like the
The demonstration advances along its route according to a ritual known in advance to both the demonstrators and the soldiers. First, the village people march up to the route of the separation fence where the soldiers and border police are waiting for them, equipped with the means to disperse demonstrations, such as tear gas, shock grenades, and live ammunition. On the Palestinian side, several of the youngsters are arming themselves with stones. More than a few Israeli demonstrators have been injured here.
"If the left-wing demonstrators were not here, the struggle would be seen in an entirely different light", say representatives of the village's popular committee. "Their presence, and that of the press, protect us from the violence of the soldiers who know that they are being monitored and therefore cannot do what they want. We will succeed in the end as we are stubborn, and every Friday, without exception, we will continue to come here with the Israelis and the international activists and demonstrate till our lands are returned".
Acram Hatib, a Palestinian activist and member of the village's popular committee, says that one of the most encouraging things in his eyes is to see Shalif every Friday. "Closure, curfew or shooting, I will always see Ilan and his gray hair here", he says while trying to restrain the stone-throwing kids.
"Wow, respect!", a young woman with short black and red hair exclaims loudly when she observes the presence of Ilan there. "This is a very dangerous place, and I hesitate every time I have to come. And to see him, in spite of his age and everything, I really have great respect".
Roni Barkan from the "Anarchists Against The Wall" movement sees in Shalif a personal role model. "I nearly never express myself in similar words, but in my eyes he really deserves admiration. What is so beautiful about Ilan is that he may be 70, but he has the soul of a child. He does what he feels is right and lives his life this way, despite the price he has to pay for it". [He still does not recognize that others too are motivated like him by the joy of rebeliousness... - I.S.]
Shalif himself, on the other hand, does not feel any different when he looks at the young crowd participating in these demonstrations.
L. S.: "You know that there are not many people at your age that bother to come to Bil'in in order to demonstrate?"
I. S: "Right, there are not many people of 70, but this is what I love doing and this is what I believe in. I cannot see myself doing anything else. When I was a child I was very hyperactive and I think that a little of that remained. I don't feel the need to sit around at home and rest. I may be a bit older, but inside I know I am still young. There are people my age who relax from other things and who busy themselves looking for something different or strange. I don't think I'm strange or exeptional. In addition, I think that because of my age the soldiers treat me relatively leniently. Maybe even pity me. They always hit the youngsters, and time after time I remain unharmed. [Not really perfect immunity, as the soldiers often indiscriminantly attack both old and young, Palestinians, Israelis or foreigners, demonstrators or press workers, males or females... I. S.] Once, a few months ago, we were sitting on the road in protest. The soldiers came and carried all of us away, one by one, except for me. At one
L. S.: "And what does your wife have to say about this?"
I. S: "We do not argue any more about it. She worries about me, but she knows that in the end I will do what I want. I simply do not believe that I can just sit at home, having spent my whole life as an activist. I don't really know what could change to make me want to stop".
ANARCHIST SINCE HE WAS 9
As for the identity crises that most of us go through every few months on average, Shalif's identity was already firmly established in his childhood. At the age of 9, he already knew he was an anarchist.
"We were in the classroom and all the boys decided to boycott the girls", he recounts the moment of truth. "I refused. I just did not agree at all as I was friends with the girls [I used to play with some in the small neighborhood I grew up in - I.S.] and did not believe in that stupid boycott. Later, [and more so after the boycott was over - I. S.] no-one befriended me for a while or invited me to parties. That was when it started, when I knew that I would always be different".
[Well, it was not my first act of social rebellion. When I was still at kindergarten, every Friday they used to collect small sums of money as a contribution to the Jewish Zionist fund for buying land. I still remember refusing to ask my parents for "pocket money" for that contribution. I also recollect some bits of memories from an earlier age, when I was about 2, in which I doubted the wisdom of my mother when she did or said things I did not regard as correct - I. S.]
Indeed, he was different. While the rest of his friends in Jerusalem looked forward to their period of military service, he evaded it, thanks to a broken bone in his hand, something he is proud of to this day. "I became disillusioned with the Zionism of Ben Gurion [Israel's first Prime Minister in 1948 - I. S.] faster than expected. It just wasn't for me", he says. In 1967 [the 6th June war of occupation - I. S.] he found himself in the extreme left-wing movement "Matspen", who among other things supported politically-motivated total conscientious objection. "I moved from place to place [living on kibbutzim - I.S.], and was even expelled with my wife Aliza from "Negba" kibbutz where we lived, because of my radical opinions. [Mostly because of the anti-Zionist political activities I refused to stop doing. They agreed to let my wife stay on as member with our two kids only if she divorced me... which she refused to do - I.S.] I always knew I was extremely radical and at long last I have found people that I can
Later he moved to Tel-Aviv and completed a Ph.D. in psychology. During his work he even developed the technique of "sensate focusing", that promotes the solving of problems using subconscious processes, mainly and not solely using verbal techniques.
Throughout the years his left-iwing activism has been well known both by people of other organizations and by the police, who detained him for interrogation a few times after violent demonstrations he took part in. He spends his time these days surfing the internet and translating for an international anarchist website he jointly manages. [I've been a member of the ainfos.ca collective and project since 1996 - I.S.] When Shalif speaks, he uses "you". He does not feel part of us, the Israelis, and he does not even want to feel as one, "thank you very much". He can't remember when he last voted in an election [to parliament - I.S.]. "I don't feel like just another street crazy who shouts about nothing", he says. "My feelings on Israel are like a time traveller who is stuck here without being able to carry on with his journey. I believe in a world that is non-hierarchical, in which there is freedom, equality and fraternity. A world without exploiters and exploited, where people make their own decisions. I do n
L. S.: Don't you feel a bit lonely sometimes? All of us search for a kind of belonging from time to time.
I. S: Certainly not. I do not need the false feeling of intimacy of a nation. It is all about fictional substitutes that are intended to give us a good feeling. I have my friends here in Bil'in, I have real friends, from "Matspen", with whom I meet twice a month. I do not need the State". In spite of the fact that most young Israelis have a better idea where Maya Buskila [an Israeli pop star - I.S.] lives than where the village of Bil'in is, Shalif feels that his struggle over the past decades has not been in vain. "In 1968 we were 18 lunatics who cried and cursed [the occupation - I.S.] but now the majority believes that there is a need to retreat from the occupied territories. Once I wrote a poem on how each shoulder helps to turn the wheels of history, and that it will take a very long time to make them turn. It may happen after many, many years, but at the end the revolution will come, I am sure of it".
What follows is an English translation of the text of the front page of the supplement Matrix of the daily Maariv, and the article itself:
GRANDPA STONE - What causes Ilan Shalif, Doctor of Psychology, to leave his grandchildren, climb the hills and spend his Fridays in the endless fight of the anarchists in Bil'in? Liat Shlezinger (28.5.06)
THE OLD MAN AND THE BLOOD
by Liat Shlezinger
Ilan Shalif is already 70 [really only 69 - I.S.] but it does not prevent him arriving every Friday at the demonstration against the separation fence in Bil'in and confronting the soldiers of the Israeli IDF.
"Armed" with only a yellow water bottle and matching yellow pouch, Ilan Shalif is on his way to another battle against the separation fence. Every Friday for the last year and a half, like a watch whose battery never runs out, he travels the road from Tel-Aviv to the Palestinian village of Bil'in. He has not missed even one demonstration... Well, he did miss one when he had an open-heart bypass operation [it was really two demos I missed then, and two more when I was banned from travelling to Bil'in after being released from police custody - I.S.]. But, he stresses that a week later he was back running with the kids [the Israeli Anarchists Against The Wall - I.S.] and dodging the rubber-coated bullets as they whistled by.
In the village of Bil'in, where the most violent demonstrations of the left have been taking place recently, people are "crazy" about him. They call him "grandpa". While others of his age prefer to spend time with their grandchildren, Shalif at 70 prefers to spend his Fridays in the company of shock and teargas grenades.
My idea to join him in the demo was regarded at first as an intriguing experience, but surely not as massive physical effort. However, after a short march with the demonstrators, at quite a fast tempo, I looked around me and saw that Shalif was nowhere to be seen. Actually, he had long ago overtaken me and I just could not match his speed!
Each demonstration in Bil'in begins with a long march accompanied by the singing of the villagers and the demonstrators, who wave flags all the way up to the point of confrontation with the soldiers at the fence separating the village lands and the areas of Modi'in Illit [the settler town built on the lands of Bil'in and other neighbouring Palestinian villages - I.S.]. Shalif is marching fast under the hot sun and his position is at the head of the demonstration. When the confrontation between the demonstrators and the soldiers starts, he sits down on one of the big stones and looks around. From time to time he wipes the drops of sweat from his forehead and cleans his round glasses.
Right behind Ilan sits his son Gal, 42, guarding his father. He puts a firm hand on his shouder every time he wants to go nearer and join the demonstrators [in confronting the soldiers - I.S.]. "Father, sit down", he says in an authoritative voice. "Father, enough. Not this time. It's not for you any more. Father, it's not possible this way." He worries about his father. Every Friday, Gal serves as Ilan's chauffeur to Bil'in and back to Tel-Aviv. But more importantly, Gal defines himself as "his personal guard".
"I know my father... If I don't go with him, he will do something stupid and get injured. He is a person who is getting on in years, but often he behave like a child," he says, smiling. [The reporter does not know the details of my medical vulnerability after the heart bypass operation a few weeks before, as a result of which Gal agreed to accompany me to the demonstration in return for a say on cautious behaviour for both of us - I.S.] It is now the end of the second week of May, and in a few days' time Shalif, a father of two and Doctor of Psychology (Ph.D.) is due to undergo a complicated and quite dangerous operation on his abdomen in Germany. [From which I returned after three weeks and am still recuperating - I.S.] "Sure he is supposed to be resting now", says Gal in reply to my amazement, "but he is actually much more relaxed here! If he were at home, he would be so much more stressed, and anyway, no-one can tell him what to do". _________________________
"I think the soldiers treat me more gently because of my age, maybe they even pity me. Once, a few months ago, we were sitting on the road in protest. The soldiers came and carried all of us away, one by one, except for me. At one point I looked around and saw I was left alone on the road". [She fails to mention that at first a soldier had tried to grab me, but a Palestinian comrade held my hand to prevent my arrest and asked the soldier if he was not ashamed to grab an old man... Only then they left me alone there - I.S.] __________________________
The demonstration is getting more violent, even in comparision to those of the past few weeks. Three demonstrators are taken to hospital. Gal seems worried. "Soon they are going to open my father up for an operation", he says. "I don't intend to let someone open him up here, with batons".
Despite the difficulty of being a bodyguard to a rebellious 70-year-old, he looks at him with great pride. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to guard him. I don't have the courage to get hit for things I believe in, but he has. That's why I admire him".
WOW, RESPECT!
The village of Bil'in is located east of the settlement of Modi'in Illit. The demonstrations that have been taking place there every Friday for the last year and a half are part of the struggle of the village's Palestinian population against the separation fence which threatens to take about 60% of their agricultural lands. On these lands the villagers grow olive trees for their livelihood, and theres are exactly the lands where new residential neighbourhoods of the the settler town Modi'in Illit are due to be built. Ten days earlier, the citizens of Bil'in even petitioned the (Israeli) supreme court of justice in a bid to prevent the confiscation of the lands. The demonstrations at Bil'in also see the participation of left-wing Israeli activists, many from the extreme left like the "Anarchists Against The Wall", who arrive with organized transportation from the centre of Israel and demonstrate side by side with the Palestinians. In addition, there are also international activists from organisations like the
The demonstration advances along its route according to a ritual known in advance to both the demonstrators and the soldiers. First, the village people march up to the route of the separation fence where the soldiers and border police are waiting for them, equipped with the means to disperse demonstrations, such as tear gas, shock grenades, and live ammunition. On the Palestinian side, several of the youngsters are arming themselves with stones. More than a few Israeli demonstrators have been injured here.
"If the left-wing demonstrators were not here, the struggle would be seen in an entirely different light", say representatives of the village's popular committee. "Their presence, and that of the press, protect us from the violence of the soldiers who know that they are being monitored and therefore cannot do what they want. We will succeed in the end as we are stubborn, and every Friday, without exception, we will continue to come here with the Israelis and the international activists and demonstrate till our lands are returned".
Acram Hatib, a Palestinian activist and member of the village's popular committee, says that one of the most encouraging things in his eyes is to see Shalif every Friday. "Closure, curfew or shooting, I will always see Ilan and his gray hair here", he says while trying to restrain the stone-throwing kids.
"Wow, respect!", a young woman with short black and red hair exclaims loudly when she observes the presence of Ilan there. "This is a very dangerous place, and I hesitate every time I have to come. And to see him, in spite of his age and everything, I really have great respect".
Roni Barkan from the "Anarchists Against The Wall" movement sees in Shalif a personal role model. "I nearly never express myself in similar words, but in my eyes he really deserves admiration. What is so beautiful about Ilan is that he may be 70, but he has the soul of a child. He does what he feels is right and lives his life this way, despite the price he has to pay for it". [He still does not recognize that others too are motivated like him by the joy of rebeliousness... - I.S.]
Shalif himself, on the other hand, does not feel any different when he looks at the young crowd participating in these demonstrations.
L. S.: "You know that there are not many people at your age that bother to come to Bil'in in order to demonstrate?"
I. S: "Right, there are not many people of 70, but this is what I love doing and this is what I believe in. I cannot see myself doing anything else. When I was a child I was very hyperactive and I think that a little of that remained. I don't feel the need to sit around at home and rest. I may be a bit older, but inside I know I am still young. There are people my age who relax from other things and who busy themselves looking for something different or strange. I don't think I'm strange or exeptional. In addition, I think that because of my age the soldiers treat me relatively leniently. Maybe even pity me. They always hit the youngsters, and time after time I remain unharmed. [Not really perfect immunity, as the soldiers often indiscriminantly attack both old and young, Palestinians, Israelis or foreigners, demonstrators or press workers, males or females... I. S.] Once, a few months ago, we were sitting on the road in protest. The soldiers came and carried all of us away, one by one, except for me. At one
L. S.: "And what does your wife have to say about this?"
I. S: "We do not argue any more about it. She worries about me, but she knows that in the end I will do what I want. I simply do not believe that I can just sit at home, having spent my whole life as an activist. I don't really know what could change to make me want to stop".
ANARCHIST SINCE HE WAS 9
As for the identity crises that most of us go through every few months on average, Shalif's identity was already firmly established in his childhood. At the age of 9, he already knew he was an anarchist.
"We were in the classroom and all the boys decided to boycott the girls", he recounts the moment of truth. "I refused. I just did not agree at all as I was friends with the girls [I used to play with some in the small neighborhood I grew up in - I.S.] and did not believe in that stupid boycott. Later, [and more so after the boycott was over - I. S.] no-one befriended me for a while or invited me to parties. That was when it started, when I knew that I would always be different".
[Well, it was not my first act of social rebellion. When I was still at kindergarten, every Friday they used to collect small sums of money as a contribution to the Jewish Zionist fund for buying land. I still remember refusing to ask my parents for "pocket money" for that contribution. I also recollect some bits of memories from an earlier age, when I was about 2, in which I doubted the wisdom of my mother when she did or said things I did not regard as correct - I. S.]
Indeed, he was different. While the rest of his friends in Jerusalem looked forward to their period of military service, he evaded it, thanks to a broken bone in his hand, something he is proud of to this day. "I became disillusioned with the Zionism of Ben Gurion [Israel's first Prime Minister in 1948 - I. S.] faster than expected. It just wasn't for me", he says. In 1967 [the 6th June war of occupation - I. S.] he found himself in the extreme left-wing movement "Matspen", who among other things supported politically-motivated total conscientious objection. "I moved from place to place [living on kibbutzim - I.S.], and was even expelled with my wife Aliza from "Negba" kibbutz where we lived, because of my radical opinions. [Mostly because of the anti-Zionist political activities I refused to stop doing. They agreed to let my wife stay on as member with our two kids only if she divorced me... which she refused to do - I.S.] I always knew I was extremely radical and at long last I have found people that I can
Later he moved to Tel-Aviv and completed a Ph.D. in psychology. During his work he even developed the technique of "sensate focusing", that promotes the solving of problems using subconscious processes, mainly and not solely using verbal techniques.
Throughout the years his left-iwing activism has been well known both by people of other organizations and by the police, who detained him for interrogation a few times after violent demonstrations he took part in. He spends his time these days surfing the internet and translating for an international anarchist website he jointly manages. [I've been a member of the ainfos.ca collective and project since 1996 - I.S.] When Shalif speaks, he uses "you". He does not feel part of us, the Israelis, and he does not even want to feel as one, "thank you very much". He can't remember when he last voted in an election [to parliament - I.S.]. "I don't feel like just another street crazy who shouts about nothing", he says. "My feelings on Israel are like a time traveller who is stuck here without being able to carry on with his journey. I believe in a world that is non-hierarchical, in which there is freedom, equality and fraternity. A world without exploiters and exploited, where people make their own decisions. I do n
L. S.: Don't you feel a bit lonely sometimes? All of us search for a kind of belonging from time to time.
I. S: Certainly not. I do not need the false feeling of intimacy of a nation. It is all about fictional substitutes that are intended to give us a good feeling. I have my friends here in Bil'in, I have real friends, from "Matspen", with whom I meet twice a month. I do not need the State". In spite of the fact that most young Israelis have a better idea where Maya Buskila [an Israeli pop star - I.S.] lives than where the village of Bil'in is, Shalif feels that his struggle over the past decades has not been in vain. "In 1968 we were 18 lunatics who cried and cursed [the occupation - I.S.] but now the majority believes that there is a need to retreat from the occupied territories. Once I wrote a poem on how each shoulder helps to turn the wheels of history, and that it will take a very long time to make them turn. It may happen after many, many years, but at the end the revolution will come, I am sure of it".
Israel, Media, Aljazeerah, We shall all lose: A diary report, a day after the Tel Aviv rally By Adam Keller 10 Aug 2006
"Is this the last week?" people asked each other. Since the jets went streaking northwards to rain death over Beirut and the missiles came shrieking back southwards to an ever-widening number of Israeli communities, Israeli activists had been gathering every Saturday evening and marching in protest through the streets of Tel-Aviv. According to the confident predictions emanating from Condoleezza Rice's entourage at the beginning of the week, by today a ceasefire should have already been in place. But Saturday was at least as bloody as the preceding days, with the end of the killing seeming an ever-receding horizon. As thousands streamed to the rendezvous at the end of Ben Tzion Boulevard (accustomed place of the weekly Women in Black vigil) the prospects of a ceasefire were a major subject of conversation. "To us, 'ceasefire' and 'cessation of hostilities' seem the same, but the diplomats hide a hell of a lot of meaning between nuances of this kind. It could make a life or death difference on the ground afterwards, we have to look very carefully at what the Americans and French are up to, over there in New York" said a white-haired man with a big sign reading "We are not Bush's puppets!"
To the mother and her two daughters, killed this morning at Arab el-Aramsheh from the direct hit of a Katyusha missile, it will no longer make any difference. (Like nearly half the Israeli civilian casualties, they were Arabs, in whose community the government never thought of installing air-raid shelters or alarms). And whatever the final formulation of the UN resolution, it will also come far too late for the 33 farm workers (35 in other accounts) killed by a single Israeli bomb near the Lebanese-Syrian border (most of the Israeli media did not even bother to mention it).
Here in the heart of Tel-Aviv we had to contend with a fortunately non-lethal kind of missile: a salvo of eggs suddenly plastered the gathering activists. The police somehow failed to notice the perpetrators, despite being present on the scene in great numbers (there had been extensive and exhausting negotiations on the route of the march, the authorities rejecting the organizers original proposals on various bureaucratic grounds).
"Damn, I worked on this placard for nearly three hours" cried a young man from Jaffa. Under the caption "Stop the carnage - start negotiating peace!" there were two hand-painted pictures: on one side airplanes dropping bombs and great flames bursting from the ground, on the other birds flying above a meadow with children playing happily. Three girls rushed to help, thoroughly scraping the poster with their tissues until all signs of the dripping yolk were removed.
Our malevolent "friends" were far from through. The activist who brought a great bundle of 300 black flags, newly produced for this march, made the mistake of leaving them for a minute on the pavement. Suddenly a car stopped, three youngsters got out, seized the flags by force and disappeared. The police, some of whom were a short distance away, failed to notice this act of flagrant thievery, too.
The black flags were intended to convey mourning for all the victims, on whatever side of the physical borders and the ethnic and religious divide, and also to remind of the Supreme Court ruling half a century ago that "It is not only the right but the duty of a soldier to disobey a manifestly illegal order, on which the Black Flag of Illegality flies".
The thieves had robbed us of having the mass of black at the head of the march as organizers envisaged. Still, a group of traditionally-dressed Arab women from the north got off their bus with black flags they had prepared in their village, and the Anarchists naturally also has quite a few of them. The black flags mixed with the red ones of the Hadash Communists, and the yellow flags of the Arab Renewal Movement of KM Ahmad Tibi, and the round Gush Shalom two-flag signs, and the numerous printed and hand-made signs: "Occupation and War are a disaster!" - "Just Peace = Security!" - "39 Years are enough - End the Occupation!" - "There is no military solution!" - "Cease-fire NOW!" - "Stop the war! Stop the massacre!" - "No more Unilateral Acts, Open Peace Negotiations Now! - "Negotiations with Syria - the Key to Peace in Lebanon!". A middle-aged woman walking at the side held a small carton sign with the words "Stop, please!".
The narrow King George Street through which we passed is in the downtown area of Tel-Aviv, rather rundown though bustling - the area which had been the heart of the city back when it was part of the British Empire, and which has a considerable right-wing element but also enclaves of students and bohemians. Demonstrators chanted "We shall neither die nor kill / in the service of the USA!" - "Children want to live / in Beirut and Haifa!" - "Peretz, Peretz, resign / peace is more important!" - "A million refugees / that's a war crime!" - "Olmert, Peretz and Ramon / Get out of Lebanon!" (originally, this slogan had Sharon's name). But the slogan repeated again and again, in alternating Hebrew and Arabic, was "Jews and Arabs Refuse to be Enemies!". A small child, riding her father's shoulders, clapped hands merrily to the rhythm of the slogans.
The two most popular stickers circulating in the crowd were Gush Shalom's "Bring the Soldiers Home" (from a model dating back to the 1982 invasion of Lebanon) and the Bereaved Families' Forum's "It will not End - Until we Talk!". An enterprising activist had produced at his own expense a sticker reading "We shall all lose!" - a faithful replica of the colours and graphic style of "Together we shall win!", the sticker mass-produced and distributed in the past weeks by the patriotic/commercial Leumi Bank. Quite a few participants wore Che Guevara t-shirts, and there were some with the face of Nelson Mandela. But also one participant's shirt had blazoned in English:
"Conference of Jewish Communities, Seattle".
The Likud Party headquarters, which the march passed, seemed deserted and lifeless. "They can afford to be lazy, Peretz is doing the dirty work for them" remarked an activist, who shortly afterwards furiously tore down a poster of the Labour Party leader, left over from the elections of four months (just four months!) ago. A bit later on, on a balcony, two bare-chested youths waved Israeli national flags and made rude gestures, shouting something which was inaudible over the din. A demonstrator silently waved towards them his own Israeli flag - one draped in the black of mourning. A neighboring balcony bore a large Animal Rights poster - "Meat is Murder!" - and from it a woman in a red flowered dress was enthusiastically waving in support.
Crossing the busy Allenby Street, we got to the designated site of the rally - Magen David Square, at the entrance to the Carmel Market. "Welcome to the Demonstration of the Ten Thousand, the largest demonstration to date against the criminal Lebanon War! Move along, move along!" boomed the loudspeaker from the podium. (Various press accounts later credited the demo with between 3000 and 5000 participants). The thousands that did not find place in the square flowed over into the Nahlat Binyamin pedestrian mall and other neighboring streets.
In the back there was, however, a constant motion and hubhub.
"We call upon everybody to cross Allenby and file into the square, we want to begin! Please cross the street, don't linger!" called moderator Khulud Badawi on the loudspeaker, and a little later: "We call upon the Tel-Aviv police force to stop molesting our people, to stop shoving and pushing! The agreement was that problems will be dealt with by demonstration marshals! Policemen, please hold to the agreement!"
In the densely packed crowd, it was difficult to see clearly even a short distance away, and impossible to establish how the confrontation started and by whom. Some objects, such as bottles and sticks, have certainly flown through the air, and two demonstrators ended up in detention. None of many who were asked during and after the demonstration, have seen (or smelled) the throwing of feces at the police - but the police spokesperson announced it as a fact to the press, even while the demonstration was going on, and on Y-net the feces incident - true or fabricated - took up the headline and a large portion of the news item published.
In fact, however, the entire confrontation with the police took part on the outer edge of the rally, which started after a few minutes' delay. Besides Gush Shalom, participants included the Women's Coalition for Peace, Ta'ayush, Anarchists Against Walls, Yesh Gvul, the Israeli-Palestinian Forum of Bereaved Families, feminists, many parents with their children, veteran and young peace activists as well the political parties Hadash, Balad and the United Arab List.
A sign of the ferment in the political system was provided by members of Meretz, who took part in spite their party's pro-war position. They were led by former MKs Naomi Hazan and Ya'el Dayan.
Dayan at first got wild applause when she called for the immediate return of the invading troops from Lebanon and for a prisoner exchange to free the ones captured by Hizbullah and Hamas. But when she also sent greetings to the fighting soldiers there was a chorus of angry protests and catcalls. Defiantly, she added that the war had been justified to begin with, "though it had now gone on too long and too deep", and some activists tried to storm the podium, pushed back with difficulty by marshals.
Naomi Hazan, the other Meretz dissident, was more pleasing to this audience: "Each and every one of us came here because of being totally against this war. We have come here to make a united voice of protest against this terrible monstrous madness and call for an immediate ceasefire, to protest the destruction and mourn the killings. And not only in Lebanon - let's not forget the Palestinians, let's not forget the blood which was shed this morning in Rafah! We have come here to struggle for life, to oppose the war with all our power - and we will win!"
The keynote speech was delivered by Saul Feldman, a person hitherto unknown to most of his listeners. "I live in Nesher, which as you know is a suburb of Haifa. Until three weeks ago, this was just a geographical detail, a quite comfortable house to live in. On the day this war broke out, I and my wife went to the demonstration in Tel-Aviv. On the following day we were sitting in a back room when there was this whistle and explosion, quite near, and our dog came running, shaking and very frightened. Our front room was in shambles, broken glass strewn everywhere. I tried the piano to see if it was working, that was when the press photographers arrived."
Here, a group of extreme-right people, waving flags, arrived on the scene and tried to break into the podium, to be thrown back after a few minutes' struggle. Unperturbed, Feldman resumed his speech:
"I should have thought that the photo of a man playing the piano in a ruined house should have sent a message of peace. But I saw the photo with all kinds of very warlike captions, which implied that I want revenge from the inhabitants of Lebanon. I called the press and protested and told them I had participated in the anti-war demonstration. They said: oh, but did you not change your mind when your house was bombed? Change my mind? I have protested against the stupid wanton destruction of war, and then the war and destruction came to my own home. Should that make me change my mind?"
"Olmert, stop this madness!" cried Uri Avnery of Gush Shalom. "The war has gone to your head. You are war drunk, a war junkie. Nothing good will come of this war. Stop it, before it is too late! And you, Amir Peretz - you have lied to your voters and cheated them. Some people in this rally have voted for you, or at least seriously considered doing it. People who would otherwise have never thought of voting Labour supported you because you presented yourself as a radical social reformer, because you promised to divert a large part of the defence budget to education and health and social improvement, because you said you were a dove and a peace-seeker. What is left of that? You have a become a monster, a real monster!"
"Jews and Arabs pay the price in blood, the price in dead and wounded, of this miserable criminal war. We are in this together. Jews and Arabs together stand here in this this square, stand together and protest together and demand together the immediate end of this terrible carnage" said Shauki Khatib, Head of the Arab Monitoring Committee, the leadership of Israel's Arab citizens, and the audience responded with prolonged chanting of "Jews and Arabs Refuse to be Enemies!".
"The main victims of this war are the poor. The well-to-do can afford to run away. The poor stay, exposed to the bombs and the missiles. The poor in Northern Israel and the poor in South Lebanon. This is the war of the rich and the generals, and the poorer you are the higher the price you pay" said Prof. Gadi Elgazi, historian and central activist of Ta'ayush.
"This war must stop. We here have to stop it. It is a war for Israel's control and domination of the Middle East, a completely unjust war. There are people who like to oppose a war after it is over, after they have cheered the soldiers on. I say: the time to oppose the war is now - now when the blood is flowing, when the bodies are buried, when the war crimes are committed and perpetrated. The time is now!" was how anarchist Adar Grayevsky, veteran of the prolonged struggle at Bil'in, put it.
After her, a young man mounted the podium. "My name is Zohar Milgrom. I am 26 years old, an activist in Yesh Gvul. I have got an emergency call up up order. Tomorrow I have to show up at the army and get sent to Lebanon. I will go there to declare that I am refusing. This is the only thing I can do in face of the public silence, in face of the war crimes committed in our name, in face of the leaders who have sent soldiers again into the Lebanese swamp. I will dedicate my time of imprisonment to all the people who suffer in this war, the Jews and the Arabs, the Israelis and Lebanese and Palestinians, to stopping the madness and saving their lives. Before I finish I would like to read to you the words of my friend, Isma'il abdul A'al of Gaza, who would have liked to stand here in Tel-Aviv and address you, were it possible. This is what he asked me to tell you: Stop this war now! This war is the mother of terrorists and extremists! We are all in danger! We have to struggle together, to end this horror, to live together in peace, in two states!"
After he went down, to the sound of applause, a Yesh Gvul speaker announced a solidarity demonstration for next Saturday outside Military prison 6 at Atlit - where refusing Captain Amir Pester has been for more than week and where Milgrom will probably soon join him.
Epilogue: we dispersed last night with a rather uplifting feeling - even though when most activists dispersed, the right-wingers seized the chance to attack the podium and cause some damage (once again unstopped by the police). This morning we got up with the diplomatic arena taking the center, following the agreement between the Americans and French on the ceasefire terms, and commentators endlessly analysing and dissecting it and most coming to the conclusion that it was "good for Israel". Then, at noon came the news of twelve Israelis being killed by rocket fire in the north, the largest number of casualties Israel suffered in a single day of this war (though for Lebanon this number would be rather below average). It took many hours before the confirmation that the twelve were reserve soldiers, called up in preparation for a possible extension of the ground offensive into Lebanon and encamped - by the height of folly - under the open sky in a daily targeted area, though the nearby Kibbutz offered them its air raid shelter. And towards the evening, the new missile attack on Haifa, covered live on TV, with the commentators visibly goading each other into greater and greater frenzy: "Four falls detected in Haifa"; "Seven falls"; "Do you see these clouds of smoke?"; "A house has collapsed"; "There are children there, small children, a woman was giving birth just when the missile hit!"; "This is an Israeli Qana, now the international public opinion will see that our civilians are also suffering, all these Europeans who demonstrate and accuse us of destroying Lebanon!"; "What do you say, gentlemen? You in the studio here are all ex-generals with a lot of experience, what would you advice the government to do?"; "I say we must send the tanks forward, immediately, if possible already this night, take all the territory until the Litani river and perhaps beyond, clean up all the hidden missiles in the villages"; "No, no, that's wrong, Hizbullah will then ambush our soldiers, they are guerillas. I say use our air power really to the full, every village from which missiles are shot should just be totally destroyed, totally! No more humanitarian considerations!"; "But what about the ceasefire, gentlemen? The Security Council will convene tonight or tomorrow!"; "What ceasefire? Do you think we can let the war end this way, to give them the last word?"
The last which we heard on TV, about ten minutes ago. (9.15 pm Israeli time) was unconfirmed rumors about an emergency cabinet meeting, to authorize the army to do...what?
==============================================
See:
(en) Israel, third Saurday demonstration in Tel-Aviv - 5-8-06 http://www.ainfos.ca/06/aug/ainfos00044.html
To the mother and her two daughters, killed this morning at Arab el-Aramsheh from the direct hit of a Katyusha missile, it will no longer make any difference. (Like nearly half the Israeli civilian casualties, they were Arabs, in whose community the government never thought of installing air-raid shelters or alarms). And whatever the final formulation of the UN resolution, it will also come far too late for the 33 farm workers (35 in other accounts) killed by a single Israeli bomb near the Lebanese-Syrian border (most of the Israeli media did not even bother to mention it).
Here in the heart of Tel-Aviv we had to contend with a fortunately non-lethal kind of missile: a salvo of eggs suddenly plastered the gathering activists. The police somehow failed to notice the perpetrators, despite being present on the scene in great numbers (there had been extensive and exhausting negotiations on the route of the march, the authorities rejecting the organizers original proposals on various bureaucratic grounds).
"Damn, I worked on this placard for nearly three hours" cried a young man from Jaffa. Under the caption "Stop the carnage - start negotiating peace!" there were two hand-painted pictures: on one side airplanes dropping bombs and great flames bursting from the ground, on the other birds flying above a meadow with children playing happily. Three girls rushed to help, thoroughly scraping the poster with their tissues until all signs of the dripping yolk were removed.
Our malevolent "friends" were far from through. The activist who brought a great bundle of 300 black flags, newly produced for this march, made the mistake of leaving them for a minute on the pavement. Suddenly a car stopped, three youngsters got out, seized the flags by force and disappeared. The police, some of whom were a short distance away, failed to notice this act of flagrant thievery, too.
The black flags were intended to convey mourning for all the victims, on whatever side of the physical borders and the ethnic and religious divide, and also to remind of the Supreme Court ruling half a century ago that "It is not only the right but the duty of a soldier to disobey a manifestly illegal order, on which the Black Flag of Illegality flies".
The thieves had robbed us of having the mass of black at the head of the march as organizers envisaged. Still, a group of traditionally-dressed Arab women from the north got off their bus with black flags they had prepared in their village, and the Anarchists naturally also has quite a few of them. The black flags mixed with the red ones of the Hadash Communists, and the yellow flags of the Arab Renewal Movement of KM Ahmad Tibi, and the round Gush Shalom two-flag signs, and the numerous printed and hand-made signs: "Occupation and War are a disaster!" - "Just Peace = Security!" - "39 Years are enough - End the Occupation!" - "There is no military solution!" - "Cease-fire NOW!" - "Stop the war! Stop the massacre!" - "No more Unilateral Acts, Open Peace Negotiations Now! - "Negotiations with Syria - the Key to Peace in Lebanon!". A middle-aged woman walking at the side held a small carton sign with the words "Stop, please!".
The narrow King George Street through which we passed is in the downtown area of Tel-Aviv, rather rundown though bustling - the area which had been the heart of the city back when it was part of the British Empire, and which has a considerable right-wing element but also enclaves of students and bohemians. Demonstrators chanted "We shall neither die nor kill / in the service of the USA!" - "Children want to live / in Beirut and Haifa!" - "Peretz, Peretz, resign / peace is more important!" - "A million refugees / that's a war crime!" - "Olmert, Peretz and Ramon / Get out of Lebanon!" (originally, this slogan had Sharon's name). But the slogan repeated again and again, in alternating Hebrew and Arabic, was "Jews and Arabs Refuse to be Enemies!". A small child, riding her father's shoulders, clapped hands merrily to the rhythm of the slogans.
The two most popular stickers circulating in the crowd were Gush Shalom's "Bring the Soldiers Home" (from a model dating back to the 1982 invasion of Lebanon) and the Bereaved Families' Forum's "It will not End - Until we Talk!". An enterprising activist had produced at his own expense a sticker reading "We shall all lose!" - a faithful replica of the colours and graphic style of "Together we shall win!", the sticker mass-produced and distributed in the past weeks by the patriotic/commercial Leumi Bank. Quite a few participants wore Che Guevara t-shirts, and there were some with the face of Nelson Mandela. But also one participant's shirt had blazoned in English:
"Conference of Jewish Communities, Seattle".
The Likud Party headquarters, which the march passed, seemed deserted and lifeless. "They can afford to be lazy, Peretz is doing the dirty work for them" remarked an activist, who shortly afterwards furiously tore down a poster of the Labour Party leader, left over from the elections of four months (just four months!) ago. A bit later on, on a balcony, two bare-chested youths waved Israeli national flags and made rude gestures, shouting something which was inaudible over the din. A demonstrator silently waved towards them his own Israeli flag - one draped in the black of mourning. A neighboring balcony bore a large Animal Rights poster - "Meat is Murder!" - and from it a woman in a red flowered dress was enthusiastically waving in support.
Crossing the busy Allenby Street, we got to the designated site of the rally - Magen David Square, at the entrance to the Carmel Market. "Welcome to the Demonstration of the Ten Thousand, the largest demonstration to date against the criminal Lebanon War! Move along, move along!" boomed the loudspeaker from the podium. (Various press accounts later credited the demo with between 3000 and 5000 participants). The thousands that did not find place in the square flowed over into the Nahlat Binyamin pedestrian mall and other neighboring streets.
In the back there was, however, a constant motion and hubhub.
"We call upon everybody to cross Allenby and file into the square, we want to begin! Please cross the street, don't linger!" called moderator Khulud Badawi on the loudspeaker, and a little later: "We call upon the Tel-Aviv police force to stop molesting our people, to stop shoving and pushing! The agreement was that problems will be dealt with by demonstration marshals! Policemen, please hold to the agreement!"
In the densely packed crowd, it was difficult to see clearly even a short distance away, and impossible to establish how the confrontation started and by whom. Some objects, such as bottles and sticks, have certainly flown through the air, and two demonstrators ended up in detention. None of many who were asked during and after the demonstration, have seen (or smelled) the throwing of feces at the police - but the police spokesperson announced it as a fact to the press, even while the demonstration was going on, and on Y-net the feces incident - true or fabricated - took up the headline and a large portion of the news item published.
In fact, however, the entire confrontation with the police took part on the outer edge of the rally, which started after a few minutes' delay. Besides Gush Shalom, participants included the Women's Coalition for Peace, Ta'ayush, Anarchists Against Walls, Yesh Gvul, the Israeli-Palestinian Forum of Bereaved Families, feminists, many parents with their children, veteran and young peace activists as well the political parties Hadash, Balad and the United Arab List.
A sign of the ferment in the political system was provided by members of Meretz, who took part in spite their party's pro-war position. They were led by former MKs Naomi Hazan and Ya'el Dayan.
Dayan at first got wild applause when she called for the immediate return of the invading troops from Lebanon and for a prisoner exchange to free the ones captured by Hizbullah and Hamas. But when she also sent greetings to the fighting soldiers there was a chorus of angry protests and catcalls. Defiantly, she added that the war had been justified to begin with, "though it had now gone on too long and too deep", and some activists tried to storm the podium, pushed back with difficulty by marshals.
Naomi Hazan, the other Meretz dissident, was more pleasing to this audience: "Each and every one of us came here because of being totally against this war. We have come here to make a united voice of protest against this terrible monstrous madness and call for an immediate ceasefire, to protest the destruction and mourn the killings. And not only in Lebanon - let's not forget the Palestinians, let's not forget the blood which was shed this morning in Rafah! We have come here to struggle for life, to oppose the war with all our power - and we will win!"
The keynote speech was delivered by Saul Feldman, a person hitherto unknown to most of his listeners. "I live in Nesher, which as you know is a suburb of Haifa. Until three weeks ago, this was just a geographical detail, a quite comfortable house to live in. On the day this war broke out, I and my wife went to the demonstration in Tel-Aviv. On the following day we were sitting in a back room when there was this whistle and explosion, quite near, and our dog came running, shaking and very frightened. Our front room was in shambles, broken glass strewn everywhere. I tried the piano to see if it was working, that was when the press photographers arrived."
Here, a group of extreme-right people, waving flags, arrived on the scene and tried to break into the podium, to be thrown back after a few minutes' struggle. Unperturbed, Feldman resumed his speech:
"I should have thought that the photo of a man playing the piano in a ruined house should have sent a message of peace. But I saw the photo with all kinds of very warlike captions, which implied that I want revenge from the inhabitants of Lebanon. I called the press and protested and told them I had participated in the anti-war demonstration. They said: oh, but did you not change your mind when your house was bombed? Change my mind? I have protested against the stupid wanton destruction of war, and then the war and destruction came to my own home. Should that make me change my mind?"
"Olmert, stop this madness!" cried Uri Avnery of Gush Shalom. "The war has gone to your head. You are war drunk, a war junkie. Nothing good will come of this war. Stop it, before it is too late! And you, Amir Peretz - you have lied to your voters and cheated them. Some people in this rally have voted for you, or at least seriously considered doing it. People who would otherwise have never thought of voting Labour supported you because you presented yourself as a radical social reformer, because you promised to divert a large part of the defence budget to education and health and social improvement, because you said you were a dove and a peace-seeker. What is left of that? You have a become a monster, a real monster!"
"Jews and Arabs pay the price in blood, the price in dead and wounded, of this miserable criminal war. We are in this together. Jews and Arabs together stand here in this this square, stand together and protest together and demand together the immediate end of this terrible carnage" said Shauki Khatib, Head of the Arab Monitoring Committee, the leadership of Israel's Arab citizens, and the audience responded with prolonged chanting of "Jews and Arabs Refuse to be Enemies!".
"The main victims of this war are the poor. The well-to-do can afford to run away. The poor stay, exposed to the bombs and the missiles. The poor in Northern Israel and the poor in South Lebanon. This is the war of the rich and the generals, and the poorer you are the higher the price you pay" said Prof. Gadi Elgazi, historian and central activist of Ta'ayush.
"This war must stop. We here have to stop it. It is a war for Israel's control and domination of the Middle East, a completely unjust war. There are people who like to oppose a war after it is over, after they have cheered the soldiers on. I say: the time to oppose the war is now - now when the blood is flowing, when the bodies are buried, when the war crimes are committed and perpetrated. The time is now!" was how anarchist Adar Grayevsky, veteran of the prolonged struggle at Bil'in, put it.
After her, a young man mounted the podium. "My name is Zohar Milgrom. I am 26 years old, an activist in Yesh Gvul. I have got an emergency call up up order. Tomorrow I have to show up at the army and get sent to Lebanon. I will go there to declare that I am refusing. This is the only thing I can do in face of the public silence, in face of the war crimes committed in our name, in face of the leaders who have sent soldiers again into the Lebanese swamp. I will dedicate my time of imprisonment to all the people who suffer in this war, the Jews and the Arabs, the Israelis and Lebanese and Palestinians, to stopping the madness and saving their lives. Before I finish I would like to read to you the words of my friend, Isma'il abdul A'al of Gaza, who would have liked to stand here in Tel-Aviv and address you, were it possible. This is what he asked me to tell you: Stop this war now! This war is the mother of terrorists and extremists! We are all in danger! We have to struggle together, to end this horror, to live together in peace, in two states!"
After he went down, to the sound of applause, a Yesh Gvul speaker announced a solidarity demonstration for next Saturday outside Military prison 6 at Atlit - where refusing Captain Amir Pester has been for more than week and where Milgrom will probably soon join him.
Epilogue: we dispersed last night with a rather uplifting feeling - even though when most activists dispersed, the right-wingers seized the chance to attack the podium and cause some damage (once again unstopped by the police). This morning we got up with the diplomatic arena taking the center, following the agreement between the Americans and French on the ceasefire terms, and commentators endlessly analysing and dissecting it and most coming to the conclusion that it was "good for Israel". Then, at noon came the news of twelve Israelis being killed by rocket fire in the north, the largest number of casualties Israel suffered in a single day of this war (though for Lebanon this number would be rather below average). It took many hours before the confirmation that the twelve were reserve soldiers, called up in preparation for a possible extension of the ground offensive into Lebanon and encamped - by the height of folly - under the open sky in a daily targeted area, though the nearby Kibbutz offered them its air raid shelter. And towards the evening, the new missile attack on Haifa, covered live on TV, with the commentators visibly goading each other into greater and greater frenzy: "Four falls detected in Haifa"; "Seven falls"; "Do you see these clouds of smoke?"; "A house has collapsed"; "There are children there, small children, a woman was giving birth just when the missile hit!"; "This is an Israeli Qana, now the international public opinion will see that our civilians are also suffering, all these Europeans who demonstrate and accuse us of destroying Lebanon!"; "What do you say, gentlemen? You in the studio here are all ex-generals with a lot of experience, what would you advice the government to do?"; "I say we must send the tanks forward, immediately, if possible already this night, take all the territory until the Litani river and perhaps beyond, clean up all the hidden missiles in the villages"; "No, no, that's wrong, Hizbullah will then ambush our soldiers, they are guerillas. I say use our air power really to the full, every village from which missiles are shot should just be totally destroyed, totally! No more humanitarian considerations!"; "But what about the ceasefire, gentlemen? The Security Council will convene tonight or tomorrow!"; "What ceasefire? Do you think we can let the war end this way, to give them the last word?"
The last which we heard on TV, about ten minutes ago. (9.15 pm Israeli time) was unconfirmed rumors about an emergency cabinet meeting, to authorize the army to do...what?
==============================================
See:
(en) Israel, third Saurday demonstration in Tel-Aviv - 5-8-06 http://www.ainfos.ca/06/aug/ainfos00044.html
Palestine-Israel, Our joint struggle to block the transfer and settler colonialist expansion
The separation fence is the focus of struggle but not the only one. The struggle within Israel of the Bedouins of the arid south, the struggle against expulsion and harassment of refugees and children of "guest workers" continued.... and so are the struggles in the occupied east Jerusalem, these of the farmers of the occupied territories - and more so these whose lands are near settlers settlement, or on the nearly forbidden western side of the separation fence. Plethora of road blocks and water deprivation are means for suppression all, but also subject for joint direct actions. And of course, the flag of persistence held high in the weekly demonstrations on Fridays in the nearly legendary Bil'in, Ni'ilin, and Ma'asara region south of Bethlehem.
The more than hundred years project of Zionist settler colonialism continue in plethora of locations and means, and so is the present joint struggle to block it and undo past "facts".
"We are asked to support the farmers in Saffa and Beit Omar on several days this coming week. If you can make it on Sunday please let me know. More info will follow about other days."
BIL"IN
The nights invasions of the Israeli state forces for arresting members of the village popular comity and others continued during the week, and so the presence at nights of internationals and Anarchists Against the Wall activists who try to confront them continued.
"We have a car coming from Haifa today (Thursday), so we won't need more people to be present in the village tonight. go Haifa. however, we do need people for Friday and Saturday nights. for obvious reasons, Friday evening was problematic in the pat few weeks so your presence is extra crucial. call me or text if you can go - email is OK too. thanks."
Meeting of Shministim members with , Bil'in Popular Committee on 13 October 2009
"Today, two members of Shministim, the Israeli organization of teenagers who refuse to serve in the Israeli Army, Or Ben David and Emelia Marcovich, met with the Head of the Bil'in Popular Committee, Iyad Bornat. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss ideas for the Friday demonstration of 23 October 2009, which will be dedicated to the Shministim, to salute them and to continue to work together with the people of Bil'in.
Or mentions that she, together with other members of Shministim, have been coming to Bil'in many times on Fridays to protest against the Apartheid Wall alongside Palestinians and international and Israeli activists. She says that the Shministim members feel that they and the Palestinians are friends. Bil'in makes them feel like home and shows them that they can really talk to Palestinians contrary to the common belief among Israeli society that all Palestinians are terrorists and must be feared. Instead, Palestinians are human beings who are leading normal lives like the Israeli people.
For this reason, Or and Emelia decided to come today to meet with Iyad to brainstorm the planned demonstration of 23 October 2009. While Or will have to go to prison this coming Thursday for refusing to serve in the Army and will not be able to physically be at the demo, Emelia, on the other hand, will be joining the demonstration. Her prison term will start somewhat later.
Or and Emelia will also be sending out an email to all young people in Israel calling on them that they have the choice to refuse to serve in the occupation forces.
Both said that they feel good being in the West Bank in the company of Palestinians
Call to the supporters - come to Bil'in http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=202&Itemid=1
At our demonstration next week, Friday, 23 October 2009, we will be joined by members of Shministim (meaning "12th graders" in Hebrew), the Israeli organization of teenagers who refuse to join the occupation army, and who accept prison sentences for their refusal.
We are sending out this call to all of you who are supporting our struggle against the military occupation asking you to join us for this important demonstration to salute the Shministim, to show our support for their cause, and to continue our work together against the Israeli occupation.
We hope to see you in large numbers and thank you in advance for your solidarity.
Friday demonstration
1. Gathering: 30 Israelis, 40+ internationals, more Palestinians than in last few weeks
2. Procession: chanting in three languages
3. Special effects: Funeral procession to international law, symbolized by giant scales in a coffin, with scales tipped to the Israel side; French delegation carrying a banner of people-holding-hands against occupation and for human rights
4. Army encounters: new troops, gas, gas and more gas, with a load of the multi canister cannon right at the end of the demo.
5. Shabab: increased army aggressiveness was met with increased shabab retaliation. In acts of good non-citizenship, quite a few unexploded gas grenades were returned to their rightful owners, who got a taste of their own medicine.
6. Casualties: gas inhalation injuries.
Friday 16.10.09 Bil'in video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeNjo_hwMH0
HEBRON
Activists, demonstrate in Hebron
pictures and text at: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/12/18625235.php
On Saturday, October 10, Palestinians, international activists, and Israelis took to the streets of Hebron to protest the settlements in Hebron and in Palestine. The settlements divide Hebron and give the excuse to the Israeli military to establish many checkpoints that restrict the movements of Palestinians in Hebron.
many signs were held, among them those calling for the opening of Shohada st.-Hebron main street closed for Palestinian because of its near location to the settlers neighborhood.
MA'ASARA
"Friday 16.10.09 we marched 50 Palestinian together with Israelis and internationals towards the adjacent section of the separation fence used to rob lands of 4 villages of the region. Like in previous Fridays of the last two years, Israeli soldiers waited for us in a line behind a stretched spool of barbed wire at the border of the village.
Facing that line, speeches were carried in Arabic, Hebrew, and English, against the the continuous atrocities... and kids faced the soldiers and asked why they are there.
The mainly kept quite, but when some started to respond, the officer in charge ordered them to stop listening and not to respond.
After the end of the speeches and the chanting of slogans we returned to the village with the fresh news on the adoption of the Goldston report on the infringement on the human rights in the last Gaza attack of Israel, rising a bit our moral."
Raz
NI"ILIN
A short report from Ni'lin:
The weekly protest against the wall in Ni'lin began by marching to the area looking over one of the bends in the wall route. The protest then continued west, to the section of the wall where the concrete wall has not been erected (yet..) Soldiers fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and the stinking "skunk" while some of the protesters threw stones and others protested in other ways. Border police crossed the wall twice, triggering temporary withdrawals, and a group of soldiers entered the wadi in which a group of youth was operating. The protesters then returned to the wall, continued the protest until the afternoon, and then dispersed. No injuries were recorded among the demonstrators, other than tear gas damage.
As usual, media reported all afternoon and evening on the violent demonstrators in Ni'ilin (and Bil'in), and on a poor Israeli Gendarme whose foot was injured by a stone.
This Friday in Ni'ilin - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0yvceuI5B0
The more than hundred years project of Zionist settler colonialism continue in plethora of locations and means, and so is the present joint struggle to block it and undo past "facts".
"We are asked to support the farmers in Saffa and Beit Omar on several days this coming week. If you can make it on Sunday please let me know. More info will follow about other days."
BIL"IN
The nights invasions of the Israeli state forces for arresting members of the village popular comity and others continued during the week, and so the presence at nights of internationals and Anarchists Against the Wall activists who try to confront them continued.
"We have a car coming from Haifa today (Thursday), so we won't need more people to be present in the village tonight. go Haifa. however, we do need people for Friday and Saturday nights. for obvious reasons, Friday evening was problematic in the pat few weeks so your presence is extra crucial. call me or text if you can go - email is OK too. thanks."
Meeting of Shministim members with , Bil'in Popular Committee on 13 October 2009
"Today, two members of Shministim, the Israeli organization of teenagers who refuse to serve in the Israeli Army, Or Ben David and Emelia Marcovich, met with the Head of the Bil'in Popular Committee, Iyad Bornat. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss ideas for the Friday demonstration of 23 October 2009, which will be dedicated to the Shministim, to salute them and to continue to work together with the people of Bil'in.
Or mentions that she, together with other members of Shministim, have been coming to Bil'in many times on Fridays to protest against the Apartheid Wall alongside Palestinians and international and Israeli activists. She says that the Shministim members feel that they and the Palestinians are friends. Bil'in makes them feel like home and shows them that they can really talk to Palestinians contrary to the common belief among Israeli society that all Palestinians are terrorists and must be feared. Instead, Palestinians are human beings who are leading normal lives like the Israeli people.
For this reason, Or and Emelia decided to come today to meet with Iyad to brainstorm the planned demonstration of 23 October 2009. While Or will have to go to prison this coming Thursday for refusing to serve in the Army and will not be able to physically be at the demo, Emelia, on the other hand, will be joining the demonstration. Her prison term will start somewhat later.
Or and Emelia will also be sending out an email to all young people in Israel calling on them that they have the choice to refuse to serve in the occupation forces.
Both said that they feel good being in the West Bank in the company of Palestinians
Call to the supporters - come to Bil'in http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=202&Itemid=1
At our demonstration next week, Friday, 23 October 2009, we will be joined by members of Shministim (meaning "12th graders" in Hebrew), the Israeli organization of teenagers who refuse to join the occupation army, and who accept prison sentences for their refusal.
We are sending out this call to all of you who are supporting our struggle against the military occupation asking you to join us for this important demonstration to salute the Shministim, to show our support for their cause, and to continue our work together against the Israeli occupation.
We hope to see you in large numbers and thank you in advance for your solidarity.
Friday demonstration
1. Gathering: 30 Israelis, 40+ internationals, more Palestinians than in last few weeks
2. Procession: chanting in three languages
3. Special effects: Funeral procession to international law, symbolized by giant scales in a coffin, with scales tipped to the Israel side; French delegation carrying a banner of people-holding-hands against occupation and for human rights
4. Army encounters: new troops, gas, gas and more gas, with a load of the multi canister cannon right at the end of the demo.
5. Shabab: increased army aggressiveness was met with increased shabab retaliation. In acts of good non-citizenship, quite a few unexploded gas grenades were returned to their rightful owners, who got a taste of their own medicine.
6. Casualties: gas inhalation injuries.
Friday 16.10.09 Bil'in video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeNjo_hwMH0
HEBRON
Activists, demonstrate in Hebron
pictures and text at: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/12/18625235.php
On Saturday, October 10, Palestinians, international activists, and Israelis took to the streets of Hebron to protest the settlements in Hebron and in Palestine. The settlements divide Hebron and give the excuse to the Israeli military to establish many checkpoints that restrict the movements of Palestinians in Hebron.
many signs were held, among them those calling for the opening of Shohada st.-Hebron main street closed for Palestinian because of its near location to the settlers neighborhood.
MA'ASARA
"Friday 16.10.09 we marched 50 Palestinian together with Israelis and internationals towards the adjacent section of the separation fence used to rob lands of 4 villages of the region. Like in previous Fridays of the last two years, Israeli soldiers waited for us in a line behind a stretched spool of barbed wire at the border of the village.
Facing that line, speeches were carried in Arabic, Hebrew, and English, against the the continuous atrocities... and kids faced the soldiers and asked why they are there.
The mainly kept quite, but when some started to respond, the officer in charge ordered them to stop listening and not to respond.
After the end of the speeches and the chanting of slogans we returned to the village with the fresh news on the adoption of the Goldston report on the infringement on the human rights in the last Gaza attack of Israel, rising a bit our moral."
Raz
NI"ILIN
A short report from Ni'lin:
The weekly protest against the wall in Ni'lin began by marching to the area looking over one of the bends in the wall route. The protest then continued west, to the section of the wall where the concrete wall has not been erected (yet..) Soldiers fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and the stinking "skunk" while some of the protesters threw stones and others protested in other ways. Border police crossed the wall twice, triggering temporary withdrawals, and a group of soldiers entered the wadi in which a group of youth was operating. The protesters then returned to the wall, continued the protest until the afternoon, and then dispersed. No injuries were recorded among the demonstrators, other than tear gas damage.
As usual, media reported all afternoon and evening on the violent demonstrators in Ni'ilin (and Bil'in), and on a poor Israeli Gendarme whose foot was injured by a stone.
This Friday in Ni'ilin - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0yvceuI5B0
Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle picked on Friday Sheikh Jarrah solidarity demonstrations
The one year "anniversary" of the transfer of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied east Jerusalem was marked by about ten demonstration locations. Up to two thousands participated in Israel - both from Jewish and Palestinian communities: Kufr Yasif, Haifa, West Jerusalem, Dahmash, Taybe, Nazareth, Wadi Ara, Gan Shmuel, Ranana and Beersheba, and Tel Aviv. The weekend demonstrations and week days activities draw widening spectrum of the Israeli left. The AAtW activists joined other struggles at Al Arkiv, south of Hebron region, and the Sheikh Jarah solidarity demos, but still persisted in the ongoing struggles in Beit Jalla, Beit Ummar, Bil'in, Hebron, Ma’asara, Nabi Salih, Ni’lin, Sheikh Jarah, Wadi Rahal, and Walaje.
Al Arkiv
The struggle against the transfer of the Bedouins of the south of Israel - the Arkive demolition is the focus of, continue. Rebuilding and demolition again by state forces continued in Al Arkiv and other villages.
Beit Jalla
Beit Ummar Saturday August 7
Protesters said a group of several dozen Palestinians, Israelis and internationals gathered at the edge of the illegal Israeli settlement Karmi Zur, and demanded an end to the confiscation of land. The settlement is built on 50 dunums of privately owned Palestinian lands, according to Israeli NGO Peace Now.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said a group of approximately 40 marched toward Karmi Zur and "tried to reach" the settlement "to start a provocation." She said the group was "presented with a military order" mandating the area a closed zone, making their presence in the area illegal.
When the protesters started hurling rocks, she said, Israeli soldiers responded using riot dispersal mechanisms, which can include tear gas and rubber-coated bullets, among other means. She said she was "not aware of any physical confrontations" during the incident.
Organizers from the local Popular Committee said soldiers arrived in the area when the protesters were around 300 meters away from the settlement fence, and declared the area a "closed military zone."
Spokesman of the Palestinian solidarity project in Beit Ummar Mohammad Awad said soldiers used physical force "deliberately" against the protesters, and fired "intense series of tear-gas canisters toward protesters and journalists."
Bil'in
About 35 Israelis and 25 internationals joined Bilin's weekly demonstration against the land grab, arrests of local youth and the occupation in general. The demonstration was led by a large delegation of men and women from the Palestinian People's Party from all over the West Bank. The protesters marched to the wall, but were blocked on their way there by a line of Israeli soldiers in full crowd control gear. The demonstrators stood peacefully, chanting and singing at contact range with the soldiers. When the local shabab wanted to force the soldiers back so they can reach the fence and their land, the People's Party organizers strongly objected, and made the shabab wait. It was only when the soldiers started shoving demonstrators that stones and gas/concussion grenades began to be exchanged, and the protesters had to retreat through the mists of gas. The shabab continued their efforts for a while, and the army's weapons caused a few bush fires between the olive trees already scorched from previous demos.
Haitham Al Katib video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho8KdxTOJkk
Hebron (Al Khalil) Saturday August 7
The gradual transfer of Palestinians from parts of Hebron the settler colonialists covet continue and so is the joint struggle.
Ma’asara
Al Ma’asara: Around 60 people demonstrated in Al Ma’sara on Friday August 6th, about half of them internationals, joining the locals in solidarity with their struggle. Members of the Popular Committee welcomed the internationals, and made special mention of Japanese participants, expressing solidarity with their nation on the anniversary of the destruction and death wrought by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some parallels were drawn with the suffering of Palestinians today.
Two peace and justice delegations from Canada and France also participated in the demonstration which as always aimed to reach village lands stolen by the military occupation forces for the nearby illegal settlements. Palestinian demonstrators and their international supporters were presented with a written military order by four soldiers, in an attempt to deter the protest by declaring it a closed military zone .But chanting slogans of ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘The Wall Must Fall’ demonstrators continued their march past the soldiers regardless and only stopped when they were physically prevented from going further because of three army jeeps blocking the road.
The demonstrators instead sat down en masse in front of the occupying forces. Speeches by members of the Popular Committee were followed by united chants from the crowd demanding peace, justice, access to land and the end of Israeli Apartheid. Members of both the Canadian and French delegations also sang resistance songs from their home countries. The demonstration reached its conclusion peacefully with no assaults by the Israeli Occupation Forces.
Picture: http://www.awalls.org/files/images/M.preview.jpg
Nabi Salih
An Nabi Salih: This Friday, August 6th, around 100 Palestinians, Israelis and internationals took part in An Nabi Salih’s weekly nonviolent demonstration against the illegal Halamish settlement’s theft of the village’s land and water supply. Regardless of the illegality of firing tear gas projectiles at body height, a practice which has caused many casualties in the village and last week injured an international female protester, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continue to use this method in an attempt to quash the peaceful protests.
In response to the children symbolically throwing stones at IOF armored jeeps, tear gas projectiles were fired both directly at the children and also into the village, setting fire to one family’s garden. Despite the military’s refusal to use the fire extinguishers they carried with them whilst inspecting the blaze, international, Israeli and Palestinian demonstrators collaborated in attempting to extinguish the fire with bottles and buckets of water filled in neighboring houses.
During this period, Israeli soldiers forcefully entered one of the aforementioned houses, in which women and children were collecting water to put the fire out. Several internationals and Palestinians entered the house in order to protect its inhabitants from the soldiers’ aggression. At this point a soldier attacked a Danish protester, bashing his head against the wall.
One fire engine was later allowed on the scene, and the fire was extinguished after over two hours. The military continued to fire tear gas canisters at children throughout this period, and later began using both sound grenades and rubber coated steel bullets in addition.
Despite the IOF’s grossly disproportionate use of violence in order to repress the demonstration, the protest continued for several hours, with the majority of its participants – including more than twenty children – standing directly in front of the soldiers, chanting, singing and making peace signs.
In answer to these peaceful actions, two demonstrators (one Italian and one Israeli) were violently seized by soldiers and detained for over 5 hours in Halamish settlement’s military base without reason. The two protestors were standing in solidarity with villagers as soldiers attempted to arrest a Palestinian, again without cause.
The protest at An Nabi Saleh has taken place since January 2010, because of repeated attempts at land theft by nearby Israeli settlements – despite an Israeli court decision in December 2009 that awarded the property rights of the land to An Nabi Saleh residents. Stolen village land now lies on the other side of Highway 465 and is controlled by the illegal Hallamish settlement which has been expanding and colonizing Palestinian land since 1977.
http://www.youtube.com/v/1IFcLTOq8S8
Ni’lin
The protest in the village of Ni’lin on Friday August 6th mourned the loss of Yousef Amireh, who was killed 2 years ago by an Israeli soldier who shot him in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet on August 4th 2008.
Shot dead in this way at the age of 17, Amireh had been demonstrating against the murder of another child from Ni’lin – 10-year-old Ahmed Mousa – killed by the .Israeli army two days before Amireh, and whose death was commemorated in last week’s Ni’lin protest.
The demonstration to mark this painful anniversary, which followed 6 hours of mourning in the village, was attended by international and Israeli activists as well as Palestinians. Protestors marched towards the Apartheid Wall, holding pictures of the two boys while chanting slogans in remembrance of the two innocent children murdered by soldiers. They held a banner which read: “We will never forget you Yousef, you will stay in our hearts” and called for the illegal wall to be brought down, with one protester bearing a hammer to smash a part of the wall symbolically. The Israeli soldiers started shooting a lot of tear gas into the crowd and 5 protesters suffered breathing difficulties after the inhalation of toxic tear gas. Luckily, no serious injuries were incurred by any of the demonstrators and no arrests were made, despite Israeli soldiers moving towards the village, firing tear gas at the group and chasing protesters hoping to arrest them.
The route of the wall in Ni’lin has been declared illegal by the Israeli Supreme Court and the wall in its entirety illegal by the International Court of Justice. It serves to annex many thousands of dunams of Palestinian land to nearby illegal Israeli settlements such as Modi’in Ilit. Since the killings of Mousa and Amireh, three other Ni’lin residents have been killed by the Israeli army, and American solidarity activist Tristan Anderson was shot in the head with an illegal high-velocity tear gas canister on 13th March 2009.
On the second anniversary of her son’s death, Yousef’s mother said that the village would remain steadfast and continue to protest against the Apartheid Wall. Yousef’s brothers said that they will never surrender and will always honor what Yousef died for: a free and peaceful Ni’lin. Saeed Amireh from Ni’lin said: “For every one of us who gets killed, thousands will stand up and refuse to surrender to the inhuman forces that insult life and try to deny us a peaceful and dignified existence. No person on this planet should be denied freedom and peace and dignity. For this, we will always stand up and struggle.”
Ni'ilin and An Nabi Salih
Friday 6.8.2010 Ni'ilin and An Nabi Salih video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbgJb6-E5vY
Wadi Rahal
"Our friends in Wad Rahhal have asked that activists will join them in work day this Wednesday at 16:00. If you wish to come to the work day please contact D."
Wednesday 4-8-10 about 40 Palestinians, international, and Israeli activists joined Abu Lutfi to working his lands usually prevented by the colonialist settlers and the Israeli state forces.
After clearing the land from obstacles the tractor plowed the land and the participant were on their way to the village the settlers and state force came with concocted accusations. An Israeli activist accompanied a villager and refuted the accusation.
The settlers and the state force left reluctantly with out arrests.
Sheikh Jarah
Hello everybody,
A year has passed since the eviction/expulsion of the Ghawi and Hanoun families from their homes. A year in which we have struggled together, not only in solidarity with the families, but also for the future of us all: against the attempt to bury the possibility for a just solution for our peoples; against the injustice and oppression, which are part and parcel of so many in the reality we live in; and against the anti democratic current that is taking over Israeli society.
Over 1,000 men and women marched at the Solidarity Day event that we held in Tel Aviv yesterday -- one of the hottest days of the year. At the same time, Arabs and Jews held solidarity vigils in over ten other locations in the country: Kufr Yasif, Haifa, West Jerusalem, Bil'in, Dahmash, Taybe, Nazareth, Wadi Ara, Gan Shmuel, Ranana and Beersheba.
At the end of the march and various vigils, hundreds of us joined the main demonstration in Sheikh Jarah, where the resident's representatives and the activists gave speeches.
The events of the Solidarity Day can be seen in this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEEckakgeJ4
and in this photo slide show
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justjerusalem/sets/72157624542410935/show/
that document most of the demonstrations that took place.
The Solidarity Day is another milestone in the long way we have traveled together and a new stage in the struggle. Yesterday we showed that the solidarity that was created in Sheikh Jarah is not limited to Jerusalem only, in the same way that the injustice which we are fighting against is not confined to a single neighborhood. What began as a protest against a local injustice turned into the battlefront for the struggle for a just society, against occupation, against wrongdoing, against discrimination and for equality.
We still have a long way to go, but we will not give in to the hard and difficult reality around us, and we will keep up the struggle, knowing that together, through solidarity, we shall prevail.
In the meantime, we would like to invite you to watch the media coverage from today:
Report in English by Ynet
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3931313,00.html, a report in Arabic http://www.panet.co.il/online/articles/1/2/S-320547,1,2.html,
another report in Arabic. http://www.alarab.net/Article/0000319805
We would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every resident of Sheikh Jarah and each and every activist. Thank you all, for a year of persistent, energetic and optimistic struggle. Thank you for the Jewish-Arab cooperation, and thank you for instilling the hope of a better future here one day.
For your information, during the month of Ramadan (starting next week), the Friday weekly vigils will not take place, and activities in the neighborhood will take place on Saturday nights. Further updates will be sent soon.
Yours
The Sheikh Jarah Solidarity Activists
www.en.justjlm.org
Walaje
"Al-Walaja village popular struggle committee calls on all internationals and Israeli activists to participate in the demonstration starting in the Mosque area of Wadi Jweza section of Al-Walaja on Wednesday at 9 AM. For more info call A."
"Today (Wednesday 4-8-10) was another honorable and painful chapter in the struggle of the village of Al-Walaja. Apartheid soldiers assaulted children and adults protesting peacefully, injured many, and arrested six Palestinians.
The destruction of the beautiful ancient village land was stopped for over 1.5 hours. I was especially touched by the courage of Omar and his two children, one of them was hit by a soldier with his gun on top of his head.
Please see this video and be both angered and inspired by the courage of the Walajans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K_-gpgTy_8
The villagers need our support in many ways especially to demand Israel release those they abducted. Come join us PLEASE and act.
6 Palestinian arrested, and also 9 Israelis."
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
"We were all charged, all judged, all sat together from morning to
evening in police stations.
The only difference is that the 5 out of 15 arrestees (all Israeli)
got more severe punishment because we had files for previous arrests.
we got 180 days not to get close to the wall in wallaje. G. "
Palestine-Israel, There are more invitations for the anarchists against the wall to join local struggles than we can The third Intifada slowly but surely collect momentum. In spite of the increase in the number of the Israeli activists we cannot manage to participate in all places we are invited to. Some villages start it on their own not waiting for our meager protection from harsh repression. The tense is climbing due to the expanding of hunger strike of the Palestinian administrative prisoner. No one know what will start after the death of the first hunger striker thus Israel state forces already released two of them. Al Aqaba "Hi all, there will be a demonstration in Al Aqaba (Jordan valley) and we have been invited. If you can make it please let me know." Beit Ommar Saturday weekly protest, Apr. 21, 2012. Protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli Occupation Jails, three participants were injured today due to the Israeli Forces violence including Yousef Abu Mariya 40 years old, who was hit with a stick in the face, Hamza Abu Hashem 14 years, was hit in the head, and Ahmed Abu Hashem 48 years, was pushed hardly on the rocks. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.415917015085275.104209.136633479680298 Bil'in About 20 Israelis with the anarchists against the wall joined some international activists and people from the village in the usual Friday demo. We marched towards the new separation wall with the usual chants with the theme of solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. On the way we passed near the solidarity tent. When we arrived at the wall, the usual repression activity of the Israeli state force started with tear gas canisters shooting, the spray of skunk stinking water and treats of shooting by rifles. Dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation and got skunked. Three Palestinian journalists, Ali Abu Rahme, Haitham Khatib, and Hamde Abu Rahme, as well as Waji on his motorcycle and two other activists were temporarily detained. The IOF took away Ali's gas mask and refused to give it back. Picture of the tent which was built on the side of the road leading to the new separation wall, for solidarity with prisoners and the hunger strikers, just beyond the dismantled fence! http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s320x320/524241_3459157510652_1022320161_3241574_1102546682_n.jpg http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.415247721818871.104082.136633479680298 haithmkatib http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QO9QbpiSDI An edited 15 minute clip from the film Bil'in Habibti (Bilin My ♥) JerusalemDay2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeF1SuomxlA Al-Ma’sara Friday demonstration, Apr. 20, 2012 http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.415365055140471.104106.136633479680298 Nabi Saleh Weekly demonstration, Apr. 20, 2012, "I'm broadcasting Nabi Saleh live on #Ustream. Come watch and chat! 15:14 http://t.co/WZwTegO1" In Nabi Saleh, soldiers have taken over the center of the village to try and prevent the demo. Protesters are trying to flank from the south. Billal Tamimi, a member of the popular committee in Nabi Saleh was arrested during the demonstration at the village today as he was trying to prevent soldiers from arresting his wife, Manal. Picture Credit: Oren Ziv/Activestills http://popularstruggle.org/content/nabi-saleh-0 Large forces of Israeli army and border police raided the village of Nabi Saleh this morning, long before the demonstration in the village began. The forces, apparently including high ranking officers and accompanied by Israeli media, blocked the local gas station and main road to the village in an attempt to halt the demonstration. Protesters, in response, took a different route than usual for their march, bypassing the army through the hills and making their way to the spring confiscated by settlers of Halamish. A small group of protesters actually managed to set a precedent when they got approximately 50 meters away from the spring. In the meantime, clashes began to erupt in the village. While the army aiming at first to present "restraint", following international criticism on extreme use of force against unnamed protesters this week. However, this guise did not last for long: beyond the regular use of tear-gas canisters and the foul smelling "skunk" water canon inside the village, the army also used clubs to beat up women and children. In clashes that took place inside the village, between youth and soldiers, two Israeli activists were arrested, one is still held in custody. The army also made an attempt to arrest Manal Tamimi, one of the major women activists of the village. As her husband, Billal, approached to release her from the soldiers' grip, he was himself arrested, beaten and his camera broken. Manal and Billal Tamimi are the parents of the boy injured last week when a tear gas canister hit him in the face. Soldiers hitting women with clubs in Nabi Saleh: Picture Credit: Oren Ziv/Activestills http://popularstruggle.org/content/soldiers-hitting-women-clubs-nabi-saleh Clashes maintained for another few hours on both sides of the village, with the army using extensive amounts of tear gas canisters, and spraying the "skunk" directly into private houses. Towards the end of the demonstration, the army detained a resident of Nabi Saleh who did not participate in the demonstration and was making his way back to the village tried to come into the village through. Soldiers confiscated his ID card and said it will not be returned until the man succeeds in convincing the demonstrators to disperse. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.415245868485723.104080.136633479680298 Haim Schwarczenberg http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3816270444588.2171594.1212414101 Chen Misgav http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150828776256803.466832.770301802 yisraelpnm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wJ_IUa8c88 PopularStruggleCC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnvg5RyTGSU Women action, Sunday 22.04.2012 Palestinian women take back spring as settlers, soldiers look on. For the first time in years, a group of roughly 30 women was able to reach the Nabi Saleh spring, which was taken over long ago by settlers. The group was made up of local women, who were joined by activists from other villages, and supporters from Ramallah and Jerusalem. The women vowed to return, hoping to hold on to the spring. Every Friday for the past three years or so, Nabi Saleh residents, along with Israeli and international supporters, have been demonstrating against the theft of their lands by settlers from the nearby settlement of Halamish. At the focus of the struggle is the attempt to reach the Al-Kous spring, which was taken over by settlers in recent years. Week after week, demonstrators march toward the spring, but are stopped by soldiers who disperse them with tear gas (sometimes aimed directly at protestors and once resulting on the death of a Nabi Saleh resident) with “skunk” water, severe beatings, arrests and more. Soldiers and settlers who arrived at the scene did not stop the women from picnicking around the spring. After a few hours, the group left, vowing to return. “The point of this direct action was to reclaim what the settlers have stolen from us,” says Irene Nasser, one of the activists. “Many of us were very excited about being able to reach this beautiful place, after more than 100 demonstrations during which we were barred from going there. The uniqueness of the action was also in that it was about women taking the popular struggle into their own hands and leading it together.” Nasser believes that the soldiers did not react this time both due to the fact that they were facing a women-only group, and as a result of the Shalom Eisner story – in which an officer was caught on video beating a Danish peace activist – and the trauma it caused in the army’s ranks. In the coming weeks, the women plan to organize more direct actions, both in Nabi Saleh and elsewhere, in order to both challenge the army and empower the women taking part in the struggle. http://972mag.com/palestinian-women-take-back-spring-as-settlers-soldiers-look-on/43102/ Photos by Keren Manor and Oren Ziv / Activestills http://t.co/pEfqHIdB Palestinian, Israeli and international women enjoy a picnic near the main spring: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.416698668340443.104353.136633479680298 Bilal Tamimi: A judge at the Israeli Ofer Military Court ordered the release of Palestinian videographer, Bilal Tamimi, after a video presented in court proved he was the one attacked by an Israeli Border Police officer. http://www.popularstruggle.org/content/court-orders-release-palestinian-based-video-his-assault-israeli-officer Ni'lin Friday, weekly demonstration, Apr. 20, 2012 Dozens joined the protests against the Wall in Ni'ilin this week. During the demonstration, Israeli soldiers shot tear-gas canisters directly at protesters, against its own open-fire regulations. One boy was injured by a rubber coated bullet and evacuated. Picture Credit: Anne Paq/Activestills http://popularstruggle.org/sites/default/files/images/nilin.pageview.jpg Some fifty residents of the village of Ni'ilin, and a handful of Israeli and international activists joined the weekly protests against the Wall and settlements in the village this week. Shortly after the Friday prayer, which took place in the olive groves, protesters marched towards the Wall. As they were approaching the concrete wall that surrounds the separation fence, they were targeted by Israeli soldiers stationed safely on the other side. The soldiers also used the "skunk", foul-smelling water cannon, aiming to disperse the demonstration. At this point, protesters moved to the western stretch of the Wall, where clashes erupted between the army and the local youth. During these clashes, the army shoot tear gas canisters directly at protesters, in head level, against its own open-fire regulation. Several protesters have been severely injured in the past due to this manner of shooting. Mustafa Tamimi from the neighboring village was killed earlier this year when a tear gas canister was shot at him from close range. The army also used rubber-coated bullets, which led to the injury of one youth, who was evacuated to the hospital to receive medical treatment. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.415248808485429.104083.136633479680298 Nilinvillage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcEsLwsSFhw Kufer Qaddoum Soldiers just used live bullets against the protesters in Kufer Qaddoum. No injuries recorded. A resident of Kufer Qaddoum, brother of popular committed coordinator, is being detained at the checkpoint at the entrance to the village. Military jeeps are blocking the single entrance to Kufer Qaddoum, laying siege on the village to stifle the weekly protest. "As with all recent weeks, at the entrance of the village was a surprise checkpoint, to whom it is a surprise. As we are used to in the recent weeks we, entered the village in an alternative way. About two hundred Palestinians, handful of international and ten Israelis marched toward the blocked road. The army waited for us closer than usual and soon after a few minutes the skunk waterings truck came and sprayed the village with the best stink of the occupation. Immediately afterwards the army began shooting tear gas into the crowd of protesters. During the demonstration two shots of live ammunition were fired into the air in the direction of the shabab probably. It was the first time live ammunition was fired in Kadum. This Friday, the demonstration was dispersed without the usual triumph march but also without serious injuries - apart from gas inhalation and one Palestinian who was hit by a tear gas canister and received treatment in the village. Update on the 21 detainees arrested on the night of the mass arrests two weeks ago: Seven were released on bail. The rest remain in detention. Some of them do not want or can not pay the bail. On the way back to Israel a maned checkpoint was waiting for us at exit from the village. We were let go after being detained for a few minutes." Picture: A Palestinian protester returning a tear gas canister fired by the Israeli military during a demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the village of Kafr Qaddum, http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s320x320/577439_415251058485204_136633479680298_1565104_1252688185_n.jpg http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.415251038485206.104085.136633479680298 A-Tur & Sheikh Jarrah 20/4/2012 Demonstration in Issawiya Friday, April 20th, at 1:00 PM at the Lookout on Mount Scopus Despite the partial success in blocking the planned "Slopes of Mount Scopus National Park," the occupation continues to strengthen its choke-hold around Issawiya. On the evening of Land Day, police forces burst into the neighborhood and carried out many arrests, including children. Some of them are still detained to this day. The residents of Issawiya are determined to continue their struggle for freedom. We will stand by their side in solidarity in a demonstration that will leave from the Lookout on Mount Scopus at 1:00 PM. The demonstration will begin immediately after a Muslim prayer service that will take place there. You can arrive either directly to the Lookout at 1:00 PM or at 12:45 PM at the Aroma Cafe by the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus. Nearly 100 Palestinians and Israelis converged on Mount Scopus which overlooks the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on Friday afternoon to march against a planned national park in the Issawiya and A-Tur neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem. They protest against the Jewish settlers who live in the Arab East Jerusalem's a-Tur neighborhood and against a decision by the Jerusalem municipality and Israel's Nature and Parks Authority (NPA) to build a national park on Palestinian land in a-Tur and Issawiya. The proposed plan will place hundreds of acres of privately owned Palestinian land under the jurisdiction of Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority. By allocating the area as a national park, the Israeli authorities avoid paying the necessary compensation. The protest began following the traditional Friday prayer service. Palestinian boys hoisted Palestinian flags in the air, seen by authorities as an affront, and chanted in Arabic, “End the Occupation. "It as a great parade. We walked into the Mount Scopus Observatory - Tur, through "Beit-Hoshen" settlement in the center of A-Tur neighborhood, up to the observatory opposite the Seven Arches Hotel. Residents of A-Tur went out of their homes and join us, and there was an excellent atmosphere that gives encouragement to continue the joint struggle and to expand it." http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.394628457238466.97068.100000739446057 http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.415244451819198.104079.136633479680298 Guy Hircefeld http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150762683413329.421031.744388328 Refusnics Solidarity demo with refusnics 16.4.12 at the recruiting center: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHJrJ3MO-1w ------------------------ See http://awalls.org See Previous reports about the joint struggles the Anarchists Against the Wall take part in at: http://ilanisagainstwalls.blogspot.com
Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle continue while Spring change to Summer
In addition to the regular locations of joint struggles anarchists against the wall initiative were involved with the struggle against the racist attacks on the African refugees. Within Israel were actions in solidarity with the Bedouins who are subject to creeping transfer lately accelerated. In Tel Aviv and Jerusalem it was mainly with the refugees and social justice. In the occupied west bank of Palestine it was the fifth year of Al-Ma'asara, Beit Ummar for the sixth year, in Bilin now already in the eighth year of continued struggle, in Nabi Saleh already the third year, in Ni'ilin that is just completing the fourth year, in Quaddum that started this year, and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied east Jerusalem-Al-Quds already in the third year.
Al-Arakib
Solidarity visit in the village on Sunday (May 27th) after the 38th demolition of it.
Beit Ummar
Saturday May 26 http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.441648165845493.107864.136633479680298
Bi'lin
Weekly demonstration, May, 25, 2012.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.440856675924642.107733.136633479680298
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.345364155533988.79603.319396991464038
Al-Ma'asara
Friday weekly protest, May, 22, 2012
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.440860892590887.107735.136633479680298
Jerusalem-Al-Quds
The residents of Sheikh Jarrah are continuing their protest vigils in the neighborhood every Friday, protesting their violent evictions from their homes
Nabi Saleh
Activists are reporting that on average 1500 teargas cannisters are fired by the Israeli Occupation Forces in Nabi Saleh every Friday. To day is very hot and the IOF teargas has set the mountain and other grass areas on fire. Unarmed protestors are currently under fire, with IOF firing teargas, rubber bullets and spraying skunk. Lots of teargas and smoke from fires. At least one person has been report as being unconscious as a result of being overwhelmed by teargas and taken to an ambulance.
"We are gradually making our way closer to the spring with intervals of sitting and singing."
http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/7269145488/
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.440943225915987.107750.136633479680298
Haim Schwarczenberg http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.215101471942888.44757.202358256550543
David Reeb http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCthWxnr3sQ
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150321861177554.340078.691717553
Palestinian, Israeli and international women enjoy a picnic near a water spring in Nabi Saleh, May 27, 2012.
Since more than two years, the spring has been confiscated by the settlers of the nearby illegal settlement of Halamish.
"With all that has passed over the last week, in a place were hatred and anger reign, the holiday spirit was all but lost. I have found it again, today, though, by the spring, in Nabi Saleh, sitting with my feet playing in the water, and all around me women drumming and chanting, "Return".
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.442240625786247.107971.136633479680298
Over the weekend, joined by international and Israeli activists, Palestinians went on three direct actions to establish and maintain their hold on West Bank lands. Farmers in Tuqu’ returned to lands they have been banned from farming, residents of Mufagarah built a new home after a series of demolitions, and the women of Nabi Saleh marched to the village spring for the second time in a month.
http://972mag.com/photos-a-weekend-of-direct-actions-to-protect-palestinian-lands/47033/
Ni'lin
Friday weekly demonstration, May, 22, 2012
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.440854245924885.107732.136633479680298
TODAY (28-5-12) IS THE 4th anniversary of the start of the popular struggle in Ni'lin village, today we enter the 5th year of struggle against the segregation wall.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcyYXR01zkQ
The struggle will continue. Join the Friday 01.06.2012 march of loyalty to Ni'lin martyrs who were brutally murdered during a Peaceful protests against the apartheid Israeli wall in Ni'lin:
Ahmad Mousa, 10 years old,killed on 29.07.2008
Yousef Amireh, 17 years old, killed on 30.07.2008
Arafat kawaja, 22 years old, killed on 27.12.2008
Muhammed Kawaja, 18 years old, killed on 27.12.2008
Aqil Srour, 36 years old, killed on 05.06.2009
more info: contact : http://www.nilin-village.org/
Quadum
"Friday the -25/5 about 200 Palestinians, 4 Israelis and five international marched in the weekly demonstration against blocking the main access road to Nablus - the county city.
Following the road blocking and expansion of Kdumim colonial settlement, excess to 11,000 dunnam (2750 acres) of farmland the village was blocked. Thus, the villagers appealed to the Israeli High Court and subsequently won their case. The court held that the road should be opened, but the army did not comply with it and declared the road closed for safety of travelers... (Strangely, the health and safety of the Palestinians became very important to the army...) Just after that step, the villagers began to protest against the illegal closure of the road. Like every week the army placed a barrier at the entrance to the village to block Israeli and other participants from out of the village to come to the demo, but we passed around it easily through the agricultural area. The demonstration began ceremoniously as usual, walked toward the soldiers who were waiting in invaded homes in the village near the road. It continued with shouting at the soldiers with megaphone, with music, and dancing. soon after that began an exchange of tear gas shooting and thrown stones in response. Canisters of tear gas were fired directly into the crowd and five protesters was directly hit by these and two of them were evacuated to hospital in Qalqilya. The skunk spraying car stayed by and made sorties from time to time to the improvised road block prepared by the demonstrators. When it could not hit the demonstrators, it sprayed in stead the houses and the fruit trees around it "generosity". At the same time, two teams of troops began moving from the hills surrounding the village into the olive groves and there too developed exchange of stones and tear gas. Some two hours later, the soldiers began to retreat pursued by the youth of the village with their shouts of victory and stone throwing.
After the soldiers exited from the area of the village back to the settlement of Kedumim, the protesters advanced up the road, burned tires as a sign of victory blackened the air of the settlement of Kedumim (the wind was friendly to us and took the black smoke directly to the settlement. On the road one can clearly see burn marks from previous demos one further than the other... it seems that every demonstration advance more and more forward and liberate another part of the road and also challenging the occupation soldiers. This time the youngsters reached a point very close to the expansion of the Qdumim colonial settlement and set there fire to the last tire."
Tel Aviv
It will not be called "The Crystal Night" - It will be called "The Silicon Night".
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/african-migrants-attacked-in-tel-aviv/
------------------------
See http://awalls.org
See Previous reports about the joint struggles the Anarchists Against the Wall take part in at: http://ilanisagainstwalls.blogspot.com
Demonstrations against the hate mongering of parliament members and the pogrom in the poor southern neighborhood.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Palestine-Israel, After the first major victory of the third Intifada the joint struggle the AAtW involved in just persist
The victory of the hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners and their pick of the administrative prisoners was so unexpected that the wind as if left us. However, the third Intifada do not extinguish.The Palestinian farmers accompanied by Israeli and international activists confront brutal settlers protected by Israeli state forces. The usual week end joint demos continue and the coming summer seems to promise an escalation in both the struggle against occupation and for social justice within Israel.Beit Ommar
Saturday 19/5/2012 Our Protest today was in solidarity with Ahmad Abu Hashem and his two sons who are in the Israeli occupation jails, Ahmad was kidnapped from our protest last , he was beaten before being arrested, Ahmad is a 46 years old and one of the popular resistance leaders in Palestine in general and the secretary of Beit Ommar popular committee. The Israeli apartheid occupation army suppressed our protest today from the beginning, but we managed to reached very close to the so called security fence of Carmi Tsur settlement built on Beit Ommar farmers land, last week two farmers were attacked by Carmi Tsur terrorist settlers, and partially destroyed a car and a tractor owned by the farmers.
Younes Arar http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151115530005760.544157.531065759
Bil'in Friday May 18
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.436692929674350.107105.136633479680298
Rani Abdel Fatah http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4070859692992.319133.1327358013
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4070860653016 (Me with the white hat)
Ni'lin Friday May 18
small scale clashes took place near the concrete Wall where it is surrounded by fence.
Kufr Qaddum
Friday May 18 Weekly Protest against illegal land confiscation. Some two hundred protesters marched towards the entrance of the village, where the soldiers were blocking the road. The army violently dispersed the demonstration but no injuries were reported. In Ma'asara, some fifty residents and supporters marched towards their lands and were shortly blocked by the army. The protest nevertheless was maintained for over an hour, during which protesters made speeches and chanted slogans calling for dismantling the Wall and settlements.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.385574454822712.85209.251098394936986
Al Ma'asara Friday May 18
An Nabi Saleh Friday May 18
The weekly protests against settlements and occupation commenced peacefully this week as the army was stationed at relative distance from the demo, near the watch tower at the entrance to the village. A group of Scottish women peace activists who joined the demonstration led the march with chants and liberation songs. As protesters arrived close to the gate of the village, the "skunk" – a water cannon carrying foul-smelling liquid - was used to disperse them. Some small scale clashed then erupted between the army and the local youth during which two were injured: a woman was hit by a tear-gas canister, and a 15 year-old boy was hit in the head by a rubber-coated bullet. The two were treated by medics in the field. Following this, the army slightly retreated and protesters regrouped for another march, which again was met by extensive use of the 'skunk', large amounts of tear-gas and rubber coated bullets, which led to the injury of three additional protesters. Picture by: Oren Ziv/Activestills https://popularstruggle.org/content/broken-window-nabi-saleh
Later some clashes erupted inside the village between local youth and the army. The army then invaded the village with large force, shooting rubber coated bullets and tear gas into private houses, causing damage to property and potentially risking the lives of people inside the houses, including children and elderly. Towards the end of the demonstration some protesters managed to make their way to the watch tower overlooking the village and dismantle some parts of the camouflage net surrounding it. No arrests were reported.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.436703999673243.107110.136633479680298
http://t.co/ayYrPIMG
David Reeb http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNLi18ji5L4
Kufr A-Dik Friday May 18
Tel Aviv
Nakba day at Tel Aviv university
Monday, 14-5-23. Hundreds of people attended a ceremony Monday afternoon to mark Nakba Day in front of the main entrance to Tel Aviv University. The ceremony was organized by students – both Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel - and billed as a joint memorial ceremony aimed at giving voice to the Palestinian narrative of suffering following the events of 1948. Organizers emphasized that the event did not seek to reject Israel’s right to exist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg9XUX_ZKKE
Oren Ziv, Activestills photographer getting treated by a medic after being hit by a rubber bullet shot at him by Israeli soldiers during clashes following a protest commemorating the Nakba, outside Ofer military prison, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 15, 2012. Photo by: Yotam Ronen/ Acitvestills.org http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/7203760970/
http://tv.social.org.il/politics/2012/05/15/nakba-in-the-university
Activestills set slide-show from Nakba Day
http://www.flickr.com//photos/activestills/sets/72157629746434384/show/
Occupied Betunia, in front of Ofer Prison, to commemorate #64Nakba.
Tuesday, 15/5/2012 Down town intersection, a vigil to commemorate the 1948 Nacba day and the 510 villages destroyed and their dwellers transferred.
Jerusalem-Al-Quds
Israelis and Palestinians will demonstrate at the Old City's Damascus Gate against the "Jerusalem Day", which is the Day of Occupation.
Shikh Jarrah
Palestinians, Israelis and foreigner activist march from Damascus Gate to Sheikh Jarrah organized by the neighborhood committees of East Jerusalem, against the settlements in East Jerusalem and against Israel's discriminatory policies and plans to evict families from Sheikh Jarrah. The group of activists held flags and signs outside the Damascus Gate of the Old City then marches through the town.
http://www.demotix.com/photo/1221701/activists-march-through-east-jerusalem-against-jewish-settlements
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.415212071846771.100377.100000739446057
------------------------
See http://awalls.org
See Previous reports about the joint struggles the Anarchists Against the Wall take part in at: http://ilanisagainstwalls.blogspot.com
Monday, May 14, 2012
Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle interwoven with the Palestinian hunger strike prisoners
All over the West Bank thousands of people took to the streets in support of the hunger striking prisoners. The third intifada collected momentum. It started with hunger strike of administrative prisoners held without trail, with solidarity demos, and joined by 1500 Palestinian prisoners - both in solidarity with the administrative ones and in demand for improving condition of the incarcerated. There were demos and vigils of solidarity daily - both in the occupied territories and within Israel. The weekly demonstrations made it their central theme. After nearly 80 days for the two longest hunger strikers, it seems their death is imminent after the Israeli highest court of "justice" approved of the unyielding refusal of the state to retreat from their administrative jailing. State forces vacillate between harsh repression of demos and restraining - expression of their uncertainty of the evolving third Intifada and mounting international pressure.
Prisoners support
Abir Kopti and Yonatan Polak on the CNN channel
http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/international/2012/05/10/amanpour-palestinian-prisoner-hunger-strike.cnn
Jaffa May 11, 2012
Saturday early afternoon. We were about 100 participated in a vigil around the Clock Tower of Jaffa. About half of the Palestinian community and half of the extreme anti Zionist activists.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151687813910214.850220.545775213
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.365155423531978
Ma'ale Edomim (settlement town near Jerusalem)
Sunday, in solidarity with hunger striker prisoners, the entrance to the town was blocked for a while.
"50 Palestinian Israeli and international activists are currently blocking the entrance Ma'ale Adomim settlement in solidarity with the hunger striking prisoners".
Police has now pushed protesters to the sidewalk, but police cars are still blocking the road
Haitham Al Khatib http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wbm_2K_zQw
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/533369_10150811738612683_724612682_9796549_1895896813_n.jpg
https://t.co/kaqTcTqa
http://t.co/6IJyszpg
Haifa
On Saturday, roughly a hundred protesters gathered, most of whom were Palestinian with only a few Jewish. The meeting point was on Abbass street in Haifa. The protest demonstrated in support of the political prisoners and against the occupation in general. There were people of all ages and everyone chanted and sang. We marched down Abbass street, through Wadi Nisnas and towards The German Colony. The chanting (which was entirely in Arabic and quite radical) didn’t stop for a second. There were many giant Palestinian flags and many signs in both Hebrew and Arabic. Every protester wore a brown bracelet to show their support for the prisoners. The protest was amazing. The few police officers that were there kept their distance and didn’t interfere. They followed us the entire way.
At some point I thought “Don’t they know that they’re supposed to stop us, act all tough and beat us up? They’re really protecting us here! What’s wrong with them?"
When we got to a street with traffic, they politely requested that we don’t take it, and instead go on the sidewalk. Even when we didn’t really obey they redirected traffic as much as they could. Once when we stepped down to the road, one officer who looked like a volunteer said “Please! Get back on the sidewalk!” but it sounded more as a plea than an angry demand or an order. It felt uncomfortable not to cooperate…
During the walk in Wadi Nisnas, many younger folks joined and were immediately swallowed up by the protest and chanting. At some point we were over 200 people. Towards the end we went to The German Colony, past luxurious restaurants, a road that reminds me of Rothschild Boulevard. The restaurants shook with the protest’s chants!!
We finished in a place that until the day before was a solidarity tent for the prisoners where a few solidarity hunger strikers were staging their own strike since last week but the municipality took it down on Friday. A few Palestinian and Jewish protesters decided to stay there overnight anyway and continue the hunger strike. I was really impressed by the protest and its organization, with the wonderful protesters, the Palestinian Haifa street, and the Haifa police. I really recommend folks come there for future protests!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.366209976759856&type=1
Al-Arkib
The efforts of Israeli projects to transfer Bedouin citizens to concentrated towns and rob most of their remaining lands continue, and so is the joint struggle against it - focused on the case of Arkib lands.
Hi– first off, thanks to everyone who went down to Al-Arakib this week. It's crucial that we do not stop sending folks, so please please sign up for next week on the google doc! and for those who haven't filled out the google doc yet, please do so if you are able to come at all this coming week.
Beit Ummar
Saturday 12/5/2012. Our protest today was in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails and to commemorate the 64th anniversary of Nakbah, 10s of Participants joined the protest including Khader Adnan, International and Israeli solidarity activists in addition to Beit Ommar citizens. Once we arrived to the protest location adjacent to Carmi Tsur Settlement built on Beit Ommar farmers land, more than 30 heavily armed Israeli occupation soldiers attacked the participants using rifle butts, batons, shields, and gas canisters, many were injured among the peaceful participants including Ahmad Abu Hashem (46 years) Secretary of the Popular committee in Beit Ommar after being beaten and then was arrested, Yousef Abu Mareya Beit Ommar Popular Committee spokesman (38 years), Mosa Abu Mareya (34 years) Popular Committee member who was injured in the forehead, Younes Arar (40 years) Popular Committee coordinator who was beaten with a baton on his feet, and an international solidarity activist. More pics will be added later today showing the brutality of Israeli occupation forces.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151092795935760.541865.531065759
Bil'in
Weekly demonstration: "Friday day of Anger" in support of Palestinian prisoners. As usual, about 15 activists with the anarchists against the wall initiative joined about dozen internationals and tens of Bil'iners, in the demo against the land robbery using the fences and walls and against occupation. While marching, we chanted and held pictures of the hunger strikers most in danger. When we arrived at the separation wall the Israeli state forces were surprisingly restrained - even when few of the shabab who were bored by the long waiting for the first shooting, started the stone throwing. Few ineffective spraying of skunk water failed due to friendly northern wind direction. Only after few daring ones started to run between the barbed wire spools "protecting" the wall and the wall, the state forces started the usual massive shooting of tear gas. As the vegetation between the trees was already dry, the tear gas canisters set fire to the dry grass and threatened the olive trees in the area. Some soldiers crossed the wall to our side but no serious confrontation was developed. After demonstrators and fire men extinguishing the fires the participants returned to the village.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.432099660133677.106390.136633479680298
haithmkatib http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2BUTAhdGkHI
Nabi Saleh
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.432299613447015.106437.136633479680298
http://t.co/WZwTegO1
David Reeb http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHjuBoP46_s
Ni'ilin
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.432252906785019.106428.136633479680298
Kufr Qaddum
In the village of Kufer Qaddoum, south-east of Nablus, hundreds went out to demonstrate despite a tight siege laid over the town from all sides. In their attempt to quell the protest, Israeli forces used tear-gas, rubber-coated bullets and a high-pressure water cannon hosing a foul-smelling liquid, which Israel calls the Skunk. About an hour into the demonstration, a group of soldiers shot live ammunition towards the protesters from a fairly short range, but did not manage to hit anyone.
Friday weekly demo: Soldiers just shot live ammo at a larger than usual demo in Kufer Qaddoum. No injuries. Village is under tight siege since the morning.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.432174853459491.106410.136633479680298
Sheikh Jarakh
Friday http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.390763084300634.86253.100001008382622
Walaja
"Dear all, in solidarity with the hunger strikers and in memorizing the Nakba there will be a demonstration in Al Walajeh on Friday 11-05-2012 at 12:00. gathering point will be by the mosque at the entrance of the village. please join us and circulate this email as much as possible."
Palestinians of all over the west bank demonstrated in solidarity with the hunger striking prisoners.
Friday March of return Nakba 64 protesters sing by the spring call against the ghetto walls closing on all sides of the village.
About 1,000 protested today at al-wallaje against the occupation, the Apartheid wall and 64 years for the nakba, protesters of the Fatah youth came from all over Palestine, some came from as far as Jenin. 10 Israeli activists and few internationals joined them. "We went down to the wall route and a group of protesters went down the hill to what was the village of al wallaje until 48, now only ruins and waved flags and singing anti-occupation songs, then we continued to the old spring, we washed our faces and drunked from the running spring water, then the soldiers came, but after we talked to them they agreed to let us protest peacefully, so the soldiers wet back to the road and we protested peacefully around the spring, and after a while we went back to the village, the main protest stayed on the wall route and had some gas and stone throwing with the soldiers, the protest ended peacefully.
Lior Ben Eliahu http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3011163169110.155230.1563442697
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.365134896867364
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.365155423531978
Elifelet Sara Derbarmbdicare http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150885645237859.439189.734442858
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.432166093460367.106405.136633479680298
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilXwdpzL170
http://t.co/4nm7zH9s
The Wall, 10 years on / part 7: A village turned prison http://972mag.com/the-wall-10-years-on-part-7-a-village-turned-prison/45348/
Tel Aviv
Tuesday, about 3 hundreds of victims of racism and discrimination in housing and radical activists demonstrated in center of city with lot of red and black flags.
http://youtu.be/tw8PHRgT4nw
Social Justice
Thousands "celebrated" the international 12th May day of returning to the streets. In Israel there were marching demos in Jerusalem (thousands) Haifa (more than 1000) and the biggest in Tel Aviv. In Tel Aviv more than a thousand marched from the poor Southern neighborhood to the city square were there was activity all late afternoon and evening with thousands of participants. About 15,000 were there for long, before people started to march towards the ruling party offices (in spite police resistance). Smaller demos were in other towns.
A small anarchist-communist group "Ahdut" (unity) held our colors and distributed bulletins and journals. http://unityispa.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/cimg0119-copy.jpg
ilyiwy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQH8XA0_y-Y
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.446295885398335.115001.274242409270351
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Don’t say we did not know #310
On Monday, 23rd April, 2012, IDF forces came to the Palestinian village Hilet El-Warde, near Bani Na’im (in Hebron Governorate). The forces demolished two cowsheds, three rooms where workers live, and a water reservoir.
On Wednesday, 2nd May, 2012, IFD soldiers went to Baq’a near Hebron , and demolished a water reservoir; the second time the IDF has demolished a water reservoir there.
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On Wednesday, 2nd May, 2012, government representatives accompanied by police went to Khirbet El-Batal, an unrecognized Bedouin village near Mishmar HaNegev.
They demolished the home of a newlywed couple.
Questions & queries: amosg@shefayim.org.il
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See http://awalls.org
See Previous reports about the joint struggles the Anarchists Against the Wall take part in at: http://ilanisagainstwalls.blogspot.com
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