The Purim carnival day was "celebrated" by 50 anarchist with a more than an hour parade in downtown Tel-Aviv. After converging and leafleting at the entrance to the open market the parade started. With two big puppets at the front, with drums, whistles, slogan shouting, and leaflets distribution we progressed slowly along the King George street and around the Dizengof mall.
The leaflet header: Ki Bush Justified? (pun - ki bush = as Bush/occupation) DO NOT TOUCH MY AMBAH, CARNIVAL OF PROTEST AND SAMBA! So you assume that every thing ended fine in Iraq? They caught the bad guys (mainly the cruel dictator), shaved his beard and now enforcing a democratic and fair rule.
So, it is clear to all that USA motivation are not pure. Even from the center of Tel-Aviv you can smell the petroleum. It is quite clear that the well being of the Iraq population is not at the center of importance for those responsible to the murder of tens of thousands of Iraqis.
These days, the Israeli state use huge and excessive force in the effort to stop the Palestinian uprising against the 37 years old Israeli occupation. The assumption that ruling another people in all aspects of its life - freedom of travel, access to hospitals and schools, livelihood, cultivation the fields, and even flag and nationality, can suppress the yearning for self rule and independence, is based on twisted reasoning. It take all of us into a whirl of blood without escape. This is a belligerent mode of thinking of patronizing, and power-drunk whose roots are in the Western colonialist thinking.
Here too you can identify the stamp of USA: huge amount of money allocated to ensure the continuation of the rule of its Israeli alley in the occupied territories, and thus to remain a significant factor in the Middle East, to enrich its own arms industry and to have its heands in the sick economies of our region.
I.
Sunday, March 7, 2004
Friday, March 5, 2004
Israel-Palestine, Tel Aviv, NOT IN OUR NAME! - a Critical Mass against the apartheid wall 05/03/04
About 20 people - anarchists and others did a whistling mini critical mass in downtown Tel Aviv. Half of us where on wheels with various placards and half on feet - distributing leaflets on the route - which at its end we joined the Friday vigil of women in black. The leaflet:
Not in our name! Not from our money! - How much this occupation cost us?
From October 2000 till the end of January 2004 were killed 2,376 Palestinians amongst them 445 minors, and 600 Israelis amongst them 74 minors.
In the last 3 years more than 500 kids below age 18 were killed in the region. The violent Israeli occupation, the illegal settlers project (paid for by the Israeli government from the taxes), and the atrocities against the civil population in the occupied Palestinian territories, brought about harm to the [Israeli] civilian society within the Green Line [1967 borders]. The harsh conditions cause despair, frustration, and to taking extreme steps.
The Israeli government found a "solution": Building a twisting wall of 8 meters and barbed wired fence supposedly partition between the Palestinian and Israeli populations, but in reality the fence not just separate between us and our neighbors... The fence, which is more than double in length than the Green Line and been built deep in the occupied territories, separate many villages from the near-by towns and other villages and separate also between the villagers and hospitals, children from their schools, and between the villagers and their fields and work places.
Within the green line the building of the wall [because the taxes money is wasted on the wall] also separate between old people and appropriate care, between children and food and proper education, and between us and our security... because of "budget deficit". More than all, The wall separate between us and peace, justice and security.
Lack of budget??
Third of Israel children are below the poverty line. more than half a million people are hungry. More than 13% of the population of Gaza strip suffer from malnutrition. More than 50% unemployment among the Palestinian population of the West bank and Gaza strip.
The cost of the separation wall is about 2.2 million US$ for kilometer- about 1.4 milliard dollars for the whole fence. Every shekel for the building of the fence and the settlement means one shekel less for food, education, health care and development. THE FENCE IS NOT SECURITY! it is aimed to annex territory and expanding the settlement project! NOT IN OUR NAME!
We demand live with dignity and security - for us and for our Palestinian neighbors!
It is important to stress that there is a continuos nonviolent of Palestinian people against the occupation and the prolonged lack of justice. We have to cooperate with them in the struggle against the atrocities WITHOUT HARMING THE INNOCENTS and with no walls! Just in the last week, in the village Bidu, Israeli soldiers killed 4 demonstrators and tens were wounded when Israeli-Palestinan joint protest activity against the building of the wall on their land!
Not in our name! Not from our money! - How much this occupation cost us?
From October 2000 till the end of January 2004 were killed 2,376 Palestinians amongst them 445 minors, and 600 Israelis amongst them 74 minors.
In the last 3 years more than 500 kids below age 18 were killed in the region. The violent Israeli occupation, the illegal settlers project (paid for by the Israeli government from the taxes), and the atrocities against the civil population in the occupied Palestinian territories, brought about harm to the [Israeli] civilian society within the Green Line [1967 borders]. The harsh conditions cause despair, frustration, and to taking extreme steps.
The Israeli government found a "solution": Building a twisting wall of 8 meters and barbed wired fence supposedly partition between the Palestinian and Israeli populations, but in reality the fence not just separate between us and our neighbors... The fence, which is more than double in length than the Green Line and been built deep in the occupied territories, separate many villages from the near-by towns and other villages and separate also between the villagers and hospitals, children from their schools, and between the villagers and their fields and work places.
Within the green line the building of the wall [because the taxes money is wasted on the wall] also separate between old people and appropriate care, between children and food and proper education, and between us and our security... because of "budget deficit". More than all, The wall separate between us and peace, justice and security.
Lack of budget??
Third of Israel children are below the poverty line. more than half a million people are hungry. More than 13% of the population of Gaza strip suffer from malnutrition. More than 50% unemployment among the Palestinian population of the West bank and Gaza strip.
The cost of the separation wall is about 2.2 million US$ for kilometer- about 1.4 milliard dollars for the whole fence. Every shekel for the building of the fence and the settlement means one shekel less for food, education, health care and development. THE FENCE IS NOT SECURITY! it is aimed to annex territory and expanding the settlement project! NOT IN OUR NAME!
We demand live with dignity and security - for us and for our Palestinian neighbors!
It is important to stress that there is a continuos nonviolent of Palestinian people against the occupation and the prolonged lack of justice. We have to cooperate with them in the struggle against the atrocities WITHOUT HARMING THE INNOCENTS and with no walls! Just in the last week, in the village Bidu, Israeli soldiers killed 4 demonstrators and tens were wounded when Israeli-Palestinan joint protest activity against the building of the wall on their land!
Saturday, February 28, 2004
Israel-Palestine, Alt. Media, [Friends of NEFAC] Catalyzed by the Anarchists Against the Wall [EXCERPTS] 28/02/04
I apologize for the length of this posting, but I find it very moviing. It is a report of some protests against the Apartheid Wall that Israel is building in the West Bank. I thought that members of this particular list might be especially interested in it because it seems that the Israeli group "Anarchists Against the Wall" is playing an important role in these protests.
J. R.
GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - www.gush-shalom.org/ [Ed. Note: Gush Shalom is a coalition of radical Zionists and some non zionist leftists. Holding the banner of "Two States For Two People". They got radiclized during the last Intifada, till they even support the refusnics.]
International release Feb. 28, Tel-Aviv
# Racism & the Knesset # Eyewitness report of killings in Bidou # Israelis joining anti-wall protest in Budrus - in spite of army blockades # Against the Wall - in downtown Tel-Aviv
# Racism & the Knesset
# Eyewitness report of killings in Bidou
26/02/04
"It was hell. Soldiers shot without a stop. I saw a Palestinian demonstrator get killed In front of my eyes." Said Israeli Peace activists Who took part in the demonstrations in Bidou.
"It was horror. Hell. The soldiers were shooting incessantly. I saw a Palestinian demonstrator get hit in the forehead and fall down, bleeding. He died several minutes later" told Jonathan Polak, an activist in the Anarchists Against Walls movement, who was amongst the activists who arrived today at the village of Bidou, in order
To take part in the protest against the fence that was organized by the people of Bidou. The fence in Bidou, as in many other places, will cut off a large part of the village?s land.
Other activists said: "We have never seen such brutality. In the morning, thousands of the people of the village went and sat in the path of the bulldozers, where their olive groves are about to be uprooted. Then these huge bulldozers came. Each one was accompanied by 50 soldiers. They attacked the villagers and beat them brutally, driving them into the streets of the village. Inside the village a real battle started. The youngsters of the village threw stones, and the army responded with gas bombs, but very soon moved to using live munitions. They occupied a building in the center of the village and snipers shot at people from it?s roof.
We ran to the clinic to try and help,. Wounded people kept coming, at least Seventy or Eighty people. In addition to the two who were killed by live ammunition, another elderly man died from a heart attack caused by a gas bomb that entered his home, and a young boy who is severely wounded in the head.
The only sin of these people is that they tried to protect the land which is theirs for generations and their olive trees which are their only source of income.
The army brutality, the brute oppression and the shooting ? all these confirm all claims brought against the fence in Hague. It is absolutely clear now that the fence, built deep in Palestinian territory, is another means of oppression and occupation, and has nothing to do with security."
At the time of this release some activists are in the police station in the settlement of Givat Ze'ev, trying to release the many activists arrested during the demonstration.
***
# Israelis joining anti-wall protest in Budrus - in spite of army blockades Friday, 27/02
"The army's rampage in Bidou was not an accident. They feel threatened. For the first time, there is a widespread popular opposition of Palestinian villagers to the building of the wall. That is far more diffucult for the army to confront. They know how to use tanks and Apache helicopters, how to drop one-ton bombs. In a purely armed struggle they have an enormous advantage. Face them with a crowd of unarmed civilians who are detemined to resist, and they have a big problem" said Dr. Gadi Elgazi, historian and peace activist, at the rendezvous point in Kufr Qasem.
We were on the way to Budrus. The people there decided two months ago to resist the creation of the Wall on their land. which was to cut them off from much of their land and also from the rest of the West Bank. The army used very much violence there: demonstrations were broken up, curfews were imposed, the main organizers picked up at night and placed under administrative detention. But some military judges refused to confirm these detention orders, and the detainess went home! Now, the people of Budrus hold every Friday a protest march, and they asked Israelis to join this week.
Some two hundred activists traveled in four buses. The Ta'ayush
[Ed. Note: Ta'ayush is a wide spectrum movement of the radical left. Mostly of the perifery of the reformist A-Zionist Comunist Party, but include also more radical people. The Anarchists Against The Wall started their own initiative as they were fedup with the Ta'ayush nondemocracy and luckworm activity mode.]
movement chose to organize this action in its own name rather than through the anti-Wall Coalition, but as usual members of other groups joined in. As the buses moved towards the nearby border with the occupied West Bank, organizers gave last-minute briefings: "Today we don't expect extreme violence. But the army will almost certainly try to stop us. As soon as we are stopped at a roadblock, get out of the buses and start walking. We will get there, by hook or by crook!".
The Rantis Checkpoint, the first point where the convoy might have been stopped, was passed with no incident. A bored sentry peered sleepily at the buses from behind a massive concrete barrier bearing the regimental slogan: "Empire of Fire". It seems the army prefered not to stop the activists on a road which serves several settlements. The special barrier appeared several kilomters further ahead - when the buses turned to the right, off the well-maintained settler road. Several jeeps blocked the road completely.
The buses moved off to the side, and demonstrators piled out and swarmed up the hillside - the most direct route to Budrus. From behind, a police loudspeaker blared forlornly: "Stop! Come back! You are entering a closed miltary zone! Anyone proceeding is liable to arrest and prosecution! Stop!". Shortly afterwards, a welcome surprise: at the bottom of the hill, a convoy of large yellow Palestinian taxis arrived, to offer the Israelis a lift. Activists scrambled back down the hill and crowded in, ten to a taxi. A few kilimetres ahead, at the outskirts of Shukba Village, a new army roadblock. The soldiers demanded the taxi ignition keys and the drivers' ID's. Tight-lipped, the drivers handed them over, and then urged the Israelis "Go on, go on, don't worry about us! They are waiting for you in Budrus!". Several of the Ta'ayush organisers stayed behind, to help the drivers haggle with the soldiers (keys and IDs being returned after an hour). The demonstrators passed through the main streets of Shukba, returning the waves of grinning Palestinian children.
After several kilometres' walking, a new convoy of Palestinian taxis. This time, the taxis managed to stop just short of the third checkpoint. By now, we were at Kibiya Village, where in 1953 a young major named Ariel Sharon led a commando raid in which 62 civilians were killed.
Present-day Kibya seems dominated by the Palestinian left-wing. Most of the graffiti on the walls was in red, as were the flags of the local anti-Wall demonstrators - from such Palestinian factions as the People's Party and the Democratic Front. A short walk ahead, and we were in Budrus. A sizeable crowd was already waiting in the main sqaure. A fence at the side was made into a podium, from which short stirring speeches were delivered by Ronen of Ta'ayush ("We have come here to struggle for our future and your future, in this bleeding land") and Eyad of the Budrus branch of Fatah ("You are most welcome in Budrus, together we will pull down the Wall"). Both speakers alternated between Hebrew and Arabic and ended with the exhortation: "Mix up, mix up! Let the army meet a single block of Israelis and Palestinians, marching together!"
The long column stretched through the narrow village streets and out to the open fields. There was a medley of signs in Hebrew, Arabic and English, with a smattering of other languagues brought along by contingents of internationals - notably the IWPS women, based at Khares Village to the north.
"Fence - Annexation"; "Build trust - not walls!"; "Enough of the bloodshed!"; "Destroy the Wall, not olive trees"; "U.S. Farmers against the Wall"; "The wall - starvation"; "Free Palestine - Now"; "No to enclaves, no to ghettos, no to the occupation"; "Detruire le mur raciste" "Destruir el moro racista"; "Sharon - we have not forgotten the Kibiya Massacre", "Arab-Jewish Partnership", "Dismantle the Wall, dismantle the settlements!".
At the front, there were Palestinian national flags on which was superimposed the Islamic credo "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His Prophet". The bearers smiled broadly at the Israelis and Americans marching at their side, as did the group of young women with Islamic headscarves further back.
"Sharon, Sharon, the Hague is waiting for you!" a veteran slogan gained additional this week. From it the Hebrew and Arabic chanting shifted to "Peace - Yes! Occupation - No! Peace -Yes! Fences - No!" and then "From Budrus to Beit Surik - the people are steadfast!", "Sharon, Sharon - we defend our olive trees!" "Budrus is strong, Budrus is free!", "Neither Sharon nor Bush - down with the occupation!"; "Sharon Sharon, we are not afraid of your tanks!"
Half an hour's march - and we were at the spot. The ugly long gash cutting through the countryside, where fields and olive groves had been, has become all too familiar. Here is stopped just before a terrace, bearing the signs of long and painstaking care of an arid soil; any further extension of the work on the Wall would necessitate its utter demolition.
"This is how far they got during the last big confrontation, a month ago. Since then they did not try to go on. We don't know how long the respite will last - some say until the court in the Hague is over. But we keep ready" a villager told the Israelis.
Opposite us, a clump of some twenty soldiers and grey-clad riot police. Behind them, a single silent bulldozer. With the very clear mountain air it was possible to see on a ridge, a few kilometres away, the demonstrators from another village confronting another clump of army and police.
An hour of stand-off, chanting of slogans, waving of placards, some talking between Israelis and Palestinians. Then, the distant cramp of teargas grenades. Some of the distant figures on the ridge were stooping down, apparently picking and throwing stones. Then the distant soldiers were scambling up the ridge.
Many of the Israelis were for rushing over and interevening in that struggle. "It's too far, you won't get there in time" a Palestinian organiser cautioned. "Anyway, don't worry about them. The soldiers will never catch them among the crags". Our sector remained quiet until the very end of the hours-long vigil. Only when the column turned back to the village center did the soldiers suddenly launch a parting salvo of tear gas grenades. The Palestinians were unperturbed, quickly handing to the Israelis slices of onion - the traditional antidote to tear gas. On the way back, again in the yellow Palestinian taxis - but, again, the army had its roadblocks, and the weary Israelis had to walk some four kilometres back through the hilly countryside. Then, upon arriving at the buses at last, the police suddenly pounced and arrested two randomly chosen activists "on susupicion of entering a closed military zone". One bus followed them to the Giv'at Ze'ev Polic Station, activists keeping vigil outside until they were released at 9pm.
What remained of this long day: the memory of the final scene at Budrus - hundreds upon hundreds of smiling villagers lining the street, waving at the departing Israelis, calling out in Hebrew "Goodby, and see you!" [AK].
***
# Against the Wall - in downtown Tel-Aviv
Also Friday, at noon some forty colorful young people stood at the entrance of the Carmel Market in Tel-Aviv holding improvised signs and chanting: "Mom, your son is cannon fodder!" / "Let's have peace - and the generals be unemployed!" / Occupation is terrorism - no wall is to change that!"
Having been beaten-up by police a week earlier at the end of a similar vigil had not prevented the Anarchists Against the Wall from returning to the same spot, only brought them the support of others. This time, after half an hour the group started marching, chanting, whistling - leaving the three policemen posted nearby puzzled- faced. The unusual sidewalk parade passed all along the down-town street of King George, halting a minute at every crossroads - receiving comments of the people busily shopping for the weekend: "Go home! Haven't you got something else to do?" but also "Good for you, and don't give up!"
At 1pm, they reached the corner of BenTzion Boulevard, where the Women in Black's weekly anti-occupation vigil was just starting, with among them still some grey-haired who made it their habit for the past 18 years. For some ten minutes the two groups stood together, and then the young anarchists continued their walk, leaving behind some, among them your reporter. [BZ]
J. R.
GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - www.gush-shalom.org/ [Ed. Note: Gush Shalom is a coalition of radical Zionists and some non zionist leftists. Holding the banner of "Two States For Two People". They got radiclized during the last Intifada, till they even support the refusnics.]
International release Feb. 28, Tel-Aviv
# Racism & the Knesset # Eyewitness report of killings in Bidou # Israelis joining anti-wall protest in Budrus - in spite of army blockades # Against the Wall - in downtown Tel-Aviv
# Racism & the Knesset
# Eyewitness report of killings in Bidou
26/02/04
"It was hell. Soldiers shot without a stop. I saw a Palestinian demonstrator get killed In front of my eyes." Said Israeli Peace activists Who took part in the demonstrations in Bidou.
"It was horror. Hell. The soldiers were shooting incessantly. I saw a Palestinian demonstrator get hit in the forehead and fall down, bleeding. He died several minutes later" told Jonathan Polak, an activist in the Anarchists Against Walls movement, who was amongst the activists who arrived today at the village of Bidou, in order
To take part in the protest against the fence that was organized by the people of Bidou. The fence in Bidou, as in many other places, will cut off a large part of the village?s land.
Other activists said: "We have never seen such brutality. In the morning, thousands of the people of the village went and sat in the path of the bulldozers, where their olive groves are about to be uprooted. Then these huge bulldozers came. Each one was accompanied by 50 soldiers. They attacked the villagers and beat them brutally, driving them into the streets of the village. Inside the village a real battle started. The youngsters of the village threw stones, and the army responded with gas bombs, but very soon moved to using live munitions. They occupied a building in the center of the village and snipers shot at people from it?s roof.
We ran to the clinic to try and help,. Wounded people kept coming, at least Seventy or Eighty people. In addition to the two who were killed by live ammunition, another elderly man died from a heart attack caused by a gas bomb that entered his home, and a young boy who is severely wounded in the head.
The only sin of these people is that they tried to protect the land which is theirs for generations and their olive trees which are their only source of income.
The army brutality, the brute oppression and the shooting ? all these confirm all claims brought against the fence in Hague. It is absolutely clear now that the fence, built deep in Palestinian territory, is another means of oppression and occupation, and has nothing to do with security."
At the time of this release some activists are in the police station in the settlement of Givat Ze'ev, trying to release the many activists arrested during the demonstration.
***
# Israelis joining anti-wall protest in Budrus - in spite of army blockades Friday, 27/02
"The army's rampage in Bidou was not an accident. They feel threatened. For the first time, there is a widespread popular opposition of Palestinian villagers to the building of the wall. That is far more diffucult for the army to confront. They know how to use tanks and Apache helicopters, how to drop one-ton bombs. In a purely armed struggle they have an enormous advantage. Face them with a crowd of unarmed civilians who are detemined to resist, and they have a big problem" said Dr. Gadi Elgazi, historian and peace activist, at the rendezvous point in Kufr Qasem.
We were on the way to Budrus. The people there decided two months ago to resist the creation of the Wall on their land. which was to cut them off from much of their land and also from the rest of the West Bank. The army used very much violence there: demonstrations were broken up, curfews were imposed, the main organizers picked up at night and placed under administrative detention. But some military judges refused to confirm these detention orders, and the detainess went home! Now, the people of Budrus hold every Friday a protest march, and they asked Israelis to join this week.
Some two hundred activists traveled in four buses. The Ta'ayush
[Ed. Note: Ta'ayush is a wide spectrum movement of the radical left. Mostly of the perifery of the reformist A-Zionist Comunist Party, but include also more radical people. The Anarchists Against The Wall started their own initiative as they were fedup with the Ta'ayush nondemocracy and luckworm activity mode.]
movement chose to organize this action in its own name rather than through the anti-Wall Coalition, but as usual members of other groups joined in. As the buses moved towards the nearby border with the occupied West Bank, organizers gave last-minute briefings: "Today we don't expect extreme violence. But the army will almost certainly try to stop us. As soon as we are stopped at a roadblock, get out of the buses and start walking. We will get there, by hook or by crook!".
The Rantis Checkpoint, the first point where the convoy might have been stopped, was passed with no incident. A bored sentry peered sleepily at the buses from behind a massive concrete barrier bearing the regimental slogan: "Empire of Fire". It seems the army prefered not to stop the activists on a road which serves several settlements. The special barrier appeared several kilomters further ahead - when the buses turned to the right, off the well-maintained settler road. Several jeeps blocked the road completely.
The buses moved off to the side, and demonstrators piled out and swarmed up the hillside - the most direct route to Budrus. From behind, a police loudspeaker blared forlornly: "Stop! Come back! You are entering a closed miltary zone! Anyone proceeding is liable to arrest and prosecution! Stop!". Shortly afterwards, a welcome surprise: at the bottom of the hill, a convoy of large yellow Palestinian taxis arrived, to offer the Israelis a lift. Activists scrambled back down the hill and crowded in, ten to a taxi. A few kilimetres ahead, at the outskirts of Shukba Village, a new army roadblock. The soldiers demanded the taxi ignition keys and the drivers' ID's. Tight-lipped, the drivers handed them over, and then urged the Israelis "Go on, go on, don't worry about us! They are waiting for you in Budrus!". Several of the Ta'ayush organisers stayed behind, to help the drivers haggle with the soldiers (keys and IDs being returned after an hour). The demonstrators passed through the main streets of Shukba, returning the waves of grinning Palestinian children.
After several kilometres' walking, a new convoy of Palestinian taxis. This time, the taxis managed to stop just short of the third checkpoint. By now, we were at Kibiya Village, where in 1953 a young major named Ariel Sharon led a commando raid in which 62 civilians were killed.
Present-day Kibya seems dominated by the Palestinian left-wing. Most of the graffiti on the walls was in red, as were the flags of the local anti-Wall demonstrators - from such Palestinian factions as the People's Party and the Democratic Front. A short walk ahead, and we were in Budrus. A sizeable crowd was already waiting in the main sqaure. A fence at the side was made into a podium, from which short stirring speeches were delivered by Ronen of Ta'ayush ("We have come here to struggle for our future and your future, in this bleeding land") and Eyad of the Budrus branch of Fatah ("You are most welcome in Budrus, together we will pull down the Wall"). Both speakers alternated between Hebrew and Arabic and ended with the exhortation: "Mix up, mix up! Let the army meet a single block of Israelis and Palestinians, marching together!"
The long column stretched through the narrow village streets and out to the open fields. There was a medley of signs in Hebrew, Arabic and English, with a smattering of other languagues brought along by contingents of internationals - notably the IWPS women, based at Khares Village to the north.
"Fence - Annexation"; "Build trust - not walls!"; "Enough of the bloodshed!"; "Destroy the Wall, not olive trees"; "U.S. Farmers against the Wall"; "The wall - starvation"; "Free Palestine - Now"; "No to enclaves, no to ghettos, no to the occupation"; "Detruire le mur raciste" "Destruir el moro racista"; "Sharon - we have not forgotten the Kibiya Massacre", "Arab-Jewish Partnership", "Dismantle the Wall, dismantle the settlements!".
At the front, there were Palestinian national flags on which was superimposed the Islamic credo "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His Prophet". The bearers smiled broadly at the Israelis and Americans marching at their side, as did the group of young women with Islamic headscarves further back.
"Sharon, Sharon, the Hague is waiting for you!" a veteran slogan gained additional this week. From it the Hebrew and Arabic chanting shifted to "Peace - Yes! Occupation - No! Peace -Yes! Fences - No!" and then "From Budrus to Beit Surik - the people are steadfast!", "Sharon, Sharon - we defend our olive trees!" "Budrus is strong, Budrus is free!", "Neither Sharon nor Bush - down with the occupation!"; "Sharon Sharon, we are not afraid of your tanks!"
Half an hour's march - and we were at the spot. The ugly long gash cutting through the countryside, where fields and olive groves had been, has become all too familiar. Here is stopped just before a terrace, bearing the signs of long and painstaking care of an arid soil; any further extension of the work on the Wall would necessitate its utter demolition.
"This is how far they got during the last big confrontation, a month ago. Since then they did not try to go on. We don't know how long the respite will last - some say until the court in the Hague is over. But we keep ready" a villager told the Israelis.
Opposite us, a clump of some twenty soldiers and grey-clad riot police. Behind them, a single silent bulldozer. With the very clear mountain air it was possible to see on a ridge, a few kilometres away, the demonstrators from another village confronting another clump of army and police.
An hour of stand-off, chanting of slogans, waving of placards, some talking between Israelis and Palestinians. Then, the distant cramp of teargas grenades. Some of the distant figures on the ridge were stooping down, apparently picking and throwing stones. Then the distant soldiers were scambling up the ridge.
Many of the Israelis were for rushing over and interevening in that struggle. "It's too far, you won't get there in time" a Palestinian organiser cautioned. "Anyway, don't worry about them. The soldiers will never catch them among the crags". Our sector remained quiet until the very end of the hours-long vigil. Only when the column turned back to the village center did the soldiers suddenly launch a parting salvo of tear gas grenades. The Palestinians were unperturbed, quickly handing to the Israelis slices of onion - the traditional antidote to tear gas. On the way back, again in the yellow Palestinian taxis - but, again, the army had its roadblocks, and the weary Israelis had to walk some four kilometres back through the hilly countryside. Then, upon arriving at the buses at last, the police suddenly pounced and arrested two randomly chosen activists "on susupicion of entering a closed military zone". One bus followed them to the Giv'at Ze'ev Polic Station, activists keeping vigil outside until they were released at 9pm.
What remained of this long day: the memory of the final scene at Budrus - hundreds upon hundreds of smiling villagers lining the street, waving at the departing Israelis, calling out in Hebrew "Goodby, and see you!" [AK].
***
# Against the Wall - in downtown Tel-Aviv
Also Friday, at noon some forty colorful young people stood at the entrance of the Carmel Market in Tel-Aviv holding improvised signs and chanting: "Mom, your son is cannon fodder!" / "Let's have peace - and the generals be unemployed!" / Occupation is terrorism - no wall is to change that!"
Having been beaten-up by police a week earlier at the end of a similar vigil had not prevented the Anarchists Against the Wall from returning to the same spot, only brought them the support of others. This time, after half an hour the group started marching, chanting, whistling - leaving the three policemen posted nearby puzzled- faced. The unusual sidewalk parade passed all along the down-town street of King George, halting a minute at every crossroads - receiving comments of the people busily shopping for the weekend: "Go home! Haven't you got something else to do?" but also "Good for you, and don't give up!"
At 1pm, they reached the corner of BenTzion Boulevard, where the Women in Black's weekly anti-occupation vigil was just starting, with among them still some grey-haired who made it their habit for the past 18 years. For some ten minutes the two groups stood together, and then the young anarchists continued their walk, leaving behind some, among them your reporter. [BZ]
Israel-Palestine, Media, Four left-wing* activists detained in Budrus 28/02/04
The police detained four left-wing Israeli activists Friday afternoon during a demonstration of Palestinian and Israelis in the West Bank village of Budrus, where part of the security fence is being constructed. The four were detained for entering an area declared "closed military zone". It is expected that the four would be released with restrictions. Budrus has been the scene of violent clashes between IDF forces and locals and protesters due to the preparations under way for the building of the security fence. Budrus, located near the city of Modi'in and eight kilometers from Ben-Gurion Airport, has become the hub of anti-fence activity over the past few months.
The West Bank security fence runs along the western edge of the village, cutting some farmers off from their land.
------------------------------
* [Ed. Notes: Nationalists on both sides prefer to hide the fact That the Israeli activists involved with the Palestinian vilagers are mostly anarchists of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative]
The West Bank security fence runs along the western edge of the village, cutting some farmers off from their land.
------------------------------
* [Ed. Notes: Nationalists on both sides prefer to hide the fact That the Israeli activists involved with the Palestinian vilagers are mostly anarchists of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative]
Friday, February 27, 2004
Israel-Palestine, Summary of media reports on the activities against the wall 27/02/04
Thursday was a high intensity day of struggle. One reporter who write on the activities tell what the "Israeli leftist activists" (who are really from the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative) say. "From their testimony come that they were not present in Bidu when the first two Palestinian were killed - they came after the killing of Palestinians was reported. In the article he quote Jonathan Polak who saw in his eyes when an army sniper shoot in the head a Palestinian who bent to pick a stone. The reporter give Jonathan opinion that the confrontations in connection with the wall building brought the Palestinian struggle back to the first Intifada mode of mass struggle.
In the next article of the same Haaretz daily, another reporter put the struggle of the last few days in context. He says that it was sporadic and local till the confrontation of 26th of December last year (The second direct action of the Anarchists Against The Wall) in which Gil Naamati was (purposefully hit and) seriously injured by Israeli soldiers (while harming the fence near Budrus). From then on and especially after repeated mass clashes near Budrus succeeded to stop the work on the wall as result of diplomatic presur they initiated, the Palestinian Authority shifted its focus.
(The Reporter miss the fact that the continuous involvement of Israeli people together with the local villagers tipped the scales in both the Israeli public opinion and the international arena. He also miss the fact that the joint Israeli-Internationals-Palestinians direct actions came about after months of less dramatic confrontation and a joint camp in the village of Masha.)
"Never doubt that a small and dedicated group of people can change the world.... by initiating a mass struggle".
In the next article of the same Haaretz daily, another reporter put the struggle of the last few days in context. He says that it was sporadic and local till the confrontation of 26th of December last year (The second direct action of the Anarchists Against The Wall) in which Gil Naamati was (purposefully hit and) seriously injured by Israeli soldiers (while harming the fence near Budrus). From then on and especially after repeated mass clashes near Budrus succeeded to stop the work on the wall as result of diplomatic presur they initiated, the Palestinian Authority shifted its focus.
(The Reporter miss the fact that the continuous involvement of Israeli people together with the local villagers tipped the scales in both the Israeli public opinion and the international arena. He also miss the fact that the joint Israeli-Internationals-Palestinians direct actions came about after months of less dramatic confrontation and a joint camp in the village of Masha.)
"Never doubt that a small and dedicated group of people can change the world.... by initiating a mass struggle".
Israel-Palestine, Tel-Aviv, A vigil and march in downtown of Anarchists Against The Wall 27/02/04
In response to the intensified atrocities of the Israeli forces against the unarmed protesters of the apartheid wall a vigil was called.
At Friday noon about 100 people of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative and sympathizers assembled at the big intersection near the open market.
Placards were held high and slogans were shout for an hour till 50 of us started the march on the pavement of King George street towards the Dizengof Center mole .... We "rested" for a while in front of the headquarters building of the Likud ruling party. Afterwards we marched on and joined for a while the Friday vigil of "women in black against the occupation". Then, we stood in the intersection of the Center continuing to hold the placard high and shouting the slogans.
An assessment of the new phase in the Intifada resulting from the various initiatives against the wall - in a separate post.
At Friday noon about 100 people of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative and sympathizers assembled at the big intersection near the open market.
Placards were held high and slogans were shout for an hour till 50 of us started the march on the pavement of King George street towards the Dizengof Center mole .... We "rested" for a while in front of the headquarters building of the Likud ruling party. Afterwards we marched on and joined for a while the Friday vigil of "women in black against the occupation". Then, we stood in the intersection of the Center continuing to hold the placard high and shouting the slogans.
An assessment of the new phase in the Intifada resulting from the various initiatives against the wall - in a separate post.
Thursday, February 26, 2004
report on Beit Suriq area struggle against the apartheid wall + TV news update. 26 Feb 2004
Four Palestinians have been killed in the Beit Suriq area near Jerusalem Thursday, after Mohammed Saleh Bedwan, 20, was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers at approximately 3pm, in Biddu.
The shooting occurred in front of international activists, who reported soldiers have been shooting randomly and also targeting ambulances. The Israeli army has said there has been no use of live ammunition and that only rubber-coated metal bullets have been used.
[But we seen it in the TV and the reporter who were ther reported too that there were army snipers on the roof of a building they occupy and we seen how they shoot and hit the two persons killed.I.S.]
Three Palestinians were killed earlier today as soldiers moved in on protestors and stone-throwers demonstrating the construction of the barrier.
Zcharya Mahmoud Id, from Beit Ajza and Mohammed Rian, 30, from Beit Daku, were shot by Israeli soldiers.
Another male reportedly died from a heart attack believed to be caused by tear gas.
Fifty people are reportedly injured, while three protestors have been arrested by plain clothes officers operating within the crowd.
Thursday marks the third day of demonstrations which have escalated in violent clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians. [With intimate participation of Internationals and Israelis (TV said are from the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative). Today about 75 people were injured at the Bidu vilage clashes and others - including Israelis were arested).
Palestinians in the area will lose almost 90% of their land to the barrier, much of which is used for farming.
The Israeli government says the wall is for security, while Palestinians claim it is simply a land grab.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/February/week4/022604/4%20killed.htm
[The Israelis involved call for a militant vigil Friday - same as last week.]
The shooting occurred in front of international activists, who reported soldiers have been shooting randomly and also targeting ambulances. The Israeli army has said there has been no use of live ammunition and that only rubber-coated metal bullets have been used.
[But we seen it in the TV and the reporter who were ther reported too that there were army snipers on the roof of a building they occupy and we seen how they shoot and hit the two persons killed.I.S.]
Three Palestinians were killed earlier today as soldiers moved in on protestors and stone-throwers demonstrating the construction of the barrier.
Zcharya Mahmoud Id, from Beit Ajza and Mohammed Rian, 30, from Beit Daku, were shot by Israeli soldiers.
Another male reportedly died from a heart attack believed to be caused by tear gas.
Fifty people are reportedly injured, while three protestors have been arrested by plain clothes officers operating within the crowd.
Thursday marks the third day of demonstrations which have escalated in violent clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians. [With intimate participation of Internationals and Israelis (TV said are from the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative). Today about 75 people were injured at the Bidu vilage clashes and others - including Israelis were arested).
Palestinians in the area will lose almost 90% of their land to the barrier, much of which is used for farming.
The Israeli government says the wall is for security, while Palestinians claim it is simply a land grab.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/February/week4/022604/4%20killed.htm
[The Israelis involved call for a militant vigil Friday - same as last week.]
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