Palestine-Israel, Army failed in efforts to prevent the joint Friday demo in Bil'in 02 Sep

Soldiers have launched a siege on Bil'in this Friday noon in a futile effort to prevent the joint Israeli-Palestinian Friday demonstration on going for the last few months. The army declared the whole Bil'in village a closed military zone for Israelis, blocked all the roads leading to Bil'in to prevent the Israeli anarchists against the wall and others from arriving to participate in the joint demo. In addition, they invaded the main street of the village throwing shock grenades, firing tear gas rubber bullets and attempting to impose a curfew on residents. mainly near the Mosque where the demonstrations are started. As direct result from the invasion, a protracted battle started between the invading soldiers and stone throwing villagers (mostly young ones).

About 12 o'clock when we were nearing the Bil'in - 50 Israelis from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, we were warned about the army block. Thus, we left the cabs and started to find our round about way among the olive orchards and the rocks of the step hill.

When we finally arrived in the village we were warned that the main street is dense with soldiers waiting for us... So we went between houses passing through the "war zone" with the tear gas clouds till we arrived in our safe house - where the international activists stay near the center of village.

There we confronted the soldiers who were shooting tear gas and shock grenades mainly, who found that our addition to the stone throwers - who responded in kind to the tear gas and shock grenades of the army, was too much for them and they gradually left the main street.

Though a bit late, and after two hours of confrontation with the army, we started the Friday demonstration as usually, marching to the end of the village, on the road leading to the fence building site.

When we arrived there, we sat down... but the soldier soon started to push us roughly with their hands back to the village... As we were resisting, they used plenty of tear gas and shock grenades and even some shooting, and detained 14 of us including Mohammed - member of the village comity against the fence, whom they often detain or even arrest in our demos.

At the end of the confrontation some of the local activists, the internationals and the Israelis who were not detained regrouped to the safe house to a meeting and discussions.

As usual during discussion and waiting for the release of most of the detainees, the comrades responsible to media prepared the material for the main TV channels evening news. (Announcements about the Friday struggle in Bil'in was broadcasted during the afternoon by the main radio station. A short video clip Including a picture of the demonstration was already screened in the channel one friday evening news...)

During the confrontation 12 of us were injured - most not seriously by rubber bullets. Two were taken to hospital. (One soldier too was hit hard in his leg by a stone and was carried away by his mates...)

12 of the detainees were released as usual after few hours, and as usual two were arrested and taken to the Pisgat Zeev police station...

Israel-Palestine, "We Are All Anarchists Against The Wall" - a pamphlet 26 Aug

Produced by the Italian FdCA this is a 70-page PDF booklet on the struggle against the Apartheid Wall, specially produced for the international day of anarchist solidarity 22 October actions. Lots of interviews, documents and analysis. They invite anarchist organizations to download, print and distribute the booklet.
In English
www.fdca.it/wall/media/wall_english.zip

In Italian
www.fdca.it/wall/media/wall_italiano.zip

Israel-Palestine, Immatin, Coalition against the Wall - Press release, 25.08.2005

A thousand demonstrators, Palestinians, Israelis and internationals protested the building of the stretch of Wall next to Immatin. "This is not a Security Fence, but a way to rob Palestinians of their land and add it to the Immanuel settlement."
"The route of the Wall penetrates 17 kilometer into the West Bank and usurpes a big part of the village's lands."
The organizers: "If the army abstains from provocations, such demonstrations can end without violence."
Some thousand demonstrators, Palestinians, Israelis and internationals held this morning a protest march towards the site where the "Separation Fence" is being built on the lands of Immatin village, located deep inside the West Bank at a 17 km distance from the Green line ('67 border). Previous demonstrations held in this area were dispersed by the army with much violence.

About 50 Israeli demonstrators, members of Anarchists Against Fences, Gush Shalom and Ta'ayush arrived at Immatin in the morning, ready to face army violence, and equipped with onions - this vegetable being an excellent antidote against tear gas. In the village center there awaited them a thousand Immatin residents, as well as a group from Bil'in - where an intensive struggle against the Separation Fence is going on for months - and also international volunteers, from America, Italy, Argentina and a group of French Canadians.

An army officer arrived at the spot in a jeep and told the village representatives that they had permission to march along the route of the Wall "on the condition that there will be no violence."

The demonstrators started to walk to the Wall site over a distance of three kilometres under the blazing sun, while raising their voices against the Wall and the settlements. Upon reaching the lined-up soldiers and army vehicles awaiting them they cried out "Take care, this is a non-violent demonstration". Thereupon they sat down in a circle, and Zahi Sowan of the Immatin Popular Committee spoke: "We have no other source of livelihood than our olive trees, which we inherited from our forfathers. Now you see here the withered remains of dozens of olive trees uprooted by army bulldozers, and on the other side of the fence are thousands of trees, of which we will be robbed. You see the factory belonging to the Immanuel Settlement, on the hill on the other side of the road. This factory was also built on a site where trees belonging to us were cut down. We hear that the state of Israel has dismantled the settlements in the Gaza Strip and Jenin area, but here they are expanding the settlements, making our lives bitter."

After him spoke Yonatan Pollak of the Anarchists. "They tell the Israeli public that this is a Security Fence. That is an outright lie. We are here 17 kilometres east of the Green Line, deep inside Palestinian territory. To our west there is already a fence. What is being built here is a fence within a fence. It has as its sole purpose to annex and widen the settlement and to imprison the Palestinians in a small enclave. That is an act of injustice which we oppose, and which is clearly a violation of international law and infringement of human rights."

Then was held a Muslim prayer on the site of the Wall, and after that the demonstrators returned to the village center - to disperse quietly, and orderly.

"In the media those who demonstrate against annexation and land-grabbing in the name of the Wall are depicted as a bunch of violent rioters, though the protestors, Israelis and Palestinians alike, come out non-violently against injustice and robbery. Today the army gave proof that, as long as it refrains from provocations, such demonstrations can end without any violent confrontation taking place" said Gush Shalom spokesperson Adam Keller, who had participated in the event.

"Could it be that the new criteria introduced by the army for the evacuation of settlers influence also the behavior of the soldiers here? If it would be like this again in Bil'in tomorrow afternoon, we may have a sign whether there really is a change of the army's attitude towards Israelis and Palestinians who protest the building of Walls on stolen land."

Ireland: Public meeting with (Israeli) Anarchists Against the Wall, Dublin 23 August

Two activists from the Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall group are in Dublin and will be doing a meeting about their solidarity with the Palestinan struggle against the wall on Tuesday at 8pm. The "Anarchists Against the Wall" got their name after one of their activists was shot in the legs by the Israeli army while they were attempting to tear down a section of the fence. Every Friday for the last months they have been taking part in demonstation of the Palestinian village of Bil'in most of whose land will be taken away once the wall is constructed.
* * ** Tuesday 23 August 8pm WSM office, 5 Merrion Row
(above the Centra just down from the Shelbourne hotel)
* * ** * * Latest news on the anti-wall struggle at http://www.stopthewall.org/

Detailed text about the wall
http://www.af-north.org/wall.htm

Anarchists against the wall active in Israel/Palestine 'Anarchists against the wall' who have now been involved in more than 200 actions against the apartheid wall being built by Israel
http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=399

Photos from 'Anarchist against the Wall' demonstrations
http://www.fdca.it/wall/foto2.htm

Reports from the anarchists against the wall actions at Bil'in (Aug 9)
http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=1123

Imneizil & Bil'in, The joint struggle against the apartheid wall continues (June 29)
http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=800

Hebron, Israeli anarchists earn an internationalist reputation (May 22
) http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=563

Salfit, another joint* front against the apartheid wall/fence (June 10)
http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=687

Protestors prevent trucks from unloading garbage in West Bank dump (April 13)
http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=292

Israel, Medeia*, HOW WE LEFT GAZA 22 Aug

We will never know with certainty what took place in the mind of Ariel Sharon in February 2004, when he first declared, without consulting anyone, that he is ready to evacuate the Jewish settlements in Gaza. But if we try to put together the pieces of the disengagement puzzle, the scenario that makes most sense is that Sharon believed that this time, as before, he would find a way of evading the plan. This would explain, for example, why the Gaza settlers have not yet received compensation money and why, as the Saturday Supplement of Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot revealed on August 5, almost no steps have been taken to prepare for their absorption into Israel. (1)

Sharon had good reason to believe that he would succeed in his avoidance tactics. In the previous round, when confronted with the Bush administration's road map, he committed himself to a cease fire, during which Israel was to revert to the status quo of pre-September 2000, freeze settlement construction and remove outposts. None of this was carried out. Sharon and the army claimed that Mahmud Abbas (in the previous round) was not trustworthy and had failed to rein in Hamas. The army continued its assassination policy and succeeded in bringing the Occupied Territories to an unprecedented boiling point, followed by the inevitable Palestinian terror attacks that shattered the cease fire. During the entire time, the first-term Bush administration stood by Sharon's side and dutifully echoed all his complaints against Abbas.

During the current period of calm, the Israeli army also continued with incursions into towns, arrests and targeted assassinations. It seemed as if the next terrorist attack, in the wake of which the calm would explode, was imminent, and the Israeli press was full of details outlining the “Fist of Iron” operation, which was expected this summer in Gaza. But the Bush administration suddenly changed direction. While Israel continued to declare that Abbas was not fulfilling his task, the Bush administration insisted repeatedly that Abbas must be given a chance. What had changed?

Until this turn-around, there was general agreement in Israel that there had never been a U.S. president who was friendlier towards Israel than George W. Bush. Presumably no one thought that a love of Jews on the part of the evangelical Bush was behind this support. But there was a feeling in Israel that with its superior air force, Israel was a huge asset in the global war that Bush had declared in the Middle East. With the euphoria of the power that was felt at the time, it seemed as if Afghanistan and Iraq were already “in our hands” and now we would proceed together towards Iran and maybe even Syria.

But in early 2005, the wheels began to turn the other way. The United States was sinking in the mire of Iraq incurring defeats and casualties. Iran, which after the war with Iraq was ready for any terms of surrender, drew encouragement from Iraq's resistance and from its ties with the Shiite militia. The oil agreements with China gave a boost to its economy and its status. Suddenly the possibility of an attack on Iran didn't seem as certain. It turned out that even the most advanced weapons may not suffice to bring to their knees entire regions which the U.S. was eyeing. In the meantime, support for Bush had sunk to under forty percent and after each world terrorist attack, one heard the paired words, Iraq and Palestine. Bush will not give up on Iraq so fast. But the headache of Palestine, he really doesn't need.

Since the beginning of this year, the U.S. steamroller has been moving steadily. First the all-powerful Israeli lobby in the U.S. was quietly neutralized. Two former officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) have been indicted on charges of assisting the transferring of classified information to an Israeli representative. If convicted, this could spell the end of AIPAC and the entire lobby. In the meantime, they will have to sit quietly, regardless of Bush's actions towards Israel.

The next move was to freeze military support in Israel under cover of the China arms sales crisis. It would have been possible to handle this pesky problem with one small blow, as in the past, but the U.S. imposed real sanctions this time. Contracts for the purchase of military arms were frozen, and the U.S. suspended cooperation on development projects. In Washington, the doors were closed on Israeli military officers.

Under these circumstances, the declared date of the disengagement approached. In light of the open preparations in Israel for a military operation, suspicions grew in the U.S. administration that Sharon would not carry out the plan. According to the New York Times of August 7, the Bush administration exerted pressure to prevent this from happening, and to prohibit the military operation. On July 21, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice arrived in Jerusalem for an unfriendly, hard-line visit. The New York Times reported remarks made by Middle East Security Coordinator General William Ward: "General Ward, a careful man, confirmed that two weeks ago, American pressure helped stay the Israeli military when it was poised to go into Gaza... He predicted that there could be similar pressure should the need arise. 'That scenario is a scenario that none of us would like to see,' he said. 'There is a deep realization on the part of the Israeli leadership, including the military, about the consequences of that type of scenario.' " (2)

Over the years we have become accustomed to the idea that “US. pressure” means declarations that have no muscle behind them. But suddenly the words have acquired new meaning. When the U.S. really does exert pressure, no Israeli leader would dare defy its injunctions (and certainly not Netanyahu). And so we have pulled out of Gaza. If the U.S. continues to lose ground in Iraq, maybe we will be forced to pull out of the West Bank as well.

(1) According to the article, from the very beginning, back in 2004, “the Prime Minister rebuffed the recommendation of [Major General Giora] Eiland, [National Security Advisor and Head of the IDF's disengagement Planning Branch] and decided that the government will not build temporary housing.”

(2) Steven Erlanger, The New York Times, August 7, 2005 http://www.let.uu.nl/~tanya.reinhart/personal/ From: Tanya reinhart
To: mashacamp@yahoogroups.com
======================
* By Tanya Reinhart, anarchist academian, in the main Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot, August 18, 2005. Translated from Hebrew by Edeet Ravel

Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, The Friday joint demonstration of 19-8-05

The joint Palestinian, internationals, and Israelis of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative demonstration started as usual at center of village early afternoon. As usual, the demonstration had a special feature - this time mirrors on which were written texts of placards in an inverted mode so when they reflected the Sun light on any surface, it was seen as the surface became a placard of that text.
As usual, the two hundred participants marched towards the fence building site west of the village. As usual, slogans and other vocal expressions were expressing the mood of the marchers. As usual, just at the fringe of the buildings area of the village there was the line of the army soldiers behind the barbed wire line blocking the road. Not as usual, this time we reflected placards on the bodies of the soldiers the sun light....

As usual the commander of the reserves army force (that replaced the border police and special police unit - few weeks ago and behave much less belligerent) warned us that it is a military closed zone. He said harsh repression will be applied if the demonstration will continue longer than few minutes.... And the many photographers had their fun taking pictures of the virtual placards projected on the soldiers.

After a while, the unruly youngsters of the village became restless. (They are not respecting too much the requests of the village fence struggle comity members to refrain from stone throwing during our demo.) So, they started to act. First they threw few eggs on the soldiers in front of the demonstration who responded with a short assault on the nonviolent demonstration and detaining 8 of us - 3 internationals and 5 Israelis.

After the short assault, we regrouped again in line in front of a line of the soldiers refusing to give in. So the nonviolent demonstration continued.... while in the olive orchards on the two sides of the road the attrition battle between the youngsters and the army continued.

And again, after a lone stone of the youngsters strayed to the demonstration area, the soldiers used it as an excuse for another assault on the nonviolent demonstration, but their shock grenades and tear gas failed again to disperse us.

All the time of the demonstration, people "preached" to the reservist army people against the occupation, against the fence that rob more than half of the Bil'in village for enlarging the building area of the settlers city Modi'in I'lit. Some people shamed the soldiers for assaulting nonviolent demonstrators and for shooting on kids who only throw stones.

After a long while, the commander of the army unit decided to give in. He told us he will call his force back few meters and did it. At that point we decided to end our demonstration, and return to center of village, and the arena became the battle ground between the unruly youngsters and the army.

As usual lately, an hour or so after the demonstration ended most of the people detained were released and only 3 internationals were taken to police station.

As usual, collected video clips that prove the arrested demonstrators were falsely accused of violence were taken by comrades to the police station for releasing the comrades taken there.

During the demonstration, few comrades were lightly injured and one person was more seriously wounded in her head from a stone thrown by the youngsters from a near by house roof....

Israel, Tel Aviv, MEDIA: Salon Mazal - The Anarchist's Playground 15 Aug

Anarchists with experience know that plotting the next revolution requires energy. It is perhaps for this reason that Tel Aviv's Salon Mazal has opted for an in-house restaurant and bar that serves good, inexpensive vegan meals. Pictures of ape heads with electrodes welded to their brains and flyers of bloodied chickens, however, don't seem to phase the handful of diners munching away on noodles loaded with tofu chunks. Some Tel Aviv residents may remember Salon Mazal from Rehov Montefiore off Allenby. Two years ago, the bookshop, library, and meeting ground for some of the country's most prolific activists picked up and moved to the homier locale on a quiet cul-de-sac seconds away from the frenetic King George bargain-basement shopping zone and minutes away from the fashion maven's Rehov Sheinkin.

For those who hanker for university campus-style activism and anti-establishment activities, Salon Mazal's collective offers one of Israel's very few pit stops where all this is happening under one roof.

At the newer location, Salon Mazal has doubled in size -- half of the shop is the vegan bar and a free Linux-based computing and surfing galley that serves groups of activists who converge daily; the other half is an alternative literature bookstore and library.

For a small fee, locals are invited to partake in the library, which offers reading material on how to be a woman pirate up to more modest endeavors such as growing one's own organic vegetable garden. Literature runs the full gamut expected in an anarchist/activist's playground. Subjects include feminism, globalization, and the environment. Of the thousands of books, about half are in English.

Books for sale are mostly in Hebrew, covering local issues which are bountiful. It's All Lies is among the collective's favorite. The large poster book attempts to expose the State of Israel's history of propaganda, starting from the Sixties and includes fodder on the controversial nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu. Another featured fave is Rise Up for Direct Action, written by Rony Armon, one of Salon Mazal's founders.

"We need a deep social change in this world where people take responsibility for what they do," explains Armon, who believes that books are a good way for people to get the tools to initiate this change.

Armon is one of some 30 local activists working at Salon Mazal. Others converge from groups such as Anarchists against the Wall, Indymedia, and the radical environmental group Green Action to volunteer their time running the kitchen, selling books, and organizing workshops.

No one except Rosana Berghof, 28, who has managed to assume a managerial role without the title, receives payment for their work. She may get a small stipend for the work she does, but eschewing capitalism is one of her priorities.

The bespectacled petite woman, who retains a thick Romanian accent, has gone so far as to live in a squat on Rehov Yehuda Ha'levi in Neve Zedek to espouse her ideals. She and some friends cleaned up an old apartment and lived there for a few months despite having no running water or electricity. Today she lives in the lower income Yad Eliyahu neighborhood with four roommates. She doesn't buy organic food usually "because it is expensive," but she cultivates her own vegetables in the backyard. She started her activist career as a supporter of animal rights, the environment, and human rights.

Today, like Salon Mazal volunteer Uri Ayalon, 26, she has anarchist tendencies and is against the establishment of both a Palestinian and an Israeli state.

Berghof and Ayalon believe in a world free of borders.

Ayalon defines himself as part of Anarchists against the Wall. He has done extreme maneuvers in the area of civil disobedience and direct action to sabotage the existence of Israel's security barrier. He was most affected by the death of American activist Rachel Corrie, who in 2003 died in a bulldozer-related accident in Gaza. After that, Ayalon decided to throw himself into more serious activism -- or anarchism, as he calls it -- going so far as to be a human shield.

"When a soldier knows a Jew is in front of him, he won't shoot," says Ayalon, who has darted from the occasional bullet. He identifies himself as a religious Jew -- a brave statement while working among a group of left-wing radicals.

Ayalon has little contact with government-mandated policies, refused army service, and doesn't use state facilities. His dream is to see a world of borderless communities not defined by nationality, religion, or race. Ethics and rules, Ayalon and Berghof agree, should come straight from the soul.

The two therefore help educate the soul by organizing daily workshops and lectures that are filed under monthly topics. In June, lectures were on animal rights; in July, it was crime; in August it's ageism.

Although invited speakers tend to hover around the politically left, the collective is interested in hearing other points of view, such as that of Moshe Feiglin who gave a talk at Salon Mazal recently. Feiglin founded the right-wing Zo Artzeinu (This Is Our Land) movement in 1995 to protest the Oslo agreement.

Talks have included Sarit Michaeli, spokesperson for B'tselem, who works to document crimes mainly against Palestinians in the disputed territories and the Gaza Strip.

"This group is considered radical to the mainstream," says Ayalon. "But they really aren't," he adds, explaining that among activists there are definite degrees of radicalism.

Vegan terrorists was the topic of a recent workshop, which attempted to show the difference between direct action versus terrorism and crime. There was also a talk led by Spain's Yomango, a group that is attempting to liberate people from the power of corporate logos.

On any given day at Salon Mazal, customers come in all shapes, sizes, races, and religion. One customer, a former neighbor who lived across the street, is Jackie Levy, 20. She was drawn into running Salon Mazal for a stint, and found that she could spend up to three weeks at a time without leaving "the bubble of the neighborhood."

Whether one is a seasoned anarchist or a curious newcomer, Salon Mazal offers something for everyone.

Open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m; daily workshops start at 8 p.m. Salon Mazal closes at 3 p.m. on Friday and remains closed on Saturday because "Shabbat is for resting," says Ayalon.

After all is said and done, even anarchists need a break.

For information about workshops, call (03) 629-7734 or visit http:www.salonmazal.org Simtat Almonit 3 (across from Gan Meir)

By KARIN KLOOSTERMAN
THE JERUSALEM POST
Aug. 15, 2005