Category: Palestine

It’s another summer of intifada in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

And since there’s occupation, there’s resistance. The International Solidarity Movement is doing a freedom summer this year. The International Women’s Peace Service (IWPS) is involved in a campaign already. Below are some reports from the ground.

Saturday, 11 June 2005

IWPS House Report No.77

Week of Palestinian nonviolent resistance met with Israeli military violence

– Marda village, Salfit region, West Bank

Twenty kilometers east of the Green Line, the settlement of Ariel (population 20,000) looms above a village one tenth its size. Marda was one of the four villages named in a recent Israeli court decision that canceled all previous injunctions halting construction of the Annexation Wall in the area. The government is now free to uproot trees and begin to clear the path for the Wall, and the affected villages have been promised that in the case of a decision reversal on June 21, when the final path will be decided, the damage will be undone. Villagers of Marda recognize this empty promise for what it is, knowing that the damage done is irreversible.

On Wednesday, June 1, Israeli workers with chainsaws began to cut Marda’s trees, and in a five day period, they had cut more than 800 trees. Monday, June 6, bulldozers arrived to begin uprooting the cut trees, and they have been working every day since. After years of occupation, land theft, random arrests, and army invasions, this latest offense has caused Marda villagers to say, “Enough!” Ariel already has a fence surrounding it, they note. Why does it need another? And why on our land? Ariel has already stolen most of our land; why take even more? Determined not to sit quietly while their land is destroyed, Marda farmers, in cooperation with the Popular Committee against the Wall and the entire Salfit region, and Israeli and international groups, decided to reclaim their right to be on their land and on their roads.

Saturday, June 4, 2005

The march from Marda to Kifl Hares was supposed to be proactive, preventative. Little did Marda know, when they scheduled the demo two weeks in advance to coincide with the anniversary of the occupation of the West Bank, that their land would begin to be destroyed so soon. Little did they know that their march from Marda to Kifl Hares, along the main settler highway (which had been used by Palestinians for decades before Israel’s occupation), would be more than symbolic. That they would be marching not only for the impending land destruction, but for the hundreds of trees whose crop had been cut from them just two days before.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the center of Marda to begin their march to Kifl Hares, which would end directly next to the entrance of Ariel settlement. More than 50 soldiers met demonstrators at the entrance of Marda before they left the village, telling the crowd it could not proceed beyond a white ribbon the army had placed across the road. The front line marched directly through the ribbon with arms linked, and came face to face with a line of soldiers, also with arms linked. Soldiers were armed with guns and batons, demonstrators with flags and signs, proclaiming, “Build trust, not walls,” and “Uproot settlers, not trees.”

As villagers and supporters continued to move forward, soldiers lunged at the crowd, beating several people, including one Israeli who had to be taken to a hospital. After Palestinian village leaders and officials like Mustafa Barghouti and Kadura Fares spoke with the army commander, the army finally allowed the crowd to walk through the olive groves and across the main road to get to a new road that Israel is building on Palestinian land. Villagers slowly made their way across, happy to see that the army had closed the road completely, to both Palestinian travelers and Israeli settlers. One boy who stayed in the road longer than soldiers wanted was grabbed and taken to a jeep, only to be taken back by three Palestinian leaders just minutes later.

Demonstrators successfully made their way to Kifl Hares, followed the whole way by soldiers who continued only to let one lane of traffic pass on the settler highway. The demonstration was a huge success: Villagers completed their intended walk, closed the settler highway for some time, and made a statement to the settlers and soldiers of Ariel that their land could not be quietly stolen from them.

Sunday, June 5, 2005

Sunday morning, villagers saw Israeli workers with their chainsaws once again, cutting trees near the top of the hill as they had been the previous week. Again, farmers would not let this destruction happen without trying to stop it. About 20 adult men and one IWPS woman started up the hill, and were quickly followed by about 30 boys who ignored their elders’ order to stay below. We made our way towards the cut trees, and shortly before arriving, security guards and soldiers, whom most of us still could not see over the terraces and through the olive trees, began yelling at us not to come any further. When villagers advanced, one of the security guards fired a shot towards the ground directly in front of the crowd. “Do not move!” they screamed. “Can we talk to you?” people asked. Each time the response was, “Do not move!”

Despite the fear inspired by the private guards and army, Israeli workers had left the area quickly upon the group’s arrival, a major victory for the farmers, who had also stopped the work with a quiet confrontation the previous week.

The standoff continued for a while, with occasional pushing and shoving on the army’s part and chanting on the young men’s part (“hayalim labayta” – “soldiers, go home”). One man was hit on the arm and leg with the butt of a guard’s gun.

Soldiers briefly entered the village, throwing sound bombs and leaving quickly. The villagers stayed above, surveying the damage to their land. No soldier would claim responsibility for the situation or for the other soldiers’ or guards’ behavior, so there was no person to speak or negotiate with until Gilad from the DCO arrived. After brief negotiations, Gilad promised that the work would stop for the day and that the army’s lawyer and the village’s lawyer would have a meeting the next morning to decide how to proceed.

About a half hour after we returned to the village, the work resumed. The army had broken its promise.

Monday, June 6, 2005

At 7:30 Monday morning, farmers gathered in hopes of walking to their land to sit and stop the cutting of their olive trees. 10 farmers, 8 internationals and Israelis, and approximately 40 young men and boys walked up the hill towards the settlement of Ariel where 100-200 soldiers were spread out across the land, concentrating in two different locations on the hillside.

No Wall work was happening at first, but the farmers quickly noticed that a bulldozer had begun to uproot trees near the top of the hill east of where we were standing. The group walked towards the olive trees and was immediately met by tear gas. Soldiers fired approximately 200 canisters of tear gas in the next two hours, hitting two Palestinians directly. One farmer was taken to Rafidiya hospital and two Red Crescent ambulances treated 20 Palestinians.

At 11:00, 3 army and police jeeps entered the village and began to throw sound bombs. Palestinian boys threw stones, hitting a jeep, and four border police entered a Palestinian home, presumably looking for the stone throwers. Many cameras filmed this and the police left quickly without arresting any one.

The uprooting of olive trees continued unobstructed.

Wednesday, June 8, 2005

At 5:30 Wednesday morning, curfew was imposed on Marda, and the entire area of Marda, Iskaka, and Salfit was declared a closed military zone. The army and border police repeatedly entered the village from 5.30 am, throwing sound bombs and firing tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition into the air. Three internationals attempted to enter Marda at 6:45 am, but were stopped by soldiers and border police and threatened with arrest. Later, 5 Israelis and 2 internationals were able to enter the village and were also ordered to leave and threatened with arrest.

One young Palestinian man had his identity card taken but it was later returned to someone else in the village. Just before midday occupation forces arrested a 25 year old Palestinian. After many hours of confusion and concern, his family discovered that he had been taken to Qedumim. He is still being held.

Approximately 20 Palestinians were injured, among them a Red Crescent ambulance worker.

Friday, June 10, 2005

As villagers in Marda tried to make their way to their fields to pray the Friday midday prayers on their land, accompanied by media, internationals, and Israeli peace activists, tear gas clouded the skies. Four bulldozers that had been uprooting Marda’s trees stopped working as soon as the villagers began their march.

Mere minutes into the ascent upwards and only a few hundred meters up the slope, Israeli soldiers began firing tear gas and sound bombs at the villagers. While a number of soldiers fired from the hill, other military vehicles made their way into the village. Tear gas and sound bombs turned into rubber bullets, and the rubber bullets into live ammunition, reportedly fired directly at children. Soldiers shot tear gas towards the mosque and into a sewing factory where dozens of women were working. Four were taken to the hospital for gas inhalation.

Three Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets, one in the stomach, one in the leg, and one in the arm. One Palestinian’s thumb was broken when a tear gas canister hit his hand. Others were treated for tear gas inhalation. One international was detained for several hours and taken to Ariel police station, but was later released.

The DCO later claimed that the Israeli army fired only one rubber bullet and no live ammunition, and that a Palestinian had been shooting a Kalachnikov rifle. Villagers and Israelis collected the bullets and casings, however, and they were clearly from M16s, the rifles that the military uses.

Israeli soldiers threatened to return later that night.

Saturday, June 11, 2005

It is now Saturday, Shabbat, the day that most Israelis do not work. This apparently includes the chainsaw and bulldozer operators who have been coming daily from Ariel to destroy Marda’s land. It is a quiet day. The Israeli holiday of Shavuot begins tonight and will last for two days, hopefully ensuring that the work in Marda will not resume during this time. Shavuot commemorates Moses’ ascent to Mount Sinai where he received the Ten Commandments. Will the villagers of Marda be able to ascend their own mountain and receive anything other than tear gas and bullets?

Text: Hannah, Joy, Suraiya

Date: June 11, 2005

International Women’s Peace Service (IWPS)

Hares, Salfit

Telephone: 09 251 66 44

A couple of weeks ago I discussed an event I attended at ‘Israel Apartheid Week’ at the University of Toronto.

One of the speakers at that event was Ilan Pappe, who I interviewed the following day. The interview is published on ZNet. Check it out.

Continue reading “Mechanisms of Denial”

http://www.zcommunications.org/mechanisms-of-denial-by-ilan-pappe

lan Pappe is a professor of History at Haifa University in Israel. He is an activist for Palestinian rights. He was in Toronto in February to give the keynote speech at ‘Israeli Apartheid Week’ at the University of Toronto. He was interviewed by telephone on February 5, 2005.

Continue reading “Mechanisms of Denial: Interviewing Ilan Pappe”

There is still much going on between Colombia and Venezuela, but I’ll hold off reporting on what’s going on in the Colombian press on the topic until the meeting tomorrow between Colombian and Venezuelan officials, the first since the crisis flared up. It’s worth mentioning though that the FARC haven’t been silent on this. The ANNCOL site is always a source for the pro-FARC perspective, but beyond that the Colombian press is full of reports of attacks across the country in recent days. In a situation where propaganda is as important as the massacres themselves, anything that is said about what the FARC did or didn’t do in mainstream press should be taken with a heavy dose of salt. But there are reports of – attacks on helicopters, the bombing of a ranch owned by a governor, various landmine operations, and attacks on paramilitaries – all within the past week. Even if the crisis is between Colombia and Venezuela, it’s worth remembering that it was after all a FARC member who was kidnapped and the FARC could have been expected to react in the way that an armed organization does.

More on the predictable. A friend recently asked me for my 10-second assessment of what was going to happen in Israel/Palestine now that Abbas has been elected. I said roughly that since there are still Palestinians there, Israel will still be doing ethnic cleansing, and there will still be resistance. His prediction was different – he thinks Abbas will make such drastic concessions that Israel’s political scene will divide, with some wanting to accept the concessions and others wanting to keep to a strict ethnic cleansing policy. To bolster his point, he could point to the resumption of diplomatic ties between Israel and the PA or the upcoming ‘handover’ of 4 West Bank towns to the PA. I, on the other hand, could point to the three different killings today, one in Qalqilya, one of a baby in Dir-al-Balah, one east of Tubas, and the statement by Olmert that Israel has no plans to stop the killing.

Media will dutifully be reporting the deaths of five Israeli soldiers — though some media are calling them simply ‘Israelis’, not specifying that they are soldiers — in a Palestinian armed attack at a military checkpoint in Rafah.

Continue reading “Gaza explosion”

Palestine’s leader, Yasser Arafat, has died.

I expect that in the coming days there will be a lot of stupid things written about him on all sides. I have already read some of it. As when he was living, the point will not be to shower contempt on him and his legacy. It will be to shower contempt on the Palestinian people.

Continue reading “Arafat”

The nice thing for Israel about killing “top Hamas leaders” is 1) you get to kill someone, 2) no one will be upset because, after all, it was a “top Hamas leader”, and 3) after you’ve killed a “top Hamas leader”, there will be another one to take his place. Another thing not to worry about is who else was killed in addition to the “top Hamas leader”: the story that comes via the Associated Press says the bombing killed two people including Adnan al-Ghoul.

The Globe and Mail, where I read that story, has another story about how Canada is ’tilting’ towards Israel. Hard not to ’tilt’ towards a country so tough on terror.

You can read about the ongoing massacre at IMEMC.org. At the same site, there is a good analysis by Ghassan Andoni, one of the founders of the International Solidarity Movement and a columnist at IMEMC on the aims of this “Days of Penitence” operation. (For some analysis from the Israeli side, check Uri Avnery’s or Gideon Levy’s recent work. For some reporting, check out Rafah Today’s Mohammed Omer).

Andoni provides the simplest and most concise explanation of Sharon’s ‘strategy’, and it is the same ‘strategy’ Sharon has always used: commit shocking acts of violence against Palestinians, and the population and the United States will follow you. Quoting him:

Building on past experience, military attacks that result in massive bloodshed have always achieved an end to all initiatives introduced to reduce the level of violence and pave the way for diplomatic negotiations.

Such offensives have consistently triggered revenge attacks and have escalated the endless cycle of violence in the region.

Operation “Days of Penitence” has no doubt alienated the internationally backed Egyptian efforts to bring about a coordinated disengagement that could serve as a step towards implementing the road map peace initiative.

Dov Weisglass, one of Sharon’s top aides, explained it best in an interview in Ha’aretz, where he described the significance of Sharon’s “disengagement from Gaza plan”:

“The significance is the freezing of the political process. And when you freeze that process you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and you prevent a discussion about the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package that is called the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed from our agenda indefinitely. And all this with authority and permission. All with a presidential blessing and the ratification of both houses of Congress. What more could have been anticipated? What more could have been given to the settlers?”

It is not just the Israeli army is killing a Palestinian every three hours, or that hundreds of children are in Israeli jails, or that virtually all the children in the territories are starving or on the verge of starving, or that houses and farms and livelihoods and lives are being systematically demolished. Beyond that, Israel and the US are very systematically working to ensure that there can be no decent peace at the end of this murderous, dirty “war”.

First thing: I want readers to know that even though I don’t spend much time blogging about Iraq, I don’t want readers to think that reflects what I think should be priorities. In fact I think Iraq is a major priority. I just think that two of my favourite blogs, Rahul’s and Zeynep’s , are staying on top of it quite effectively. If I think I can add anything, I will.

On Israel/Palestine. The offensive in Gaza continues. Israeli military shot and killed a 4 year old child there, according to IMEMC, and 12 others.

Read Ramzy Baroud in today’s Counterpunch for a thought experiment and a summary of what’s happened in this ‘Gaza raid’ so far.

And while this massacre goes on, the religious fundamentalists have invaded Israel and are trying to impose their agenda on that country.

Hamas, you ask? No, dear reader, I am talking about Pat Robertson. Today’s Haaretz quotes Pat, in Israel right now, said that if Bush were to “touch” Jerusalem, “Evangelicals would form a third party” (touch it, Bush! touch it please!)

Other constructive contributions from Pat include:

-Wanting to abolish the UN Relief and Works Agency (it perpetuates the refugee problem — which I suppose is true, since UNRWA is stopping all the refugees from starving to death, counter to Israel’s closure policies)

-Saying Arab nations “want a conflict” and “want the destruction of Israel” (so do the evangelicals, though I suppose they expect God will do it in His own time)

-“A Palestinian state with full sovereignty would be a launching ground for
various types of weapons, including weapons of mass destruction” (though how the WMD would get there from the US wasn’t explained)

-“I see the rise of Islam to destroy Israel and take the land from the Jews
and give East Jerusalem to [Palestinian Authority Chairman] Yasser Arafat.
I see that as Satan’s plan to prevent the return of Jesus Christ the
Lord,”

-“God says, ‘I’m going to judge those who carve up the West Bank and Gaza
Strip,'” Robertson said. “‘It’s my land and keep your hands off it.'”

I’m reminded of Latin American writer Eduardo Galeano’s quizzical remark before the US invaded Iraq last March: why is God giving Bush and the Pope such contradictory messages?