I am just back from Palestine where almost everyone told me that they have lost hope. I hadn’t been hearing that in the past years, so it was pretty depressing.
Then today in church the pastor said that to lose hope is to fail to honor those who have gone before us.
And tonight I talked with a Palestinian who lives here in Massachusetts, and he said that there hasn’t been any hope for Palestine since the Oslo Accords set the stage for unfettered Israeli expansion.
Hope for what? The hope that has been lost since my last visit in 2009 was for the international community to finally come through with pressure on Israel to stop building settlements so that there might be the possibility of negotiating an end to the occupation. But when Obama said “please stop”, and Israel said “no thank you”, that was the end. It became crystal clear that Israel was going to continue to do just as they pleased, and no power on earth was going to stop them.
As for honoring those who went before, those who have struggled for Palestinian liberation since 1948 or before, right up to the Turks who died on board the Mavi Mamara trying to reach Gaza, and including the olive farmers killed in their fields this season, and the Silwan resident shot by a settler in September as he was on his way to early morning prayers at the mosque, do their deaths require us to have hope in a falsehood called “the peace process?” Maybe we honor them more by looking facts in the face.
That’s what my Massachusetts Palestinian friend was saying. Any chance of Israel changing course has long since vanished. Israel was founded with a plan in place to take the whole of Palestine, and now they are armed not just with military weapons, and a nefarious set of regulations, but with a propaganda machine that reaches right into the U.S. Congress and media.
Catching up on my mail today, one article illustrates the hopeless situation facing Palestinians in their daily lives. The article is from an Associated Press journalist, Diaa Hadid, reporting from Jenin, West Bank, Palestine. She tells of the Helou family who are trapped in this city because Israel will not recognize their residency in the West Bank. The father and four of the children were born in Gaza and have Gazan IDs. The mother and four younger children were born in Jenin. If they try to travel outside Jenin with a Gaza ID, they will be deported to Gaza. If they were to return to Gaza even to visit they would lose their West Bank home. There are about 20,000 Palestinians in this same predicament. They cannot travel between the two parts of Palestine, and with Gaza IDs they are subject to “deportation” to Gaza. This is one of Israel’s tools for clearing the West Bank of Palestinians. There are hundreds of such tools.
I don’t want to lose hope for Palestine. I know a lot of fine and loving people in there, and I want them to have a life. But the facts on the ground, put there by Israel and sustained by the United States, look hopeless. So I turn to a poem by Wendell Berry called “Practice Resurrection”. It was in my “to read” pile of papers and turned up today. Here are some of the lines:
“So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute....
“Expect the end of the world. Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable.
Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.....
“As soon as the generals and politicos can predict the motions of your mind, lose it.
Leave it as a sign to mark the false trail, the way you didn’t go.”
His words shake my mind loose from the facts on the ground and allow me to find hope for Palestine in the unpredictable, in miracles, in the farmer’s inexhaustible love for his land. And maybe that's enough.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
The West Bank Is Also Under Seige
Here is a family I know quite well, having been a guest in their house in Nablus many times, and having hosted the father and his youngest son in my house as well. It s Mohammed's family: his wife, Samar, his older son, Yazan, 23 and 15 year old Majed. ( The daughter, Raya, is married and out of the house.) Not only are we friends, but Mohammed and I are both involved in the struggle to free Palestine from the grip of Israel's occupation.
I respect Mohammed's perspective and values which are informed by more than 15 arrests and times in Israeli prisons simply for his involvement in grassroots organizing, and by his deep Muslim faith. Further, this family is an urban, professional family, both parents being university professors, and the children either with advanced degrees or aspiring to such. Thus their opinions on Palestine's present status and future prospects are important to record.
Mohammed believes that it will just take one incident to set off a violent revolt among Palestinians, and that spark will come from the action of Israeli settlers. Settler violence is on the rise in rural and urban areas alike. If the reaction becomes a full Intifada, it will be different from the others, but he can't forsee what shape it will take.
For years settlers have stolen the sacks of olives from farmers after they have completed a day of hard work to harvest them, or they have burned and cut the olive trees in order to deprive Palestinians from this vital crop. But this year Israeli settlers have added a new tactic to disrupt the olive harvest: they are coming into the olive groves at night and stealing the olives off the trees. When the farmers arrive in the early morning to start picking, they find the trees are bare of fruit. The settlers thus avoid direct confrontation with the farmers while provoking them with a poisonous surprise. The settlers also get around the arrangement that the Palestinians have managed to make with the Israeli army whereby farmers are given from one to four days to harvest without fear of settler interference. These arrangements do not allow enough time to complete the harvest nor to provide time for pruning trees and conditioning the soil. Under normal conditions, a farmer attends to his trees all year round.
In urban East Jerusalem, settlers have been steadily expanding their holdings, but now their armed "guards" are roaming through Palestinian neighborhoods at night and in September shot and killed a man on his way to early morning prayers. In the neighborhood of Sheik Jarrah, Palestinian families have been forcefully evicted from their homes of which they are the lawful owners, in order for settlers to move in. So far the reaction from Palestinians has been non-violent demonstrations, in which they are joined by outraged Israeli peace activists and by international supporters. However, with many more homes already targeted by settlers for take-over, one has to wonder how long the Palestinians' anger will remain corked.
Mohammed’s wife adds that the so-called peace talks won't give Palestinians their rights. "I am not optomistic," she says. " Israel doesn't want peace, so things will get worse." Maybe there will be another Intifada. She wants to see two states, and believes that many others want that solution also.
Yazin's anger at Israel simmers just below the surface. He was arrested on trumped up charges three years ago, tortured and imprisoned for 2 years. (As in most cases of arrest of young Palestinians, the charges were vague, the military trial unfair, and the sentencing arbitrary.) As a result, Yazin suffers from bleeding ulcers and "fire" in his lower legs where he was beaten, by inability to sleep and difficulty concentrating on his university studies. Mohammed says that his son's personality has been changed by the prison experience. He used to be gentle and generous; now he is moody, defiant and angry. I have little doubt that he suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
In answer to my questions about prospects for peace with Israel, Yazin said, " There is no Israel." I was puzzled by this statement and pressed him for an explanation. In essence, he said that Jews came to Palestine and took the land. It wasn't theirs before the state of Israel was formed, and it still isn't theirs. So there is no Israel-- only Palestine.
Yazin finds it hard to stay interested in his university major in Business Administration, which he was forced to suspend while in prison, because there is little prospect of finding work in Palestine when he graduates in 2 years. The occupation, with its goal of squeezing Palestinians out of Palestine, has destroyed the economy. Still, he is thinking ahead and wants to get his Masters in the U.S., and then go wherever he can find a good job.
I later asked Mohammed what Palestinians think of the Free Gaza flotilla movement. He said that they support it from the humanitarian point of view,, but want the international community to realize that the West Bank is also under siege, and that Gaza is not a separate entity. We must create interventions that address all parts of Palestine.
I wonder if we must think of an over-land caravan through Jordan to the Allenby Bridge crossing into the West Bank to coincide with the flotillas aimed at Gaza.
I respect Mohammed's perspective and values which are informed by more than 15 arrests and times in Israeli prisons simply for his involvement in grassroots organizing, and by his deep Muslim faith. Further, this family is an urban, professional family, both parents being university professors, and the children either with advanced degrees or aspiring to such. Thus their opinions on Palestine's present status and future prospects are important to record.
Mohammed believes that it will just take one incident to set off a violent revolt among Palestinians, and that spark will come from the action of Israeli settlers. Settler violence is on the rise in rural and urban areas alike. If the reaction becomes a full Intifada, it will be different from the others, but he can't forsee what shape it will take.
For years settlers have stolen the sacks of olives from farmers after they have completed a day of hard work to harvest them, or they have burned and cut the olive trees in order to deprive Palestinians from this vital crop. But this year Israeli settlers have added a new tactic to disrupt the olive harvest: they are coming into the olive groves at night and stealing the olives off the trees. When the farmers arrive in the early morning to start picking, they find the trees are bare of fruit. The settlers thus avoid direct confrontation with the farmers while provoking them with a poisonous surprise. The settlers also get around the arrangement that the Palestinians have managed to make with the Israeli army whereby farmers are given from one to four days to harvest without fear of settler interference. These arrangements do not allow enough time to complete the harvest nor to provide time for pruning trees and conditioning the soil. Under normal conditions, a farmer attends to his trees all year round.
In urban East Jerusalem, settlers have been steadily expanding their holdings, but now their armed "guards" are roaming through Palestinian neighborhoods at night and in September shot and killed a man on his way to early morning prayers. In the neighborhood of Sheik Jarrah, Palestinian families have been forcefully evicted from their homes of which they are the lawful owners, in order for settlers to move in. So far the reaction from Palestinians has been non-violent demonstrations, in which they are joined by outraged Israeli peace activists and by international supporters. However, with many more homes already targeted by settlers for take-over, one has to wonder how long the Palestinians' anger will remain corked.
Mohammed’s wife adds that the so-called peace talks won't give Palestinians their rights. "I am not optomistic," she says. " Israel doesn't want peace, so things will get worse." Maybe there will be another Intifada. She wants to see two states, and believes that many others want that solution also.
Yazin's anger at Israel simmers just below the surface. He was arrested on trumped up charges three years ago, tortured and imprisoned for 2 years. (As in most cases of arrest of young Palestinians, the charges were vague, the military trial unfair, and the sentencing arbitrary.) As a result, Yazin suffers from bleeding ulcers and "fire" in his lower legs where he was beaten, by inability to sleep and difficulty concentrating on his university studies. Mohammed says that his son's personality has been changed by the prison experience. He used to be gentle and generous; now he is moody, defiant and angry. I have little doubt that he suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
In answer to my questions about prospects for peace with Israel, Yazin said, " There is no Israel." I was puzzled by this statement and pressed him for an explanation. In essence, he said that Jews came to Palestine and took the land. It wasn't theirs before the state of Israel was formed, and it still isn't theirs. So there is no Israel-- only Palestine.
Yazin finds it hard to stay interested in his university major in Business Administration, which he was forced to suspend while in prison, because there is little prospect of finding work in Palestine when he graduates in 2 years. The occupation, with its goal of squeezing Palestinians out of Palestine, has destroyed the economy. Still, he is thinking ahead and wants to get his Masters in the U.S., and then go wherever he can find a good job.
I later asked Mohammed what Palestinians think of the Free Gaza flotilla movement. He said that they support it from the humanitarian point of view,, but want the international community to realize that the West Bank is also under siege, and that Gaza is not a separate entity. We must create interventions that address all parts of Palestine.
I wonder if we must think of an over-land caravan through Jordan to the Allenby Bridge crossing into the West Bank to coincide with the flotillas aimed at Gaza.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Al-Walaja Village Gasps for Breath
We went to see Al-Walaja with professor and activist Mazin Qumsiyeh who wanted us to witness how the Separation Wall is encircling the village of 2300 people in order to separate it from the agriculutral land from which it survives. The benefits for Israel are: 1) that the village's land that will be on the other side of the wall will be available for expansion of the settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo, and 2) villagers who can no longer make a living, will leave, thus reducing the overall Arab population that Israel has to deal with.
To put today's crisis in perspective, Mazin gave us this history. The original Al-Walaja was completely demolished in 1948 by Jewish forces fighting the indigenous Arab inhabitants in order to establish a Jewish state free of an Arab population. It had been a prosperous food-producing area on its 17,793 dunams (4440 acres) of land. When the 25,000 villagers were forced to flee, they dispersed to Jordan and to refugee camps all over the Middle East. Among them was Abu Nidal (Ahmed Bargout) who was hosting us on this visit. He was also among the 10% who came back in 1963 to rebuild. By then the village was reduced to a quarter of its original size and under the control of Jordan.
However, life was to take another sorry turn in 1967 when Israel conquered the Jordanian territories and started the military occupation that endures until today. At that time, and without notifying the citizens of Al-Walaja, Israel annexed most of the village into Jerusalem. Al- Walaja did not come to realize what that meant until 1982 when all of their homes and structures received demolition orders for being erected on land claimed by Israel. The orders were promptly executed. Having nowhere else to go, and determined to hold onto their ancestral lands, the villagers lived in caves and shelters until they could once again rebuild. This time they knew that their new homes, schools and mosques would be considered illegal by Israel and subject to demolition at any time. Many have been demolished.
Fast forward to 2006 when Al-Walaja heard of the Israeli plan to build the separation wall around the village. They went to court - Israeli court - and though a case is still pending to decide if the wall can be put there, the wall is under construction. We could see parts of the tall, concrete structure that have been finished, and, just below Abu Nidal's living room where we sipped tea, we could see the heavy equipment moving up and down the dirt road where the wall will soon be. Like many things in pPalestinian daily life, there was a surreal quality to this view. On the near side of the dirt road are Abu Nidal's house, animal pens, fruit trees, gardens, and us sipping tea as if everything were normal. On the other side of the dirt road and down the hillside into the valley below are Abu Nidal's olive groves, grape vineyards and sheep pastures--90% of his land. Also on that side is his family cemetery where his mother is buried. The view out another window shows one of the village roads, which has been blocked from use while the wall construction goes on. When the wall is finished, he has been informed, the reopened road will be about 5 feet wide, which cannot accommodate a car.
When the wall is finished...which won't be long now, the houses inside of it will not be exempt for demolition orders. More than half of them already have the orders. Part of the torture is that no one knows when the bulldozers will come...
Abu Nidal is a distinguished-looking man with white hair who must be in his 70's. He has seven grown children. Three of his sons have not married because they don't have any money. He ended his explanation of what is happening here by mentioning the emotional stress everyone is under which shows up in the increase of tensions within families. One of the biggest strains is the separation from parents, siblings and children caused by the restrictions on travel. For example, he has a sister in Jerusalem, but he is not allowed to go to Jerusalem from the West Bank. And soon his sister will not be allowed into Al-Walaja because only its residents will have passes to cross through the gate in the wall.
We asked Abu-Nidal what he thought about the future. He laughed. "Bleak," he answered. There is alot of animosity towards the occupier, the world doesn't do anything to help, and there are those within Palestine who collaborate with Israel. The PA doesn't do anything and "this is more dangerous than the settlements." He called it a "conspiracy of silence."
Before we said goodbye to Abu-Nidal, he took us up to the roof for a better view of Al-Walaja and Jerusalem just across the valley. As a parting gift he cracked open his home-grown walnets and handed us the fresh meats.
Mazin then took us to meet with the leader of the Village Council of Al-Walaja, Abu Ahmad. He added more history and analysis to the picture. Before the occupation there were 26 water wells in the village. Now there are only 2, and these are being tapped by the nearby settlements. When the wall is finished, the 2 wells will be on the other side, and the occupation does not alow Palestinians to dig new wells.
Sixty percent of villagers now depend on U.N. aid, for which they are eligible due to being officially designated as refugess from '48. I asked Abu Ahmad what he thought of the PA's economic development plan. Did he see any benefit for Al-Walaja? He answered, "The PA is under occupation." To illustrate his point, he pointed out that Israel forbids Palestinians to import fertilizers or pesticides.
As for pledging allegiance to a "Jewish state" as Israel's parliament is now considering, he said he was shocked that the U.S. would support this idea because it takes away the rights of all Palestinians, those who live in the diaspora and want to return and those who live inside Israel but could not swear loyalty to a state only for Jews. He concluded that moderates in the Arab world who want a peaceful solution for Palestine are losing credibility, which will leave the radicals in charge of the field. Here in Palestine, people voted for Hamas in 2006 because they were fed up with Fateh, not because of Hamas' ideology, but if they voted today, the resistance parties would win because they are willing to fight.
Meanwhile, Al-Walaja is gasping for breath.
To put today's crisis in perspective, Mazin gave us this history. The original Al-Walaja was completely demolished in 1948 by Jewish forces fighting the indigenous Arab inhabitants in order to establish a Jewish state free of an Arab population. It had been a prosperous food-producing area on its 17,793 dunams (4440 acres) of land. When the 25,000 villagers were forced to flee, they dispersed to Jordan and to refugee camps all over the Middle East. Among them was Abu Nidal (Ahmed Bargout) who was hosting us on this visit. He was also among the 10% who came back in 1963 to rebuild. By then the village was reduced to a quarter of its original size and under the control of Jordan.
However, life was to take another sorry turn in 1967 when Israel conquered the Jordanian territories and started the military occupation that endures until today. At that time, and without notifying the citizens of Al-Walaja, Israel annexed most of the village into Jerusalem. Al- Walaja did not come to realize what that meant until 1982 when all of their homes and structures received demolition orders for being erected on land claimed by Israel. The orders were promptly executed. Having nowhere else to go, and determined to hold onto their ancestral lands, the villagers lived in caves and shelters until they could once again rebuild. This time they knew that their new homes, schools and mosques would be considered illegal by Israel and subject to demolition at any time. Many have been demolished.
Fast forward to 2006 when Al-Walaja heard of the Israeli plan to build the separation wall around the village. They went to court - Israeli court - and though a case is still pending to decide if the wall can be put there, the wall is under construction. We could see parts of the tall, concrete structure that have been finished, and, just below Abu Nidal's living room where we sipped tea, we could see the heavy equipment moving up and down the dirt road where the wall will soon be. Like many things in pPalestinian daily life, there was a surreal quality to this view. On the near side of the dirt road are Abu Nidal's house, animal pens, fruit trees, gardens, and us sipping tea as if everything were normal. On the other side of the dirt road and down the hillside into the valley below are Abu Nidal's olive groves, grape vineyards and sheep pastures--90% of his land. Also on that side is his family cemetery where his mother is buried. The view out another window shows one of the village roads, which has been blocked from use while the wall construction goes on. When the wall is finished, he has been informed, the reopened road will be about 5 feet wide, which cannot accommodate a car.
When the wall is finished...which won't be long now, the houses inside of it will not be exempt for demolition orders. More than half of them already have the orders. Part of the torture is that no one knows when the bulldozers will come...
Abu Nidal is a distinguished-looking man with white hair who must be in his 70's. He has seven grown children. Three of his sons have not married because they don't have any money. He ended his explanation of what is happening here by mentioning the emotional stress everyone is under which shows up in the increase of tensions within families. One of the biggest strains is the separation from parents, siblings and children caused by the restrictions on travel. For example, he has a sister in Jerusalem, but he is not allowed to go to Jerusalem from the West Bank. And soon his sister will not be allowed into Al-Walaja because only its residents will have passes to cross through the gate in the wall.
We asked Abu-Nidal what he thought about the future. He laughed. "Bleak," he answered. There is alot of animosity towards the occupier, the world doesn't do anything to help, and there are those within Palestine who collaborate with Israel. The PA doesn't do anything and "this is more dangerous than the settlements." He called it a "conspiracy of silence."
Before we said goodbye to Abu-Nidal, he took us up to the roof for a better view of Al-Walaja and Jerusalem just across the valley. As a parting gift he cracked open his home-grown walnets and handed us the fresh meats.
Mazin then took us to meet with the leader of the Village Council of Al-Walaja, Abu Ahmad. He added more history and analysis to the picture. Before the occupation there were 26 water wells in the village. Now there are only 2, and these are being tapped by the nearby settlements. When the wall is finished, the 2 wells will be on the other side, and the occupation does not alow Palestinians to dig new wells.
Sixty percent of villagers now depend on U.N. aid, for which they are eligible due to being officially designated as refugess from '48. I asked Abu Ahmad what he thought of the PA's economic development plan. Did he see any benefit for Al-Walaja? He answered, "The PA is under occupation." To illustrate his point, he pointed out that Israel forbids Palestinians to import fertilizers or pesticides.
As for pledging allegiance to a "Jewish state" as Israel's parliament is now considering, he said he was shocked that the U.S. would support this idea because it takes away the rights of all Palestinians, those who live in the diaspora and want to return and those who live inside Israel but could not swear loyalty to a state only for Jews. He concluded that moderates in the Arab world who want a peaceful solution for Palestine are losing credibility, which will leave the radicals in charge of the field. Here in Palestine, people voted for Hamas in 2006 because they were fed up with Fateh, not because of Hamas' ideology, but if they voted today, the resistance parties would win because they are willing to fight.
Meanwhile, Al-Walaja is gasping for breath.
Applying Israeli Justice to Palestinians
Mazin Qumsiyeh is a Palestinian activist, known to many in Palestine because of his courage in contronting Israeli soldiers at demonstrations or home demolitions, for his astute analysis of the Israeli occupation, and his knowledge of Middle Eastern history. He is a genetecist, a professor at Bethlehem University and has taught at several American universities, including Yale. He is just finishing his second book, this one about the history of nonviolent struggle in Palestine going back to the early 1900's. Mazin decided to move from the States back to Palestine 2 and a half years ago, to share in the hardships of the occupation while continuing the struggle for freedom for his homeland.
He is now being summoned to court by the Israeli military. The manner in which he was informed of this demand speaks to how Israel treats Palestinians:
--On October 19 Mazin received a hand-delivered registered letter dated October 3rd.
-- It is written entirely in Hebrew, for which he must seek translation.
--It gives him 30 days to answer "the charges against him", which are not stated in the letter.
This means Mazin must get an Israeli lawyer to investigate the charges and prepare an answer within eleven days--actually 7 working days.
This is Israeli military justice, the system that enforces the law in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. All Palestinians who are detained for any reason and need to appear before a judge, must do so in a military court. Israeli civil law does not apply to them.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Amira and Sammeh:Saving History to Save Palestine
Amiral, whose name means , Princess was born in Palestine, in Al-Bireh, the twin city of Ramallah, in the house her parents built in 1950. She was politically active in high school, for which she was arrested and held in prinson several times. By the time she started college, Israel had banned her from traveling outside the country, but she attended Bir Ziet University, graduating in 1981 with a degree in economics. When the First Intifada broke out in 1987 she and her husband, Ahmad, were helping to coordinate the civil resistance. For this activism, her husband was deported in 1989 to Lebanon, and she was deported in 1990 to Jordan. It took a year and a half for them to reunite.
In 1994, after the Oslo Peace Accords were signed, Amal and Mohammed were among the first Palestinians to take advantage of the amnesty for deportees and return to their homeland. They knew that the Accords would not deliver peace and end the Israeli occupation, but they were hoping they could start an a-political life. But very shortly they could see that the situation was not Accordsgoing to improve. Already Gaza was isolated, Jerusalem was closed off, checkpoints were set up all over the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority was corrupt from the beginning, and was controlling the press. It felt like a big jail. They left for Australia in 1997, looking for freedom from restrictions for their children.
However, life in Australia was not satisfying, so the couple decided in 2001 to move to the U.S. where Amal had a sister. After a few years in the States, Amira began to make frequent trips back to Palestine because she really wants to live there. But her husband's application for a green card has been held up for 7 years because of accusations that he belongs to a terrorist organization - the very organization, Amira points out, that the U.S. is now negotiating peace with - the Palestine Liberation Organization. Currently, Amira is free to travel back and forth, speaking out for Palestine in both countries, while Ahmad must wait until his status is settled. Their three children are doing well, two in the States and one here. Her son is a computer engineer in California, one daughter is a podiatrist on the medical faculty at An-Najah University in Nablus, and one daughter is a senior at Ohio State Univesity, studying biology.
Because of her history as an activist, I wanted to hear Amira's opinions on various aspects of Palestinian politics. I asked about the popularity of the current regime in charge of Palestine. She explained that President Abbas' party, Fateh, employs 160,000 people which gives it a base of people who want to keep their jobs. However, many of them had been active in other political parties, and are not necessarily happy with Fatah's policies. A huge amount of money enters Palestine from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries through the so-called "Donors", but it does not reach the people. Development is practically non-existent. While the PA announced it is implementing an economic plan for the West Bank, it is mostly cosmetic: a movie theater opened in Nablus, some public places have been beautified, and there is a new Palestine Satelite Network to show to the business world.
As Amira sees it, this economic plan is designed to make people forget about the occupation. All the while, the education and health systems are deteriorating and public discontent is rising. People see President Abbas (Abu Mazin) collaborating with the Israelis, and it is not acceptable. She thinks a third Intifada is coming, first against the PA and then against the occupation, and it will not be pretty. "I can't imagine what a third intifada will look like." She sees no leadership on the national level that could bring order out of chaos. Will the popular committees play a role in the uprising? Yes, but it is not possible to know how strong they will be by then.
Meanwhile, it seems like Abu Mazin will not be long in power. Already his term in office has expired, and he has no power to strike a deal in the peace negotiations. When the talks fail, so will he, and Israel and the U.S. will need to prepare someone else to take over the puppetry. Could Marwan Bargouthi be released from Israeli prisons and become the next President, selling himself like Abu Mazin is now doing? (This assumes that Israel and the U.S. will have to approve of the next president of the PA and will chose someone whom they think will do their bidding.) Amira knows Marwan from their joint time in exile, and she does not think he can make a difference. Besides, there are several others vying for the job of President. For example Jibril Rjoupe, now head of the powerful Palestinian Soccer League and popular with the U.S. And Mohammed Dahlan, who was charged by Hamas with complicity in overthowing their newly elected government in 2006 and with collaborating with Israel for the attack on Gaza in 2008-09.
At present, Amira's energies are devoted to the foundation she just created, the Sheik Husan Foundation for Culture and Science. She has named it for Sheik Hasan Al-Labadi, a little known patriot who spent 44 years in solitary confinement in British and Israeli prisons after receiving a life sentence for killing a British officer in 1939. Before he was imprisoned, he was a respected imam and a teacher in several Palestinian villages. By honoring him, the Foundation fulfills part of its mission - "to preserve Palestine's cultural and historical heritage from theft and distortion by the Zionist colonial entity." The Foundation will promote sustainable development in Palestine by "intensive investment in education, health, and agricultural and industrial cooperatives."
Amiral is working on a Palestinian Memory Museum for which the Foundation will engage in extensive research into the displacement of Palestinians during the '48 war and before that under the British Mandate. She explains that in 1938 there were 50,000 Palestinian prisoners in administrative detention (without charges) in British prisons, 2,000 received life sentences and 148 were executed. What is the story behind this and Britain's collaboration with the Zionist terrorist groups that were fighting to take over British controlled Palestinian lands? The Foundation will explore this history with an eye toward prosecuting prior and current Zionist governmets for war crimes.
The Foundation will also strive to provide scholarships and support services to families of political prisoners and martyrs and create student exchange programs that will encourage Palestinian students to maintain their cultural identity and foreign students to increase their understanding of the Palestinian reality.
SAMMEH HAMMOUDEH
Doris and I had been invited to Sunday dinner with Sammeh and his wife, Nadia. When Sammeh learned we were staying with Amira, he invited her to come too, as they already knew each other through their common interests. For me and Doris this was our third annual visit with Sammeh and his family. Doris knew him when he was a co-defendant of Dr. Sami al-Arian of Florida, who has been unjustly held in the custody of the American judicial system for the last 7 years. That is a story in itself, but not the one for today.
Sammeh teaches political science at Bir Ziet University and has just finished writing his second book. He and his wife have six healthy children. His oldest, a daughter whom I met two years ago, is just starting a PhD. program in public health at Brown University in Rhode Island. His second daughter, on full scholarship, is getting her masters in human resources in London. Hanan, daughter number three is in her last year at American University in Lebanon, majoring in international relations. The younger three children were born in the United States while Sammeh was studying for his PhD at the University of Southern Florida. He was months away from getting his degree when he was arrested along with Dr.Al-Arian. The three citizen-children were deported by the U.S. government along with their parents, even though Sammeh was exonorated of all charges against him.
Sammeh's wife, Nadia, teaches elementary age children, in English, at a private school for Palestinian kids who were born abroad and whose parents want them educated in Palestine.
Our conversation turned to analyzing what is happening in today's Middle East. "Israel is doing anything it wants to do," said Sammeh, "because of the weakness of the Arab and international communities. Its supporters are embarrassed because they can't defend what Israel is doing. The Turks, on the other hand are smart; they have good relations with everyone in the area. The U.S. is not dominating the scene as before and is losing power because of the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and its economic policies at home. It has created enemies; other countries are boycotting American goods and currency."
Will there be another intifada? Sammeh doesn't think so. "We didn't get anything from the first two." Coming soon will be another war between Israel and Lebanon due to the rise of Hezbollah and Israel's inability to accept its defeat in previous conflicts with Lebanon. Neither Israel nor the U.S. will attack Iran because Iran's Shia population is allied with Iraq's Shia, and any attack on Iran would ignite extreme violence within Iraq.
Like Amira, Sammeh is interested in promoting the histories of Palestinians who have struggled to protect Palestine. The book he just finnished is about Daoud Houseni, born in 1903, and a leader who fought all his life against occupiers of Palestine. I asked Sammeh what drew him to write about this particular man. He answered that he has always been drawn to the history of Palestinians under the British Mandate (1921-1949), thought this man should be known, but research on this period is difficult because the only records are family papers. Britian did not keep statistics or records on the local population that they controlled. He heard about and contacted Houseni's daughter (who happens to be my new friend Dyala Dajani), and she handed him reams of detailed journals kept by her father, thus providing him with most of the documentation he needed for his research.
Amira and Sammeh are themselves invaluable resources for my understanding of what is happening in Palestine, in the whole Middle East, and in the world. On the one hand, the story is complex and puzzling. On the other hand, it is very simple. Israel is illegally occupying what is left of historic Palestine, and is oppressing the people who live there. A just peace must see the end to this occupation, however long that takes. People like Amira and Sammeh are part of the resistance, keeping Palestine alive by capturing and teaching the rich legacy of Palestinian culture and resistance.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
You Have to BELIEVE in Peace
Iyad Bournat is the head of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in the small rural village of Bil'in (pronounced Bila-een). I spent one hour with him before the weekly demonstration against the wall that has cut off 55% of the village lands. I want you to hear his voice, because he is someone who carries an unshakeable hope in his heart, and it inspires his leadership.
Iyad started with a short history. As soon as Israel started to build the Wall in June of 2002, Bil'in could see it coming, even though it was still far to the North. Eventually, Israeli engineers began to frequent village lands, and the people organized a committee to plan their resistance. As soon as the bulldozers appeared on the scene, villagers chained themselves to olive trees that were in the path of the bulldozers and demonstrated every day to stop the uprooting of trees that not only represent income, but embody the spirit of the land and its people.
However, as the days passed and the destruction continued, protected by Israeli soldiers who detained as many demonstrators as they could catch, the demonstrations became a weekly event, while simultaneously the Popular Committee hired sympathetic Israeli lawyers and took their case to the Israeli Supreme Court. Their argument,- that the wall was not anywhere near the border with Israel but was routed in order to expropriate more land for nearby settlements, and therefore had nothinng to do with security, was upheld in court, and the army was ordered to move the wall closer to the border. That victory was in 2007, but not until 2009 was action taken to move the wall. Now one can see where the "new wall" is being consstructed in the distance, while the current wall is still in place.
In spite of winning the court case, Iyad listed several ways that Israel tries to stop the demonstrations, which are attended by villagers, internationals, Israeli activists, and the media. It tells Israelis that it is illegal for them to come, because their mere presence proves that the two sides CAN live together and cooperate. It imposes curfews and conducts night raids to harass villagers and frighten them. It kidnaps children from their homes in the night and during detention tries to get them to say that the leaders tell them to throw stones. It arrests the leaders based on the accusations of frightened children.
Israel denies exit to the leaders like Iyad who are invited to speak abroad. Iyad has twice been turned back at the border with Jordan ( the only point of departure allowed to Palestinians without foreign passports). Internationals who are discovered to have demonstrated in Bil'in are often barred from re-entering Israel on their next visit.
The odds seem stacked against Iyad , against Bil'in, against a Palestinian state. Others I have met on this trip have lost hope. So what keeps Iyad going? " You need to BELIEVE," he says. "If I didn't have hope, I couldn't continue this work. And he points to successes. The wall is being moved. Other villages now have weekly demonstrations. The international boycott campaign is growing.
After the demonstration today, when I am soaked in sweat and tear gas, I listen to another member of the Popular Committee, Basil, orient a group from Norway. From him I learn that these demonstrations are not labeled "nonviolent resistance", but "popular resistance." which in part answers my questions about stone throwing. There is an unwritten agreement not to throw stones until after the demonstrators have reached the wall and delivered the message of the day, which today is about freeing political prisoners. After that, stones will fly, sometimes from a powerful sling shot. But...
But stones are not guns. And international law protects the right of occupied people to armed resistance. Israel is the occupier. Israel has the tanks, guns and airpower. The children cannot sleep at night, and the youth can't find jobs, but they can throw stones at their oppresor. Even for someone committed to nonviolence, it is hard to argue with this formulation.
Iyad believes peace will come soon, but he admits that others need to believe it too. If enough people really believe, they will make peace happen.
Iyad Bournat is the head of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in the small rural village of Bil'in (pronounced Bila-een). I spent one hour with him before the weekly demonstration against the wall that has cut off 55% of the village lands. I want you to hear his voice, because he is someone who carries an unshakeable hope in his heart, and it inspires his leadership.
Iyad started with a short history. As soon as Israel started to build the Wall in June of 2002, Bil'in could see it coming, even though it was still far to the North. Eventually, Israeli engineers began to frequent village lands, and the people organized a committee to plan their resistance. As soon as the bulldozers appeared on the scene, villagers chained themselves to olive trees that were in the path of the bulldozers and demonstrated every day to stop the uprooting of trees that not only represent income, but embody the spirit of the land and its people.
However, as the days passed and the destruction continued, protected by Israeli soldiers who detained as many demonstrators as they could catch, the demonstrations became a weekly event, while simultaneously the Popular Committee hired sympathetic Israeli lawyers and took their case to the Israeli Supreme Court. Their argument,- that the wall was not anywhere near the border with Israel but was routed in order to expropriate more land for nearby settlements, and therefore had nothinng to do with security, was upheld in court, and the army was ordered to move the wall closer to the border. That victory was in 2007, but not until 2009 was action taken to move the wall. Now one can see where the "new wall" is being consstructed in the distance, while the current wall is still in place.
In spite of winning the court case, Iyad listed several ways that Israel tries to stop the demonstrations, which are attended by villagers, internationals, Israeli activists, and the media. It tells Israelis that it is illegal for them to come, because their mere presence proves that the two sides CAN live together and cooperate. It imposes curfews and conducts night raids to harass villagers and frighten them. It kidnaps children from their homes in the night and during detention tries to get them to say that the leaders tell them to throw stones. It arrests the leaders based on the accusations of frightened children.
Israel denies exit to the leaders like Iyad who are invited to speak abroad. Iyad has twice been turned back at the border with Jordan ( the only point of departure allowed to Palestinians without foreign passports). Internationals who are discovered to have demonstrated in Bil'in are often barred from re-entering Israel on their next visit.
The odds seem stacked against Iyad , against Bil'in, against a Palestinian state. Others I have met on this trip have lost hope. So what keeps Iyad going? " You need to BELIEVE," he says. "If I didn't have hope, I couldn't continue this work. And he points to successes. The wall is being moved. Other villages now have weekly demonstrations. The international boycott campaign is growing.
After the demonstration today, when I am soaked in sweat and tear gas, I listen to another member of the Popular Committee, Basil, orient a group from Norway. From him I learn that these demonstrations are not labeled "nonviolent resistance", but "popular resistance." which in part answers my questions about stone throwing. There is an unwritten agreement not to throw stones until after the demonstrators have reached the wall and delivered the message of the day, which today is about freeing political prisoners. After that, stones will fly, sometimes from a powerful sling shot. But...
But stones are not guns. And international law protects the right of occupied people to armed resistance. Israel is the occupier. Israel has the tanks, guns and airpower. The children cannot sleep at night, and the youth can't find jobs, but they can throw stones at their oppresor. Even for someone committed to nonviolence, it is hard to argue with this formulation.
Iyad believes peace will come soon, but he admits that others need to believe it too. If enough people really believe, they will make peace happen.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Reacting to Lies and Distortions
Yesterday I read the lies and distortions of truth coming from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a piece in the Washiington Post by Joel Greenberg. I assume his quotes are accurate. The issue is whether Israel should be recognized as a Jewish state.
The issue is also that lies that come through the media from a political leader tend to be believed by an undiscerning public, which in turn may support the politician to the detrement of his opponents. In the case of Netanyahu's lies and distortions, it is the Palestinians who suffer the consequences.
(The problem is, when political leaders are quoted in the media, their words tend to stick in people's minds as if they were true.)
Netanyahu said that Palestinian acceptance of Israel as a Jewish state is not a precondion for peace talks, which makes it sound like no big deal if they do or don't accept it. But in reality it is a precondition, because unless Palestinians accept this new definition, Netanyahu will not extend the settlement freeze. Palestiinians cannot continue the talks if settlements continue to be built. Settlements equal the death of a Palestinian state.
Even talking about a settlement freeze is more than misleading. First of all, the freeze was never enforced; settlement construction went on, albeit at a slower pace, the entire nine- month period. Secondly, the freeze was lifted on September 25th, so why talk about extending it as if it were still in force? Since I arrived in Palestine on October 1st, I have read almost daily reports of settlement expansion.
Netanyahu says, in an apparently even-handed way, "Just as the Palestinians expect us to recognize the Palestinian state as their nation-state, we are permitted to expect that they recognize the Jewish state as our nationn-state." This sounds reasonable. But 20% of Israeli citizens are Palestinian, also known as Arab-Israelis. How can they be expected to pledge allegiance to a Jewish state? Furthermore, if a state is for only one ethnicity and excludes all others, is that not racist? Already many Israeli artists and intellectuals and even members of the Knesset have said just that.
In another distortion of reality, the Israeli prime minister tries to shift the peace process from ending the occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza to defining the nature of the state of Israel. "Undoubtedly such a step (i.e. to accept Israel as a Jewish state) by the Palestinian Authority would be a confidence-building measure that will open a new horizon of hope as well as trust amoung broad parts of the Israeli public, which in light of events of the last decade, have lost faith in the desire of the Palestinians to end the conflict."
What this ignores is that Israel has closed the door on hope and trust among Palestinians over and over by continuing its takeover of Palestinian lands, starting with the 1948 war that resulted in the expulsion of 2/3's of the indigenous Palestinians and the establishment of the state of Israel on 78% of historic Palestine. O.K. - conquest by war, which was accepted by the U.N. at that time, ( although the refugees were supposed to be able to return to their homes, which has not been allowed by Israel). But in 1967 Israel militarily occupied the remaining 22% of Palestine, and has held onto it ever since, in violation of international law (the Geneva Conventions of 1948 and multiple U.N. resolutions).
After '67 Israel started to build settlements inside of occupied Palestine, also in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions. In the years following the Oslo Accords of 1993 until the 2nd Intifada errupted in 2000 settlement building doubled in volume. Thus Israel's response to the peace accords was expansion on Palestinian lands. Indeed, some say that Oslo prepared the way for this expansion.) There are now about 500,000 Israeli settlers living on land that was supposed to be the future state of Palestine. The location of these settlements, along with the roads that connect them to each other and to Israel proper, the military instalations built to protect the settlements, the checkpoints, closed roads and military invasions of cities and towns adds up to a tangle of obstructions which make the establishment of a state impossible to imagine.
Linking a settlement freeze to recognition of a Israel as a Jewish state adds a new dimension--actually a new obfuscation to peace talks, already choked by many thorny issues, such as the status of East Jerusalem, refugees, borders and water use. As a Palestinian spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority said, "There is no connection between halting settlements and recognizing the Jewish character of Israel."
To further confuse the public, Netanyahu is stalling on accepting an incentive from U.S. President Obama that would require a mere 60-day extension of the settlement freeze. Why stall unless to make it seem as if Israel is the agrieved party to whom something more is owed. Sixty days of halting an already illegal activity? Sixty days instead of a complete end to settlement building? A settlement "freeze", not even close to removal of all the illegal settlements? What are they talking about? How easy it is to lie and distort until indeed no one can figure out what they are talking about.
Today's news says that the U.S. recognizes Israel as a state for the Jewish people. The curtain falls. Having the backing of the most powerful country in the world, along with its enormous amount of military aid, proves that lies and deceit work.
The issue is also that lies that come through the media from a political leader tend to be believed by an undiscerning public, which in turn may support the politician to the detrement of his opponents. In the case of Netanyahu's lies and distortions, it is the Palestinians who suffer the consequences.
(The problem is, when political leaders are quoted in the media, their words tend to stick in people's minds as if they were true.)
Netanyahu said that Palestinian acceptance of Israel as a Jewish state is not a precondion for peace talks, which makes it sound like no big deal if they do or don't accept it. But in reality it is a precondition, because unless Palestinians accept this new definition, Netanyahu will not extend the settlement freeze. Palestiinians cannot continue the talks if settlements continue to be built. Settlements equal the death of a Palestinian state.
Even talking about a settlement freeze is more than misleading. First of all, the freeze was never enforced; settlement construction went on, albeit at a slower pace, the entire nine- month period. Secondly, the freeze was lifted on September 25th, so why talk about extending it as if it were still in force? Since I arrived in Palestine on October 1st, I have read almost daily reports of settlement expansion.
Netanyahu says, in an apparently even-handed way, "Just as the Palestinians expect us to recognize the Palestinian state as their nation-state, we are permitted to expect that they recognize the Jewish state as our nationn-state." This sounds reasonable. But 20% of Israeli citizens are Palestinian, also known as Arab-Israelis. How can they be expected to pledge allegiance to a Jewish state? Furthermore, if a state is for only one ethnicity and excludes all others, is that not racist? Already many Israeli artists and intellectuals and even members of the Knesset have said just that.
In another distortion of reality, the Israeli prime minister tries to shift the peace process from ending the occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza to defining the nature of the state of Israel. "Undoubtedly such a step (i.e. to accept Israel as a Jewish state) by the Palestinian Authority would be a confidence-building measure that will open a new horizon of hope as well as trust amoung broad parts of the Israeli public, which in light of events of the last decade, have lost faith in the desire of the Palestinians to end the conflict."
What this ignores is that Israel has closed the door on hope and trust among Palestinians over and over by continuing its takeover of Palestinian lands, starting with the 1948 war that resulted in the expulsion of 2/3's of the indigenous Palestinians and the establishment of the state of Israel on 78% of historic Palestine. O.K. - conquest by war, which was accepted by the U.N. at that time, ( although the refugees were supposed to be able to return to their homes, which has not been allowed by Israel). But in 1967 Israel militarily occupied the remaining 22% of Palestine, and has held onto it ever since, in violation of international law (the Geneva Conventions of 1948 and multiple U.N. resolutions).
After '67 Israel started to build settlements inside of occupied Palestine, also in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions. In the years following the Oslo Accords of 1993 until the 2nd Intifada errupted in 2000 settlement building doubled in volume. Thus Israel's response to the peace accords was expansion on Palestinian lands. Indeed, some say that Oslo prepared the way for this expansion.) There are now about 500,000 Israeli settlers living on land that was supposed to be the future state of Palestine. The location of these settlements, along with the roads that connect them to each other and to Israel proper, the military instalations built to protect the settlements, the checkpoints, closed roads and military invasions of cities and towns adds up to a tangle of obstructions which make the establishment of a state impossible to imagine.
Linking a settlement freeze to recognition of a Israel as a Jewish state adds a new dimension--actually a new obfuscation to peace talks, already choked by many thorny issues, such as the status of East Jerusalem, refugees, borders and water use. As a Palestinian spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority said, "There is no connection between halting settlements and recognizing the Jewish character of Israel."
To further confuse the public, Netanyahu is stalling on accepting an incentive from U.S. President Obama that would require a mere 60-day extension of the settlement freeze. Why stall unless to make it seem as if Israel is the agrieved party to whom something more is owed. Sixty days of halting an already illegal activity? Sixty days instead of a complete end to settlement building? A settlement "freeze", not even close to removal of all the illegal settlements? What are they talking about? How easy it is to lie and distort until indeed no one can figure out what they are talking about.
Today's news says that the U.S. recognizes Israel as a state for the Jewish people. The curtain falls. Having the backing of the most powerful country in the world, along with its enormous amount of military aid, proves that lies and deceit work.
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