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Palestine: Through My Eyes
A Personal Account from an
“International” in Occupied Palestine This is dedicated to the brave residents of Jenin who have suffered so much but have never given up the hope of freedom On July 16th 2003 I entered occupied Palestine over the Allenby Bridge from Jordan with the intention of aiding the Palestinian people in any way that I could. As a long time Pro-Palestinian and Pro-justice activist in my schools and communities the trip was the next logical step in my attempts to help the Palestinian people overcome 50+ years of injustice, oppression, and brutality. Over the next three weeks I participated in Freedom Summer with the International Solidarity Movement, (ISM) organizing and participating in non-violent solidarity work with the oppressed Palestinian people. As I traveled across occupied Palestine and met with dozens of Palestinians of different faiths and backgrounds the primary request I received was “to tell the people of my community and the world what is really happening in Palestine to the Palestinian people”. Through my journey I found that there is a complete lack of understanding as to the realities of the occupation in much of the world, and even among human rights groups (UN, Doctors Without Borders, etc.) who travel around Palestine in marked cars, pass straight through checkpoints, and do not have to fear arrest or death from the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF). As an ISM activist in the West Bank, we were afforded no protection from the IOF, and although we were treated much better than Palestinians (due to our “international” protection) we were still subject to immediate arrest, physical assault, and deportation if found out. This is Palestine through my eyes. Occupation Occupation is a commonly used word when talking about the Palestinian struggle for freedom and self-determination. Most people throughout the world, and most international agencies and governments have rightfully come to view Israel’s 36 year military stranglehold on the Palestinian people as an occupation, and even Israeli and US politicians refer to the areas of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem as “the Occupied Territories” (not as much East Jerusalem which has been illegally annexed by Israel and declared the “eternal capital of Israel”). However, as much as occupation is the right term for the situation in Palestine, there is a clear lack of understanding as to the meaning of occupation in the Palestinian context. When traveling through Palestine, the occupation is everywhere; it is unavoidable, it is destructive, and it is a violent everyday reality for the Palestinian people. Occupation is the illegal settlements that are seemingly on every hilltop, occupation is the hundreds of checkpoints that litter the land restricting Palestinian movement, occupation is the 24 hour a day 100+ day curfews, and occupation is the control of water resources for Israeli use. These are known. But occupation is also roadblocks on all Palestinian roads, occupation is deliberate economic sabotage of roads, telephone wires, and water towers, occupation is nightly incursions by commando teams, occupation is the “accidental” murder of children at checkpoints, occupation is the random arrest and torture of civilians, (Israel is one of the only countries in the world that legally sanctions torture as an interrogation method) and occupation is the refusal to give travel documents, building permits, and work licenses based upon the fact that you are Palestinian. Occupation is the total control and subjugation of an entire people through racism, fear, brutality, and intransigence. The Israeli occupation of Palestine has but one aim; to make life so incredibly difficult for the Palestinian people that they either pack up and leave, (making more room for illegal colonization) or fight back and die. Settlements The most obvious and in your face aspect of the Israeli occupation are the illegal settlements. Illegal under international law (Geneva Convention, ICC, UN, etc.) the settlements are subsidized by the Israeli government (through tax breaks and credits) and represent the ambition of the Israeli government to colonize all of the West Bank, pushing out its natural inhabitants, the Palestinians. (current Israeli Prime minister Ariel Sharon told settlers during the Oslo Peace process to “seize every hilltop”) As you drive through Palestine, settlements seem to sprout out of every hill. Around Jerusalem the settlements are massive with huge apartment buildings and walls surrounding them, while in other places they consist of only a few buildings and fences. Most of the illegal settlement activity in Palestine is well documented, so I will not converse about it at length, but I would like to give a personal account as to the tyranny of settlements. In between the city of Jenin, where I was working, and a small village named Aba there is a tiny Israeli settlement on the top of a hill. The settlement has approximately 20 people living in it (most don’t actually live there, they just own homes there to keep the settlement running, and live in Israel), and is accompanied with a nearby army base. For the comfort and security of those 20 people a settler road has been constructed all the way back to Israel proper which cuts straight through Palestinian land. The road also cuts through several Palestinian roads including the Jenin-Aba road. To make sure that the road and the settlement disrupt Palestinian life thoroughly, every Palestinian road that is cut by the settler road is blocked with concrete and dirt roadblocks, and on the Jenin side a massive trench has been dug all the way to Israel to prevent Palestinians from driving through the fields to get around the roadblocks (which makes no sense because there is no trench on the Aba side, so anyone can drive onto the settler road, they just cant drive over to Jenin). Thus 5 minute trip from Jenin to Aba takes 45 minutes driving around the hill with the settlement on it, and 20 colonists have detrimentally affected 40,000+ Palestinians. Checkpoints and Roadblocks There are two types of IOF controls over the freedom of movement in occupied Palestine; checkpoints and roadblocks. Checkpoints are manned (with soldiers, tanks, APC’s) and can either be permanent (fixed guard towers, huts, and buildings) or “mobile” (tanks and jeeps randomly shutting down roads and checking cars and ID’s). There are hundreds of permanent and mobile checkpoints all over the West Bank specifically designed to choke Palestinian movement around urban areas and Israeli settlements. On almost every drive anywhere in the West Bank one will encounter multiple checkpoints causing trips to double and triple in time, and that is for people with International passports. For Palestinians checkpoints are a daily interaction with the IOF that often ends in frustration (arbitrary denials of freedom of movement) and sometimes tragedy. While I was in Jenin a 5 year old boy was murdered and his sister severely injured at a checkpoint near the city (called Bar'tah) when an Israeli solider on an APC “accidentally” fired a heavy machine gun into a car full of children. Checkpoints involve waiting for any where between 10 minutes to hours in your car or on foot until an Israeli solider deems its time to check you out, (at one point we waited ˝ hour at the front of a long line of Palestinians until the soldiers finished eating lunch right in front of us) at which point you are interrogated as to where you are going, where you have come from, and why. This interrogation sometimes involves stepping out of the vehicle and having the car searched, and again this is just for internationals. (for Palestinians being searched means lifting up your shirts in front of soldiers and having all your possessions searched) Of course if you are traveling in a settler car, or one with Israeli tags (There is a race number plate system where Israeli’s are given one color and Palestinians another) you can drive straight through the checkpoint without even a glance by the soldier. At some checkpoints the soldiers are under strict orders to turn away everyone that is not from the area inside the checkpoint. This is especially true around Qalqilia. (a city which is completely encircled by the Apartheid Wall, leaving one checkpoint in and out) where no one without a Qalqilia ID is allowed to enter the city through the one checkpoint) At this point I would just like to reproduce two of the statements told to me at checkpoints by Israeli soldiers. From a solider near Qalqilia when we were trying to gain access to the encircled city using a music festival excuse, “The people in this city can hardly feed themselves, let alone entertain anyone”, and from a soldier at the main Qalqilia checkpoint “What are you doing in this dirty place with these dirty people, you should be someplace nice like Tel Aviv”. Palestinians who go through these checkpoints are yelled at, cursed at in Arabic, spat upon, and generally humiliated by the soldiers who man the checkpoint. The second way that the IOF attempts to restrict the movement of the Palestinian people is by roadblocks. Roadblocks are unmanned attempts to block Palestinian roads to automotive traffic and are found on almost every Palestinian road. IOF roadblocks in the occupied territories are made by either, moving massive concrete blocks and dirt onto roads, or by completely digging up the roads with huge ditches. Around the city of Jenin, almost every road has evidence of a roadblock, some cleared, and some bypassed by the Palestinian people. At places not frequented by the IOF Palestinians have cleared the roadblocks to allow automotive traffic, but in other places where clearing the roadblock would be severely punished by the soldiers; Palestinians have carved out new roads across fields to reopen roads. In other places however, like Aba, roadblocks remain due to the constant presence of the IOF and the digging of ditches through the fields to prevent the roadblocks from being bypassed. Economic Sabotage and Bureaucratic Occupation Everywhere you turn in Palestine you can see the scars of the occupation. Every home and shop has bullet holes through their walls and windows, every road is dug up to prevent quick travel, telephone wires are cut, and water towers are IOF targets. The economic sabotage of the Palestinian society by the Israeli occupation is complete and devastating. The occupation prevents Palestinians from developing self sustaining industry (due to such industry being primary targets for the IOF) forcing them to seek work inside Israel at substandard pay sustaining the economy of the power that is occupying their homeland. Then the Israelis can cut off these jobs at their whim forcing upwards of 60% of Palestinians into unemployment, which is another tactic for making living conditions intolerable for Palestinians. Almost every Palestinian bulldozer had bullet holes in its windshield where it had been targeted by the IOF, taxis are riddled with bullets, and most people are aware of the attacks on Palestinians trying to harvest olives from their trees to make and export olive oil. (usually perpetuated by heavily armed and sadistic settlers) The most suffocating aspect of the Israeli occupation is the bureaucratic subjugation of the Palestinian people. As a people under a military occupation the Palestinian people have to face the massive Israeli military bureaucracy whenever they want to travel to another part of the occupied territories, build a house or shop, or go to work outside their city. The most common answer given by the IOF bureaucracy is No. No, you cannot travel outside your city, No, you cannot build a house to replace the one we demolished, No, you cannot build a new store, No, you cannot go to work today. To try and give their occupation a resemblance of legitimacy the IOF have set up an organization called the DCO (District Coordinating Office) which by design is supposed to field requests by Palestinians for permits, licenses, and passes as well as to liaise between the army and the local population. While in Jenin, a member of our group had befriended a Palestinian who had been severely injured in a workplace accident in Israel, and required medical treatment inside Israel. He was however not allowed to return to Israel because he did not have a permit. Calls made into the DCO on his behalf where met with nothing but contempt and as far as I am aware he is still awaiting a permit to go to hospital in Israel for a workplace injury sustained in Israel while working for an Israeli company. In one other case we called into the DCO to inquire about a curfew in a small village near Jenin and we were asked “Who are you? What group do you work with? Why are you calling?”, then told “You are calling the wrong number” and hung up on. Incursions Most people who are involved with the study of International relations can testify to the fact that what Israel says and does on the world stage does not permeate to the occupied territories. While Israel was talking peace during Oslo, the settlements grew faster than any time in history (by 72%) and seven years after the agreements where signed the occupation had still not ended, there were still tanks in Palestinian neighborhoods, and there were still daily checkpoints, roadblocks, and settlements. The same can be said for the current “roadmap” peace plan. On the international level the Israeli government has reluctantly accepted the peace plan, and on trips to Washington to speak with his arms dealers, Ariel Sharon has made vague pledges to “improve the lives of the Palestinians”, “dismantle settlement outposts” (just the settlements with no fixed homes yet, only trailers), and “eventually accept some sort of Palestinian state”. On the ground however, the situation has not changed and Israel is doing everything in its power to destroy the peace process so it will be blamed on the Palestinian resistance fighters. Almost everyday a Palestinian is killed in the occupied territories by the IOF, yet in the west it is never reported. In Palestine there is no peace process because the Israeli troops have not left, and they have not stopped attacking the Palestinian people. At night the Palestinian people live in fear because Israeli commandos routinely invade cities and break down doors attempting to assassinate people on their wanted lists. I slept on the roof of the ISM apartment building in Jenin, and multiple nights we would be woken up by the sound of gunfire emanating from a commando attack within the city. On July 25th an Israeli commando team made an incursion into the city, breaking down doors in the old city in an attempt to assassinate a local fighter. The fighter was not in the house, and on their way out the commandos were ambushed by the resistance fighters and a 45 minute gun battle ensued which resulted in the commandos calling in tanks, which rolled through the city to the scene of the battle. This is the duplicity of the Israeli occupation. On the one hands the Israelis talk peace with the Palestinians and the world which translates to a calm within Israel, (due to a cease fire signed by resistance groups) , however on the other hand peace does not come to the occupied territories because the troops are still attacking, and still killing Palestinians on a daily basis. The incursions are deliberately planned (by the Israeli government) and executed (by the IOF) to drive the Palestinian resistance fighters so far to the brink that they extract revenge that Israel can then use as a pretext for wholesale invasions of Palestinian areas and massacres of Palestinian civilians. On August 8th the IOF killed 4 Palestinians, including two Hamas commanders in an incursion in Nablus which prompted Hamas and Al-Aqsa Martyrs brigades to send two suicide bombers against Israel August 12th. On Thursday August 14th Israel assassinated a senior Islamic Jihad activist in Hebron, again forcing the resistance group to vow revenge. All in all Israel has violated the cease fire 854 times in its first month of existence (July), conducting 60 night time incursions, killing 7 Palestinians including 4 children under 18, demolishing 189 homes, and erecting 46 new checkpoints. (Palestinian National Information Center) This is the Israeli version of peace, one that only applies to its own citizens, not to Palestinians. The Apartheid Wall Combating the Apartheid wall was one of the main focuses of the ISM’s summer campaign in 2003, and as such I was exposed to many of the different horrors of this latest Israeli land grab operation. The Apartheid Wall is an attempt by Israel to force the Palestinian people in the West Bank into a massive walled in ghetto, (just as they have done to the Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip) to steal as much Palestinian land a recourses as possible creating unilateral borders on the ground, and to annex as many of the illegal settlements to Israel as possible. The wall is a mixture of concrete walled areas, and fence areas. (which consists of razor wire, a ditch, a military access road, a tall chain link and barb wire fence with electronic detectors, then another access road, and more razor wire) The wall which snakes in and out of the West Bank far from the universally recognized international border (1967 Green Line) cuts Palestinian farmers off from their fields, steals thousands of dunnums of land, hundreds of thousands of olive trees, and separates Palestinian villages from each other. (some villages now are on the “Israeli” side of the wall) Construction and Route The Israeli government has openly stated that the wall will be built “east of the 1967 borders” which under every internationally proposed peace plan is supposed to be the future home of the Palestinian state. In addition, the wall is not just separating Palestinian land from Israel, it is specifically designed to cut through the West Bank, annexing Israeli settlements and as much land as possible while cutting Palestinian urban centers into 13 surrounded and not contiguous ghettos. This is already what is happening in the Palestinian city of Qalqilia where the wall completely encircles the city cutting it off from the rest of Palestine and all of the farms which made it famous, forcing everybody to enter and exit through one Israeli controlled checkpoint (where no one except people with Qalqilia ID cards are allowed to enter). The true nature and intent of the Apartheid Wall is evident as soon as you enter any Palestinian village where the wall is being constructed. In every single village that I visited in the path of the Apartheid Wall the wall has been strategically planned so that every possible meter of land can be stolen while keeping the villagers inside the wall. In some cases, like in the village of Arabone (near Jenin) the wall is being built not 20 meters from the last house in the village, separating the villagers from a large amount of their land which was stolen without compensation by the IOF. (imagine your family living in a village for 300 years, farming the land around your houses then one day soldiers come in and tell you they are building a wall in your backyard so that you won’t even be able to see your lands let alone ever walk on them again) In Arabone we were called by the villagers because the Israeli construction companies who are building the wall were using dynamite to blow up large sections of the land, and the explosions were threatening the structural integrity of the houses closest to the wall. While there, we were gleefully told by the Israeli construction companies heavily armed guards that the stolen land would be used as a recreational camp site for Israelis when the wall is put up. In another village near Jenin, called Taybeh the IOF had demolished the house of a Palestinian family because it was in the way of the proposed route of the wall. The family rebuilt their home closer into the village, but by the time they were finished the route of the wall had “changed” cutting closer to the village and the IOF had notified the family that their home would be bulldozed for a second time, again of course with no compensation. At yet another village between Tulkarem and Qalqilia one Palestinian family had the route of the wall put between their home and the rest of their village, meaning they would be completely cut off from their families, friends, and village services, isolated on the “Israeli” side of the wall. The Apartheid Wall is a land grab operation, pure and simple, and most people throughout the world have come to view it as such. (including the infamous Israeli arms backers Bush and Powell) The route of the wall is ever changing, always creeping further and further into Palestinian territory, (never back towards Israel) and is evolving (with primary and secondary barriers) to cut off and surround every Palestinian urban area. There must be physical separation from the Palestinians, with us being here and them being there, in accordance with four security red lines . . . We need peace and separation on the ground. Jerusalem will remain united under Israel's sovereignty forever. Period. Second, there will be no return to the 1967 borders on any account. Third, there will be no foreign army west of the Jordan River. Fourth, most of the Israeli settlers in Judea and Samaria will be clustered in large settlement blocs. ---Ehud Barak on Israel Television's Channel 1, December 27, 1998
Qalqilia: The Palestinian Warsaw Ghetto Qalqilia, a city of some 40,000 Palestinians closest to Israel proper of all Palestinian cities, is at the present time a city surrounded, encircled, cut off, and strangulated. Qalqilia is a blue print city for the present Israeli plans of constructing an Apartheid state of Palestine by altering facts on the ground. Qalqilia was once world renowned for its agriculture and was called the “bread basket” of the Palestinian nation in waiting. Now the Israeli Apartheid wall has completely surrounded the city cutting off all the farmers from their lands and forcing all entrance and exit from the city to go through one IOF checkpoint. Israel has in fact created a 40,000 person ghetto where they control the movement of people, goods, supplies, and the lives of its inhabitants. Qalqilia resembles some sort of awful hybrid between the Berlin wall and the Warsaw ghetto with massive concrete walls and sniper towers conjoined with razor wire and electrified fences. On July 30th myself and 11 other individuals arrived in the Qalqilia region and attempted to gain entrance to the city. After being turned away at the one main checkpoint (no one without a Qalqilia ID is allowed into the city, even foreigners) we proceeded to attempt entrance at other places around the wall where Palestinians had made holes, or the was construction still underway. We first tried to access the city from the Palestinian fields, (which are now on the “Israeli” side of the wall) but where caught by Israeli soldiers who informed us that no one was allowed to enter the city, and that the Palestinian inhabitants could “barley feed themselves let alone entertain anyone”. (we were using a music festival excuse) We were then told as we were trying to slip away from the soldiers that we could not go back into the fields because the Palestinians may try and harm us. (all from the soldier carrying a massive assault rifle) We left anyway and walked around the Apartheid wall back to the main checkpoint, and from there to a junction where a road from an Arab Israeli town into Qalqilia had been blocked by an Israeli road, then the wall. There we tried again to slip over the fence, but were again caught by soldiers in an APC. Long story short, we spent upwards of 8 hours trying to bypass the Apartheid Wall and gain entrance to the city, only to be foiled and we had to sleep in the Arab Israeli village (where the inhabitants gave us all a place to stay, and a massive dinner) and make a run for the fence at 6am when the soldiers had gone home. The Palestinians had cut a hole in the fence and whenever there were no soldiers around people would slip under the fence in both directions to see family members, buy food, and go to doctors. The Israeli soldiers, and government know the hole is there (APC’s are often in front of it) but they do not care, because the wall is not about security or even the control of the Palestinian populace, it is about making life so hard for the Palestinians that just to move out of their town they have to cut through fences and climb into the mud and run to avoid jeeps and APC’s.
The
concrete part of the wall is one of the most horrifying things I have
ever witnessed in my life. The goal of entering Qalqilia was to
participate in a painting action against the wall, and we did arrive in
time to participate. From a distance, the wall rises out of the ground
like an evil concrete monster, completely blocking the horizon from
view. All along the wall at specific places are round sniper towers
where the IOF can sit and pick out their targets from the city below.
Around the wall, land and houses have been razed, and all that now
remains is a barren no-mans land with coils of barb wire, concrete
blocks, and shrubs. Qalqilia is just an example of what the Israelis,
through the construction of the Apartheid Wall aim to do in Palestine.
They are using the wall to not only annex vast amounts of land to
Israel, but are using it to encircle and suffocate Palestinian urban
areas. Already the West Bank city of Tulkarem is next on the list for
encirclement with the wall already between it an Israel proper (inside
Palestinian land) and a new “secondary barrier” planned for the eastern
side to cut it off from the rest of Palestine. There is hope in the
Palestinian people about the wall, as many I talked to compared it with
the Berlin Wall and acknowledged that although it might take many years,
all walls fall. The Spirit of Resistance: The Palestinian people under occupation Anyone who has ever been to an occupied land or has had interaction with an oppressed community can testify that within the oppressed there is a sense of camaraderie and society not found in most places in the world. This is especially true in Palestine where traditional Arab hospitality has combined with the need to come together as a people in the face of intolerable living conditions and death by the hands of a colonial occupier. It is quite clear to most Palestinians that the Israeli occupation and destruction of their homes and livelihoods have but one goal, to force them to leave their homeland just as in 1948 and 1967. Thus the Palestinian people have embraced resistance by rejecting any considerations that they move to improve the lives of themselves and their families. For the Palestinian people who are facing such dire threats to their lives, the act of just staying put no matter what has galvanized the community to put the wellbeing of their friends, neighbors, community members, and indeed strangers over any other pursuits such as the rampant consumerist capitalism that exists in most “free” communities around the world. Resistance in Society
Through my time in Palestine I was exposed to the spirit of
the Palestinian people so many times it would be impossible to recount
every episode here, for everywhere I went in Palestine I welcomed into
strangers houses, prepared large extravagant meals, (by families living
well under the poverty line) invited to strangers weddings and parties,
and so much more. The first incident I would like to relate is one from
after an ISM/Palestinian action against the wall in Tulkarem. The IOF
opened fire on us as we were cutting through razor wire and trying to
break a gate in the wall. I was hit twice with rubber bullets, and
several Palestinian braving the continued fire ran out to pull me out of
the demonstration and carried me all the way to an ambulance (while
running, to the ambulance that was at least 100 meters away). The
ambulance was to full with other wounded persons, and judging that my
wounds were not as bad as some of the others I stepped out of the
ambulance only to later be taken (after I had rejoined the demonstration
then again felled, this time by a tear gas attack) by 3 Palestinians and
put in a car. They proceeded to franticly drive around the town looking
for a doctor, who they eventually found and brought me to. At the
doctor’s house, the doctor cleaned my wounds and patched me up, refused
any payment and then served me coca-cola and conversed with me on the
plight of the Palestinian people and medicine in Palestine. This is
such a difference to western society where capitalism has installed in
the people a belief in everyone for himself and has destroyed the base
aspects of good human interaction. Such an episode in an American city
would probably have seen me left on the ground bleeding, then had to pay
for a cab to a doctor who would have charged me an exorbitant amount of
money for interrupting him “off duty”. The same kind of rejection of consumerism in favor of community can be seen whenever one steps out to go shopping. No matter what shop you enter in Palestine, for whatever reason, you should expect to be there for a considerable amount of time. This is not due to slow service or lack of goods, it is because before you can even get down to buying what you have entered for, the proprietors of the store have insisted on pouring you a cup of coffee and sitting down with you to talk about everything from the current political situation to the latest Egyptian pop song on the radio. In a western society this would be unheard of because in our capitalistic society every second that is lost in a work day is lost revenue and it has become the goal of retailers to get you what you need as fast as possible and get you out of the store so that they can take the money of another customer. After the first time that you go into a store and have coffee and converse with the proprietors they consider you friends and even if you are a foreigner they consider you a part of their community. Thus any further times you enter the store one should expect invitations to weddings, parties, graduation ceremonies, or even just to lunch or dinner which are almost impossible to refuse. The same hospitality and sense of sharing is prevalent even in organizational meetings for actions and demonstrations. During my time in Palestine I spent equal amounts of time planning for actions as I did participating in actions and the majority of the time spent on planning was taken up by the hospitality of the Palestinians who we would be meeting with at the time. The most memorable of these experiences was when I was meeting with the mayor of Aba (the town affected by the aforementioned roadblock) in his barber shop. Although the meetings sole objective was to get the mayors approval for the action, the meeting lasted nearly 5 hours as the mayor insisted on giving me a shave (for which he accepted no payment) serving us coffee (twice), serving us tea, and serving us a massive lunch. (which he again accepted no payment for) These are just a few of hundreds of such instances of hospitality and community empowerment that I experienced during my time in Palestine, but needless to say the contrast of such a kind, considerate, and loving people with the tanks outside their homes, the heavily armed soldiers, and the fanatical settlers leaves such an impression that I can only think of when I will next be able to be back among the Palestinian people.
Freedom Fighters Jenin is known as the city of martyrs (anyone who has died in the Palestinian uprising becomes a martyr whether they are civilians or resistance fighters) and wherever you go in the city and surrounding villages the walls are plastered with the posters of those who have been murdered by the Israelis or who have died in the armed resistance to occupation. There are so many freedom fighters in Jenin that the IOF will not go into the city unless they have at least 5 tanks with them, and the commandos who do nightly incursions routinely get into firefights with the fighters. The center of the resistance is the Jenin refugee camp which, during the invasion in the spring of 2002 fought and held out against the IOF for longer than all of the Arab armies in 1967, (which was 6 days) a fact that the fighters and citizens of the camp are extremely proud of. In the end the Israelis decided to demolish massive sections of the camp with bulldozers to end the resistance and murdered over 50 people in what has widely become known as the Jenin massacre. To this day the camp has a massive football field sized area at its center which is completely empty, where entire neighborhoods of people’s homes used to stand. As I walked through the camp, eager residents would point out places where the battle took place; the spot where 13 Israeli soldiers were killed, the spot where the head of the camps resistance was shot in the back of the head while blindfolded and handcuffed after being arrested by the invading IOF.
It is like someone four times your height and strength standing in front of you and punching you in the face over and over again for 50 years trying to get you to run away. You can either run away and let him steal everything or you can punch him back and he will think twice before he punches you again.- Anonymous Palestinian resident of Jenin
The biggest resistance groups in Jenin are Islamic Jihad and
the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, but within the resistance there is a local
sense of a popular front against occupation with the fighters from the
different factions patrolling the city together and coordinating on
actions against the occupation. It has been established through
International law and the UN that people under occupation can
legitimately use armed resistance to free themselves from oppression and
although this does not apply to innocent civilians inside Israel proper,
that is just an extremely small aspect of the resistance. Most of the
resistance actions of the Palestinian people are targeted at the troops
that occupy their cities and towns (half of all the Israeli causalities
in the second Intifada have been soldiers) while only a small number are
revenge attacks on the Israeli people for the actions of their
military. On my first night in Jenin, a fighter from Islamic Jihad
tried to fire a bazooka at an Israeli APC on the illegal settler road
near the city (he failed and was killed). This is the type of
resistance that is never reported in the media, who instead focus only
on attacks on Israeli civilians and who never differentiate between the
soldiers who are killed (while illegally occupying a native land) and
civilians (while for every Palestinian death they accept the IOF mantra
that they were militants or killed in a “crossfire”, even if they were
children; for the record, more Palestinian children under the age of 18
have been murdered than all Israeli civilians combined, not counting
Israeli soldiers) The Palestinian people who I talked to expressed a
surprising faith in armed resistance as the key to freeing their
people. For a people who have been fighting for their rights and
freedoms for over 50 years I expected many to by jaded on the future of
armed resistance, but the common answer I had was “We will continue to
fight as long as it takes for us to gain freedom and for us to raise our
families without the fear that we might be killed by a soldier, tank, or
helicopter.” As one would expect the Palestinian people really are much
more aware as to the realities of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict than
any political analyst or politician in the west. While many in the
media and government of western countries take Israel’s word at face
value and believe that Israel wants peace, the Palestinian people know
that the Israeli version of peace means that they will still be
occupied, there will still be settlers, there will be no viable
Palestinian state, and they will still be attacked and killed on a daily
basis. With this in mind, they have rejected even considering giving up
resisting until true and final freedom. From what I have seen, the
Palestinian people are some of the most resolute and determined people I
have ever met. In the past the Israelis succeeded in subjugating the
Palestinian people through fear and expulsions, (massacres of
Palestinian towns in 1948 and 1967 prompted Palestinians to flee in
fear) but that is unlikely to ever happen again as the Palestinian
people will resist no matter what atrocities are carried out against
them by the IOF. The International Solidarity Movement The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) has already, in its few short years of existence, changed the paradigm of global solidarity with the Palestinian people. There are many foreigners in occupied Palestine doing a variety of important tasks; there are human rights observers, doctors, people working with NGO’s and many others, but none except the ISM have taken a definitive stand on the side of the Palestinian people to the point where they are willing to put their bodies on the line to directly help the Palestinian people achieve freedom. This sacrifice and solidarity has been recognized by the Palestinian people and has allowed the ISM to become truly involved with the Palestinian people in confronting the occupation. Where other foreigners are looked on by the Palestinians with suspicion (due to promises for aid never kept) the ISM are largely accepted, due not only to our level of actions, but due to the fact that the ISM is run by Palestinians to bring in foreigners to help Palestinians. On the flip side of the coin, the ISM has become, due to our active stand in support of the Palestinians and our opposition to the occupation, the number one target for the IOF and Israeli government among peace groups. Working with the ISM in the occupied territories means always having to conceal your identity from the Israeli army who, if they found you out, would immediately arrest you and turn you over to the government for deportation. (this has happened with many ISM activists from all over the world) Working with the ISM also means that we are inevitably putting our bodies on the line to try and protect Palestinians, and this makes ISM members targets for the Israeli army during their attacks in occupied Palestine. Two ISM members have been murdered thus far trying to help the Palestinian people (Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall, who is brain dead) and scores of others, including myself have been wounded. During my time with the ISM I met an incredible variety of other activists from all over the world. During my time with the ISM I worked to confront the occupation with activists from the US, England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Japan, Korea, France, Denmark, Italy, Czech Republic, and many others. Everyone who was there represented hundreds in their communities who wished that they could be with the ISM, and to a person we were willing to put our bodies and lives on the line to help free the Palestinian people from oppression. While I was in Palestine the ISM was, and still is trying to adjust to the change in situation that the so-called cease-fire has brought. The ISM largely became active during the height of the Israeli invasions and attacks on the Palestinian people and gained prominence during the 2002 invasions where ISM activists stayed in Palestinian’s homes, rode with ambulances, delivered food and medicine to besieged communities, and helped Palestinians break curfews. These were primarily reactionary and defensive activities that were dictated by when, where, and how the Israelis would attack. With the cease-fire the need for defensive operation diminished (but has not ended, due to the incursions) and the ISM began to go on the offensive, confronting the occupation and the occupying forces. It was among this transition that I entered Palestine and began to work with the ISM.
My ISM activities As has already been mentioned my work with the ISM was largely centered in the scarred northern West Bank town of Jenin. Working with the ISM meant that every second of everyday we were involved with organizing within the Palestinian community for a variety of actions (both big actions, and everyday actions). Organizing could mean going to villages to meet with mayors and residents, buying supplies for actions, organizing demonstrations, meeting with municipalities, doing reconnaissance, documenting human rights abuses, doing interviews with Palestinians and much more. (all of these were part of my day to day organizing) Being with the ISM also meant that you had to be on alert any time of the day, for when the tanks rolled in and the residents called us we had to be ready at the drop of a hat to resume our defense of the Palestinian people. What follows are excerpts of my journal entries for days in which the ISM did notable large scale actions to confront the occupation in which I participated. To see the full journal entries for every day I was in Palestine, please go to: “www.studentorg.vcu.edu/fpn”
Day
11 - Jenin,
Palestine
-
07/25/03-
CLEAR
ABA
ROADBLOCK!
At
8 am
all of the internationals (32) met at the ISM apartments in Jenin and
gathered our equipment, and divided into teams based on the necessary
tasks. I had volunteered to be a digger on the work crew and to be the
carjack operator. We all took taxis to
Aba
and assembled in a yard about 200 meters from the roadblock. We were in
contact with the internationals who had gone ahead to the school to meet
with the Palestinians, and at 9 am (the scheduled time for the start of
the action) we were relayed the disturbing news that there were very few
Palestinians at the school, and we decided to give them a half hour to
assemble, thus postponing the action. Day 14 - Anin, Palestine - 07/28/03-TEAR DOWN THE WALL! Day 17 - Qalqilia, Palestine - 07/31/03- PAINT THE WALL! Day 18 - Tulkarem, Palestine - 08/01/03- TEAR DOWN THE WALL
PART II Conclusions No matter how much research one can do in the west on the Palestinian struggle, no matter how many personal accounts one reads, no many how many pictures and video one sees nothing can prepare you for the realities of the occupation. I had been deeply involved in Palestinian solidarity activism for more than 4 years before my trip to Palestine, yet the horrors of the occupation shocked even me. What people, even people within the movement, fail to realize when they talk about Palestine is that the true brutality of the occupation is not in how many Palestinians who have been murdered, (too many people resort to throwing out numbers of casualties as a way to prove the Palestinian cause is just, thus dehumanizing the lives of the Palestinian people, which is just what the Israelis want, because it is easier for troops to kill people they don’t view as equal human beings) it is the complete control of the lives of Palestinians and the constant pressure in every aspect of life to push the Palestinians out of Palestine. In the documentary “Palestine: People and the Land” which I viewed many times before my trip many of the Palestinians claim that “There is always this pressure trying to make us leave this land”. I did not fully understand this (at least not in human terms, more in political terms) until I actually went to Palestine and saw that “pressure” first hand. Random indiscriminate killings, roadblocks, checkpoints, incursions, missile strikes, curfews, walls & fences, denial of movement & permits, home demolitions, school closures, arrests, torture, racist soldiers, settlements, settler roads, and water control are all part of this “hand” that is trying to push the Palestinians out, but it is the culmination of all of these factors and the seemingly insurmountable mountain of obstacles to a normal life that is so disheartening to both the Palestinians and international supporters of the Palestinians. During the Oslo Peace accords the Palestinians were told by the PA (Palestinian Authority) and the world community that their suffering was nearing an end and the Palestinian people, though dubious, supported the process with open arms (ending the first Intifada to give peace a chance). Once again the Palestinian people were lied to by everyone involved (the Palestinian people have been promised so much, by so many people; Arab governments, Israeli peace groups, International Aid agencies etc.). The Israelis who promised the creation of a Palestinian state in return for an end to the uprising did not pull out as promised, did not return land to the Palestinians, (as was mentioned before the settlements grew 72% from 1993-2000) threatened them not to declare independence, kept the checkpoints and roadblocks, continued to impede Palestinian’s movements, and continued to kill Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority, who had staked their reputation on the promise of Israel, (A bad plan seeing that the PA has almost no legitimacy on the street since the failure of Israel to deliver on its promises at Oslo) became nothing more than Israel’s policeman in the occupied territories; arresting resistance fighters and keeping the peace for Israel with no tangible returns from the Israeli government. The world community, who put so much faith in Oslo in turn refused to put any weight behind it, and there was no outcry when Israel failed to honor any of its promises at Oslo, and US aid continued to pour into the IOF to buy new weapons to kill more Palestinians. The result of this latest betrayal of the Palestinian people by the world (Palestinians have in their history been betrayed by the world community who conveniently forgot about them after Al-Nakba, the Arab states who promised them liberty but left them to suffer in refugee camps, the Israeli peace movement who convinced them that all Israelis are not murdering occupiers but then left them to suffer against those who were, and the PA leaders who have repeatedly tried to sell out the goals of liberation and freedom for half promises of statehood from the Israeli government) is that once again the Palestinian people realize that it is up to them to resist in anyway possible and that once again there will be no help from the worlds nations and leaders, only the world’s people who stand in solidarity with them. This clarity of vision has visibly emboldened the Palestinian people under occupation, and not matter what evils continue to be perpetuated upon them by the US financed IOF and Israeli government I have complete confidence that the Palestinian people will persevere and resist until liberation and freedom. Terms and abbreviations: IOF- Israeli Occupation Force Definitions: Al-Nakba- The catastrophe, the commonly used word in Palestine for the disaster of 1948 when 800,000 plus Palestinians were expelled from their homes within what is today Israel and turned into refugees. Apartheid Wall- Concrete and fence “wall” being built by Israel within the occupied territories with the goal of creating 13 Palestinian ghettos and annexing the illegal settlements to Israel. Green Line- The internationally recognized border between the occupied territories and Israel set when Israel conquered the West Bank, (from Jordanian occupation) the Gaza Strip, (from Egyptian occupation) and East Jerusalem (from Jordanian occupation) in the 1967 war. Intifada- Shaking off, the Palestinian word for the two Palestinian uprisings against the occupation. The first Intifada started in 1987 and lasted until 1993, ending with the Oslo Peace Accords. The second Intifada started in 2000 after the breakdown of the Peace process and is ongoing. The Intifada is also referred to as the “war of the rocks” due to the method of Palestinian resistance that involved throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers, tanks, jeeps, and bulldozers and which has resulted in hundreds of Palestinian deaths as the IOF usually shoots live ammunition into rock throwers.
Oslo- The Oslo Peace Accords signed by Israel and the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) in 1993 that provided for a Palestinian state in return for an end to the first Palestinian uprising. Unilaterally ignored by the Israeli state who refused to end the occupation and increased settlement activity, and ended with the beginning of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000. Martyr- Anyone who has died in the Palestinian uprisings for independence including civilians murdered by the IOF and armed resistance fighters. The Occupied Territories- The areas of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem conquered by the Israeli army during the 1967 war, controlled by the IOF and the Israeli military bureaucracy.
Places:
Aba- Small village suburb of Jenin which is cut off from Jenin by an Israeli settler road, roadblocks, and a trench through the fields.
Anin- A Small village of 2,000-3,000 inhabitants west of Jenin whose land has been stolen by the construction of the Apartheid Wall.
Arabone- A small village northeast of Jenin whose land is in the process of being stolen by the construction of the Apartheid Wall.
Deir Alghason- Small village west of Tulkarem whose land has been stolen by the Apartheid Wall
Jenin- A northern West Bank city of about 30,000 inhabitants along with a refugee camp of 9,000 inhabitants. (15,000 before the Israeli invasion and massacre)
Qalqilia- West Bank city closest to Tel Aviv (Israel) on the western most tip of the occupied territories which has been completely encircled and suffocated by the Apartheid Wall.
Taybeh- A Small village west of Jenin, neighboring Anin whose land has been stolen by the construction of the Apartheid Wall.
Tulkarem- West Bank city on the western edge of the West Bank between Qalqilia and Jenin which has been scheduled to be the next city encircled by the Apartheid wall.
Sources: I would like to thank all of the Palestinians I met during my travels who helped contribute to this piece with their personal insights and quotes as well as those who helped show me what I have written about here. They will remain unnamed in this piece but I will forever remember them in my heart.
I would also like to thank all of the ISM members who I met during my time in Palestine and with whom I enjoyed countless hours of political discussion and debate and whose views and opinions helped me to formulate this piece. They too will remain nameless for obvious reasons, but I will never forget their spirit of camaraderie and solidarity.
International Solidarity Movement (www.palsolidarity.org) Free Palestine Now! (www.studentorg.vcu.edu/fpn) Palestinian National Information Center Jews Against the Occupation (www.jewsagainsttheoccupation.org) LAW: The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment Palestinian Center for Human Rights (www.pchrgaza.org) Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (www.icahd.org) Palestine-Net (www.palestine-net.com) Electronic Intifada (http://electronicintifada.net) SUSTAIN (www.sustaincampaign.org)
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