Blogging break?

Dear readers:

Just a note that I will be doing some traveling in the next months, and I don't know how much I will be able blog during that time. But do check back here from time to time, because I'll update as soon as I am able.

Peace (I hope)!

Same Story, Different Voices

Not too long ago I came across this article from the UK news source The Guardian. It contains the reflections and stories from a Jewish man's time spent in the Israeli military. Here's just one story:

My friend Shai, who was assigned to accompany two prisoners en route to Shin Bet interrogators, told me that the interrogators ordered the soldiers to finish their meals and put the remains from the plates into a sandwich for the Palestinians. Shai refused - "Are we Nazis?" - and gave them half his meal. He also told me that when the Palestinians offered some of the food back to the soldiers, the Shin Bet men tossed it out the window, saying, "Don't eat food after an Arab's touched it."

This is mild as far as stories go, but it reveals the depth of racism inherent in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

It was an interesting article to me, because I find myself often wondering what is going through the minds of these Israeli soldiers as they force Palestinian shepherds off their land, harass Palestinians at checkpoints, and refuse to escort Palestinian children to school (and the children are attacked by Israeli settlers as a result.)

If you're interested in leaning more in the same vein, I'd highly recommend you visit the website of Breaking the Silence, an organization of veteran Israeli soldiers that collects testimonies of soldiers who have served in Israeli military in its occupation of Palestine.

The amount of good documentation and information of human rights abuses committed by Israeli occupation of Palestine is incredible. This information comes from such a variety of sources, as well: Palestinian, Israeli, and international. Yet the world continues to turn a blind eye and stand idly by in the face of such incredible injustice.

This fact so deeply troubles me. But I suppose it's best not to think about it too much.

What does a nonviolent resister look like in At-Tuwani?

Nonviolent resisters in the Palestinian villages of At-Tuwani come in all sizes, ages, and genders. One happens to be a little girl. My friend and teammate Sarah writes about her in a Bittersweet Memory: “She’s driving me crazy, but this girl is going to make a great resister.”

For those of you who may read my friend and teammate Joy's blog, you may have already come across this reflection. But really, it is too lovely not to share.

On Politics and Nonviolence

A friend pointed me in the direction of this article a couple days ago. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared recently that "Greater Israel [from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea] is over. There is no such thing. Anyone who talks that way is deluding themselves." Apparently there's an evacuation-compensation bill being proposed, which would pay compensation (approx. 1.1 million shekels) to Israeli settlers who are willing to leave their settlements in Palestine. (Never mind the Palestinian refugees who had fled their homes, with fear for their lives, who are still waiting for compensation, or the recognition of their right to return.)

I'm not hopeful that this, or any such bill, will be passed or enforced to make any meaningful change in the short term (say, the next five years). For any bill like the one being proposed there is also the problem of the settlers who will not be willing to leave -- and I am certain that the settlers from the Israeli settlement of Ma'on and the illegal settlement outpost Havat Ma'on, outside of At-Tuwani, are among them.

In fact, the longer I am in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills, the more I am convinced that the real power to make change lies in the Palestinian people and their commitment to nonviolent resistance. I have seen "success" and hope in the nonviolent organizing of Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills. As bad as the military occupation is in Palestine, I find it impossible to lose hope in Tuwani, thanks to the villages' commitment to nonviolent organizing.

Yes, the Israeli government needs to commit itself to making justice, and I will be ecstatically happy for that day. In the meantime, my hopes are in the Palestinian nonviolent organizers, embarked on the serious, holy endeavor of living, striving, yearning, working for justice and peace.

A Festival, a Closed Military Zone, and Lots of Dancing

On Sunday, 9 August, the village of At-Tuwani organized a joint festival and press conference. The festival was to celebrate the end of Tuwani’s annual summer camp. The press conference was going to address the issues that the Israeli occupation creates for people in this area, not the least of which being the issue of the threat of violence Palestinian children face on their way to school and summer camp.

The festival was just beginning when the team received a call that the Israeli military had set up a checkpoint on the road to Tuwani, stopping anyone except Palestinians from At-Tuwani from entering the village. We discovered later that this was one of at least three checkpoints preventing people from entering the area. The military also declared the area a closed military zone until mid-afternoon (when the festival was scheduled to end.)

Needless to say, no media managed to come to the press conference.

Nevertheless, the Palestinian villagers continued with their festival. There was music, dancing, and a skit about life in Tuwani. People were clapping and laughing, and I have never seen such beautiful debka dancing, in spite of the military’s efforts to hinder the festival from going forward.

I am dumbfounded by the Israeli military and amazed and inspired by the Palestinians here in the South Hebron Hills. The event on Sunday was not a demonstration; yet the military was intent on preventing people from coming. The villagers here are committed to nonviolence, and they are courageous and steadfast – and the military knows it. There is nothing more dangerous to a violent regime than nonviolence and declaring the truth.

The villagers know this, and they were not going to allow the military to hinder their celebration or break their spirits – they went ahead with it anyway and had a mighty fun festival, living out the hope that someday their nonviolence will prevail.

And that, my friends, is far more powerful than any checkpoint or closed military zone.

At-Tuwani Urgent Action

At-Tuwani: Urgent Action Update
3 August 2008

On Sunday 3 August 2008, human rights worker Kristin Anderson was released from Israeli police custody, but the Israeli police have taken no steps to prevent setter violence in the South Hebron Hills. CPT urges you to contact the Israeli police at Kiryat Arba and demand immediate action to prevent further setter attacks on Palestinian school children. Over the last two weeks settlers have attacked Palestinian children on their way to summer camp four times. Settlers continue to yell, chase, curse, and throw rocks at the children, while Israeli police refuse to apprehend perpetrators. In November 2004 the Israeli Knesset declared that the Israeli police are responsible for apprehending violent settlers.

Please call the police and demand justice:
Kiryat Arba Contact Numbers:
972-2996-9444
972-2996-9494
972-2996-9424
(Add your applicable country code first)

Summer Camp in At-Tuwani (Part Two: Nonviolent Resistance a Success!)

So, the Palestinian villagers in the South Hebron Hills responded to the frequent Israeli settler attacks on the Palestinian children, and the Israeli military’s refusal to ensure the safety of these children.

They responded nonviolently. They organized a march.

They, the Palestinians, walked their children home from camp.

Here is an excerpt from the release we sent out about the march:

“On August 2nd, more than one hundred Palestinian children and their parents from the South Hebron Hills marched from the village of At-Tuwani to Tuba, calling for an end to settler violence and expansion in the area. In a major success for the area, the children and their parents took the most direct path to the village of Tuba. For the past eleven years, school children escorted by the Israeli military have been the only Palestinians able to use this road. Palestinians parents organized the march to call attention to the violence faced by schoolchildren, the failure of the Israeli army to protect them and the effects of Israeli settlement expansion. The march was a part of the annual South Hebron Hills summer camp for children.

The march initially attempted to take the path that children use when unaccompanied by the Israeli military, around the illegal Israeli settlement outpost Havot Ma’on. The Israeli military declared the whole area a closed military zone and restrained the march with force, targeting leaders. Soldiers attacked and tried to arrest a Palestinian man. When a CPTer intervened, they knocked them both down and started choking the CPTer, but marchers nonviolently intervened and stopped the attack. One Israeli and one international member of Operation Dove were arrested. Palestinian organizers negotiated with the Israeli military and it was decided that the Israeli military would accompany the children and parents on the short path, using the road between Ma’on settlement and Havot Ma’on. A large group of settlers left Ma’on and harassed the marchers. A smaller group of settlers followed directly behind the marchers, but Israeli military and police prevented them from attacking the group. One village elder accompanying the children walked this road for the first time in years. Surprised by the settlement expansion, she shared with a soldier about how she plowed this land years ago.

Participating in the march were children from the villages of Tuba and Maghaer Al-Abeed who have been regularly attacked by Israeli settlers as they walked to primary school in At-Tuwani.”

P.S. What did you do when you were in summer camp? Was participating in nonviolent resistance part of camp?

I love the Palestinians here. They are some of the most amazing people. Ever.