April 19 in Montreal: Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners

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Thursday April 19, 2012
6:30pm at Concordia University
Hall Building, Room H-110
1455 de Maisonneuve West
Metro Guy-Concordia
Montreal, Quebec


Since 1967, it is estimated that approximately 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel as part of its repression of the popular resistance. As of March 2012, there were 4,637 Palestinians behind bars in Israeli jails, among them 5 women and 183 children. In addition, there are currently 320 Palestinians being held under six month administrative detention orders, without charge or trial, which can be and usually are renewed.

While imprisoned, Palestinian political prisoners from the West Bank face a military justice system that is often characterized by trumped up charges, low standards of evidence, a lack of due process, an acceptance of torture, as well as sentencing that is disparate and far harsher than that encountered in the Israeli civil justice system. As such, the vast majority experience some form of mistreatment during their detention, including torture, coercive interrogation, isolation, food and sleep deprivation, along with the frequent denial of family and legal visits.

If Palestinian political prisoners have experienced considerable oppression in the occupation’s jails, they have also remained active participants in the Palestinian struggle for freedom and self-determination. In recent months, Khader Adnan and Hana Shalabi have captured the attention of many worldwide, staging lengthy hunger strikes to courageously confront Israel’s military justice system and protesting administrative detention practices.

On February 11, 2012, Khader Adnan issued a call, requesting that solidarity groups make April 17th - Palestinian Prisoner’s Day - an international day of action. With this in mind, during the week of April 17th, prisoner support groups and Palestine solidarity networks around the world will be gathering to demand justice and freedom for political prisoners. Please join us for a panel discussion and screening to highlight prisoner struggles, affirm our support and stand in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners.

Featuring:

• Issam Al-Yamani
  A founding member of the Palestinian Left, Issam Al-Yamani is a Palestinian activist, writer and political commentor. Currently, he is also the Executive Director of Toronto’s Palestine House, which was defunded by Minister Jason Kenney in February 2012.
• Serin Atiani
  A Palestinian researcher and activist, Serin Atiani has advocated for Palestinian human, civil and political rights for over a decade.
• The event will also feature a screening of a video produced by Addameer, featuring an interview with Suha Barghouti, wife of Ahmed Qatamesh. A prominent Palestinian writer, academic and activist, Qatamesh is currently under an administrative detention order and has been held without charge since his arrest on the night of April 21, 2011.

Organized by Tadamon! Montreal and SPHR Concordia

For more information:
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Organisation
Tadamon! Montreal
Solidarity For Human Rights (SPHR)-Concordia

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Granting No Quarter: A Call for the Disavowal of the Racism and Antisemitism of Gilad Atzmon

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As a follow-up to the last post, which was a public statement endorsed by over a hundred anti-imperialists, condemning the views of Gilad Atzmon, i am also re-posting this statement by 23 Palestinian activists, "Granting No Quarter: A Call for the Disavowal of the Racism and Antisemitism of Gilad Atzmon". This statement was first posted on the U.S. Palestinian Community Network: http://uspcn.org/2012/03/13/granting-no-quarter-a-call-for-the-disavowal-of-the-racism-and-antisemitism-of-gilad-atzmon/

Granting No Quarter: A Call for the Disavowal of the Racism and Antisemitism of Gilad Atzmon

For many years now, Gilad Atzmon, a musician born in Israel and currently living in the United Kingdom, has taken on the self-appointed task of defining for the Palestinian movement the nature of our struggle, and the philosophy underpinning it. He has done so through his various blogs and Internet outlets, in speeches, and in articles. He is currently on tour in the United States promoting his most recent book, entitled, ‘The Wandering Who.’

With this letter, we call for the disavowal of Atzmon by fellow Palestinian organizers, as well as Palestine solidarity activists, and allies of the Palestinian people, and note the dangers of supporting Atzmon’s political work and writings and providing any platforms for their dissemination. We do so as Palestinian organizers and activists, working across continents, campaigns, and ideological positions.

Atzmon’s politics rest on one main overriding assertion that serves as springboard for vicious attacks on anyone who disagrees with his obsession with “Jewishness”. He claims that all Jewish politics is “tribal,” and essentially, Zionist. Zionism, to Atzmon, is not a settler-colonial project, but a trans-historical “Jewish” one, part and parcel of defining one’s self as a Jew. Therefore, he claims, one cannot self-describe as a Jew and also do work in solidarity with Palestine, because to identify as a Jew is to be a Zionist. We could not disagree more. Indeed, we believe Atzmon’s argument is itself Zionist because it agrees with the ideology of Zionism and Israel that the only way to be a Jew is to be a Zionist.

Palestinians have faced two centuries of orientalist, colonialist and imperialist domination of our native lands. And so as Palestinians, we see such language as immoral and completely outside the core foundations of humanism, equality and justice, on which the struggle for Palestine and its national movement rests. As countless Palestinian activists and organizers, their parties, associations and campaigns, have attested throughout the last century, our struggle was never, and will never be, with Jews, or Judaism, no matter how much Zionism insists that our enemies are the Jews. Rather, our struggle is with Zionism, a modern European settler colonial movement, similar to movements in many other parts of the world that aim to displace indigenous people and build new European societies on their lands.

We reaffirm that there is no room in this historic and foundational analysis of our struggle for any attacks on our Jewish allies, Jews, or Judaism; nor denying the Holocaust; nor allying in any way shape or form with any conspiracy theories, far-right, orientalist, and racist arguments, associations and entities. Challenging Zionism, including the illegitimate power of institutions that support the oppression of Palestinians, and the illegitimate use of Jewish identities to protect and legitimize oppression, must never become an attack on Jewish identities, nor the demeaning and denial of Jewish histories in all their diversity.

Indeed, we regard any attempt to link and adopt antisemitic or racist language, even if it is within a self-described anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist politics, as reaffirming and legitimizing Zionism. In addition to its immorality, this language obscures the fundamental role of imperialism and colonialism in destroying our homeland, expelling its people, and sustaining the systems and ideologies of oppression, apartheid and occupation. It leaves one squarely outside true solidarity with Palestine and its people.

The goal of the Palestinian people has always been clear: self determination. And we can only exercise that inalienable right through liberation, the return of our refugees (the absolute majority of our people) and achieving equal rights to all through decolonization. As such, we stand with all and any movements that call for justice, human dignity, equality, and social, economic, cultural and political rights. We will never compromise the principles and spirit of our liberation struggle. We will not allow a false sense of expediency to drive us into alliance with those who attack, malign, or otherwise attempt to target our political fraternity with all liberation struggles and movements for justice.

As Palestinians, it is our collective responsibility, whether we are in Palestine or in exile, to assert our guidance of our grassroots liberation struggle. We must protect the integrity of our movement, and to do so we must continue to remain vigilant that those for whom we provide platforms actually speak to its principles.

When the Palestinian people call for self-determination and decolonization of our homeland, we do so in the promise and hope of a community founded on justice, where all are free, all are equal and all are welcome.

Until liberation and return.

Signed:

Ali Abunimah
Naseer Aruri, Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Omar Barghouti, human rights activist
Hatem Bazian, Chair, American Muslims for Palestine
Andrew Dalack, National Coordinating Committee, US Palestinian Community Network
Haidar Eid, Gaza
Nada Elia, US Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Toufic Haddad
Kathryn Hamoudah
Adam Hanieh, Lecturer, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London
Mostafa Henaway, Tadamon! Canada
Monadel Herzallah, National Coordinating Committee, US Palestinian Community Network
Nadia Hijab, author and human rights advocate
Andrew Kadi
Hanna Kawas, Chair person, Canada Palestine Association and Co-Host Voice of Palestine
Abir Kobty, Palestinian blogger and activist
Joseph Massad, Professor, Columbia University, NY
Danya Mustafa, Israeli Apartheid Week US National Co-Coordinator & Students for Justice in Palestine- University of New Mexico
Dina Omar, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine
Haitham Salawdeh, National Coordinating Committee, US Palestinian Community Network
Sobhi Samour, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London
Khaled Ziada, SOAS Palestine Society, London
Rafeef Ziadah, poet and human rights advocate

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Not Quite "Ordinary Human Beings"—Anti-imperialism and the anti-humanist rhetoric of Gilad Atzmon

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[This is a statement signed by almost one hundred anti-imperialists and organizations denouncing the Israeli-born jazz musician Gilad Atzmon for his antisemitism, and asking our fellow progressives to not promote him or his works. The list of endorsements included here is accurate as of March 9, 2012; an updated list will be maintained on the Three Way Fight blog: http://threewayfight.blogspot.com/p/atzmon-critique_09.html]

Attempting to latch onto the just, vital, and growing movement in support of the Palestinian national liberation struggle, Gilad Atzmon is one of a very small and unrepresentative group of writers who have argued (in agreement with many Zionists) that there is no meaningful distinction to be made between Jews in general and Israeli atrocities. According to Atzmon, the latter are simply a manifestation of Jews’ historic relationship to gentiles, an authentic expression of an essentially racist, immoral, and anti-human “Jewish ideology.”

Atzmon’s statements, besides distorting the history of Jews and constituting a brazen justification for centuries of anti-Jewish behavior and beliefs, also downgrade anti-Zionism to a mere front in the broader (anti-Jewish) struggle. Atzmon has specifically described Zionism not as a form of colonialism or settlerism, but as a uniquely evil ideology unlike anything else in human history. In addition to any ethical problems, this line of argumentation actually strengthens Zionism’s grip and claim to be the authentic representative of Jews. It obscures the reality that Zionism is an imperialist and colonialist enemy of Jewish people and Palestinians, as well as the Arab people generally and all those oppressed and exploited by imperialism.

In his online attack on Moshe Machover, an Israeli socialist and founder of the anti-Zionist group Matzpen, Atzmon states:

Machover’s reading of Zionism is pretty trivial. “Israel,” he says, is a “settler state.” For Machover this is a necessary point of departure because it sets Zionism as a colonialist expansionist project. The reasoning behind such a lame intellectual spin is obvious. As long as Zionism is conveyed as a colonial project, Jews, as a people, should be seen as ordinary people. They are no different from the French and the English, they just happen to run their deadly colonial project in a different time.[1]

For Atzmon, such views are “pretty trivial” and “lame” because he holds that Jews are in fact radically different from the French and the English. Of the many quotes we could provide in this regard, here is a small sampling:[2]

In order to understand Israel’s unique condition we must ask, “who are the Jews? What is Judaism and what is Jewishness?”[3]

Zionism is a continuation of Jewish ideology.[4]

The never-ending robbery of Palestine by Israel in the name of the Jewish people establishes a devastating spiritual, ideological, cultural and, obviously, practical continuum between the Judaic Bible and the Zionist project. The crux of the matter is simple yet disturbing: Israel and Zionism are both successful political systems that put into devastating practice the plunder promised by the Judaic God in the Judaic holy scriptures.[5]

Sadly, we have to admit that hate-ridden plunder of other people’s possessions made it into the Jewish political discourse both on the left and right. The Jewish nationalist would rob Palestine in the name of the right of self-determination, the Jewish progressive is there to rob the ruling class and even international capital in the name of world working class revolution.[6]

Were Jewish Marxists and cosmopolitans open to the notion of brotherhood, they would have given up on their unique, exclusive banners and become ordinary human beings like the rest of us.[7]

I do not consider the Jews to be a race, and yet it is obvious that “Jewishness” clearly involves an ethno centric and racially supremacist, exclusivist point of view that is based on a sense of Jewish “chosen-ness.”[8]

At the most, Israel has managed to mimic some of the appearances of a Western civilisation, but it has clearly failed to internalise the meaning of tolerance and freedom. This should not take us by surprise: Israel defines itself as a Jewish state, and Jewishness is, sadly enough, inherently intolerant; indeed, it may be argued that Jewish intolerance is as old as the Jews themselves.[9]

Israel and Zionism then, has proved to be a short lived dream. It was initiated to civilise Jewish life, and to dismantle the Jewish self-destructive mode. It was there to move the Jew into the post-herem[10] phase. It vowed to make the Jew into a productive being. But as things turned out, neither the Zionists nor the “anti Zionists” managed to drift away from the disastrous herem culture. It seems that the entire world of Jewish identity politics is a matrix of herems and exclusion strategies. In order to be “a proper Jew,” all you have to do is to point out whom you oppose, hate, exclude or boycott.[11]

The conclusion to such views is not difficult to draw:

The endless trail of Jewish collective tragedies is there to teach us that Jews always pay eventually (and heavily) for Jewish power exercises. Yet, surprisingly (and tragically) enough, Jews somehow consistently fail to internalise and learn from that very lesson.[12]

More precisely, commenting on the climax of State violence directed at Jews in the 1930s, most famously by Germany, but also in most other European nations, Atzmon is clear:

The remarkable fact is they don't understand why the world is beginning to stand against them in the same way they didn't understand why the Europeans stood against them in the 1930s. Instead of asking why we are hated they continue to toss accusations on others.[13]

Within the discourse of Jewish politics and history there is no room for causality. There is no such a thing as a former and a latter. Within the Jewish tribal discourse every narrative starts to evolve when Jewish pain establishes itself. This obviously explains why Israelis and some Jews around the world can only think as far as “two state solution” within the framework of 1967 borders. It also explains why for most Jews the history of the holocaust starts in the gas chambers or with the rise of the Nazis. I have hardly seen any Israelis or Jews attempt to understand the circumstances that led to the clear resentment of Europeans towards their Jewish neighbors in the 1920’s-40’s.[14]

It is, as such, not surprising that Atzmon’s work has received enthusiastic reviews by such prominent members of the racist right as former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, Kevin MacDonald of the Occidental Observer, David Icke, and Arthur Topham’s the Radical Press. It should not be surprising that Atzmon has distributed articles defending Holocaust deniers and those who write of “the Hitler we loved and why.”[15] These connections ultimately serve the interests of Zionism, which seeks to conflate anti-Zionism with anti-Jewishness. Zionist agents have repeatedly attempted to ensnare and link Palestinian, Arab, and/or Muslim rights advocates to Neo-Nazism, through dirty tricks and outright lies.

It is more surprising and disappointing, then, that a small section of the left has opted to promote Atzmon and his works. In the UK, the Socialist Workers Party promoted Atzmon for several years before finally breaking with him; his latest book The Wandering Who? has been published by the left-wing Zero Books (a decision that elicited a letter of protest from several Zero authors).[16] In the United States, the widely-read Counterpunch website has repeatedly chosen to run articles by Atzmon. Currently, in February and March 2012, Atzmon is on tour in North America, where several of his speaking engagements are being organized by progressive anti-imperialists who we would normally like to consider our allies.

While perhaps well-meaning, operating under the assumption that any opposition to Zionism is to be welcomed, progressives who promote the work of Atzmon are in fact surrendering the moral high ground by encouraging a belief-system that simply mirrors that of the most racist section of Israeli society. Anti-racism is not a liability; on the contrary, it is a principle that makes our movements stronger in the long fight for a better tomorrow.

As political activists committed to resisting colonialism and imperialism—in North America and around the world—we recognize that there can be different interpretations of history, and we welcome exploring these. Without wishing to debate the question of whether far-right and racist ideologues should be censored, or how, we see no reason for progressive people to organize events to promote their works.

In our struggle against Zionism, racism, and all forms of colonialism and imperialism, there is no place for antisemitism or the vilification of Jews, Palestinians or any people based on their religions, cultures, nationalities, ethnicity or history. At this historic junction—when the need to struggle for the liberation of Palestine is more vital than ever and the fault lines of capitalist empire are becoming more widely exposed—no anti-oppressive revolution can be built with ultra-right allies or upon foundations friendly to creeping fascism.

As'ad AbuKhalil, The Angry Arab News Service, Turlock, CA

Suha Afyouni, solidarity activist, Beirut, LEBANON

Max Ajl, essayist, rabble-rouser, proprietor of Jewbonics blog site, Ithaca, NY

Haifaa Al-Moammar, activist, stay-at-home mom, and marathon walker, Los Angeles, CA

Electa Arenal, professor emerita, CUNY Graduate Center/Hispanic & Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Women's Studies, New York, NY

Gabriel Ash, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Geneva, SWITZERLAND

Joel Beinin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

Dan Berger, Wild Poppies Collective, Philadelphia, PA

Chip Berlet, Boston, MA

Nazila Bettache, activist, Montréal, CANADA

Sam Bick, Tadamon!, Immigrant Workers Center, Montréal, Québec

Max Blumenthal, author; writing fellow, The Nation, New York, NY

Lenni Brenner, author, Zionism in the Age of the Dictators, New York, NY

Café Intifada

Paola Canarutto, Rete-ECO (Italian Network of Jews against the Occupation), Torino, ITALY

Paulette d’Auteuil, National Jericho Movement, Albuquerque, NM

Susie Day, Monthly Review, New York, NY

Ali Hocine Dimerdji, PhD student at The University of Nottingham, in Nottingham, UK

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, professor emerita, California State University

Todd Eaton, Park Slope Food Coop Members for Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions, Brooklyn, NY

S. EtShalom, registered nurse, Philadelphia, PA

Benjamin Evans, solidarity activist, Chicago, IL

First of May Anarchist Alliance

Sherna Berger Gluck, professor emerita, California State University/Israel Divestment Campaign, CA

Neta Golan, International Solidarity Movement

Tony Greenstein, Secretary Brighton Unemployed Centre/UNISON, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods, Brighton, UK

Andrew Griggs, Café Intifada, Los Angeles, CA

Jenny Grossbard, artist, designer, writer and fighter, New York, NY

Freda Guttman, activist, Montréal, CANADA

Adam Hanieh, lecturer, Department of Development Studies/SOAS, University of London, UK

Swaneagle Harijan, anti-racism, social justice activism, Seattle, WA

Sarah Hawas, researcher and solidarity activist, Cairo, EGYPT

Stanley Heller, "The Struggle" Video News, moderator "Jews Who Speak Out"

Mostafa Henaway, Tadamon!, Immigrant Workers Center, Montréal, CANADA

Elise Hendrick, Meldungen aus dem Exil/Noticias de una multipátrida, Cincinnati, OH

Doug Henwood, Left Business Observer, New York, NY

Ken Hiebert, activist, Ladysmith, CANADA

Elizabeth Horowitz, solidarity activist, New York, NY

Adam Hudson, writer/blogger, San Francisco Bay Area, CA

Dhruv Jain, Researcher at the Jan Van Eyck Academie and PhD student at York University, Paris, FRANCE

Tom Keefer, an editor of the journal Upping the Anti, Toronto, CANADA

Karl Kersplebedeb, Left Wing Books, Montréal, CANADA

Anne Key, Penrith, Cumbria, UK

Mark Klein, activist, Toronto, CANADA

Bill Koehnlein, Brecht Forum, New York, NY

L.A. Palestine Labor Solidarity Committee, Los Angeles, CA

Mark Lance, Georgetown University/Institute for Anarchist Studies, Washington, DC

David Landy, author, Jewish Identity and Palestinian Rights: Diaspora Jewish Opposition to Israel, Dublin, IRELAND

Bob Lederer, Pacifica/WBAI producer, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, New York, NY

Matthew Lyons, Three Way Fight, Philadelphia, PA

Karen MacRae, solidarity activist, Toronto, CANADA

Heba Farouk Mahfouz, student activist, blogger, Cairo, EGYPT

Marvin Mandell and Betty Reid Mandell, co-editors, New Politics, West Roxbury, MA

Ruth Sarah Berman McConnell, retired teacher, DeLand, FL

Kathleen McLeod, poet, Brisbane, Australia

Karrie Melendres, Los Angeles, CA

Matt Meyer, Resistance in Brooklyn, New York, NY

Amirah Mizrahi, poet and educator, New York, NY

mesha Monge-Irizarry, co-director of Education Not Incarceration; SF MOOC City commissioner, San Francisco, CA

Matthew Morgan-Brown, solidarity activist, Ottawa, CANADA

Michael Novick, People Against Racist Terror/Anti-Racist Action, Los Angeles, CA

Saffo Papantonopoulou, New School Students for Justice in Palestine, New York, NY

Susan Pashkoff, Jews Against Zionism, London, UK

Tom Pessah, UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine, Berkeley, CA

Marie-Claire Picher, Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory (TOPLAB), New York, NY

Sylvia Posadas (Jinjirrie), Kadaitcha, Noosa, AUSTRALIA

Roland Rance, Jews Against Zionism, London, UK

Danielle Ratcliff, San Francisco, CA

Liz Roberts, War Resisters League, New York, NY

Emma Rosenthal, contributor, Shifting Sands: Jewish Women Confront the Israeli Occupation, Los Angeles, CA

Penny Rosenwasser, PhD, Oakland, CA

Suzanne Ross, Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, The Riverside Church Prison Ministry, New York, NY

Gabriel San Roman, Orange County Weekly, Orange County, CA

Ian Saville, performer and lecturer, London, UK

Joel Schwartz, CSEA retiree/AFSCME, New York, NY

Tali Shapiro, Anarchists Against the Wall, Boycott From Within, Tel Aviv, OCCUPIED PALESTINE

Simona Sharoni, SUNY, author, Gender & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Plattsburgh, NY

Jaggi Singh, No One Is Illegal-Montreal/Solidarity Across Borders, Montréal, CANADA

Michael S. Smith, board member, Center for Constitutional Rights, New York, NY

Pierre Stambul, Union juive française pour la paix (French Jewish Union for Peace), Paris, FRANCE

Muffy Sunde, Los Angeles, CA

Bhaskar Sunkara, editor of Jacobin, Bronx, NY

Tadamon! (http://www.tadamon.ca/), Montréal, CANADA

Ian Trujillo, atheist, Los Angeles, CA

Gabriella Turek, PhD, Auckland, NEW ZEALAND

Henry Walton, SEIU, retired, Los Angeles, CA

Bill Weinberg, New Jewish Resistance, New York, NY

Abraham Weizfeld, author, The End of Zionism and the liberation of the Jewish People, Montreal, CANADA

Ben White, author, Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination, and Democracy, Cambridge, UK

Laura Whitehorn, former political prisoner, NYS Task Force on Political Prisoners, New York, NY

Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, founding member, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (J-BIG)

Asa Winstanley, journalist for Electronic Intifada, Al-Akhbar and others, London, UK

Ziyaad Yousef, solidarity activist

* List in formation

* Organizations listed for identification purposes only

* Contact us at: antiracistantizionist@yahoo.com

Postscript:

This text is not intended as a comprehensive critique of Gilad Atzmon's politics. It was written quickly by some North American anti-imperialists who learned of Atzmon's 2012 speaking tour just days before it was to begin in late February 2012. At first it was thought it would be signed by just a few people, but the initiative quickly took on a life of its own, being posted to the web and to multiple listservs, discussed via email and on Facebook, and elsewhere, even before the wording had been finalized or a decision had been made as to how to use it (the initial assumption had been that it would be passed on to organizers with far less fanfare). Instead of a few signatures, within a week there were dozens, and emails continue to arrive from people wishing to sign on. We believe that this speaks to the deep frustration that many of us feel when confronted with Atzmon's anti-Jewish beliefs, which constitute an affront to our anti-racist principles, as well as a distraction from the essential tasks of opposing colonialist genocide and Israeli apartheid. What this response makes clear is that for many anti-imperialists, opposing such racism remains essential to building a movement against imperialism and the myriad forms of oppression that both feed on and are fed by it.

Any subsequent news or information about this initiative will appear here on the Three Way Fight website (threewayfight.blogspot.com). Those wishing to endorse or discuss this initiative, or for more information, should email antiracistantizionist@yahoo.com. We wish to reiterate that we consider many of those promoting Atzmon's work to be allies, but would ask that they reconsider their decision to do so. This is not a call for censorship, but for consistency and accountability.

---

[1] Gilad Atzmon, "Tribal Marxism for Dummies," originally published in June 2009, republished on his Web site on April 24, 2011.

[2] Many more quotes like these could be provided, but we assume this is enough to show that these are not out-of-context or out-of-character remarks. If not, readers may wish to peruse the section of Atzmon’s website on “Jewishness” at <www.gilad.co.uk/writings/category/jewishness>.

[3] Gilad Atzmon, "Tribal Marxism for Dummies," Atlantic Free Press, July 2, 2009.

[4] Anayat Durrani, "Exposing Dangerous Myths," Interview with Gilad Atzmon, originally published in Al-Ahram Weekly (May 19-25, 2011), republished on Atzmon's Web site on May 19, 2011.

[5] Gilad Atzmon, "Swindler's List: Zionist Plunder and the Judaic Bible," Redress Information & Analysis, April 5, 2008.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Gilad Atzmon, "An Interesting Exchange With A Jewish Anti Zionist," Atzmon's Web site, August 17, 2011.

[9] Gilad Atzmon, "The Herem Law in the context of Jewish Past and Present," Atzmon's Web site, July 16, 2011.

[10] “Herem” is a Hebrew word that refers to banning or excluding someone, it is also the name of the repressive legislation Israel recently passed to enable punitive lawsuits against those calling for a boycott of the apartheid state. For Atzmon, this law is just one more example of Zionism’s Jewish uniqueness (guess he never heard of SLAPPs), as he concludes that “this is what Jews do best: destroying, excluding, excommunicating, silencing, boycotting, sanctioning. After all, Jews have been doing this for centuries.”

[11] Ibid.

[12] Gilad Atzmon, "A Warning From The Past," Atzmon's Web site, May 26, 2011.

[13] Quoted in Shabana Syed, "Time for World to Confront Israel: Gilad Atzmon," Arab News, June 14, 2010.

[14] Gilad Atzmon, "Jewish Ideology and World Peace," Atzmon's Web site, June 7, 2010.

[15] Tony Greenstein, "Bookmarks & Invitation to Gilad Atzmon & Holocaust Denial," JustPeaceUK, Yahoo! Groups, June 9, 2005.

[16] "Zero Authors' Statement on Gilad Atzmon," Lenin's Tomb, September 26, 2011.

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From Palestine to France, Muslim Women Under Attack

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One thing about the global polarization between western imperialism and Islamic anti-imperialism, factions in each camp rely upon and feed into the ongoing subjugation of women, especially women of color. Opposing sides in a unified system of exploitation, the dynamic tension created by their mutual hostility takes form in various moves to control women's choices over their bodies, their attire, their lives.

This week Hamas, the duly elected government in Gaza, announced a ban on women publicly smoking the hookah. According to government spokesman Taher Nouno, "The government made the decision in order to restore the religious rules and traditions of the conservative Palestinian society, which doesn't allow for women and teens to smoke the shisha in public places."

Last fall as part of its "virtue campaign" Hamas passed a ban on women riding behind men on motorbikes. "To preserve citizen safety and the stability of Palestinian society's customs and traditions," they said.

This "traditional conservatism" is in fact being imposed, as a distorted vision from a non-existent past, on a dynamic society - when a society is as frozen-in-time as these right-wing men like to pretend, there is no need for new laws and edicts to "restore" these religious rules. But when a society is traumatized by violence as the Palestinians have been, ever since the nakba, and the worldwide left that was tied to the Soviet camp has disintegrated, men like that find that they can get their way.

At the same time, imperialism - which in a shakespearean kinda way is actually responsible for the rise Hamas as the symbol of principled resistance - is busy working out its anxieties about women and cultural predominance by imposing bans on various forms of Muslim attire across Europe. France and Belgium have both passed laws banning the burka in public (expected to come into force in the fall), similar legislation is expected to be passed in Spain (where it already exists in Catalonia and Andalusia), and there are calls to extend it to England and other countries, too.

Imperialism dresses itself in the liberal garb, claiming that such legislation is intended to "free" women and counter "Muslim sexism". Some leftists actually believe this, and go for the ride (ten years ago the French anarchist newspaper le monde libertaire even carried the banner headline "Ni Dieu Ni Voile"), but in doing so they're ignoring whose tune they're dancing to. As in the case of Palestinian women being told what they can do and what they must wear, the regulation and control of Muslim women in Europe is a symbolic way for particular nations and classes to mark their territory, to show that they're the ones who say what goes. And once they feel they have the power, "our" bigots will gladly show themselves to be "real men", just like their brothers on the other side of the imperial divide.

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Arab Queers Say NO to Pinkwashing at the USSF

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From the hit-or-miss MRZine, an important statement as one of the most vulnerable sectors of Arab society struggles to resist imperialist manipulation:

Arab Queers Say NO to Pinkwashing at the USSF
by Helem, Al-Qaws, ASWAT, and Palestinian Queers for BDS

SAY NO TO PINKWASHING AT THE USSF!

We, the undersigned queer Arab organizations, are appalled by the US Social Forum's decision to allow Stand with Us to utilize the event as a platform to pinkwash Israel's crimes in the region. Stand with Us is cynically manipulating the struggle of queer people in the Middle East through its workshop entitled "LGBTQI Liberation in the Middle East".

Stand with Us is a self-declared Zionist propaganda organization which describes itself as "an international education organization that ensures that Israel's side of the story is told in communities, campuses, libraries, the media and churches through brochures, speakers, conferences, missions to Israel, and thousands of pages of Internet resources".

Stand with Us has no connection with the LGBT movement in the Middle East apart from ties to Zionist Israeli LGBT organizations, yet it claims to speak for and about our movements. It has no credibility in our region, and as organizations working in and from the Middle East, we condemn its attempt to use us, our struggles, our lives, and our experiences as a platform for pro-Israeli propaganda.

Since Israel's brutal wars on Gaza and Lebanon in 2006 and particularly after the recent unprovoked attack on the flotilla of activists going to Gaza, the Israeli government has found itself increasingly marginalized by international condemnations and weakened through the growing success of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. To remedy this, it has launched a massive PR campaign using organizations such as Stand with Us to convince the world that Israel is not a brutal settler-colony state, but rather a free democracy where human rights in general, and LGBT rights in particular, are respected and upheld. Stand With Us deceptively uses the language of LGBT and women's rights to obscure the fact that institutionalized discrimination is enshrined within the state of Israel.

Our struggle is deeply intertwined with the struggle of all oppressed people, and we cannot accept that we are being used as a tool to discredit the Palestinian cause. Stand with Us would have everyone believe that the Palestinian cause is an unworthy one because of the homophobia that exists within Palestinian society, as if homophobia does not exist elsewhere, and as if struggles for justice are predicated on some sort of inherent "goodness" of the oppressed, rather than on the principles of freedom, justice, and equality for everyone, everywhere. Stand with Us would have us all compartmentalize our beliefs, lives, and identities so that solidarity with the queer struggle would preclude solidarity with others.

While Stand With Us is quick to point out the oppression of queer Palestinians under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, it conveniently forgets that those same queers are not immune to the bombs, blockades, apartheid and destruction wrought upon them daily by the Israeli government, and that Israel's multi-tiered oppression hardly makes a distinction between straight and gay Palestinians.

We refuse to be instrumentalized by anyone, be it our own oppressive governments or the Zionist lobby hijacking our struggle to legitimize the state of Israel and its policies, thus providing even more fodder for our own governments to use against us. If you want to learn about our movements and struggles, engage with us, rather than with those who will use us as pawns in Israel's campaign to pinkwash its crimes.

The inclusion of Stand With Us at the USSF is an egregious oversight on the part of the forum. We ask the forum to justify this inclusion given that it violates its own principles of anti-racism, uniting oppressed communities, prioritizing marginalized voices, and opposing US foreign policy. The USSF should be held accountable to its own standards. We look forward to hearing its plans to address the situation.

Helem
Lebanese Protection for LGBT
www.helem.net

Al-Qaws
For Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society
www.alqaws.org

ASWAT
Palestinian Gay Women
www.aswatgroup.org

Palestinian Queers for BDS
pqbds.wordpress.com


FYI, general USSF contact info: detroitinfo@ussf2010.org; nationalinfo@ussf2010.org; (toll free) 877.515.USSF; and USSF Coordinators' contact info: Detroit Co-Coordinators William Copeland william@ussf2010.org and Maureen Taylor chuteh7@hotmail.com; National Co-Coordinators Adrienne Maree Brown adrienne@ussf2010.org and Sylvia Orduño sylvia@ussf2010.org. Click here for contact info of other staffers and working group coordinators.

This statement has been met with a statement of support from Queer Israelis for Palestine:

We, Israeli queer activists, are deeply disturbed that the US Social Forum is allowing the issue of LGBTQI rights in the Middle East to be used by the anti-arab propaganda organization Stand with Us, under the dishonest guise of educating and promoting liberation. The workshop to be held by Stand with Us at the US Social Forum, entitled "LGBTQI Liberation in the Middle East" is a particularly sinister attempt to use the issue of LGBTQI rights to veil the horrors of the Israeli occupation, and has no place in the US Social Forum.We support the statement issued by the queer arab organizations (see attachment), bravely standing up for their own rights, including their right to speak for themselves and not have their voices hijacked by Stand with Us, an organization that condones oppression of Palestinians, queer and straight alike. Queer Palestinians know: Israel does not give rights to queer Palestinians, Israel denies the rights of all Palestinans. As Jewish Israeli queers, we also refuse to be co-opted by Stand with Us. Transphobia and homophobia are real problems in Israel, as the violent attack on LGBT youth last year proved. Stand with Us has no interest in addressing these pressing issues, and does not actually support ongoing struggles for queer rights within Israel. Instead they flaunt the rights that we do have, erasing the need for continued struggle, for us, but more importantly, for other even more oppressed groups. We will not allow Stand with Us to use our hard earned rights to demonize the arab world and to justify denying the rights of the Palestinians. Being Jewish citizens of Israel affords us many rights denied to others, despite our queerness. We are acutely aware of our excess privilege within the apartheid state of Israel. For us this is no cause for pride and celebration, but rather it forces us to be accountable and take action. That means we can, and must, fight for rights and justice for all. Please don't let Stand with Us lead a workshop that will detract from this important struggle for justice. Signed, Israeli Queers For Palestine

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Genocide Here and There: Harvard Fellow calls for international community to starve Palestinian children

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Via Electronic Intifada, this news that Martin Kramer of Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs is calling for genocide of Palestinians as a solution to imperialism's hiccups in the Middle East.

Of course this kind of thinking is neither new, nor limited to the Middle East, nor in fact is it even escapable under imperialism. In other words, population control (either pro- or anti-natalist) is just something that folks in power do, whether they make the mistake of talking about it in the media or not. Check out recent comments by Republican Andre Bauer, South Carolina's Lieutenant Governor:

My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed.

You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better.

As James Ridgeway tells us,

South Carolina is the 37th worst state when it come to child poverty, 45th worst for infant mortality, and 48th worst for low birth weight babies.

Lest you not have guessed, this of course comes with a clear national dimension: according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 126,000 poor children in South Carolina - over half - are Black. (According to their lying censuses, less than a third of the SC population is Black.)

South Carolina, no less than Israel, is home to both oppressor and oppressed nations.

Here's that Electronic Intifada article:

A fellow at Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Martin Kramer, has called for "the West" to take measures to curb the births of Palestinians, a proposal that appears to meet the international legal definition of a call for genocide.

Kramer, who is also a fellow at the influential Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), made the call early this month in a speech at Israel's Herzliya conference, a video of which is posted on his blog ("Superfluous young men," 7 February 2010).

In the speech Kramer rejected common views that Islamist "radicalization" is caused by US policies such as support for Israel, or propping up despotic dictatorships, and stated that it was inherent in the demography of Muslim societies such as Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip. Too many children, he argued, leads to too many "superfluous young men" who then become violent radicals.

Kramer proposed that the number of Palestinian children born in the Gaza Strip should be deliberately curbed, and alleged that this would "happen faster if the West stops providing pro-natal subsidies to Palestinians with refugee status."

Due to the Israeli blockade, the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza are now dependent on UN food aid. Neither the UN, nor any other agencies, provide Palestinians with specifically "pro-natal subsidies." Kramer appeared to be equating any humanitarian assistance at all with inducement for Palestinians to reproduce.

He added, "Israel's present sanctions on Gaza have a political aim -- undermine the Hamas regime -- but if they also break Gaza's runaway population growth, and there is some evidence that they have, that might begin to crack the culture of martyrdom which demands a constant supply of superfluous young men." This, he claimed, would be treating the issue of Islamic radicalization "at its root."

The 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, created in the wake of the Nazi holocaust, defines genocide to include measures "intended to prevent births within" a specific "national, ethnic, racial or religious group."

The Weatherhead Center at Harvard describes itself as "the largest international research center within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences." In addition to his positions at Harvard and WINEP, Kramer is "president-designate" of Shalem College in Jerusalem, a far-right Zionist institution that aspires to be the "College of the Jewish People."

Pro-Israel speakers from the United States often participate in the the Herzliya conference, an influential annual gathering of Israel's political and military establishment. This year's conference was also addressed by The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and, in a first for a Palestinian official, by Salam Fayyad, appointed prime minister of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.

Kramer's call to prevent Palestinian births reflects a long-standing Israeli and Zionist concern about a so-called "demographic threat" to Israel, as Palestinians are on the verge of outnumbering Israeli Jews within Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories combined.

Such extreme racist views have been aired at the Herzliya conference in the past. In 2003, for example, Dr. Yitzhak Ravid, an Israeli government armaments expert, called on Israel to "implement a stringent policy of family planning in relation to its Muslim population," a reference to the 1.5 million Palestinian citizens of Israel.

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Space Aliens Against Zionism

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It's tempting to make some snide comment about the colonizer needing the colonized to explain to them the meaning of their own movies.

But you don't need to have your ear to the ground to hear that that's (one half of) the buzz around Avatar.

More true would be the sad fact that the colonizer would prefer to ignore the colonized unless they can tie their existence into the latest hollywood blockbuster or some other spasm in the collective imperialist psyche. Media studies and discourse analysis being far more sexy than history or political economy.

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May 16: Laura Whitehorn and Susie Day Speaking in Montreal

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REFLECTIONS ON REVOLUTION:
Radical movements from the Weather Underground
to Prisons to Palestine

Featuring: Laura Whitehorn & Susie Day, with an introduction by a member of Montreal's Prisoner Correspondence Project.

Saturday, May 16 2009, 7pm
1400 de Maisonneuve Ouest, Room LB-125
(de Sève Cinema, Concordia University)

Former member of the Weather Underground and ex-political prisoner Laura Whitehorn and writer and activist Susie Day talk about radical activism from the sixties to the present day, how this history influences our organizing, and the connections between struggles such as anti-imperialist organizing, queer liberation, and political prisoner movements.

Limited seating available, please arrive early to avoid disappointment. This venue is wheelchair accessible. Presentations will be made in English with whisper translation into French. For childcare or other accessibility needs, please get in touch 48 hours prior to the event.

Presented by members of Certain Days Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar, Open Door Books, Prisoner Correspondence Project, Project 10, Q-Team, and Tadamon!

Contact: 514 664 1036 / qteam@riseup.net

This event is taking place as part of Montreal's Festival of Anarchy: www.anarchistbookfair.ca

Speaker Bios:

Laura Whitehorn: After a relatively middle class beginning in New Rochelle, NY, Laura joined the Weather Underground Organization and later spent over 14 years in prison for a series of property bombings that protested racism and the imperial policies of the U.S. government. She's been an out lesbian most of her life and, for almost 10 years, she's been out of prison. Laura is now a senior editor at POZ, a magazine for HIV-positive people.

Susie Day: Suzie clawed her way up from the lower middle class of Kansas City to work as a hip New York City paralegal and occasional activist. She's written for various queer and leftist publications about political prisoners and labor issues. She also writes a monthly political satire column that nets her sometimes as much as 50 dollars.

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Israeli Apartheid Week in Montreal

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BACKGROUND

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is an annual international series of events held in cities and campuses across the globe. The aim of IAW is to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system and to build Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns as part of a growing global BDS movement. In Montreal, local solidarity groups and individuals are planning nine full days of awareness-raising events ranging from lectures and workshops to film screenings.

This year, marking its 5th anniversary, IAW is taking place in the wake of Israel's barbaric assault against the people of Gaza. Recently, across Montreal, and around the globe, thousands of people took to the streets to denounce the ongoing atrocities committed by Israel. The past few years have seen a sharp increase of literature and analysis that has sought to document and challenge Israeli apartheid, including reports issued by major international bodies and human rights organizations, and findings published by political leaders, thinkers, academics, and activists. Since the assaults on Gaza, these voices have grown stronger, louder, and have captured the world`s attention. The aim of IAW is to contribute to this chorus of international opposition to Israeli apartheid.

Join us in making 2009 a year of struggle against apartheid and for justice, equality, and peace.

CAMPUS EVENT LISTINGS
IAW McGill
IAW Concordia

HIGHLIGHTED EVENTS

SUNDAY MARCH 1st, 7pm
opening panel of Israeli Apartheid Week
APARTHEID IN CANADA: Frontline voices of Indigenous resistance on Turtle Island
a lecture featuring: Elizabeth Penashue, Judy Da Silva and Laith Marouf
Concordia University, Hall Building, Room H-110
1455 de Maisonneuve West, (métro Guy-Concordia)

MONDAY MARCH 2nd, 7pm
Prisoners of Apartheid: the struggle from behind bars
a lecture featuring: Soha Bechara
Cégep de St-Laurent, salle Émile-Legault
625 Avenue Sainte-Croix (métro Du collège)

**KEYNOTE SPEAKER**
WEDNESDAY MARCH 4th, 6:30pm
Boycott Israel: The Apartheid State
a lecture featuring: Ronnie Kasrils
McGill University, Shatner University Centre , Ballroom
3480 McTavish, North of Sherbrooke (métro Mcgill)

THURSDAY MARCH 5th, 6:30pm
Apartheid Israel: Democracy as an Existential Threat
a lecture featuring: Omar Barghouti
McGill University, STEWART Biology, Room S 1/4
1205 Avenue Docteur Penfield, corner Drummond (métro Peel)

FRIDAY MARCH 6th, 6:30pm
A mother from Gaza: Surviving Under Seige
a lecture featuring: Laila El-haddad
Concordia University, Hall Building, Room H-937.
1455 Maisonneuve oust (métro Guy-Concordia)

SATURDAY MARCH 7th, 1pm
No Pride in Apartheid: Event featuring films and a discussion focussing on
queer struggles against Israeli occupation and apartheid.
“Black Laundry” and “Zero Degrees of Separation”
Cinema du Parc (3575 Parc Ave.)

SUNDAY MARCH 8th, 12pm
Demonstration: International Womens Day and Palestinian Block
WOMEN DEMAND A NEW WORLD ORDER: End Imperialism, Occupation, War, Exploitation and Repression!
carré Cabot corner St. Catherine | Atwater
(métro Atwater)

MONDAY MARCH 9th, 7PM
SLING SHOT HIP-HOP : Hip Hop against Apartheid
film screening co-presented with Cinema Politica
Concordia University, Hall Building, room H-110
1455 de Maisonneuve West, (métro Guy-Concordia)

Israeli Apartheid Week in Montreal is endorsed by the following groups:
L'Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiant (ASSÉ) * l'Association étudiante de la culture arabe de l'UQÀM * Association des Étudiants Musulmans de L'Université de Montréal * Bloquez l'empire-Montréal * Canadian Arab Federation * Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) * Le Centre Social Autogéré/Autonomous Social Center * Le Collectif opposé à la brutalité policière (COBP) * La coalition pour la justice en Palestine (UQÀM) * 8 March Coordination and Action Committee of Women of Diverse Origins * Immigrant Workers Center * Independent Jewish Voices * Iranian Women's Association * No One Is Illegal-Montréal * Opération Objection * La Otra Campaña de Montréal * McGill Arab Law Students Association * PINAY - The Filipino Women's Organization in Quebec * Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie (PASC) * La Pointe Libertaire * Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG)-Concordia * Quebec Public Interest Research Group-McGill * Q-Team * Radlaw - McGill University Radical Law Community * Solidarity Across Borders * Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR)-Concordia * Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR)-McGill * Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR)-National * Les Sorcières, collectif feministe * Tadamon * 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy

To ENDORSE Israeli Apartheid Week in Montreal, make a DONATION towards the fundraising efforts of Israeli Apartheid Week, or GET INVOLVED with organizing efforts, including promotion and publicity, get in touch with us by e-mail at iaw-mtl@riseup.net

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[Montreal] Protest the Gaza Massacre this January 10!

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SATURDAY JANUARY 10th
13h00 Dorchester square
Corner Peel and René-Lévesque
metro Peel
Montréal, Québec

Across the world protesters are taking to the streets in opposition to the current Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip. Across the Middle East, Europe, North America and internationally a movement in solidarity for Palestinian human rights and against Israeli apartheid has been ignited.

In Montreal an estimated 10 000 people gathered this weekend to call for an immediate end to the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, an end to the blockade on Gaza and for an end to Canadian complicity in Israeli apartheid.

Thousands will gather in Montreal this upcoming weekend to stand in solidarity with Gaza as part of a growing international movement in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza.

As Israeli military forces have commenced an invasion of the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli military continues the aerial assault on Gaza which has taken the lives of over 500 Palestinians, wounding an estimated 2400, now is the time to take to the streets in solidarity with Palestine.

Over the past two years the Gaza Strip has been undergoing the daily violence of a wide-ranging humanitarian catastrophe triggered by severely reduced access to energy, food, and medicines. In effect, Gaza is the world’s largest open air prison.

Both the governments of Quebec and Canada stand in direct complicity with Israeli apartheid. In recent years both governments in Quebec and Canada have heightened bilateral relations with Israel increasing bilateral economic, military and political links. This fall the Liberal government of Jean Charest inked a bilateral trade deal with Israel, standing in stark contrast to the growing international calls for an economic boycott of the Israeli government in light of ongoing Israeli war crimes in Palestine.

At this moment, we can only reaffirm our commitment in the strongest possible terms to continue mobilizing friends and allies in other progressive social movements to respond to the call by over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations for a comprehensive campaign of boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS).

Organized by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), Tadamon! Montreal with the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine (CJPP).

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Nablus, An Historic City That Refuses To Die: Dispatch Number Six

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This came in on July 8th from my friend in Palestine:

a demonstration was called for 5 june in nablus. well, at one of the checkpoints for nablus. the idea was to plant trees at huwarra, the infamous checkpoint where the iof has a reputation for being particularly cruel...not that they are particularly nice at za'atara, qalandiya or surda - three checkpoints i have gone through several times. there are, according to a recent ocha (un office for coordination of humanitarian affairs) paper there were, as of april 2007, 537 checkpoints and roadblocks in the west bank (see here and click on "closure update april 2007" for more information). this makes travelling from one village to another a game of chance and creates a life of insecurity.

the three of us caught a servees almost immediately. it was going directly to nablus. the van wound through the back, or, palestinian roads. huwarra loomed in the distance within 20 minutes. we got out and walked through, noticing the long line of cars on the other side, waiting to get out. it was once very difficult to get in and out of nablus for palestinians. now it is somewhat easier to get in. the problem is getting out. huwarra is on the southern border of nablus, where as the beit eba is on the north side. nablus has been surrounded by six checkpoints since 2002. for men between the ages of 16-35, in order to leave nablus to travel anywhere in the west bank, they must obtain a permit. of course, in order to get this required piece of paper, they have to leave nablus. and so it goes, a ridiculous system of restriction after restriction that for me is reminiscent of the thirties.

the thirties in germany.

on the other side of the checkpoint we found a car to take us to the baladiya (municipal building) where people were going to meet for 10 a.m. eventually there were two busloads of us that headed back towards huwarra. we disembarked and massed into a thick line that inched towards the checkpoint. not long after we were met by a crew of the boys in green with their automatic accouterments. chanting broke out and hands pumped into the air. the plan was to plant trees and take over the checkpoint. a glorious idea of empowerment that was obviously not to be realized. eventually, a local organizer for the ism (international solidarity movement) began to speak to the issue of the checkpoint itself. he told the army to go home. we all took up the slogan and repeated and repeated as m. then jumped the low concrete barriers that divided the checkpoint. he approached the people crammed inside the fencing, waiting to pass through the first turnstile to see if they could, perchance, go where they wished. m. talked about the restrictiveness of the this system of control and dispossession. a word was put in about how they would be back. then came the planting of 6-8 trees.

the buses let us off back at the baladiya and we went with m. and several others from ism to the al-yasmeen hotel. walking up the stairs and into the restaurant, there was a beautiful stained glass window pocked with gunshot. this is a theme in nablus. after a leasurely small lunch we set off on a tour of the old city. gunshots graffiti many of the walls. each step took us to another place where s explained who had died there, how and though he seemed monotone, a certain stress was visible. how many blown up bodies your friends and neighbours would it take to strip you of your faith in humanity? in several spots, s told of how he found the head here, and the torso there. bombs in pay phones. cars that ignite when you turn the ignition key. the walls are lined with shaheed posters - the martyrs. these are people primarily assassinated by the israeli occupation forces. there are names. names named so the people will not forget what happened here.

each place we go and stop, local folks stop as well, watching us watch m and s. i wonder what they are thinking...whether we are just another set of more internationals on a tour of doom and devastation, weakly smiling because we know we can't promise much.

we stopped in on a spice factory, and sampled nabulsi za'atar - the fragrant spice mix of palestinian thyme, sumac and sesame seeds. zaki - delicious. in the back were artifacts of an earlier life. the room was a dusty capsule of history longing to be animated, like the rest of palestine that strains through the israeli restraints that tighten and loosen at the whim of the occupiers. we went to a bathhouse that was over 1000 years old. it had been damaged in recent israeli invasions. m and s told us that the iof nightly invades the city, claiming to be looking for militants. what they are doing is creating militants.

and what exactly is wrong with militancy? if you are under siege, is that not what is called for? it is a word misused. i've met many a militant non-violent activist... and they get quite militant with you if you say you are not a non-violent activist. but do people not have a right to defend themselves when a foreign army invades, steals your land, murders people at will under the rubric of "security"... do people not have a right to stand up for themselves?

the hightlight of nablus was, of course, kanafi. kanafi is a nablus creation. you can get it elsewhere, but in nablus, it is supreme. a delectible combination of white cheese, sugar, semolina and rose water, we had it fresh and warm. ah, nablus. ah, kanafi.

our day in nablus ended with a meeting at a palestinian cultural centre where we sat and talked about the situation. there has been news coverage of nablus. iof troop tromping through an occupied city like it was theirs. stories often playing with "balance." there is nothing about balance here or anywhere else in palestine. we were encouraged to write to our government officials, to catch their ears and tell them to stop funding this occupation and dispossession. they spoke about the factionalism. nablus has always been unified but with recent intra-palestinian fighting in gaza, there has been an effect here.

the centre's organizer commented "what's going on in gaza is very israeli." he's speaking about the fact that no one is getting pain in gaza. supplies aren't making it in to gaza. palestinian fisherman off the coast are constantly under attack by the iof. and the u.s. and israel have been funding and arming fatah and sending them into gaza from egypt. many palestinians in gaza cannot crossand re-enter. but these newly armed fatah members can.

when mahmood abbas and fatah were the "government" in palestine, the israelis said there was no "partner for peace." once hamas was voted in, the israelis would only deal with abbas. coincidence?

there is much more to reflect on and to write about. there are demonstrations that began on the fifth - the day of al naksa, or the setback, israel's invasion and occupation of the remainder of historic palestine - the west bank, gaza, the golan and sinai. there will be demonstrations all over the world as well as all over palestine and in 48.

there will be another dispatch.

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Nowhere Near Justice: Dispatch Number Five

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From my pal:

it has been six days since i've sent the last dispatch, and i have much to tell y'all, but it may not all be included in this one email. the occupation is never-ending, and the needs of people are immense. it is, no doubt, similar in all war-ravaged places.

is this a war? i have argued over this a lot. war is broadly defined by many as a battle between two equals. But what are the "war on drugs," and the "war on terrorism"? is not what israel is perpetrating a war against palestinians?

i have a friend who lives in ramallah. we have been visiting more, lately, as i am closer in proximity than usual. on one such visit, her husband's younger brother had joined us along with one of his sisters.

we were sitting on the porch, sharing a smoke . u--- has studied english for ten years, so his english is better than my arabic. he said he is twenty and he has never had a nice day. he is from jenin. he is a student in bir zeit, at the eponymous university there. it is a town neighbouring ramallah. when he asked what i was doing here, i replied "fi harakat salaam" (in the peace movement). further into the conversation, when u--- wondered why i would want to come to palestine and why i am doing what i am doing, i told him i was jewish. this surprised him a bit, and he then asked if i was israeli. no. did i want someday to live in israel? no, i told him. it's not my country. it's yours. he smiled slightly at this. later, he told me "we are thankful that you come here and suffer with us, but it won't do any good." he feels, like so many palestinians i have talked with in the past few days, that there is no stopping israel.

this is why he wants to leave palestine.

there is still active resistance, most of it non-violent. but there is a lot of depression. u--- informed me that over 90% (his number, and i have no reason to doubt it) of the young women attending bir zeit smoke cigarettes. this is not because of advertising. this is a response to the stress from dispossession and occupation.

i really don't feel that i am suffering here. some of the internationals who accompany palestinian children to school in the hebron area actually may be suffering, because the settlers have been beating up as many of them as they can, in an effort to frighten them off. but i? i am not suffering like that, not am i experiencing anything like that which palestinians go through.

en route to jerusalem on a subsequent day, the servees i was travelling in let all of us out just as we reached za'atara, the first checkpoint going towards ramallah from hares. there was a line that was growing and i think the driver didn't want to wait just to let us out a few metres away and perhaps have to wait to get back through. the palestinians got into various cars that were in line and opened their doors offering a ride. i walked through the checkpoint. as i reached the soldiers, they gave me an odd look, and wanted to know what i was doing. "visiting friends." and then the oft heard "don't you know it's dangerous?" i told them it wasn't dangerous. they asked not for my passport, but where i was from. "canada." and with that, i got a wave through. this is not a very familiar encounter for most palestinians. and they must contend every single day with the possibility that they will not get through.

one of the small differences that i've noticed this time is that in the taxis and servees and private cars that we travel in, we are asked to put on our seat-belts. it is primarily because the israelis will fine the drivers. and it gives them an excuse to pull palestinian cars over, keep them at the many checkpoints that pock the landscape of the west bank. think they care about palestinian safety? dare to compare the seat-belt rule to the indiscriminate bombing of any part of gaza, or the equally indiscriminate use of tear gas and sound bombs at most of the non-violent demonstrations in the west bank that the mainstream media in north america, in particular, rarely report on.

what could i say to u---? we're working on it? just be patient, justice and peace are around the fucking corner? he told me the story of his sister. her name
is sumoud, which means "steadfast" in arabic. during yet another israeli onslaught in the area of jenin his mother, who was pregnant at the time, was pierced by a bullet that put her life in danger. at the hospital, the doctor told her that if she survived, she would lose the baby. well, she survived, and so did her daughter.

how can we stop, or even have a more credible effect on the juggernaut that is israel? again, i come to that dead end in my mind. as an activist i am all too aware that yes it takes time we have to continue on working bit by painfully slow bit and continue to document educate and all. but i am not fooled that it will necessarily help the large masses of people in the short term. there's a story in today's toronto star about a study on our inability to act when it comes to genocide. something about compassion and how we seem to be wired to care only about individuals. the author of the study, a psychologist named paul slovic states "What I'm showing is that no, our feelings let us down. They deceive us in many cases. They don't adequately respond to distant mass murder." i have a hard time buying into that explanation. and "distant mass murder"? how about murder in your own backyard? one of the most shocking things here is how close israelis are to one of the largest open air prisons, gaza. they know it's there. they also know that there are checkpoints and jewish-only roads in the west bank. they know. why don't they act? why don't we act? why is it only the few? that won't be answered by slovic's study, after which he proposes that we only react to individual traumas. and that we need a poster child for genocide, in order to make us act.

all of this ignores the politics behind it all. perhaps we don't act because we don't want to challenge our way of living too much, because i sometimes think that is what it will take. my mother used to tell me that people only act when things are catastrophic. i tend to agree with that, but i might emend it to say when things in their own lives are catastrophic.

now i've wandered way off topic, which isn't unusual for me. u-- left to go back to bir zeit. i wondered if he had a way to go that didn't involve the surda checkpoint on the road from ramallah to bir zeit. surda is an "internal" checkpoint - nowhere near the green line. with checkpoints and expanding settlements and a lack of international pressure, we are nowhere near this mythical piece that everyone preaches about. and we are ever further away from justice.

n.b. here is a link for another article that explains the use of the term, "arab" in the context of sudan and the horror that is occurring there: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1268647,00.html

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Conscious Yet Complicit: Dispatch Number Four

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From my comarade:

the first thing i'd like to say is that this dispatch will be spell-checked. my apologies for the myriad typos of the last one. i just had to get it off my chest.

i spent the weekend chilling at a friend's place in ramallah. it's a lively city and i'm a city girl, that's for sure.

on saturday morning, as two of us were getting ready to travel to ramallah, we received a call asking us to come to marda, a village actually on the way towards ramallah. the iof had taken over a house there, keeping the women and children inside, and not allowing the husband in.

so we finished packing our wee bags and headed to marda. once we got to the gate (this isn't a gated community - it's a village under the well-heeled boot of american-supported occupation) our contact called and said he would come with the car to pick us up. he was soon barreling down the road towards us. once inside the car we asked what kind of support he wanted from us. mainly, n--- wanted us to stay with the women and children to make sure nothing happens to them. of course, when we arrived and rang the bell no one answered. soon, an army head appeared above us like a chimera. we asked for the door to be opened. soon another appeared. they were growing. then they disappeared. k--- and i walked round the side of the house, looking for the soldiers, calling out for an answer of some sort.

nothing.

when we returned to the front of the house the front door began to open. we
approached. it was the boys in drab olive, most looking no older than 17.
there were 6 of them. k--- negotiated our way into the house with the help of our
contact. we entered and found the family members upstairs, looking exhausted.
it was just past 10:30 in the morning and the army had been at their house since
4 a.m. and why? rumour (among the soldiers only) had it that someone in this
house had thrown stones at the army. the house is far enough away from the road
and the army that one would have to have spiderman's powers to toss a rock that
far. the owner of the house was visibly agitated now that he was allowed into his
own home. palestinian, he has israeli citizenship, so can work in israel. in fact, that is where he was when his wife and brother called to tell him the iof was in his house. when he got to his home, the army refused to let him in.

we walked in with m---, our contact, and started towards the stairs. i asked one of
the army boys what they were doing there. "we're on a mission" was the reply. we headed up the stairs. there were army backpacks and a few soldiers collected around the top of the stairs. we moved past them and asked the women and men and children if they were okay. they appeared exhausted but alright. m--- was upstairs as well, and was yelling at the soldiers. i tried to calm him, tried to get others to calm him, but it was difficult. what can you say to someone who had to leave his place of work in the middle of the night because the army's gone into his house; an army with a reputation for wrecking people's homes and harming the inhabitants. the shouting went on for at least ten minutes between m--- and one of the two older soldiers - he looked 20. k--- concentrated on talking to him as i continued to uselessly try to convince m--- to stop yelling at the soldiers.

the boys in fatigues said they would leave if everyone left the house. we immediately asked if the immediate family and the two of us could remain to ensure the army left and somehow, they agreed to this. was it because the owner possesses israeli citizenship? were they possibly embarrassed to be doing this in front of internationals? they gathered up their belongings. as they were putting some bags into a box, k--- handed them a bag of garbage they had left on the floor. i passed over an overflowing ashtray. one of the younger soldiers - looked no older than 16 - climbed the stair to the roof to collect large bottles of pop and water. as he did, he held his automatic gun towards the family below. what was anyone, especially those with no weapons at all, going to do? after all, the soldiers created this situation.

when they began to descend the staircase, we followed to make sure they left. k--- went up to the soldier she'd been talking with and that's when we learned it was about alleged stone-throwing. k--- mentioned that what were rocks compared to the automatic weapons they had attached to their bodies. another soldier said that rocks are dangerous when thrown at cars. they drive jeeps and tanks, one. and two, k--- pointed out how far the house was from the road. they, of course, refused to relent on any of this. they are convinced of their rightness. mission accomplished, i suppose. another palestinian family harassed and put on edge.

when we went back upstairs, m---'s wife found that the army had stolen $1550.00 shekels from her purse. they had unplugged the telephone line, and used the computer. when they had entered the house, they asked m---'s wife to make them coffee and prepare some food. she told them to make it themselves. when m---'s mother stated confronting them at some point, one of the soldiers grabbed a piece of her hijab and tried to put it over her mouth. they moved some of the furniture around to suit themselves, and in order to enter the property, they had destroyed part of the fence along one side of the house. the family also found two spent shells in one of the rooms. can someone out there explain me how this is "security" and how this isn't complete and utter harassment. palestinians live with the threat of home invasions, incursions into their villages and cities every day all day. when will this stop?

there are many recorded examples of the iof stealing money, electronic equipment and destroying the contents of people's homes because maybe someone threw a rock. a rock. a fucking rock. this is what justifies pulling people out of their homes in the middle of the night, often making the men strip down to their scivvies, keeping people outside for hours. this is collective punishment of an occupied people. this is in contravention of all international law, which i am convinced is utterly useless, because it's never enforced... consider the mass rapes occurring right now in haiti.

i have sent so many emails over time about all of this. but like my last brief visit to the unholy land seeing it up close is unspeakable. you cannot believe that this absurd system exists. but it does. and though i am trying to think about how i can help, i'll be going home to my comfortable but messy apartment with cats better fed than many people here. i have money in the bank and live in a country who controls its own water resources.

things are much worse than they were when i was last here. how can this be? why is it that we are not having an effect? being here makes it feel more dire, because it is. when i return home, i'll no doubt continue with activism as before, still searching for new ways to have an effect. consciously trying to take my cues from palestinians.

conscious but complicit.

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Dispatch number three: looking back at the last week: tea, trees and tragedy

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More from my friend in Palestine:

i have begun to write this three times. it just doesn't feel right to throw just anything on the page, because i'm not only writing about myself and my concerns, vis-a-vis palestine. dare i say, i'm writing about a struggle and i feel i need a little more deliberation, a touch more consideration, before i throw up on the page and think "dispatch done."

a terrible melancholia wafts through palestine. this abjection is tied to occupation, continuing land confiscation and the endless threat of house demolition. people resist everyday, going about their daily lives surrounded by settlements, checkpoints and roads they are not permitted to drive upon. they farm, they work, they garden, they struggle.this is what prevents the depression from sinking into despondency. the will to continue. this is palestinian land, after all. and they plan to stay on it.

this friday past i went out to pay for the bread we order from a neighbouring household, and to return the tray it arrived in. this, of course, involved having shaay, or tea, sweetened with a good dose of sugar. we sat just inside the door, hiding from the heavy afternoon sun. palestinian hospitality never rests. it is warm and inviting even when you can not speak the same language. umm s--- taught me 'mother' - imm, and 'sister' - uht. we'll see how long it takes me to actually remember these few words. i carry a small book of arabic terms in my pocket...of course, they are not in the colloquial spoken here, and my ability to pronounce words i am unfamiliar with is still in development... so mostly i listen, try to understand the cadences and the body language.

after a time i made a brief trip to the nearest store to purchase water and milk. walking back to the house i found abu and umm r---. i was, of course, invited to more shaay. considering my usual dose back home, this is never a problem for me to accept. abu r---recognized me from my last visit which was three years ago. we used to run into each other on the roof where we both went for a smoke. we spoke, primarily in english. he mentioned the obvious, that life here is even harder with the withholding of palestinian tax revenues by israeli authorities... the strikes by teachers who have been paid sporadically if at all because of the freezing of funding to the palestinian government by the european union, canada, ad nauseum... he is, as i remember him from last time, melancholy. life goes on, sometimes bitterly. but it does go on. as we watched his youngest son on his small bike with training wheels ride ramshackle about the patio, abu r--- remarked that "he doesn't yet know the future that awaits him." by future he means occupation, jail and perhaps worse. after all, s---'s oldest brother is still in prison. abu r--- had also spent many years in jail. that is why there is a large gap in age between the two brothers.

it has been quiet in the house. my last time here which was my first time was spent going primarily to demonstrations in one village where they are building the wall. iwps be returning to that village to catalogue house demolition orders and any demolitions that have occurred. since there are no demonstrations happening within close range, we are focussed on the more mundane and far more necessary tasks of documenting , being on hand for accompanying farmers to their land, liaising with other organizations and what ever else may come up. it may not seem as exciting but it's actually the more important part of the work.

it's also better for your lungs.

this past tuesday, b--- and i went to al-hadidiya in the jordan valley. passing through this stark and beautiful landscape, we met an'am and her husband, omar. they are bedoin farmers who herd goats and sheep and make cheese which they sell. an'a m and omar have survived two home demolitions thus far. they plan to stay on their land and will not move, like a neighbour closeby has done. this is their resistance, to continue living their lives and raising their family. nearby kies the lie of ro'i, an illegal israeli settlement are they not all illegal?) but they need an international presence, someone to document yet another demolition, whenever it may ocur.

the jordan valley is a strategic location, and one of its principal resources is water. this is key to a lot of what the israeli state does. if you control the necessary resources, you control people's lives. israeli controls the water supply in the west bank. this was one of the primary results of al-nakseh or the '67 war as it is known outside of palestine (for more in-depth info. see: Palestinian refugees in Jordan - or - Water: the Red Linel - or - Obstacles to Peace: Water). there are four checkpoints that surround and cut off the jordan valley from the rest of the west bank. palestinians who do not reside in the valley are not allowed in. those who do live in there are under increasing pressure to leave. there is a national park overlooking the valley and, surprise of surprises: palestinians are not allowed in. if people cannot see the politic at play here, i'm not sure they will ever want to see it. the blatant and persistent disctimination and injustice - all terms far too mild to describe the reality on the ground here - is ubiquitous.

also this past friday, k--- and i accompamied a farmer in hares to his land to see his trees. his land is bordered by the 12-year-old settlement of revava. he told us the land used to be lush with 600 olive trees. over the past 4-5 years, the occupation forces have uprooted 500 trees. the remaining hundred trees had been trimmed severely. what kind of people uproot trees? olive trees, famous for their branches of peace, are being butchered by army and settlers alike. i fail to see the security measures in this.

i fail, i suppose, to see a lot of things. but what i do see is a land besieged with settlers and a foreign army. because i am jewish, it is being done in my name. because i am human and believe in justice, i believe in telling the truth about palestine. and the truth is: this is not my land. nor is it the zionists' land. the truth is, it is stolen land and there is no excuse. genocide is not only the murder of a group of people, it is also the destruction of a group's identity and their history. this is a tragedy continually unfolding and this is what is going on in palestine.

we must stop it. somehow.

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another day in palestine (actually a few) - dispatch two

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This was received from my comrade in Palestine on Sunday:

i've been studying the map today and i realized that in my first dispatch, i made a brief mistake. petah tiqwa is not a settlement in the west bank. it was, however, the first modern jewish settlement in palestine, colonized originally in 1878. thus, though i was wrong in originally lumping petah tiqwa in with modi'in and ariel, two west bank settlements, i wasn't wrong in classifying it as a settlement. and you'll note, i use the word "colonized" to represent the ideology behind the establishment of the town. it was a beginning. a beginning of the colonial enterprise that we now call "israel."*

thursday, iwps (the international women's peace service) was called to the village of al-funduk because a family there had received papers saying they had three days to leave their house because the israeli army was going to demolish it. and why? they didn't have a "permit" to build it. now understand, dear readers, that the property in question is in a place still known as palestine. how is it that another nation's army can come into another country and decide that people need a permit to build their homes on land that they own? the answer is not because they are occupied because there are rules for occupying nations. so how can israel demolish homes of people in a land that they technically do not own? it's a fair enough question, particularly when an occupying nation is forbidden by international law from moving occupied people out of their homes or acquiring land through occupation. it is stated clearly in the fourth geneva conventions. (see: www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/92.htm and www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_4thgeneva.php for more information)
the owners of the house that may be destroyed have a copy of a deed to the land from 1964, before the military occupation of the west bank in 1967. it is a jordanian deed, which i wonder if israel would even recognize as legitimate. they also have copies of the two previous orders to leave their home from 2006. the three of us from iwps took photos of all the papers and the deed. documenting, documenting. pictures were taken of the house and emailed to a lawyer retained in jerusalem. just beyond one side of the house lies the ruins of another. it was the home belonging to the man's brother. it was bulldozed last year. we have been asked to come and document the army destroying this home, as the man and the woman who live their with their two young children are certain their house will be demolished. the wreck of the other house is a constant reminder.

so they continue their wait, not really knowing if there is any way to prevent this act that the israeli occupation forces are quite practiced at. we wait, as well, for their call with that awful feeling of the inability to stop this. sure, we will record it. we will witness. but somehow it seems like madness, documenting the inevitable, as if that is all we can do. and i'm not thinking we shouldn't do it. i'm just hankering for a way to be more effective.

the next day, k--- and i went to a demonstration against the wall in umm salamouna, a village near beitlehem. when we arrived, we had to walk by a phalanx of israeli occupation soldiers. looked like the border police were already there as well. we waited inside the gate to the land for about 30-45 minutes as people gathered. there were many palestinian men, quite a few israelis and internationals also. as we waited, many of us took photographs. the international and local press, in their glaring yellow press vests came in shooting also. at a certain point, there were so many cameras, it seemed we were only taking pictures of each other. then came the signal for us to coalesce. when it began we numbered 70-80 people, with perhaps 10-20 members of the media. and there were at least 30-40 soldiers. behind us lay a pastoral scene, scarred by where the bulldozers had ripped the land. stones lay like scabs at the base of the foundation of the wall to be built. we began with some of the palestinian men praying. once they were done, we were to walk through the gate, but the soldiers had another plan. linking their arms, they surged (a familiar word these days, no?) forward in a line, preventing us from going through the gate. they met the front line of the protest pushing violently. we pushed back, hoping to get out of the door. the army kicked some, punched another, and just tossed people aside. this went on for a time until the boys in green just stood the and we stood facing them. one of the local organizers of the demonstration got up and said we would not be able to go through the gate and that this is a non-violent protest. so we would walk back towards place where the land was torn and demonstrate there. once there, several of us began to pick up the stones and small boulders and toss them. some of the men ripped at the red plastic piping. this didn't last very long, as the army came round from the other direction. we turned to face them, linking arms. we then sat down in front of them. again, one of the organizers came forward. he spoke to the army, asking where is the one in charge. he then told the soldiers they were merely relying on power - where was their culture? what is their culture? a culture of power. eventually, he stood to face us, declaring the demonstration over. we were relying on love and peace, not power, he said. we walked away en masse, waiting to make sure there were no stragglers. we walked up the road towards the village. we stopped while transport was arranged for people. meantime, villagers came round with several large bottles of pop and cups and began to pour and hand out the soda. k--- and i learned from one fella from artas that the iof planned to bulldoze 300 dunams (4 dunams = 1 acre) of trees starting any moment now (it's almost three a.m. as i type, and rumour has it the army will be there at 4 a.m. they wanted to organize as large a demonstration as they could. a--- said that they had two problems: the israeli army and palestinians in the village that didn't come out to protest what is happening to their land. he mentioned they had already started to camp on the land a few days prior, as they want to stay there to protect their land. "we don't want them to change the land, we like it as it is." the army had shown up the night before at 10 p.m., claiming they were there to protect the villagers. a---said he informed them that they felt safe except when the army was around.

yet another village that israel wants to destroy, first by uprooting the trees, then by building that blasted wall. 25 feet tall and snaking its way through the west bank, grabbing land and water rights as it goes. destroying peoples lives and livelihoods. robbing them of their history and their home.

we stopped in ramallah after umm salamouna. we each visited with friends, having dinner, catching up against the backdrop of dispossession. it got late and we spent the night, vowing by mobile phone to leave early on saturday morning. far earlier than either of us could bare we were waiting for the bus to fill up with passengers. we left near ten-o-clock, i think. we'd be back soon enough. but at the checkpoint in bir zeit, a town just outside of ramallah, two soldiers got on. they looked russian and out of place. and aggressive and cocky. they rifled through the couple of overnight bags stored in the racks above the bus seats. they looked about, went back up front and asked the bus-driver to get off. they had him open up the bottom of the bus. they got on again and begain to stroll towards the back of the bus. they stopped in front of one of the younger men and asked for his huwiyya (identification card that palestinians must carry at all times). once it was handed over, the soldier left the bus and walked back towards the checkpoint. k--- asked me if he was taken off the bus would we get off as well? we both agreed we would and turned to watch the checkpoint. the army boy who'd taken the id card handed it to another and then began to play his game with the traffic. stop a few, ask for hawiyyas, check the trunks, let them through. turn his back towards traffic checking no one, talk with his buddies, abruptly turn round and pick a vehicle and make it stop. is this "security?" or is it the random terrorizing of a captive population who every day wonder "will i make it to work, school, my home, the hospital?"

we were there maybe 30-40 minutes before the young man without his id got off the bus to see what's what. k--- approached the driver to ask if he wanted us to see if we could intervene. he said okay, if we want. we got up and went to leave the bus. we were joined by an american who spoke fluent arabic. we went towards the soldier boys. the american fella asked in arabic what the problem was. the soldiers refused to answer. one of the boys in green got up and began to tap him on the shoulder repeatedly and roughly saying to go back to the bus. the american told him not to touch him at which point the soldier started to push him. k--- and i asked what was the problem in english and were pushed as well and told GO BACK TO THE BUS. as we walked back telling them not to touch us, the american said that in 5 minutes they would be retuning the hawiyya. and so they did. the bus closed its doors and we resumed our journey. another day in palestine.

did we make a difference? it's hard to know. does it make a difference sending this out to y'all so you have a brief blow-by-blow of the occupation and dispossession of palestine? where will these stories land? i feel committed to telling them, and many palestinians want them to be told. but see, the israelis have guns, god and capital on their side...and i'm wondering if we need to do more than just document this.

* Historical Background

The Zionist movement arose in late nineteenth-century Europe, influenced by the nationalist ferment sweeping that continent. Zionism acquired its particular focus from the ancient Jewish longing for the return to Zion and received a strong impetus from the increasingly intolerable conditions facing the large Jewish community in Tsarist Russia. The movement also developed at the time of major European territorial acquisitions in Asia and Africa, and benefited from the European powers' competition for influence in the shrinking Ottoman Empire.

One result of this involvement with European expansionism, however, was that the leaders of the nascent nationalist movements in the Middle East viewed Zionism as an adjunct of European colonialism. Moreover, Zionist assertions of the contemporary relevance of the Jews' historical ties to Palestine, coupled with their land purchases and immigration, alarmed the indigenous population of the Ottoman districts that comprised Palestine. The Jewish community (yishuv) rose from 6 percent of Palestine's population in 1880 to 10 percent by 1914. Although the numbers were insignificant, the settlers were outspoken enough to arouse the opposition of Arab leaders and induce them to exert counter pressure on the Ottoman regime to prohibit Jewish immigration and land buying. from: www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Palestine-Remembered/Story452.html

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