Apologies, but it seems as though the message did not go through the first time. Trying again.
UPDATE:
Friends, the three US citizens who were taken yesterday by the Israeli military for trying to prevent the Israeli Army from destroying roads used by Palestinians, were released late last night.
As the International Solidarity Movement continues to call for resistance, solidarity,civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action against the Israeli occupation and forcessupporting this oppression, we ask that everyone take part in some way. There is an actionalert at the end of this message, that though geared towards US citizens, can be altered for useby others. Please take a moment to act.
Below is an account written by an activist who was recently with us in Occupied Palestine.
In solidarity & struggle,
July 29, 2002
Dear fellow conspirators, troublemakers, and lovers of justice,I want to offer a glimpse of the reality on the ground of the WestBank that is so rarely conveyed by the U.S. media. I stayed for a week inBeit Omar, a small farming community outside of Hebron. What I saw confirmsthe UN reports that this is a low-intensity war against a largelydefenseless, unarmed population. There are “martyr” posters in abundance inBeit Omar, but they are not of young men who strapped bombs to their chestsand blew themselves up in Israeli marketplaces; in fact, they are men andboys who were shot at point blank range by Israeli soldiers for walking homefrom work on settler bypass roads or for violating curfews. In the space ofa week, we experienced two Israeli military operations, in which themilitary came through town just before dark in jeeps and armored personnelcarriers, shooting into the air. These operations have no point except inintimidating (I won’t use the word “terrorizing” though it comes to mind)the local residents. The response from the children is to fling rocks at thejeeps. Then the soldiers respond by shooting teargas, rubber bullets, andlive ammunition. We never witnessed Palestinian militias firing back at thesoldiers. There is no Palestinian armed presence capable of engaging theIsraeli military here or in most other West Bank towns. We watched aPalestinian shopkeeper get beaten mercilessly by soldiers. When they werethrough for the night, people showed us where their windows had been shotout, when water tanks had been punctured and electrical lines shot down.
This is a regular occurrence for the people in Beit Omar, and identicalscenarios have been observed by other internationals throughout the WestBank.
To add to this absurdity, there is no sign of the Palestinian Authority (PA)in the West Bank. While our president is so arrogantly insisting that the PAinstitute “democratic reforms” and depose its leader, the PA headquarters inevery major West Bank town have been leveled by American-made F-16 fighterjets. Fatah in Gaza, we’re told by internationals there, carries aroundrusty rifles with no bullets.
The Palestinian suicide bombers do inflict horrific casualties on Israelicivilians, who should not be the target of military attacks, andunfortunately there are many, many more Palestinians who are willing tosacrifice their lives in these attacks. We talked to a young woman, Ansam,in Nablus, who told us, “Once I wanted to be a doctor, but now I cannotleave my home to go study. I have nothing to live for. I do not want to livethis life anymore.” Her consideration of martyrdom was implicit.
We saw that there was good reason for this hopelessness, not only in placeslike Nablus which are under nearly constant curfew and have been heavilybombed, but in places where like Beit Omar, where young men we befriendedwere shot at by Israeli soldiers trying to cross the bridge into Hebron totake final exams, and where young men told us of being abducted by themilitary, tortured, and pressured to take payments to inform against otherPalestinians.
We’ll continue to hear about suicide bombing operations, but we don’t hearabout the weekly non-violent marches against the occupation in Nablus andRamallah, and we aren’t told that 95 percent of the Palestinian populationis unarmed, and engaged in non-violent resistance to the occupation. Whydon’t we heed their voices, and pressure Israel to end the 35-year oldoccupation. Never through the Oslo process did Israel consider just pullingout of the territories and giving Palestinians the right to their land andsovereignty. It’s simple: justice clears a path for peace.
We saw Israel’s territorial expansion in effect. We accompanied Palestinianfarmers from Beit Omar whose land near the Jewish settlement of Karmetzurhas been declared a military security zone. They are faced with theirproperty being fenced in, their plum trees and grape fields being burned,and their land being handed over to the Jewish settlers. Their recourse isto apply for a permit from the Israeli Civil Administration at Kiryat Arba(home of Baruch Goldstein, the settler from Brooklyn who massacred 29Muslims at the Ibrahimi Mosque). This is insulting, and a good way to getkilled. The Beit Omar farmers don’t have the option of armed defense oftheir land. Instead, they are discussing how to use civil disobedience,international presence, and media coverage to challenge the confiscation.This is painstaking, slow, community organizing work.
You draw your own conclusions; mine is that this is a gradual, slow processof ethnic cleansing — an attempt to finish the job started in 1948. TheSharon government cannot wink at the United States and say it sees a futurefor a Palestinian state, and continue to expand its settlements.
From what we’ve heard, the process is very similar across the occupiedterritories. For instance, in Gaza, internationals are accompanyingPalestinians in trying to repair a well that is constantly destroyed by theIsraeli occupying army. They need consistent efforts and presence tomaintain access to their water, and ultimately they need to change thebalance of power that allows the Israeli military to ruthlessly andwillfully destroy their community infrastructure.
From my description, the situation may appear hopeless – and its true thatthere is a glaring lack of clear, uncompromising leadership in Palestinethat is tied to a popular base. It’s not though. Palestinians have astronger civil society than in most places I’ve been. They have moreprofessionalism in running their hospitals, schools, community centers, andlocal municipalities than you can imagine. They are actively building theirsociety. And they are determined in their insistence that they cannot liveunder military occupation any longer.
We need to stay with this struggle in the United States. There is adesperate need for more Americans to join the International SolidarityMovement to help organize the civil disobedience campaign for defense of theland and water, and to keep a grassroots media focus on the intransigence ofthe Israeli military. I can’t emphasize how important this is to thePalestinian people. It is also important for us to keep educating Americansabout the occupation to shift public opinion away from blind support forIsrael; and to keep pressuring our universities and city councils to divestfrom Israel, which is in a position to feel the economic pain. All of theseactions, taken together, can build a platform for national liberation.
For an international intifada,
Jordan Green
I’ve seen all I want to of the theater of the absurdThe beasts, the judges, the emperor’s hat,The masks of the Age, the color of the ancient sky,The palace dancer, the unruly armiesI want to forget them all!I just want to rememberthe dead piled high behind the curtain
“Ruba’iyat” by Mahmoud Darwish, national poet of Palestine
For more accounts written by activists in Palestine, please visit – www.palsolidarity.org
For Immediate Release
July 29, 2002
CFL ACTION ALERT: Demand an end to Israeli abuse of American citizens!
While members of the House trample over themselves to express solidarity withIsrael, they have given the Israeli government the green light todiscriminate and use brute force against any American who wishes to expresssolidarity with the Palestinian people. CFL, Citizens for Fair Legislation,calls on its members and all people of conscience to demand that the Bushadministration offer protection to all US citizens in Israel and the OccupiedTerritories!
Take Action:
Send a letter via http://congress.cfl-online.org to the President, VicePresident, Sec. of State and your Representatives in the House and Senateexpressing your concern for the treatment of Americans in Israel. You may usethe prewritten letter at the site or create one of your own. (END ISRAELI ABUSE OF AMERICANSletter under the subject arrow)
Talking Points:
- Not only are Palestinian-Americans routinely prevented from entering Israel to visit their families who are beleaguered by a military occupation, but Americans of all backgrounds traveling to Israel with Palestinian solidarity groups are turned away as soon as they set foot in Ben-Gurion airport. Those that do make it through are often harassed, imprisoned, and face trial in Israel’s questionable judiciary system before being deported.
- While Israel discriminates against and harasses any Americans whom they believe to be sympathetic towards the Palestinians, Israel does very little to prevent extremist Jews from America from entering Israel. However, groups like the International Solidarity Movement which advocates peaceful and nonviolent solutions are denied entry almost as a matter of policy.
*It is the duty of elected officials to promote and protect the interests ofAmericans here and abroad and those interests supersede the shamefulrelationship that many members of Congress have with Israeli politicians andlobby groups. Demand that Israel stop its discriminatory treatment ofAmericans in Israel. Whether they are Palestinian-Americans visiting theirfamilies, or other Americans wishing to express solidarity with the Palestinians and bring hope to an oppressed people.
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- Since September 11 the Bush administration has vowed to protect its citizens
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everywhere. The treatment of Americans in Israel, a country we the taxpayersfund, should not be excluded from that vow. Israel must be held accountablefor its actions against our citizens.
Visit www.congress.cfl-online.org to send a letter today.
Citizens for Fair Legislation is a grassroots organization committed toencouraging a fair domestic and foreign policy with an emphasis on the Araband Muslim world.
CFL- Citizens for Fair Legislation
contact: info@CFL-online.org
web: http://CFL-online.org“>http://CFL-online.org
to join: subscribe@joinforjustice.org