MCC Palestine Update #7
Christmas 2000- The festive atmosphere which has lit up Bethlehem and other Palestinian cities for the past five years or so is nowhere to be found today. Palestinians, Christian and Muslim, are in no mood to celebrate either Christmas or Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the month of Ramadan. Deaths, injuries and a worsening economic situation live little room for joy.
Meanwhile, Israel is threatening to declare Bethlehem a closed military zone for Christmas itself. Not that this would make much difference for Palestinians--the Israeli military regime's imposition of an extensive network of checkpoints and roadblocks keep most Bethlehemites trapped in Bethlehem and prevents other Palestinians from entering. Such an Israeli move, however, would keep out most of the few remaining tourists in the country.
Israel, of course, cannot cancel Christmas. It cannot annul the Incarnation. One of the places where we see Christ most visibly incarnated is in the work of our partners. This update contains information on new projects which they are carrying out. Also included are a reflection by MCC peace development worker Ed Nyce after a visit to Beit Jala, and a trenchant analysis of the Israeli political scene by long- time Israeli peace activist, Uri Avneri.
This will be the last update of the calendar year. Thank you once more for your prayers.
1. MCC Partner Update
a. Through the Popular Arts Center in Ramallah, MCC will be sponsoring six art sessions for Palestinian children. Each of the sessions, which will be held in refugee camps and isolated villages in Area C (under full Israeli control), will work with groups of 50 children, using such art forms as painting, sculpture, and drama in order to help Palestinian children express the trauma they are experiencing and witnessing.
b. The Palestinian Center for Rapprochement in Beit Sahour is spearheading the "Displaced Shepherds' Campaign." The campaign aims to encourage Beit Sahour residents to move back into their homes which have been damaged and destroyed by Israeli shelling. MCC is contributing building materials for the repair of two homes, while the Rapprochement center will be marshalling the needed volunteers to do the job.
c. In conjunction with the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees, MCC is helping to renovate an agricultural road linking the village of Beit Duqqo with other villages west of Ramallah. The road will serve two functions: first, it will help Palestinians navigate around Israeli roadblocks; second, it will connect Palestinian farmers with agricultural land close to settlements under threat of possible confiscation.
2. From Beit Jala
Ed Nyce, MCC Peace Development Worker
"Christmas is very special for us," says Dr. Hala Khamis. "We have many decorations which we put around the house. Towels, napkins -- we usually start putting things up on December 1." Hala and her husband Nasser have lived in their Beit Jala (a town on Bethlehem's western border), Palestine home for 17 years.
She, a general practitioner, and her husband Nasser, a gynecologist, run a health clinic in the community. Their four children are between 4&1/2 & 14 years old. His mother lives below them.
"But now," Hala is saying, "we won't spend any more days here, unless they tell us what is going on. There is no Christmas here even for the old people."
The Khamis family is picking through the rubble -- again. The past 2&1/2 months have been a nightmare for them and their neighbors. Their homes have borne the brunt of fierce Israeli tank, apache helicopter, and gun attacks from the nearby Gilo settlement. The latest attack was last night. There have been shots fired in these months from Beit Jala toward Gilo. A few shots have actually reached Gilo. However, never has a tank or a helicopter fired AT Gilo. Yet the Israelis, whose establishment of Gilo or any settlement in the West Bank, Gaza, or East Jerusalem contravenes international law, claim civilian defense when using heavy artillery. Meanwhile, like other Palestinians, most Beit Jala residents are more convinced than ever that the Israeli occupation must stop.
On this chilly, mostly clear morning, Tuesday, December 12, the neighbors and other interested people meander once more through Khamis' Beit Jala neighborhood. Up the street, a house with a big hole where two walls join meets our eyes. It was damaged weeks ago, earlier in the conflict. It is starting to look, well, to look customary; hopefully not normal.
Basma Nazal shows me her home. We had agreed yesterday to meet this morning to see her pummeled place. As so often happens here these days, overnight bombing means a new reality in her neighborhood, and she and her father took me to their neighbors' freshly bombarded residences in addition to their own. Like her neighbors, her building was hit previously and again last night. Basma and her husband and children live in a multi-unit building shared by extended family. She and her husband have a 16 year old son and 14 and 10 year old daughters. They've been adding a unit to the top of the building, to where they would eventually move. But the work has stopped. For there are holes in the building. Who wants to live in a house with missile holes? Besides, the Israelis may not yet have run out of ammunition.
"We don't know what will happen to our home," says Basma. "We don't know whether we will continue to work on it." Even if the shelling stops, the economy is bad. Her husband, a painter, has been out of work for three months due to the situation. We visit the home of her nine year old niece, Riham Nazal, and Riham's aunt's and uncle's after that, all in the same building. "God bless this home," says the framed needlepoint above the doorway in the latter home. In one of the rooms, Riham's aunt shows us clothes inside a closet which have holes in them thanks to the intruding ammunition.
At the bottom of the closet is a pile of Christmas decorations. Riham kneels and holds up one of the decorations so I can take a picture of her and the decorations. Sure enough, there is a bullet hole in the floppy hat of one of the Santas.
A little later, a friend, Hadr, and I visit other homes. At one place, a dog and five chickens were killed by a missle a few weeks ago. Up the street, we go inside St. Nicholas Church, hit last night. There is a bullet hole in the bottom of the Patriarch's chair.
Then it is on to a house in which a small Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) unit has lived for 1&1/2 weeks. Last night (Dec. 11) was the second shelling they have experienced in that time. CPTer Anne Montgomery left a spot in her bedroom 30 seconds before that spot was hit by a bullet. [Aye -- as I write this draft, Dec. 13, 4:00 p.m., a loud blast goes off. It is a sonic boom. I used to assume as much when I'd hear such noises. Now, I wait for the chills to subside and try to decipher in the next few seconds whether the blast is lethal or just terrorizing. The time which has passed while writing these sentences confirms that it is "only" a sonic boom.]
Across the street from CPT live a Muslim family on the lower level and a Christian family above. Both sleep elsewhere these evenings. Both are finding it impossible to observe important holy days in the ways they usually find meaningful -- Ramadan and Christmas, respectively. "We expect more," said Hala Khamis. "Do the Israelis want the area here? They must be planning something. Even if one shot reaches Gilo, it doesn't explain the rocket responses.
We don't know what is happening. Don't tell me the U.S. is helping bring peace: these rockets are U.S. made. "We need fixing not only of our homes, but of our souls. We can't take anymore."
3. Barak's Trap
Uri Avnery
Maariv, 16 December 2000
Ehud Barak has set a trap for himself. And because he is brilliant, the trap was so good that he promptly fell into it. To quote Psalm 7 (16): "He made a pit and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made." For many months now he has been spreading the mantra: "I have turned every stone on the way to peace." I have given the Palestinians much more than any previous Israeli Prime Minister. But the evil Arafat (also the devious, treacherous terrorist, the corrupt liar who breaks every promise and violates every agreement) refuses my unprecedentedly generous offer. Instead of kissing both my hands and signing an agreement to end the historic conflict, he started to shoot, blow up, murder and butcher us.
Addressing the right-wing he spreads the opposite message: "I haven't given anything at all." The weakling Netanyahu has given them 19% of the West Bank and most of the town of Hebron. I am tough and haven't given them back even one square yard. Nothing, nothing at all! Now Barak intends to combine these two messages and to contest the elections both as the man who-has-turned-every-stone and has- not-given-back-anything.
In order to reinforce the first message, he sends somebody to meet Arafat every day: the innocent Lipkin-Shahak, the not-so- innocent but willing Shlomo Ben-Ami and others. (He wanted to send Ami Ayalon too, but being an honest person, the former Security Service chief requested to see the files first, and after studying them for four hours declined to go.)
Barak has read the polls that show that the majority of Israelis desire peace, and he is telling them: See, even in the middle of an election campaign, and even while Arafat is butchering us, I continue turning every stone. That's how I am, a peace-maker!
And at the same time he sends word to the right-wing: "Trust me, I won't give them anything," and continues enlarging the settlements at a frantic pace and "liquidating" Palestinian activists wholesale, in the style of Pinochet's death squads.
This may all look sophisticated. But in practice, it ensures his defeat by whoever stands against him. There is a simple reason for it: The real leftists know that Barak's right-wing message is true, and that he indeed has not given back an inch. Therefore they will not vote for him.
While the rightists and the bulk of the center really do believe the left-wing message, that he has made the Palestinians an incredibly generous offer, giving in to all their demands, and that they refused and then opened fire. Therefore, it is obvious that the Palestinians do not want peace. They only want to kill Jews, as we knew all the time. If so, the Likud has been right all along, and one must vote for Netanyahu or Sharon.
The truth is, of course, that the first mantra is totally mendacious. Barak's proposals are manifestly unacceptable to the Palestinians. Contrary to the story spread by his "leftist" agents, that he will settle for 5% of the West Bank and is ready to give back all the rest, he proposes to annex immediately 11% of the territory, in the form of "settlement blocs" that cut the West Bank up from north to south and from west to east.
In addition, he wants to annex the Jewish areas near Jerusalem. Also, he intends to keep "temporarily" the "back of the mountains" along the Jordan and the Dead Sea. Only a fool would believe that in the distant future, after the Palestinians have already signed a declaration ending the conflict, when every square yard will be covered by a settlement, Israel will return these territories.
The practical upshot of this is that in his most generous offer, near the end of the negotiations, Barak intends to annex 30% of the West Bank. Since all the occupied territories amount to only 22% of the pre-1948 Palestine, Barak is ready to give back to the Palestinians only 15% of the country (70% of 22%), and these, too, only in the form of disconnected enclaves, each of which will be surrounded by Israeli settlers and soldiers.
At Camp David, Barak thought that the Palestinians would swallow this bitter pill if he sugar-coated it with nice words about Jerusalem. He did indeed break an Israeli taboo and made verbal concessions there. But when the Palestinians took a magnifying glass and examined the offer closely, they found out that the changes were mainly cosmetic. The sovereignty - and that's what counts - was left with Israel. Summing up: Barak did not make an offer that the Palestinians could accept.
The leftist stone-turning is make-believe, while the rightist wink is the real truth: He indeed did not give up anything. Actually, one could offer the Likud some advice: If you folks can't make up your minds between Netanyahu and Sharon, why not take Barak? He does the same, and, contrary to the other two, he makes the whole world believe him. Trouble is, the right-wing people and the bogus left-wingers believe the story of Barak's stone-turning and Arafat's Jew- killing, and therefore will vote against Barak, while the real left and the Arab citizens know the truth and therefore will not vote for him. Out of sheer sophistication, Barak will find himself falling between all the stools.
Sunday, December 24
Thursday, December 14
MCC Palestine Update #6
MCC Palestine Update #6
14 December 2000
Advent greetings from Jerusalem! It has been a rainy week here, much appreciated by local farmers. Unfortunately, the rain has not dampened the fires of death: over ten Palestinians have been killed in the past week, and scores more injured. This month should have been a festive one, with Christians awaiting Christmas and Muslims breaking the Ramadan fast with friends and family. No one, however, is feeling celebratory. Parts of Bethlehem are like a ghost town--tourists are few and far between, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has threatened to impose a total closure on Bethlehem over Christmas.
This past week Donella Clemens, former moderator of the Mennonite Church and an MCC board member, visited Palestine/Israel as part of a solidarity delegation to the Palestinian churches organized by Churches for Middle East Peace. The delegation was able to see first hand the devastation caused by the Israeli military, as well as to see how Israeli settlements and bypass roads have created an apartheid reality in the occupied territories.
MCC continues to be concerned about the effect of the current violence on children. In partnership with the Community Rehabilitation Center based in Ramallah, MCC will be sponsoring theater and art sessions in three kindergartens in the West Bank which will be aimed at helping children express, understand, and cope with their feelings of anxiety, fright, and anger.
Below we have included three pieces. The first is a summary of a recent UN report on the economic situation in the occupied territories: it paints a sobering picture. The second is a reflection by Ghassan Andoni, involved with the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement in Beit Sahour, on travel restrictions. The third is a candid piece by Edward Said which originally appeared in al-Ahram; Said's article expresses well the frustration that many Palestinians feel towards the Palestinian Authority. A longer piece by Edward Said may be found on the London Review of Books website, www.lrb.co.uk/v22/n24/said2224.htm. We cannot say often enough how much everyone in the MCC Palestine unit, both North American and Palestinian, values your prayers. May you have a blessed Advent.
1. Office of the United Nations Special Co-ordinator: The Impact on the Palestinian Economy of Confrontations, Mobility Restrictions and Border Closures
28 September-26 November 2000
Introduction The months of October and November have witnessed the most severe crisis in Israeli-Palestinian relations since the signing of the Declaration of Principles in September 1993. Confrontations have resulted in the death or injury of thousands of Palestinians-and numerous Israelis-as well as damage to Palestinian infrastructure, buildings, agricultural property and vehicles.
There have also been serious disruptions in normal economic activities caused by the political strife and the imposition of movement restrictions around and within the Occupied Palestinian Territory. For most of this period personal mobility between the West Bank and Gaza, and between the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the rest of the world, has been severely impeded. Travel for Palestinians between the West Bank and Gaza via the "safe passage" route has been blocked by the Israeli authorities since 6 October while the Gaza International Airport and the border crossings at Rajah and the Allenby/Karameh Bridge have been closed for extended periods
1/ Palestinian foreign trade has also been affected. Imports and exports transshipped through Israeli ports have been delayed or blocked completely for most of this period while the commercial crossings at Rafah and the Allenby/Karameh Bridge have been closed for about 70 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively, of the days during the reporting period.
2/ Furthermore, there have been varying levels of restrictions on mobility between cities, towns and villages in both the West Bank and Gaza due to reduced levels of security on roads and the imposition of internal closures by the Israeli authorities. Such measures have routinely included the placement of physical barriers between Palestinian villages and cities and the deployment of military checkpoints on main roads.
3/ In addition, the Israeli authorities have imposed curfews on several areas in the West Bank, most notably in the city of Hebron and on numerous villages in the Nablus area. Private economic losses during the first three weeks of the crisis were estimated at approximately USD 186.2 million.
4/ Lost income-earning opportunities were estimated at about half of the value of domestic production and nearly all of the income earned by Palestinians working in Israel. Since then the economic losses have been compounded, while the loss of life, injuries and the physical destruction of private and public property have become more widespread.
This is an updated and expanded report on the economic and social impact of the crisis covering the two-month period 28 September-26 November 2000.
2. Facing the crawling racial segregation on daily basis
Ghassan Andoni
Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between People
I thought I was fortunate to live in Bethlehem area and work in Birzeit University near Ramallah.
Of course, to earn the living of my family I have to commute daily between the two places. I know that most of people in other countries will travel larger distances between home and work. Mine is about 35 kilometers, about 25 miles. Up to 1991, the natural road between both passed through Jerusalem. I used to enjoy it.
Traveling through parts of Jerusalem and along the walls of the old city was always a source of joy for me. Even being aware of the Israeli annexation of the city in 1967 and the ongoing massive build up of Jewish settlements all around it, on the practical and emotional level I enjoyed the accessibility of this beautiful and sacred town and looked at all of the new buildings as artificial and out of harmony with this natural and holy landscape. While, some times bothered with traffic jams and with the racial attitudes of the Israeli police- in fact I received more than a hundred traffic tickets going through Jerusalem- yet it was a very convenient ride. Within 35 minutes I could reach my distention and when I am tired of driving I could use the efficient public transportation.
From 1991 and until the recent crisis Jerusalem was permanently closed in the face of Palestinians. To be able to reach, Palestinians needed to go through a lengthy procedure of obtaining permits. The most tedious of all was: to be able to provide a reasonable excuse. Praying in the Holy sepulcher or passing through to work were never accepted as good enough reasons. While the closure was enforced for "security reasons" during the gulf war, the war ended years ago but the closure continued to be in effect.
Out of necessity, I was obliged to find an alternative road. The infamous Hill valley road was my only option. It goes from Bethlehem to the east until you approach Jericho it then turns north to the north of Ramallah and then back south to the university. 90 minutes drive on poorly asphalted, very steeply mountain roads. It took me sometime before daring to drive through this road.
The Israeli police continued enjoying hunting Palestinian cars for traffic tickets. Palestinians are easily identified by a different color of their car license plates. With years, and to avoid getting depressed, I tried to find ways to enjoy my new road. Climbing the hills of the Judean deserts, passing beside the Jahalin Bedouins, going near the villages surrounding both Jerusalem and Ramallah, and becoming an excellent driver were most of the positive aspects of using this road. Being forced to see on daily bases the rapid grow both in number and extent of Israeli settlement all through my travel was a sad indicator of how far are we from reaching a peaceful solution. But with time and by using some of the newly established By-pass roads I managed to normalize my self with the newly imposed reality.
With the recent crisis, I realized that I am being caged. Through the first two weeks of this crisis, driving through the Hill valley road became the dream of my life. I was physically confined within an area of 2 squared kilometers. Surrounded from all directions with military checkpoints and Jewish settlements. Maybe I should tell you a secret that only Palestinians and Israeli officials know. Checkpoints serve to provide the psychological sense of protection to Israelis and disrupt the normal life of Palestinians and beyond that has no value to no one. Anyone who wants to go through and reach any destination within Israel can find dozens of ways to go through. So we both know that checkpoints are set as a policy procedure and security is only the excuse.
Being worried about loosing my job and seeing many people reaching Ramallah on daily basis I decided to talk my chance, leave my cage, and try to act normal. Accompanied with a friend I drove towards the Hill Valley road. In few minutes we encountered the first military checkpoint. A long queue of cars, dozens ordered out of the cars to be searched, and soldiers insulting and humiliating anyone who dares to complain. I was up to turn around when a cap driver whispered: just follow me. I did. We drove back few hundred meters and then turned left into a not asphalted road. We drove around the soldiers through the fields. We were never out of the soldiers sight yet they did not attempt to stop us. In few minutes all the cars followed and a new road for Palestinians was in use.
We had to do this By-pass turn six more times. Few of them were really difficult to drive through. Finally and after three hours of driving like in mountain rallies I arrived at the University and gave my first lecture. Going back home was very similar. I thought I will never drive this way again yet on daily basis I am taking the same road and started to think about the beauty of the seen. Maybe in some time I will be able to enjoy it. Speaking, areas A according to Oslo accords are completely turned into reservations. I now live in the one called Bethlehem. The roads between them are totally controlled. Some are dedicated for Israeli Jews only and you need to prove your racial origin through a yellow license plate to be able to drive through. Other God made field roads are temporally available until the next change in policy.
While the crisis might end, racial segregation is becoming a well- established reality that is more enforced with every crisis that the region encounters.
PCR's Coordinator, Star Street, P.O.box 24 - Beit Sahour - Palestine TeleFax: +972-2-2772018 Mobile: +972-52-299310 (George) Mobile: +972-52-595319 (Ghassan) Web: www.rapprochement.org
3. The tragedy deepens
Edward Said
Al-Ahram Weekly, 7-13 December 2000
No one really knows whether the Al-Aqsa Intifada temporarily subsided because Yasser Arafat expressed his public disapproval of it on 17 November or whether the lull was only a short-lived one that was generated out of fatigue or a search for new positions. Despite the enormous cost in lives and property to Palestinians, however, the essential problems remain, and the Israelis continue their blind and finally stupid assault on Palestinians with the strangulation, economic blockade, and bombings of cities and towns continuing without respite.
Every Arab leader who welcomed Barak's election a year and a half ago should now be asked to repeat his declarations so that their hollowness can be demonstrated again and again. I find official Arab attitudes virtually incomprehensible, having spent most of my life trying to decipher them according to the laws of reason and elementary common sense.
Did they seriously believe that Barak was the savior of the peace process, and if so weren't they aware that to save the peace process was nothing less than to prolong the Palestinian agony? Did they think that he was any different from the great "war hero" who has devoted his entire career to killing Arabs, and if he wasn't why did it take them so long to find out? Does subservience to the United States require so much subservience, so many acrobatics, such a complicated twisting and turning and so profound a prostration?
How long and for what do they cling to a repressive, basically rejectionist status quo with neither the will nor the capacity to wage war nor to live in peace, simply to please a distant and arrogant superpower that has showed them and their people so much contempt, inhumanity and utter, unspeakable cruelty? Can they not do anything more substantial than what they are doing when Israel is using helicopter gunships to kill Palestinian civilians and destroy their homes, while the United States supplies Israel with the largest ever order of attack helicopters during the past 10 years and Israel has added $500 million to its budget for settlements?
Not one word of official protest against US policy that has brought such catastrophe to our people. It is this timorousness that allows US policy-makers, of whom the unregretted Dennis Ross -- the mediocre individual who has done more single-handedly to advance Israel's interest than anyone -- is but one, to say that the Arabs trust the US and its policies and remain close friends and allies of the US. Surely the time has come to speak frankly of a hypocrisy and brutality without parallel, instead of standing silently by cap in hand as more and more Palestinians are killed with arms paid for by US taxpayers. But the core of the tragedy is what is happening to the victims themselves, the Palestinian people. Here one must speak and think rationally, not letting emotion and the passions of the moment sway the mind too much.
My general impression is that Palestinians everywhere feel the absence of real leadership, a voice or an authority that can speak both of the present and the future with some sense of vision, some articulation of a coherent, inclusive goal beyond the usual platitudes that repeat what is obviously designed to postpone decisions and visions with mere rhetoric. No one has any doubt that Palestinians are struggling against military occupation and have been doing so for 33 years. But there are four million refugees struggling against exile, in addition to the one million Palestinian citizens of Israel who have been living under a regime of racial and religious discrimination that has too long been hidden under fatuous labels like "Israeli democracy."
One of the many problems with Oslo has been that Palestinian negotiators focused exclusively on the occupation, to the neglect of the other two dimensions. But it should finally be clear that in all three instances it is Zionism that we fight against, and until we have a leadership that can formulate an integrated strategy on all three fronts, we do not have leadership. The tragedy is that the Intifada goes, lives tragically lost every day, in a political setting or framework that deepens the differences between Palestinians instead of bringing them closer together.
We need a new vision, a new voice, a new truth. Isn't it now clear that old slogans like "a Palestinian state" or "Jerusalem our capital" have brought us to this impasse? Shouldn't we expect a real leader to speak to all Palestinians, honestly, fearlessly, without duplicity or winks at the US and Israel, and to chart a course forward that links together opposition to occupation, to exile, and to racial discrimination? Why continue to delude people with the empty hope that "struggle," a word which seems to mean that others should do the dying, will get the Arab world generally and the Palestinians particularly what all have so long wanted?
It is nothing short of alarming that after more than half a century of blustering, of expending blood and treasure, of militarization, of abrogating democracy and the most elementary requirements of citizenship in the Arab world, we find ourselves facing the same enemy, the same defeats, the same tactical shifts and hypocritical about-faces with the same tired arsenal of threats, promises, slogans and cliches, all of which have been proved more or less worthless and have produced the same failures from 1967 to Amman to October 1973 to Beirut to Oslo?
No one can deny that Palestine is an exception to nearly all the colonial issues of the past 200 years. It is exceptional, but not removed from history. Human history is full of similar, if not absolutely the same, instances, and what has surprised me, as someone living at a distance from the Middle East but close to it in all sorts of ways, is how insulated from the rest of the world we keep ourselves, whereas, I believe, a great deal can be learned from the history of other oppressed peoples in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and even Europe.
Why do we resist comparing ourselves, say, with the South African blacks, or with the American Indians, or with the Vietnamese? By comparing I don't mean mechanically or slavishly, but rather creatively and imaginatively. The late Eqbal Ahmad, who was certainly one of the two or three most brilliant analysts of contemporary history and politics that I ever knew, always drew attention to the fact that successful liberation movements were successful precisely because they employed creative ideas, original ideas, imaginative ideas where in other less successful movements (like ours, alas) there was a pronounced tendency to formulas and an uninspired repetition of past slogans and past patterns of behavior. Take as a primary instance the idea of armed struggle.
For decades we have relied in our minds on ideas about guns and killing, ideas that, from the 1930s until today, have brought us plentiful martyrs but have had little real effect not so much on Zionism but on our own ideas about what to do next. In our case, the fighting is done by a small brave number of people pitted against hopeless odds, i.e. stones against helicopter gunships, Merkava tanks, missiles. Yet a quick look at other movements -- say the Indian nationalist movement, the South African liberation movement, the American civil rights movement -- tell us first of all that only a mass movement employing tactics and strategy that maximize the popular element ever made any difference on the occupier and/or oppressor. Second, only a mass movement that has been politicized and imbued with a vision of participating directly in a future of its own making, only such a movement has historical chance of liberating itself from oppression or military occupation.
The future, like the past, is built by human beings. They, and not some distant mediator or savior, provide the agency for change. It is clear to me, for example, that the immediate task in Palestine is to establish the goal of ridding ourselves of the occupation, using imaginative means of struggle. That would necessarily involve large numbers of Palestinians intervening directly in the settlement process, blocking roads, preventing building materials from entering, in other words, isolating the settlements instead of allowing them, containing a far smaller number of people, to isolate and surround Palestinians, which is what occurs today.
It is still true, for instance, that the laborers who built the Israeli settlements on a daily basis are in fact Palestinians: this should give some fairly simple idea of how deeply misled, misguided, under-mobilized and unpoliticised the Palestinian people are today. After 33 years of building Israeli settlements, Palestinian workers should immediately be provided by the Authority with alternative employment. Can't a few dollars be spared from the millions spent on useless security and unproductive bureaucracy?
This is of course a failing of the leadership, but in the end it is also those individuals who know better -- professionals, intellectuals, teachers, doctors and so on -- who have the power of expression and the means to do so who have still not put enough pressure on the leadership to make it responsive to the situation. And there at once is the greatest tragedy of all: a people is giving passionately of itself, losing the flower of its youth and all its energies in a valiant confrontation with a sadistic and implacably cruel enemy who has no compunction about choking Palestinians to death, and still Mr. Arafat is silent.
He has not truly and honestly addressed his people since the crisis began, not even a 10-minute broadcast to give it strength, to explain his policies, to tell the people where we are, how we got here, and where, after all this bloodshed and suffering, where we are going. Not one minute of time spent telling the truth to his own people, even as he tours the world from France to China, meeting with presidents and prime ministers to no avail whatever. Is his heart made of stone, is his conscience completely anaesthetized?
I find this astoundingly incomprehensible, and this after 30 years of leading us from one catastrophe and ill-considered adventure to another, without respite and without even a whispered "thank you for bearing with me and my appalling, bumbling mistakes and miscalculations for so long!" I for one am fed up with his attitude of contempt for his people, and for his stony autocratic imperturbability, his inability either to listen or to take other people seriously, his unending ambiguities, secrecy and blindingly irrational lurches from one patron to another, all the while leaving his long-suffering people to fend for themselves. Lead, Mr. Arafat, lead your people, and if you can't or don't want to, please say so truthfully.
But what you have been doing since Oslo began has been to mislead, to dodge, to make secret deals that have profited a few of the many corrupt politicians who surround you, but have made our general situation worse, much worse. The Al-Aqsa Intifada is an Intifada against Oslo and against the people who constructed it, not only Dennis Ross and Barak, but a small, irresponsible coterie of Palestinian officials. These people should now have the decency to stand before their people, admit their mistakes, and ask (if they can get it) for popular support if there is a plan. If there isn't one (as I suspect) they should then have the elementary courtesy at least to say so. Only by doing this can there be anything more than tragedy at the end of the road.
Palestinian officials signed the agreement to partition Hebron, they signed many other agreements without getting prior assurances that the settlements would end (and at least not be increased) and that all signs of military occupation would be effaced. They must now explain publicly what they thought they were doing and why they did it. Then they must let us express our views on their actions and their future. And for once they must listen and try to put the general interest before their own, despite the millions of dollars they have either squandered or squirreled away in Paris apartments and valuable real estate and lucrative business deals with Israel. Enough is enough.
14 December 2000
Advent greetings from Jerusalem! It has been a rainy week here, much appreciated by local farmers. Unfortunately, the rain has not dampened the fires of death: over ten Palestinians have been killed in the past week, and scores more injured. This month should have been a festive one, with Christians awaiting Christmas and Muslims breaking the Ramadan fast with friends and family. No one, however, is feeling celebratory. Parts of Bethlehem are like a ghost town--tourists are few and far between, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has threatened to impose a total closure on Bethlehem over Christmas.
This past week Donella Clemens, former moderator of the Mennonite Church and an MCC board member, visited Palestine/Israel as part of a solidarity delegation to the Palestinian churches organized by Churches for Middle East Peace. The delegation was able to see first hand the devastation caused by the Israeli military, as well as to see how Israeli settlements and bypass roads have created an apartheid reality in the occupied territories.
MCC continues to be concerned about the effect of the current violence on children. In partnership with the Community Rehabilitation Center based in Ramallah, MCC will be sponsoring theater and art sessions in three kindergartens in the West Bank which will be aimed at helping children express, understand, and cope with their feelings of anxiety, fright, and anger.
Below we have included three pieces. The first is a summary of a recent UN report on the economic situation in the occupied territories: it paints a sobering picture. The second is a reflection by Ghassan Andoni, involved with the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement in Beit Sahour, on travel restrictions. The third is a candid piece by Edward Said which originally appeared in al-Ahram; Said's article expresses well the frustration that many Palestinians feel towards the Palestinian Authority. A longer piece by Edward Said may be found on the London Review of Books website, www.lrb.co.uk/v22/n24/said2224.htm. We cannot say often enough how much everyone in the MCC Palestine unit, both North American and Palestinian, values your prayers. May you have a blessed Advent.
1. Office of the United Nations Special Co-ordinator: The Impact on the Palestinian Economy of Confrontations, Mobility Restrictions and Border Closures
28 September-26 November 2000
Introduction The months of October and November have witnessed the most severe crisis in Israeli-Palestinian relations since the signing of the Declaration of Principles in September 1993. Confrontations have resulted in the death or injury of thousands of Palestinians-and numerous Israelis-as well as damage to Palestinian infrastructure, buildings, agricultural property and vehicles.
There have also been serious disruptions in normal economic activities caused by the political strife and the imposition of movement restrictions around and within the Occupied Palestinian Territory. For most of this period personal mobility between the West Bank and Gaza, and between the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the rest of the world, has been severely impeded. Travel for Palestinians between the West Bank and Gaza via the "safe passage" route has been blocked by the Israeli authorities since 6 October while the Gaza International Airport and the border crossings at Rajah and the Allenby/Karameh Bridge have been closed for extended periods
1/ Palestinian foreign trade has also been affected. Imports and exports transshipped through Israeli ports have been delayed or blocked completely for most of this period while the commercial crossings at Rafah and the Allenby/Karameh Bridge have been closed for about 70 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively, of the days during the reporting period.
2/ Furthermore, there have been varying levels of restrictions on mobility between cities, towns and villages in both the West Bank and Gaza due to reduced levels of security on roads and the imposition of internal closures by the Israeli authorities. Such measures have routinely included the placement of physical barriers between Palestinian villages and cities and the deployment of military checkpoints on main roads.
3/ In addition, the Israeli authorities have imposed curfews on several areas in the West Bank, most notably in the city of Hebron and on numerous villages in the Nablus area. Private economic losses during the first three weeks of the crisis were estimated at approximately USD 186.2 million.
4/ Lost income-earning opportunities were estimated at about half of the value of domestic production and nearly all of the income earned by Palestinians working in Israel. Since then the economic losses have been compounded, while the loss of life, injuries and the physical destruction of private and public property have become more widespread.
This is an updated and expanded report on the economic and social impact of the crisis covering the two-month period 28 September-26 November 2000.
2. Facing the crawling racial segregation on daily basis
Ghassan Andoni
Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between People
I thought I was fortunate to live in Bethlehem area and work in Birzeit University near Ramallah.
Of course, to earn the living of my family I have to commute daily between the two places. I know that most of people in other countries will travel larger distances between home and work. Mine is about 35 kilometers, about 25 miles. Up to 1991, the natural road between both passed through Jerusalem. I used to enjoy it.
Traveling through parts of Jerusalem and along the walls of the old city was always a source of joy for me. Even being aware of the Israeli annexation of the city in 1967 and the ongoing massive build up of Jewish settlements all around it, on the practical and emotional level I enjoyed the accessibility of this beautiful and sacred town and looked at all of the new buildings as artificial and out of harmony with this natural and holy landscape. While, some times bothered with traffic jams and with the racial attitudes of the Israeli police- in fact I received more than a hundred traffic tickets going through Jerusalem- yet it was a very convenient ride. Within 35 minutes I could reach my distention and when I am tired of driving I could use the efficient public transportation.
From 1991 and until the recent crisis Jerusalem was permanently closed in the face of Palestinians. To be able to reach, Palestinians needed to go through a lengthy procedure of obtaining permits. The most tedious of all was: to be able to provide a reasonable excuse. Praying in the Holy sepulcher or passing through to work were never accepted as good enough reasons. While the closure was enforced for "security reasons" during the gulf war, the war ended years ago but the closure continued to be in effect.
Out of necessity, I was obliged to find an alternative road. The infamous Hill valley road was my only option. It goes from Bethlehem to the east until you approach Jericho it then turns north to the north of Ramallah and then back south to the university. 90 minutes drive on poorly asphalted, very steeply mountain roads. It took me sometime before daring to drive through this road.
The Israeli police continued enjoying hunting Palestinian cars for traffic tickets. Palestinians are easily identified by a different color of their car license plates. With years, and to avoid getting depressed, I tried to find ways to enjoy my new road. Climbing the hills of the Judean deserts, passing beside the Jahalin Bedouins, going near the villages surrounding both Jerusalem and Ramallah, and becoming an excellent driver were most of the positive aspects of using this road. Being forced to see on daily bases the rapid grow both in number and extent of Israeli settlement all through my travel was a sad indicator of how far are we from reaching a peaceful solution. But with time and by using some of the newly established By-pass roads I managed to normalize my self with the newly imposed reality.
With the recent crisis, I realized that I am being caged. Through the first two weeks of this crisis, driving through the Hill valley road became the dream of my life. I was physically confined within an area of 2 squared kilometers. Surrounded from all directions with military checkpoints and Jewish settlements. Maybe I should tell you a secret that only Palestinians and Israeli officials know. Checkpoints serve to provide the psychological sense of protection to Israelis and disrupt the normal life of Palestinians and beyond that has no value to no one. Anyone who wants to go through and reach any destination within Israel can find dozens of ways to go through. So we both know that checkpoints are set as a policy procedure and security is only the excuse.
Being worried about loosing my job and seeing many people reaching Ramallah on daily basis I decided to talk my chance, leave my cage, and try to act normal. Accompanied with a friend I drove towards the Hill Valley road. In few minutes we encountered the first military checkpoint. A long queue of cars, dozens ordered out of the cars to be searched, and soldiers insulting and humiliating anyone who dares to complain. I was up to turn around when a cap driver whispered: just follow me. I did. We drove back few hundred meters and then turned left into a not asphalted road. We drove around the soldiers through the fields. We were never out of the soldiers sight yet they did not attempt to stop us. In few minutes all the cars followed and a new road for Palestinians was in use.
We had to do this By-pass turn six more times. Few of them were really difficult to drive through. Finally and after three hours of driving like in mountain rallies I arrived at the University and gave my first lecture. Going back home was very similar. I thought I will never drive this way again yet on daily basis I am taking the same road and started to think about the beauty of the seen. Maybe in some time I will be able to enjoy it. Speaking, areas A according to Oslo accords are completely turned into reservations. I now live in the one called Bethlehem. The roads between them are totally controlled. Some are dedicated for Israeli Jews only and you need to prove your racial origin through a yellow license plate to be able to drive through. Other God made field roads are temporally available until the next change in policy.
While the crisis might end, racial segregation is becoming a well- established reality that is more enforced with every crisis that the region encounters.
PCR's Coordinator, Star Street, P.O.box 24 - Beit Sahour - Palestine TeleFax: +972-2-2772018 Mobile: +972-52-299310 (George) Mobile: +972-52-595319 (Ghassan) Web: www.rapprochement.org
3. The tragedy deepens
Edward Said
Al-Ahram Weekly, 7-13 December 2000
No one really knows whether the Al-Aqsa Intifada temporarily subsided because Yasser Arafat expressed his public disapproval of it on 17 November or whether the lull was only a short-lived one that was generated out of fatigue or a search for new positions. Despite the enormous cost in lives and property to Palestinians, however, the essential problems remain, and the Israelis continue their blind and finally stupid assault on Palestinians with the strangulation, economic blockade, and bombings of cities and towns continuing without respite.
Every Arab leader who welcomed Barak's election a year and a half ago should now be asked to repeat his declarations so that their hollowness can be demonstrated again and again. I find official Arab attitudes virtually incomprehensible, having spent most of my life trying to decipher them according to the laws of reason and elementary common sense.
Did they seriously believe that Barak was the savior of the peace process, and if so weren't they aware that to save the peace process was nothing less than to prolong the Palestinian agony? Did they think that he was any different from the great "war hero" who has devoted his entire career to killing Arabs, and if he wasn't why did it take them so long to find out? Does subservience to the United States require so much subservience, so many acrobatics, such a complicated twisting and turning and so profound a prostration?
How long and for what do they cling to a repressive, basically rejectionist status quo with neither the will nor the capacity to wage war nor to live in peace, simply to please a distant and arrogant superpower that has showed them and their people so much contempt, inhumanity and utter, unspeakable cruelty? Can they not do anything more substantial than what they are doing when Israel is using helicopter gunships to kill Palestinian civilians and destroy their homes, while the United States supplies Israel with the largest ever order of attack helicopters during the past 10 years and Israel has added $500 million to its budget for settlements?
Not one word of official protest against US policy that has brought such catastrophe to our people. It is this timorousness that allows US policy-makers, of whom the unregretted Dennis Ross -- the mediocre individual who has done more single-handedly to advance Israel's interest than anyone -- is but one, to say that the Arabs trust the US and its policies and remain close friends and allies of the US. Surely the time has come to speak frankly of a hypocrisy and brutality without parallel, instead of standing silently by cap in hand as more and more Palestinians are killed with arms paid for by US taxpayers. But the core of the tragedy is what is happening to the victims themselves, the Palestinian people. Here one must speak and think rationally, not letting emotion and the passions of the moment sway the mind too much.
My general impression is that Palestinians everywhere feel the absence of real leadership, a voice or an authority that can speak both of the present and the future with some sense of vision, some articulation of a coherent, inclusive goal beyond the usual platitudes that repeat what is obviously designed to postpone decisions and visions with mere rhetoric. No one has any doubt that Palestinians are struggling against military occupation and have been doing so for 33 years. But there are four million refugees struggling against exile, in addition to the one million Palestinian citizens of Israel who have been living under a regime of racial and religious discrimination that has too long been hidden under fatuous labels like "Israeli democracy."
One of the many problems with Oslo has been that Palestinian negotiators focused exclusively on the occupation, to the neglect of the other two dimensions. But it should finally be clear that in all three instances it is Zionism that we fight against, and until we have a leadership that can formulate an integrated strategy on all three fronts, we do not have leadership. The tragedy is that the Intifada goes, lives tragically lost every day, in a political setting or framework that deepens the differences between Palestinians instead of bringing them closer together.
We need a new vision, a new voice, a new truth. Isn't it now clear that old slogans like "a Palestinian state" or "Jerusalem our capital" have brought us to this impasse? Shouldn't we expect a real leader to speak to all Palestinians, honestly, fearlessly, without duplicity or winks at the US and Israel, and to chart a course forward that links together opposition to occupation, to exile, and to racial discrimination? Why continue to delude people with the empty hope that "struggle," a word which seems to mean that others should do the dying, will get the Arab world generally and the Palestinians particularly what all have so long wanted?
It is nothing short of alarming that after more than half a century of blustering, of expending blood and treasure, of militarization, of abrogating democracy and the most elementary requirements of citizenship in the Arab world, we find ourselves facing the same enemy, the same defeats, the same tactical shifts and hypocritical about-faces with the same tired arsenal of threats, promises, slogans and cliches, all of which have been proved more or less worthless and have produced the same failures from 1967 to Amman to October 1973 to Beirut to Oslo?
No one can deny that Palestine is an exception to nearly all the colonial issues of the past 200 years. It is exceptional, but not removed from history. Human history is full of similar, if not absolutely the same, instances, and what has surprised me, as someone living at a distance from the Middle East but close to it in all sorts of ways, is how insulated from the rest of the world we keep ourselves, whereas, I believe, a great deal can be learned from the history of other oppressed peoples in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and even Europe.
Why do we resist comparing ourselves, say, with the South African blacks, or with the American Indians, or with the Vietnamese? By comparing I don't mean mechanically or slavishly, but rather creatively and imaginatively. The late Eqbal Ahmad, who was certainly one of the two or three most brilliant analysts of contemporary history and politics that I ever knew, always drew attention to the fact that successful liberation movements were successful precisely because they employed creative ideas, original ideas, imaginative ideas where in other less successful movements (like ours, alas) there was a pronounced tendency to formulas and an uninspired repetition of past slogans and past patterns of behavior. Take as a primary instance the idea of armed struggle.
For decades we have relied in our minds on ideas about guns and killing, ideas that, from the 1930s until today, have brought us plentiful martyrs but have had little real effect not so much on Zionism but on our own ideas about what to do next. In our case, the fighting is done by a small brave number of people pitted against hopeless odds, i.e. stones against helicopter gunships, Merkava tanks, missiles. Yet a quick look at other movements -- say the Indian nationalist movement, the South African liberation movement, the American civil rights movement -- tell us first of all that only a mass movement employing tactics and strategy that maximize the popular element ever made any difference on the occupier and/or oppressor. Second, only a mass movement that has been politicized and imbued with a vision of participating directly in a future of its own making, only such a movement has historical chance of liberating itself from oppression or military occupation.
The future, like the past, is built by human beings. They, and not some distant mediator or savior, provide the agency for change. It is clear to me, for example, that the immediate task in Palestine is to establish the goal of ridding ourselves of the occupation, using imaginative means of struggle. That would necessarily involve large numbers of Palestinians intervening directly in the settlement process, blocking roads, preventing building materials from entering, in other words, isolating the settlements instead of allowing them, containing a far smaller number of people, to isolate and surround Palestinians, which is what occurs today.
It is still true, for instance, that the laborers who built the Israeli settlements on a daily basis are in fact Palestinians: this should give some fairly simple idea of how deeply misled, misguided, under-mobilized and unpoliticised the Palestinian people are today. After 33 years of building Israeli settlements, Palestinian workers should immediately be provided by the Authority with alternative employment. Can't a few dollars be spared from the millions spent on useless security and unproductive bureaucracy?
This is of course a failing of the leadership, but in the end it is also those individuals who know better -- professionals, intellectuals, teachers, doctors and so on -- who have the power of expression and the means to do so who have still not put enough pressure on the leadership to make it responsive to the situation. And there at once is the greatest tragedy of all: a people is giving passionately of itself, losing the flower of its youth and all its energies in a valiant confrontation with a sadistic and implacably cruel enemy who has no compunction about choking Palestinians to death, and still Mr. Arafat is silent.
He has not truly and honestly addressed his people since the crisis began, not even a 10-minute broadcast to give it strength, to explain his policies, to tell the people where we are, how we got here, and where, after all this bloodshed and suffering, where we are going. Not one minute of time spent telling the truth to his own people, even as he tours the world from France to China, meeting with presidents and prime ministers to no avail whatever. Is his heart made of stone, is his conscience completely anaesthetized?
I find this astoundingly incomprehensible, and this after 30 years of leading us from one catastrophe and ill-considered adventure to another, without respite and without even a whispered "thank you for bearing with me and my appalling, bumbling mistakes and miscalculations for so long!" I for one am fed up with his attitude of contempt for his people, and for his stony autocratic imperturbability, his inability either to listen or to take other people seriously, his unending ambiguities, secrecy and blindingly irrational lurches from one patron to another, all the while leaving his long-suffering people to fend for themselves. Lead, Mr. Arafat, lead your people, and if you can't or don't want to, please say so truthfully.
But what you have been doing since Oslo began has been to mislead, to dodge, to make secret deals that have profited a few of the many corrupt politicians who surround you, but have made our general situation worse, much worse. The Al-Aqsa Intifada is an Intifada against Oslo and against the people who constructed it, not only Dennis Ross and Barak, but a small, irresponsible coterie of Palestinian officials. These people should now have the decency to stand before their people, admit their mistakes, and ask (if they can get it) for popular support if there is a plan. If there isn't one (as I suspect) they should then have the elementary courtesy at least to say so. Only by doing this can there be anything more than tragedy at the end of the road.
Palestinian officials signed the agreement to partition Hebron, they signed many other agreements without getting prior assurances that the settlements would end (and at least not be increased) and that all signs of military occupation would be effaced. They must now explain publicly what they thought they were doing and why they did it. Then they must let us express our views on their actions and their future. And for once they must listen and try to put the general interest before their own, despite the millions of dollars they have either squandered or squirreled away in Paris apartments and valuable real estate and lucrative business deals with Israel. Enough is enough.
Monday, December 11
MCC Palestine Update #5
MCC Palestine Update #5
11 December 2000
Advent greetings from Palestine!
Jerusalem and Bethlehem are stripped of the usual festivity which normally accompanies this time of year: few tourists are arriving and Palestinians do not feel much like celebrating. MCC's partners, however, routinely tell us that they covet the prayerful, active support of churches in North America. We would therefore urge your congregations, if they have not already done so, to avail themselves of the prayer/advocacy/action resources for peace in Palestine/Israel posted on MCC's website, www.mcc.org. We at MCC also covet your prayerful support.
We would ask that you keep the following projects in your prayers:
--The economic situation in the occupied territories continues to deteriorate, with roadblocks and closure restricting movement of people and goods and preventing 140,000 Palestinians from going to work inside Israel. MCC is joining other international organizations is programs which seek to put unemployed Palestinians to work for the betterment of their communities. Specifically, MCC is supporting the Emergency Committee for the Southern Refugee Camps (refugee camps in the Bethlehem and Hebron areas) by donating building material for workers who will be renovating kindergartens and youth clubs in the camps.
--MCC is supporting an interfaith initiative organized by the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusaelm. Sabeel has invited Muslim and Christian clergy, along with laypeople from both communions, to attend an "iftar," or breaking of the Ramadan fast, at Sabeel's office this coming Monday. Israeli propoganda routinely seeks to drive a wedge between Palestinian Christians and Muslims. Sabeel believes, therefore, that this is a critical time to reinforce the already strong bonds which connect Palestinian Christians with their Muslim brothers and sisters. The group will gather at Sabeel before the "maghreb" prayer (ca. 4:40 pm local time), and will then break the fast together.
--Donella Clemens, former moderator of the Mennonite Church and and MCC board member, is currently in Palestine as part of a solidarity trip organized by Churches for Middle East Peace. She is joining other Protestant and Catholic leaders in a five day visit to communities and churches throughout the occupied territories.
We are including two additional pieces in this update. The first is a homily by the Rev. Naim Ateek, the director of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center. The second is an excerpt from an article by Jewish theologian Marc Ellis which appeared in a recent edition of the Christian Century. Thank you for your support and prayers. Let us await Christ's coming with an expectant urgency!
1. The Massacre of the Innocents
The Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek
According to the Gospel of Matthew, the Magi came to Jerusalem from the East in search of a royal baby whose birth they had seen foretold by the stars. They stopped to enquire from Herod, the local king, the whereabouts of this child. Herod's religious advisors gave the opinion that a royal birth would take place in the nearby village of Bethlehem.
The Magi set out on the last stage of their journey, with a request from Herod to report back to him where the birthplace was, so that he too could go and pay homage to the child. They did not realize, however, that Herod was a tyrant who felt threatened by the prospect of any rival, however tiny, to his unchallenged rule.
The Magi went to Bethlehem, found Jesus, paid him their honor, gave him their precious gifts and returned home without going back to Herod, having been warned of his ill intentions. Wishing to leave nothing to chance, Herod ordered his security forces to sweep the Bethlehem area and kill all children under the age of two.
In the Christian tradition, Herod's cold-blooded action is known as the Massacre of the Innocents, and its victims are regarded by the church as martyrs. It is a sobering reminder that the coming of the One whose life represents goodness and truth, peace and justice to the world, provoked an evil response from the ruling power. The innocents were helplessly caught between the domination of a violent man and the reign of the Prince of Peace.
The Christmas message for this year takes cognizance of the story of King Herod, the baby Jesus, and the massacre of the innocents. The events of the past two months of protest in Palestine have seen the killing of many children, youths, and even elderly people by the Israeli army. We have witnessed the destruction of many homes and businesses and a siege imposed on three million Palestinians. The state of Israel has been brutally gunning down hundreds of people and injuring thousands whose only crime is their desire for a life of freedom and the independence of their own country from the oppressive occupation. King Herod allowed himself to stoop down to the basest of all feelings. He stripped himself of all semblance of humanity when he ordered the killing of innocent children.
This scenario is being repeated in a different guise. Almost 40% of those killed have been less than 18 years old. Some younger teenagers died by bullets fired from further away than their stones of protest could possibly reach. These young Palestinians posed minimal threat, no real danger to their killers. Why do Israeli soldiers target protesters in the upper parts of their body, given the use of such powerful weapons?
This expresses the intent to destroy, not deter. These deaths are a crime against the value of human life. They dehumanize not only the killers, but also those who command them. At this Christmas time, when we remember the message of peace and love that came down from God to earth in the birth of Jesus Christ, our celebrations are marred by the destructive powers of the modern day "Herods" who are represented in the Israeli government.
The message of this Christmas is already overshadowed by the sound of war, violence, and state terror. Indeed, violence breeds violence, and innocent people have been killed on both sides. But the original sin is the violence of the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank including East Jerusalem.
When the Israeli leadership calls daily for the termination of the violence, for us this means, the occupation must end. It is the occupation that is evil and violent. It is apartheid in its ugliest form. Once the occupation ends, the violence will end. There is no other proper sequence. The sooner the Israeli leadership understands this, the quicker we will achieve an enduring peace.
Our faith tells us that ultimately, it is not the "Herods" of this world that contribute to the well being of society. The "Herods" will come and go. Indeed, while they are with us, they use all kinds of destructive force to kill, maim, and create havoc. Power blinds them. They are deluded in believing that they can steer history as they wish and charter its course. They are fools.
The God of history who is the God of justice and peace will not allow it. The movement of history is toward the liberation of people and against their subjugation and oppression. It is for freedom and democracy and against tyranny and apartheid. History will condemn those obstructionists who knew not the things that make for peace. They heap untold destruction and misery upon themselves and many innocent people.
History will exonerate those who strive, like Jesus Christ, for peace and goodwill among people. Our world needs leaders who work to establish justice and peace and have a true knowledge of God, the one who desires justice and who calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves.
The message for this Christmas is a call to struggle against all forms of dehumanization: domination, apartheid, racism, occupation, oppression and ethnic cleansing. We must strive for all that leads to genuine peace: justice, reconciliation, sharing, non- violence, forgiveness, neighborliness, and respect for the rights and dignity of others.
2. Excerpt from "Jews v. Jews: Dissenting on Israeli Policy"
Marc Ellis
The Christian Century, 8 November 2000
Over the past decades a reversal has taken place in Jewish history: the victims have become victors and we as a people have changed. This change is most obvious in our extended military campaign to form a state and expand it at the expense of Palestinians.
The less obvious and more insidious change has come in the unequivocal support of Israel that is demanded of all Jews. The Jewish intellectual and religious tradition has become twisted to defend policies that further the dislocation of persons and communities, deny the most basic values of human dignity and citizenship, and argue for that denial under the cloak of innocence and redemption.
Jews who argue openly for the freedom of Palestinians, over whom Israel has military and territorial power, are branded as self-haters and traitors. Such pressure to conform to an uncritically pro-Israel position spells the demise of a value-oriented and ethically concerned tradition.
Is the call for unity under these conditions a realistic option, one that comports with Jewish values and creates a future worth bequeathing to our children? What are Jews to do in this situation?
Can we still argue for a sharing of the land that would give Jews and Palestinians dignity, equality, and justice?
Does the argument for Palestinian rights, for example, intend the real sharing of all of Jerusalem, east and west, old and new, economically, politically, intellectually, and spiritually, or is this, at its heart, anti- Jewish?
The actual sharing of Jerusalem, as a broken middle of two struggling peoples, could be a catalyst for healing, justice and reconciliation. Sharing Jerusalem only in a symbolic way, the offer made by [Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Barak to [Palestinian president Yasser] Arafat at the Camp David this summer, portends escalation of the conflict toward what indeed seems already to be an undeclared war.
May God give us the strength to testify to a fidelity that is inclusive of Jews and Palestinians, even and especially as the unity that is called for seeks to silence those who protest in the name of justice.
--Marc Ellis is University Professor of American and Jewish Studies at Baylor University
11 December 2000
Advent greetings from Palestine!
Jerusalem and Bethlehem are stripped of the usual festivity which normally accompanies this time of year: few tourists are arriving and Palestinians do not feel much like celebrating. MCC's partners, however, routinely tell us that they covet the prayerful, active support of churches in North America. We would therefore urge your congregations, if they have not already done so, to avail themselves of the prayer/advocacy/action resources for peace in Palestine/Israel posted on MCC's website, www.mcc.org. We at MCC also covet your prayerful support.
We would ask that you keep the following projects in your prayers:
--The economic situation in the occupied territories continues to deteriorate, with roadblocks and closure restricting movement of people and goods and preventing 140,000 Palestinians from going to work inside Israel. MCC is joining other international organizations is programs which seek to put unemployed Palestinians to work for the betterment of their communities. Specifically, MCC is supporting the Emergency Committee for the Southern Refugee Camps (refugee camps in the Bethlehem and Hebron areas) by donating building material for workers who will be renovating kindergartens and youth clubs in the camps.
--MCC is supporting an interfaith initiative organized by the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusaelm. Sabeel has invited Muslim and Christian clergy, along with laypeople from both communions, to attend an "iftar," or breaking of the Ramadan fast, at Sabeel's office this coming Monday. Israeli propoganda routinely seeks to drive a wedge between Palestinian Christians and Muslims. Sabeel believes, therefore, that this is a critical time to reinforce the already strong bonds which connect Palestinian Christians with their Muslim brothers and sisters. The group will gather at Sabeel before the "maghreb" prayer (ca. 4:40 pm local time), and will then break the fast together.
--Donella Clemens, former moderator of the Mennonite Church and and MCC board member, is currently in Palestine as part of a solidarity trip organized by Churches for Middle East Peace. She is joining other Protestant and Catholic leaders in a five day visit to communities and churches throughout the occupied territories.
We are including two additional pieces in this update. The first is a homily by the Rev. Naim Ateek, the director of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center. The second is an excerpt from an article by Jewish theologian Marc Ellis which appeared in a recent edition of the Christian Century. Thank you for your support and prayers. Let us await Christ's coming with an expectant urgency!
1. The Massacre of the Innocents
The Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek
According to the Gospel of Matthew, the Magi came to Jerusalem from the East in search of a royal baby whose birth they had seen foretold by the stars. They stopped to enquire from Herod, the local king, the whereabouts of this child. Herod's religious advisors gave the opinion that a royal birth would take place in the nearby village of Bethlehem.
The Magi set out on the last stage of their journey, with a request from Herod to report back to him where the birthplace was, so that he too could go and pay homage to the child. They did not realize, however, that Herod was a tyrant who felt threatened by the prospect of any rival, however tiny, to his unchallenged rule.
The Magi went to Bethlehem, found Jesus, paid him their honor, gave him their precious gifts and returned home without going back to Herod, having been warned of his ill intentions. Wishing to leave nothing to chance, Herod ordered his security forces to sweep the Bethlehem area and kill all children under the age of two.
In the Christian tradition, Herod's cold-blooded action is known as the Massacre of the Innocents, and its victims are regarded by the church as martyrs. It is a sobering reminder that the coming of the One whose life represents goodness and truth, peace and justice to the world, provoked an evil response from the ruling power. The innocents were helplessly caught between the domination of a violent man and the reign of the Prince of Peace.
The Christmas message for this year takes cognizance of the story of King Herod, the baby Jesus, and the massacre of the innocents. The events of the past two months of protest in Palestine have seen the killing of many children, youths, and even elderly people by the Israeli army. We have witnessed the destruction of many homes and businesses and a siege imposed on three million Palestinians. The state of Israel has been brutally gunning down hundreds of people and injuring thousands whose only crime is their desire for a life of freedom and the independence of their own country from the oppressive occupation. King Herod allowed himself to stoop down to the basest of all feelings. He stripped himself of all semblance of humanity when he ordered the killing of innocent children.
This scenario is being repeated in a different guise. Almost 40% of those killed have been less than 18 years old. Some younger teenagers died by bullets fired from further away than their stones of protest could possibly reach. These young Palestinians posed minimal threat, no real danger to their killers. Why do Israeli soldiers target protesters in the upper parts of their body, given the use of such powerful weapons?
This expresses the intent to destroy, not deter. These deaths are a crime against the value of human life. They dehumanize not only the killers, but also those who command them. At this Christmas time, when we remember the message of peace and love that came down from God to earth in the birth of Jesus Christ, our celebrations are marred by the destructive powers of the modern day "Herods" who are represented in the Israeli government.
The message of this Christmas is already overshadowed by the sound of war, violence, and state terror. Indeed, violence breeds violence, and innocent people have been killed on both sides. But the original sin is the violence of the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank including East Jerusalem.
When the Israeli leadership calls daily for the termination of the violence, for us this means, the occupation must end. It is the occupation that is evil and violent. It is apartheid in its ugliest form. Once the occupation ends, the violence will end. There is no other proper sequence. The sooner the Israeli leadership understands this, the quicker we will achieve an enduring peace.
Our faith tells us that ultimately, it is not the "Herods" of this world that contribute to the well being of society. The "Herods" will come and go. Indeed, while they are with us, they use all kinds of destructive force to kill, maim, and create havoc. Power blinds them. They are deluded in believing that they can steer history as they wish and charter its course. They are fools.
The God of history who is the God of justice and peace will not allow it. The movement of history is toward the liberation of people and against their subjugation and oppression. It is for freedom and democracy and against tyranny and apartheid. History will condemn those obstructionists who knew not the things that make for peace. They heap untold destruction and misery upon themselves and many innocent people.
History will exonerate those who strive, like Jesus Christ, for peace and goodwill among people. Our world needs leaders who work to establish justice and peace and have a true knowledge of God, the one who desires justice and who calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves.
The message for this Christmas is a call to struggle against all forms of dehumanization: domination, apartheid, racism, occupation, oppression and ethnic cleansing. We must strive for all that leads to genuine peace: justice, reconciliation, sharing, non- violence, forgiveness, neighborliness, and respect for the rights and dignity of others.
2. Excerpt from "Jews v. Jews: Dissenting on Israeli Policy"
Marc Ellis
The Christian Century, 8 November 2000
Over the past decades a reversal has taken place in Jewish history: the victims have become victors and we as a people have changed. This change is most obvious in our extended military campaign to form a state and expand it at the expense of Palestinians.
The less obvious and more insidious change has come in the unequivocal support of Israel that is demanded of all Jews. The Jewish intellectual and religious tradition has become twisted to defend policies that further the dislocation of persons and communities, deny the most basic values of human dignity and citizenship, and argue for that denial under the cloak of innocence and redemption.
Jews who argue openly for the freedom of Palestinians, over whom Israel has military and territorial power, are branded as self-haters and traitors. Such pressure to conform to an uncritically pro-Israel position spells the demise of a value-oriented and ethically concerned tradition.
Is the call for unity under these conditions a realistic option, one that comports with Jewish values and creates a future worth bequeathing to our children? What are Jews to do in this situation?
Can we still argue for a sharing of the land that would give Jews and Palestinians dignity, equality, and justice?
Does the argument for Palestinian rights, for example, intend the real sharing of all of Jerusalem, east and west, old and new, economically, politically, intellectually, and spiritually, or is this, at its heart, anti- Jewish?
The actual sharing of Jerusalem, as a broken middle of two struggling peoples, could be a catalyst for healing, justice and reconciliation. Sharing Jerusalem only in a symbolic way, the offer made by [Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Barak to [Palestinian president Yasser] Arafat at the Camp David this summer, portends escalation of the conflict toward what indeed seems already to be an undeclared war.
May God give us the strength to testify to a fidelity that is inclusive of Jews and Palestinians, even and especially as the unity that is called for seeks to silence those who protest in the name of justice.
--Marc Ellis is University Professor of American and Jewish Studies at Baylor University
Friday, December 1
MCC Palestine Update #4
MCC Palestine Update #4
1 December 2000
Advent greetings from the MCC unit in Palestine! Along with our Palestinian brothers and sisters in Christ, we await our Lord's coming this year with an added degree of urgent expectancy. While we believe and confess that Christ has already trampled the powers of death, we presently live in a desperate hope that the powers of death are not in fact final.
The macabre dance of destruction continues, with the death toll continually mounting (at present, nearly 250 Palestinians and around 30 Israelis are dead, with over 9000 Palestinians injured). Our Palestinian Christian friends and partners in Ramallah, Gaza, Beit Sahour, Beit Jala and Bethlehem will be spending a grim Advent.
We would ask that you, individually and as congregations, pray for an end to death and destruction in Palestine/Israel.
Please also keep the Palestinian church in your prayers:
Prayer vigil. MCC is joining the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the Episcopalian Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, and the Reformed Church of America in an advent prayer vigil for peace in Palestine/Israel.
We have compiled resources for prayer, advocacy, and action for individual and congregational use. These can be found at MCC's web site: www.mcc.org (click "Middle East - Prayer Vigil").
Below find two additional items. One is an opinion piece by former US President Jimmy Carter which appeared in the Washington Post regarding the incompatibility of settlements with peace.
The second contains answers to frequently asked questions from the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between Peoples, a longtime MCC partner in Beit Sahour
1. For Israel, Land or Peace
Jimmy Carter
The Washington Post, November 26, 2000
“An underlying reason that years of U.S. diplomacy have failed and violence in the Middle East persists is that some Israeli leaders continue to "create facts" by building settlements in occupied territory.
Their deliberate placement as islands or fortresses within Palestinian areas makes the settlers vulnerable to attack without massive military protection, frustrates Israelis who seek peace and at the same time prevents any Palestinian government from enjoying effective territorial integrity.
At Camp David in September 1978, President Anwar Sadat, Prime Minister Menachem Begin and I spent most of our time debating this issue before we finally agreed on terms for peace between Egypt and Israel and for the resolution of issues concerning the Palestinian people.
The bilateral provisions led to a comprehensive and lasting treaty between Egypt and Israel, made possible at the last minute by Israel's agreement to remove its settlers from the Sinai. But similar constraints concerning the status of the West Bank and Gaza have not been honored, and have led to continuing confrontation and violence.
The foundation for all my proposals to the two leaders was the official position of the government of the United States, based on international law that was mutually accepted by the United States, Egypt, Israel and other nations, and encapsulated in United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. Our government's legal commitment to support this well-balanced resolution has not changed. Although the acceptance of Resolution 242 was a contentious issue at Camp David, Prime Minister Begin ultimately acknowledged its applicability, "in all its parts.
‘ The text emphasizes "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war and the need to work for a just and lasting peace in which every State in the area can live in security." It requires the "withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent [1967] conflict" and the right of every state in the area "to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." It was clear that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories were a direct violation of this agreement and were, according to the long-stated American position, both "illegal and an obstacle to peace.’
Accordingly, Prime Minister Begin pledged that there would be no establishment of new settlements until after the final peace negotiations were completed. But later, under Likud pressure, he declined to honor this commitment, explaining that his presumption had been that all peace talks would be concluded within three months.
There were some notable provisions in the Camp David Accords that related to Palestinian autonomy and the occupation of land. A key element was that "the Israeli military government and its civilian administration will be withdrawn as soon as a self-governing authority has been freely elected by the inhabitants of these areas to replace the existing military government." This transition period was triggered by an election in the occupied territories in January 1996, approved by the Palestinians and the government of Israel and monitored by the Carter Center. Eighty-eight Palestinian Council members were elected, with Yasser Arafat as president, and this self-governing authority, with limited autonomy, convened for the first time in March 1996.
It was also agreed that once the powers and responsibilities of the self-governing authority were established, "A withdrawal of Israeli armed forces will take place and there will be a redeployment of the remaining Israeli forces into specified security locations. "We decided early during the Camp David talks that it would be impossible to resolve the question of sovereignty over East Jerusalem, but proposed the following paragraph concerning the city, on which we reached full agreement: "Jerusalem, the city of peace, is holy to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. And all peoples must have free access to it and enjoy the free exercise of worship and the right to visit and transit to the holy places without distinction or discrimination.
The holy places of each faith will be under the administration and control of their representatives. A municipal council representative of the inhabitants of the city shall supervise essential functions in the city such as public utilities, public transportation, and tourism and shall ensure that each community can maintain its own cultural and educational institutions." At the last minute, however, after several days of unanimous acceptance, both Sadat and Begin agreed that there were already enough controversial elements in the accords and requested that this paragraph, although still supported by both sides, be deleted from the final text. Instead, the two leaders exchanged letters, expressing the legal positions of their respective governments regarding the status of East Jerusalem.
They disagreed about sovereignty, of course, but affirmed that the city should be undivided. As agreed, I informed them that "the position of the United States on Jerusalem remains as stated by Ambassador Arthur Goldberg in the United Nations General Assembly on July 14, 1967, and subsequently by Ambassador Charles Yost in the United Nations Security Council on July 1, 1969." In effect, these statements considered East Jerusalem to be part of the occupied territories, along with the West Bank and Gaza.
The Camp David Accord was signed by all three of us leaders with great fanfare and enthusiasm. President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin embraced warmly at the White House ceremony, and the final document was overwhelmingly ratified by their respective parliaments.
With the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan, there was a period of relative inactivity in the Middle East, except for the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the subsequent expulsion of PLO forces from Beirut. President Reagan used the announcement of this event on Sept. 1, 1982, to address the nation on the subject of the West Bank and the Palestinians. He stated clearly that "the Camp David agreement remains the foundation of our policy," and his speech included the following declarations: "The Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza will have full autonomy over their own affairs." "The United States will not support the use of any additional land for the purpose of settlements during the transition period. Indeed, the immediate adoption of a settlement freeze by Israel, more than any other action, could create the confidence needed for wider participation in these talks. Further settlement activity is in no way necessary for the security of Israel and only diminishes the confidence of the Arabs that a final outcome can be freely and fairly negotiated."
In 1991 there was a major confrontation between the governments of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and President George Bush concerning Israeli settlements in the West Bank, with U.S. threats of withholding financial aid if settlement activity continued.
A conference was convened that year in Madrid with participants of the United States, Syria, other Arab nations and some Palestinians who did not officially represent the PLO. At a press conference on Nov. 1, Secretary of State James Baker said, "When we negotiated with Israel, we negotiated on the basis of land for peace, on the basis of total withdrawal from territory in exchange for peaceful relations. . . . This is exactly our position, and we wish it to be applied also in the negotiations between Israelis and Syrians, Israelis and Palestinians. We have not changed our position at all."
Norwegian mediators forged an agreement in September 1993 between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat committing both sides to a staged peace process. Although U.S. officials were not involved in this effort, our government commemorated the Oslo Accords in a ceremony at the White House, and built subsequent peace talks on its terms and those of the Camp David Accords.
So far, these efforts have not succeeded, and this year there has been a resurgence of violence and animosity between Israelis and Arabs unequaled in more than a quarter of a century. The major issues still to be resolved remain unchanged: the final boundaries of the state of Israel, the return of, or compensation for, Palestinians dislodged from their previous homes and the status of Jerusalem.
It seems almost inevitable that the United States will initiate new peace efforts, but it is unlikely that real progress can be made on any of these issues as long as Israel insists on its settlement policy, illegal under international laws that are supported by the United States and all other nations. There are many questions as we continue to seek an end to violence in the Middle East, but there is no way to escape the vital one: Land or peace?
Former president Carter is chairman of the Carter Center in Atlanta. © 2000 The Washington Post
2. Attempting to answer two frequently asked questions
Ghassan Andoni
Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between People
Q1- Are Palestinians shooting at Israeli soldiers and settlements?
A1- The answer is yes. After few days through which Israeli soldiers killed dozens and injured hundreds of Palestinian protestors Palestinians retaliated by shooting at military targets and settlements.
In few cases, and when the Israeli army moved into Palestinian sovereign areas (Area "a") Palestinian police fought against them. It is important to note that the battlefield is inside the Palestinian occupied territories and therefore, Palestinians can rightly claim an act of self-defense against occupation and military aggression.
Palestinians have the choice to stop the resistance against the Israeli occupation and live as slaves forever. Yet, it is evident that Palestinians are more interested in freedom, dignity, and just peace than in preserving their slavery life. Most of other nations made the same choice at certain moments in their history.
Q2- Do new Palestinian generations hate Israel?
A1- The answer is yes. But it has very little to do with school or family education, it has more to do with what the new generations are exposed to through the course of their childhood. It is a phenomenon that is worth studying.
Before the 1987 Palestinian Intifada it looked as if Israel have managed to defeat Palestinians and to be able to force upon them the autonomy for the population formula. Most Israeli politicians where convinced that expanding their settlement building campaign and land expropriation is only a matter of time. And the demographic problem can find a solution through imposing unilateral autonomy on the population of the west bank and Gaza and that the file of Jerusalem is closed once and forever.
The end result was designed as follows: The majority of the Palestinian population will be isolated in reservations with autonomous status and Jerusalem and more than 80% of the occupied territories will be gradually annexed to Israel.
Suddenly, the young generation then took the initiative, and through seven years of an Intifada managed to defeat this plan and brought the area back to its senses and realities. The end result was re-establishing negotiations on national bases. Palestine is an occupied area and Palestinians have the right to be treated as a nation living under occupation. This move was faced with Israeli brutality, which resulted in killing hundreds, jailing and injuring thousands. Yet, without this move the peace negotiations between the PLO and Israel could never have started.
It is not surprising that the younger Palestinian generation (the post Intifada generation) is the one who took the initiative again and moved into the streets to face Israeli provocations, settlement programs, and plans to impose through the usage of force the future of this area. This generation has witnessed the previous Intifada as children. Israeli brutality and acts initiated inside their little minds hundreds of unanswered questions.
We all wanted to believe that as this generation will grow up with the peace process it will be the generation that will advance peace. Yet, the seven years of the peace process were the hardest, most inhuman, and most humiliating Palestinians ever faced. It was characterized by unprecedented land expropriation and settlement- building campaigns sever limitations on the mobility of Palestinians, tightening Israeli control over the Palestinian population, and enforcing the occupation symbols within the Palestinian territories.
Palestinians faced all of this with patience and hope, but by the end of the Camp David negotiations and the Sharon-Barak attempt to demonstrate their power inside the most sacred shrine Palestinians have. The new generation who witnessed carefully all of this took the initiative and moved steadily into the current Intifada. I have followed carefully all the discussions about education for peace. And as well read through many articles about what should be and what should not be part of the curriculum in schools. Yet, I have seen no one writing about the obligations of Israel to establish a conductive environment for peace education.
Without this all attempts to educate for peace will only results in a generational miscommunication. Can you talk about the benefits of peace when people are only harvesting pain and misery? It is painful that generation after another the heavy heritages of fighting for your basic human and national rights are passed. It also explains why there is an active participation of the younger generation in those bloody confrontations. And I hope that Israel will not again misread reality and only seek to impose its "national interests" and acceptance for its existence through the blind usage of military force.
I think, Israel has to work hard to totally separate its existence as a state from both occupation and historical and current wrong doings. This can only be achieved through quickly working to end the occupation and in sincere attempts to address the rights of Palestinians as a nation and as individuals. By doing so, the peace process will recover its human face, a step that is vital for a joint peaceful future in this area.
1 December 2000
Advent greetings from the MCC unit in Palestine! Along with our Palestinian brothers and sisters in Christ, we await our Lord's coming this year with an added degree of urgent expectancy. While we believe and confess that Christ has already trampled the powers of death, we presently live in a desperate hope that the powers of death are not in fact final.
The macabre dance of destruction continues, with the death toll continually mounting (at present, nearly 250 Palestinians and around 30 Israelis are dead, with over 9000 Palestinians injured). Our Palestinian Christian friends and partners in Ramallah, Gaza, Beit Sahour, Beit Jala and Bethlehem will be spending a grim Advent.
We would ask that you, individually and as congregations, pray for an end to death and destruction in Palestine/Israel.
Please also keep the Palestinian church in your prayers:
Prayer vigil. MCC is joining the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the Episcopalian Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, and the Reformed Church of America in an advent prayer vigil for peace in Palestine/Israel.
We have compiled resources for prayer, advocacy, and action for individual and congregational use. These can be found at MCC's web site: www.mcc.org (click "Middle East - Prayer Vigil").
Below find two additional items. One is an opinion piece by former US President Jimmy Carter which appeared in the Washington Post regarding the incompatibility of settlements with peace.
The second contains answers to frequently asked questions from the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between Peoples, a longtime MCC partner in Beit Sahour
1. For Israel, Land or Peace
Jimmy Carter
The Washington Post, November 26, 2000
“An underlying reason that years of U.S. diplomacy have failed and violence in the Middle East persists is that some Israeli leaders continue to "create facts" by building settlements in occupied territory.
Their deliberate placement as islands or fortresses within Palestinian areas makes the settlers vulnerable to attack without massive military protection, frustrates Israelis who seek peace and at the same time prevents any Palestinian government from enjoying effective territorial integrity.
At Camp David in September 1978, President Anwar Sadat, Prime Minister Menachem Begin and I spent most of our time debating this issue before we finally agreed on terms for peace between Egypt and Israel and for the resolution of issues concerning the Palestinian people.
The bilateral provisions led to a comprehensive and lasting treaty between Egypt and Israel, made possible at the last minute by Israel's agreement to remove its settlers from the Sinai. But similar constraints concerning the status of the West Bank and Gaza have not been honored, and have led to continuing confrontation and violence.
The foundation for all my proposals to the two leaders was the official position of the government of the United States, based on international law that was mutually accepted by the United States, Egypt, Israel and other nations, and encapsulated in United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. Our government's legal commitment to support this well-balanced resolution has not changed. Although the acceptance of Resolution 242 was a contentious issue at Camp David, Prime Minister Begin ultimately acknowledged its applicability, "in all its parts.
‘ The text emphasizes "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war and the need to work for a just and lasting peace in which every State in the area can live in security." It requires the "withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent [1967] conflict" and the right of every state in the area "to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." It was clear that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories were a direct violation of this agreement and were, according to the long-stated American position, both "illegal and an obstacle to peace.’
Accordingly, Prime Minister Begin pledged that there would be no establishment of new settlements until after the final peace negotiations were completed. But later, under Likud pressure, he declined to honor this commitment, explaining that his presumption had been that all peace talks would be concluded within three months.
There were some notable provisions in the Camp David Accords that related to Palestinian autonomy and the occupation of land. A key element was that "the Israeli military government and its civilian administration will be withdrawn as soon as a self-governing authority has been freely elected by the inhabitants of these areas to replace the existing military government." This transition period was triggered by an election in the occupied territories in January 1996, approved by the Palestinians and the government of Israel and monitored by the Carter Center. Eighty-eight Palestinian Council members were elected, with Yasser Arafat as president, and this self-governing authority, with limited autonomy, convened for the first time in March 1996.
It was also agreed that once the powers and responsibilities of the self-governing authority were established, "A withdrawal of Israeli armed forces will take place and there will be a redeployment of the remaining Israeli forces into specified security locations. "We decided early during the Camp David talks that it would be impossible to resolve the question of sovereignty over East Jerusalem, but proposed the following paragraph concerning the city, on which we reached full agreement: "Jerusalem, the city of peace, is holy to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. And all peoples must have free access to it and enjoy the free exercise of worship and the right to visit and transit to the holy places without distinction or discrimination.
The holy places of each faith will be under the administration and control of their representatives. A municipal council representative of the inhabitants of the city shall supervise essential functions in the city such as public utilities, public transportation, and tourism and shall ensure that each community can maintain its own cultural and educational institutions." At the last minute, however, after several days of unanimous acceptance, both Sadat and Begin agreed that there were already enough controversial elements in the accords and requested that this paragraph, although still supported by both sides, be deleted from the final text. Instead, the two leaders exchanged letters, expressing the legal positions of their respective governments regarding the status of East Jerusalem.
They disagreed about sovereignty, of course, but affirmed that the city should be undivided. As agreed, I informed them that "the position of the United States on Jerusalem remains as stated by Ambassador Arthur Goldberg in the United Nations General Assembly on July 14, 1967, and subsequently by Ambassador Charles Yost in the United Nations Security Council on July 1, 1969." In effect, these statements considered East Jerusalem to be part of the occupied territories, along with the West Bank and Gaza.
The Camp David Accord was signed by all three of us leaders with great fanfare and enthusiasm. President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin embraced warmly at the White House ceremony, and the final document was overwhelmingly ratified by their respective parliaments.
With the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan, there was a period of relative inactivity in the Middle East, except for the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the subsequent expulsion of PLO forces from Beirut. President Reagan used the announcement of this event on Sept. 1, 1982, to address the nation on the subject of the West Bank and the Palestinians. He stated clearly that "the Camp David agreement remains the foundation of our policy," and his speech included the following declarations: "The Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza will have full autonomy over their own affairs." "The United States will not support the use of any additional land for the purpose of settlements during the transition period. Indeed, the immediate adoption of a settlement freeze by Israel, more than any other action, could create the confidence needed for wider participation in these talks. Further settlement activity is in no way necessary for the security of Israel and only diminishes the confidence of the Arabs that a final outcome can be freely and fairly negotiated."
In 1991 there was a major confrontation between the governments of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and President George Bush concerning Israeli settlements in the West Bank, with U.S. threats of withholding financial aid if settlement activity continued.
A conference was convened that year in Madrid with participants of the United States, Syria, other Arab nations and some Palestinians who did not officially represent the PLO. At a press conference on Nov. 1, Secretary of State James Baker said, "When we negotiated with Israel, we negotiated on the basis of land for peace, on the basis of total withdrawal from territory in exchange for peaceful relations. . . . This is exactly our position, and we wish it to be applied also in the negotiations between Israelis and Syrians, Israelis and Palestinians. We have not changed our position at all."
Norwegian mediators forged an agreement in September 1993 between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat committing both sides to a staged peace process. Although U.S. officials were not involved in this effort, our government commemorated the Oslo Accords in a ceremony at the White House, and built subsequent peace talks on its terms and those of the Camp David Accords.
So far, these efforts have not succeeded, and this year there has been a resurgence of violence and animosity between Israelis and Arabs unequaled in more than a quarter of a century. The major issues still to be resolved remain unchanged: the final boundaries of the state of Israel, the return of, or compensation for, Palestinians dislodged from their previous homes and the status of Jerusalem.
It seems almost inevitable that the United States will initiate new peace efforts, but it is unlikely that real progress can be made on any of these issues as long as Israel insists on its settlement policy, illegal under international laws that are supported by the United States and all other nations. There are many questions as we continue to seek an end to violence in the Middle East, but there is no way to escape the vital one: Land or peace?
Former president Carter is chairman of the Carter Center in Atlanta. © 2000 The Washington Post
2. Attempting to answer two frequently asked questions
Ghassan Andoni
Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between People
Q1- Are Palestinians shooting at Israeli soldiers and settlements?
A1- The answer is yes. After few days through which Israeli soldiers killed dozens and injured hundreds of Palestinian protestors Palestinians retaliated by shooting at military targets and settlements.
In few cases, and when the Israeli army moved into Palestinian sovereign areas (Area "a") Palestinian police fought against them. It is important to note that the battlefield is inside the Palestinian occupied territories and therefore, Palestinians can rightly claim an act of self-defense against occupation and military aggression.
Palestinians have the choice to stop the resistance against the Israeli occupation and live as slaves forever. Yet, it is evident that Palestinians are more interested in freedom, dignity, and just peace than in preserving their slavery life. Most of other nations made the same choice at certain moments in their history.
Q2- Do new Palestinian generations hate Israel?
A1- The answer is yes. But it has very little to do with school or family education, it has more to do with what the new generations are exposed to through the course of their childhood. It is a phenomenon that is worth studying.
Before the 1987 Palestinian Intifada it looked as if Israel have managed to defeat Palestinians and to be able to force upon them the autonomy for the population formula. Most Israeli politicians where convinced that expanding their settlement building campaign and land expropriation is only a matter of time. And the demographic problem can find a solution through imposing unilateral autonomy on the population of the west bank and Gaza and that the file of Jerusalem is closed once and forever.
The end result was designed as follows: The majority of the Palestinian population will be isolated in reservations with autonomous status and Jerusalem and more than 80% of the occupied territories will be gradually annexed to Israel.
Suddenly, the young generation then took the initiative, and through seven years of an Intifada managed to defeat this plan and brought the area back to its senses and realities. The end result was re-establishing negotiations on national bases. Palestine is an occupied area and Palestinians have the right to be treated as a nation living under occupation. This move was faced with Israeli brutality, which resulted in killing hundreds, jailing and injuring thousands. Yet, without this move the peace negotiations between the PLO and Israel could never have started.
It is not surprising that the younger Palestinian generation (the post Intifada generation) is the one who took the initiative again and moved into the streets to face Israeli provocations, settlement programs, and plans to impose through the usage of force the future of this area. This generation has witnessed the previous Intifada as children. Israeli brutality and acts initiated inside their little minds hundreds of unanswered questions.
We all wanted to believe that as this generation will grow up with the peace process it will be the generation that will advance peace. Yet, the seven years of the peace process were the hardest, most inhuman, and most humiliating Palestinians ever faced. It was characterized by unprecedented land expropriation and settlement- building campaigns sever limitations on the mobility of Palestinians, tightening Israeli control over the Palestinian population, and enforcing the occupation symbols within the Palestinian territories.
Palestinians faced all of this with patience and hope, but by the end of the Camp David negotiations and the Sharon-Barak attempt to demonstrate their power inside the most sacred shrine Palestinians have. The new generation who witnessed carefully all of this took the initiative and moved steadily into the current Intifada. I have followed carefully all the discussions about education for peace. And as well read through many articles about what should be and what should not be part of the curriculum in schools. Yet, I have seen no one writing about the obligations of Israel to establish a conductive environment for peace education.
Without this all attempts to educate for peace will only results in a generational miscommunication. Can you talk about the benefits of peace when people are only harvesting pain and misery? It is painful that generation after another the heavy heritages of fighting for your basic human and national rights are passed. It also explains why there is an active participation of the younger generation in those bloody confrontations. And I hope that Israel will not again misread reality and only seek to impose its "national interests" and acceptance for its existence through the blind usage of military force.
I think, Israel has to work hard to totally separate its existence as a state from both occupation and historical and current wrong doings. This can only be achieved through quickly working to end the occupation and in sincere attempts to address the rights of Palestinians as a nation and as individuals. By doing so, the peace process will recover its human face, a step that is vital for a joint peaceful future in this area.
Tuesday, November 21
MCC Palestine Update #3
MCC Palestine Update #3
The Intifada al-Aqsa is now nearly two months old. Far from receding, the cycle of violence is turning ever faster. The death toll on the Palestinian side mounts daily with numbing regularity, as do the thousands of injured. Israeli missiles have rained down on Gaza and Ramallah, and Palestinian leaders have been assassinated by the Israeli military in Rafah and in Nablus. On the Israeli side, a Palestinian bomb tore apart a bus carrying settler children to school in the Gaza Strip, while another explosion in Hadera killed two Israelis and injured many others.
MCC Palestine mourns the mounting loss of life, Palestinian and Israeli. We desparately hope that political leaders will be granted a vision of justice and peace, a peace which does not depend on occupation and violence for an unstable "security," but a peace based on equality which might lead to reconciliation.
Now more than ever, your prayers for Palestine/Israel are needed. This advent, MCC Palestine will be joining the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the Presbyterian Church-USA, the Episcopalian Church, and the United Church of Christ in promoting an ecumenical prayer vigil for peace in the Middle East. MCC Communications will be sending out prayer requests, suggestions for congregational education, and ideas for advocacy and action this coming week. If you have any questions about this effort, see the website of Churches for Middle East Peace, www.cmep.org, or contact Larry Guengerich at MCC Akron, guest.90404@MennoLink.org or Rick Fast in MCC Canada, Rick_J_Fast@mennonitecc.ca.
The update below contains three parts. The first is news about MCC's work in Palestine. The second is an appeal to the Israeli public by a group of 120 Palestinian intellectuals--the statement and signatories can be viewed at www.miftah.org, where you can also sign the statement. The third is an appeal to demonstrate on November 29 to mark the international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
1. MCC Work
--MCC covered transportation costs for hundreds of Palestinian volunteers who helped to bring in the olive harvest in the Ramallah and Hebron areas. Military and settler actvitiy had placed severe restrictions on the access of Palestinian farmers to their olive groves. The Union of Agricultural Work Committees organized busloads of volunteers to assist farmers in bringing in their harvests in time.
--MCC is also working with the Union of Agricultural Work Committees at the promotion of backyard gardening. As the economic siege of the occupied territories continues, food security will increasingly become a problem. Backyard gardens will help guarantee a better level of food security.
--MCC's volunteers in the Gaza Strip, James and LeAnn Friesen, have been evacuated. The Friesens have two children, Alex and Kate. They are in Jerusalem for the time being. Please keep the Friesen family in your prayers, as well as the people of Gaza, who are running out of cooking and heating fuel due to the economic siege.
2. An Urgent Statement to the Israeli Public
MIFTAH
In February of this year, we, a group of Palestinian academics and activists, addressed an urgent call to the Israeli public. We expressed in it our fear that the Oslo peace process, as it had evolved over the past seven years, was inevitably leading to further conflict -perhaps even war-rather than to our hoped-for goal: a final historic reconciliation that would enable our two peoples to live in peace, human dignity and neighborly relations.
We expressed our concern that the Oslo accords have been used by Israel, despite claims to the contrary, to create unprecedented expansion of settlements, almost double the settler population, and continue the expropriation of Palestinian land. Freedom of movement for Palestinians has been severely curtailed while settler violence against our communities continues without restraint. Against this background, the Palestinian population has had no physical, legal or political means of protection.
While military occupation is a palpable reality that affects us every day, it has been disguised under Oslo in ways that negate international law and the protection it might afford. We now live in a series of small disconnected areas which are being posited as the emerging Palestinian state. The only way to expand these Bantustans according to the distorted logic which has dominated negotiations, is for the Palestinian leadership to make concessions which would legitimize a number of Israeli demands in contravention to international law: to concede our National rights to East Jerusalem, allow settlements to remain in occupied territory and renounce the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
The Israeli leadership (be it Likud or Labor) has continued to imagine that, given the massive military balance of force in its favor, it would be able to impose on the Palestinian Authority its unjust vision of a final settlement, and pretend that the conflict is resolved in the eyes of the world. This delusion that a deeply unjust agreement can be made by Israel with President Yasser Arafat alone, who is then expected to force his people into accepting it, is profoundly shortsighted and has inevitably led to the critical situation that confronts us now.
Many of us were in the streets over these recent weeks, holding neither guns nor stones. We were holding candles to commemorate the deaths of our students, neighbors and relatives who tried to make the world hear with their lives what we were unable to with our words. The naive and dangerous notion that Palestinians took to the streets following Yasser Arafat's orders is not only an insult to our intelligence but also a clear sign of the lack of understanding of the reality in which we live.
We are deeply concerned that the conflict has, at times, dangerously spiraled, into an ethnic/religious one, as the pogroms against Arab citizens of Nazareth, the lynching of the two Israeli soldiers in Ramallah and the numerous mob attacks on synagogues and mosques have shown. The profoundly irresponsible and self-serving act of the Barak government in allowing Ariel Sharon onto the Haram al Sharif shows not just an alarming lack of judgement, but also a total disregard for Palestinian, Arab and Muslim sensibilities. The use of live ammunition against unarmed Palestinian civilians at demonstrations there the next day and at protests ever since, shows total contempt for Palestinian life.
The stubborn and escalating use of Israel's overwhelming military power in order to crush the current uprising and terrify the Palestinian population into submission shows a dangerous, will- full refusal to address its underlying causes. Military might may be able to subdue the current wave of protest - at the immediate cost of many lives. But in the long run, it cannot stem the will of a people seeking their just and rightful place in the world. It will also condemn us to re-visit the current crisis again and again.
All of us are firm believers in an equitable and just negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians that recognizes the right to self-determination. However we, like our communities, have lost hope in the possibility of resolving the current inequities in the framework of the Oslo agreements and the exclusive American 'brokerage' of the process. We believe that we must find an equitable basis for peace which must necessarily take the following broad principles as a point of departure:
1. Negotiations must be based on the principles that all the lands occupied by Israel in 1967 are, in fact, occupied territories and that peace will be only be achieved by ending the occupation of these territories and thus enabling Palestinians to exercise their right to self-determination and sovereignty.
2. East Jerusalem is part of these Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967. Consequently, a final settlement must include Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem and the commitment to Jerusalem as the recognized capital of two states.
3. Israel's recognition of its responsibility in the creation of the Palestinian refugees in 1948 is a pre-requisite to finding a just and lasting resolution of the refugee problem in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions.
4. Both sides must recognize the spiritual and historical affinities of each other to sites and locations within their own borders and they must affirm and guarantee the access and protection of the other people to these places within their own borders. But in neither case should the existence of such sites be used to advance extra-territorial claims to locations within each other's borders.
We believe that the implementation of these principles will provide for a just and therefore, genuine and lasting peace. The hoped-for co-existence between our two peoples can only become possible if a reconstructed peace settlement is equitable. This requires moral recognition of the historic injustice visited upon Palestinians. Peace and co-existence will not be accomplished by imposing an unjust settlement that goes against the will of the people.
This land is destined to be the home of our two peoples. The need for a solution based on mutual respect and accommodation is dictated not only by the search for security and stability, but also by the quest for freedom and prosperity of future generations. It is our hope that, out of the tragedies of recent weeks, a new and fair vision of peace can emerge between the two peoples.
3. International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
29 November 2000
The situation in the occupied Palestinian territories has deteriorated rapidly over the past 54 days. Israeli forces have escalated and intensified their attacks against Palestinian civilians, infrastructure and the economy, making use of artillery such as tanks, Apache helicopters, missiles and heavy machine guns against Palestinian demonstrators and in populated civilian areas. The use of this weaponry demonstrates that Israel has adopted a military strategy, leading inevitably to more fatalities, serious injuries and destruction of property. The closures and curfews imposed on Palestinian areas are strangling the already weak economy, causing water and food shortages and loss of employment.
The goal of Palestinian demonstrations is to end the Israeli occupation and the illegal establishment and maintenance of Israeli settlements. However, in response to these legitimate demands, the Israeli occupation has acted outside of the permitted legal framework, responding to Palestinian demonstrations with full military force.
Israel continues to ignore United Nations resolutions that call for the end of occupation and the full implementation of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. As long as the international community refuses to take action on behalf of the Palestinians, a just and long lasting peace cannot be established.
It is now time for international activists, religious communities, governmental agencies and non-governmental organisations to demand that strategies for practical solutions for this conflict be initiated to protect the human rights of the Palestinian people. Therefore, in recognition and support of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we urge all human rights activists in the public and private sector to come together on November 29 and demonstrate in solidarity with the Palestinians.
WHAT PROTESTS SHOULD CALL FOR:
* Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1322, adopted 7 October 2000, which condemns acts of violence, especially the excessive use of force against Palestinians, resulting in injury and loss of human life.
* International protection by the United Nations for the Palestinian people in the Occupied Territories.
* Establishment of an independent international team to investigate the initiation of violence and ensuing days of conflict.
* Respect for international humanitarian and human rights law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, as a prerequisite to restoring peace and security in the region.
* Commitment on all sides to a just and lasting peace in the region, which includes an end to the illegal occupation, dismantling of settlements, the right of return for Palestinian refugees and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state according to United Nations Resolution 181.
The Intifada al-Aqsa is now nearly two months old. Far from receding, the cycle of violence is turning ever faster. The death toll on the Palestinian side mounts daily with numbing regularity, as do the thousands of injured. Israeli missiles have rained down on Gaza and Ramallah, and Palestinian leaders have been assassinated by the Israeli military in Rafah and in Nablus. On the Israeli side, a Palestinian bomb tore apart a bus carrying settler children to school in the Gaza Strip, while another explosion in Hadera killed two Israelis and injured many others.
MCC Palestine mourns the mounting loss of life, Palestinian and Israeli. We desparately hope that political leaders will be granted a vision of justice and peace, a peace which does not depend on occupation and violence for an unstable "security," but a peace based on equality which might lead to reconciliation.
Now more than ever, your prayers for Palestine/Israel are needed. This advent, MCC Palestine will be joining the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the Presbyterian Church-USA, the Episcopalian Church, and the United Church of Christ in promoting an ecumenical prayer vigil for peace in the Middle East. MCC Communications will be sending out prayer requests, suggestions for congregational education, and ideas for advocacy and action this coming week. If you have any questions about this effort, see the website of Churches for Middle East Peace, www.cmep.org, or contact Larry Guengerich at MCC Akron, guest.90404@MennoLink.org or Rick Fast in MCC Canada, Rick_J_Fast@mennonitecc.ca.
The update below contains three parts. The first is news about MCC's work in Palestine. The second is an appeal to the Israeli public by a group of 120 Palestinian intellectuals--the statement and signatories can be viewed at www.miftah.org, where you can also sign the statement. The third is an appeal to demonstrate on November 29 to mark the international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
1. MCC Work
--MCC covered transportation costs for hundreds of Palestinian volunteers who helped to bring in the olive harvest in the Ramallah and Hebron areas. Military and settler actvitiy had placed severe restrictions on the access of Palestinian farmers to their olive groves. The Union of Agricultural Work Committees organized busloads of volunteers to assist farmers in bringing in their harvests in time.
--MCC is also working with the Union of Agricultural Work Committees at the promotion of backyard gardening. As the economic siege of the occupied territories continues, food security will increasingly become a problem. Backyard gardens will help guarantee a better level of food security.
--MCC's volunteers in the Gaza Strip, James and LeAnn Friesen, have been evacuated. The Friesens have two children, Alex and Kate. They are in Jerusalem for the time being. Please keep the Friesen family in your prayers, as well as the people of Gaza, who are running out of cooking and heating fuel due to the economic siege.
2. An Urgent Statement to the Israeli Public
MIFTAH
In February of this year, we, a group of Palestinian academics and activists, addressed an urgent call to the Israeli public. We expressed in it our fear that the Oslo peace process, as it had evolved over the past seven years, was inevitably leading to further conflict -perhaps even war-rather than to our hoped-for goal: a final historic reconciliation that would enable our two peoples to live in peace, human dignity and neighborly relations.
We expressed our concern that the Oslo accords have been used by Israel, despite claims to the contrary, to create unprecedented expansion of settlements, almost double the settler population, and continue the expropriation of Palestinian land. Freedom of movement for Palestinians has been severely curtailed while settler violence against our communities continues without restraint. Against this background, the Palestinian population has had no physical, legal or political means of protection.
While military occupation is a palpable reality that affects us every day, it has been disguised under Oslo in ways that negate international law and the protection it might afford. We now live in a series of small disconnected areas which are being posited as the emerging Palestinian state. The only way to expand these Bantustans according to the distorted logic which has dominated negotiations, is for the Palestinian leadership to make concessions which would legitimize a number of Israeli demands in contravention to international law: to concede our National rights to East Jerusalem, allow settlements to remain in occupied territory and renounce the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
The Israeli leadership (be it Likud or Labor) has continued to imagine that, given the massive military balance of force in its favor, it would be able to impose on the Palestinian Authority its unjust vision of a final settlement, and pretend that the conflict is resolved in the eyes of the world. This delusion that a deeply unjust agreement can be made by Israel with President Yasser Arafat alone, who is then expected to force his people into accepting it, is profoundly shortsighted and has inevitably led to the critical situation that confronts us now.
Many of us were in the streets over these recent weeks, holding neither guns nor stones. We were holding candles to commemorate the deaths of our students, neighbors and relatives who tried to make the world hear with their lives what we were unable to with our words. The naive and dangerous notion that Palestinians took to the streets following Yasser Arafat's orders is not only an insult to our intelligence but also a clear sign of the lack of understanding of the reality in which we live.
We are deeply concerned that the conflict has, at times, dangerously spiraled, into an ethnic/religious one, as the pogroms against Arab citizens of Nazareth, the lynching of the two Israeli soldiers in Ramallah and the numerous mob attacks on synagogues and mosques have shown. The profoundly irresponsible and self-serving act of the Barak government in allowing Ariel Sharon onto the Haram al Sharif shows not just an alarming lack of judgement, but also a total disregard for Palestinian, Arab and Muslim sensibilities. The use of live ammunition against unarmed Palestinian civilians at demonstrations there the next day and at protests ever since, shows total contempt for Palestinian life.
The stubborn and escalating use of Israel's overwhelming military power in order to crush the current uprising and terrify the Palestinian population into submission shows a dangerous, will- full refusal to address its underlying causes. Military might may be able to subdue the current wave of protest - at the immediate cost of many lives. But in the long run, it cannot stem the will of a people seeking their just and rightful place in the world. It will also condemn us to re-visit the current crisis again and again.
All of us are firm believers in an equitable and just negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians that recognizes the right to self-determination. However we, like our communities, have lost hope in the possibility of resolving the current inequities in the framework of the Oslo agreements and the exclusive American 'brokerage' of the process. We believe that we must find an equitable basis for peace which must necessarily take the following broad principles as a point of departure:
1. Negotiations must be based on the principles that all the lands occupied by Israel in 1967 are, in fact, occupied territories and that peace will be only be achieved by ending the occupation of these territories and thus enabling Palestinians to exercise their right to self-determination and sovereignty.
2. East Jerusalem is part of these Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967. Consequently, a final settlement must include Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem and the commitment to Jerusalem as the recognized capital of two states.
3. Israel's recognition of its responsibility in the creation of the Palestinian refugees in 1948 is a pre-requisite to finding a just and lasting resolution of the refugee problem in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions.
4. Both sides must recognize the spiritual and historical affinities of each other to sites and locations within their own borders and they must affirm and guarantee the access and protection of the other people to these places within their own borders. But in neither case should the existence of such sites be used to advance extra-territorial claims to locations within each other's borders.
We believe that the implementation of these principles will provide for a just and therefore, genuine and lasting peace. The hoped-for co-existence between our two peoples can only become possible if a reconstructed peace settlement is equitable. This requires moral recognition of the historic injustice visited upon Palestinians. Peace and co-existence will not be accomplished by imposing an unjust settlement that goes against the will of the people.
This land is destined to be the home of our two peoples. The need for a solution based on mutual respect and accommodation is dictated not only by the search for security and stability, but also by the quest for freedom and prosperity of future generations. It is our hope that, out of the tragedies of recent weeks, a new and fair vision of peace can emerge between the two peoples.
3. International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
29 November 2000
The situation in the occupied Palestinian territories has deteriorated rapidly over the past 54 days. Israeli forces have escalated and intensified their attacks against Palestinian civilians, infrastructure and the economy, making use of artillery such as tanks, Apache helicopters, missiles and heavy machine guns against Palestinian demonstrators and in populated civilian areas. The use of this weaponry demonstrates that Israel has adopted a military strategy, leading inevitably to more fatalities, serious injuries and destruction of property. The closures and curfews imposed on Palestinian areas are strangling the already weak economy, causing water and food shortages and loss of employment.
The goal of Palestinian demonstrations is to end the Israeli occupation and the illegal establishment and maintenance of Israeli settlements. However, in response to these legitimate demands, the Israeli occupation has acted outside of the permitted legal framework, responding to Palestinian demonstrations with full military force.
Israel continues to ignore United Nations resolutions that call for the end of occupation and the full implementation of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. As long as the international community refuses to take action on behalf of the Palestinians, a just and long lasting peace cannot be established.
It is now time for international activists, religious communities, governmental agencies and non-governmental organisations to demand that strategies for practical solutions for this conflict be initiated to protect the human rights of the Palestinian people. Therefore, in recognition and support of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we urge all human rights activists in the public and private sector to come together on November 29 and demonstrate in solidarity with the Palestinians.
WHAT PROTESTS SHOULD CALL FOR:
* Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1322, adopted 7 October 2000, which condemns acts of violence, especially the excessive use of force against Palestinians, resulting in injury and loss of human life.
* International protection by the United Nations for the Palestinian people in the Occupied Territories.
* Establishment of an independent international team to investigate the initiation of violence and ensuing days of conflict.
* Respect for international humanitarian and human rights law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, as a prerequisite to restoring peace and security in the region.
* Commitment on all sides to a just and lasting peace in the region, which includes an end to the illegal occupation, dismantling of settlements, the right of return for Palestinian refugees and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state according to United Nations Resolution 181.
Friday, November 17
MCC Palestine Update #2
MCC Palestine Update #2
Palestine/Israel continues to be a land starved for justice, peace, and reconciliation. Nearly fifty days of the al-Aqsa Intifada have passed, leaving approximately 200 Palestinians and 20 Israelis dead and around 9000 Palestinians wounded. It is estimated that 1200 of the wounded will be left with permanent disabilities. Statistics, however, do not adequately convey the pervading emotional numbness and wordless sadness that pervade the atmosphere. How to mourn, when funerals become frighteningly routine? How to comfort a family sitting in the ruins of their home, shelled by Israeli rockets?
This update consists of four items. First, news about how the ongoing conflict has effected the work of MCC's partners. Second, a reflection by MCC peace development worker Ed Nyce following a visit to a house in Beit Sahour. Third, a piece by Israeli journalist Amira Hass debunking the notion that Israeli is restraining its military. Finally, a comment by Meron Benvenisti, former Israeli deputy mayor of Jerusalem, on how Israeli settlements in the occupied territories undermine the prospects for lasting peace.
As always, we welcome your feedback concerning these updates.
1. MCC Partner News
The following are but a sample of how the current violence has disrupted MCC's development work.
a. The Marda Permaculture Center southwest of Nablus was vandalized by Israeli settlers. MCC has supported several projects in sustainable, environmentally-friendly agriculture through the center over the past decade. The center lies next to the Ariel block of settlements.
b. Zoughbi Zoughbi, director of the Wi'am Conflict Resolution Center in Bethlehem, was denied a permit to fly from the Tel Aviv airport. Zoughbi had been scheduled to speak at MCC's annual general meetings in Ontario and Saskatchewan this month. MCC has supported the Wi'am Center since 1994; Zoughbi is a prominent advocate of nonviolence and the peaceful resolution of conflict. All of Zoughbi's paperwork was in order, including invitation letters from MCC, a Canadian visitor's visa, and a roundtrip ticket. The Israeli military authorities, however, are refusing to issue airport permits to Palestinians from the occupied territories in an act of collective punishment. MCC then attempted to bring Zougbhi to Canada via Jordan, but since the Israeli authorities are also restricting passage across the bridge between the West Bank and Jordan, this was not possible.
c. The YMCA Rehabilitation Center in Beit Sahour was shelled by Israeli rockets on November 14. MCC began working with the Beit Sahour YMCA in the late 1980s, providing assistance to the YMCA's rehabilitation of persons with disabling injuries related to the intifada. Sadly, with thousands of injuries in the space of less than two months, it appears that long-term rehabilitation of persons with disabilities will continue to be a pressing need.
d. Restriction of movement continues to be a problem for Palestinians working for international development organizations. MCC's economic development officer, for example, lives in Beitunia, next to Ramallah, normally a 20-30 drive from Jerusalem. With the intensified Israeli closure on the occupied territories, however, coupled with a thickened network of roadblocks, the taxi ride from Jerusalem to Beitunia now regularly takes over two hours.
2. Crunch
Ed Nyce, MCC peace development worker
The following is intended to be read slowly, and maybe mumbled aloud; but for sure slowly.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
It's autumn. Back in North America, leaves are falling. Walks in the woods mean the welcome crunch of leaves and twigs underfoot.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
And in some places, there may well be snow. Ahh, the crunch of snow and ice below my boots, hardened by countless tire tracks, or maybe still new.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
This current crunch under my feet will also be unforgettable. I am in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem. I am in someone's home.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
I don't see how they're ever going to get all this glass cleaned up. This glass which used to be a window, a mirror, a goblet.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
From the roof we see the nearby Israeli military camp from which came the rocket, the rocket adorned with writing in the English language, into this Palestinian Christian home.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
It's not only in the parents' bedroom, with the twins' cribs placed end to end by the window, where eluding the glass is impossible.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
But I can't quite leave this room yet to traipse elsewhere. Look at all that glass on the two cribs. The one still sports a small, half-full or half-empty bottle of milk. And lots of glass. They said no
One was hurt; maybe the bottle was left there earlier that day.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch
It is unclear at presstime which baby twin committed an act "deserving" such an attack.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch..
Just to turn and look at the parents' bed, I cannot help but crunch.
Look at all that glass. How are they ever going to get it all cleaned up?
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
The hallway, kind of dark because it is not near a window, crunches. Where did all this glass come from? Pretty powerful, those rockets.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
Some big pieces, some small pieces, some nigh unto invisible pieces; there's no way anyone could ever clean up all this stuff.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
Oh, sure, there's the multiple-wall-penetrating bullets, the sheared blade on the circular saw in the machine shop, the huge holes in the stone walls, the crinkled satellite dish on this or
neighboring buildings.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
And the children who are doubting their parents' ability to protect them from harm.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
But I cannot forget the glass.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
I hope that I shall never forget the crunch of leaves and twigs.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
Nor do I want to forget the crunch of snow and glassy ice.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
I will never forget the crunch of the Beit Sahour glass.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
Crunch, Crunch, Cru
3. A different definition of 'restraint'
Amira Hass
Haaretz, 15 November 2000
Israelis are convinced that the IDF is behaving with restraint toward the Palestinians. The Israeli media's coverage strengthens this belief. The bombing of the casino on Sunday night made headlines on the radio and in the newspapers. A 15- year-old boy, Mohammed Abu Naji, was killed on that same Sunday near the Erez industrial area in the northern Gaza Strip, at
a distance of 100 meters or more from the soldiers' position.
That same Sunday, another Gaza boy died of his wounds, three 15- year-olds were wounded by live bullets at the roadblock which separates the Khan Yunis refugee camp from the settlement of Neve Dekalim, eight funerals took place in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the IDF attacked residential neighborhoods in at least six Palestinian towns, with heavy firing of machine guns and tanks, as it has almost every night these past weeks. At best, there was limited coverage of these events - some Israeli media did not report them at all.Two days ago, when two Israeli Civilians and two soldiers were killed in the territories by Palestinian fire, three Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, and one youth died of his wounds.
Correction: The Israelis were murdered, the Palestinians were killed. Israel considers the murder of its citizens an escalation. Four Palestinians killed is an ordinary occurrence, maybe even a de-escalation. Nobody asks if it is logical that an unarmed 15-year-old was hit in the head by the precise bullet of a trained sniper.
Israel's policy of restraint has led to the following results over the past six weeks, up until yesterday morning: 179 Palestinians have been killed by the IDF, 48 of whom were aged 17 or under. About 8,000 have been injured, including some 1,200 who will be crippled for life. Thousands of people can testify to the efficacy of Israeli ammunition: high-speed bullets which crush bones and internal organs, bullets which split heads open, "rubber" bullets which take out eyes, missiles which destroy buildings, houses which go up in flames from the massive shooting, flare bombs which in the middle of the night light up an entire neighborhood spread out naked under the settlement on the hill above. Thousands of people are leaving their homes at night for fear of the shooting and missile attacks, several hundred have already lost the roof over their heads. Thousands of others live in fear, wondering when it will be their turn.
The policy of hermetic closure suddenly cut off about 110,000 day workers usually employed in Israel from their livelihoods. Because of the loss of their wages, for over a month already, all
regular economic activity has suffered, and the Palestinian economy is also plagued by cumulative damages because of the internal closure in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Regular movement between the towns has been frozen, almost the only business for bus companies is the (free) transportation of mourners to the daily funerals, olives are turning black on the trees because the owners of the groves are confined in their villages, thousands of fruit and olive trees have been uprooted in recent weeks so that the IDF could improve its firing and
observation positions, the old city of Hebron and its 40,000 Palestinian inhabitants are under curfew.
It is true that the IDF has much heavier weapons in its arsenal, that the government has not unleashed the full power of the armed forces, even though the settlers and some army officials
are demanding that it be used. But by any normal human standard, the correct assessment of the situation is that about three million Palestinians are living in the shadow of death, increasing economic hardship and the disruption of all the ordinary routines of life. From their point of view, not only is there no "restraint," but since the first day of clashes, Israelis have completely disregarded the political messages of the uprising, and the military response, which includes live weapons, an escalation in their use, and an economic siege, is many times greater than the Palestinian ability to inflict damage.
Let us leave aside the question of the morality of the Israeli reaction. Before it's too late - and maybe it's already too late – we have to ask the question asked by one of the senior Fatah
officials, "Don't they understand in Israel that they are turning us into Hezbollah?
4. Weaving the circle of folly
Meron Benvenisti
Haaretz, 16 November 2000
The colorful concrete blocks dispersed throughout the West Bank in the past two days are much more than a temporary means to enforce an "encirclement" and prevent vehicles moving outside the enclaves the Palestinian Authority rules. They will prove ineffective for this purpose.The blocks actually are symbols of an intention to expropriate the physical space of the West Bank and its public infrastructure, and to transfer them to the exclusive use of Jews.
As to encirclement, nobody can beat the talent of the besieged residents for improvisation, nor top their knowledge of the area. The chief of staff already has had to apologize for not halting
All movement of Palestinians in the West Bank. The blocks were not meant to be simply a security measure - whoever decided to deploy them knows they are of little practical use. The
"encirclement" is also more than collective punishment – it declares that only vehicles bearing yellow [Israeli] license plates are allowed to move.
Any other vehicle moving on West Bank roads is considered a terrorist suspect and must be handled by the army, or by the settlers who are angry over the use of "their" roads. A crucial
element in the security officials' decision ("with political establishment approval") was the need to appease the anger of settlers after the serious incidents in which three Israelis were killed on the roads of the West Bank. It is a response to their demand to "let the IDF win" - or else they would take action themselves.
Since the start of the Al Aqsa Intifada the lives of the settlers have been completely disrupted. Their classic Zionist delusion - "a land without people for a people without a land" - was shattered. The same Palestinian people threatened to turn their settlements into besieged enclaves.
In the past, they tried to preserve their illusions with bypass roads connecting Jewish settlements on which they could travel without being aware of any Palestinian presence. The most pathetic monument to the delusion, the "tunnel road," which was paved above and below the Palestinians, is now closed most of the time.
With their absurdity now exposed they want "not to see" the Palestinians, by having them caged in enclaves while the physical space remains in Jewish hands. Then they can continue their normal routine - "evening classes, visits to friends, entertainment, films, and so on," as the newspapers quoted them. Now it has become clear to everyone who saw the "settlement project" as a mere collection of settlements that actually it is a domination of the entire space.
The demographic facts on the ground were only the tip of an iceberg of a complex system of roads, gas stations, infrastructure, army camps, holy sites, nature reserves, appropriated state
lands, security requirements and the activity of the "civil administration." Together these elements established permanent Israeli domination of the West Bank.
Now that the Palestinians are rising up against the expropriation of their space, the Israeli government is try to regain control by "encirclement." This legitimizes a "normal routine" for 10
Percent of West Bank residents (Jews) at the expense of a living hell for the other 90 percent (Palestinians).
As for those who object to the use of moral standards to judge "security" decisions - let them note that the "normal routine" of 500 Hebron settlers requires putting 40,000 Palestinians under curfew. This is considered reasonable - "dictated by necessity" -because Palestinians "brought it upon themselves," as they did the "encirclement." Among the slogans bandied about these days we hear "the ideology of Greater Israel has disappeared" and "the present violence has no military solution, only a political one."
The colored blocks expose the hypocrisy of both slogans. The expropriation of the physical space they symbolize is proof that a Greater Israel ideology has not vanished, even if it has become "refined" by creating Indian reservations.
The "military" decision to enclave Palestinians proves that the distinction between a military and a political solution is artificial.
A political solution means the Palestinians will give in to military pressure and agree to the expropriation of the physical space -since it already has been "proved" that any area given over to them becomes a terrorist base.
Under these circumstances, there is neither a military nor a political solution. The cement blocks will become tombstones on the route of the march of folly [ End of Original Text ]
Palestine/Israel continues to be a land starved for justice, peace, and reconciliation. Nearly fifty days of the al-Aqsa Intifada have passed, leaving approximately 200 Palestinians and 20 Israelis dead and around 9000 Palestinians wounded. It is estimated that 1200 of the wounded will be left with permanent disabilities. Statistics, however, do not adequately convey the pervading emotional numbness and wordless sadness that pervade the atmosphere. How to mourn, when funerals become frighteningly routine? How to comfort a family sitting in the ruins of their home, shelled by Israeli rockets?
This update consists of four items. First, news about how the ongoing conflict has effected the work of MCC's partners. Second, a reflection by MCC peace development worker Ed Nyce following a visit to a house in Beit Sahour. Third, a piece by Israeli journalist Amira Hass debunking the notion that Israeli is restraining its military. Finally, a comment by Meron Benvenisti, former Israeli deputy mayor of Jerusalem, on how Israeli settlements in the occupied territories undermine the prospects for lasting peace.
As always, we welcome your feedback concerning these updates.
1. MCC Partner News
The following are but a sample of how the current violence has disrupted MCC's development work.
a. The Marda Permaculture Center southwest of Nablus was vandalized by Israeli settlers. MCC has supported several projects in sustainable, environmentally-friendly agriculture through the center over the past decade. The center lies next to the Ariel block of settlements.
b. Zoughbi Zoughbi, director of the Wi'am Conflict Resolution Center in Bethlehem, was denied a permit to fly from the Tel Aviv airport. Zoughbi had been scheduled to speak at MCC's annual general meetings in Ontario and Saskatchewan this month. MCC has supported the Wi'am Center since 1994; Zoughbi is a prominent advocate of nonviolence and the peaceful resolution of conflict. All of Zoughbi's paperwork was in order, including invitation letters from MCC, a Canadian visitor's visa, and a roundtrip ticket. The Israeli military authorities, however, are refusing to issue airport permits to Palestinians from the occupied territories in an act of collective punishment. MCC then attempted to bring Zougbhi to Canada via Jordan, but since the Israeli authorities are also restricting passage across the bridge between the West Bank and Jordan, this was not possible.
c. The YMCA Rehabilitation Center in Beit Sahour was shelled by Israeli rockets on November 14. MCC began working with the Beit Sahour YMCA in the late 1980s, providing assistance to the YMCA's rehabilitation of persons with disabling injuries related to the intifada. Sadly, with thousands of injuries in the space of less than two months, it appears that long-term rehabilitation of persons with disabilities will continue to be a pressing need.
d. Restriction of movement continues to be a problem for Palestinians working for international development organizations. MCC's economic development officer, for example, lives in Beitunia, next to Ramallah, normally a 20-30 drive from Jerusalem. With the intensified Israeli closure on the occupied territories, however, coupled with a thickened network of roadblocks, the taxi ride from Jerusalem to Beitunia now regularly takes over two hours.
2. Crunch
Ed Nyce, MCC peace development worker
The following is intended to be read slowly, and maybe mumbled aloud; but for sure slowly.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
It's autumn. Back in North America, leaves are falling. Walks in the woods mean the welcome crunch of leaves and twigs underfoot.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
And in some places, there may well be snow. Ahh, the crunch of snow and ice below my boots, hardened by countless tire tracks, or maybe still new.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
This current crunch under my feet will also be unforgettable. I am in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem. I am in someone's home.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
I don't see how they're ever going to get all this glass cleaned up. This glass which used to be a window, a mirror, a goblet.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
From the roof we see the nearby Israeli military camp from which came the rocket, the rocket adorned with writing in the English language, into this Palestinian Christian home.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
It's not only in the parents' bedroom, with the twins' cribs placed end to end by the window, where eluding the glass is impossible.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
But I can't quite leave this room yet to traipse elsewhere. Look at all that glass on the two cribs. The one still sports a small, half-full or half-empty bottle of milk. And lots of glass. They said no
One was hurt; maybe the bottle was left there earlier that day.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch
It is unclear at presstime which baby twin committed an act "deserving" such an attack.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch..
Just to turn and look at the parents' bed, I cannot help but crunch.
Look at all that glass. How are they ever going to get it all cleaned up?
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
The hallway, kind of dark because it is not near a window, crunches. Where did all this glass come from? Pretty powerful, those rockets.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
Some big pieces, some small pieces, some nigh unto invisible pieces; there's no way anyone could ever clean up all this stuff.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
Oh, sure, there's the multiple-wall-penetrating bullets, the sheared blade on the circular saw in the machine shop, the huge holes in the stone walls, the crinkled satellite dish on this or
neighboring buildings.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
And the children who are doubting their parents' ability to protect them from harm.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
But I cannot forget the glass.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
I hope that I shall never forget the crunch of leaves and twigs.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
Nor do I want to forget the crunch of snow and glassy ice.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
I will never forget the crunch of the Beit Sahour glass.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
Crunch, Crunch, Cru
3. A different definition of 'restraint'
Amira Hass
Haaretz, 15 November 2000
Israelis are convinced that the IDF is behaving with restraint toward the Palestinians. The Israeli media's coverage strengthens this belief. The bombing of the casino on Sunday night made headlines on the radio and in the newspapers. A 15- year-old boy, Mohammed Abu Naji, was killed on that same Sunday near the Erez industrial area in the northern Gaza Strip, at
a distance of 100 meters or more from the soldiers' position.
That same Sunday, another Gaza boy died of his wounds, three 15- year-olds were wounded by live bullets at the roadblock which separates the Khan Yunis refugee camp from the settlement of Neve Dekalim, eight funerals took place in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the IDF attacked residential neighborhoods in at least six Palestinian towns, with heavy firing of machine guns and tanks, as it has almost every night these past weeks. At best, there was limited coverage of these events - some Israeli media did not report them at all.Two days ago, when two Israeli Civilians and two soldiers were killed in the territories by Palestinian fire, three Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, and one youth died of his wounds.
Correction: The Israelis were murdered, the Palestinians were killed. Israel considers the murder of its citizens an escalation. Four Palestinians killed is an ordinary occurrence, maybe even a de-escalation. Nobody asks if it is logical that an unarmed 15-year-old was hit in the head by the precise bullet of a trained sniper.
Israel's policy of restraint has led to the following results over the past six weeks, up until yesterday morning: 179 Palestinians have been killed by the IDF, 48 of whom were aged 17 or under. About 8,000 have been injured, including some 1,200 who will be crippled for life. Thousands of people can testify to the efficacy of Israeli ammunition: high-speed bullets which crush bones and internal organs, bullets which split heads open, "rubber" bullets which take out eyes, missiles which destroy buildings, houses which go up in flames from the massive shooting, flare bombs which in the middle of the night light up an entire neighborhood spread out naked under the settlement on the hill above. Thousands of people are leaving their homes at night for fear of the shooting and missile attacks, several hundred have already lost the roof over their heads. Thousands of others live in fear, wondering when it will be their turn.
The policy of hermetic closure suddenly cut off about 110,000 day workers usually employed in Israel from their livelihoods. Because of the loss of their wages, for over a month already, all
regular economic activity has suffered, and the Palestinian economy is also plagued by cumulative damages because of the internal closure in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Regular movement between the towns has been frozen, almost the only business for bus companies is the (free) transportation of mourners to the daily funerals, olives are turning black on the trees because the owners of the groves are confined in their villages, thousands of fruit and olive trees have been uprooted in recent weeks so that the IDF could improve its firing and
observation positions, the old city of Hebron and its 40,000 Palestinian inhabitants are under curfew.
It is true that the IDF has much heavier weapons in its arsenal, that the government has not unleashed the full power of the armed forces, even though the settlers and some army officials
are demanding that it be used. But by any normal human standard, the correct assessment of the situation is that about three million Palestinians are living in the shadow of death, increasing economic hardship and the disruption of all the ordinary routines of life. From their point of view, not only is there no "restraint," but since the first day of clashes, Israelis have completely disregarded the political messages of the uprising, and the military response, which includes live weapons, an escalation in their use, and an economic siege, is many times greater than the Palestinian ability to inflict damage.
Let us leave aside the question of the morality of the Israeli reaction. Before it's too late - and maybe it's already too late – we have to ask the question asked by one of the senior Fatah
officials, "Don't they understand in Israel that they are turning us into Hezbollah?
4. Weaving the circle of folly
Meron Benvenisti
Haaretz, 16 November 2000
The colorful concrete blocks dispersed throughout the West Bank in the past two days are much more than a temporary means to enforce an "encirclement" and prevent vehicles moving outside the enclaves the Palestinian Authority rules. They will prove ineffective for this purpose.The blocks actually are symbols of an intention to expropriate the physical space of the West Bank and its public infrastructure, and to transfer them to the exclusive use of Jews.
As to encirclement, nobody can beat the talent of the besieged residents for improvisation, nor top their knowledge of the area. The chief of staff already has had to apologize for not halting
All movement of Palestinians in the West Bank. The blocks were not meant to be simply a security measure - whoever decided to deploy them knows they are of little practical use. The
"encirclement" is also more than collective punishment – it declares that only vehicles bearing yellow [Israeli] license plates are allowed to move.
Any other vehicle moving on West Bank roads is considered a terrorist suspect and must be handled by the army, or by the settlers who are angry over the use of "their" roads. A crucial
element in the security officials' decision ("with political establishment approval") was the need to appease the anger of settlers after the serious incidents in which three Israelis were killed on the roads of the West Bank. It is a response to their demand to "let the IDF win" - or else they would take action themselves.
Since the start of the Al Aqsa Intifada the lives of the settlers have been completely disrupted. Their classic Zionist delusion - "a land without people for a people without a land" - was shattered. The same Palestinian people threatened to turn their settlements into besieged enclaves.
In the past, they tried to preserve their illusions with bypass roads connecting Jewish settlements on which they could travel without being aware of any Palestinian presence. The most pathetic monument to the delusion, the "tunnel road," which was paved above and below the Palestinians, is now closed most of the time.
With their absurdity now exposed they want "not to see" the Palestinians, by having them caged in enclaves while the physical space remains in Jewish hands. Then they can continue their normal routine - "evening classes, visits to friends, entertainment, films, and so on," as the newspapers quoted them. Now it has become clear to everyone who saw the "settlement project" as a mere collection of settlements that actually it is a domination of the entire space.
The demographic facts on the ground were only the tip of an iceberg of a complex system of roads, gas stations, infrastructure, army camps, holy sites, nature reserves, appropriated state
lands, security requirements and the activity of the "civil administration." Together these elements established permanent Israeli domination of the West Bank.
Now that the Palestinians are rising up against the expropriation of their space, the Israeli government is try to regain control by "encirclement." This legitimizes a "normal routine" for 10
Percent of West Bank residents (Jews) at the expense of a living hell for the other 90 percent (Palestinians).
As for those who object to the use of moral standards to judge "security" decisions - let them note that the "normal routine" of 500 Hebron settlers requires putting 40,000 Palestinians under curfew. This is considered reasonable - "dictated by necessity" -because Palestinians "brought it upon themselves," as they did the "encirclement." Among the slogans bandied about these days we hear "the ideology of Greater Israel has disappeared" and "the present violence has no military solution, only a political one."
The colored blocks expose the hypocrisy of both slogans. The expropriation of the physical space they symbolize is proof that a Greater Israel ideology has not vanished, even if it has become "refined" by creating Indian reservations.
The "military" decision to enclave Palestinians proves that the distinction between a military and a political solution is artificial.
A political solution means the Palestinians will give in to military pressure and agree to the expropriation of the physical space -since it already has been "proved" that any area given over to them becomes a terrorist base.
Under these circumstances, there is neither a military nor a political solution. The cement blocks will become tombstones on the route of the march of folly [ End of Original Text ]
Thursday, November 2
MCC Palestine Update #1
MCC Palestine Update #1
2 November 2000
Two times over the past month, MCC Palestine has posted prayer requests and advocacy suggestions over Menno Link. We plan to continue to do this on a semi-regular basis if and as the violence of the occupation continues.
In addition to these worship resources and advocacy suggestions, we now plan to send out semi-regular updates on MCC's work in Palestine along with selected articles on the situation. With the coming of age of the internet, there are many distribution lists which pass around quality sources of alternative views and information on the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. While we do not want to inundate anyone with excessive e-mail, we thought that some of the best pieces we receive over the internet might be of interest to the people on this list.
Enough introduction. This first update includes three items. The first is a brief account of how the economic siege imposed by the Israeli government on the occupied territories is effecting
MCC's Palestinian development partners. The second is an article by Amira Hass, correspondent in the occupied territories for the Israeli daily Haaretz. [Hass is also the author of an outstanding book, Drinking the Sea at Gaza, Henry Holt, 1999.] The third is an article by George Abu Zulof, director of Defense of Children International/Palestine Section, addressing the pernicious lie that Palestinians are sending their children as soldiers out to fight the Israelis.
1. MCC Update
The work of MCC's Palestinian development partners has been severely disrupted by the economic siege imposed by Israel on the occupied territories. By setting up an extensive network of roadblocks and checkpoints throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Israel places severe restrictions on Palestinian movement and the free flow of goods. The following are but some of the ways that the economic siege has hindered sustainable development in Palestine:
a. The al-Mustaqbal Society for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. has been working to establish a bamboo furniture workshop to provide income for economically disadvantaged Palestinians with visual disabilities. This fall, MCC gave al-Mustaqbal a $15,000 grant to help purchase equipment needed for the workshop. However, because Israel exercises a stranglehold on the entry of goods into the Gaza Strip, al-Mustaqbal has been unable to import the necessary equipment.
b. MCC routinely facilitates the export of olive wood carvings from Beit Sahour and Palestinian needlework from the Hebron area to Ten Thousand Villages fair trade shops in North America.
Currently, a shipment of 16 cartons, weighing 400 kilograms, is being held up at the Ben Gurion airport, as Israel is preventing the export of all products from the occupied territories. This shipment was ready to go out October 15. Many Palestinian Christians in Beit Sahour work as olive wood artisans and are dependent on the income from these carvings. Beit Sahour, it should be noted, has been repeatedly bombed by Israel over the past two weeks.
The daughter of one of Ten Thousand Village's Palestinian producers had her home riddled with Israeli bullets; the home of the sister of another artisan was shelled.
c. Together with the Palestinian Center for Helping Resolve Community Disputes in Gaza, MCC has been sponsoring a teen parliament to empower teenagers trained in conflict resolution to brainstorm how their skills might be used for the benefit of Palestinian society. Many parents of the teenagers, however, are not allowing their children to participate in the parliament, wanting to keep them home as much as possible as they fear for their children's safety when they are out.
d. Trainers with women's development program of the YMCA in Ramallah have been unable to get to villages in the West Bank where they offer training courses in animal husbandry and financial administration for underprivileged women. MCC contributes to a revolving loan fund operated by the YMCA for which promising trainees are eligible.
e. The Hope School in Beit Jala, formerly the Mennonite Secondary School, operates a chicken farm to help cover the costs of running the school. Workers at the school have had repeated difficulty in taking eggs from the farm to market, since the school is in Israeli-controlled Area C, while most of the buyers are in Area A, under Palestinian autonomous control.
The list could go on, as the economic siege and the military campaign against Palestinians in the occupied territories has disrupted all aspects of MCC's work. Future updates will highlight the status of other projects.
2. The Mirror Does Not Lie
Amira Hass
Haaretz, 1 November 2000
How perfectly natural that 40,000 persons should be subject to a total curfew for more than a month in the Old City of Hebron in order to protect the lives and well-being of 500 Jews. How perfectly natural that almost no Israeli mentions this fact or, for that matter, even knows about it. How perfectly natural that 34 schools attended by thousands of Palestinian children should be closed down for more than a month and their pupils imprisoned and suffocating day and night in their crowded homes, while the children of their neighbors - their Jewish neighbors, that is - are free to frolic as usual in the street among and with the Israeli soldiers stationed there.How perfectly natural that a Palestinian mother must beg and plead so that an Israeli soldier will allow her to sneak through the alleyways of the open-stall marketplace and obtain medication for her asthmatic children, or bread for her family. (Sometimes Israeli soldiers do have the guts to disobey orders, although, generally speaking, when encountering such situations, they order the woman to return to her home.)How perfectly understandable that the Israel Defense Forces is seizing control of an ever-increasing number of rooftops atop the homes of Palestinians in the Old City of Hebron and that Israeli soldiers positioned on those rooftops from time to time open fire on other Palestinians, while, down below, at street level, the Jewish settlers are free to show over and over again - at the expense of the windshields, windows and tires of the parked cars of Palestinians - who's really the boss. How perfectly natural that a Muslim house of prayer like the Ibrahim mosque should be shut down and declared "off limits" to thousands of Muslim worshipers.The ease with which a curfew has now been imposed on Hebron and the perception of that curfew as a completely natural occurrence are not the products of the past few weeks. (Incidentally, the residents of the village of Hawara, in whose vicinity and on whose lands the Jewish settlement of Yitzhar was built, have also been placed under curfew; their curfew was imposed more than three weeks ago.)After the massacre carried out by Baruch Goldstein in the Ibrahim mosque, also known as the Tomb of the Patriarchs, the ones who were punished were the Palestinians, with the punishment taking the form of curfews, closures, "disengagement," the shutting-down of entire streets and the continual, hostile supervision by Israeli soldiers and police officers. And there was an additional punishment that was meted out to the Palestinians: economic disaster.However, Hebron is only a microcosm, an illustration of the general picture. The protracted curfew imposed on Hebron and the way that this curfew has been accepted in Israeli eyes as such a natural event convey, in a nutshell, both the entire story of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land in general and the essence of the kind of Israeli thinking that has developed in the shadow of obvious military superiority. The curfew in Hebron and the ease with which it has been imposed only illustrate the entire story of discrimination and uprooting that the Palestinians have suffered at the hands of the Israelis - a never-ending story that unfolded as far back as the Oslo era and the period of the so-called "peace process."Jews live in Hebron today either because of "ancestral rights" or because they can show proof of Jewish ownership of a given property in the not-too-distant past. It is so perfectly natural that Jews should be able to live wherever they want in the Land of Israel - on both sides of the Green Line. It is so perfectly natural that a Jew who was born in Tel Aviv should be able to move to Hebron or to Yitzhar. And it is so perfectly natural that Palestinians cannot enjoy that right and cannot move to Tel Aviv or to Haifa - even if their families own lands and houses there.It is so perfectly natural that, to this very day, Israel is developing and expanding the Jewish community in Hebron, just as Israel is developing all the Jewish settlements in the territories. And it is so perfectly natural that, to this very day, the Palestinians must deal with various limitations imposed on any planned development for their own communities, because most of the lands on the West Bank - which is their primary land reserve - are under Israeli administrative control. No, the Palestinians do not need the kind of legroom that Israelis do.It is so perfectly natural that Palestinians have to obtain a travel permit from the Israeli authorities (only a minority of the applicants are granted the permit) in order to enter East Jerusalem or the Gaza Strip, within the context of Israel's closure policy, which was launched in 1991 and which continues until this very day. On the other hand, Jews are free to travel from the West Bank to Israel and back, using well-built highways that have been constructed on lands that have been expropriated from Palestinian villages.During the summers in Hebron, sometimes days, even weeks go by without running water in the faucets of Palestinian homes. On the other hand, the Jewish neighbors of Palestinian Hebronites - in the Old City of Hebron or in the nearby Jewish quarter of Kiryat Arba - experience no problems or shortages as far as their water supply is concerned.The same situation prevails in many Palestinian communities throughout the West Bank: Whereas the Palestinians have no water, the residents of the Jewish settlements enjoy green lawns. The reason is that Israel has, in effect, imposed a quota on the water that the Palestinians are allowed to consume - that is, on the right to use water resources that are supposed to be jointly accessible for both Israelis and Palestinians in the single land they share.This is a tale that must be recounted over and over again - almost to the point of exhaustion - because it depicts a situation that is so self-understood in the eyes of Israelis that they cannot even see that there is any problem whatsoever. How perfectly easy to regard the Palestinians as a violent and cruel people and to ignore the cruelty that has accumulated day after day for 33 long years and which has been directed during that long period toward an entire community. This is the kind of cruelty that is characteristic of every occupation regime. This is a cruelty that intensified during the Oslo years because of the gap between the fine talk about a "peace process" and the reality.The curfew in Hebron and the fact that this curfew is regarded as a completely natural phenomenon in the eyes of Israeli society reflects the twisted sort of thinking that developed in the minds of Israelis during the Oslo years. According to this warped thinking, the Palestinians would accept a situation of coexistence in which they were on an unequal footing vis-a-vis the Israelis and in which they were ranked as persons who were entitled to less, much less, than the Jews. However, in the end, the Palestinians were not willing to live with this arrangement.The new Intifada, which displays the characteristics of both a popular uprising and a quasi-military one, is a final attempt to thrust a mirror in the face of Israelis and to tell them: "Take a good look at yourselves and see how racist you have become."
3. Children Not Put on the Frontline
George Abu Al-Zulof
Jerusalem Post, 1 November 2000
Do Palestinians send their children to die? No, says George Abu Al-Zulof, Director of Defence for Children International/Palestine Section.
The question of whether or not Palestinian parents send their children to die at the hands of Israeli military forces is one that is receiving increasing attention in the international community.
From articles published in The Jerusalem Post, to the discourse surrounding comments made by Queen Sylvia of Sweden, the theory offered is that Palestinian adults use children as human
shields in confrontations with Israeli military forces.
The fact that the international community is entertaining the issue is disturbing, given its attempt to de-humanize the Palestinian people and divert attention away from the roots of the problem--ongoing and systematic abuses of Palestinian human rights, resulting from the 33 year long Israeli military occupation.
The issue highlights Israel's non-compliance with the obligations it willingly assumed as a party to the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Not only has Israel failed to implement the CRC in the occupied territories, it has failed to submit the required report to the UN.
The notion that Palestinian parents send their children to die is the latest reincarnation of a well-known scapegoating strategy known as "blaming the victim." It is used to shift attention from the real causes of a particular issue or act and direct animosity or suspicion toward the victim, thereby justifying or excusing the violation.
Similar to the rape victim who was wearing a short skirt, or the battered wife who "drove" her spouse to physical abuse, Palestinian adults are blamed for the death and injury of their children. Palestinian parents are accused of placing their children in dangerous situations, the implication being that Palestinian parents do not value the lives of their children in the same way that other parents do.
Such an approach is racist and tends to draw attention from why these children are being killed and wounded. Attention is thus turned towards the parents, and the Israeli soldier who points his weapon and fires at the child, along with the Israeli government that sanctions such actions, escapes all accountability. The end result is that Palestinians are blamed for their own victimization.
SUCH a simplistic and twisted logic provides an easy and palatable explanation for those children who died during demonstrations, but fails to explain the deaths of children who died as they were walking to school or who were seeking medical attention? Are the parents of 12-year-old Samer Tabanja, who was killed by a Israeli helicopter gunship in his backyard on October 1, responsible for his death because he was allowed to play outside that day? Are the parents of 14-year-old Mo'ayyad Al-Jowareesh responsible for his death because they allowed him to walk to school on October 16? Moreover, are the parents of 10-year-old Alaa Hamdan, who died of a severe lung infection on October 13, responsible because Israeli soldiers refused to allow them to take her to the hospital?
Moreover, such logic fails to answer why the overwhelming majority of Palestinian children who died had been hit in the upper body with Israeli ammunition. Are we to believe that Israeli soldiers are such poor marksmen, that they are firing without caution, or that they are implementing a policy of shoot to kill or seriously injure? 43 dead children in one month suggest the latter.
Shifting the blame to Palestinian adults also allows for the downplaying of other violations of children's rights, which are a result of the ongoing Israeli presence in the occupied territories.
Thousands of Palestinian children suffer as a direct result of Israeli military attacks on their cities and towns. Others are virtual prisoners in their homes, due to a curfew in the area of Hebron.
Over 30 Palestinian schools have been closed, and three have been transformed into Israeli military installations, effectively depriving Palestinian children of their right to education. Approximately 13,000 Palestinian students and 500 teachers are unable to reach school because of the closure imposed on Palestinian areas.
IN CONCLUSION, it is worth noting that official statements from the Swedish Consul General in Jerusalem indicate that some press reports concerning Queen Silvia's remarks were inaccurate. Moreover, the Consul General reminded concerned parties of the statement of the Swedish Foreign Minister of Affairs, which noted that "the extreme violence used by the Israeli side goes far beyond the bounds of what is acceptable."
It is indeed regrettable that any child is forced to live in violent circumstances, but the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip have made this a fact of life for approximately 1.5 million Palestinian children.
Parents do not send their children to confront soldiers. Such contacts s unavoidable due to a military presence in front of schools, homes and community centers throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As long as this continues, both children and adults will continue to be at risk.
Defence for Children International/Palestine Section is an independent, Palestinian non-governmental organization, established in 1992 to promote and protect the rights of Palestinian children as articulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as in other international instruments.
2 November 2000
Two times over the past month, MCC Palestine has posted prayer requests and advocacy suggestions over Menno Link. We plan to continue to do this on a semi-regular basis if and as the violence of the occupation continues.
In addition to these worship resources and advocacy suggestions, we now plan to send out semi-regular updates on MCC's work in Palestine along with selected articles on the situation. With the coming of age of the internet, there are many distribution lists which pass around quality sources of alternative views and information on the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. While we do not want to inundate anyone with excessive e-mail, we thought that some of the best pieces we receive over the internet might be of interest to the people on this list.
Enough introduction. This first update includes three items. The first is a brief account of how the economic siege imposed by the Israeli government on the occupied territories is effecting
MCC's Palestinian development partners. The second is an article by Amira Hass, correspondent in the occupied territories for the Israeli daily Haaretz. [Hass is also the author of an outstanding book, Drinking the Sea at Gaza, Henry Holt, 1999.] The third is an article by George Abu Zulof, director of Defense of Children International/Palestine Section, addressing the pernicious lie that Palestinians are sending their children as soldiers out to fight the Israelis.
1. MCC Update
The work of MCC's Palestinian development partners has been severely disrupted by the economic siege imposed by Israel on the occupied territories. By setting up an extensive network of roadblocks and checkpoints throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Israel places severe restrictions on Palestinian movement and the free flow of goods. The following are but some of the ways that the economic siege has hindered sustainable development in Palestine:
a. The al-Mustaqbal Society for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. has been working to establish a bamboo furniture workshop to provide income for economically disadvantaged Palestinians with visual disabilities. This fall, MCC gave al-Mustaqbal a $15,000 grant to help purchase equipment needed for the workshop. However, because Israel exercises a stranglehold on the entry of goods into the Gaza Strip, al-Mustaqbal has been unable to import the necessary equipment.
b. MCC routinely facilitates the export of olive wood carvings from Beit Sahour and Palestinian needlework from the Hebron area to Ten Thousand Villages fair trade shops in North America.
Currently, a shipment of 16 cartons, weighing 400 kilograms, is being held up at the Ben Gurion airport, as Israel is preventing the export of all products from the occupied territories. This shipment was ready to go out October 15. Many Palestinian Christians in Beit Sahour work as olive wood artisans and are dependent on the income from these carvings. Beit Sahour, it should be noted, has been repeatedly bombed by Israel over the past two weeks.
The daughter of one of Ten Thousand Village's Palestinian producers had her home riddled with Israeli bullets; the home of the sister of another artisan was shelled.
c. Together with the Palestinian Center for Helping Resolve Community Disputes in Gaza, MCC has been sponsoring a teen parliament to empower teenagers trained in conflict resolution to brainstorm how their skills might be used for the benefit of Palestinian society. Many parents of the teenagers, however, are not allowing their children to participate in the parliament, wanting to keep them home as much as possible as they fear for their children's safety when they are out.
d. Trainers with women's development program of the YMCA in Ramallah have been unable to get to villages in the West Bank where they offer training courses in animal husbandry and financial administration for underprivileged women. MCC contributes to a revolving loan fund operated by the YMCA for which promising trainees are eligible.
e. The Hope School in Beit Jala, formerly the Mennonite Secondary School, operates a chicken farm to help cover the costs of running the school. Workers at the school have had repeated difficulty in taking eggs from the farm to market, since the school is in Israeli-controlled Area C, while most of the buyers are in Area A, under Palestinian autonomous control.
The list could go on, as the economic siege and the military campaign against Palestinians in the occupied territories has disrupted all aspects of MCC's work. Future updates will highlight the status of other projects.
2. The Mirror Does Not Lie
Amira Hass
Haaretz, 1 November 2000
How perfectly natural that 40,000 persons should be subject to a total curfew for more than a month in the Old City of Hebron in order to protect the lives and well-being of 500 Jews. How perfectly natural that almost no Israeli mentions this fact or, for that matter, even knows about it. How perfectly natural that 34 schools attended by thousands of Palestinian children should be closed down for more than a month and their pupils imprisoned and suffocating day and night in their crowded homes, while the children of their neighbors - their Jewish neighbors, that is - are free to frolic as usual in the street among and with the Israeli soldiers stationed there.How perfectly natural that a Palestinian mother must beg and plead so that an Israeli soldier will allow her to sneak through the alleyways of the open-stall marketplace and obtain medication for her asthmatic children, or bread for her family. (Sometimes Israeli soldiers do have the guts to disobey orders, although, generally speaking, when encountering such situations, they order the woman to return to her home.)How perfectly understandable that the Israel Defense Forces is seizing control of an ever-increasing number of rooftops atop the homes of Palestinians in the Old City of Hebron and that Israeli soldiers positioned on those rooftops from time to time open fire on other Palestinians, while, down below, at street level, the Jewish settlers are free to show over and over again - at the expense of the windshields, windows and tires of the parked cars of Palestinians - who's really the boss. How perfectly natural that a Muslim house of prayer like the Ibrahim mosque should be shut down and declared "off limits" to thousands of Muslim worshipers.The ease with which a curfew has now been imposed on Hebron and the perception of that curfew as a completely natural occurrence are not the products of the past few weeks. (Incidentally, the residents of the village of Hawara, in whose vicinity and on whose lands the Jewish settlement of Yitzhar was built, have also been placed under curfew; their curfew was imposed more than three weeks ago.)After the massacre carried out by Baruch Goldstein in the Ibrahim mosque, also known as the Tomb of the Patriarchs, the ones who were punished were the Palestinians, with the punishment taking the form of curfews, closures, "disengagement," the shutting-down of entire streets and the continual, hostile supervision by Israeli soldiers and police officers. And there was an additional punishment that was meted out to the Palestinians: economic disaster.However, Hebron is only a microcosm, an illustration of the general picture. The protracted curfew imposed on Hebron and the way that this curfew has been accepted in Israeli eyes as such a natural event convey, in a nutshell, both the entire story of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land in general and the essence of the kind of Israeli thinking that has developed in the shadow of obvious military superiority. The curfew in Hebron and the ease with which it has been imposed only illustrate the entire story of discrimination and uprooting that the Palestinians have suffered at the hands of the Israelis - a never-ending story that unfolded as far back as the Oslo era and the period of the so-called "peace process."Jews live in Hebron today either because of "ancestral rights" or because they can show proof of Jewish ownership of a given property in the not-too-distant past. It is so perfectly natural that Jews should be able to live wherever they want in the Land of Israel - on both sides of the Green Line. It is so perfectly natural that a Jew who was born in Tel Aviv should be able to move to Hebron or to Yitzhar. And it is so perfectly natural that Palestinians cannot enjoy that right and cannot move to Tel Aviv or to Haifa - even if their families own lands and houses there.It is so perfectly natural that, to this very day, Israel is developing and expanding the Jewish community in Hebron, just as Israel is developing all the Jewish settlements in the territories. And it is so perfectly natural that, to this very day, the Palestinians must deal with various limitations imposed on any planned development for their own communities, because most of the lands on the West Bank - which is their primary land reserve - are under Israeli administrative control. No, the Palestinians do not need the kind of legroom that Israelis do.It is so perfectly natural that Palestinians have to obtain a travel permit from the Israeli authorities (only a minority of the applicants are granted the permit) in order to enter East Jerusalem or the Gaza Strip, within the context of Israel's closure policy, which was launched in 1991 and which continues until this very day. On the other hand, Jews are free to travel from the West Bank to Israel and back, using well-built highways that have been constructed on lands that have been expropriated from Palestinian villages.During the summers in Hebron, sometimes days, even weeks go by without running water in the faucets of Palestinian homes. On the other hand, the Jewish neighbors of Palestinian Hebronites - in the Old City of Hebron or in the nearby Jewish quarter of Kiryat Arba - experience no problems or shortages as far as their water supply is concerned.The same situation prevails in many Palestinian communities throughout the West Bank: Whereas the Palestinians have no water, the residents of the Jewish settlements enjoy green lawns. The reason is that Israel has, in effect, imposed a quota on the water that the Palestinians are allowed to consume - that is, on the right to use water resources that are supposed to be jointly accessible for both Israelis and Palestinians in the single land they share.This is a tale that must be recounted over and over again - almost to the point of exhaustion - because it depicts a situation that is so self-understood in the eyes of Israelis that they cannot even see that there is any problem whatsoever. How perfectly easy to regard the Palestinians as a violent and cruel people and to ignore the cruelty that has accumulated day after day for 33 long years and which has been directed during that long period toward an entire community. This is the kind of cruelty that is characteristic of every occupation regime. This is a cruelty that intensified during the Oslo years because of the gap between the fine talk about a "peace process" and the reality.The curfew in Hebron and the fact that this curfew is regarded as a completely natural phenomenon in the eyes of Israeli society reflects the twisted sort of thinking that developed in the minds of Israelis during the Oslo years. According to this warped thinking, the Palestinians would accept a situation of coexistence in which they were on an unequal footing vis-a-vis the Israelis and in which they were ranked as persons who were entitled to less, much less, than the Jews. However, in the end, the Palestinians were not willing to live with this arrangement.The new Intifada, which displays the characteristics of both a popular uprising and a quasi-military one, is a final attempt to thrust a mirror in the face of Israelis and to tell them: "Take a good look at yourselves and see how racist you have become."
3. Children Not Put on the Frontline
George Abu Al-Zulof
Jerusalem Post, 1 November 2000
Do Palestinians send their children to die? No, says George Abu Al-Zulof, Director of Defence for Children International/Palestine Section.
The question of whether or not Palestinian parents send their children to die at the hands of Israeli military forces is one that is receiving increasing attention in the international community.
From articles published in The Jerusalem Post, to the discourse surrounding comments made by Queen Sylvia of Sweden, the theory offered is that Palestinian adults use children as human
shields in confrontations with Israeli military forces.
The fact that the international community is entertaining the issue is disturbing, given its attempt to de-humanize the Palestinian people and divert attention away from the roots of the problem--ongoing and systematic abuses of Palestinian human rights, resulting from the 33 year long Israeli military occupation.
The issue highlights Israel's non-compliance with the obligations it willingly assumed as a party to the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Not only has Israel failed to implement the CRC in the occupied territories, it has failed to submit the required report to the UN.
The notion that Palestinian parents send their children to die is the latest reincarnation of a well-known scapegoating strategy known as "blaming the victim." It is used to shift attention from the real causes of a particular issue or act and direct animosity or suspicion toward the victim, thereby justifying or excusing the violation.
Similar to the rape victim who was wearing a short skirt, or the battered wife who "drove" her spouse to physical abuse, Palestinian adults are blamed for the death and injury of their children. Palestinian parents are accused of placing their children in dangerous situations, the implication being that Palestinian parents do not value the lives of their children in the same way that other parents do.
Such an approach is racist and tends to draw attention from why these children are being killed and wounded. Attention is thus turned towards the parents, and the Israeli soldier who points his weapon and fires at the child, along with the Israeli government that sanctions such actions, escapes all accountability. The end result is that Palestinians are blamed for their own victimization.
SUCH a simplistic and twisted logic provides an easy and palatable explanation for those children who died during demonstrations, but fails to explain the deaths of children who died as they were walking to school or who were seeking medical attention? Are the parents of 12-year-old Samer Tabanja, who was killed by a Israeli helicopter gunship in his backyard on October 1, responsible for his death because he was allowed to play outside that day? Are the parents of 14-year-old Mo'ayyad Al-Jowareesh responsible for his death because they allowed him to walk to school on October 16? Moreover, are the parents of 10-year-old Alaa Hamdan, who died of a severe lung infection on October 13, responsible because Israeli soldiers refused to allow them to take her to the hospital?
Moreover, such logic fails to answer why the overwhelming majority of Palestinian children who died had been hit in the upper body with Israeli ammunition. Are we to believe that Israeli soldiers are such poor marksmen, that they are firing without caution, or that they are implementing a policy of shoot to kill or seriously injure? 43 dead children in one month suggest the latter.
Shifting the blame to Palestinian adults also allows for the downplaying of other violations of children's rights, which are a result of the ongoing Israeli presence in the occupied territories.
Thousands of Palestinian children suffer as a direct result of Israeli military attacks on their cities and towns. Others are virtual prisoners in their homes, due to a curfew in the area of Hebron.
Over 30 Palestinian schools have been closed, and three have been transformed into Israeli military installations, effectively depriving Palestinian children of their right to education. Approximately 13,000 Palestinian students and 500 teachers are unable to reach school because of the closure imposed on Palestinian areas.
IN CONCLUSION, it is worth noting that official statements from the Swedish Consul General in Jerusalem indicate that some press reports concerning Queen Silvia's remarks were inaccurate. Moreover, the Consul General reminded concerned parties of the statement of the Swedish Foreign Minister of Affairs, which noted that "the extreme violence used by the Israeli side goes far beyond the bounds of what is acceptable."
It is indeed regrettable that any child is forced to live in violent circumstances, but the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip have made this a fact of life for approximately 1.5 million Palestinian children.
Parents do not send their children to confront soldiers. Such contacts s unavoidable due to a military presence in front of schools, homes and community centers throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As long as this continues, both children and adults will continue to be at risk.
Defence for Children International/Palestine Section is an independent, Palestinian non-governmental organization, established in 1992 to promote and protect the rights of Palestinian children as articulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as in other international instruments.
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