Shalom,
salaam
The afternoon demonstration today was cancelled
by Palestinian political organizations and it is unlikely the
NGOs will want to proceed alone. So a couple of international
groups visited children's summer camps in refugee camps where
international presence was requested. My group went back to the
checkpoint we were at yesterday between Ramallah and Bir Zeit,
where the university many Palestinians attend is located (the
soldiers frequently question: 'why are you going to Bir Zeit?'
and the students reply 'to go to school' and the soldiers say
'why?') So we were concerned about backlash, given the attack
in Jerusalem yesterday and brought an 8 person crew, 3 Spanish,
1 French and the three Americans and one Irish guy from our group.
(Although of the three Americans, only I am white, one is Palestinian-American
and one is Mexican-American, obviously both in more vulnerable
positions with soldiers reading them...especially before they
show their passports).
So we were doing our routine 4 on each
side of the checkpoint, the two directions, and asking the soldiers
to allow people to sit or get water, etc.
Everything was pretty chill considering,
until one man was singled out, blindfolded and forced into their
APC. As all the soldiers headed over we got extensive footage
of the man being handcuffed and put in the APC. I demanded they
allow us to ride in the APC if they had nothing to hide, told
them they were breaking international law, blahblahblah. Again
they physically forced us out of the way and all got in the APC,
so 5 of us linked arms and blocked the APC as it tried to pull
away. After only a minute they threw a sound bomb which hit one
of the Spanish men who was on my right, linked up with me (his
back hurts, some wounds, some blood, but not terribly serious,
just painful). The air filled with smoke and they began shooting
(live fire, not rubber bullets) in the air around us, though not
at us. Many more sound bombs and we were forced away as they drove
forward. We ran after the tank and blocked it again, pushing against
it as it drove into us. Though we were unsuccessful at preventing
it from getting away (given our small numbers and that it was
a spontaneous action), we were able to speak to some of the man's
friends and get details - his name, his home phone number and
reported it to an Israeli human rights organization who is working
on getting him released. Apparently his brothers are Palestinian
police and his father is wanted, so he was picked up though he
has no affiliation of any kind to any particular organization.
Of course here, being Palestinian is criminal so...
The troops left and Palestinians passed
freely, though cars and trucks have a hard time getting through
with all the road blocks. We were going to go to Arura checkpoint
which is a smaller one between villages where we feared revenge
might be taken since so few internationals and media go through.
But it had been removed. So we headed over to Kalandia, which
is a very large checkpoint everyone going to and from Ramallah
must go through. It is much more systematized, so we didn't expect
to be able to take action much, just check it out. It is known
to be the "humanitarian" checkpoint, a real PR thing
for Israel since so much media comes through they have shade and
sometimes water. Because of yesterday's attack though they were
arbitrarily only letting in Palestinians from three towns. No
one from Ramallah was being let in to Ramallah. We were able to
call an Israeli human rights organization to help get some women
with babies into the hospital, though they waited for a very long
time, repeatedly being told they could not enter. That's about
it, reportedly it was all quiet in the other direction (leaving
Ramallah, where the Spanish delegation was stationed).
On the personal note, aka Jewish stuff,
ha, one soldier told me "I hate the Israeli government, I
have to serve, I hate this gun, I hate this uniform, etc,"
He said he supports the refusniks but is afraid to refuse to serve
because he will be punished. He also argued about Palestinian
violence against Israelis, but was able to have a decent conversation
about it until he was sent to ID people somewhere else. The real
issue for someone like that is about not understanding power relations.
I mean, that's the issue for so many people that equate Palestinian
and Israeli violence. I said to him, look, do you remember Warsaw?
and he said yes, so I said, we made Molotov cocktails, we threw
bombs, because we were in ghettos, being killed, what choice did
we have? and so he listened. I find that rather than calling soldiers
Nazis (listen up activists who think that's a good tactic), it
is effective to address power issues from the other side, trying
to get them to remember
their (our) history of resistance. Trying to get them to realize
what it is to be forced to use violence because the other side
is OCCUPYING with tanks, and military/financial support from our
very own USA. It is still possible to condemn targeting the Hebrew
University, for example, or discos, but not have those incidents
obfuscate the entire history of (imperialist, colonial) domination.
So we are meeting up with Huwaida shortly,
probably lunch then some Palestinian/international graffiti and
then heading out to Nablus. Because of yesterday's attack, the
IDF (which had been stationed on the outskirts of Nablus, controlling
comings and goings) has now moved back in and instated curfew
all day. So everyone's hiding in their homes. There should be
computers there, so I'll let you know what happens when we arrive.
