Another settler take-over in Abu Dis etc.
GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - www.gush-shalom.org/
After the Likud settler-dominated referendum: Whether Sharon was ever serious about any withdrawal - the wish to
withdraw from Gaza, and not onl from there, is widespread in the Israeli public. It will now have to manifest itself in
a less doomed way. But for the time being nothing changes: erasing of houses by the dozens, shooting to kill at an
estranged schoolboy, the army's close cooperation with the settlers, read for yourself.
Urgent alert: [] Settlers take over lands in Abu-Dis, come if you can
reports and discussions
[] Truth against truth - Uri Avnery
[] Dorothy Naor compares two tragedy's media coverage
[] Rabbi Arik Asherman: Harvest Report/killing in Harres
[] A legal revolution or preserving current situation - with Moshe Negbi
\\// //\\ \\// //\\ \\//
[] URGENT: settlers take over lands in Abu-Dis, come if you can
------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Mon, 03 May 2004 12:04:34 +0200 From: Leena Dallasheh To: taayush-jerusalem@yahoogroups.com, info@gush-shalom.org
Dear friends,
The settlers took over a house and the area beside it in Abu-Dis, and set caravans and tents there. the way things are
looking, there is a danger of setting a settlement there, as they brought equipment and all, the news are talking about
100-150 settlers.
we are trying to arrange that activist get to the area. if you could help, please contact Arik from Rabbis for human
Rights at: 050-607034 please spread the word to whoever could get there.
All the best,
Leena Dallasheh Settlements violence project -coordinator Alternative Information Center - Jerusalem
www.alternativenews.org Tel: +972 2 6241159 Fax +972 3 7256006 ~~~
[] Truth against truth - Uri Avnery
Hebrew on the website / òáøéú áàúø www.gush-shalom.org
Living in a Bubble Uri Avnery
A few days ago, the State of Israel celebrated its 56th anniversary according to the Hebrew (lunar) calendar.
A chance to escape from reality for a day, at a time when the whole country was braced for suicide-bombings to avenge
the assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin and Dr. Abd-al-Aziz al-Rantissi. A day of nostalgia for the Israel of the early
years, the years of innocence and youth. There were speeches, spectacles, fireworks. The solemn voice of Amikam Gurewitz
recited the memorial prayer for the fallen soldiers of all our wars in decades-old tradition. Bereaved parents relive
their pain. Groups of soldiers, male and female, exchange flags. Boys and girls dance the old and half-forgotten folk
dances. The media full of the heroic deeds of our soldiers facing a cruel enemy, the sacrifices of the pioneers, the
selfless idealism of the founders. A lot of speeches about democracy and the hope for peace.
Not a word about the Palestinians, God forbid! Not a word about the transformation of the glorious Israeli Defense Army
into a blood-stained colonial police force. No mention that the celebrated Air Force which destroyed the air forces of
three Arab states in a few hours in 1967, has now become a specialist in extra-judicial executions, often killing not
only the targeted Palestinian militants but also their wives and children, as well as random bystanders.
Israel looked into its magic mirror and saw a beautiful state that arose from the embers of the Holocaust and
transformed a downtrodden and persecuted people into a proud and mighty nation, with brilliant achievements in all
spheres of endeavor. How wonderful!
In a few days, the Palestinians will commemorate the catastrophe that befell them 56 years ago, according to the
general (solar) calendar.
It will be a day of mourning, of longing, and anger about all that happened and is still happening. There will be
demonstrations, speeches, shooting in the air. Everybody will remember the Naqbah, the catastrophe, when half the
Palestinian people were expelled from their homes and fields by a cruel enemy. Many of them are still languishing in
miserable refugee camps, where they survive by the grace of international institutions that provide them with food and
education.
The refugees will remember with longing the 450 villages that were conquered by the enemy and razed to the ground, each
of which lives on in their imagination as a little paradise, surrounded by lush fields and plantations. They will yearn
for the streets of Haifa and Jaffa, Ramle and Bir-Saba, the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Katamon and Talbieh, all of them
the epitome of beauty and perfection.
The Palestinians will look into the magic mirror of the past and they will see a people that lived idyllically on their
land until the appearance of cruel foreigners who condemned them to a life of humiliation and misery, oppression and
exile, with no redemption in sight.
These two events may look as if they happened on two different planets, say on Mars and Saturn. But both happened on
our small planet, in one small country.
The two events are, actually, one and the same event.
It is natural that two peoples at war will view the events in different and contradictory ways. But war is generally an
exceptional state that lasts only a few years. Before and after the war there is peace, and in a state of peace the
normal life and new contacts cause bitter memories to fade and differences between the perceptions to narrow.
In World War II the Germans conquered France and imposed a cruel occupation regime. One need only recall the wholesale
slaughter of hostages. But less than ten years later, Frenchmen created the vision of a unified Europe, based on a
French-German alliance, and since then the borders have all but disappeared, a common currency has been created and
friendship is blossoming. There is hardly any difference of opinion about what happened between the two peoples in the
past.
During the same war, the Germans killed a third of the Jewish people with slave labor, starvation, mass execution and
the gas chambers. This is a crime without parallel in modern history, as far as its character and methods are concerned.
But less than ten years after the crematoria of Auschwitz had cooled, an agreement was already signed between Germany
and Israel, which called itself "the state of the survivors". Now Germany and Israel try to outdo each other in
commemorating the Holocaust.
Nothing like that is happening with the two peoples in this country. The war between them is not an extraordinary
state, but has become normality. All the toxins produced by war - fear, hatred, prejudices - continue to poison the
minds of the new generation, the fifth that has been born into this war, a generation whose entire mental world is
shaped by the war.
Thus each of the two peoples lives sealed in its closed bubble, cut off from the other, and, indeed, from the world at
large. Inside its bubble, each people cultivates their grievances, the conviction of being the ultimate victim, the
memory of the injustices done to them, the anger at the other, cruel, murderous and detestable people. Each side
believes that absolute justice is on its side, and hence in the absolute injustice of the other side.
This bubble is a prison, closed and secured by more than walls and barbed wire. Israelis and Palestinians are hostages
of their mental worlds. They are unable to see each other, unable to see the world as it is. They see only the mirror,
the magic mirror that shows them what they want to see.
For both, the bubble is a vital need. It is a means of self-protection which provides them with mental security, the
certainty in the rightness of their cause and a sense of orientation. The world outside is cold and hostile, inside the
bubble there is warmth and a sense of belonging. Anyone who tries to break the bubble will be exposed to a wave of
hatred and anger that may be lethal.
This does not apply only to what is happening now. It concerns everything that has happened between the two peoples in
the last 120 years, since the beginning of the Zionist enterprise in this country. Every event, large or small, without
exception, appears in the collective memory of the two peoples in a different and contrary fashion. As a result,
everything that is said now, everything that is proposed by one side sounds different, suspicious and menacing to the
other. Every negotiation becomes a battle, every summit meeting only increases the mutual hatred.
A vicious circle is operating: without removing the bubbles there can be no peace, without peace it is impossible to
remove the bubbles.
And a personal note: I became convinced many years ago that this vicious circle not only must, but can be broken. Since
then I have been trying to build a joint, common Israeli-Palestinian narrative that incorporates the narratives of both
peoples, not by contriving an artificial compromise but by seeking the truth. I have already written books and essays
about this. This week a booklet called "Truth Against Truth" has been published by Gush Shalom. In it we have tried to
outline a common narrative of the conflict, taking into account the viewpoints of both sides.
It is has become clear to me that without a sincere endeavor by each side to become fully aware of the viewpoint of the
other, no effort to achieve real peace between the two peoples will bear fruit.
~~~
[] Dorothy Naor compares two tragedy's media coverage
Dear All,
Today’s killing of a 34 year old Israeli woman and her 4 daughters is indeed tragic. Of the English language newspapers
that I have checked, it has been reported widely--in the USA by the NY Times, the Washington Post, the SF Chronicle, the
Chicago Tribune, the Herald Tribune; in England by the Independent, and the Guardian; in Australia by the Sidney Morning
Herald (May 3); and in Toronto by the Globe and Mail.
By contrast, of the above newspapers, only today’s New York Times reported yesterday’s killing of an 8 year old
Palestinian boy by the IOF. Following this preface are today's Ha’aretz reports of both events.
Every such death is tragic. But today’s killing of an Israeli woman and her children has to be seen within the context
of the Palestinian child killed yesterday, of the Palestinian mother of 10 killed last week and of the statistics that I
cited a few days ago: i.e., April saw 59 Palestinians killed and 345 injured. Of the 59 killed, 45 of these were during
2 consecutive weeks April 16-29, which included the killing of Dr. Rantisi (April 17). This evening Israel added 4 more
to the growing total of Palestinians killed for May (which has just begun), by executing them in Nablus in the car in
which they were traveling. The IOF was busy this evening also demolishing buildings in the Gaza Strip and shooting a
missile into the top floor of a 15 story building. Beyond all this, it has to be remembered that while most Israelis
live their daily lives and go about their daily duties and pleasures (including the Final
Four basketball Tourney), Palestinians do not. They are under constant harassment from the IOF and settlers; but most of
incidents never make the media.
The way to end violence is not by escalating it, but by trying to resolve differences via dialogue and negotiations
rather than by the use of force.
This, however, requires leaders who care more for lives than for land. Unfortunately, most Israeli governments, and the
present one in particular, do not meet this criterion. And since violence breeds violence, we can count on Israeli
escalation bringing about the like Palestinian response.
Sadly, Dorothy New Profile
Ha’aretz Sunday, May 02, 2004
Palestinians: IDF kills boy, 8, in Gaza
By Arnon Regular and Haaretz Staff ~~~
[] Rabbi Arik Asherman: Harvest Report/killing in Harres
[For Hebrew ask ] Dear Members and Friends,
On Friday RHR and Taayush organized some 30 activists to assist with the wheat/barley harvest in the South Hebron Hills.
We harvested with the residents of Gaoweis, who were intimidated in to leaving their homes three months ago when a new
outpost, “Khavat Itamar,” was set up next to their dwellings. Up until now they have been chased away when trying to
harvest. Last week they had coordinated with the Civil Administration. Nevertheless, a unit of the security forces came
by and arrested an elderly man. The Civil Administration officer came and the man was released, but the harvest was not
completed. We also helped residents of Palestinian Susya and a family from Yatta whose tractor had been confiscated a
few days earlier while attempting to harvest. The reason for the confiscation still remains a mystery. The fields were
not near any settlement or outpost. They were also quite far from the military outpost which confiscated the tractor.
When we arrived soldiers called in to find out whether it was permitted to harvest. Despite the arrival of a settler
security person the soldiers gave us permission, as long as they could see us (for our protection.)
The commander also said that the family would get the tractor back.
However, when we finished the harvest it turned out that everybody with authority to release the tractor had already
gone home for the weekend and that, despite the fact that the harvested grains would have to be left in the field, the
tractor would only be returned on Sunday. Today (Sunday) we coordinated with the Civil Administration so that the family
could pick up the tractor at 12:00. When the family representative arrived, we were informed that he could only get the
tractor “in a month.” Even the C.A. clerk was shocked and the family rep. waited in the sun for hours as she tried to
get the proper officer out of meetings to figure out why this was happening. Eventually he promised to personally
accompany the family to get the tractor tomorrow. We will wait and see.
On the way back to the others we stopped to document the lentil fields of a man who said that flocks from the
settlement Susya destroyed them.
We were preparing to leave when two settlers approached a Taayush activist who was recording information about Khavat
Itamar. They broke his pen, pushed him and tried to take his instrument for entering geographical data. It took the
police over half an hour to arrive (They arrive almost immediately when settlers request). In the meantime the second
settler stood in the way of a second activist who was walking in the direction of the Khava and, after the activist
attempted unsuccessfuly to go around him in order to avoid confrontation, a pushing match ensued. At that point the
police arrived and of course the settler ran and made the first complaint. The Taayush activist was detained and the
settler who made the complaint also went to the police staton. Although we had originally called the police, the settler
who started the incident was left to come in later on his own congnizance because “somebody had to guard the outpost.”
How many aspects of the Occupation were taken for granted on Friday? It was simply taken for granted that the army unit
could take the tractor for no apparent reason and that the settler security officer could approach the soldiers and have
a private conversation while we, not to mention the Palestinians, had to keep our distance. Although Khavat Itamar is
illegal even according to the current government (and if it is “legal,” it is a violation of the roadmap and all of the
governments declared commitments.), it was clear to the army and police that somebody had to be left to protect it. The
fact is that, according to my understanding of the law, the rightful owners of property have the right to enter their
land which has been illegally occupied and help themselves to anything that has been grown on their land. However, the
Occupation has its own rules and the security forces will always choose the path of least resistance. Until there is a
price to be paid for their actions (Were Israeli activists to show up every time a new outpost was being built on
Palestinian land and non-violently prevent the set up of the outpost, harvest the produce on behalf of the rightful
owners, etc., perhaps the potentially explosive situation would convince the security forces that it was in their
interest not to allow the outposts to be set up.) the security forces will continue to ignore the establishment of
outposts.
Below please find the description of the firing by security forces into the village of Harres, killing the nephew of
our friend Noaf Suf. Noaf said to me today, “What can we do? This is our life.” May his memory be for a blessing.
This morning the High Court heard the final arguments regarding the route of the Barrier NorthWest of Jerusalem.
Attorney Muhammed Dahle, Jewish neighbors and the Council For Peace and Security came with three dimensional
topographical models. The judges continued to express frustration at the idea that the various generals couldn't agree
and that the court was being forced to adjudicate on defense issues. The decision will be given on an as yet unknown
date. I w ent to Biddu today after the court in order to collect some documents connected to the use of the 12 year old
boy and myself as human shields two weeks ago. Both the local clinic and the Municipality are covered with pictures of
people being beaten by security forces and the resulting injuries. The contrast between the actions of the security
forces in Biddu and, for example, Budrus, is striking. In Budrus the security forces were not willing to beat, shoot and
kill. In Biddu, even the recent woman’s march was met with beating, tear gas and violence. Even within this crazy
reality of occupation, there are choices to be made. B’Vrakha, Arik P.S. Somebody left a sweater on the bus. We also
have a cane that was left on the bus on the 15th of April (Biddu) and a fleece jacket was left in my car on a trip to
Zeita in February (With Arutz 2). Rabbi Arik W. Ascherman Executive Director Rabbis For Human Rights Tel: 972 2 563-7731
Fax: 972 2 566-2815 Mobile: 972 50 5 607034 ~~~
[] A legal revolution or preserving current situation - with Moshe Negbi
------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: "yuval halperin" To: info@hadash.org.il, info@gush-shalom.org Subject: òå"ã îùä ðâáé Date sent: Sun, 02 May 2004
12:28:01 +0000
Basic laws - a legal revolution or preserving of the current situation? A discussion on the subject will take place at
the Left Bank (Ahad Haam 70) on Thursday, 6.5, at 20:00. Participant: Moshe Negbi, lawyer and commentator on law.
Yuval Halperin, the civil forum, 0505-613924.
çå÷é äéñåã - îäôëä çå÷úéú, àå ùøéåï äîöá ä÷ééí? ãéåï áðåùà éú÷ééí áâãä äùîàìéú, øç' àçã äòí 70 ú"à, 6 áîàé, ùòä 20:00,
òí
òå"ã îùä ðâáé
ìôøèéí ðåñôéí éåáì äìôøéï, äôåøåí äàæøçé 613924 0505 ~~~
# Ongoing struggle #
how to link up with anti-Wall struggle, refusnik news etc.
#Against the Wall contact addresses daily struggle / eye-witness reports / appeal to Ireland
#Refusniks (prisoner addresses & links to constantly updated sites) updated refusniks lists / support to five long-time incarcerated
#Against the Wall
* ðåëçåú éåîéåîéú áëôøéí îàéîéí ò"é äçåîä ìúàí òí àééáé 064-604172 isichel@netvision.net.il àøé÷ 050-607034
info@rhr.israel.net
Day to day presence at villages threatened by route of wall. Contact: Ivy Sichel 064-604172 isichel@netvision.net.il
Arik Asherman 050-607034 info@rhr.israel.net
* Daily eye-witness reports from the Occupied Territories: http://www.machsomwatch.org (Israeli women monitoring the checkpoints) http://www.palsolidarity.org/pressreleases/pressreleases.php (internationals throughout OT)
* Support diplomatic opposition to the Wall by signing the appeal to the Irish government http://www.petitiononline.com/WBWall01/petition.html
#Refusniks
Constantly-updated refusniks lists:
English - http://www.yesh-gvul.org/english/prison/ Hebrew / òáøéú - http://www.yesh-gvul.org/prison/
English - http://www.newprofile.org/default.asp?language=en Hebrew / òáøéú - http://www.newprofile.org/
For the latest news about the five: http://www.refuz.org.il/News.html
Letters of support to Noam Bahat / Haggai Mattar / Matan Kaminer AGAF BET Ma’asiyaho Prison P.O.B 13 Ramla - Israel
Adam Maor / Shimri Tzameret: Hermon Prison P.O.B 4011 KFAR M’RAR - Israel
-- http://www.gush-shalom.org/ (òáøéú/Hebrew) http://www.gush-shalom.org/english/index.html (English) http://www.gush-shalom.org/arabic/index.html (selected articles in Arabic)