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Another settler take-over in Abu Dis etc.
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
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
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/422395.html
Hebrew:
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArtPE.jhtml?itemNo=422586
By Arnon Regular and Haaretz Staff ~~~ []
Rabbi Arik Asherman: Harvest Report/killing in Harres
[For Hebrew ask 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" 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)
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