Beginning in February local organisers in Al Khalil (Hebron) and supporters have organised a series of events to commemorate the Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre and demand the re-opening of Shuhada Street, once the commercial heart of Al Khalil, now off limits to locals, Palestinians in general, and even international supporters following the massacre that claimed 29 Palestinian lives.

While one street may seem insignificant or small, the segregation, economic strangulation, violence, and oppression that Shuhada Street suffers is a microcosm of the overarching system of Israeli apartheid suffered by all Palestinians. As extremist settlers continue to harass and violently attack Palestinians and internationals, and the Israeli Army continues to show no accountability or concern for international law, it is all the more essential that this street be the symbolic avenue of freedom for Palestinians.

The residents of Al Khalil, Palestinian activists, and International Solidarity Movement called on the international community to display their support for a project that will showcase international solidarity for the opening of Shuhada Street. Diversity in support for human rights can humanise the victims of Zionist oppression in Al Khalil and elsewhere. London answered that call and stands in solidarity with the residents of Al Khalil and will be steadfast in our dedication to the pursuit of freedom and justice for all of Palestine.

I don’t know if I met Tom Hurndall. He was one of a bunch of ‘human shields’ who turned up in Baghdad just before the Anglo-American invasion in 2003, the kind of folk we professional reporters make fun of. Tree huggers, that kind of thing. Now I wish I had met him because – looking back over the history of that terrible war – Hurndall’s journals show a remarkable man of remarkable principle. “I may not be a human shield,” he wrote on 17 March from his Amman hotel. “And I may not adhere to the beliefs of those I have travelled with, but the way Britain and America plan to take Iraq is unnecessary and puts soldiers’ lives above those of civilians. For that I hope that Bush and Blair stand trial for war crimes.”

As always, it’s a two-day session. See the training page for more details.

To register, email training@ism-london.org.uk

As always, it’s a two-day session. See the training page for more details.

To register, email training@ism-london.org.uk

My second full day in the country was the most hectic and most emotional day of all my time in activism.

We started at the weekly demonstration in Bi’lin, it was very nice to see how the fence had been taken down and the Palestinians had gained a lot more land back. The demonstration now took place very near to the settlement with settlers sat on their roofs watching the proceedings. As usual at Bi’lin there where many internationals.

After this we went straight the Qalandia area to take part in the demonstration there, I can only describe more as a war zone than a
demonstration. The Israel Offence Forces as well as border police where not even bothering with tear gas when we were there, they where just firing rubber coated steal bullets down a very cramped street at civilians. I saw many people injured by these. They also used a new weapon called “The Scream” which produces a very loud noise like a car alarm which you just cant stand for too long. Many people where injured and the atmosphere was angry.

As it got dark the soldiers retreated back to the actual checkpoint but carried on firing tear gas at head level, cars where screaming past and I saw bystanders get caught up in the clouds of very strong tear gas. They even fired tear gas down from the towers into groups of children in the darkness. This sort of aggression is expected of the Israeli soldiers however in the darkness it was very scary.

When we got back to central Ramallah the mood was jubilant and happy. Thousands of people lined the streets to listen to Abbas’s speech. The Palestinians where celebrating to fullest degree with huge conveys of cars and trucks covered in people singing and dancing and screaming slogans. It was such a nice end to what had been a very hard day. I wasn’t really sure what they where celebrating for but I couldn’t help but join in, maybe they where just celebrating being Palestinian but it was one of the best atmospheres I have ever been in and was so much fun.

It reminded me that a big part of ISM trips to Palestine is being happy, it such a beautiful country with the nicest people and now past the stresses of arriving I am happy to be back here.

Israel has one of the largest standing armies compared to its total population size in the world, and also one of the highest military spending to GDP ratios in the world. Israel needs that level of spending to maintain it’s occupation, but it is unlikely Israel could maintain that level of spending without US aid. Therefore ending US aid to Israel would seriously question Israel’s ability to maintain the occupation of Palestine.

In 2010 the United Nations Human Rights Council specifically declared the Jerusalem Light Railway [run by Veolia] to be “in clear breach of international law and relevant UN resolutions” …(Resolution 13/7). The UK voted in favour of the resolution.

Local councils all across the world have excluded Veolia following campaigns against the violation of Palestinian rights. Veolia has admitted the damage that this campaign is causing.

Veolia is currently in the running to be awarded waste and fuel contracts with councils from across north London (NLWA) worth £4.7bn. The NWLA is one of the biggest European contracts to be targeted. Let’s make sure NWLA doesn’t award Veolia this huge contract but give Veolia reasons to worry about its complicity with Israeli violations of international law.

The 14 NLWA Councillors who will be voting on these contracts are meeting at Camden Town Hall on Thursday 22 Sept. In their meeting they would be discussing Veolia’s bids.

This is the last NLWA meeting before it announces whether Veolia is shortlisted for the Fuel Use contract. The Waste Services contract shortlist may also be decided following this meeting.

We call on all supporters of human rights to join us in sending a clear message to the North London Waste Authority that they should deselect Veolia.

The Palestinian popular commitees have sent out the following message, asking for help in ending the staggering amount of aid the United states sends to Israel; aid that is essential in maintaining the illegal military occupation of Palestine. In London we will heed their call and demonstrate outside the US embassy on September 17th. If you support justice for the Palestinian people please be there, the message is;

Dear Friends
The popular comittees-Palestine asks all those who support peace and justice in Palestine to organise demonstrations in September outside the US embassies of their countries calling for the end of US aid to Israel. Demonstrations are already planned in front of the White House on September 15th and in front of the United Nations building in New York on September 15th, but to be successful we need to globalise the resistance.

American tax dollars go toward supporting an illegal and humiliating occupation of Palestinian land; the construction of illegal settlements; the annexation of Palestinian farmland; the purchase of weapons and arms used in night raids and military strikes. Right now American money finds its way to this part of the world where children and innocent civilians are killed, injured, and made to suffer. It also empowers the Israeli government to further ignore international law and perpetuate its intransigence.

These demonstrations in September will tell the US government to stop supporting this occupation and stand up for justice and freedom in Palestine, lets spread them far and wide accross the planet.
Salaam
Iyad Burnat
Head of Bil’in popular committee

Outside a protest took place before and during the concert, along with a counter-protest organised by the Zionist Federation.  Present alongside the Zionists were ultra-right EDL-type counter-protesters with their assorted collection of flag combinations. Also shown were some placards of victims of Israeli oppression, as well as the famous J-BIG “It’s KOSHER to Boycott Israeli Goods” banner.

Some of the chants heard both outside (and inside) the Royal Albert Hall included:

“The settlements are out of tune with international law”

“The Apartheid Wall is out of tune with international law”

“The siege of Gaza is out of tune with international law”

It wasn’t too hard to find a concert-goer who decided to boycott the IPO’s concert. I’m sure there were plenty more, as someone who was inside, I noticed there were many seats that remained empty throughout the performance.

The first action took the form of a choral disruption. Afterwards several different groups of activists shouted and chanted at intervals throughout the concert.

The scene outside:

See the press release

The activists were there to greet several ‘Flytilla’ volunteers deported by Israel from Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv. The volunteers had made an attempt to travel to Bethlehem in the Occupied West Bank for the “Welcome to Palestine” initiative. Up to 600 volunteers had made plans to fly into Ben Gurion from Friday onwards to form a solidarity delegation that would visit Palestinians in various towns and villages in the West Bank, illegally occupied by Israel since 1967.

Israel pressured airlines into stopping volunteers in their departure country before take off, but about a hundred managed to fly. Once they landed, the volunteers were arrested, eventually processed and then imprisoned at Givon Prison in Ramleh, close to Tel Aviv, or in Beersheba prison in the Negev desert.

Most of the volunteers were deported in small groups over the last few days, and report mistreatment during arrest and detention. The Luton group was no exception, and told of how guards withheld adequate medical provision for one lady suffering from diarrhea.

The ‘Flytilla’ volunteers are predominantly French, but Tuesday’s arrivals represented the majority of the British contingent, with six British nationals and two American nationals in transit on the flight. Two other Brits were deported on Monday and two more remain in Israeli prisons.

See the video above for a full interview with some of the returning volunteers.

Dear Doctor,

I realize that this sounds like a relatively minor problem, but my third nipple is starting to ruin my life.  I know, it is only a third nipple, and to be honest almost no one ever sees it, but still it is a problem.  It isn’t really the blood red nipple on my chest that is the problem; it is more how I came to have it.

 I was standing around rather calmly at the Nakba Day protest at Beit Hanoun, the Israeli’s were shooting kids by the dozens.  After a particularly large volley of fire rang out I felt like I was punched in the chest.  I assumed , I think rather logically, that I had been shot.  I also assumed, rather logically, that getting shot in the chest by a sniper was fairly likely to be deadly. I started to black out, my vision collapsed to that little black point before you go unconscious, stumbled against the chain link fence next me, and like it is always seems to in these moments, time slowed to a crawl.  My vision came back, I looked down at my chest, didn’t see any blood, strange.  Waited a second, expecting that maybe the blood just hadn’t started to pour out, thought how glad I was that it wasn’t more painful, it stung, but all in all not so bad.  Waited, still not much blood, decided to lift my shirt and see how bad it was.  Not bad at all, just a small circle of blood.  Cautiously put my finger into the blood, no hole, that was quite good.  The problem is, that I had always imagined myself having rather more heroic thoughts as I died, generally I had thought that I would quickly review my life, lament some lost loves, remember all the things that I wish I had said to people, regret some of the things I had or hadn’t done.  Instead, I really just found myself wondering why there wasn’t more blood and wondering when it would come.  Turns out that they had shot the kid next to me, or maybe not, I probably wasn’t in the best position to judge what had happened.  His face was covered in blood, and he seemed to have a hole in his cheek, but I’m pretty sure he lived, and it is hard to imagine anyone surviving being shot in the face.

Looking back, I’m struck by the fact that 100 and some people were shot at the demonstration, but I don’t remember any of them screaming.  They mostly just collapse to the ground, or onto the nearest person, their face goes white, you can see the fear, but they never seem to scream.  Strange.  Even the kid next to me who was shot in the leg, you could clearly see that the leg was smashed through his jeans, it looked like the worst broken led in the world, no screaming.  The one good thing about being in a crowd while snipers shoot into it is that it is remarkably unscary.  There really isn’t anything you can do, they will either shoot you or they won’t, so you just wait for fate.  I always find it much harder to face the soldiers face to face, something about looking down a rifle barrel into someone’s eyes is much more terrifying than just being shot at. 

All of my Walter Mitty fantasies are destroyed in Palestine.  Before coming here, I could always imagine myself displaying great physical courage, thinking heroic thoughts while I died.  After being here, I have to admit, I lack physical courage, and if my third nipple is any indication, my dying thoughts probably won’t manage to be so heroic.  You might think that standing in crowd while snipers shoot the kids around you takes courage, but it really doesn’t, the whole thing is so absurd that you aren’t really scared.  The first time I was here, when the settler told he me was going to get his gun and shoot me in the face I was scared.  My knees shook.  I kept hoping that he wouldn’t really get his gun out of the trunk of his car.  No such luck.  I really wanted to run away, back into the village, but the farmer behind me didn’t run, and I couldn’t run until he did.  How would I possibly explain to my 6 year old friend Diana that I ran while her grandfather stood his ground?  Sigh, you always hope that you will actually be courageous, not just afraid of the embarrassment of running. 

Outside of the third nipple, life here is alright.  As usual I have discovered the way to be liked by all of the farmers while doing as little work as possible.  The secret is to launch yourself into harvesting wheat as soon as you get to the field.  With my patented gloves of wheat (I feel so kung fu) strategy I am as fast as most of the women here. The other foreigners will be standing around moaning about the fact that it is six am and they are tired.  Before you actually have to harvest very much wheat, the Israelis will start shooting, this is my excuse to stop harvesting wheat and yell rather ineffectually with the bullhorn at the remote control gun they use to shoot at the farmers that we are obviously farmers harvesting wheat and seem quite unlikely to be an armed group storming the border.  Thankfully, the Israelis aren’t stupid either, they usually just shoot around us.  I actually give the Israelis a lot of credit.  They are masters of making any horror routine enough that it stops being news.  Demolishing a village?  It is so old news, they have been doing it regularly for 63 years, what is one more village?  Shooting unarmed demonstrators from giant concrete towers, so 1987. The Israelis have normalised brutality to such an extent that they can carry it out with impunity.

Nakba Day.  The day of the Catastrophe.  A day to mark the ethnic cleansing of 800,000 Palestinians from their homes.  A day to remind themselves and the world, that one day, they will return to their homes, that they have not forgotten their land. Today marked 63 years of dispossession, 63 years of ethnic cleansing.  Thousands of Palestinians marched north from Beit Hanoun to the wall; thousands of Palestinians marched toward their homes.

As we approached the wall the Israeli army barked out its hello.  A tank began to fire over the crowd and into the sand dunes lining the road.  The Israeli bulldozers had already thoroughly destroyed anything that was once on this land, outside of threatening the crowd there was nothing to accomplish by this shooting.  It is a strange thing to be fired at with a cannon from a tank; you can almost feel the air shake when the shell explodes.  The crowd did not stop, it continued forward, chanting against the occupation, chanting their love of their land.

Soon the stream of wounded began.  From the front of the crowd men and boys carried by their friends, by whoever was standing near them when they were shot.  They came in a steady stream; you could hear the tak tak tak of the Israeli rifles echo against the calm sky.  In the West Bank, the soldiers are usually stationed on a hill, first comes the tear gas, and then come the bullets, usually rubber at first, later the live ammunition.  In Gaza there are no pretenses, first the tanks fire their cannons, then the soldiers safe in their concrete tower start to shoot live ammunition into the crowd. 

The crowd, maybe a thousand strong by now, is strung out along the street.  Their only cover the concrete lane separators.  Above them, Apaches hover, not for the whole protest, but they come and go; perhaps they will fire missiles into the crowd.  It is pretty hard to imagine what possible use an Apache has in crowd control.  Then again it is hard to imagine the possible uses of a tank for crowd control, yet off to the right of the crowd an Israeli tank shelters behind an earth berm.  In front of them is a giant concrete tower manned by soldiers who shoot into the crowd.  Underneath this tower there is some sort of room, apparently for people crossing the terminal.  Occasionally you see soldiers there; they seem to be playing with a luggage cart.  It is hard to imagine that they are afraid for their safety.  Off to their left is another giant concrete tower, this one has a very large gun mounted on top of it. 

The hours pass, the soldiers continue to shoot into the crowd.  The wounded trickle to the back, shot one by one.  The soldiers sit safely in their concrete tower firing into a crowd a hundred meters away.  You can only imagine how they decide who to shoot.  They can’t possibly feel any threat; they young men barely even bother to throw stones.  The wall, the tower, are too far away for a stone to even reach them.  The stones that are thrown are thrown almost on principle, if you are going to stand in an open street while soldiers shoot you from their concrete tower, surely you should do something. 

Three young men try to put a flag up on a light pole.  The soldiers start to shoot at them.  They hide in a jumble of concrete blocks at the base of the light pole.  When the shooting pauses, they try again to put up their flag.  As soon they emerge the firing begins again.  This pattern is repeated several times.  Finally the soldiers start firing some sort of heavy machine gun at the boys; everyone realizes that the situation has become much more serious.  Soon, the boys will be killed.  A young man from the crowd joins them, and tries to convince them to make a run for it, to leave the shelter of the rocks for the shelter of the crowd.  He fails.  Men from the crowd try to convince people to walk over en mass and take the boys out, they can’t convince enough people, people are too afraid that the soldiers will shoot them.  Finally, the boys realize that they have to move; one by one they make a run for the crowd.  Thank god they all make it.

The soldiers start shooting again; I feel a punch in the chest. Probably just a ricocheting piece of stone, the young boy next to me was not so lucky.  When I look over he is being helped away, his face streaming blood.  It looks like he has a hole in his cheek, like he was shot in the face.  I never see him again, surely he wasn’t shot in the face, it is hard to imagine him living through that. 

A boy next to me is shot in the leg.  You can see that his leg is shattered even through his pants.  When they pick him up to carry him to ambulance his leg hangs as if in two pieces.  He doesn’t scream, he doesn’t say anything, but you can see the fear and pain in his face.  He seems to be about 14.  What were the soldiers thinking?  That this young boy, 100 meters from their concrete tower was somehow a threat to them?  It is strange, none of the wounded seem to scream, perhaps you just don’t notice, I don’t know, but I remember any screams of pain, just the look of fear and pain on young faces.

After about three hours of shooting live ammunition into the crowd the soldiers decide to try something new, well, new for the day, but familiar to all Palestinians.  They begin to fire tear gas into the crowd.  The crowd surges back to escape the tear gas.  The soldiers aren’t very committed though, after one volley of tear gas they return to shooting live ammunition into the defenseless crowd.  If this were Libya, Syria, the world would denounce the use of live ammunition on a crowd of unarmed people who pose zero threat to anyone, but this is Gaza, shooting unarmed demonstrators is a given. 

A young man walks forward alone.  He keeps walking toward the wall, you can feel the tension, the crowd is worried that he walks toward his death, brave but suicidal.  The soldiers don’t shoot; he comes closer to the wall than anyone has in hours.  He takes a Palestinian flag that has been left there; he walks slowly back to the crowd.  He is greeted like a hero.  The soldiers go back to shooting random young people from the crowd.

After leaving the protest we went to visit some of the wounded in the hospital.  They were already out of the emergency, resting in beds, six to a room surrounded by their families. 

Ahmed Gomaa Abd Al Malik  is 17 years old.  His family lives in Beach Camp, but they are from Deir Sneid where they were expelled in 1948.  He was one of the first injured in the protest, shot at 11 am.  He went to today’s protest to return to his home, to return to Deir Sneid, the village of his forefathers, his land.  He says that he will not forgot his land, Israel should know this, he will return.

Mustafa Saif Abu Saif lies nearby.  He is pale, he looks tired.  He is only 14 years old, one of the many kids shot today.  His family are refugees from Jaffa, now they live in Jabalia Camp.  He was shot near the wall.  He had found an Israeli flag and brought it to be burned, while he and his friends were trying to burn the flag the soldiers shot him.  He asks that the world wake up to what Israel is doing in Palestine, that they assist the Palestinians in any way that they can.

Yehia Adel Al Shareef is the oldest person we meet today who was shot.  He is 23.  His family lives in Beach Camp.  He has no idea why he was shot, they just shot him.

Shadi Rayan is 19 years old.  He wants to return to his homeland, to the village which his family was expelled from in 1948.  He doesn’t want the world to forget that 63 years later, his family is still refugees; their right to return to their land is still being denied.  He was shot at 3:30 while he tried to hang a Palestinian flag.

These are only some of the wounded.  Over 40 were wounded, at least one died.  The shooting continued for over 5 hours.  The Nakba has continued for 63 years.  Hopefully we will not have mourn the 64^th anniversary of the Nakba.

We believe that our action was lawful and justified.

Today’s judgement illustrates the complicity of the authorities in allowing companies to profit from the occupation. Throughout the trial neither the Judge nor the prosecution challenged the assertion that the settlements are illegal in international law.

Irrespective of today’s judgement campaigners believe that they are still the victors. As a result of the collective efforts of activists, Ahava’s flagship Covent Garden store will close this September. This demonstrates the efficacy of grassroots action in creating real and tangible change. We call for mass participation in the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, building a movement that can directly challenge Israeli apartheid and occupation.

Press contact: thewallmustfall@gmail.com

Background:

Ahava Blockaders Finally on Their Way to Court

Ahava: The Occupier Becomes the Occupied

Fifth Blockade of Ahava Shuts the Shop for Business

On the 15^th April, a pleasant spring evening with the sun casting the sky a mix of pinks, greys and blue, approximately thirty people quietly gathered in front of the Italian embassy in London to celebrate and remember the life and death of political activist and friend, Vittorio Arrigoni. Many had knew Vittorio personally, had worked with him in Gaza or the West Bank whilst volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement, others had passionately read his blog and journals of the tragedy of life inside Gaza, and others who knew him only through the reputation that preceeded him for being a committed and dedicated activist for the Palestinian cause. His life had touched and inspired many, not solely through his bravery and dedication, but through his humanity, his humour and his love of life.

As people gathered, greeted each other with deep hugs, lit candles and drank Mojitos (his favourite), they reminisced about who he was, his achievements, the sadness of a life given to Palestinian liberation and yet so brutally cut short. And despite an immediate sense of loss and confusion as to why such an incredible man was targeted and executed, people also sought to understand how morality can become perverted under the weight of an Israeli siege and in a place where everyone’s life is lived with the spectre of death always sitting in the shadows.

Those who worked with him spoke of how, despite his size and his fearless approach in protecting farmers and fishermen, he became squeamish at the sight of blood and how he had to steel himself for working with the ambulances during Operation Cast Lead. They spoke of how he brought a sense of life and joy to those he spent time with, how his energy and reverie for being himself encouraged others to do the same, how his humanity was infectious and his ability to touch the hearts of all members of the community. Such was this characteristic that he had been given honorary Palestinian citizenship.

And finally, he was renowned as someone who saw himself as a Palestinian in heart and soul. He believed he would commit his life to Palestine, and knew somehow, that his death would be there too.

Amidst the tears, smiles and hugs, the Italian anti-fascist folk song, Bella Ciao was sung, it’s lyrics pertinent and fitting with the life of Vittorio, one that was lived fighting injustice and died for a cause that had become the embodiment of his soul.

Vittorio Arrigoni

ISM London are in shock and sorrow from the death of Vittorio Arrigoni.

He visited London frequently and many of us knew him as a friend as well as
a deeply committed activist for the Palestinian cause.

Our thoughts and sympathy are with his family, friends and his fellow ISM
volunteers.

ISM Palestine will update their website when more news is available. See their latest statement.

As always, it’s a two-day session. See the training page for more details.

To register, email training@ism-london.org.uk

Ahava is an Israeli company based in settlements in the occupied West Bank . NO to goods from West Bank colonies!

See the London BDS blog for more details:

AHAVA IS ON THE RUN!

JCrap.com (the Jewish Chronicle) today posted the news on their website that the campaign against Ahava has scored a direct hit. The landlord, Shaftesbury PLC will not renew Ahava’s lease after over a year of regular fortnightly demonstrations and direct actions. The shop’s neighbours are also keen to see Ahava leave and most have voiced support for the BDS campaign against the company

Continue reading…

After several friends had recently been refused entry at Ben Gurion aiport, I was somewhat anxious about what would happen. I suppose I was philosophical, though. If I was put on the next plane back, it wasn’t a problem. Perhaps I should be proud of the fact that I’d become an ‘undesirable’. Would mean that I was making waves, at least.

In the event, yes, they did know who I was and that I was ISM. I had a story prepared about why I was there at that time and intending to stay for a month — a story which was quite true, just with a few details omitted. Made no difference. As I related it, the girl from immigration just looked at me with an expression of ‘what are you wittering on about, we know who you are’. Not sure if my comment about International Society of Musicians helped.

However, it seems I had a choice. Either agree not to enter ‘Palestinian areas’ or leave now. When I asked the guy to define ‘Palestinian areas’ he just gave an impatient sigh and said ‘you know very well’. So I decided to drop the pretence. ‘Do you mean area A under the Oslo Accords?’ ‘A, B and C’ he replied. ‘I thought area C was under full Israeli control’ I said. Didn’t help. So I suggested the 1967 borders, or perhaps the wall. Still didn’t help.

Anyway, they gave me a visa, and I collected my luggage and headed for Al Quds (the Arabic name for Jerusalem).

Al Quds

It was Friday, so early afternoon I headed for Sheik Jarrah to see if the regular protest was taking place. At least I could go there quite legally. It was, and looked quite good. It was sad to see that the ethnic cleansing that was beginning back in 2008 when I was first there is happening at an accelerating rate.

I’d say, though, that there were a few hundred people at the protest, Palestinians, Israelis and internationals.

In the evening I went to see our contact, and we discussed what I could do while I was there. After that I went back to my hostel and went to bed just after nine, having been up for nearly 48 hours. The next day or two would be spent catching up on sleep and buying a few necessities, and not so necessities.

The next few days I spent as a normal traveller. Met a few people, went for meals in some excellent Palestinian restaurants in Al Quds, and went for drinks in an Israeli bar. A cool bar, as it happens. It is run by and frequented by the ‘leftists’, as they are called. The Israelis who attend the protests at Bil’in etc. and advocate boycott. Noam, the young Israeli who took us there, had obviously mentioned to some of them my predicament, and they were coming up to me and saying “you’re the guy who’s been banned from the West Bank” then proceeded to advise me on what to do. One, from Anarchists Against the Wall, basically told me to ignore it. As long as I wasn’t arrested I should be fine. So I confessed that that was the plan.

Ramallah

A couple of days later I was off to Ramallah for the ISM training. You do the training when you start, and if you’ve been away for more than a year or so. This was my third time.

I remember the feeling as we passed through Qalandia checkpoint. “A step further for me”, I said to my companions. I was now illegal, according to the Israeli state. So what did it have to do with them? I decided to call myself an ‘illegal emigrant’. Seemed the best description.

Bil’in

After the training we all went to one of the weekly Friday protests. I plumped for Bil’in, as I was hoping to meet up with some of my Israeli friends from Boycott from Within.

The protest itself seemed as usual. There was quite a bit of tear gas. The army had positioned themselves this side of the fence, so we couldn’t even get near it. Egypt was at this time in revolution, so there were loads of Egyptian flags. The Popular Committee released a press statement:

Popular Committees Against the Israeli Occupation

Palestine

Press release Date: Feb.4th 2011

The great Arab nation The Egyptian Arab nation; the cradle of great history and future We salute this great Arab nation, our bothers. This is the salute of freedom from the people of Palestine who have been fighting for decades for freedom and independence, and to retain the honor of Arabs. The Palestinian nation is still standing against the Zionist occupation that is seeking to control all the Arab region, aided by the United States of America. To the people of Egypt, standing tall like the pyramids and the great dam, to the heart of this Arab nation, that many thought went into a coma, at a time when Palestinians kept hope that something will come out of the Arab nations regardless of different setbacks and defeats, we kept hope that one day Arab nations will revolt to make one last stand against oppression and bring an end to the Zionist occupation of Palestine and all Arab lands. To the great Egyptian Nation The Palestinians are watching what is happening across the Arab world in general and Egypt in particular with great pride, from one side because of what the nations are reflecting of its will to change internally to a great better future without criminal outside interference, but from the other side with fear of losing direction.

Even though we fully trust the will of this rebelling people to differentiate between the good and the bad, and its ability to bring the revolution back on track, this could only be achieved, our brothers, by determining the goal and achieving national unity.

The goals set by the youth are clear — a decent life and a society that can be up to the local and international challenges that face the people, the country and the nation. Since those demands affect all sections of society and do not go against any group in principle, we ask you, as our blood flows for freedom, do not let outsiders infiltrate and cause a deviation and, God forbid, the loss of this effort for change. This is what our enemy wants — to destroy our hope once more. We see our future with the unification of our Arab nation; this is the great goal of this uprising in Egypt and all over the Arab world which will reflect positively on all the free nations of the world and especially on the Palestinians.

We call upon you from wounded Palestine, the Fathers and the martyrs, the children who still fight the Zionist occupation regardless of oppression, from Palestine that suffers from the internal split among its people, which is like a poisoned dagger in the back, we warn you of internal clash, and we say unity for our Arab nation.

Because our fight is with the Israeli occupation, it is not over until the occupation ends — from our position that this occupation is the common enemy of all Arab nations and the free world; because of its terrorism on this region’s regimes; because it is the source of nation’s suffering, supported by the USA and some other countries; because of our duty to our cause we announce:

1. We salute the Egyptian and Tunisian people and reiterate the nation’s right to live in freedom and pride.
2. We call for national unity and the preservation of civil peace, and to protect the home front and tolerance among all segments of society, and to deal with conspiracies and foreign projects in order to pass this historic stage successfully.
3. We hope that the rebelling Arab people make it their priority to demand from any government or leadership to come to sever their ties with the Israeli occupation and abandon the Egyptian – Israeli peace treaty. We believe it would be better to direct the masses towards the Israeli embassies and interests as an alternative to targeting the capabilities of the Egyptian people and the headquarters of its security.
4. We call on all free nations in the world, especially Europe and the U.S., to get out in massive demonstrations on 11 \ 2 \ 2011 to confirm the right of peoples to live in freedom and dignity — a day of anger against the Israeli occupation of Arab land, and as a beginning of the Global Intifada.

Long live Palestine

May god protect the Egyptian Nation

The Popular Committees Against the Israeli Occupation – Palestine

The tear gas started before anyone had got near the soldiers. But we marched anyway, and there was a kind of standoff. We were all standing, some were singing, others shouting protests at the soldiers. Regularly people who were further back tried to come forward, but were repelled by volleys of gas.

At this point, the shebab (youth), had not begun their usual symbolic stone throwing. It only happened as we were walking back to the village. I was caught between the shebab and the army. I decided to scarper, but still found myself in the midst of a load of gas. One of my Israeli friends was, despite being a seasoned veteran of the protest, almost disabled by being in the middle of a large cloud. She had to ask me to help her out of there, as she could barely see.

Video of the protest

Afterwards we all went our separate ways. I was heading for Nablus, a place of fond memories.

Nablus

Anyone who’s been to Nablus loves it. It’s a thriving city, with the friendliest people you could meet. A visit to the shops to buy a few supplies nearly always ends with a gift of sweets or fruit. It’s also a centre of the resistance to the occupation. During the intifadas it was a major place of conflict. Nowadays it’s a lot more peaceful, but only because the main resistance now is non-violent.

Our contact there, Wael, was recently in prison for months, where he was interrogated and tortured. That fact is hard to believe when you meet him. He still has the old sense of humour that I remember from my last visit, and is still one of the warmest and friendliest people I know.

There are many illegal settlement around Nablus. They are close to villages which are constantly harassed by them. Two of the most infamous are Yitzar and Bracha. They are inhabited by extremist ideological settlers who believe that the land was given to them by God. They are serious nutjobs. Last time I was here, I spent most of my time sitting or sleeping in the road outside a half-built house that settlers from Bracha kept on trying to burn down.

There was still a lot of trouble, and while I was there a nearby village had many homes and livestock sheds demolished by the Israelis. A copy of the demolition order was translated by our Palestinian guide as saying that the land was reserved for Israelis.

We spent our time visiting villages, encouraging them to call us if there was any trouble. On one visit we were at a house in the village of Asira close to Yitzar, which had been attacked by settlers just half an hour earlier.

We also took time to explore Nablus itself, and even managed a sauna and massage in one of the famous turkish baths. And, of course, ate plenty of knafeh, a local delicacy of goat’s cheese, honey and pastry.

Knafeh

A couple of guests at the Nablus apartment

An Nabi Salih

The village of An Nabi Salih is very close to an illegal settlement. Every Friday, like many villages around the West Bank, it has a demonstration against the occupation. However, this one tends to be more violently repressed than others by the Israeli army.

The first week we were there, though, it was seen as quite strange. Normally the army move into the village early, and as the march gets under way, the tear gas, sound bombs, rubber-coated steel bullets, and even live ammunition begins. This time it was different. There was very little intervention by the army for the first couple of hours. After that, as the shebab began their symbolic stone throwing, there was some response, but not much. We spent most of the afternoon sitting outside a house. After we left, though, the army moved in and arrested three people.

Next Friday was different. The army and Border Police were seen entering the village in the morning, and they stationed themselves around.

As we tried to get to the march starting point by the mosque, we were stopped by a number of Border Police who told us that the village was a ‘closed military zone’, and if we didn’t leave now, we would be arrested.

We went back to the house where we’d stayed the night, waited a short time, and started out a different way, guided by Neriman, our host’s wife. It meant running across the road hoping the army didn’t see us, then we went up to the mosque to join the others.

After a number of speeches, the march set off. A little down the road the army were waiting. At the head of the march the main group of villagers, internationals and Israelis gingerly moved forward a step at a time. Then, suddenly, all hell broke loose. High velocity tear gas cannisters (shot straight at us, quite illegally), sound bombs and rubber-coated bullets flew our way. We ran for cover.

After the initial volley, some of us crept back down towards the army. They began to move. A jeep drove by me and a few other internationals with it’s door open. I’d seen this in videos of previous demonstrations, so wasn’t surprised when, as it passed us, an arm came out and threw a sound bomb at our feet. Actually, I regretted not taking a video of it. Instead I covered my ears (in a particular way — it’s not good to just press your hands over your ears), and stood there, defiantly. Or vaingloriously. There was quite a concussion from it.

We all moved up to the village square. There were army and Border Police all around. I saw a couple of us filming one group, so went to join them. One of the Border Police who stopped us earlier was there. After a short while, he climbed over the fence between us and came towards us. The Border Police have the power of arrest, and are particularly nasty. In our training we are told to avoid them. So, taking our cue from Neriman, we ran. This was the general scheme of things for the next hour or two. We’d find somewhere they weren’t, until they were, they’d chase us, sometimes shouting ‘we’ll arrest you’, we’d scarper. Once, one of them shouted something, presumably in Hebrew. I don’t know what it was, but I don’t think it was ‘have a nice day’. Then he threw another sound bomb at us. We escaped by running very fast and jumping down a six foot trench. We weren’t sure where to go, but the villagers, many of whom were sitting outside their houses, would gesture to us if it was safe, or if not. If necessary — and one or two had to when they got separated — we could take refuge in anyone’s house.

Finally we saw some of our friends on someone’s roof, so we joined them and had an hour or two’s peace, with tea and coffee from the residents.

Eventually we ventured back out again, after reports from some of our friends that things were quiet again. We went back to the main square, and all sat on a porch drinking more coffee. We watched what must have been one of the greatest acts of non-violent resistance ever. The soldiers in the square, armed to the teeth, were standing around trying to look in control. Meanwhile, the local kids had made a makeshift BMX track and were riding their bikes all around. And playing frisbee. All round the soldiers. It was a sight to behold.

After a while, Bassem, one of the organisers, suggested that something may be about to happen, so, we started back to his house. We were only a short way there when we heard sound bombs and tear gas grenades back at the square. We ran back, cameras at the ready.

There was a bit of a skirmish, but the army was just pulling out. A Border Police jeep drove out of the square. The shebab threw stones at it. One of them smashed the window.

We kept an eye on the army, who were further down the road. They wouldn’t take this lightly. Sure enough, they began to move towards us, jeeps and the skunk wagon. The villagers quickly put up a roadblock made of boulders.

When the army convoy arrived, the place became a battleground. Shebab throwing stones, high velocity tear gas grenades flying everywhere, skunk water spraying at us. We ran. I don’t think I’ve run so fast ever. Running from tear gas, skunk water, and Border Police jeeps. My legs nearly gave up and it was all I could do to remain on my feet. I nearly fell over with a jeep bearing down on me.

Unfortunately, where we’d run to was pretty much in the middle of the shebab. Skunk spray was all around, and where it wasn’t, tear gas was. Three of us caught a mass of gas, and were coughing severely, our eyes in severe pain. We believe it may have been a new type of tear gas, much more severe than usual. I kept on trying to think ‘don’t rub your eyes’. That would make it much worse. We found our way to the same house we’d been at earlier, where they administered well-tried remedies.

Gingerly we made our way back to the square, where it seems it was all over. What we’d just experienced was the final parting shot of the army.

We slowly recovered, and made our way to a house where there was a huge spread of food for us all. I ate some, but the smell of the skunk on my clothing hindered my appetite a little.

Ramallah

After a day like that, we decided a bit of relaxation was in order. Although strictly ISM rules say that drinking in the West Bank is not allowed, this was relaxed slightly recently. We can go to a Palestinian bar, but obviously discretion is required.

We went to a lovely bar where some sort of party was going on. A wedding, maybe, or whatever. Some Israeli activists arrived who’d been in Bil’in that day. They were also there illegally, as Ramallah is in Area A of the Oslo Accords, under full Palestinian control, and Israelis are not allowed. This did not deter them, though.

You often see ‘peace’ initiatives, cultural collaborations between Israeli and Palestinians, such as Daniel Barenboim’s West East Divan Orchestra. What I saw that night, however, was the real thing. Nothing artificial, just both sides enjoying each other’s company. Seeing them all dancing together must give hope to all who witness it.

Al Khalil

Al Khalil is the Arabic name for Hebron. Another of my favourite places in all the world. A wonderful city, but also a tortured one. It is divided into H1, the Palestinian area, and H2, where 500 Israeli settlers live amongst Palestinians, guarded by several thousand soldiers. These are real ideological settlers too. There is always trouble.

Shuhada Street used to be a thriving shopping centre, but after the 1994 Al-Ibrahima Mosque massacre, the Israelis closed it to Palestinians. Every year, on February 25th, there is a protest. Here is a video of this year’s.

Most of our work there involves keeping an eye on settlers. We stand near schools in the mornings, where the children are often terrorised by settlers.

One day settlers attacked a house. We weren’t far away, so we got there as soon as we could. It was all over by then, but we were able to document what had happened. Some settlers had come onto the land near the house, shouting abuse and throwing stones at the Palestinians living there. They vandalised some trees. This all happened within yards of an army watchtower, but of course the soldiers did nothing.

Another evening we’d been out as guests of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), whom we work with closely. After a delicious meal and a good chat about each other, we headed back to the apartment. At the nearby checkpoint, a Palestinian man was being detained by the soldiers.

We decided to keep an eye on the situation. One of the soldiers, however, didn’t like this, so he took the man’s ID from him and said that he wouldn’t give it back until we’d gone. So we left, with the intention of returning in a few minutes.

When we got back, the situation had deteriorated. The soldier was being a total plank.

If we tried to film or photograph what was happening, we were told to stop. They had no right to say that, but they were the ones pointing guns. I did my favourite trick — turned the video camera on, and held it by my side to make it look like I wasn’t using it, but casually pointed it at whatever was happening. Thus I was able to film the whole thing anyway.

We called TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron), an organisation set up by various governments, who are there to observe. They produce secret reports, which are seen by the Israeli government, the PA, and the Quartet. They do not intervene, although sometimes simply being there can act as intervention. They are also untouchable. They cannot be stopped at checkpoints, or interfered with. Oh, and also very highly paid!

This time their presence seemed to help. The police were called, and soon after the man was released. A small victory, perhaps, but at least we’d helped in some way.

One day, we heard that settlers were building something on a hilltop near an illegal settlement just outside Hebron. Two of us jumped into a taxi to go and see what was happening. Unfortunately, the driver spoke no English, and we had to phone someone to instruct him where to go. Didn’t quite work out, though. He ended up stopping right at the gates of the settlement. So there we were, in a Palestinian taxi, we and the driver wearing kaffeyes, surrounded by settlers. We shrank down into our seats, thinking ‘get us out of here’. Another phone call, and he set off again to a nearby house. The family there spoke English. It seems that two of them had lived in the US for some time. They knew who we were, having had some connection to ISM previously. They were also able to tell the driver where we were supposed to be. So, more coffee later, we were on our way again.

We found the place, and two members of EAPPI were there observing. Some bulldozers were on the hill. An army jeep drove up to them, and it seems this time they were actually on our side (albeit reluctantly), as work then stopped.

It was on a road next to an illegal settlement where schoolchildren were often harassed by the settlers. The various groups — ISM, CPT and EAPPI — shared the ’school run’ there. We would sit by the road, and our presence could help to protect the schoolchildren as they walked past on their way home. That day was ISM’s turn, so we stayed. Fortunately it was a quiet day, with no trouble.

It’s not all gloom, though. The Palestinian people themselves make the whole thing worthwhile. At one point, as we sat there, a Palestinian women walked by with her son, stopping to talk to us. She spoke good English, and thanked us for what we were doing. She was a professor of computing at the nearby university. Her husband was a professor of agriculture there. Naturally we were invited for tea.

A while later, just as we were preparing to leave, a car stopped. The man inside also thanked us. It seems he was a professor of agriculture at the nearby university! His name was Sufian Sultan. He also invited us for tea, so we got in the car and drove to his house, where we were given delicious cake and tea. We talked at length on the situation in Hebron and Palestine in general. At one point Sufian seemed to be nearly in tears as he was talking passionately about his beloved homeland.

After a couple of hours, we left — having promised to stay in touch, and to return one day.

Leaving

I’d heard that sometimes passports were scanned at checkpoints on the way back into Israel. If mine was, since I was in the West Bank illegally, I could expect alarms to go off and to be led away in chains. So it was a bit daunting when I had to finally head back to Jerusalem. However, I was lucky. I was able to stay on the bus with other foreigners, disabled, and mothers with young children. Normally I’d get off the bus anyway in solidarity with the Palestinians who also had to, but this time I thought it best not to attract too much attention to myself. The young girl soldier got on the bus and checked everyone’s passports. She barely glanced at mine. Another hairy moment over.

I was expecting trouble at the airport, too. At least a major interrogation and search. But they totally swallowed my ‘chilling out in Jerusalem’ story, I was given a security rating of 3 — tourist — and I was through. I have to admit, though, I only began breathing again when the plane accelerated down the runway.

I doubt I’ll be allowed back in anymore, something which breaks my heart. I already miss the beautiful countryside, and most of all the warmth and hospitality of the people.

A row started when Zionist blogger Richard Millet posted a piece in the Jewish chronicle blogging pages, as well as his own blog, attacking not on the anti-semetic staff member, but Alex Seymour, who posted the video and Bruce Levy, the victim of the attack who he denounces as the “dregs and bullies” of the BDS Movement. Millet goes on to defend the staff members comments about Jews killing Jesus as simply an “off the cuff remark” and denounce the video, which features the staff member answering “because your Jewish” to Levy’s question “why did you say I killed Jesus?” as an “attempt to frame her look like a Christian fundamentalist”.

Millets piece received near-unanimous support from the Zionist commenters on the piece from his assertions.  On the Jewish Chronicle site, instead of addressing issues surrounding the video, Amber, Mattpryor, Yoni1 and joemills attack Zair, a pro-Palestinian commenter, after he made a comment about the why Richard Millet was attempting to defend the staff member.

Jonathan Hoffman of the Zionist Federation and the Board of Deputies of British Jews chose to ignore the anti-semetic comments in the video and instead attacked the “The Israel-bashing lefties”, who he accuses of “bullying the Ahava workers mercilessly” by mercilessly making themselves victims of anti-Semitic attacks. Harvey joined Jonathan attacks and suggests that during the next direct action against the shop the workers should “pour several buckets of ice cold water over them as they lay glued together on the floor”, an idea Jose disagrees with, adding that “tar and feathers” would be a more appropriate method of causing grievous bodily harm to people who are non-violently protesting against the illegal Israeli West Bank settlement company. Jose later does address the video itself, adding that you “can’t hear anything” during the clip, an issue that is presumably a problem with the soundcard on Jose’s computer rather than the video itself, which quite clearly features the staff member telling a Jewish man that she believe that the Jews killed Jesus.

On Richard millets blog itself a lively debate running to over 250 comments ensued. Roger defended the staff members comments as simply “out of context”, Silke thought she being “ironic” and Sharon Klaff attributed her deeply anti-Semitic attitudes to the “tremendous strain” she faces. David Guy said he“feels sorry for the lady”, who he describes as “under pressure” and who must surely “regret” her comments. Isca Steiglitz of Greens Engage, who describe themselves as “responding to the intersection of anti-zionism and anti-semitism”, said she would need to know more fact before passing judgment on the Staff members “angry retort”.

Jonathan Hoffman returned to making ad-hominem  attacks against anti-Ahava campaigners, describing Bruce Levy, the victim of the attack, as a “piece of dreck” and Alex Seymour, who posted the video, an “ ignorant arse” and a “sad grey little man of an indeterminate age”.

Empress Trudy, presumably inspired by Harvey and Jose’s attempts to come up with the best way to brutalise pro-Palestinian campaigners offered the idea that Ahava staff members should “close the shop, turn off the lights, turn off the heat, lock the doors and chain them from the outside” during the next protest inside the shop, presumably so the protestors can understand how it feel to live in Gaza and deepen their commitment to the Palestinian cause. Chipping in a few comments later, Windsor based celebrity biographer Chas Newkey-Burden, blogging under his pseudonym ‘Oy Va Goy’ pondered that the Ahava protests have
“nothing to do with Israel” and that he has “asked family and friends to buy me Ahava products for Christmas”. He later went on to attempt to teach some basic Israeli Hasbarra methods to Richard Millet, telling him that it would have been wiser to have got “an explanation/other-side-of-the-story” to put out alongside the video.

Yoni later responded to a demand for the racist shop members sacking by calling the poster a “sad, useless, inadequate, Jew-hating person”, whilst defending the staff member, who believes that “Christ Killer” is an acceptable insult to hurl at a Jewish person, as “under pressure” and her comments taken “out of context”.

Richard Millet himself joined in the conversation, possibly causing severe wear and tear to the H, M, A and S buttons on his computer whilst continually changing the subject from the “ironic comment” you “never hear (the Ahava staff member) say” to alleging support for Hamas from commenter’s with consideration for Palestinian human rights, mentioning the Palestinian group in just under 50% of his posts.
The only pro-Israel commenter to acknowledge that the video “ doesn’t look good”, was cba. Every single other Zionist commenting on the feed chose to defend the staff member.
When the original story broke an ISM member emailed the Jewish Chronicle alerting them to the video, believing that a video of a worker at a Jewish owned business in London making comments about Jews being Christ killers would be news to a paper whose role is to report any news of note in the Jewish community. The ISM London member was sadly mistaken, and has not heard anything back from the paper, nor noticed any report on the incident on the papers website.
So why all the ambivalence towards the attack? Perhaps the reasoning behind the JC and the Zionist blogger’s attitude is best explained by a posting from Silke on Richards blog;

“To evoke that image (of Jews as Christ killers) against a Jew who works for the destruction of Israel i.e. a person severly lacking in charity and compassion may be owed to a bit of roundabout logic but in the little we know of the context definitely not anti-semitic.”

The message seems to very firmly be that anti-Semitism is now ok, so long as the victim is a Jew who supports Palestinian human rights.
The orginal threads can be found here and here