7. S.O.S. from the Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP)
11th May 2006
Posting 7. to the On the Ground category, by George Salzman, 11 May 2006
On 8 May I got an urgent e-mail from Heba El Sadeq <> on behalf of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program, which I prefaced with a brief remark and distributed to my “large” e-mail distribution list, as follows:
The Gaza Community Mental Health Program, and the director, Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj MD, are totally credible, and when they speak of a “Medieval siege” I believe them. We ought to do whatever we possibly can to allow them to live and to not suffer destruction by the Israeli conquerors. Their message is brief.
Dear Friends,
Please read the following appeal and distribute widely to your friends and mailing list and the media. You are kindly asked to contact your members of Parliaments to make them know and act to stop this catastrophe.
Regards,
Heba
It might not be generally known that a humanitarian crisis is building rapidly in Gaza. Because taxes that are due to the Palestinian government are being withheld by Israel and financial support by the EU has ceased, there is no money to pay public servants, including health workers. Most have not been paid for two months, and this in a place where over fifty percent of people live below the poverty line. Drugs are running out. Without anaesthetic agents, for instance, it is proposed the main public hospital in Gaza City, the Shafa, be closed. Little or no material is being allowed through the commercial checkpoint of Karnai at the northern border with Israel.
A medieval element has been superimposed on this economic and physical siege. Artillery pieces have been firing shells into ‘open ground’ for the last two months, and this into one of the most densely populated areas in the world. The ostensible purpose is to quell the firing of the primitive Qassam rockets, which have killed eleven Israeli subjects in the last two years. On the morning of the 24th of April, the first author heard the explosions of about sixty shells whilst he discussed the formation of an educational medical centre with the senior physician at the El-Wafa hospital. It is reported that over six thousand have been fired. Life and limbs have been lost. The children are terrified and precious homes are being damaged or destroyed.
None of these actions are justified in international law. Indeed the opposite obtains. The EU and other nations are complicit by their involvement, or at least by their silence.
We ask for humanity, reason and the law to prevail – immediately.
David Halpin FRCS <>
Eyad El-Sarraj MD <>
Derek Summerfield MRCPsych <>
——————————
Please visit our site:
Gaza Community Mental Health Programme
www.gcmhp.net
Four people wrote back to me on the 8th and 9th, as follows:
From: Jeff Blankfort <>
Date: Mon, 08 May 2006 23:20:53 -0700
We spent some time with Dr. El-Sarraj two years ago in Gaza. He is quite a human being. Arafat had him arrested several times when he complained about PA human rights violations.
Given what is going on right now, the Jews of Israel and I speak of the majority are no better than were the majority of Germans under Hitler. And those Jews who are exploiting the Darfur tragedy for their nefarious purposes while the starving of the Palestinians is going on are the dregs of humanity. I am angry and frustrated at our weakness.
Jeff
From: Lawrence Salzman <>
Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 08:09:53 EDT
George: If Hamas recognizes the right of Israel to exist and stops firing rockets into Israel from northern Gaza, the tax money that Israel collects for the Palestinians, will begin to flow once again to the Palestinian government. Realize these monies were turned over to the Palestinian government for years and in spite of the ongoing conflict. The EU will also change its policy toward Hamas.
Realize goods and services in the form of thousands of Palestinians who worked in Israel has essentially stopped since Hamas took over the Palestinian government because of their stated policy of not recognizing Israel’s right to exist. There have been several suicide bombers who killed and wounded both Israelis and Palestinians at the northern check point in Gaza into Israel. Doesn’t take too many suicide bombers to close that trading between Israel and Palestinians.
Again, for you to compare the Warsaw Ghetto to Gaza is insulting. Los
From: A long time friend, JA <>
Date: Tue, 09 May 2006 13:51:30 -0400
To: Martin Posner <>
CC: George Salzman <>
Thanks Martin and George. I forwarded George’s message to our . . . long-term friends, Carol and Arnold Saltzman. Arnold has long been a cantor at Adas Israel, but now, because of problems with his voice, is studying to be a rabbi. Carol, his wife, is a wonderful actress who heads up an improv musical troope. Normally, they are very liberal and we can talk to them about everything, but they evidently support the current Israeli position of denying taxes to the Palestinians. In my view, the Israeli hawks have tragically replicated in Gaza the very conditions of the Warsaw Ghetto — murders, assassinations, long lines, degrading conditions, soldiers shooting innocent civilians, and even children, for sport.
Yet, there are many Israeli citizens who disagree with the Israeli leadship; they simply don’t have the power right now. … [T]he Saltzmans, though liberal, often host parties at which . . . Charles Krauthammer and his wife, Robin attend. Charles, as you must know, is a hard-right conservative columnist known for his bitter, sharp partisan attacks. I personally like Charles but have avoided arguing with him since I completely disagree with almost everything he writes. He used to be liberal and supportive of Mondale; but has become a bitter man. Who knows why? Perhaps, it’s because of his being paralyzed by a diving accident and wheelchair bound. I wish I could make the case with such friends for a position that supports peace and justice for both sides … but they seem hardened against appreciating the Palestianian position.
Now, on the radio, Bush prepares the nation for war against Iran. I suspect he’s doing it at the urging of Israel. And there has been talk of using nuclear weapons because of their bunker busting capacities. I’m quite rattled today listening to Bush, Condi Rice, and others treat the Iranian President’s letter, which sought to establish some basis for dialogue and diplomacy, with a dismissive sneer as a “mere diversion.” The US appears to be determined to attack Iran, no matter what.
It’s so outrageous and the results will, of course, be appalling. The army is stretched to the limit in Iraq and Afghanistan; the budget is completely out of hand and European economists are predicting that the American dollar will have to be devalued by half; Americans will be much more vulnerable to terrorist attack as a result. What to do? Even if we march, this Administration will ignore us. But I will march and get on the phone. God willing, we can stop it, but I think we have little hope of affecting the outcome.
From: Farouk Barakat a>
Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 19:33:16 -0400
Dear George,
Does all the work you do to get information out to your large mailing list help to curb your anger? Sometimes I feel like screaming, but no one listens. Maybe it is wrong, but I have mostly even stopped writing letters and making phone calls. Too many deaf ears. But I do spread info to friends and family - but I feel that they are so like minded that even though it reinforces their view, it does little to change the world. Thanks again for being there.
Edith
I wrote in reply to these 4 correspondents and CCd it to 30 others, which led to additional exchanges. There are two threads in this exchange: one on the legitimacy or illegitimacy of Israeli actions regarding Gaza, and the other oriented towards building grassroots strength aimed at eventually being able to determine the course of history — as the Zapatistas would say — “from below”. This latter thread is my major interest, emphasizing as it does “On the Ground” work, even though it seems largely unable to have a significant impact on immediate events. I am posting the briefer comments here, and will post the longer ones at http://site.www.umb.edu/faculty/salzman_g/Strate/2006-05-11.htm as soon as possible.
From: Jeff Blankfort
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 10:36:01 -0700
George,
I forget if Lawrence Salzman is a relation of yours but if so, the apple seems to have fallen far from the tree and has already turned, as they say. Hamas, of course, has not fired a single rocket or taken any armed action against Israel since declaring a truce a year ago, but for Lawrence, apparently, one Palestinian is much like another and until they recognize the
legitimacy of Israel’s ongoing theft of their homeland, and say “yes, massa,” they are going to be starved to death. The firing of rockets by Islamic Jihad is, of course, stupid, because it allows the supervictimizer to play the victim even though not a single Israeli has been killed by one of those rockets while Israel’s version of the Luftwaffe and the Wehrmacht have been daily firing missiles into Palestinian homes in gaza killing civilians. If anyone objects to my comparing the Israeli military with that of the Nazis, I would ask for a better historical comparison. After all, the Israelis have made “collective punishment,” which was a symbol of Nazi military occupation, a major part of their pacification policy over the years despite the fact that it is an open violation of international law. But we know what Israel thinks about that or about the existence of non-Jews, in general.
Jeff
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 17:03:04 EDT
For the record, George is my brother. And, for the record, George is the apple that has fallen far from the tree. We are apples from the same “tree.”
Your note seems to deny what George sent me earlier in an article which outlines some of the truth, i.e., that Israelis have been killed by rockets launched from Gaza. Right now, Palestinians in Gaza are fighting and killing each other as Hamas and Fatah battle it out to see who will control the security forces.
Do you have a clue why the exit and entrance point in Gaza into Israel has been closed so much of the time? Try thinking suicide bombers. Both Israelis and innocent Palestinians have been killed by these bombers.
Are you aware that those Palestinians who are launching rockets into Israel set up their launchers in civilian areas? They do this quite specifically as they want Israel’s responses to wound and kill some innocent Palestinians so they can point and yell at Israeli “aggression.”
I’ll leave it at that as I really don’t want to spend the time responding to everything you wrote as I’d have to stop my involvement in the rest of my life. Lawrence Salzman
From: Marianne Torres <>
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 11:19:15 -0700
How many of you have seen an aerial shot of the Apartheid Wall around either Qalqilya or Tulkarm? Wonder why it is that the first thing it brings to mind is the Warsaw Ghetto!!
And Lawrence, recognizing the FACT of a nation’s existence (”recognizing Israel”) is a completely different thing from “recognizing Israel’s right to exist”, unless of course your intent is to force the Palestinians to grovel rather than negotiate. The two are very different concepts. How could any people recognize the “right” of another to steal their land and ghetto-ize and torment their people?
And of course, Israel has made it clear again and again that it will not reciprocate with its demands. Israel will not recognize Palestine’s “right to exist” - rather confounds me how they can demand that from Palestinians or Hamas. Hamas has said many times recognition of the state and renunciation of violence is reciprocal, and that they are prepared to make it a quid pro quo.
Why am I too cynical to believe that Israel will ever give to Palestinians that which they demand Palestinians give to them?
Marianne
Spokane
[This item refers to an exchange of newspaper articles between Lawrence and me, on the same topics under discussion here, and a remark I made in a subsequent note. —G.S.]
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 17:16:51 EDT
In a message dated 5/10/2006 10:54:32 AM Eastern Standard Time, writes:
> By the way, you don’t need to inform me about the Nazi’s intentions and what they did.
George: When you compare Israel’s responses to Gaza to the Nazi’s responses to the Warsaw Ghetto, I do think you need to be informed. Los
From: Lawrence Salzman
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 17:33:48 EDT
To: Marianne Torres
In a message dated 5/10/2006 2:24:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, writes:
> How many of you have seen an aerial shot of the Apartheid Wall around either Qalqilya or Tulkarm? Wonder why it is that the first thing it brings to mind is the Warsaw Ghetto!!
Guess you’re not aware that the Nazis herded all of Warsaw’s Jews into the Ghetto so they could be slaughtered efficiently. Haven’t heard that Israelis have stormed Qalqilya or Tulkarm to kill all the Palestinians there. By the way, both of these town have been starting points for suicide bombers who have killed hundreds over the years in Israel from Passover services north of Tel Aviv to luncheonettes in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
By the way, if you are the person who lives in Spokane, Washington, when are you leaving the stolen land you live on? I assume you dismiss this, as Native Americans are not launching rockets into Spokane.
From: Lawrence Salzman
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 17:40:45 EDT
To: Marianne Torres
In a message dated 5/10/2006 2:24:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, writes:
> And Lawrence, recognizing the FACT of a nation’s existence (”recognizing Israel”) is a completely different thing from “recognizing Israel’s right to exist”, unless of course your intent is to force the Palestinians to grovel rather than negotiate.
First of all, Abbas wants to negotiate, but Hamas has not let him. Frankly, your logic in the above is obtuse, to say the least. Hamas does not recognize Israel or recognize its right to exist. It only “recognizes” Israel to the extent that Hamas is aware that Israel is there.
A contribution to this interchange from Dorothy Naor will be included with the other longer comments on my website. It is headed
From: Dorothy Noar <>
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 22:04:16 +0200
To: Marianne Torres, Jeff Blankfort
CC: George Salzman, . . .
Hi All,
I don’t usually enter your (or other) debates . . .
From: Jeff Blankfort
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 13:57:26 -0700
To: Lawrence Salzman
Try thinking occupation, killing, humiliation and dispossession for 39 years and maybe you will have some glimmer of understanding of what you are supporting. The sickness among Jewish supremacists is no less than that of those other believers in the “master race.” You’re not in very good company.
A contribution to this interchange from Manuel Garcia will be included with the other longer comments on my website. It is headed
From: Manuel Garcia, Jr. <>
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 16:46:51 -0700
To: Dorothy <>
Hello everybody (as Grover might say),
Thanks for the informative, if depressing responses. Doesn’t it strike you . . .
A contribution to this interchange from Bill Templer will be included with the other longer comments on my website. It is headed
From: Bill Templer <>
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 21:05:07 -0700 (PDT)
1. Dorothy Naor’s input on an IDF training facility for urban house-to-house combat operations in al-Naqab desert is part of the fascist reality . . .
From: Marianne Torres
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 22:40:14 -0700
To: Bill Templer . . .
Bill, I suggest the late Israeli Professor Israel Shahak’s Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years for a very clear discussion of this issue. I suspect Shahak’s work is at least a partial source for Blankfort’s reference.
Marianne
From: Dan Hughes <>
Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 08:04:25 +0200
To: Manuel Garcia, Dorothy Naor …
I can’t resist a comment on point 2 in this letter. We can just allow force to rule, or we can do what? Exercise a greater force to prevent it ruling? Or maybe change the human race? Fascinating to hear a plan to accomplish either — like maybe send Jesus back down (he wasn’t wildly successful however, was he?)
From: Dorothy Naor
Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 15:59:26 +0200
How about educating children to believe in ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you”? Dorothy
From: Dan Hughes
Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 16:06:20 +0200
Let’s be serious: the Christians have been talking like that for 2000 years, and what difference has it made? Do you have a realistic programme to get children to learn stuff like that? Or just encouragement?
From: Dan Hughes
Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 15:39:55 +0200
The authors have responded in the latest LRB, and perhaps all your people know this already. But it’s good stuff, and perhaps you’d like to send it on to your big group. If I could only have two journals, they’d be the London Review of Books (LRB) and the NYRB (NY=New York). (If I could only have one, it would be the LRB:)
“The Israel Lobby”
From John Mearsheimer & Stephen Walt
We wrote ‘The Israel Lobby’ in order to begin a discussion of a subject that had become difficult to address openly in the United States (LRB, 23 March). We knew it …
From: Jeff Blankfort
Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 18:49:20 -0700
Aside from Shahak who uses historical references, any number of Israelis, public officials and public figures have said or written that since the international community did nothing to save the Jews in WW 2, Israel and Jews, in general, owes nothing to the international community, and that attitude is reflected in its public and foreign policies. In other words, Jewish supremacy is accepted as legit in Israel and by most supporters of Israel whether or not they would put it those exact terms. Of course, the record of Zionist collaboration with the Nazis and their sabotaging of rescue efforts by non-Jews should eliminate the Israelis from having anything to say on that issue. Most Israelis, across the political spectrum, have contempt for Jews in the diaspora, as well, all for different reasons and all of them, in essence , correct. The rightwingers consider their supporters abroad to be “checkbook zionists” while the left, finds them contemptible for their refusal to oppose criminal Israeli policies and actions.
Jeff
May 12th, 2006 at 1:16 am
JEWISH SUPREMACY? Caricatures of ‘Jewish supremacy’ as Jeff indulges in them are common fare on the right, and I guess now on the newer left. I’ve drawn on Shahak’s critique of Zionism for decades, but his diatribe against Judaism and the Jews JEWISH HISTORY, JEWISH RELIGION: THE WEIGHT OF THREE THOUSAND YEARS (Pluto 1994) is a weak, poorly researched piece railing against ‘Jewish xenophobia’ down the centuries that belongs in Mr. Duke’s court but not ours.
Shahak is alas not a historian of Judaism and Jewries. He says almost nothing about Jewish-Arab symbiosis in al-Andalus, does not mention Jewish Reform, the influence of Tolstoy on Aaron David Gordon, the social anarchism of Kropotkin and Gustav Landauer inside haPoel haTzair and other streams of ‘left’ Zionism, the entire complex around Buber, Magnes, Akiba Simon, Henrietta Szold (Brit Shalom, Ihud) — but instead creates a monochromatic caricature of Jewish ‘Orthodoxy’ and its classic insularity and ‘hatred of the Other.’ Didn’t Shahak realize where his real readership lay?
[I mention Buber, Szold, A. D. Gordon, the fanatic anti-militarist who started the kibbutz movement. Sure, left Zionism people were all Jewish nationalists involved in a overtly racist colonial-settler enterprise. But a number were social anarchists nonetheless. In their time (paradoxically) a possible political mode, however ’schizoid.’ In ours a total contradiction. The picture is complex. Here something by Oved on anarchism in the kibbutzim: www.anarchistcommunitarian.net/articles/ kibbutz/kibbtrend.html ]
ABBC.NET You can find Shahak’s entire text at this site: www.abbc.net/historia/shahak/english.htm Check it out. While you’re at it, take a look at this site more generally, where the Lobby features prominently. It is alas a virulent anti-Jewish site that delights in Shahak’s ‘analysis,’ and is loaded with articles on the sinister power of Jews in America, ‘Jewish racism’ and that stuff: www.abbc.net/ Henry Ford would feel at home there. So would Julius Streicher. Are these our Genossen?
Another openly anti-Jewish site featuring Shahak’s book on Judaism is www.biblebelievers.org.au/jewhis1.htm An Australian supremacist Christian church. It denies the Bible (Tannach) is Jewish.
CYBER-RACISM I can’t stress too much how the Internet has changed this ballgame of xenophobic racism and its propagation. That is why vigilance is so necessary. Sure, there’s a much broader issue here of how people way off your own wavelength may use what you write and say to their own ends. Mearsheimer and Walt touch on that in their response to letters to the editor in the LRB, dissociating themselves from the far right that has so gleefully welcomed their analysis. This remains a complex issue — which in a digital world I’m more confused about than ever before.
I’ve worked very closely a couple of decades with Palestinians, and never encountered this kind of vicious anti-Jewish racism. Never. The Palestinians inside the resistance movement I am connected with would reject this trash immediately. The Bedouin I fought side by side with as well. This site includes Luther’s infamous “The Jews and their Lies” along with Shahak, they make good company.
Statements like “Jewish supremacy is accepted as legit in Israel and by most supporters of Israel whether or not they would put it those exact terms” (Jeff) fit in well with this broader caricature construction. Ergo: most ’supporters’ of Israel are ‘Jewish supremacists’ however we may define ’supporter.’ Or the loaded word ’supremacist.’ Just think through the implications of such thniking. That’s what I’m concerned about.
IT IS ONE STRUGGLE I hate to reopen this discussion, but I’ve been fighting anti-Jewish racism since I was a kid. And I see the fight against its percolation (through discourse, attitude) into the global left — and our own struggle against the Israeli ruling class and corporate-military elite and its distinctive fascism, as one single fabric. The fight against the Wall, and the fight against demonizing people as Jews in talk about ‘Jewish supremacy,’ or demonizing Palestinians in the many modes popular. I think my friend Toma Sik, an old left veteran from Tel Aviv who worked with us in the Bedouin resistance struggle and was probably murdered by the Mossad on a lonely road in Hungary two years ago, would agree. I wish I could ask Toma.
A MARKET OF INSIDIOUS GENERALIZATION So generalizations like “Most Israelis, across the political spectrum, have contempt for Jews in the diaspora, as well, all for different reasons and all of them, in essence, correct. The rightwingers consider their supporters abroad to be ‘checkbook zionists’ while the left, finds them contemptible for their refusal to oppose criminal Israeli policies and actions” seem pretty absurd to me. As does: “But we know what Israel thinks about […] the existence of non-Jews, in general.” A parody of any reality. To anyone who knows some of the complexity here.
Zionist collaboration with the Nazis is not what it’s about. That’s not why I nor anyone I know is in motion against Zionism. What we don’t need are burlesque constructions of Israelis, Palestinians, Jews, anybody.
GRASSROOTS DIRECT ACTION Regarding struggle from the bottom up, Chomsky says something about direct action and resistance: “It’s true that centralised power, whether in a corporation or a government, is not going to willingly commit suicide. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t chip away at it, for many reasons. For one thing, it benefits suffering people. That’s something that always should be done, no matter what broader considerations are. But even from the point of view of dismantling the master’s house, if people can learn what power they have when they work together, and if they can see dramatically at just what point they’re going to be stopped, by force, perhaps, that teaches very valuable lessons in how to go on. The alternative to that is to sit in academic seminars and talk about how awful the system is.”
A-RAM – MAY 13 PEOPLE’S MARCH OF PROTEST: Grassroots ta’ayush, togetherness in resistance is one way forward. Dismantling the master’s Wall. As in the joint Palestinian/Israeli demo against the Wall at a-Ram on May 13. Bifurcated a-Ram is the antipode emblem of one democratic united multinational state. Here a powerful description from B’Tselem of that town’s plight: www.btselem.org/english/Separation_Barrier/A-Ram.asp .
a-Ram is a substantial town of some 58,000 Palestinians, not a ‘village.’ From the May 13 call: “the residents of A-Ram continue their joint activities with Israelis, against the occupation and for a peace that is just for both peoples. This march is the first in a series of actions by a coalition of Israelis and Palestinians together with the residents of A-Ram.”
AL-NAKBA MAY 15 Our people can’t march in Gaza protesting its strangulation — but in a-Ram and all along the Wall and across Israel and in Bil’in and Budrus, Jews and Palestinians and Scandinavians and Japanese can join hands and are. Monday May 15 is al-Nakba Day. And there will be demos by Jews and Palestinians together, to mark that commemoration of destruction. Like the activists at zochrot: www.nakbainhebrew.org/index.php?lang=english
Here a thoughtful article by Eitan Bronstein on the Nakba and Israeli reception of it: www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General/Story1649.html Timely for this hour
May 12th, 2006 at 2:07 am
By way of footnote, Yaacov Oved’s article on social anarchism in the kibbutz movement is here:
raforum.apinc.org/article.php3?id_article=2379
Bill
May 15th, 2006 at 10:24 am
Here a Gush Shalom report on the a-Ram demonstration on May 13, how it brought people together from all ranks. And how brutally it was attacked by the Israeli state forces. There is also a link to photos at the end. The article closes: “But in spite of it all, something important was achieved during the difficult hours of the a-Ram protest march: in this demonstration there existed a complete national unity of all Palestinian factions, and the Hamas representatives showed no hesitation to march side by side with Israeli peace activists, treating them with marked friendliness.”
//////////////
A-Ram’s dignified protest
and how violence was used to break it (Gush Shalom)
The initiative came from the local leadership of the residents of the a-Ram Jerusalem suburb. Mayor Sirhan Salayme took an active role. Israeli peace groups were invited to jointly make plans of action “against the occupation and for a peace that is just for both peoples.”
It was not the first time of such joint efforts. Much of what we earlier together demonstrated against, has become a-Ram’s sad reality: the Wall which bisects the main street of a-Ram, makes the going to the other side of the road a very long journey (to say the least). But then, the a-Ram residents don’t give up, so why should we.
The first in a series of joint actions would be a protest march on Saturday May 13, by a few hundred Israelis - as many as could be mobilized by the Israeli anti-Wall partners.
The Palestinian side would bring schoolchildren, teachers, neighborhood residents and supporters, in much bigger numbers.
The slogans were meticulously formulated, as to make sure that all the different participants could agree with them: “No to Walls and Checkpoints / Yes to Negotiations / No to Unilateral “Convergence ” / Jerusalem Open to All Her Residents.
The very organizing of this action proved wrong the Israeli government’s assertion that “there is no partner. ” In spite of the Wall which was built to separate, the residents of a-Ram continue their joint activities with Israelis. But, when the day came, it turned out that this fact is not at all appreciated by the Israeli authorities. The demonstration became a very stormy one.
It had been so carefully prepared as a non-violent protest. The pupils of the elementary schools in their school uniforms led the demonstration, with the smallest in front. But to no avail: the army and police had decided in advance to suppress the demonstration by force.
When the 200 Israeli peace activists approached the a-Ram Checkpoint, it became clear that they would not be allowed to pass. Therefore they went around. At a point where the meters-high grey concrete slabs have not (yet) been erected they broke through a fence. Quite some demonstrators succeeded in passing quickly through the breach, but those who where stopped by police had to remain on the “Israeli” side and demonstrated there.
On the main road of a-Ram, which is already divided by the Wall, the Israelis joined the Palestinian march which was already on its way, led by Mayor Salayme. Right behind
the massed schoolchildren, the leaders of all Palestinian parties - from Fatah to Hamas - had formed a line. White-haired Uri Avnery was invited to join and walked between the
red-bearded Hamas leader, Sheikh Abu- Tir, and the former presidential candidate Mustafa Barghouti. Next to them was the Minister for Jerusalem Affairs of the new Palestinian
government, Abu Arafah, also a Hamas member.
Further on along the road, in the middle of a-Ram, the police and army had concentrated a large force. Rows of policemen blocked the road, with mounted police in front and a large number of army Hummer vehicles behind. Seeing this, the organizers diverted the schoolchildren into a side street, and the thousand demonstrators, men and women, young and old, marched on towards the improvised tribune that had been prepared in advance, still with the line of party and organization leaders in front.
When still about 50 meters from the police line, they were suddenly, and without any provocation, bombarded with a salvo of tear gas canisters. The road was covered with clouds of gas. The demonstrators found shelter in adjoining buildings, and thus Abu-Tir and Avnery found themselves together in the guest room of one of the houses.
Some minutes later, when the gas had dispersed, the demonstration went on, but it was attacked again and again by the soldiers, Hummers and police riders; this lasted about
two hours.
Ten activists were arrested. After a few hours, the three Israeli detainees were released, but not the seven Palestinians. It seems that Occupation Authorities have
embarked upon a more aggressive approach towards non-violent joint protest. The day before, police in Bil’in shot two international activists and a foreign photographer in
the head with rubber coated steel bullets. All three were hospitalized.
But in spite of it all, something important was achieved during the difficult hours of the a-Ram protest march: in this demonstration there existed a complete national unity of
all Palestinian factions, and the Hamas representatives showed no hesitation to march side by side with Israeli peace activists, treating them with marked friendliness.
Israeli partners:
Gush Shalom, Anarchists Against The Wall, ICAHD, Alternative Information Center, Bat Shalom, Mahsom Watch, Women’s Coalition for Peace, Taayush and Yesh Gvul.
A series of photos:
gush-shalom.org/pics/a-ram-13-5-06/