[Palestine] A Different Kind of Action

The following blog post is an update of what John and I have been doing, including a few personal observations.

It has been awhile since either of us last wrote. The olive season is in the books. Hopefully next year will provide a more bountiful harvest for Palestinian families. We were told this season was about 20% as fruitful as the previous one.

The most notable occurrence since our last blog post was the recent conflict in Gaza. Hamas fired homemade/ Iranian built rockets, Israel conducted airstrikes with American made F-16 jets which dropped precision munitions on targets in Gaza in addition to rockets fired from naval vessels in the Mediterranean. The shelling lasted for just over a week before a cease-fire was brokered. The final death toll symbolizes the asymmetrical balance of power and resources between the seemingly intractable sides – 6 Israelis and 169 Palestinians killed.  

We have done a lot of reading, from many different sources, and come to the conclusion that the majority of articles/reports about the conflict published by mainstream media sources are inauthentic representations of what has objectively transpired to date. Consistently the patina of objectivity is used to belie the ‘Israeli as a victim of aggression acting in self defense’ narrative. This position further justifies the Occupation and the violent actions of fundamentalist settlers. But it is up to the reader to get informed and then form his or her own opinions about the struggle.

Gas & Stones 

When the gas comes you run. 

Across the West Bank, during the conflict in Gaza, there were many demonstrations. Including in our own backyard, at the nearby Huwarra Checkpoint, less than two miles from where we live. At one of the protests, there were nearly 300 Palestinians and 4 internationals, including us. We witnessed the usual anti-Occupation dance. Palestinians gathered, and began to throw or slingshot rocks at soldiers who were positioned above them on a hill. Soldiers then fired great amounts of tear-gas, and rubber-coated steel bullets in the direction of different groups of young men. The Palestinians then retreated and collected themselves, by breathing in deeply from limes and onions, to re-orient their minds to the smell of something other than the gas. Once the pain passed they moved forward again and the dance repeated itself.

A protestor is given CPR after gas inhalation.

After seeing this kind back-and-forth many times, and after inhaling a great deal of tear-gas myself, I began to see the fruitlessness of that action. The question came up… what are these young men achieving besides getting out some of their Occupation-generated anger? - Which, in my opinion, is completely understandable, but really not the best way to achieve a just and peaceful end to the struggle. There must be alternatives to the stones and gas.

Habibi come to Tabib

A few days later John and I went to a public demonstration in Izbat Tabib, a very small town, near several settlements in the Qalqiliya District. Altogether it was a very different demo than any we had been to thus far.

When you turn off the main road, toward Tabib, there is a red and white sign warning Israelis that they are entering an area where Palestinians live and is accordingly very dangerous. That type of misleading language can be very powerful. Take for instance the military title of Israel’s most recent Gaza shelling – “Operation Pillar of Defense”. As John (my colleague) eruditely notes the Israeli military narrative is simultaneously part victim and part aggressor.

In Tabib locals are concerned with cultivating a very different and unifying narrative. Most Fridays a group of Israeli activists bus into the no-stoplight town to participate in an inter-cultural theatre group. They march together with Palestinians, including many children, past the red and white sign, down to the nearest main road. There they chant in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Our favorite chant and when we tend to yell the loudest is… "One, Two, Three, Four… Occu-Pation No More… Five, Six, Seven, Eight… Stop the killing, Stop the hate.”

Protestors march together in Izbat Tabib.

After minutes of peaceful yelling a handful of soldiers circled our group of about 40 protestors. This went on for a while and they, the soldiers, seemed to have no idea what to do. They made calls and more soldiers came with several armored vehicles. The merry group of protestors then created a semi-circle and began to act out their different interpretations of the struggle and the affinity they have for each other. After an hour or so everyone went home rather satisfied, well I cannot speak for the soldiers who remained perplexed as to what had just transpired, but we were pleased with the action.

We went home feeling much different than we normally do after the usual demonstration. The rock and gas demos leave us with mixed feelings; a potpourri of anger, frustration, and powerlessness. After leaving Tabib I felt good about what had just happened; we witnessed collective action between Israelis and Palestinians at a personal level, a powerful statement in such a divided land. 

John and Sam 

[Palestine] Homes Demolished in Hares, near Illegal Israeli Settlements

If you routinely answer your phone perched tenuously atop an olive tree, then you are either a crazy person, or someone who picks a lot of olives – draw your own conclusions. Yesterday I received a call, in such a position, and was informed of a house being demolished in Hares, a nearby town (we would later find out that three houses were being demolished, on that day, and 14 more were set for demolition at a later time).

Though the embers of the previous night’s fire were still smoking in our minds, John and I forgot about everything else, and made our way to Hares.

There we encountered a lopsided standoff. Heavily armed Israeli soldiers and Border Police had a cement-block house completely surrounded. Army vehicles and bulldozers edged the nearby road. Inside the house there were Palestinians, and on the other side of the Israeli defense shell there were more Palestinians (roughly 20 Israeli soldiers/border police and 60 Palestinians). One group had an array of weapons the other had rubble. There were also 10 internationals, including ourselves.

The situation was tense! We ran around documenting, unable to position ourselves within the house that would soon be destroyed. In these kinds of situations we, very quickly, weigh the choice of interposing ourselves versus witnessing the event. It is not easy to choose the latter, the injustice smacks you in face.

When the bulldozer moved toward the house, the fuse was lit, the house sitters evacuated, and the situation went off. Palestinians picked up stones, from around the Israeli line of defense, and began throwing them toward soldiers and police. In the other direction soldiers fired tear gas, sound grenades and rubber coated steel bullets, which can be lethal if taken to the chest or head. I have no idea which side escalated the violence, but that does not matter, it was bound to play out like it did. This is not a new story I am telling.

This went on for hours (not an exaggeration) the house demolition continued, one… two… three houses, while Palestinian rock throwing ebbed and flowed.

At one point we found ourselves rushed into a nearby building, close to the first house that was being demolished. We were told that soldiers had begun using live ammunition. In hindsight we strongly question the veracity of this claim. Regardless, we waited inside while soldiers surrounded the perimeter. Amongst us were medics and women. The women were huddled together and crying. Their sons were outside, as young as ten years old, throwing rocks, physically expressing their pent up anger at the symbol of occupation.

I want to end this by taking a moment to consider the house owners, the mothers, and their children in the street. Forget about the Palestine/Israel geopolitical malaise, and the myriad narratives we associate with the struggle. After all this is a story about people living under extraordinary pressure.

If you are a Palestinian homeowner you might have your house demolished, left helpless, without any legal recourse. That knock on the door could come at anytime. If you are a Palestinian mother you are experiencing deep maternal pain. Your children cannot grow up to be whatever it is they want to be. Is it your responsibility to tell them why they cannot become a doctor, or why they cannot see the world for themselves? Imagine being that child, all you know is the occupation. How else, besides throwing rocks, should you get that terrible anger inside of you out?

Just before we left Hares an elderly woman came up to us, she was hysterical, and her eyes looked red from crying for a long time. She spoke frantically, screaming at us, or maybe at a higher power. We asked for a translation and were told that she was pleading for help. Not help from a neighbor, or help from the government, but help from the burden, the yoke of injustice.

Like bountiful olive trees that grow from arid soils, Palestinians exhibit love and kindness in the midst of such injustice. We feel safe here, and we feel a great affinity for Palestinians and their beautiful culture. And in the midst of pain and suffering there is happiness and laughter. Every single day we experience what it means to be Palestinian and we are much better off for it.

You might be asking yourself, why would Israeli’s go through all of this to demolish a few houses? I surely was. Here is a little context.

In the West Bank there are three types of non-contiguous land area, which are designated as areas A, B, and C. They were delineated during the Oslo II Accords in 1995. Area A means full civil and security control by the Palestinian Authority (PA). Area B means Palestinian civil control and joint security control (go ahead have a laugh). Area C means full Israeli civil and security control. 18% of the West Bank is Area A, 21% is Area B and 61% is Area C. Area C is where this story takes place.  Area C is where illegal Israeli settlements, settler bypass roads, areas zoned for settlement expansion, and finally what the military complex calls “security zones” are located. 

Hares is a small town, which happens to be nearly surrounded by Israeli settlements. Including the largest settlement in the West Bank – Ariel (like the mermaid). The 17 houses being demolished with bulldozers are on the edge of town. And by edge I mean they are basically in the town of Hares. Israel considers these houses to be Area C, and thusly they can be demolished legally. Though legality in this context is opaque and pliant to the will of those in power.

[Palestine] Olive Harvest to Arson

Sam and I spent our day harvesting olives with a young man, Hassan, and his parents. The family's agricultural land sits on a terraced hillside overlooking the small rural village of Burin, in which they reside. The village looks serene from a distance, homes and shops begin at the bottom of the valley and are set into the hills on its opposite side with an aesthetically pleasing ease. The minarets of the local mosque shine white against the chalky beige hues and pastel greens of distant olive orchards that serve as a backdrop. It is only when your eyes travel upwards to the hilltops surrounding the village that all notions of serenity and tranquility must be abandoned.

Perched on said hilltops loom the imposing structures that compose the illegal Israeli settlements of Yizhar to the South West, and Bracha, to the North East. Together, they effectively sandwich Burin beneath them and impinge upon the everyday movements of its inhabitants. Their guard towers, mounted with snipers posts and telephoto security cameras, have a birds eye view of all that transpires in the valley below, nothing goes unseen. Fields that were once cultivated near these militarized outposts now lie barren and unused, the result of systematic settler intimidation, harassment and violence.

And yet, this is easily forgotten by the end of a long and at times monotonous day's work in the olive orchard. Having survived the monotony, I find myself riding back to Burin in the back of a tractor that has seen better days and at the mercy of a driver who seems to have little regard for his cargo; several large burlap sacks of olives, myself, Sam, two international volunteers from ISM, Hassan and his mother. Eventually we arrive at Hassan's house and are treated to an excellent home-cooked meal, all the while enjoying an elevated level of warmth and hospitality that seems to personify the Palestinian household.

Following dinner, we step out onto the front porch for a cup of coffee and are met with a sight that shocks both Sam and I, but leaves Hassan and his family strangely calm and composed, seemingly completely unphased. Looking across the valley to the hillside we had been working on no more than an hour before, plumes of dark smoke are rising and orange flames are increasingly visible as dusk sets in. The source of this blaze is abundantly clear to me without a second thought; settlers have set the orchards on fire, an act of arson. This is a common practice used to harass and make life unbearable for the village's residents. We decide to go for a closer look, to document this incident and to lend a hand if possible.

Jumping in a servis with Hassan and the two ISMers, Sam and I jet across town, hop out and sprint uphill from the floor of the valley towards the fire. We are amongst the first to arrive, beaten only by a couple of men from the local fire brigade who are trying, largely in vain, to curb the fire's voracious appetite as it spreads up the hill. Eventually around twenty-five young men scramble up from the village to join in this effort. They are equipped with only the most basic of tools, namely rubber mats and fistfuls of dirt, which they use to smother the fire and counter its spread. The level of comradery and bravery exhibited is astounding. Although most of these men have no training and are merely responding to defend their village from an imminent threat, they manage to contain the flames and get the situation under control. 

The most incredible part of this experience to me, however, is the collective calm and cool-headedness exhibited by the Palestinian citizens of Burin throughout the entire ghastly incident. I witnessed a group of young men whose land and source of livelihood was attacked in a brutal, premeditated, and ethnically motivated fashion. In response, they came together as a community, dealt with the problem at hand and then went home to their families. Where I was infuriated by the aggression against their village, they took it in stride and went about their daily lives, undoubtedly upset but able to suppress these feelings by acting rationally and avoiding escalation. This level of violence should not be tolerated  in any society yet it has been normalized within this one.    

-John

[Panama] 15th Anniversary of the Ngabe-Bugle Comarca

On Wednesday, March 7, the MPTers were invited to ascend the mountains of western Panama to the Ngäbe-Buglé capital of Tugri to celebrate with the Ngäbe-Buglé the date marking fifteen years since the establishment of their Comarca, or autonomous region (similar to a reservation). That morning, we crowded into the back of a pick-up truck with about 15 other people and drove into the clouds. As the temperature dropped from 99 to 65, the moisture in the air turned to rain, and the wind threatened to knock us over, our majestic surroundings left us awe-struck. (We were later humbled to discover that many of the Ngäbe-Buglé themselves had walked to the celebration, some families taking as many as twelve hours to get there.)

Each March, the Ngäbe-Buglé gather for several days not only to celebrate, but also to take the opportunity to talk about important issues facing the community. This year, the mood was dampened slightly by the serious pressure put on them by the government to make concessions to companies who want to build several hydroelectric dams and mines around the Comarca, pressure that is unfortunately contributing to divisions within the community.

There has been much violence from government and armed forces in response to nonviolent protest, and such tension in the country, that MPT was invited to Panama. The Ngäbe-Buglé  leadership was aware that talks with the government could disintegrate at any moment, and desired to have international observers at the ready should the situation erupt in violence. Thankfully, due to the skilled leadership of Carerra and the recent involvement of the UN (which took some action after the police violence against Ngäbe-Buglé demonstrators last week), the talks have continued relatively peacefully.  In the meantime, MPT has been building relationships with those involved in the situation and learning more of the complexities. 

Tradional Dancers

The dams, the companies claim, will enable Panama to produce their own energy, making Panamanians wealthier and bringing prosperity to all. Many Panamanians believe this claim, and are therefore in favor of the dams. The Ngäbe-Buglé , on the other hand, after consulting lawyers and environmentalists who have dug more deeply into the situation, have discovered that Panama currently produces more energy than it uses, so the dams are unnecessary for the use alleged by the companies. 

In the negotiations process, the Ngäbe-Buglé have much in their favor. According to international law, the Panamanian government was supposed to abide by a strict consultation process with the Ngäbe-Buglé before selling their land to any company. While the government did speak with a few indigenous people before making a deal with the hydroelectric companies, it did not come close to following the standard process. The Ngäbe-Buglé are hopeful that this will give them much leverage in an international court.

For many Ngäbe-Buglé, the talks with the government have been going too slowly, with not enough concrete results, and they are becoming impatient. Many do not trust that the negotiations will be successful in protecting their land and way of life. Silvia Carerra, the Cacique (figurehead and leader),on the other hand, is pushing ahead with the dialogues. She fears that if the talks break down, violence could break out all over Panama, resulting in many deaths of her people.