No Comment: No dia 14 de agosto, a IDF atacava os palestinos em Khan Younis na Faixa de Gaza.
Ismail Hanyeh, presidente do Hamas em Gaza e Primeiro Ministro deposto por não se adequar aos interesses de Israel e do Quarteto para o Oriente Médio (EUA, UE, ONU, Rússia - esta, cada vez menos consultada), tentou uma reaproximação com Ramallah, em vão.
Na verdade, Ismail estava desesperado com o bloqueio e com o corte do pagamento dos salários dos funcionários públicos. Havia meses que ninguém via um tostão do dinheiro que Israel retinha em seus bancos em vez de repassar para a Autoridade Palestina. Para Gaza, menos ainda.
Os líderes políticos e militares israelenses estavam regozijantes com a guerra fratricida e a ruptura dos dois principais partidos palestinos, pois em sua inconsciência míope, sempre pensaram, erroneamente, uma frase que repetem sempre: "What's bad for Palestine is good for Israel".
Porém, a divisão dos territórios palestinos entre o Fatah e o Hamas era um desastre não apenas para os palestinos, mas para a perspectiva de paz. Portanto, um desastre também para os israelenses.
A doutrina do "O que é ruim para a Palestina é bom para Israel" é um dos mantras sionistas malígnos contestados por todo mundo que enxerga o visível e o invisível. Mas esta frase era e continua popular na IDF e no governo de Israel. Mas tinham razão em uma coisa, as coisas iam mesmo mal na Palestina.
Na Mukata'a de Ramallah, Mahmoud Abbas, seduzido pelas promessas do Quarteto em troca de palavras e atos ultra moderados, se referia ao Hamas como "um bando de fanáticos".
Em Gaza, Ismail Hanyieh acusava Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) de ter virado Marechal Petain, o comandante francês que dobrou-se aos nazistas durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial deixando a França à mercê da ocupação e além disso, delatou seus compatriotas resistentes ao ocupante. Trocando em miúdos, acusavam os dirigentes do Fatah de colaboradores com os invasores que oprimiam os palestinos desde 1948.
Neste período negro de 2007, só havia uma pessoa que inspirava respeito tanto aos membros do Fatah quanto do Hamas. Só um nome era pronunciado com esperança unânime por todos os palestinos: Marwan Barghouti.
"He holds the key in his hand, both for the Fatah-Hamas and for the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts", era a frase que se ouvia em ambos os lados.
Pois é. Já disse e repito, Marwan Barghouti é o Nelson Mandela palestino no tocante ao percurso e por ser um potencial catalisador da solução dos problema internos e externos de seu povo. Ambos eram intelectuais pacíficos que pegaram em armas por causa da conjuntura opressiva, ambos viraram líderes da resistência, foram presos por causa disso e condenados por terrorismo. Ambos foram muito torturados, adquiriram sabedoria no cárcere solitário e viraram ídolos nacionais. Ambos, após terem sujado as mãos de sangue por resistirem à crueldade do ocupante, passaram a representar a união e a perspectiva de liberdade e paz almejada.
Marwan estava atrás das grades com centenas de compatriotas.
Os palestinos são mudados de prisão constantemente, as visitas são submetidas a longa espera e só são permitidas aos familiares próximos, mulheres, mães, filhos e irmãos menores de 16 anos, que consigam autorização de visita. A partir dos 17 anos os jovens perdem todo contato com o pai e irmão detidos.
Apesar da mobilidade constante de prisioneiros - para desestabilizá-los e dificultar sua localização - Marwan é o líder de referência entre os milhares de prisioneiros políticos presos desde a Segunda Intifada. Foi ele que encabeçou o "prisoners' document" chamando à união e ao curto "Mecca Agreement" que criou um breve governo de unificad. Este documento só foi assinado pelo Fatah e o Hamas após consentimento de Marwan.
Os próximos de Marwan eram os únicos membros do Fatah que reconheciam a responsabilidade de seu partido nas desavenças na Faixa de Gaza. Ora, ao contrário dos demais dirigentes do Fatah, os do Hamas vivem presos em Gaza ou, no caso de Khaled Meshaal, em países árabes, devido às ameaças de assassinato do Mossad. Eles são instruídos, mas na Universidade Islâmica, que embora não seja laica como as nossas PUCs, é bastante livre, porém, nunca pisaram em um país ocidental, nem da Europa nem da América. Quanto à população, é cortada dos parentes da Cisjordânia por causa da dificuldade de intercâmbio e nos últimos meses, por causa do bloqueio que os condenava a um gueto inclemente.
(Quando se é cortado do mundo e ele só chegava até você em forma de bombardeios, confia-se desconfiando. É o caso dos líedres do Hamas "detidos" na "prisão Gaza". Acho incrível que os gazauís sejam abertos como são, vinvendo neste constante gueto-pesadelo. Acolhem os estrangeiros de braços abertos, como na Cisjordânia, e reclamam menos do que os brasileiros... )
(Mas para o governo israelense, os gazauís, os palestinos em geral, não são gente. No mês de setembro de 2007, declarou oficialmente a Faixa de Gaza como "enemy entity". Despersonaliza o país, desumaniza o povo para poder bombardear à vontade em "legítima defesa". )
No Comment: No dia 17 de outubro, Condoleeza Rice visita a Basílica da Natividade, sem Mahmoud Abbas.
E nenhum membro do Fatah negou que Muhammad Dahlan, ex-confidente e conselheiro de Abu Mazen, conspirara com os EUA para conquistar a Faixa de Gaza. Ao contrário, diziam, off the record, que o queridinho dos estadunidenses e israelenses achava que com armas e dinheiro conseguiria controlar a Faixa e admitiam que foi seu comportamento que levou os líderes do Hamas a defender-se atacando antes de serem depostos, presos ou mortos pelo cúmplice do ocupante. E confirmaram também que a maioria absoluta dos gazauís apoiava o Hamas e detestava Dahlan, que acusavam de colaborar com o ShinBet. Daí a vitória fácil do Hamas. E daí Abu Mazem expulsar Muhammad Dahlan da Palestina mais tarde.
Os poderes entre os dois partidos foi dividido na marra.
O centro de gravidade do Hamas era a Faixa de Gaza e os problemas que tinha eram de Khaled Meshaal, que residia em Damasco e era um tipo de embaixador itinerante do partido no mundo árabe onde buscava dinheiro e apoio diplomático.
Todos os dirigentes do Hamas na Cisjordânia, inclusive os parlamentares eleitos em 2006, haviam sido sequestrados e levados para presídios israelenses. Fato único na História universal.
Um dos próximos de Marwan disse na época que Israel acabaria entendendo que precisava de paz e que para obtê-la teria de libertar o único homem que poderia assegurá-la. Como os afrikaners haviam feito na África do Sul soltando Nelson Mandela. Por isso os palestinos começaram uma campanha internacional para a libertação de Marwan Barghouti.
Porém, ninguém no campo palestino acreditava na vontade e na capacidade de Ehud Olmert concluir um acordo de paz e muito menos de implementá-lo. Todos tinham certeza que o tal "international meeting" que o presidente dos EUA George W. Bush estava organizando visava levantar o moral de Condoleezza Rice que estava muito impopular, e não obter resultados junto a ocupante e ocupado.
"Se os esforços de Mahmoud Abbas não adiantarem, haverá uma nova explosão como a da Intifada após o fracasso de Campo David", disse um membro do Fatah. "E se não acontecer agora, uma nova geração despontará. Como já aconteceu, um grupo se cansa e outro emerge e ocupa seu lugar". "If the occupation does not come to an end ant there is no peace, a peace that will enable the members of this generation to turn to the universities, to family, work and business, a new intifada will surely break out."
Mas para isto os palestinos precisavam re-unir-se. E para isto precisavam de Marwan Barghouti que se encontrava, nessa época, no presídio de Hasharon, sem perspectiva nenhuma de ser libertado.
Pois ouvia-se a palavra "reconciliação" aqui e acolá, mas parecia vazia de sentido, na situação de beligerência passiva e ativa entre os dois partidos.
O mês de outubro terminaria com mais "sanções" aos gazauís por terem elegido o Hamas. Israel reduziu mais ainda a importação de combustível na Faixa de Gaza, a 50% da quantidade de benzina, gasolina, gás e diesel necessários à economia e às moradias.
Primeiro, Budrus. Um vilarejo de 1.300 habitantes a cerca de 12 quilômetros no noroeste de Ramallah e a 3 quilômentros da Linha Verde.
Os budruenses mostraram que sua condição não era uma fatalidade inelutável, apesar de Israel ter confiscado cerca de 80 por cento do município deixando 5.000 dunums e depois estabalecendo uma base militar de treinamento.
(Dunam, ou dunum, uma unidade de medida de terreno que data do Império Otomano. Em árabe, a palavra é escrita دونم (dunam) e a medida ainda é usada no Iraque, Jordânia, Líbano, Israel e Palestina com valores variados. A medida correspondia a 919 m². Hoje em dia, nos países citados, corresponde a 1.000 m². Menos no Iraque, onde corresponde a 2.500 m²).
Os recrutas da IDF viviam provocando os moradores de Budrus, mas apesar disso, esta cidade sempre foi pacífica, nunca reagiu. Até 2003, quando a IDF chegou com os caterpillars armados para destruir suas lavouras e casas para construir o muro que começou em Jenin e deveria percorrer uma extensão de 650 quilômetros, abrangendo todo o norte da Cisjordânia.
O muro começou como uma serpente tapando cisternas, demolindo casas e cercando Qalqilya. Foi subindo em uma trajetória invasiva e quando chegou em Budrus, os bulldozers estancaram. Não por vontade própria e sim por terem seu avanço obstaculado por cidadãos desarmados, porém, determinados.
Transformaram seus corpos em escudo da terra, pagaram caro, com ferimentos e detenções. No final da luta/resistência, não conseguiram impedir os 3.500 metros de cimento de passarem rente, mas conseguiram salvar terras de seu município e de municípios vizinhos.
Em Bil'in continuavam na mesma luta. Com manifestações cidadãs todas as sextas-feiras desde 2005 quando os invasores chegaram às portas do município com bulldozers e soldados para erguer o muro na marra. Apesar da adesão de várias ONGs internacionais à luta dos bil'inenses, em 2007 os construtores-destrutores já haviam erguido uma cerca de arame farpado, que era na primeira oportunidade posta abaixo.
Com ajuda de ativistas israelenses, os moradores recorreram ao Tribunal de Tel Aviv, pois comodizia um dos habitantes, “the Berlin Wall fell. The day will come when peace-loving people will wake up. I think there are many Israelis who are working against the wall. If Budrus resists on the eastern side of the wall, let the Israelis resist on the western side. If there really are peace-loving people, that wall will come down. But even without the wall, the occupation is intolerable and cannot be borne.”
Em Budrus a participação feminina era muito grande e elas estavam na primeira linha. Havia um acordo que nenhum preso pagaria a fiança de 5.000 shekels (cerca de US$1.200) apesar dos ativistas internacionais estarem dispostos a cuidarem disso, pois se nos dobrássemos a essa manobra jamais alcançaríamos nosso objetivo.
Toda manifestação terminava com mais de 50 feridos. No fim, embora não tivessem conseguido impedir a cosntrução do muro, um budruense disse: "We were very successful. We were able to prevent [the confiscation of] 95 percent of the land that had been slated for expropriation. All of this came with a price that was not trivial — many villagers were arrested and wounded, but in the end we managed to safeguard no less than 1,000 dunums of village lands, and they are planted with olive trees. Changing the route in Budrus may have spared Ni’lin about 2,000 dunums; al-Midya also benefited.
We involved all sectors in the village resistance to the wall — women played an active role, and so did the children, young people and old, everyone participated. The factions were involved too.
People still oppose the wall; that hasn’t changed. Activity levels differ, of course. On Land Day, March 30, the entire village turned out, and we marched to the wall gate. The occupation forces interact with Budrus differently; they want to stop our activities any way they can. They shoot at us with live fire and dumdum bullets, and recently five people were injured. The Israelis distribute leaflets threatening death and imprisonment, things like that. Nevertheless the resistance to the wall remains. In fact, it is impossible to stop it. No one can control it because the occupation refuses to budge. I can’t stop a child or anyone else from opposing the occupation.
The wall here consists of three segments. The kids brought down a main segment, consisting of a coiled wire. The Israelis come and fix it; within a week it is back in place. With every action we take, part of the wall is brought down. On Fridays, you find 90 percent of the children are assembled. Everyone is doing something, some have shears and they are cutting away at the wires. A child was injured here beyond the wall; he cut the wire and crossed beyond the barrier. He was hit with five bullets.
So the wall is just one more symbol of the occupation. It would be hard to convince people that this is a fact they should accept. We are provoked daily, the army is always around and comes to our homes daily, even when no one goes to the wall.
who has been injured, one imprisoned. And if you want to compare Budrus to other Palestinian villages, you will find higher percentages in Budrus than elsewhere in Palestine. In 2007, 75 people were arrested in one day [and were given sentences or detention orders] for periods of time ranging from 6 months to 10 years — 75 from a village with a population of 1,300 … arrested in a single day. Thirty were arrested in activities related to the wall, most of them children under age 18. About 30 have been injured with live ammunition. Probably about 1,000 injuries with rubber bullets and tear gas. So every person in Budrus has been injured by the occupation. Maybe that’s part of the reason that residents have so much solidarity with one another.
In my estimation, the wall has created psychological turbulence among Budrus residents, although the actual land area expropriated for it is smaller than in other areas. Here the wall is a coiled wire, but it feels like a structure that denies us air to breathe. With time all people will revolt against it. But we have to know how to aim our compass correctly.
The wall is adjacent to the elementary school. In school, the kids are afraid and worried. The guards at the wall use tear gas even at a distance. If a kid yells in the direction of the wall, the response is immediate. They try to create an unnatural psychological state. This has been constant, ever since they began the wall here. The policy of the occupation forces hasn’t changed.
The children’s school is no longer a school. The window panes are broken, the classrooms are decrepit. The wall harms the kids’ psyches, it hurts our agriculture, it is bad in every way.
Budrus was the first town affected by the wall, and it changed things 180 degrees. A popular committee was formed in Budrus, and then a more regional committee was also formed, and it adopted the Budrus approach. The entire area participated with Budrus and everyone learned from that experience. The change in the wall’s path brought about by resistance in Budrus saved some of the land of Ni’lin and al-Midya. Deir Qaddis followed exactly the Budrus model. The only difference is that Deir Qaddis has an Israeli settlement on village lands. So it is impossible to place the wall behind the settlement. Now there are two lawsuits related to the wall. One was filed by the settlement, and the other by the people of Deir Qaddis. The settlers are claiming that the wall is too close to its lands; they want it moved. And the villagers want the wall off village lands. Thus far, work on the wall has come to a stop.
The PA has lapsed in its responsibilities toward all the villages west of Ramallah generally and in fact, in the entire West Bank. Its failure has been abnormal and unnatural. Right now, whatever efforts the PA makes are focused on Bi’lin. I don’t see the PA’s media outlets mentioning anything other than Bi’lin. There have been some very difficult humanitarian cases, worse than Bi’lin, that are not mentioned in the media. With all due respect to Bi’lin and the example they set, it is not right to marginalize all other areas and limit the wall to a single focus area.
The PA has to aim its compass correctly, decide how to act; our people have to know how to act. We are an unarmed population. If we want to work correctly, we should think, how many are we, 3 or 4 million? And how many are armed, 4-5,000? You have 3.5 million that you can enlist in nonviolent resistance, popular work, and see what they can accomplish.
Entire villages here are marginalized. None of the PA’s money goes to the areas damaged by the wall.
Not a single PA official came to Budrus when the wall was being constructed. It wasn’t until Budrus started a march to the Council of Ministers that we were able to talk to an official. And he acted as though he was doing us a favor by talking to us or holding a press conference. Frankly, the PA just doesn’t have the interest. The PA didn’t help at all, not a single official did the simplest thing, like donate some banners. At the same time, they come to you and say, we will bring you projects. We don’t want their projects, and anyway, these projects aren’t coming from them. They get international grants, so they aren’t giving me charity. And anyway, the land is gone, so where are they going to put the project?
Before the elections, we went to a huge rally in Bi’lin, and there were many members there from the Legislative Council holding signs for candidates; they knew there would be cameras. Even in Friday prayers they were smirking at each other. I am sure that had there been no legislative council and local elections approaching, we wouldn’t have seen a single one of them. For two years, we haven’t seen one of them assume responsibility for the treatment of a single injured person. A ministry for the wall was created, but it has no presence and has done nothing at all. Ask the wall minister about Budrus or Zububa, he doesn’t know them, he’s never been there. The best thing the PA can do if it really wants to work is to use the popular struggle.
I was arrested with a member of the Swedish parliament. The newt day, a parliamentary representative was here and so was the Swedish consul. We had many foreign embassies and ambassadors visiting us here. The Swede who was arrested with me is now forbidden to come here for the next 14 years.
Our mobility has been affected by the settlements, not so much the wall; this is part of the plan for the eastern part of the area. The whole area is going to be in a canton. This is an Israeli plan that has not yet been implemented. It will connect Rantis, pass through Shuqba, Ni’lin, and Kiryat Shevar settlement. That will mean that Shuqba, Shibteen, Budrus, and Ni’lin, and al-Midya will be within a canton. There will be a tunnel from Ni’lin to Deir Qaddis. We don’t know when they will start this, but they are ready to begin. There has been some discussion about forming a committee to oppose this plan. We are working on this.
For people who do construction work in Ramallah, about 7-10 families moved there, just because of the lengthy commute. About 90 percent of those who had worked in Israel are not permitted to work there any more, but some work in Israel illegally, and they stay away for a week or two at time.
The situation in Ramallah is abnormal. When villages are cut off from the city, what becomes of it? What creates life in the cities other than the surrounding villages and towns? Cities are nourished by the life in the surrounding villages. The economy and jobs in cities are spurred by the villages. The movement of people from the villages to the cities is what creates life in the cities. When the villages are cut off from Ramallah, what happens to it? It diminishes.
Our affection for and solidarity with one another. When we turn out for an action, we feel that we are accomplishing something. We might be able to move the wall 5 or 10 meters or so, but you feel that something can be done about it. If Ramallah were to march on to Budrus, I am sure that not a segment of the wall would remain between Rantis and al-Midya. If we work seriously, I am sure that nothing would remain. The occupation can’t line up soldiers between Rantis and al-Midya. We had a march that gathered at one gate (western side), covered by al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya and other agencies, and people were taking down the wall from the southern end. Nothing is impossible.
The Berlin Wall fell. The day will come when peace-loving people will wake up. I think there are many Israelis who are working against the wall. If Budrus resists on the eastern side of the wall, let the Israelis resist on the western side. If there really are peace-loving people, that wall will come down. It just needs some planning and some determination."
Este depoimento explica um pouco a vitória eleitoral do Hamas, tamanha era a insatisfação com a passividade da Atutoridade Palestina inclusive na Cisjordânia.
Ao mesmo tempo que o morador de Budrus prestava este depoimento acima e os moradores do vilarejo de Nilin continuavam sua batalha contra o muro de seu lado, o Tribunal de Justiça de Israel aprovava a demanda dos moradores de Bil'in de mudança de curso do muro ilegal que estava cercando seu vilarejo. Graças às pressões internacionais suscitadas pela cobertura midiática das manifestações pacíficas semanais violentamente reprimidas pelos soldados da IDF. Embora muitas cidadezinhas palestinas estivessem sofrendo o mesmo assédio militar e tendo grandes áreas cultivadas sendo "desapropriadas" para conforto dos colonos israelenses, Bil'in era o centro das atenções não apenas da mídia como também do governo palestino, com discurso e tudo.
Mas a vitória alegrou todo mundo. A vitória de um, quando se vive sob a ocupação cruel em que vive a Palestina, é de todos. Como o sofrimento. O desse dia foi que a Corte deu com uma mão e tirou com a outra, como sempre fazerm os israelenses e depois tiram o que deram com ambas... O Tribunal declarou que vários prédios que foram construídos na colônia/invasão no município de Bil'in, chamada Modiin Illit, em terrenos de propriedade de famílias palestinas, não seriam demolidos como os palestinos pediam. Os invasores/colonos judeus continuaram nas terras roubadas, como se fossem deles. Apesar de já fazer três anos que a Corte Internacional de Justiça delcarara a ilegalidade do muro além da Linha Verde e das invasões civis, chamadas colônias ou assentamentos.
Aí deixo a palavra a um israelense, Yonatan Pollack, do movimento Anarchists Agaisnt the Wall: "Yet Israel has outright scoffed at the ruling, and no foreign state has come forward to denounce Israel’s practices of apartheid and land theft as mandated by the ICJ decision.
"When my friends fall prey to despair, I show them a piece of painted concrete, which I bought in Berlin.
It is one of the remnants of the Berlin wall, which are on sale in the city.
Em Budrus, a população luta contra destruição de oliveiras
Em Bil'in, a luta contra o muro continua
People still oppose the wall; that hasn’t changed. Activity levels differ, of course. On Land Day, March 30, the entire village turned out, and we marched to the wall gate. The occupation forces interact with Budrus differently; they want to stop our activities any way they can. They shoot at us with live fire and dumdum bullets, and recently five people were injured. The Israelis distribute leaflets threatening death and imprisonment, things like that. Nevertheless the resistance to the wall remains. In fact, it is impossible to stop it. No one can control it because the occupation refuses to budge. I can’t stop a child or anyone else from opposing the occupation.
The wall here consists of three segments. The kids brought down a main segment, consisting of a coiled wire. The Israelis come and fix it; within a week it is back in place. With every action we take, part of the wall is brought down. On Fridays, you find 90 percent of the children are assembled. Everyone is doing something, some have shears and they are cutting away at the wires. A child was injured here beyond the wall; he cut the wire and crossed beyond the barrier. He was hit with five bullets.
So the wall is just one more symbol of the occupation. It would be hard to convince people that this is a fact they should accept. We are provoked daily, the army is always around and comes to our homes daily, even when no one goes to the wall.
who has been injured, one imprisoned. And if you want to compare Budrus to other Palestinian villages, you will find higher percentages in Budrus than elsewhere in Palestine. In 2007, 75 people were arrested in one day [and were given sentences or detention orders] for periods of time ranging from 6 months to 10 years — 75 from a village with a population of 1,300 … arrested in a single day. Thirty were arrested in activities related to the wall, most of them children under age 18. About 30 have been injured with live ammunition. Probably about 1,000 injuries with rubber bullets and tear gas. So every person in Budrus has been injured by the occupation. Maybe that’s part of the reason that residents have so much solidarity with one another.
In my estimation, the wall has created psychological turbulence among Budrus residents, although the actual land area expropriated for it is smaller than in other areas. Here the wall is a coiled wire, but it feels like a structure that denies us air to breathe. With time all people will revolt against it. But we have to know how to aim our compass correctly.
The wall is adjacent to the elementary school. In school, the kids are afraid and worried. The guards at the wall use tear gas even at a distance. If a kid yells in the direction of the wall, the response is immediate. They try to create an unnatural psychological state. This has been constant, ever since they began the wall here. The policy of the occupation forces hasn’t changed.
The children’s school is no longer a school. The window panes are broken, the classrooms are decrepit. The wall harms the kids’ psyches, it hurts our agriculture, it is bad in every way.
Budrus was the first town affected by the wall, and it changed things 180 degrees. A popular committee was formed in Budrus, and then a more regional committee was also formed, and it adopted the Budrus approach. The entire area participated with Budrus and everyone learned from that experience. The change in the wall’s path brought about by resistance in Budrus saved some of the land of Ni’lin and al-Midya. Deir Qaddis followed exactly the Budrus model. The only difference is that Deir Qaddis has an Israeli settlement on village lands. So it is impossible to place the wall behind the settlement. Now there are two lawsuits related to the wall. One was filed by the settlement, and the other by the people of Deir Qaddis. The settlers are claiming that the wall is too close to its lands; they want it moved. And the villagers want the wall off village lands. Thus far, work on the wall has come to a stop.
The PA has lapsed in its responsibilities toward all the villages west of Ramallah generally and in fact, in the entire West Bank. Its failure has been abnormal and unnatural. Right now, whatever efforts the PA makes are focused on Bi’lin. I don’t see the PA’s media outlets mentioning anything other than Bi’lin. There have been some very difficult humanitarian cases, worse than Bi’lin, that are not mentioned in the media. With all due respect to Bi’lin and the example they set, it is not right to marginalize all other areas and limit the wall to a single focus area.
The PA has to aim its compass correctly, decide how to act; our people have to know how to act. We are an unarmed population. If we want to work correctly, we should think, how many are we, 3 or 4 million? And how many are armed, 4-5,000? You have 3.5 million that you can enlist in nonviolent resistance, popular work, and see what they can accomplish.
Entire villages here are marginalized. None of the PA’s money goes to the areas damaged by the wall.
Not a single PA official came to Budrus when the wall was being constructed. It wasn’t until Budrus started a march to the Council of Ministers that we were able to talk to an official. And he acted as though he was doing us a favor by talking to us or holding a press conference. Frankly, the PA just doesn’t have the interest. The PA didn’t help at all, not a single official did the simplest thing, like donate some banners. At the same time, they come to you and say, we will bring you projects. We don’t want their projects, and anyway, these projects aren’t coming from them. They get international grants, so they aren’t giving me charity. And anyway, the land is gone, so where are they going to put the project?
Before the elections, we went to a huge rally in Bi’lin, and there were many members there from the Legislative Council holding signs for candidates; they knew there would be cameras. Even in Friday prayers they were smirking at each other. I am sure that had there been no legislative council and local elections approaching, we wouldn’t have seen a single one of them. For two years, we haven’t seen one of them assume responsibility for the treatment of a single injured person. A ministry for the wall was created, but it has no presence and has done nothing at all. Ask the wall minister about Budrus or Zububa, he doesn’t know them, he’s never been there. The best thing the PA can do if it really wants to work is to use the popular struggle.
I was arrested with a member of the Swedish parliament. The newt day, a parliamentary representative was here and so was the Swedish consul. We had many foreign embassies and ambassadors visiting us here. The Swede who was arrested with me is now forbidden to come here for the next 14 years.
Our mobility has been affected by the settlements, not so much the wall; this is part of the plan for the eastern part of the area. The whole area is going to be in a canton. This is an Israeli plan that has not yet been implemented. It will connect Rantis, pass through Shuqba, Ni’lin, and Kiryat Shevar settlement. That will mean that Shuqba, Shibteen, Budrus, and Ni’lin, and al-Midya will be within a canton. There will be a tunnel from Ni’lin to Deir Qaddis. We don’t know when they will start this, but they are ready to begin. There has been some discussion about forming a committee to oppose this plan. We are working on this.
For people who do construction work in Ramallah, about 7-10 families moved there, just because of the lengthy commute. About 90 percent of those who had worked in Israel are not permitted to work there any more, but some work in Israel illegally, and they stay away for a week or two at time.
The situation in Ramallah is abnormal. When villages are cut off from the city, what becomes of it? What creates life in the cities other than the surrounding villages and towns? Cities are nourished by the life in the surrounding villages. The economy and jobs in cities are spurred by the villages. The movement of people from the villages to the cities is what creates life in the cities. When the villages are cut off from Ramallah, what happens to it? It diminishes.Our affection for and solidarity with one another. When we turn out for an action, we feel that we are accomplishing something. We might be able to move the wall 5 or 10 meters or so, but you feel that something can be done about it. If Ramallah were to march on to Budrus, I am sure that not a segment of the wall would remain between Rantis and al-Midya. If we work seriously, I am sure that nothing would remain. The occupation can’t line up soldiers between Rantis and al-Midya. We had a march that gathered at one gate (western side), covered by al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya and other agencies, and people were taking down the wall from the southern end. Nothing is impossible.
The Berlin Wall fell. The day will come when peace-loving people will wake up. I think there are many Israelis who are working against the wall. If Budrus resists on the eastern side of the wall, let the Israelis resist on the western side. If there really are peace-loving people, that wall will come down. It just needs some planning and some determination."
Este depoimento explica um pouco a vitória eleitoral do Hamas, tamanha era a insatisfação com a passividade da Atutoridade Palestina inclusive na Cisjordânia.
Uma das manifestações semanais em Bil'in contra o muro. 31/08/2007
Aí deixo a palavra a um israelense, Yonatan Pollack, do movimento Anarchists Agaisnt the Wall: "Yet Israel has outright scoffed at the ruling, and no foreign state has come forward to denounce Israel’s practices of apartheid and land theft as mandated by the ICJ decision.
What happened in Bil’in is certainly a step forward, following in the path of several villages that have stood firm against the increasing colonization of their land. Budrus, a small village near Bili’in, won a court battle that pushed the route of the apartheid wall back to the so-called “Israeli” side of the invisible green line — marking the internationally recognized boundary between Israel and the West Bank — nearly two years ago, but received little attention in the media. And community leaders inside Budrus were not quick to claim total victory; the wall still looms on the horizon and continues to make life completely impossible for their neighbors.
Activists involved in the struggle for Bil’in know that the fight is not close to being over. Bili’in “is a symbol of resistance — ultimately, the people have power over Israeli institutions and interests. The fact that the court ruled in favor against the wall is not because it is fond of human rights, but because it was forced to do so by a powerful lawyer and a popular uprising. It is important to remember that the court decision is still in deviation from international law; it still approves building the wall and promoting the illegal policy of segregation. The struggle does not end with this court ruling. [And] it is going to take a long time before the army proposes a new route, gets it approved by the court … and the new route is implemented and the old wall dismantled.
The larger context is important to keep in mind while looking at the situation in Bil’in. The overall picture is that of Israeli annexation of land and strategic control over the Palestinian population. The most important thing people can do in the international arena is to support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, which is the most powerful tool of international resistance.”
As Israel clamps down in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, backed and fortified by US and EU allies in its military-industrial colonization project, villagers and activists across occupied Palestine are hoping that these small sparks of resistance actions will grow and multiply as the occupation intensifies. Pollack agrees, saying, “We hope that this ruling in Bil’in will help fuel other villages to fight the wall and resist the overall occupation.”
Como o ativista israelense acima, os palestinos focaram no positivo para poderem sobreviver sem enlouquecer de desespero, e celebraram a vitória, pequena, mas imensa, que haviam obtido.
Seria efêmera, os bulldozers voltariam, mas como ignoravam o que viria, que desfrutassem com alegria, pois a Casa Branca os trairia novamente, em novembro.
Activists involved in the struggle for Bil’in know that the fight is not close to being over. Bili’in “is a symbol of resistance — ultimately, the people have power over Israeli institutions and interests. The fact that the court ruled in favor against the wall is not because it is fond of human rights, but because it was forced to do so by a powerful lawyer and a popular uprising. It is important to remember that the court decision is still in deviation from international law; it still approves building the wall and promoting the illegal policy of segregation. The struggle does not end with this court ruling. [And] it is going to take a long time before the army proposes a new route, gets it approved by the court … and the new route is implemented and the old wall dismantled.
The larger context is important to keep in mind while looking at the situation in Bil’in. The overall picture is that of Israeli annexation of land and strategic control over the Palestinian population. The most important thing people can do in the international arena is to support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, which is the most powerful tool of international resistance.”
As Israel clamps down in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, backed and fortified by US and EU allies in its military-industrial colonization project, villagers and activists across occupied Palestine are hoping that these small sparks of resistance actions will grow and multiply as the occupation intensifies. Pollack agrees, saying, “We hope that this ruling in Bil’in will help fuel other villages to fight the wall and resist the overall occupation.”
Como o ativista israelense acima, os palestinos focaram no positivo para poderem sobreviver sem enlouquecer de desespero, e celebraram a vitória, pequena, mas imensa, que haviam obtido.
Seria efêmera, os bulldozers voltariam, mas como ignoravam o que viria, que desfrutassem com alegria, pois a Casa Branca os trairia novamente, em novembro.
Bil'inenses celebram veredito de desvio do muro
Documentário B'Tselem
Em setembro, os bilinenses celebraram, e em outubro, a população do vilarejo de Khirbet Qasa, no município oeste de Hebron, foi totalmente demolido e seus 200 moradores perderam casa e todos os seus pertences da noite pro dia. Literalmente. Kirbet Qasa, que ficava perto da Linha Verde, foi literalmente tirado do mapa para a prolongação do muro da vergonha que abocanha a Cisjordânia.It is one of the remnants of the Berlin wall, which are on sale in the city.
I tell them that I intend, when the time comes, to apply for a franchise to sell pieces of the Separation Wall.
Sometimes, when I give a lecture before a German audience, I ask: "How many of you believed, a week before the fall of the wall, that this would happen in their lifetime?" No one has ever raised their hand.
But the Berlin wall fell. This week it happened here, too - true, only in one place, to a small section of the fence, when the Supreme Court decided that the government must dismantle the obstacle (which at this place consists of a fence, with ditches, patrol roads and razor wire) and relocate it nearer to the Green Line.
...First of all, a part of the land of Bil'in has been redeemed, but not all of it. The new fence will still be far from the Green Line. The length of the section to be dismantled is less than two kilometers.
Second, Bil'in is only one of many villages whose land has been stolen by means of the wall.
Third, the wall is only one of the means of occupation, and the occupation gets worse by the day.
Fourth, in many other places the Supreme Court has confirmed the path of the fence, even though it steals Palestinian land no less than at Bil'in.
Fifth, the Bil'in decision also has a negative side: it gives the court an alibi in the eyes of the world. It confers on the settlers an apparent legitimacy in many other places. It must not be forgotten for a moment that the Supreme Court is essentially an instrument of the occupation, even though it tries sometimes to mitigate it.
As if to underline this point, the court itself hastened this week to issue another ruling, giving retroactive authorization to another neighborhood that has also been built on Bil'in land.
Yet in spite of all this: in this desperate struggle, even a small victory is a big victory. Especially since it happened in Bil'in.
For BIL'IN is a symbol. In the past two and a half years, it has become a part of our life.
Here, every Friday, for 135 weeks without exception, a demonstration against the fence has taken place.
What is so special about Bil'in, a small and remote village, whose name was known before to just a few outsiders, if any?
The struggle there has become a symbol because of an unusual combinations of traits:
A- STEADFASTNESS. The courage of the Bil'iners. In other villages, too, the demonstrators have shown courage, but here the sheer dogged persistence arouses admiration. Week after week they came back. The activists were arrested again and again, wounded more than once. The entire village has suffered from the terrorism of the occupation authorities.
More than once I was stirred at the sight of this small village's resistance. I saw the armored jeeps storming in, sirens screeching hysterically, the heavily armed policemen jumping out and throwing gas and stun grenades in all directions, young boys stopping the jeeps with their bodies.
B- PARTNERSHIP. The three-cornered partnership between the people of the village, Israeli peace activists and representatives of international solidarity.
This is a kind of partnership that is not expressed in highfaluting speeches or sterile meetings in luxury hotels abroad. It was forged under clouds of choking tear gas, under the jets of water cannons, under fire from stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets, and in ambulances of the Red Crescent as well as army detention facilities. It has given birth to comradeship and mutual trust, just when these seemed to have been lost forever in our country.
Since the death of Yasser Arafat, cooperation between Palestinians and Israeli peace movements has declined in several spheres. Many Palestinians have despaired of the Israelis, who have not achieved the hoped-for change, and many Israeli peace activists have despaired in face of the Palestinian reality. But in Bil'in cooperation has flourished.
The Israeli activists, headed by the resolute young women and men of the "Anarchists Against the Fence", have proved to the Palestinians that they have an Israeli partner they can trust, and the people of Bil'in have proved to their Israeli friends that they are reliable and determined partners. I am proud of the part Gush Shalom has played in this struggle.
Now the court has proved that such demonstrations, which many considered hopeless, can indeed bear fruit.
C- NON-VIOLENCE. Always and everywhere. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King would have been proud of such disciples.
The non-violence was entirely on the side of the demonstrators. I can testify as an eye-witness: in all the demonstrations in which I took part, I saw not a single instance of a demonstrator raising a hand against a soldier or policeman. When in one of the protests stones were thrown from among the protesters, video films conclusively proved that they were thrown by undercover policemen.
True, there was violence at the demonstrations. A lot of violence. But it came from the soldiers and the border-policemen who could not bear, I presume, the sight of Palestinians and Israelis acting together.
Generally, it happened like this: The demonstrators marched together from the center of the village towards the fence. In front there marched young men and women wearing or carrying symbols of non-violence. On one occasion, they were handcuffed to each other, another time they were holding high portraits of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, another time they were carried in cages - imagination and creativity were given free rein. Sometimes well-known personalities marched in front, arms locked.
Near the fence, a large contingent of soldiers and border-policemen were waiting for them, wearing helmets and bullet-proof vests and armed with rifles and grenade launchers, with handcuffs and sticks dangling from their belts. The protesters did not stop but advanced towards the gate, banging on it, shaking it, waving flags and shouting slogans. The soldiers opened fire with gas and stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets. Some protesters sat down on the ground, others retreated and then came back again and again. Some were dragged away with their bare backs scraping along the road and the rocks, choking on the gas. Arrests were made. Wounds were treated.
When the demonstration came to a close and the participantes headed back towards the village, the local boys would start to sling stones at the soldiers, who responded with rubber bullets. Chases took place between the olive trees, with the light footed boys generally having the advantage.
Sometimes, the stone-slinging started even earlier, when the boys saw from afar the concentration of forces lurking in the village groves and the demonstrators being dragged brutally towards the army vehicles. But, in accordance with the standing agreement among themselves, the protesters never joined in the violence, not even when they were dragged on the rock-strewn ground or were kicked and beaten while lying there.
This combination of steadfastness, partnership and non-violence is what turned Bil'in into a beacon of the struggle against the occupation.
THE BIL'IN affair has another face, which was revealed in all its ugliness over the last few weeks.
The Supreme Court has decided that the path of the fence in this sector was not based on security considerations, but was designed to enlarge the settlement. For us, of course, that was not a startling revelation. Everyone who has been there, including foreign diplomats, has seen it with their own eyes: the path was fixed in such a way that the Bil'in land was annexed de facto to Israel, to serve for a huge new housing project called "Matityahu East", in addition to the settlement called Matityahu (and also Modi'in Illit and Kiryat Sefer) that is already standing.
In a second decision this week, the Supreme Court, for the sake of a spurious "balance", decided that the housing project that is already standing in Matityahu, also on Bil'in land, can remain there and may now be populated, in spite of the fact that the same court has in the past forbidden this.
And who built Matityahu?
Some weeks ago, a huge scandal was exposed. The culprit is a building company called Heftsiba. It collapsed, taking with it the apartments that its clients had already paid for. Many of them have lost their entire savings.
The owner of the company fled and was tracked down in Italy. The company's debts come close to a billion dollars. The police suspects that the fugitive has stolen immense sums.
And lo and behold: this is the same company that built the original Matityahu neighborhood, and that intended to build the new Matityahu project on land stolen by means of the "Security Fence". It also built the monstrous Har Homa housing project and other neighborhoods in the occupied territories.
Who can now deny what we have been saying for years, that the settlements are a huge business of billions upon billions of dollars, which is entirely based on stolen property?
Everybody knows the hard core of settlers, nationalist-messianic fanatics, who are ready to drive out, kill and rob, because their God told them so. But around this core has gathered a large group of gangsters, real estate operators, who conduct their dirty and hugely profitable business behind the screen of patriotism. In this case, patriotism is indeed the refuge of scoundrels.
Talia Sasson, a lawyer appointed at the time by the government to investigate the setting up of "illegal" settlement outposts, has concluded that most of the ministries and army commands have violated the law and secretly cooperated with the settlers. It may appear that they acted out of patriotic sentiments. I have my doubts. I dare to guess that there must be hundreds of politicians, officials and officers who have received large bribes from businessmen who made billions from these "patriotic" transactions.
P.S.: The man who invented the wall was Haim Ramon, then a leader of the Labor Party. Ramon started out as one of the "doves' of the party (when that was popular). Later he jumped ship to the Kadima Party (when that was profitable).
This week Ramon proposed cutting off the electricity that Israel supplies to the Gaza Strip, as punishment for the Qassam rockets fired at Sderot. It must be remembered that from the beginning of the occupation, Israeli governments have prevented the setting up of independent water and electricity works there, so as to make sure that the Strip would be completely dependent on Israel in matters of life and death.
Now Ramon proposes cutting off this lifeline, to plunge Gaza into darkness, to stop electricity for hospitals and refrigerators, as a collective punishment - which constitutes a war crime. His government has accepted the proposal in principle.
If Bil'in represents the struggle of the Sons of Light, Ramon surely represents - quite literally - the Sons of Darkness."
Uri Avnery, 08/09/2007
Em Nablus, a IDF "preparava" a Conferência de Anapolis oprimindo à sua maneira
No dia 27/10, Israel demole o vilarejo Khirbet Qasa inteiro
Em Budrus, a população luta contra destruição de oliveiras
Em Bil'in, a luta contra o muro continua
Enquanto isso, nos EUA, o ex-presidente dos EUA Jimmy Carter
contava a Amy Goodman, em DN, o que viu na Palestina
Reservistas da IDF, forças israelenses de ocupação,
Shovrim Shtika - Breaking the Silence
"When you're in this kind of place, ongoing warfare, uncertainty, you become indifferent to everything going on around you. In fact, eventually you don't care. You don't care about them, about what happens to them. You don't care. You pass your time because you know you have to and there's nothing you can do about it, whether it's a warning or something that is actually happening. You don't know. Something has to happen that really shocks you in order for you to change, and I guess it doesn't. The fact is such serious things did occur and so many people would not talk about them. Perhaps, too, they don't think it is so severe or serious – that it was natural, a part of what we called ongoing warfare". Tenente da IDF.
"All in all, arrests, I don't . . . I think we arrested so many people. You don't understand who you're arresting. You've got some ID number and you arrest him. "Pick-up", that is, is what you're doing. Sometimes they would come, say, "Okay, I'm coming", you load him on an armored personnel carrier, leave him at a Shin Bet facility, just leave him and drine back. We did this service for the Shin Bet. This was something. From Offer camp. Oh so many arrests. We arrested all of Ramallah, every single person there. Because, it was a period where the situation was such, it was four months that we had the post and also Offer camp, like we split up. And all the time we went in and out, in and out, in and out". Sargento da IDF.
"One day, when I was the second company sergeant major, I stayed on base for the weekend with that second company commander I told you about, he was a great guy, it was fun. He said to me after dinner, “Come on an arrest with me, nothing serious". I have to remember his name. It's a crap village that gets treated like crap. He says to me, “Come with me, it’s just [arresting] a17-year-old kid.” I said to him, “I'll go with you, I don't have anything to do.” We go with the second company commander’s front command jeep into the house, take the kid out. He says “Trash the house,” everyone turns the house inside out.
Why?
No reason. We trash the house, take him, shackled and blindfolded, put in him in the front command jeep, he sits on the radio, we start driving one after the other, we led and the deputy battalion commander was behind us. All of a sudden the kid throws up. I was sitting next to him and he threw up on my foot, it smelled so bad I wanted to die, I lost my self-control. I told the deputy company commander to stop the vehicle now. He was laughing his head off. We stopped, I grabbed the kid, he's shackled, I threw him down just like that onto the gravel, at least three meters from the jeep, behind. We took out all the ice boxes that were in there and started cleaning and I was pissed off. I grabbed his back and pulled the plastic cable ties on his hands, I grabbed his head and took him back to the jeep, I pushed his head into the two-way radio, just because, because of the vomit, no reason. It’s this thing that you can – it’s a feeling of power, you have a weapon, you have power in your hands.
When did you understand these things?
Only afterwards. Only after you do it. You say to yourself, “Why did I have to do that?”
How long afterwards?
After a few hours, after the guys had their post-mission meal, you eat, you start talking to yourself “What's up with you? Why did that happen?”
Then you stopped?
You usually start digesting all your army service only after it's over, after you’ve been out for at least a year".
Sargento da IDF em Ramallah.
Sargento da IDF em Ramallah.
Adar I
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