More from Pat plus Basketball against apartheid

1. Israel is failing the moral test by Pat O'Connor
2 Basketball against Apartheid by ISM Spain
3. Settlers Chase Palestinian Shepherds from Their Fields by
Operation Dove
4. War of Attrition in the West Bank by Renee Bowyer, International
Women's Peace Service (IWPS)
5. Hebron demonstration

Israel is failing the moral test By Pat O'Connor
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/539812.html

According to Israeli authorities, one reason for my arrest two weeks
ago in Biddu and my denial of entry into Israel in 2003 is that I
"organized and participated in illegal demonstrations." Israeli
authorities frequently use the term "illegal demonstrations" to
describe peaceful protests against Israeli government violations of
international law. This twisted reasoning needs to be exposed and
rejected. What is legal often does not completely correspond to what
is moral. However, when what is moral is described as illegal, there
is a major problem.

Why is it "illegal" for hundreds of Palestinian men, women and
children to march peacefully to assert their right to their land in
the face of Israeli soldiers, who are defending the construction of
a wall that has been declared illegal by the world's highest legal
body, the International Court of Justice? Why is it "illegal" for
communities to try and implement the ICJ decision by walking
together to their farmland to try peacefully to block Israeli
contractors from bulldozing their land, from building a wall to cut
them off from their land and from imprisoning them in their villages?

Apparently, it is forbidden for Palestinians to use the tactics of
Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. to try to save their land and
their communities from destruction. Apparently, Israeli authorities
believe that it is legal for Israeli soldiers to club Palestinian
men, women and children, to use tear gas on them, shoot rubber
bullets and live ammunition at them and arrest them for peacefully
protesting. This use of violence against peaceful protesters is
"legal" even though the ICJ declared the construction of the wall on
Palestinian land illegal. The Israeli government explains the
soldiers' violence as "Palestinian clashes with security forces,"
even though the Israeli military invariably initiates the violence
and young Palestinian men only occasionally respond with rocks.

According to this perspective, Israelis and internationals like me
who support Palestinians in peaceful protest for legitimate rights,
are acting illegally. Therefore, we must be stopped, arrested and
deported at all costs. The International Solidarity Movement
documents that 68 international activists have been deported, and
more than 100 have been denied entry to the country, many for
protesting the wall. For this reason I have been held at Ma'asiyahu
Prison for more than two weeks and am awaiting deportation. I was
arrested leaving the village of Biddu after planting olive tree
seedlings with Palestinians, Israelis and internationals along the
path that is being bulldozed for the construction of the wall
through Biddu's olive groves. Nonetheless, I am proud to have
nonviolently protested against the wall in Jayyous, Tul Karm, Al-
Zawiya, Budrus and Biddu.

In reality nonviolent protest has been declared illegal because it
is threatening for Palestinian civilians to face Israeli soldiers
with a stark and public moral choice - to allow protest for
legitimate rights or to crush it with military force. Unfortunately,
the Israeli military and government have repeatedly failed that
moral test.

Hundreds of peaceful protests against the wall have been met by
Israeli military force; six protesters have been killed. Thousands
have been wounded - some seriously, including Israelis Gil Na'amati
and Itai Levinsky. Hundreds of Palestinians, Israeli and
international protesters have been arrested, including Palestinian
protest leaders Ayed Morar, Naim Morar and Ahmed Awad of Budrus, and
Mohammed Mansur of Biddu.

Foreigners and Israelis continually lecture Palestinians that they
must use nonviolent means to gain their freedom from Israeli's
military occupation. However, these same people have done nothing to
oppose the criminalization of these nonviolent means. These people
now have a responsibility to demand that Israel respect peaceful
protests. The Israeli government's criminalization of legitimate
protest suggests that its goal is not simply to stop terrorism, but
is rather to crush all forms of Palestinian resistance. The Israeli
government seems to be seeking submission, surrender and the
abandonment of Palestinian rights. Thus the Israeli government puts
itself in the category of repressive regimes throughout history that
have attempted unsuccessfully to stop legitimate protest.

Israelis should carefully consider if they can accept laws that
contradict morality, and if they endorse their government's efforts
to criminalize nonviolent protest against the wall.

Pat O'Connor is an Irish American volunteer with the International
Solidarity Movement. He managed humanitarian aid programs for 11
years in Africa and the Middle East, including three years in the
Gaza Strip.

*********************

2. Basketball protest against Apartheid by ISM Spain
Barcelona, Thursday January 10, 2005
Pro-Palestinian activists in Spain protest Israeli Apartheid at a
basketball match between Israel's Macabi Tel Aviv and Barcelona.

The action started by distributing leaflets and small Palestinian
flags to the public, displaying several banners and Palestinian
flags around the stadium and several people painted the Palestinian
flags on their face.

After the break an ISM activist entered the court carrying a
Palestinian flag. The 15 seconds that it took the secret service to
remove the activist outside was enough time for the public to see
the flag and to show their support.

The match was broadcast live on television.

The activist carrying the flag was detained by the police, and then
released.

Police also confiscated a banner which called for an end to Israeli
apartheid forcing the people holding the banner to leave the stadium
and detained by another activist for distributing Palestinian flags.

The ISM action was joined by several Palestinian solidarity groups
and other individuals who support the Palestinian struggle.
Israel will have several sporting events in Europe in the coming
months.

ISM Spain calls on all activist and solidarity groups to organise
anti-occupation actions such as those that opposed the anti-
apartheid movement during the apartheid years in South Africa.

During the current peace negotiations, Israel continues its policies
against the Palestinian people such as the construction of the
apartheid wall and the siege of Palestinian cities.

We urge the international community to demand that Israel dismantle
its apartheid system and put an end to the Israeli military
occupation in Palestine.

For more information please contact:
ism_spain [at] riseup.net
******************

3. Settlers Chase Palestinian Shepherds from Their Fields by
Operation Dove

February 14, 2005

Yesterday afternoon three settlers of Maon settlement in the West
Bank verbally assaulted and threatened Palestinian shepherds from
the nearby villages south of Hebron.

One of the shepherds reported that he was beaten by a settler.
Another Shepherd told us he was threatened. "I know who you are and
where you live and if I see you here again I will come to your home
and kill you."

Italian volunteers of Operation Dove, a project of an Italian
Catholic Association, ran to the scene and tried to speak with the
settlers but were accused both of being liars and of helping the
Palestinians steal the land that God has given to the Jewish people.

These events occurred on Palestinian property which is not under
military restriction.

According to the Oslo Agreements the Israeli government has full
control and this area. In the past few days, Palestinian shepherds
have been chased and threatened by the settlers of Maon as they
grazed sheep on their own property. These Palestinian shepherd have
been subject to such violence, including beatings, shootings, and
assaults, for many years without the intervention of the Israeli
authorities. Consequently, the Palestinian inhabitants of this area
have asked for an international presence to reduce the level of
violence in the area.

Two weeks ago, two volunteers from Operation Dove, including an
American, were also given a death threat by a settler from Maon
settlement as they accompanied shepherds in their fields.

In October 2004, an Italian volunteer of Operation Dove was beaten
by settlers of Maon while he accompanied children as they walked to
school. In September 2004, two American volunteers of the Christian
Peacemaker Teams were beaten and hospitalized by settlers from Maon
as they accompanied children who were walking to school.

Operation Dove – Nonviolent Peace Corps of the Association of Pope
John XXIII Community
Italian office: 0039 541 751498
operazione.colomba [at] apg23.org
http://www.operazionecolomba.org
****************

4. War Of Attrition in the West Bank by Sarah IWPS
International Women's Peace Service: 11 February 2005

At the end of last year a young man from an agricultural village in
the West Bank was issued an order to appear before the Shabak for an
unspecified reason. He did not go.

In the first month of 2005 the youth was passing through a check
point and was arrested. We were in the village on the day that he
was arrested and spoke to some of his friends. They were not
surprised and some spoke as if this was to be expected, and yet we
knew how upset they actually were. They all went to visit his family
in the evening and on walking in discovered that he had returned.

Their joy however was unmistakably mixed with fear and the knowledge
that this was not the end of the Shabak's involvement with this
family. The youth had been beaten in the back of the jeep and had
spent two hours in the police station before being released. He had
walked for an hour towards his village before managing to hitch a
ride the rest of the way.

He had been issued with a further order to appear before the Shabak
the following week. He was determined not to go but was also aware
that if he did not go there was the possibility that the army would
come to his village and invade his family's home, terrorizing his
younger sisters and brothers and his mother.

We had the opportunity to speak with this young man about his
experience and the very real threat many villagers face in his
situation of being forced into compliance with the Israeli
Authority. I had not realized before how powerful a weapon this sort
of tactic would be and although we knew how delicate the
conversation would have to be, felt that this young man would
be willing to share his thoughts on his position.
"This is true for some people," he said, "But for those who are
weak.

Not weak on the outside; perhaps they are very strong and can fight
and throw stones a long way, but I mean weak on the inside. I am not
weak."

The bus interrupted our first conversation with him on this subject
but he came back to us the following day and said: "Yesterday you
asked me a question, but I want you to understand that a man who
falls before the Shabak sells his country." And I could see how
hateful this thought was to him.

The following week this youth visited us on the day he was to go to
the Shabak. He was very quiet and I could only imagine how afraid he
actually must have been. All day his friends awaited his return and
I saw his mother carrying her ten-month old baby around as she
stoically continued her daily chores. Many of the village mothers
greeted her and I thought how each one of them must be suffering
with her, how each one of them must daily fear that their sons will
be picked up like hers was, and will suddenly have his name on some
secret list that until the Occupation is over will make living
an ordinary life impossible. I thought how many of them actually had
sons serving ridiculous sentences in some prison that they could not
visit and I found myself in a terrible state of tension throughout
the day.

In the late afternoon the young man returned and walked into the
room where we and his friends were passing the time playing cards.
There was such a feeling of relief as we saw him enter and heard him
quietly greeting everyone and then he announced to us that he must
return to the Shabak next week for another interview.
Then I realized how endless this process would be. We could be
relieved that he had returned this day, and maybe again next week
and the week after that, but this was nothing, his family would be
facing the same threat for the next month and the following month,
and for years to come.

Perhaps a time would come when he would refuse to play the Shabak's
game any longer and to retain his own sense of dignity would not go
to their office. Then what would happen? He would become a `wanted
Man' and the army could justify an invasion of his home and the
arrest of him.

How often do we read the words: `army invades a village in the West
Bank and conducts military searchers of houses known to shelter men
wanted by the Israeli Authority'?
"Army Invades" means the terrorizing of a whole village and the
shooting with rubber bullets and with live ammunition of women and
children (and Internationals) sheltering on the rooftops.
"Conducts Military Searches" means entering a family home and
ransacking it, putting bullets through every wall and window and
braking every dish and glass in the house.

And what does "Looking for Wanted Men" mean? How many of these men
were made to be "wanted" because they could not play the Israeli
game? How many of these were "wanted" because they had no other way
to resist the occupation than by staying true to their Falastiin?

Two days after the youth came back to his home we received news from
a woman that we knew in the village that her brother was taken in
the middle of the night. He was one of these wanted men. He had
been `sold-out' by a village collaborator and now his fight to free
his Falastiin was over. I had met him twice in the past and while it
is not appropriate to write much about him I was both times struck
by his composure and dignity although he was once covered in mud and
both times had spent nights on the run. One of his brothers had been
killed, the other at 16 years bore terrible scars from shooting, one
sister was blinded by a bullet of the army. Was it a wonder that
this young man had taken arms to fight an army that had so
tortured him?

And now as I write I know that he has spent the first 24 hrs of his
imprisonment in some unidentified jail and that he is wondering as I
am which of his own country men could have done this to him. Had
they been hreatened as our first young man had been and had they
failed to resist the pressure of so massive a force as the Israeli
Authority is? Or what other pressures and thoughts tormented them
and motivated them to turn upon their own people?

These questions have been haunting me for the past days, and last
night with the thought of this mans imprisonment, I could not sleep
at all. Is collaboration within the Palestinian Society so strong
that it will in the end undermine the whole process of resistance or
is it, by its very nature, a force that in the end will fail?

At the moment I can not answer this question, as I hear the world
proclaiming the Truce and the Handshake I think of the issues that
are so vital to the Palestinian people and that are not being
addressed. Of the thousands of prisoners that are being held and
interrogated and punished for crimes that they have not committed,
of the thousands of young men made to visit the Shabak week after
week until they are forced to comply with the Israeli Authority or
are made into `wanted men' and so will have to live out their years
on the run or in prison, of the women and men who `disappear'
and leave their friends and relatives despondent of ever seeing them
again, and of course the building of the accursed Wall that will
make traveling in the West Bank worse than it already is and will
economically devastate an already too poor country.

Are these really the ingredients of a viable peace? Or even of a
truce that will give the people a time to assess their position in
all this? Do the Palestinians have one moment to think when they are
faced with checkpoint harassments and roadblocks and arrests and
invasions every single day?

On Wednesday we heard immediately of Hamas launching rocket attacks
in Gaza, and yet it was a Palestinian youth who died, killed by the
Israeli Army, before any attacks were launched by Hamas.
And we all knew this would happen, and we all accept it when it
does. What else can we do?
The young man from the beginning of this article will return to the
Shabak next week and the week after and one day he will just not
return to his home or maybe they will forget about him. The man
arrested 24 hours ago will be tried in some closed military court
and no one will know what happens to him and his family will be left
to mourn the loss of yet another one of its members, and the Worlds
Eye will be focused elsewhere: On big meetings and
major catastrophes, on economic politics and sporting events, and it
will continue to ignore the small and personal tragedies that
combine to make this struggle in Falastiin so heart-braking and so
immense.

*****************************
5. Hebron Protest
Internationals to accompany Palestinians in a non-violent
demonstration in Hebron

For immediate release:

Tomorrow (Tuesday February 15) at 10am, volunteers with the
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) will join with local
Palestinians of Hebron to protest the construction of a settler
bypass road.

The road will join the Beit Hadassah and Tel Rumeida settlements and
encroach onto a world heritage site.

The settlements are directly within the old city of Hebron. They are
both considered illegal under international law.

The demonstration falls at a critical time for the Palestinian
residents of the Hebron area. Just this morning, a 15-year-old boy
from the Al-Rojoob family was shot dead by the Israeli occupation
forces outside the Ibrahimi mosque in the old city area.
Eyewitnesses say the shooting was unprovoked.

Even after the so-called peace talks of Sharm El-Sheikh, land
confiscations are occurring at an alarming rate throughout the
southern West Bank. ISM has been involved in numerous demonstrations
against the apartheid wall and settler roads over the last few weeks.

Tomorrow's demonstration has been organized by the Hebron Popular
Committee, the Hebron Rehabilitation committee and the Ministry of
Religions.

Contact numbers:
Abid: 059 676 087 (English and Arabic)
ISM media: 054 6486398 (English and French)