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Voices for PeaceChanging perspectives on the Israel-Palestine conflict

The interviews were completed by Thierry Bresillon, journalist and photographer of CCFD, and Brigitte Herremans, Middle East desk officer of Broederlijk Delen, in May 2005. Photographs by Thierry Bresillon. Design by Designit.

The views and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily state or reflect those of the Catholic Development organisation network, CIDSE, or its members involved in this booklet Broederlijk Delen, CCFD, Cordaid, Misereor and Trócaire.

Contents

Foreword: Solidarity with actors for peace 1

Rami Elhanan : Breaking the cycle of violence 2

Khalida Jarrar: In pursuit of Palestinian rights 4

Eitan Bronstein: The other face of history 6

Naji Odeh: Caught between the past and an uncertain future 10

Dror Etkes: Though choices: settlements or justice 12

Issa Samander: In defence of the land 14

Rafoul Rofa: Protecting East Jerusalem 18

Arik Ascherman: Sharing the promised land 20

Bernard Sabella: Protecting Christians requires an end to the occupation 22

Einat Podjarny: A new generation for peace 26

Asma Agbarieh: Defending the rights of Arab Israelis 28

Jonathan Shapira: In the service of peace 30

Glossary 32

The Wall 33

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies at the crossroads of many

fundamental issues of our times: nationalism, religion, the

stability of a strategic region, and even the inter-connected

history of Europe and the Middle East.

For Christians, the conflict relates to the symbolic and spiritual

importance of the Holy Land. It also invokes our commitment to

the important values of justice and peace, and the protection of

the vulnerable. That is why a delegation of Catholic Development

Organisations from the network, CIDSE, visited Israel and the

Palestinian Territories in December 2004. In meeting Israeli and

Palestinian actors for peace, and seeing first-hand the facts on

the ground, we obtained a better understanding of the current

situation and the pitfalls to peace.

Significantly, we met with Israelis and Palestinians who, each in

their way, strive to bring about change. In doing so they are

creating the possibility for a better future that breaks away from

the vicious cycle of the conflict.

Central to our mission is how we, as Church related organisations,

can stimulate and support these actors for change. That is where

the idea for this booklet came from. We wanted to give a platform

to these voices calling for another future in the Middle East. These

are voices of Israelis, Palestinians, Jews, Muslims, Christians, men

and women that are so rarely heard. They wage a peaceful

struggle that is rooted in a personal and rich history.

Beyond their outstanding efforts to go against the grain, both in

their society and in their relations with the ‘other’ – be it those of

different race or religion – it is the convergence of their aims and

analyses that is encouraging. They are managing to escape the

closed circle of the usual narrative, and in doing so are laying the

foundations for a new peace movement. They have grasped the

logic behind the future hope for peace in recognising that

separation will only lead to the dehumanisation of the ‘other,’

and it will prevent any fruitful dialogue, solidify hostilities, and

create permanent indifference.

In our view, the most important lesson that stems from this

collection of interviews, is that there are a significant number of

people whose aim is not to denounce the ‘Other’. Instead, they

examine their own society in order to demonstrate the tendencies

that have lead to the current deadlock. We believe this is the first

step towards genuine dialogue and reconciliation.

In this way, these peace actors show us the importance of

solidarity in our struggle to support justice, and stand up for the

weak and the oppressed. We denounce the current occupation

because it denies the basic human rights of the people affected.

We share the conviction that the unlawful current occupation has

to end in order to give the Palestinian population its inalienable

right to live with dignity.

But we also have a role in recreating the conditions for dialogue

between Israelis and Palestinians. A precondition for dialogue is

our knowing and empathizing with both peoples’ historic

experiences and trauma: the Israeli people, with many centuries

of persecution of Jews in Europe and the horrors of the Shoah

deeply rooted in its collective memory, demands the recognition

of its right to a safe state. The Palestinian people demand an

acknowledgement of its suffering, the loss of historical Palestine,

and its unfulfilled struggle for self-determination.

It is our mission to gain a full understanding of all these factors

involved and to act in solidarity with these actors for peace and

change, to find the way to peace in the Holy Land.

Luc Claessens, director Broederlijk Delen

Jean-Marie Fardeau, director CCFD

René Grotenhuis, director Cordaid

Joseph Sayer, director Misereor

Justin Kilcullen, director Trócaire

ForewordSolidarity with actors for peace

1

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Smadar, the daughter of Rami Elhanan and Nourit Peled, was killed in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem in 1997. She was thirteen. Although devastated by despair and grief, they did not want to give in to hate and vengeance, so they joined the Parents’ Circle. This group unites families of Israeli and Palestinian victims who support peace. Their struggle can be summarised as: “Better the pain and loss of peace than the agony of war”.

Every morning, I waver between hate and reconciliation.

But every day, I say to myself that we’re not animals. I can’t forgive the man who killed my daughter; she was innocent. Nothing can justify killing her. But I can try to understand. I don’t know what I would do if I were a Palestinian. None of my children wants to take up a bomb and kill innocent people, but they never had soldiers breaking into their homes at 4 o’clock in the morning nor have they watched their parents being humiliated.

It doesn’t serve any purpose to know who has more right on their side or who is the most cruel. That way, we’ll never find a solution. Each side has its own story and history and each must

be listened to. You have to understand the Jews’ ties to this land and you have to understand the Palestinians’ history of loss, the Nakba [the ‘catastrophe’ of 1948].

But, you know, it took me a long time to get to this point. Losing a child does not make you any wiser. I was a bit of a cynic, I didn’t believe in anyone or anything; I was like an exile in my own country.

During the mourning period after Smadar’s death, I had a visit from Itzhak Frankental. His son had been kidnapped by Hamas [the Islamist Group] and executed in 1994. It was at the time when the Israeli right, opponents of the Oslo peace process, were attacking [former prime minister] Itzhak Rabin for his role in the peace process. But Frankental was using his story to promote peace. He set up a group called the Parents’ Circle, which involved bereaved families who were in favour of peace. At the time though, I was incensed that he had the nerve to come and talk to me about peace.

My wife quickly got involved in the Parents’ Circle, and in 1999 I agreed to go along to one of their meetings. Some Israeli and Palestinian families were going to meet President Weizman. Among them was an old woman in traditional Palestinian dress. I saw her getting off a bus, clutching the photo of a little girl.

Something inside me snapped and I became a more open person. That was in March 1999. Since then, I’ve been active in the Parents’ Circle. It’s what gives me the energy to get up in the mornings. These people, from both sides of the divide, but who are able to discuss things, have transformed me.

Now, I tell myself that I have a mission: to prevent the drama I’ve been through being repeated.

Holding fast to myths

The Parents’ Circle is a unique organisation. Even though most Israelis don’t agree with what we’re doing, they respect us. There are some people who consider us “traitors”. I’ve even been told that I should have died with my daughter. But parents whose children have been killed in this conflict are almost untouchable.

We’ve given over a thousand talks in Israeli schools, always accompanied by Palestinians. But it’s difficult work because the students have been subjected to some of the most successful brainwashing in history.

When I tell them that there is a connection between their behaviour at a checkpoint when they come to be soldiers and the latest terrorist attack, they are outraged. People cannot see the link between the sufferings of the Palestinians and the suicide attacks.

My son, Elik, served as a paratrooper. As he explained to me: “At a checkpoint, you no longer belong to Right or Left politically. You are a god and you loathe the people who have put you in this situation, so you treat them like animals”.

We Israelis, we often think that “We are THE victims”, that no one else can claim this status. It’s a kind of mental block. Zionism, nationalism, plus the Holocaust, together form a really strong bulwark.

Rami ElhananBreaking the cycle of violence

“You have to understand the Jews’ ties to

this land. And you have to understand the

Palestinians’ history of loss.”

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People hold fast to myths, in particular the idea that there is no partner for us to deal with to secure peace. It’s very convenient. It means that there’s no one we have to talk to, and we don’t have to make any concessions.

Judaism as a religion of peace

This is why the launch of the second Intifada [the Palestinian uprising in 2000] surprised many people, particularly in the peace movement.

They thought that a handshake was all that was needed to settle everything. But the Oslo agreements were illusory because they didn’t take into account the sufferings of the other side.

The occupation continued and the expansion of the settlements accelerated while there was talk of peace. But, at the time, anyone who was sceptical was seen as stupid.

It’s the same thing concerning the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. All the confrontation with the Israeli settlers is aimed at showing that a withdrawal from all the settlements is impossible. It’s absolutely clear! It’s only in Europe that people don’t see what’s happening, because the European view of Israel is constructed around guilt.

When I meet European Jews, I often remind them that you cannot push a people to the brink for 35 years. Occupying and killing is not only contrary to Judaism, it’s a danger to the very existence of Israel.

For me Judaism is based on values, values for which I have the highest respect. But I also still see myself as a Zionist. To turn a pariah people, the victims of the pogroms, almost annihilated by the Holocaust, into a free people with their own State, that’s an amazing transformation. But the price has been horrendous. Zionist or not, you have to admit that the idea of a land without a people was a lie, that there are two nationalities in this land, that each has the right to self-determination.

We have to get out of this vicious cycle. The terrorist attacks serve as a justification for anything and everything in the minds of Israelis and have led to more suffering for the Palestinians.

The Israelis need to understand the limits of power and that the Palestinians, who have left us 78 % of their country, deserve to be talked to. The Palestinians need to understand that, more than anything, Israel needs recognition.

I am sure that we’re heading towards a settlement with the Palestinians, because most Israelis know that the occupation is not tenable. It’s also clear that the Arabs are not going to drive the Jews back into the sea.

You can discuss borders and the status of Jerusalem, but the process is inevitable: we’ll reach an understanding with the Palestinians and there will be a State. Like we handed the Sinai back to Egypt, like we evacuated Lebanon. That all seemed impossible, but it still happened.

Of course the situation on the ground has got worse. But we have to remain hopeful, otherwise all that is left is despair. Our message is to remind people that peace is always possible. To give up and do nothing means death”.

For more information on The Parents Circle, see www.theparentscircle.org

The violent face of the conflict

The intentional killing of civilians is considered a “grave breach” of international humanitarian law and a war crime. Such acts are unjustifiable.

Since the beginning of the second Intifada over 3000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed due to Israeli military action; and 1000 Israeli civilians have been killed by suicide bombings and other violent action by Palestinian armed groups.

Thousand more civilians have been wounded on both sides .Many of them permanently. Women and children have been most affected by the violence, both physically and psychologically. The fear that the constant threat of violence has created poisons everyday life.

“It doesn’t serve any purpose to know who has

more right on their side or who is most cruel.”

The aftermath of a devastating suicide bomb, Jaffa St, Jerusalem, 2003

4

In her efforts to defend Palestinian rights, Khalida Jarrar, director of Addameer, believes the fight is on two fronts: against the occupation and for social equality between men and women. As a member of the popular movement, she sees that one of greatest challenges is the radical islamisation of a segment of Palestinian society.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been involved in solidarity

movements. When I was 13 or 14, I was involved, as a volunteer, in cleaning the streets in Nablus. I was involved in Land Day on 30 March 1976 [on this day the first mass political protest of Arab citizens of Israel was held. The Israeli security forces violently broke up the protest killing six people and injuring over one hundred].

I grew up with the ideas of democracy. I started reading books about the situation of women very early on. My political consciousness developed quickly. For people of my generation, being active politically was the norm, because the occupation was there in front of our eyes, a reality in our lives.

In 1974, my uncle was arrested and deported to Jordan. He never came back. That had a profound affect on me. When I think back, the occupation means coming to take people away, destroying their homes.

On 8 March 1989, there were 5,000 of us who took part in the Women’s March in Ramallah. We carried Palestinian flags. There was a crackdown on the march by the Israeli army. I was one of 22 women who were arrested and I spent a month in prison. I was not even told of my trial.

I heard after the event that I had been convicted of “engaging in illegal activity” and sentenced to one month‘s imprisonment, plus

one year suspended, and banned from taking part in any demonstration for three years.

But, for a woman, it’s not so easy to be involved. I had to stand up to my father who was not too pleased to see me cleaning the streets. The Muslim Brotherhood, [the predecessor of Hamas], was hostile to us too. I can remember that, in Bir Zeit University, when we organised discussions among women’s groups during Ramadan, they threw eggs at us.

We have to fight on two fronts: against the occupation, and for social equality between men and women. During the first Intifada, [the popular uprising, 1987–1993], I was a member of a Women’s Committee. We had a women’s cooperative and we organised a boycott of Israeli products. The women gained a lot of legitimacy thanks to their involvement in the national movement.

Civil society as a force for change

But after the Oslo Agreements in 1993, with the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, civil society collapsed. Particularly the women’s movement.

Our society is in crisis. We need to strengthen the popular movement in order to maintain a democratic “third way”. On

one side, we have the Palestinian National Authority and Fatah, the ruling party. They control everything and have made all the gains from the current situation. And some people close to these sources of power are profiting from the occupation, thanks to their relationship with the Israelis.

On the other side, people are disillusioned and turning more and more to religion. Secular, progressive women today are seen as agents of the West. Those who are politically active are

publicly denounced in the mosques.

I rebel against this type of discrimination. My past activities mean that I am listened to when I talk about the difficulties experienced by women within the Islamic tradition. People agree to listen to me because I don’t attack them. I don’t talk about religion, I talk about their personal situations.

Khalida JarrarIn pursuit of Palestinian rights

“We have to fight on two fronts:

against the occupation, and for social

equality between men and women.”

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“We need to strengthen the popular movement to maintain a democratic ‘third way’.”

Internal change has become the priority. Civil society must work to open up the political system. First of all the Palestinian Electoral Law must be changed because it reinforces the traditional sources of power and we need a redistribution of power, more transparency, more seats for women and for young people.

Before the Oslo agreements, European donors gave large amounts of aid to secular, progressive organisations to help strengthen civil society. Now, following the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, all the money is going on seminars and training workshops in luxury hotels.

You have to understand that the Islamist movements and Saudi Arabia are filling the gap that’s left, and are financing schools, pre-school education and services for the general population.

Generally speaking, Palestinian society is fairly secular. The progressive movement represents a quarter of the political landscape. But Israeli society also needs to change. It is very closed and we are disillusioned with the peace process.

In spring 2002, when the Israeli army invaded Palestinian cities [known as ‘Operation Defensive Shield’] , we didn’t see a soul. We were living in terrible conditions. My husband was arrested and beaten and almost died as a result. An Israeli friend managed to locate him and helped us but, overall, there were very few Israeli voices raised to demand an end to such operations, even though every minute counted as far as we were concerned.

It is still important to work with Israeli organisations, but I don’t believe in mixed organisations. We don’t need cooperation just for its own sake. We need support in dealing with certain problems, and Israeli organisations such as Ha’Moked, B’tselem, and Physicians for Human Rights work very well with us on prisoner issues. But all cooperation must be based on a common demand for an end to the occupation and compliance with United Nations resolutions.

Palestinians in prison

There have been over 650,000 Palestinians detained in Israel since the occupation started in 1967. As of September 2004, there were over 10,000 Palestinian prisoners being held, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. A further 500 child prisoners are being held and nearly 1000 Palestinians are believed to be under administrative detention without charges or trial.

Each arrest and detention is governed by military regulations and prisoners are tried within Israeli military courts. Most prisoners are denied basic rights such as family visits and appropriate housing.

The Fourth Geneva Conventions applies to all civilians living in the occupied Palestinian Territories. It clearly states that prisoners cannot be held outside occupied areas and should be treated humanely. However, detention conditions enforced by Israel on Palestinian prisoners do not conform to the standard rules.

For more information on Addameer, the association for the defence of Palestinian prisoners, see www.addameer.org

Prison is a fact of life for many Palestinians ; Mural in Gaza city, June 2003

A typical day in the Old City ; East Jerusalem, October 2000

6

Eitan Bronstein is an Israeli peace activist who set up the association Zochrot, which means ‘remembering’ in Hebrew. He believes that if the Jewish public is able to acknowledge the past, particularly the experience of the 1948 Palestinian Nakba, this will change the political discourse in the region.

The Jewish State could not have come into existence without

violence. The 1947 Partition Plan of the United Nations was not compatible with what the Israeli leaders of the time wanted, quite simply because the Jews would have been a minority within the territory allocated to Israel. David Ben-Gurion [the first Israeli Prime Minister] wanted a Jewish state, so a transfer of the Palestinian population was logically inevitable. To that extent, 1948 was the founding moment of the identity of Israel: a process of simultaneous construction and destruction.

For a long time, all this was totally covered up. However, within the last ten years, the Arabic word, Nakba, has started to become familiar to Israelis.

We still have to face up to the fact that what we did to the Palestinians at that time was wrong and that it was ethnic

cleansing. It is true that there was Arab responsibility too, errors of strategy and organisation. But the ideology of transfer existed and was implemented in practice.

Because we refuse to reconcile ourselves with this aspect of our history and continue to deny our responsibility, we are still in a conflict situation and we still continue to treat the Palestinians badly.

Obviously, we cannot remake our history. What is essential now is to acknowledge it. I am convinced that this is the key to 90% of the problems between Israelis and Palestinians. It’s the aim of Zochrot.

What we want is not only sympathy for the sufferings of the Palestinians, not only that Nakba should be remembered. Neither do we want to accept the narrative of the Palestinian organisations that reject the existence of Israel.

What we consider necessary is that a record of this period be drawn up that makes sense in terms of Jewish history, that it be given its place in the Israeli memory, and that the story, the history, is taught. It’s that Jewish society should accept this historical reality and acknowledge Nakba and its consequences, and admit that the Palestinians have rights.

Financial compensation for Palestinian refugees alone wont get us out of this’

Acknowledging history

The Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in South Africa, after Apartheid was dismantled, are a good model. They allowed facts to be stated, and indeed stated in public, at official level, setting out the crimes

of both sides and what each had to bear responsibility for.

But lots of Israelis are afraid to hear the truth. For them, acknowledgement is a threat. Particularly since it necessarily raises the problem of the right to return of the Palestinian refugees, often seen as synonymous with the destruction of Israel.

For my part, I don’t accept this idea of a perpetual threat of the Jews being driven back into the sea by the Arabs. On the question of the Right to Return, we need to stop shouting slogans and look at the matter in detail. It seems a reasonable assumption that there won’t be millions of Palestinian refugees returning, at most 500,000.

To go even further, I think that the question of the future of Israel as a Jewish state needs to be looked at. If we want to continue to be democratic, we cannot continue with this ideology of Jewish exclusivity. You can be a Zionist without claiming exclusive rights to the land.

I consider myself a product of Zionism. My parents emigrated from Argentina. They changed my name from Claudio to Eitan, which means something like “strong” – a very Israeli image. I served in the Army and I was a good soldier. Even the work of

Eitan BronsteinThe other face of history

“Obviously we cannot remake our

history. What is essential now is to

acknowledge it.”

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Zochrot, dealing with memory, with its pioneering spirit is typically Zionist! So, I can’t say I’m anti-Zionist. Let’s say, more of a post-Zionist.

Originally, my views were leftist Zionist. During my military service, when I was on duty at checkpoints, I found this situation of domination distressing. I was against the war in Lebanon and when I was called up to do my reserve duty, it was the moment of truth for me. I refused to go and was sent to prison three times.

Social action can lead to transformation

Later on, I taught for ten years in Neve Shalom, [a village established by Jewish and Arab Israelis], known as ‘the oasis of peace.’ I took

part in lots of meetings to try and promote understanding between us, but they did not lead anywhere. We were still the stronger. But when I started to get really interested in how Palestinians actually lived, I realised that, although I thought I knew them, in fact I still had subconscious images of them and was afraid of them. It took time for me to work my way through these images.

Then I realised that, for the majority of Israelis, looking at all this history straight-on would be a jump into the unknown.

You can’t tackle racist images head on. There’s no use in saying “Jews are racists!”

Dealing with attitudes is more complex: you have to start by learning to empathise with the suffering of the other side. At a later stage, you can open people’s minds up so they’ll accept what is a painful reality.

Take for example the meeting we organised between the former Arab-Israeli inhabitants of the village of Baram, in Northern Israel, and the Jews now living on that land which they created into a kibbutz. [The original village was destroyed and evacuated in 1951.]

At first, everyone was suspicious. The Arab-Israeli’s were wondering what was in it for them. The Jews were very apprehensive. They showed sympathy but couldn’t understand why the Government’s proposal was being turned down. They didn’t see the humiliation involved. The Government was offering the initial inhabitants 600 dunums [1 dunum is roughly 1000 sq metres] out of the 12,000 dunums that made up the village. Only the first generation was being authorised to resettle there, along with two descendants, all in houses built to the same design. Maybe I should point out here that Arab-Israelis are recognised as Israeli citizens, and yet this is the treatment the former inhabitants of Baram were getting!

It’s certainly easier for politicians to make changes in concrete matters. To take the example of the withdrawal from Sinai in 1979. Begin, the Prime Minister at that time, first heard this possibility mooted in initiatives coming from the grassroots. There is a dialectic between work on the ground and institutions. Even though majority opinion was opposed to the withdrawal, Begin took this decision, because the idea existed somewhere. I feel sure that our work can play a similar role within Israeli society.

For more information on the work of Zochrot, ontact www.nakbainhebrew.org

1948: Two different narratives

In November 1947 the UN General Assembly voted to partition British- Mandated Palestine into a Jewish State and an Arab one. Israel then declared its independence on May 14th 1948. For many Jews this was the realization of a long-awaited dream – their own state, where they were free from the discrimination and persecution that had led to the Holocaust only a few years before.

For Palestinians however 1948 was no cause for celebration. In the war that followed more than 440 Palestinian villages were destroyed, and 750000 people were expelled from their homes or fled and were denied the right to return. The year became known as the “ Nakba,” the Arabic for ‘the catastrophe.’

Many of these villages now remain deserted and in ruins. Others have been converted into Israeli villages or neighbourhoods, with their names hebraicized.

“Dealing with attitudes is more complex:

you have to start by learning to empathise

with the suffering of the other side.”

Remembering the ruins of Zaccharia village: Mural on a refugee’s house in Dheisheh camp

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The humanitarian face of the crisis

There is a deepening humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a result of Israeli-imposed restrictions on the movement of people and goods. These closures have prevented access to adequate health care, to employment, to secure livelihoods, and to education.

The United Development Programme’s Human Development Index tells the tale of these two diverging societies, with Palestine ranked 102, while Israel is placed at 2�rd in the world. Forty-seven per cent of the Palestinian population (1.� million) now live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank’s 2004 report, and coping strategies for the poorest are exhausted. The report notes that Gaza is one of the worst affected areas. More than 60% of the population live on less than $2 a day, and unemployment is running at �9.�%.

A bedoin women collects firewood north of the Gaza strip. They are among the poorest and most marginalized communities. (July 2003)

A refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. There are over 1.5 million refugees in the West Bank and Gaza. Many of these people have been living in ‘temporary’ communities for over fifty years. Access to health, food and education is provide by international agencies, such as the United Nations (July 2003)

Surviving on food distributions from The World Food Programme. Many of the most vulnerable Palestinian communities continue to be dependent on international agencies for food, education

and health provision. (Gaza city, June 2003.)

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Surviving on food distributions from The World Food Programme. Many of the most vulnerable Palestinian communities continue to be dependent on international agencies for food, education

and health provision. (Gaza city, June 2003.)

Violence, including regular Israeli military incursions, makes daily life extremely difficult for Palestinian families. They live in a climate of fear and stress. The pictures below were taken after an Israeli military incursion in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, in July 200�:

Collecting much needed fire-wood for the family.

Violence all around: a boy collects bullet cases that are lying around.

Life must go on: Picking oranges from uprooted trees

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Like all Palestinian refugees, Naji Odeh, still defines himself by the village his family was driven from in 1948. But he was born in a refugee camp in Bethlehem which is now surrounded by the Wall. He dedicates his time, through his work with a community centre, Phoenix, to showing young people that they do have a choice, that they can choose a peaceful path to resistance.

In the Dheisheh camp, there are 11,000 people living in an area of barely 0.25 sq. km. We have almost no leisure facilities, no place to relax. So the Phoenix Centre, where the inhabitants of the camp meet, is very important.

They come here to talk, take courses or just to escape. You have to realise that the occupation and the situation in the camps, drives a whole generation to breaking point. There’s such a build-up of anger and frustration and people have so little hope for their future that they feel driven to violence.

Kifah, one of my son’s friends, was killed during a demonstration by young people in the summer of 2002. The army fired on three thousand young marchers. When Kifah died, my 17 year-

old son wanted to stop going to school. He wanted to fight and he even said to us: “I want to die”.

Three months later, he was injured in the leg during a demonstration. His morale dropped even more. He was determined to follow his ideas through to the end. He was no longer really alive. My wife and I spent hours talking to him.

I can tell you that, for a father, it’s a very difficult situation. As it happens, we discuss everything in our family and talk a lot with our children, but that’s not the case with everyone. Some parents feel helpless or can’t find the right arguments to use and their children then go and do their own thing. Around me here, many have died.

I also had long talks with my nephew. He had joined an armed organisation. “I know that my bullets have no chance of piercing the armour-plating of a tank”, he used to say to me. “But how

can I continue to do nothing when I see bulldozers come and raze houses, or soldiers beat my father?” He ended up being killed by an Israeli rocket. It’s terrible but, you see, for lots of young people today, dying is better than this life.

Making choices

My work is to get them to prefer this life. When I was 18, I was sent to prison for 18 months because of my involvement with a left wing party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Older people helped me a lot. Now it’s my turn.

Naji OdehCaught between the past and an uncertain future

“For many young people, dying is better

than this life. My work is to get them to

prefer life.”Daily life in Jabalya refugee camp; Gaza strip, June 2003

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Today my son has a different view of things. He’s involved in youth exchanges and he uses the internet to communicate with people of his own generation. He’s continuing his studies and is getting good results. He even wants to become a social worker!

But, you know, my children often have nightmares. My young daughter was traumatised after an ear-splitting grenade exploded right beside her. And since spring 2002, my young son has even been afraid of me at times.

The crucial thing is to show young people that they have a choice. In the centre here, we try to open up people’s minds, get them to realise that there are ways of resisting apart from resorting to guns and dying.

Education is the best way of not letting yourself be destroyed, of fighting and preparing for a future. Giving up on education means freezing up. We have to start by understanding the situation we find

ourselves in and knowing what we are fighting. We need to push the young people to learn more about these things. The significance of the name Phoenix means that, even though destroyed, we can be reborn and continue with our lives.

We provide training in human rights and democracy. People from all political groups attend our courses. Some of them don’t share our view of resistance and prefer to train young people for the armed struggle. But it’s important to be able to debate the options. I personally have never used a gun and I don’t particularly like people who use them. I chose a different option. I think it’s better if people see a possible future for themselves and that they have choices.

At the heart of Palestinian life

You have to realise that for us, refugees, the right to return is crucial. I come from Deir Aban. I originally come from the village of Deir

Aban in the west of Jerusalem.

I went there almost two hundred times before the Intifada erupted in 2000. We organised summer camps there and I found trees my mother had planted.

The first time we went there with the older people, we couldn’t find anything and the old people wept. But because they knew the place, when we searched around we found the village gate and the old olive press. My 85 year-old mother found trees where she used to gather almonds when she was a young girl. And although she has trouble walking, she clambered up the branches like a 20 year-old. They were peasants, the land was their life. Without land, left in this camp, there’s nothing for them to do. All they can do is sing songs of the old days.

“You have to realize that for us, refugees,

the right to return is crucial.” The Refugee Question

There is an estimated 7 million Palestinian refugees and displaced persons in the world, of which 4 million are registered with the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). More than one and a quarter million of these refugees live in 59 official refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Living conditions are often extremely harsh.

According to international law, specifically Refugee Law, refugees have the right to return to their homes of origin, receive real property restitution, and compensation for losses and damages. To this effect, in 1949, after the main exodus of Palestinian refugees, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed resolution 194. This resolution – along with several others on Palestine – has never been implemented.

Israeli continues to refuse to acknowledge any responsibility for the Palestinian refugee problem. It therefore remains one of the key sticking points in the peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine.

For more information on the refugee question, see www.badil.org

The key and the olive tree are symbols of a refugee’s identity; Dheisheh camp, May 2003.

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As coordinator of the settlement watch programme for the Israeli organisation, Peace Now, Dror Etkes, monitors the ever-increasing expansion of Israel settlements in the West Bank. It continues despite widespread international condemnation. The majority of the Israeli population doesn’t want to know.

I come from a family that is about to disappear in modern

Israeli society – I am orthodox, religious, patriotic, left and devoted to peace. Even if I enjoyed a religious education, wore a kippa and obeyed the rules of kasherout when I was a teenager, I was not raised in an ethnocentric, chauvinistic and tribal way like many Israelis.

This is due to the fact that we are a tribal society, regardless of the appearances of modernity. Sometimes I feel very close to Israeli society and other times I feel like an outsider. Me and my fellow compatriots are nationals of the same country, nothing less and nothing more. What I do, I am doing for Israel.

The army was a traumatising and important experience for me. I had to make adult’s choices and learn who I really

was. Before anything else, I was an Israeli. But that has changed over time.

In 1988-1989, I was sent for an operation deep into Lebanon [following Israel’s invasion of the country in 1982]. We used terrorist methods in the sense that we terrorised the civilian population if it served our goal. I was twenty at the time.

When I came back, I found myself celebrating the Sabbath with my family. We discussed politics so I told them what I had been doing in Lebanon. They all rejected it, nobody wanted to know. Whatever we were doing, it was justified, they thought, we were only defending ourselves from the Palestinians.

During the first Intifada, [the Palestinian uprising between 1987-1993] I then witnessed the relationship between the occupying force and the occupied people. One day we arrested hundreds of young men near the Palestinian city of Jenin. They were seated, handcuffed and blindfolded. The soldiers of the elite unit started burning their toes with their lighters. I scolded them off and sent them away. In the evening they told me: ‘Not only did you embarrass us, but the worst is that you did it in front of Arabs!’

The conflict is always there and there is no way to escape it, but the eye does not see what is too close by. That is why many Israelis are blind toward the most basic facts. You have

to take a step back to see the scope of reality.

Here we never explain the conflict in terms of the history of a people who took over the territory of another people. Instead we construct a reality that is completely opposed to that of the local people.

Understanding Zionism

In spite of my own recognition of the reality, I choose to live here. I have a genuine connection to this place. It is my duty to guarantee the future of my family and the next generation. In that respect I still consider myself a Zionist.

My interpretation of Zionism, is that it is an ideology of a people that had been excluded from history so finally took fate into its own hands. Its ultimate goal is to avoid another catastrophe as befell the Jewish people during the time of the Roman Empire [the Bar Kochba revolt that led to the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70]. But Zionism remains an ambiguous revolution, as it is mainly carried out by secular forces that seek their legitimacy in the Bible.

It is important to remember that as an ideology, it was born out of the Europe of the 19th Century, so it tends to have a romantic vision of the Near East, in which it considers ‘the other’ as being mere decoration.

Dror EtkesTough choices: Settlements or justice

“We never explain the conflict in terms

of the history of a people that took over

the territory of another people.”

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Zionism has also turned out to be a method. It’s about being sufficiently organised, sufficiently pragmatic and if necessary sufficiently cruel to obtain what we want. That is why David Ben Gurion was so successful in expelling more than 750,000 Arabs in 1948. Settlements v’s a modern state

But I do not believe that Zionism implies that all Jews should live here. And moreover, that we should be the only ones to have the right to live here.

Currently, the settlement expansion in the West Bank claims to be based on the religious and historical legitimacy of Zionism and the redemption of the land of the Bible. This has led to a corruption within the Zionist project. If the settlers want to live in the West Bank as freely as they live in Israel, this can only lead to segregation, an apartheid system.

Remember that we are living through a period where the anti-Arab racism is strongly rooted in Israeli society. It is the contradiction between this racism and the wish to be a modern society that pushes us to build a separation wall.

We have to build walls to keep the Arabs at a distance. We can accept that they sweep our streets and sell us cheap fruit and vegetables, nothing more. As long as they don’t organise themselves on a national basis and that they do not claim collective rights. The question of colonisation also confronts us with a larger problem: What kind of society are we? What is the most fundamental moral rule that we are bound to? Can we change from within or do we need pressure from the outside? More and more Israelis understand that we cannot hold on to the settlements and be a modern state.

In 1948 Ariel Sharon witnessed how the country emptied of its Arab inhabitants in a couple of weeks. He saw a radical human, architectural and cultural change in this land. It remains impossible for him to conceive of any other relationship with Arabs except that of than an

oppressive or absent one.

The only question therefore that is now on my mind is: ‘When will the next war erupt?’

During and since the Oslo peace process, the Israelis completely ignored the fact that settlement expansion was continuing. And they are indifferent to what is happening on the other side of the Green Line [demarcation line of 1949]. This in turn has enabled the government and the military establishment to create their own geopolitical realities.

I share the same secrets with the settlers but the difference is, I want to reveal them because we should no longer be told lies. I also do not want to live in an apartheid state.

In order to change this situation, we need time and the anti-colonial forces need to grow stronger than the proponents of the settlements.

An ideal solution is not possible, but we have to choose between two evils: the suffering of youngsters evacuated from places where they were born, or the suffering on both sides of the Green Line caused by the occupation.

For more information on Peace Now, go to www.peacenow.org.il

Settlements

Since 1967, Israeli governments have encouraged Israeli civilians to settle in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This policy is in violation of, among others, Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits the occupying power from deporting or transferring parts of its civilian population in the territory it occupies.

Today 135 settlements exist in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, housing a population of more than 450,000 people. In August 2005, Israel withdrew its settlements in the Gaza strip and pulled out from four in the West Bank. At the same time it announced expansion plans for several other settlements.

“The question of colonisation confronts

us with a larger problem: What kind of

society are we?”

An Israeli settler outpost, south of Jerusalem ; August 1999.

14

Issa SamanderIn defence of the land

As a Palestinian, Issa Samander shares a love of the land with the farmers. He has decided to devote his life to helping them in their struggle against Israeli territorial expansion, the Wall and settler violence.

You mustn’t trust speeches made by politicians, you must

look at the facts on the ground. We have entered a new phase of destruction and land confiscation on a scale not seen since the 1990s during the so-called “peace process”. It’s in preparation for the expansion of the settlements, the construction of by-pass roads through the West Bank and, of course, the separation wall.

At first, we did not realise the scale of what was happening but the Wall changed our lives, and our perception of normality.

For the farmers, things are getting incredibly difficult. In the village of Jayyous [in the northern part of the West Bank], for example, there used to be five roads to their surrounding farm lands. Now it is all on the other side of the wall. There are only two gates in the wall to get to them, both are controlled by the Israeli army, and the number of crossing permits for the gates is limited.

What’s worse, the gates are not always open when they’re supposed to be, or sometimes Israeli officers arbitrarily refuse

passage, sending people to the other gate where they are turned back because they were not supposed to cross there.

Everything possible is being done to encourage farmers to abandon their lands. The Israeli state can then justify confiscating it.

Don’t believe that this land confiscation is all temporary. It is an expansion process that has never ended. We are facing an enormous machine. To demolish fifteen houses, they bring in nine armour-plated bulldozers and hundreds of soldiers. They always find reasons to seize the land.

The path of non-violent resistance

The priority for us is to hold on to the land. Resisting Israeli colonisation is a way of protecting our future, because we realise very clearly that we’ll never get back what’s taken.

But how do we resist? Since 1967, we haven’t found a way to stop them. Nothing works, not even appeals to the Israeli Supreme Court.

There have been popular movements throughout our history,

and people are ready to mobilise, fight, make sacrifices, but we lack a leader and an organisation to convert this energy into something positive. The gap left by this ineffective leadership is being filled by radicalisation. Hamas is the winner as a result.

Violence is not the natural way for our society to develop. Our farmers are close to nature. They don’t know how to react when faced with these large-scale confiscations. But if we do nothing, how will the Israelis even notice the existence and scale of the problems that we are living through?

Faced with the wall, popular mobilisation began as soon as its construction started. Since then, local committees have been playing a crucial role. They lead the non-violent protests because they know from experience that it is the best way.

In some villages, up to 90% of the men used to work in Israel. Now that they can’t get to work, the survival of their villages is at risk so people are mobilising to make sure the villages won’t die. They are also starting to work the land again, and for the first time, you can see women organising and playing an active role in the resistance.

“At first we did not realise the scale of what was happening but the wall was about to

change our lives, our perception of normality.”

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The people on these popular committees have hopes and ideas. Some people would like to bring them together in a structured way, but that would amount to killing them. It would introduce political divisions when the primary need is to reinforce unity within the villages. Committees must be left to decide on their own actions.

But they do need resources. From our government, not from Europe. This is a national movement, it should be independent of foreign financing. The problem today is that the Gulf states are sending considerable sums to help people. And of course they finance Hamas.

Working in solidarity

But something very positive is happening thanks to this popular resistance movement. The villagers now see Israelis coming to help them. For example, when we were under curfew during the Israeli invasion in April 2002, one of the Israelis that I know phoned me, and that was Arik Ascherman from Rabbis for Human Rights. This group and others like Ta’ayush that we work with today, are an integral part of the fight against land confiscation.

One of the problems in the past with Israeli groups is that they didn’t approach the problem from a political angle. It’s no use people embracing one another in front of the cameras or making fine speeches, while conditions on the ground continue to get worse.

I believe the starting point in any relationship with the Israelis is that they have to acknowledge that Palestinians have rights. This is not a problem about food aid – we are not poor people who need humanitarian assistance. We need our rights, and we’re fed up with this apathy.

And without international pressure, nothing will put a stop to it. The role of the NGOs is critical here to get the attention of media and political leaders - not only about the wall, but about the very process of resistance itself. It’s about the society we want to live in.

First though we need a period of calm to live normally. But we’re scared about what has been planned for us. If nothing changes, the situation will explode again.

Issa Samander works for Ma’an Development Centre, for more information go to www.maan-ctr.org

Land dispossession

Since 1967 Palestinians have been disposed of their lands in the occupied Territories by virtue of a complex system of Israeli legal and bureaucratic measures. Over fifty percent of the land in the West Bank is now under Israeli control.

The most common method of annexation used by the Israel government is to simply declare any land that is not registered properly as state land. In many cases, the original owners are unaware of this re-classification but by the time they discover the change, it is too late to appeal. The Israeli government also utilises an Ottoman law which stipulates that land not cultivated for three years automatically reverts to the state. More direct methods of land seizure include taking it for security or military purposes.

For more information, go to www.btselem.org

“First we need a period of calm. But we’re

scared of what’s been planned for us.”

Ties to the land : a Palestinian farmer in the West Bank.

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Restricting the movement of Palestinian citizens

Movement restrictions by the Israelis - including a complex network of checkpoints, the Wall and the control of identification papers – are one of the main causes of poverty in the occupied Palestinian Territories. The World Bank estimate that if internal closures were removed and exports facilitated, the Palestinian economy would grow by 21% in 200�, and poverty would fall by 1�% by the end of 2004. Also, Palestinians used to rely on finding work in Israel but this has become almost impossible. By 2008, Israel has declared than no Palestinian will be able to work there.

A concrete barrier near Azun, in northern central West Bank, creates chaos for traders. They have to unload their goods from one truck to the other, loosing both time and money. The Palestinian economy has been devastated by the fragmentation of the road network in the West Bank.

A roadblock near Ramallah forces women, children and the elderly to continue their journey on foot. A simple journey can take hours to complete. (July 2003)

A young trader (right) tries to buy some vegetables from a farmer (left) which he then hopes to sell in Israel without getting caught. The border is only 200 meters ahead, but the road is often policed. Movement restrictions in the West Bank are one of the main causes of unemployment for Palestinians. It’s increasingly difficult to make a living. (Azun Atme, may 2003)

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The network of checkpoints makes a simple journey a difficult and stressful one for Palestinians. Confronted by long queues, barbed wire, and Israeli soldiers, it can often be a frightening ordeal.

Above: This used to be a typical sight at Qalandiya checkpoint. With the construction of the Wall, this checkpoint has been ‘upgraded’ to a fully mechanised terminal costing $ 7 million.

Right: A scene from the former checkpoint to enter Bethlehem, March 2002.

Successfully through the former Abu Oleh checkpoint. It’s easier to walk or cycle if you are able.

The former Abu Houli checkpoint in the Gaza strip before Israel’s disengagement. Travelling by car can take several hours, particularly for traders (July 2003).

18

Rafoul RofaProtecting East Jerusalem

Rafoul Rofa’s work places him at the core of the problems in East Jerusalem where Palestinians are being targeted by Israel’s discriminatory policies. As a lawyer for the Saint-Yves Society he provides legal help to Palestinians faced with, among others, house demolitions, movement restrictions and threats to their residency.

The mission of the Saint-Yves Society – Saint-Yves is the

patron saint of lawyers – is to work in the service of the poor and oppressed of the Holy Land, regardless of religion. The majority of cases we deal with concern Muslims.

The core of our work is related to land confiscation, the demolition of houses, the rights of the rights of Palestinians residing in Jerusalem, in fact every aspect of the deliberate Israeli policy to limit the Palestinian population in Jerusalem.

After the 1967 War, East Jerusalem was annexed to the territory of Israel. The Israeli government now wants as much of that land as possible, but with as few Arabs living there, as possible. They use several approaches to achieve this:

First, the Palestinians are victims of discrimination when it comes to the granting of building permits. The development of zones for Palestinian populations has been frozen by urban planning rules. The process of getting a permit takes years and is rarely successful, so people end up building without any permit.

To bring such cases to court, we have to work with architects who analyse the town planning rules in order to prepare applications for building permits. Most of the time, the best we can manage is to delay the demolition orders. Once the appeals process has been exhausted, if people stay on in their houses, it is a criminal offence so they are liable to imprisonment!

Another problem is the right of residency. From 1948 until 1967, East Jerusalem was under Jordanian administration. When Israel took over East Jerusalem, the Palestinian inhabitants held on to their Jordanian passports and were given special Israeli

residence permits for Jerusalem. But they are like foreigners in their own city.

This situation creates lots of problems. For example, any Palestinian who goes abroad for a few years – to study for example – loses his right of residence after four years and can no longer reside in his own home permanently. So where can he live?

I’ve experienced this situation myself. I left to study law in the United Kingdom, and after a year I had to renew my identity papers. But the Israeli administration replied that I couldn’t because I was an American citizen. But I’ve never set foot in the

“We’re fighting a current that is much stronger than us. People are under such

pressure, in such misery, that soon the only one’s left will be thieves, fanatics,

and saints!”A house demolition in Beit Hanina ; East-Jerusalem, August 2002

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United States! Then I was told that in fact I was a national of the country I was living in – the UK. But I was only studying there. It took me three years to get my residence permit back, and yet my family has been in Jerusalem for 200 years.

Partitioning Jerusalem

Everything possible is being done to make life as difficult as possible for Palestinians in Jerusalem. The Israelis want them to leave. Now with the wall being built around East Jerusalem, it’s getting even worse. Business dealings between the city and the West Bank are almost impossible. Economic life in the city is dying.

It’s estimated that over 50,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem will find themselves on the other side of the wall. The Israeli authorities promise that it will be easy to get entry permits. But who can say whether or not, in a year’s time, they won’t start to limit the permits and then people will be stuck.

A further blow to Jerusalemites came in July 2004 with the attempt by Israel to re-activate the Absentee Property Law. This law allows Israel to expropriate assets and property abandoned by their Palestinian owners during the war in 1948. Thankfully its application was soon suspended at the demand of the United States. But it will

apply some day and people who don’t have the correct ID to go into Jerusalem will automatically lose any property they have there.

Restricting options

We are fighting a current that is much stronger than us. People are under such pressure, in such misery, that soon the only ones left will be thieves, fanatics, and saints! People are worn out.

Most Israelis don’t realise what is happening. By restricting our rights and taking our land to develop settlements, they will end up thinking that the idea of having two states is no longer feasible. The Palestinians enclosed in a restricted territory, the economy choked, plus the refugees if they were to come back in such conditions, it’s not a viable model. The main problem is that there is no longer a single state with equality for all.

In the meantime, if nothing improves, if there is no political openness, if there is no real development in the Palestinian territories, the situation will explode.

Jerusalem

Jerusalem holds a central place in Judaism and has great religious significance to Christians and Muslims. At its heart – the historic Old City – rests holy places such as the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the al-Aqsa Mosque.

After the war in 1948, an Armistice Line (or Green Line) divided the city into West Jerusalem (Israeli) and East Jerusalem (Palestinian). But after 1967 Israel annexed it in its entirety. In 1980 it declared the city its ‘complete and united capital’.

But this annexation of East Jerusalem by Israel has never been recognized by the international community. As such, under international law, it remains part of the occupied Palestinian Territories.

According to a report of the Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem, the Government of Israel’s primary goal is to thwart any attempt to challenge its sovereignty over the city. To achieve this, it has put in place a set of policies designed to increase the number of Jews living in the city and reduce the number of Palestinians. At the end of 2002, the population of Jerusalem stood at 680,000: 67% were Jews, and 33% were Palestinians.

For more information, go to www.btselem.org

“Everything possible is being done to

make life as difficult as possible for

Palestinians in Jerusalem. The Israelis

want them to leave.”The Wall in Beit Hanina splits Palestinian residences in two: those living on the right remain in Jerusalem; the left is the West Bank.

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Arik AschermanSharing the Promised Land

Arik Ascherman works for the Rabbis for Human Rights, an organisation working to protect the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians. It is unique in the landscape of the Israeli peace movement. He believes his work is particularly important because it offers hope in a very intense conflict, by showing that Israeli’s are working side by side with Palestinians to protect human rights for all.

I grew up in the United States and for me, human rights and

the connection between Judaism and social justice, were self-evident. When I got here, I was shocked to find that many Israelis did not share these values.

The Rabbis for Human Rights is the only organisation in Israel which brings together rabbis from all wings of Judaism. We have three aims. First: dealing with violations of human rights, both for Jews and non-Jews. Second: spreading the values of Judaism. And third: to engage in education in Israeli schools.

In Israel, our concern is with social inequalities. Twenty years ago, Israel had the smallest gap between rich and poor of all the developed countries. Today, it has one of the highest.

But it is within the occupied Palestinian territories that we find the most serious violations. For me, it’s not a question of being moralistic about the occupation. There must be an end to the occupation. How? That is up to politicians to decide. But our vocation is to staunch the wound, and to ensure respect for the rights of 3.5 millions Palestinians. We need also need to change things from within.

Particular issues we are working on include the demolition of houses in East Jerusalem, and protecting the cave dwellers who are threatened with expulsion from their homes in the south of Hebron.

Each approach – humanitarian, political, and legal – has its value. Our approach is to combine legal action with direct support to the affected communities. We don’t feel it is enough to go and help the Palestinians harvest

their olives; there must be action to ensure their right of access to the land.

Land is a crucial human rights issue

Land rights are crucial here because they are also so closely associated with the Palestinians economic and social rights. Since 1967, and at an even faster rate over the last three years, more and more land has come under Israeli control. We want to bring cases of farmers who are unable to get to their fields to the Supreme Court. By law the army is obliged to ensure that farmers can get to their land 365 days a year, but it is a principle that is not always respected.

At one hearing, the Supreme Court asked the military representative: “Do you admit that the survival of these people is at stake? That the problem arises from settler violence?”

“Yes”, was the reply, “But we have to protect the settlers.”

“If you admit that the violence is coming from the settlers, then why is it the Palestinians that you are preventing from moving around?”

This is typical of the kind of situation that we are trying to make progress on through legal action.

“I don’t think that God asked us to obey His commandments if that meant

doing injury to another people.”

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And here’s another example of our work: we are currently planting trees in areas between the wall and the Green Line [1949 armistice line]. If the Palestinian farmers can’t get there to work this land, which they have worked for centuries, it will end up as state property under a famous Ottoman Law used by Israel to confiscate Palestinian land.

The Jewish legacy

It is also true that the attention we give to questions on the Holy Land relates to our relationship with it as Jews. For 2000 years, we prayed for a return to the Promised Land. The Jews who were chased from Andalusia held on to the keys of their houses for over five hundred years. But how can we then ignore the ties of another people to this land?

For myself, I consider, without a shadow of a doubt, that this land was given to us for eternity. It is therefore hard for me to give up a place like Hebron, for example. But if the land was promised to us, that promise implies that we behave morally. Yet we have chosen the most immoral methods – those most against the commandments of Judaism – to appropriate it for ourselves.

I don’t think that God asked us to obey His commandments if it meant doing injury to another people. Instead of fighting over the land left to us by Abraham, we would do better to pay more attention to his moral legacy.

Unfortunately, the Israelis protect themselves behind the certitude that: “We have the most moral army in the world”. I regularly get death threats from them. But who does most for Israeli society? Someone who sends threats or someone who thinks that Zionism means promoting the humanist values of Judaism?

The occupation prevents us being faithful to the values of Judaism. As one of Israel’s most famous intellectuals, Rabbi Yeshayahu Leibowitz, warned us, there is no such thing as an inoffensive occupation.

Bringing about hope

We have a right to self-determination in the land of Israel. The Palestinians have an absolute right to return to their homes, but this would wipe out the right of Israelis to decide their fate. When both communities can’t fully exercise their rights, the only thing possible is compromise.

I think that people wanting peace need arguments in favour of compromise, so we have to fight back within our own society. It is up to us to show the Palestinians something other than uniformed Israelis coming to destroy their homes.

So an anecdote to finish off: I was recently in Biddu, a village close to Jerusalem, where I was stopped by the Israeli army at the same time as an injured boy was attached to a soldier’s jeep like a human shield. I comforted him. Later, he said to people: “There was a tall Jew with a skull-cap who came to help me and tell me not to be afraid!” On my way back, my car was pelted with stones by Palestinians, but my experience with the young boy made it worthwhile.

We have to prepare a coalition of hope. It is a bit like being at the Jewish feast, Hanukkah: when everything is dark, you must start to lighten the darkness with a candle.

“We have to prepare a coalition of hope.”

Every October, Israeli peace activities, like the Rabbis for Human Rights, work alongside Palestinian farmers to harvest their olive trees. Their presence protects farmers from settler harassment and highlights their land plight.

For more information about the work of the Rabbis for Human Rights, go to www.rhr.israel.net

An Israeli human rights lawyer takes note of farmers complaints about alleged abuse from Israeli settlers; April 2005

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Bernard SabellaProtecting Christians requires an end to occupation

As a Palestinian Christian, Bernard Sabella, is concerned with the emigration of Christians from the Hold Land. He fears that the unique identity of the land will be destroyed. The problem, for him, lies in the economic and social impact of the occupation. Living conditions for all Palestinians have to improve.

I’m concerned at seeing more and more Christians deciding

to leave. Our community within the Holy Land gets smaller and smaller. For example, Armenians made a great contribution towards enriching the culture of Jerusalem but now there are only about 1,500 left.

Contrary to what is often said, it is not Muslim fundamentalism that is forcing Christians to leave. The Islamicisation of Palestinian society is a fact, and creates difficulty for Christians, but it is not our principal problem. Our concern at the moment is the occupation.

For centuries there have been relatively good relations between Christians and Muslims. Since the Omar Pact of 638 [the peace accord offered to the Christians by the conquering Caliph], the

holy places of Christianity in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth have been respected by Muslims and their security guaranteed.

Since Christian communities have been essentially town-based, they have always lived in a mixed, open environment which permitted neighbourly relations with people of other faiths. Christian institutions set up since the 19th century have served everyone, without any distinction in terms of religion.

But today, we are affected by the occupation in the same way as our Muslim neighbours and there is no contradiction between being a good Christian and being a Palestinian patriot.

Reasons for Christian emigration

The reason emigration of Christians is so high, and of such concern – on top of the historical and social factors which have encouraged this trend – is essentially due to the dramatic deterioration in economic conditions as a result of the occupation. Through more dialogue with Muslims that we will stop the emigration of Christians. It’s by putting an end to the occupation.

We hear a lot about inter-faith dialogue, and the work of Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation groups. This kind of thing is no longer relevant to our situation.

I, for my part, believe in the message of Jesus: to alleviate poverty and injustice. When we are faced with injustice, what use is dialogue without engagement? Talking about theology in such conditions does not contribute much to peace. What use is talking to one another, if you don’t make progress in terms of justice, if you have no effect on people’s suffering?

For us, as Christians, at present, we need to engage with public life. Our role is to pacify feelings and help societies to recover. But we have to tackle the problem in overall terms. Our problem is political, so the solution is political.

The Israeli-Palestinian people-to-people dialogue groups that flourished after the Oslo Agreements no longer seem relevant. Too often, they were based on the idea that you have to change people’s hearts, particularly those of the Arab Palestinians, in order to bring about peace and reconciliation. They presupposed that the hearts of the Israeli Jews were already won over to peace and it was Palestinians that needed to change to ensure the security of Israel in the long term.

A focus on rights

We are in a situation - even more so now with the construction

“Solidarity and support from Israeli and international groups will always

be precious to us if it helps us in our fight for a Palestinian state that is free

and democratic.”

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of the wall – where the Palestinians are the victims of the continuous violation of their rights. Meeting groups should concentrate their energy on condemning these violations, rather than trying to change attitudes. Attitudes will only change when Israeli practice on the ground conforms to international law and the fundamental rights of the Palestinians are guaranteed.

The physical separation created by the wall has radically changed the situation for these Israeli-Palestinian meeting groups. Their work is becoming almost impossible since it requires regular face-to-face meetings. I challenge anyone to try to achieve reconciliation across a wall and checkpoints to tell me their enterprise has been successful!

In saying this, I don’t mean to sound cynical. I am merely suggesting that the Israeli peace groups should try and work on Israeli society in order to highlight how their government’s policy of separation, among other things, is affecting Palestinian human rights.

Likewise, for us Palestinians, our society and its structure must be on the agenda. I’m not just talking in terms of institutionalisation of government, but every aspect of life. These challenges are at the top of our national priorities, while we still have to cope with the occupation and the separation.

Solidarity and support from Israeli and international groups will always be precious to us if it helps us in our fight for a Palestinian state that is free and democratic.

Bernard Sabella works for the Middle East Council of Churches, for more information go to www.mec-churches.org

Palestinian Christians

The Christian faith has its historical origins in the Holy Land. Pilgrims from all over the world come each year to visit holy sites in Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

There are more than 40 Christian denominations represented; a diversity that reflects the rich ecclesiological heritage of the region.

Palestinian Christians have always played an important role in social, economic and political life; the majority follow either the Greek-Catholic or Greek Orthodox churches. But their presence has dwindled in recent years due to the political and economic situation.

There are over 400,000 Palestinian Christians worldwide. Only 50,000 of them now live in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, out of a total population of more than 3.5 million. A further 125,000 Palestinian Christians live in Israel, out of a population of one million Arabs.

“Contrary to what is often said, it is not Muslim fundamentalism that is forcing Christians to leave.”

A typical scene in the Old City; East-Jerusalem, May 2005.

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There are 1�� Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem housing a population of more than 4�0,000 people. The expansion of settlements, particularly in East Jerusalem, has continued despite international condemnation.

Settlements are connected to each other, and to Israel, by a complex system of by-pass roads. They are also protected by the route of the wall. Together, the settlements, the roads network and the Wall, is contributing to the fragmentation of the Palestinian Territories.

Settlements

Abu Ghneim forest (right), July 1999: It was then destroyed to make way for the Israel settlement of Har Homa (below) May 2005.

The settlement of Neve Daniel (July 1999).

New housing units in the settlement of Hadar Betar (south west of Bethlehem).

’’2�

The effect of the Wall

The Palestinian town of Abu Dis is an example of the devastating impact of the Wall and other closure policies on communities. It used to be the eastern gate of Jerusalem, connecting the city to West Bank and the Jordan valley. It has now been surrounded by the eight meter high concrete wall.

The construction of the Wall through Abu Dis was finalised in 2005. In April, it was still possible to clamber through a hole in the wall, if you were fit enough! In a matter of months, the whole area was surrounded and sealed. Access is now restricted to a small opening which can only be accessed on foot.

The wall threading through the Palestinian communities of Abu Dis. It is preventing farmers grazing their animals, students reaching schools, and sick patients reaching the hospitals. (April 2005)

26

Einat PodjarnyA new generation for peace

As a member of the Jewish-Arab organisation, Ta’ayush, Einat Podjarny, belongs to a new generation of Israelis committed to working and living side by side with Palestinians to protect their land. She believes it will take more than words to change the silent transfer policy of the Israeli state. It demands action on the ground and political mobilisation.

The event that triggered my engagement in Ta’ayush was

the violent repression by the Israeli police of a demonstration by Israeli Palestinians in October 2000. They were protesting in solidarity with their brothers in the occupied territories. The police killed thirteen of them, and yet the Israeli peace camp failed to react. Everyone had swallowed the ‘generous offer’ speech made by Ehud Barak [during the failed Camp David negotiations of 2000].

At the time, I was attending Tel Aviv University. There was only one Judeo-Arab group in the university, but I was looking for something much more direct and simpler. One of my professors told me about this group called Ta’ayush which was geared towards action, not just words.

The name, Ta’ayush, means ‘living together’. The fundamental idea is that the time for dialogue is over. We now simply have to act together. The rest will flow from this work done together.

A different historical view

Originally, I didn’t know about the history of the conflict. Strangely enough, it was while I was in the army, in 1997-98, that the process of awareness started for me.

I was assigned to the office of the Chief of Staff, Amnon Lipnik. I was also doing a course in the History of the Middle East at university That’s when I discovered what the Nakba was. It really opened my eyes. I followed a course given by one of Israel’s leading left wing academics, Ilan Pappé. I was so naive that I asked him to come and give a talk to our group of conscripts in Army HQ!

Around that time, a dreadful thing happened. One of my friends was in Lebanon. He was due to go on a very dangerous mission, so dangerous in fact that the officer supposed to command it refused to go so it was initially cancelled. My friend called to tell me the news saying “I’ll be over this weekend”. But then Effi

Eitam, a right wing religious politician, who was then the commander of the Israeli forces in South Lebanon, insisted that the operation go ahead. I was the one passing orders at that time. My friend was killed.

It triggered a long crisis for me that led me to see my country in a new light. I realised for example that the orange plantation, Misqa, where I stole oranges when I was a child, had been a Palestinian village that was destroyed in 1951.

In Israel, the teaching of history has been totally conditioned by nationalism, so much so that people don’t even see the real nature of the problem. So, for example, in January 2001 when Arafat raised the refugee question during the negotiations in Taba, most people thought it was just another pretext for rejecting peace. People knew that there were refugee camps but they didn’t make the connection between them and the destroyed villages around us.

There have also been many new immigrants who arrived in Israel in the 1960s so did not experience the war of 1948, and have no idea about the massacres, the destruction, or what the country was like before.

“Part of the problem is that the Israeli media fail to point out what’s

happening. There’s no talk about the Wall of Separation, so no one here

has an overall image of the reality.”

2�

Today, I feel close to the anti-Zionist movement. Also, there are more and more voices calling for the creation of a single, egalitarian, democratic state. When you believe in dialogue, nothing is taboo.

Would I be prepared to live in a country with an Arab majority? To be honest, I don’t know. But I do know that if I am driving around a Palestinian village, it feels natural to me, in contrast to the vast majority of Israelis. I know that I’ve got nothing to fear. The people greet me, children welcome me like a friend when I arrive in a family. It’s Ta’ayush that enables me to live this way.

From the outset, Ta’ayush had a clear political perspective. We started with humanitarian action - bringing tanks of water to Bedouin camps, food to towns under curfew - but the aim is to draw attention to the political nature of the problem.

After 2002, when the construction of the wall started, we stopped the convoys and split up into small groups, each working on some particular project, in a more sustained and discreet manner. So, for example, in spring 2003, we stayed in a house in a village called Khirbet Yanoun which was threatened with demolition by settlers in the near-by Itamar settlement. Our presence ensured that the local people felt safe to stay there. That action has become symbolic.

We continue to collect funds from Israelis. It gives them a feeling of involvement in something and it also enables us to secure media coverage.

Being part of a group made up of Jews and Arabs has allowed us to act without difficulty within the Palestinian territories. But the police pressure, the escalation in military repression, and the extreme violence of the settlers has made our activities increasingly dangerous, particularly for our Palestinian contacts.

The “silent transfer”

What we want to highlight in future is the “silent transfer”. Near all the settlements, groups of young settlers terrorise the local villagers. The Israeli Left wakes up every year in October at the time of the olive harvest. Groups of them go to harvest the olives with the Palestinians, who are threatened by settlers and blockaded by the army. But the Israelis don’t combine their action with demands for the rights of Palestinians to access their fields.

Part of the problem is that the Israeli media fail to point out what’s happening. There’s no talk about the Wall of Separation, so no one here has an overall image of the reality. It’s a process of land confiscation, and a system of territorial segregation.

The only debate is about whether this is only a temporary separation or a border. This doesn’t allow people to get a true understanding of the nature of the problem.

The separation is creating a radical new reality. Some places have become totally inaccessible. It has become very difficult to go into the territories. And we have to admit that our action has had little impact: we haven’t managed to mobilise civil action, independent of the parties, to generate pressure from public opinion in favour of negotiation. You can sense the lack of motivation. Ta’ayush is having problems mobilising. It’s a very depressing atmosphere.

But Ta’ayush has changed my life. It is much more than an organisation, it’s a way of living. We’ve created a new reality, a way of living day-by-day, Jews and Arabs, side-by -side.

For more information on Ta’ayush, see http://www.taayush.org

Progressive forces in Israel

Throughout the conflict, there have been many Israeli groups demanding a peaceful solution with the Palestinians. But before the 1990’s, any contact with Palestinian organisations could lead to imprisonment.

The Israeli invasion of Lebanon (1982), and the first Intifada (1987), triggered a new awareness among Israeli society of the need to reach a political agreement with Arab countries and the Palestinians.

The Oslo peace agreements (1993) then opened a period for dialogue and cross-community peace initiatives. The Israeli organisation Peace Now, played an important role in mobilising this support.

However, after the failure of Oslo and the start of the second Intifada (2000), the Israeli peace movement went into deep crisis. But out of the ashes, a new generation of peace activists has emerged in recent years, many of whom are more committed to working side-by-side with Palestinians.

For information on the progressive Israeli peace movement, go to www.alternativenews.org

“The separation is creating a radical new

reality. Some places have become totally

inaccessible.”

Demonstration against the Wall ; Mas’ha, April 2003.

28

Asma AgbariehDefending the rights of Arab Israelis

The rights of Palestinian citizens in Israel are poorly defended and yet they make up 20% of the Israeli population. Asma Agbarieh wants to change that by encouraging Arab Israelis to embrace their rights. As co-ordinator of the youth group at the Workers Advice Centre, she is well-placed to do that.

I was a religious young girl. I wore the veil. Things were simple because I didn’t think about life here, only the next world. My father was a building worker in Oumm el-Fahm, an Arab city in the North of Israel. He didn’t want me to wear the veil.

You have to realise that, in Israel, the Arabs are kept in a state of fear though surveillance by the security services. They are afraid to talk about politics or change, or to depart from the consensus view. Religion is a refuge. The society in which we are living has no desire to be looked at by outside eyes.

In school, there is a separate system for Arabs. Teachers are selected by the security services, with the support of the Arab elite who cooperate with the authorities. My grandfather worked with the Israelis, so that’s how I was able to be a teacher two years before I even got my diploma! I was disgusted.

When I started work and discovered all the injustice, discrimination and inequalities, I was shocked. My sister had links with the magazine, Challenge, which is edited by Hanitzotz Publishing House, an organisation that’s involved in the rights of Arabs, and which also established the Workers Advice Centre. I didn’t like that as for me politics meant corruption and privilege. But people from Challenge used to come and meet my sister and they suggested that I work on the Arabic edition of the magazine, as-Sabaar. It means the cactus. I agreed but that’s when I got a shock. I found myself alongside Jews who spoke Arabic just like us! I couldn’t understand why Jews from Jerusalem would come to work in Jaffa. Gradually, I started to become interested in the ideology behind Hanitzotz Publishing House. This place became an alternative for me.

After three months working there, I stopped wearing the veil. I came to the conclusion that taking refuge in prayer in order to save yourself is like locking yourself away and cutting yourself off. Going to Hanitzotz Publishing House was my ideological initiation.

I started to see religion differently. I realised that today you have to be open to the world, and realise that what happens to others concerns me too. Above all, I saw that what is important is to change life here, today. It’s about having a life with justice.

Striving for coexistence

For some people, the road I’ve followed has been hard to accept – abandoning Islam, working with Jews! They said to me: “Be careful. They’re probably from Shabak, [the interior security service]. In fact, at first, my young brothers locked me up for two months. They wanted me to get married, have three children! But I held out and my mother told me that I was as stubborn as my father and so they let me do what I wanted.

“We need to work on three fronts:

Israeli society, Palestinian society

and coexistence between the two.”

29

While I strive for coexistence between Arab and Jewish Israelis, I don’t believe in just any kind of coexistence. Coexistence is only possible with people who acknowledge your rights unconditionally and treat you on an equal footing.

After five years of this intifada, confidence has evaporated, both societies are too far apart. We need to work on three fronts: Israeli society, Palestinian society and coexistence between the two.

In the 1970s and 1980s there was somehow more public opposition in the streets. But not in the 1990s with globalisation eroding social structures. And the Oslo process is also deeply rooted in the process of globalisation. After it, Palestinian workers could not go and work in Israel any longer because of the closures. The policy of closure has become a means of coercion to turn the Palestinians into a submissive nation.

With the Second Intifada, things have only got worse and today the Palestinians, certainly in the Occupied Territories, have neither rights nor work. The main reaction to this has been the rise in Islamic fundamentalism, including among Muslims in Israel. Because they have no hope for the future, people take refuge in religion. But that will only last for awhile, people need to live.

For the young people that we work with in the Workers Advice Centre, seeing Jews approach them is disturbing. They often still have the idea that “Jews are wicked”. It is true that anti-Semitism and fundamentalism are a problem at the moment. Religion has got the

upper hand over common sense. Some people celebrated after 11 September. But then what? The situation is worse now. So some people bury themselves even more in religion to escape from disillusionment. We are dealing with people who would prefer the Apocalypse rather than deal with the problems facing us. We are fighting for our lives.

Unemployment fuels disillusionment

One of the problems is the scale of unemployment among the Palestinian citizens of Israel. The rate is 20 to 25 per cent, compared with the Israeli national average of 10 %.

We are trying at the Workers Advice Centre, for example, to encourage the employment of Arab Israelis. We are working at all levels, from minister to employer, and there is some political will to move in this direction in order to reduce tensions.

For example, we are negotiating with employers to employ Arab workers, rather than workers from Thailand - there are over 26,000 Thai workers in Israel and the farming lobby would like to increase this number to 45,000. But they have to be convinced that the Arabs will be more loyal workers.

We also need to monitor how the employment laws are applied. Some workers are tempted to accept higher salaries but with no protection, no status. Employers have got into the habit of treating their Arab workers like slaves. “They never call us by our names”, they tell us.

We also need to change the self-deprecating view that Palestinian citizens of Israel have internalised of themselves. Self-confidence is needed to make contact with others, and with the authorities.

For more information on the activities of the Workers Advice Centre, contact www.hanitzotz.com

Palestinian citizens of Israel

The Palestinian citizens of Israel, known as Arab Israelis, are descendants of the 150,000 Palestinians that did not flee Israel during the 1948 war. There are approximately one million living in Israel today, that’s about 20% of the population.

As a Jewish state, their status in Israel remains problematic. After 1948, they lived under military rule and faced restrictions in terms of freedom of movement, freedom of the press and expression, and legal confiscation of land and property. The end of military rule in 1966 did not stop this legal and institutional discrimination which continues to be felt in all aspects of social, political and economic life.

“Coexistence is only possible with people

who acknowledge your rights unconditionally

and treat you on an equal footing.”

“The policy of closure has become a means of coercion

to turn the Palestinians into a submissive nation.”

30

Jonathan ShapiraIn the service of peace

Jonathan Shapira was one of twenty-seven Israeli pilots who refused to take part in aerial attacks on populated Palestinian areas. The pilots spoke out against the actions of the military, and condemned the occupation and targeted executions. Their refusal to fly, in a signed letter in September 2002, shook Israeli society. Thrown out of the military, Jonathan continues to advocate against the repression of the occupation.

Everything I do, everything I say, is founded on my love for

Israel, my people, and my ties to Jewish tradition. I was raised in a patriotic family. My father fought in all Israel’s wars up to the Yom Kippur War of October 1973. My two brothers belong to commando units. I piloted Black Hawk helicopters. My speciality was rescuing victims. I carried out very dangerous missions in Lebanon. Then, during the Second Intifada, I dropped officers and commandos on the ground, so even though I myself was never involved in an attack mission, I was a cog in the machine.

I was moulded by the ideals of purity in the use of arms, and the certainty that our leaders are driven by moral values and the desire for peace. But my passion for flying and my attachment to the Israeli airforce “family” stopped me seeing the real world.

For years, I flew over the occupied territories. I saw this land of apartheid with its splashes of grey and splashes of red. The grey splashes were the refugee camps - overcrowded, suffocating, closely monitored from military bases. The red splashes, in between the camps, were the roofs of splendid settlements.

Even though the injustice was staring me in the face, it took me a long time to realise the simple fact that, for decades, we have

been an occupying force controlling millions of people. We, the “Master Race”.

And I really do mean apartheid. When some people have all the rights over a piece of land, while others have none, what else can you call it?

A German friend of mine served as a volunteer in some of the hospitals in Gaza. She told me about what she saw, the results of our attacks and our bombardments. I didn’t want to hear. I wanted to go on believing that we were “the most highly moral army in the world”.

One day, when I was in the United States, someone spoke to me about missiles being fired on children. I felt then that I could no longer simply go on being an ambassador for my country without trying to find out a bit more. It has then been a whole series of events which has opened my heart up to realities that I just didn’t want to see.

Is Israel crossing the red line?

The trigger was the dropping of a one tonne bomb on the building containing the home of Saleh Shehadeh, one of the leaders of Hamas, on 22 July 2002, in one of the most heavily populated districts in Gaza (or the world!).

It killed fourteen people, nine of them children, and injured 150 others. Four families were totally wiped out. A few days later, following criticism of the incident, Dan Haloutz, head of the Air Force, stated that the pilot could sleep with a clear conscience and that he had carried out his mission perfectly.

I don’t have words strong enough to express how much terrorism disgusts me and Shehadeh was responsible for a number of terrorist attacks. We have to fight terrorism, but without becoming more and more like terrorists ourselves.

The statistics show that, when targeted executions are carried out, 50% of the victims are civilians. Official terminology prefers to talk about “uninvolved persons”. If you plan such a mission while hiding the fact that half of the victims will be civilians, you can’t talk any longer about purity of intention.

The fact that buses explode here, does not authorise us to sow terror among a population that lives under a regime of enclosed camps, threatened by an army equipped to the teeth, with fighter planes that make the sky shake and helicopters that sometimes launch missiles in traffic or through the windows of houses.

I’ve transported the victims of terrorist attacks; I’ve landed at sites a few minutes after explosions. I’ve seen my fill of mangled bodies. I’ve brought the injured to hospital. I’ve also witnessed the escalation of the madness that is driving us all towards collective suicide. Us, with our Apaches, the combat helicopters used for targeted executions in particular, and them with their bombs.

The signatories of the pilots’ letter realised that the Israeli policy of targeted assassinations is a war crime. Far from contributing to Israel’s security it has had the opposite effect.

But it is hard to get a hearing in Israel because our society is so militarised. After the letter, I heard things that would send shivers down your spine. It started with a one-to-one meeting with Dan Haloutz for over an hour who tried to get me to change my views. He finished by setting out for me how he ranks the value of blood, with Jewish blood at the top and Palestinian blood at the bottom.

Another pilot who signed the letter wrote to me saying: “Heroism in 2003 does not mean risking our lives in aerial combat but overcoming our repugnance at being professional assassins in the service of the state of Israel.”

In 1993, an army spokesman and the military prosecutor rejected the accusation that there was a unit whose job included individual executions. They stated: “There has never been, nor will there be, any policy or reality that will see the Israeli army intentionally execute people being pursued. […] The sacredness of human life is one of the fundamental values of our army. Nothing has changed or will change in that respect.”

And yet today, this practice of targeted assassinations continues. It is acknowledged and justified, even by the authorities responsible for military ethics. Is this not a sign that we have crossed a red line?

Pressure by all governments

When my country is like a plane heading straight for the ground, I have three options: jump overboard and leave Israel, let it plunge headlong towards the crash that will kill us all, or pull the joystick with all my legal strength to try and save us from crashing.

Our mission is not only to refuse, it’s to express our views within Israeli society. Some people ask us: “Why bother about them?” But “we” and “them” no longer mean anything. That’s what has changed inside me as a result of this long process. I’ve reached the point of feeling part of a community of Israelis and Palestinians who share the same values, the same vision of the solution.

This process has value as therapy, but it’s an individual thing. It is always possible to wake up but it takes a long time. Maybe if I could take an average Israeli to Nablus for a week so he could see the reality for himself, he might change in the same way. But we are rushing headlong towards catastrophe and some people have given in to total pessimism. For me, it’s as though this is the most important rescue mission of my life. If we don’t act now, what kind of society will our children live in?

We must prevent a situation where only the poor and extremists will be left in Israel.

On this mission, we need Europeans with us. We here will continue to fight with what resources we have but massive pressure must be exerted on our government from outside so that it behaves in line with international law, ends the occupation and the apartheid.

To put it even more clearly: as a Jew and an Israeli, I’m calling for targeted sanctions against our regime. It’s an idea that’s hard to grasp, but I think we’ll get there by degrees. We must move Israeli society, because I don’t want us to be in the same situation in twenty years time.

Refuseniks

Military service is compulsory in Israel: three years for boys and two years for girls. In addition, Israeli citizens can be called to serve one month of reserve duty every year.

During the Israeli-Lebanese war in 1982, some reserve soldiers refused to serve because they saw the war as an act of aggression. Their refusal gave rise to the organisation, Yesh Gvul, meaning ‘There Is A Limit.’ It has been active ever since in offering support to imprisoned conscientious objectors. Other Israeli groups have since joined in protest at the abuse of Palestinians by the Israeli Army.

“We, air force pilots reared in the spirit of the values of Zionism, sacrifice and service to the State of Israel […] refuse to take part in air attacks on zones of civilian population. […] These actions are illegal and the result of the occupation that is corrupting Israeli society in general […]” Letter signed by 27 pilots in the Israeli airforce in September 2002.

For more information on the Combatants letter go to: www.seruv.org.il

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A heated exchange at a checkpoint: Hebron, October 2000.

32

Glossary

Areas A, B and C: As part of the Oslo peace process, the West Bank and Gaza Strip were divided into distinct areas of control. The Palestinian Authority exercises control of civil and security issues in Area A, which is 17.2 per cent of the West Bank. In area B (23.8 per cent of the West Bank), the Israeli military has the control over security, while the PA retains the control over civilian administration. Israel has full security and administrative control within Area C, which comprises 59 per cent of the West Bank (including the settlements).

Checkpoints: Israeli military checkpoints control the passage between Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories, and have also been placed at strategic points throughout the West Bank. Some checkpoints are temporary – or flying – which means they are placed at random along Palestinian roads.

Closure: Measures include Israeli military checkpoints, trenches, roadblocks, gates and observation towers that divide up the West Bank and make the flow of people and trade contingent on Israeli approval.

Gaza Disengagement: In August 2005, Israel withdrew its forces from inside the Gaza Strip and removed 8,500 settlers. Israel still maintains control of all air space and shipping, as well as access of people and goods to and from strip.

Green Line/Armistice Line: After the cessation of hostilities in 1948, an armistice agreement was signed in 1949. The agreement delineated the borders of each party and designated the no-man’s-land between them according to the location of their respective armies. This line demarcates the borders between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza Strip as recognised by the international community.

International Court of Justice (ICJ): Situated in the Hague, the ICJ is the UN’s principal judicial organ. In December 2003 the UN General Assembly requested an advisory opinion from the ICJ on the legal consequences of the construction of Israel’s wall in Palestinian territory. The Court delivered this in July 2004 asking Israel to remove the wall from Palestinian territory.

Intifada: In December 1987, a collective Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule began, know as the intifada (‘shaking off’ in Arabic.) A second intifada erupted on 28 September 2000. In contrast to the first, it is dominated by the Palestinian armed groups.

Occupation: Israeli captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day war. These areas are known collectively as the Occupied Palestinian Territories. An Israeli military administration was established to govern Palestinian residents of the OPT.

Oslo Accords and peace process: The Oslo peace process refers to the Israeli-Palestine peace process begun September 1993 which attempted to establish a framework for the resolving the conflict and resulted in the signing of the Declaration of Principles, the first in a series of agreements known collectively as the Oslo Accords. Ultimately the peace process failed.

Palestinian Authority: The governing authority of the Palestinian territories, established within the Oslo Accords and currently led by President Mahmoud Abbas, following the death of former leader, Yasser Arafat in 2004.

Permits: Israel has effectively cut the West Bank into eight zones, isolated from one another, with movement between them controlled by the Israeli army. Palestinian needing to travel are required to apply to the Israeli occupation authorities for special permits to enter or leave a zone. In addition, Palestinians require permits for travel between the West Bank and Gaza Strip and to travel abroad.

PLO: The Palestine Liberation Organisation was founded in 1964 with the intent to establish an independent Palestinian state originally in the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. In recent years its goal has been redefined to consist of establishing a state only in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. It has observer status in the UN.

Zionism/Zionist movement: A Jewish national movement that began primarily among Eastern European Jews in the last decades of the 19th century in response to discrimination and growing persecution. Theodor Herzl, with the publication of “The Jewish State” (1896), was the founder of political Zionism. Zionists called for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in which Jews would found a sovereign nation. Lobbying by the growing Zionist movement in Britain culminated in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, in which the British government stated that it viewed with favour the establishment of a homeland for Jews in Palestine, provided that it did not harm the rights of the existing non-Jewish population.

TEL AVIVJAFFA

Jenin

Nablus

Tubas

Tulkarm

Salfit

Jericho

RamallahAl Bireh

JERUSALEM EAST(Al Quds)

Bethlehem

Hebron

Qalqilya

No Man's Land

DeadSea

Med

iter

rare

enS

ea

ISRAEL

JOR

DAN

0 10 20Kilometers

GAZA

ISRAEL

JORDAN

EGYPT

WEST BANK

Wall

Israeli Settlements

Major Israeli Cities

Major Palestinian Cities

Green Line(1949 Armistice Line)

Cartography: OCHA-oPt, October 2005

Database: The Wall - Israeli Government maps(Ministry of Defence & Seam Zone Authority)Others - PA MoPIC, OCHA Update 2005

ROUTE OF THE BARRIERAPPROVED BY THE ISRAELI CABINETFEBRUARY 2005O

CH

A

In June 2002, the Israeli Government started the construction of a “security fence” around the West Bank following several suicide bombings and attacks by Palestinian militants on Israeli citizens. To many Palestinians it has become know as the Separation or Apartheid Wall.

When complete, the Wall will be more than 650 km long. This is twice the length of the Green Line, the internationally accepted border between Israel and the West Bank.

In July 2004, the International Court of Justice determined in its advisory opinion that Israel’s construction of the Wall in Palestinian Territory was illegal under international law and violates the rights of Palestinian civilians. It stated that it should be dismantled.

Around 80% of the proposed route of the Wall will lie in Palestinian Territory. Only 20% will be located on the Green Line. It will separate 300,000 Palestinian farmers from their land. A further 240,000 people will be trapped between the Wall and the Green Line, isolated from the rest of the West Bank.

As of February 2005, 209 kms of the Wall is complete. It comprises of ditches, trenches, roads, razor wire, electronic fences and concrete walls.

Israel justifies the Wall as a temporary construction built for security reasons. The current route allows for, and protects the settlements.

The Wall

‘‘

Will there ever be a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Fortunately, there are, in both communities, actors for peace who are driven by a deep sense of justice and responsibility. These Israelis and Palestinians are striving for change within their societies, thereby creating new perspectives for peace. As Catholic organisations concerned about peace in Israel and Palestine, we want to give a platform to these voices. Their message tells us that in this conflict there can only be two winners or two losers. We want to support their commitment for a better future.

Left: No man’s land: a view looking towards

the border with Egypt; Rafah, July 2003.