Violence and the Land

Yesterday I went to see my friend's family in a village I haven't been to in a year maybe. I know the way well. A few summers ago I went there often. Driving around the West Bank is really quite horrifying because not only do you see manifest racism and apartheid as you drive on the settler roads only to be forced off of them to potholed dirt roads where Palestinians drive but you feel the anger that such racism and apartheid create. Sadly this is nothing new nor even shocking anymore. What so disturbed me yesterday was that in getting to this village we were blocked at multiple turns. Roads that were used just yesterday were now inaccessible after the Israeli military pushed heaps of trash, dirt and rocks into the path.




Turn around and try another route. We literally went in a wide circle around the village to the north then the west before circling back to the east. It was the same leaving: a huge circuit around that was utterly unnecessary. Solely frustrating. And for what? How can you learn the land when such violence is imposed on it, daily violence against land. How can you live when you don't know which way to go? The path to your house is new today, and again tomorrow. The path you walked as a child and are forbidden now from using with its destroyed trees and broken soil. They are destroying the land.

And when we left, a military jeep had blocked a road and stopped us. In Hebrew and Arabic he gruffly demanded my id then said to wait. In a line of cars, more time, more gas, more humanity stolen.

Support

A word of thanks to all those who have supported me and helped get the word out about Mohammad. In times like these I'm proud of our community's ability to come together in our fight for justice. I'm also aware that we can and must do better and I look forward to our efforts to learn from this.

A special thank you to Laila for showing up in my moment of need with zero alcohol beer and kitkat bars! I particularly enjoyed the water martinis she made. A toast: to good friends and solidarity!

Mohammad's Arrest

Monday night I called Mohammad. He had just landed in Jordan at the airport. We talked. We laughed, said we'd see each other soon. Next morning I called again. Phone was off. Uncommon, very uncommon. I called maybe 30 or even 50 times throughout the day; every time the same message in Arabic telling me the phone was off. And I felt it in my gut. I knew he was arrested. At 2:30 I received a text message from him saying he was arrested. Phone was back off again. Then we all went into action. We have mobilized thousands of people for him, and for the cause. Mohammad is being held in administrative detention. Administrative detention is ugly and violent.

"Administrative detention is detention without charge or trial and is often based on ‘secret evidence’. Israeli Military Order 1591 empowers military commanders to detain Palestinians, including children as young as 12, for up to six months if they have ‘reasonable grounds to presume that the security of the area or public security require the detention’. The initial six month period can be extended by additional six-month periods indefinitely. This procedure denies the detainee the right to a fair trial and the ability to adequately challenge the basis of his or her detention.

"There are currently at least 387 Palestinian men, women and children in administrative detention. For more information visit the DCI-Palestine website at Freedom Now."

http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?DocId=1247&CategoryId=1

Free Mohammad Othman Now!

Yesterday, October 22, Mohammad Othman was detained and arrested by soldiers on the Allenby Bridge Crossing, the border from Jordan to Palestine. He was returning from a trip to Norway.

Mohammad, 33 years old, has dedicated the last ten years of his life to the defense of Palestinian human rights. His village, Jayyous, has lost most of its land to the Wall and the settlements. He has worked constantly to let the world know about the Israeli crimes against his people and has developed relations of international solidarity.

It is not the first time, Palestinian human rights defenders are arrested after trips abroad. Muhammad Srour, an eye witness to the killing of Arafat Khawaje, 22, and 20-year-old Mohammed Khawaje, who were both shot on a Gaza solidarity demonstration in Ni’lin on 28th December. He testified in front of the UN Fact Finding Mission on Gaza and, in a clear act of reprisal, he was arrested on his way back. This strategy of arrests complements the overall policy of isolation of the Palestinian people behind checkpoints, walls and razor wire.

We call on international solidarity and human rights organizations to act immediately to bring attention to this case and advocate for the release of Mohammad Othman by:

Recommended Actions:



* Encourage others to join this campaign through petitions, demonstrations and / or letter writing / phone calling. Please provide them with contact information and details;
* Urge your representatives at consular offices in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem/Ramallah to demand the immediate release of Mohammad Othman. (For your consular contacts, see: http://www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-in/Israel#11725);
* Let the Israeli Embassy in your country know that you are campaigning for Mohammad’s release and for a just and lasting peace based on international law.
* Bring the case of Palestine’s first BDS prisoner of conscience to the attention of local and national media outlets;
* Follow the blog and facebook to free Mohammad Othman to see the latest updates and action alerts.

Blog: http://freemohammadothman.wordpress.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36429272741&ref=ts


Mohammad Othman, however, represents only one of the 11,000 Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons. More than 800 are being held in “administrative detention”, meaning that they are imprisoned (indefinitely) without charge. International solidarity has to hold Israel accountable and achieve an end to the large scale repression and mass imprisonment of Palestinians as part of their efforts to bring about an end to the occupation and the restoration of Palestinian rights.



Sample letter:

Dear x,



I am writing to you to express my deepest concern about the detainment of Mohammad Othman yesterday, September 22, at the border between Jordan and the West Bank. He was returning home after a visit in Norway.

I fear that the detainment of Mohammad Othman is a result of his peaceful criticism of violations of international law by Israeli authorities. The charges against him have not been made clear, but there is reason to believe that he is a prisoner of conscience, arrested solely for his human rights work through legal organizations. I therefore urge for the immediate and unconditional release of Mohammad Othman.

In the meantime, I ask that Mohammad Othman is protected from any form of torture or ill-treatment, and that his rights as a detainee are fully respected for as long as he remains in custody.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this urgent matter.


The International Red Cross delegations are here :

Tel Aviv
ICRC delegation
185, Hayarkon Street
TEL AVIV 63453

Tel.: (+972) 35 24 52 86
Fax: (+972) 35 27 03 70
e-mail

Head of delegation: Mr WETTACH Pierre
Media contact persons: Ms SEGEV-EYTAN Yael
Mobile: (++972) 52 275 75 17
Languages spoken: Hebrew/English

Jerusalem
ICRC mission
Nabi Shu'eib st. 8
Sheikh Jarrah district
PO Box 20253
91202 JERUSALEM

Tel.: (+972 2) 59 17 900
Fax: (+972 2) 59 17 920
e-mail

Head of mission: Ms AMSTAD Barbara
Media contact person: Ms BONEFELD Anne Sophie
Mobile: (++972) 52 601 91 50
Languages spoken: Arabic/English

Gaza
ICRC office
Jalaa street 50 / 43 Rimal
PO Box 29

Tel.: (+ 972) 8 2828 874 or (+ 972) 8 2822 644/5
Fax.:(+972 ) 8 2828 884

Obama's Israel - Palestine Policy

How is it possible that none of us have really noticed Obama's policies on the Middle East? I myself only realized two days ago that there is a dark, blurry void--a silence. On one issue and one issue only Obama is vocal: settlements. Headlines in Israel's Haaretz, the BBC's Middle East edition, Al Jazeera English--they all repeat Obama's firm demands that Israel halt settlement construction. They also report Israel's unwillingness, Palestine's frustration, and, now, Obama's likely lenience on the issue. And while we are all so busy watching this re-run, we fail to notice how this is the ONLY thing Obama has even articulated a position on. While we are so busy praising Obama and then qualifying how, well, at least he's better than Bush if not actually praise-worthy in terms of Middle East policy (cough, everything? but you could only really get better after Bush), we have utterly failed to realize that our critique is empty because his policy is absent. I've been researching Obama's position on Israel and Palestine and this is what I've found:

On Settlements: (Taken from "From Obama's Prizes For Israel Are Not 'Pressure'" By Ali Abunimah on 16 July 2009 in The Electronic Intifada)

"For months the focus has been on Obama's demand that Israel agree to a complete cessation of settlement construction, including the subterfuge called "natural growth." It was during a similar "freeze" in the early 1990s that Israel built thousands of settler housing units on occupied land. Arab optimism and Israeli anxiety were amplified as Obama and his Middle East Envoy George Mitchell said repeatedly that this time they wanted a total halt.

"Yet the firmness shows signs of erosion. Israeli press reports spoke of a "compromise" taking shape in which Israel would be allowed to complete thousands of already planned housing units. Although those reports were denied by the United States, several participants in the White House meeting said Obama alluded to an unspecified compromise in the works.

"Anything short of a complete cessation of settlement construction will mark an achievement for Israel; what is important is not the number of units the United States may approve, but the principle that this administration, like its predecessors, will license Israel's illegal colonization. Once that principle is established, Israel may present more faits accomplis and build at will.
And even if Israel does agree to a verifiable cessation, the US has structured the matter as a quid pro quo in which Israel is not required to do anything without receiving a reward. The president has appealed to Arab states to normalize ties with Israel if it freezes settlements, including opening diplomatic missions and allowing overflights by El Al aircraft (recall that when en route to bomb Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981, Israeli warplanes reportedly falsely identified themselves as commercial aviation)."


On Jerusalem: "The city is and will remain the capital of Israel. The parties have agreed that Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations. It should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths."
[According to Obama:] "any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel's identity as a Jewish state" and Jerusalem "must remain undividied" (AIPAC speech as democratic candidate). The next day, June 5, 2008, in a CNN interview Obama elaborated: "obviously, it's going to be up to he parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those genotiations...As a practical matter, it would be very difficult to execute [a division of the city]. And I think that it is smart for us to work through a system in which everybody has access tot eh extraordinary religious sites in Old Jerusalem but that Israel has a legitimate claim on that city." (Taken from Journal of Palestine Studies Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2 (Winter 2009))

On the Wall: The wall is not YET an issue Obama has taken up. The focus is first on settlement activity, and also to a far lesser degree on Jerusalem. There is a void on the construction of a violent structure that is devastating people economically and certainly politically--both now and in terms of any possible future.

And finally, on the Right of Return: dozens of Israeli sources report Obama's complete rejection of the Palestinian right of return. Rather he emphatically supports Israel as a Jewish state and believes in a second, neighboring Palestinian state--thus, those millions of Palestinian refugees whom the UN has repeatedly asserted have a legal right to return to their homes and lands from which they were dispossessed are denied by Obama--champion of change--in support of a racist, exclusive state which relies on apartheid and a violent occupation to enforce its settler colonial existence.

Hope?

I cross the checkpoint to Jerusalem often enough. Sometimes I pay attention to the experience, angering--even boiling--from humiliation and frustration; other times I zone out and transport my mind to other thoughts, diverting my attention to avoid the anger of occupation, especially this one that puts so much effort into its violent colonization of land and people. But the last few times I've crossed, I couldn't ignore the reality in front of me: an old man, too old to stand in this line. Clearly straining to hold his own body weight, shuffling forward a few small steps and resting himself--hunched over, visibly weak and tired. Even he must stand in the line. Another man, much younger. Patches of hair had fallen out. A black eye patch hugged his left eye and a face mask covered his mouth. He looked so sick and frail. I wondered where he was going...the hospital for a check up after surgery? Perhaps on going treatment? Maybe the Palestinian hospital could no longer do anything for him and so he was sent across the checkpoint--the awful, animal cage of a checkpoint with shouting soldiers screaming at you "ONE AT A TIME. HEY GIRL, GO BACK!!!!" There is no sympathy in this occupation; there is no humanity in it. Only anger and violence.

And Israel will not halt settlements, those illegal colonies. No! They will assert their authority to rule a people and control its land. They will assert their "right" to violate international law and continue building. They will refuse peace and hope. They will continue...no matter the human cost.