The Only Democracy in the Middle East

Last night while we were on a ferris wheel in Nablus's old city, Israeli special forces assassinated 2 men a few blocks from us. They were 26 and 29 years old.

One of our Palestinian friends from the camp wanted to show us a nice day so first he took us swimming in a lovely pool nestled between two mountains, and at night he took us for pizza, and to a small park where we rode the fastest ferris wheel I have ever been on, and the bumper cars. We had a blast while Hani Ewijan and Ameid al Masri were executed on the street, with no charges, no trial, and no right to defend themselves.

Israel claims that they were "leaders" of the al-Quds brigades (Islamic Jihad) and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (Fatah)... and who am i to say they weren't? My point is not that these men were not militants. My question is this: Why does Israel continue to assassinate people instead of giving them a trial? Why do they shoot them in the head, at close range, as opposed to slapping hand cuffs on them and taking them to court? Why can the "only democracy in the middle east" not provide the accused with a right to life, the right to a trial and the right to speak in their own defense?

No. They are simply shot on the street. It is not even reported in the news it happens so regularly... only al Jazeera mentioned it.

When we returned from the park, the streets were ablaze with burning tires and barrels. Every intersection was blocked off with flaming barricades, and as we drove through a hole in an uncompleted one, the hole was filled by angry shabab dragging more rocks and tires into the street. This action has at least two functions. One, it is a way to express mourning and to mark the occasion and spread the word that tonight, there was yet another martyr. Second, it is meant to physically block the roads to prevent Israeli forces from returning. It helps to slow the invasion of troops. Despite the fact that Israel attacked last night, they used their own attack to impose collective punishment on the Nablus area. All of the main checkpoints are slowed dramatically, or completely closed off.

In yet another unreported act of non-violent civil disobedience to the occupation's oppression and violence, the Palestinian people, without direction from above, held an almost total strike today. In Nablus's old city, the open stores can be counted on one hand. Everyone is in mourning for another 2 Palestinians killed. There were also 2 non-violent protests... as I type this, a young man with a machine gun sits down next to me to use the internet...he gives us a little more information on the protests... he looks scared.

The death toll in Lebanon, according to the Ministry of Health, has now passed 600 civilians... and Hezbollah kills eight in Haifa and it's called a massacre... Israel kidnaps and imprisons over 10,000... Hezbollah kidnaps and imprisons three and its called an act of war... Does anyone else see the double standard?

Over 40 Lebanese were killed last night alone, and according to the BBC over 20 of them were children. Could you even imagine Israel's response if Hezbollah killed 20 children... or if Hezbollah killed 600 civilians in less than three weeks?

This picture is what Israel chose to give to Ameid instead of a fair trial. Today new shahid posters will mark the streets, and an angry mob will carry his body through the streets to be buried. This is the script and it will continue to be played out until liberation.

...this is for the freedom fighters of the intifada... to those who have been killed... to those still alive... and to those being born as we speak. This fight will not stop.

In mourning from Nablus's old city:

Michael

Nablus, Balata, Weddings

Marhaba Habibbi,

So I thought I would have no time to write here, but as I have to write my reports almost daily, I manage to squeeze out an email too...

Last night I attended a Hamas-sponsored wedding and community celebration. The event was a rally and a celebration. The event was held near the entrance of Balata camp, a giant stage was erected, and the square was laid thick in green banners. Rows and rows of chairs were set out in front of the stage, and many others gathered around the sides.

Once the festivities began, confetti, rose petals, and fire works filled the sky. The men danced in the square and the women, danced above us in a New Orleans-style balcony. The groom was hoisted up into the air, and later, the focus returned to the stage. First there was a five-man music group singing nationalist and religious songs, accompanied by a KORG keyboard, and then there were plays preformed; reenacting the invasion last week, the destruction of the Muqtada, and prison torture. The plays were very expressive, and even without much arabic I got the point.

Residents danced the debka, carried the groom high into the air, balanced vases of flowers on their heads and pained henna...sporadically during the event, masked fighters appeared from dark alleys and showed off their weapons. RPGs, machine guns, pistols.... throughout the rally, in between the crack of fireworks, men would fire into the air. Towards the end, a pistol was fired inches from my head and my ear rung for about 20 minutes.

All in all it was quite an event... We met some very nice people, and showed our face at an important event. It is very important for us to be seen in the community. This is to ensure our safety. Once we are known, we cannot be confused with Israeli Special Forces or under covers. The fighters must know we are not agents of the Israeli state. So we walk the camp, helping where we can.

Today we visited again with the Red Crescent to arrange some joint work. The main coordinator there said that he expects Nablus to be invaded any day. He says the army usually comes in waves and he expects a wave very soon. If the army comes, we will emerge in our reflective vests, and try to intervene.

This was my report I wrote a day or so ago.

Here is a VERY SLANTED and misinformed Ha'aretz article that (miss) quoted me at the Condi rice rally. It calls us backpackers and makes us sound like war tourists....

This is the checkpoint we responded to a few days ago.

And this is the story I wrote today.

Ok.... Time to go...I hear a lot of sirens and should go check out what's up. Please be active at this crucial time. The US's sale of weapons to Israel to use against Lebanon is making it unsafe for Americans to travel. So many people have expressed their outrage at the US's actions. 'How can they give Israel weapons when over 400 civilians have been murdered?' This is a hard question to respond to.

Remember, Israel could not continue its occupation of Palestine if not for American taxpayers.
Remember, Israel could not continue its war in Gaza if not for American taxpayers.
Remember, Israel could not continue its war in Lebanon if not for American taxpayers.

We give them over 6 billion a year in DIRECT MILITARY AID!!!
Now we are selling them advanced weaponry, tanks, fighter jets...

Please do not forget about OUR war in Lebanon, or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan...

Please do not forget about Gaza. Do not forget Khan Younis, Rafah, Beit Hanon, Beit Lahiya... There were over fifty five killed in only two days...

Do not forget about Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem, Ramallah, Bil'in, and Hebron... The villages, the town, the cities, and the camps.

All my love and respect to those of you fighting in our homes, cities, universities and workplaces... To those who fight with their hearts, minds and bodies everyday I say, thank you. The people of Palestine tell me to thank you every day. To all the people fighting for self-determination, autonomy, equality, freedom, and liberation... We say thank you. I love you all.

From the hills of occupied Nablus, from within the old city:

Michael

Nablus and Balata

Salam Alaikum al Rachmutulla (may peace be upon all of you):

This is my third day in the Nablus/Balata region. We're living in a flat inside a Balata camp. There are only five of us now, but some others float in and out. We're spending our days making the initial steps of reestablishing a permanent site in Nablus. This is really important because the Israeli army comes in almost nightly, assassinating and provoking.

The day we left Ramallah, the army assassinated a man near our apartment.

The area of Balata is indescribable. I know a few of you have seen it and can attest to this. It is a maze, a guerrilla fighters dream. Every alley connects to an alley, connecting to a street, connecting to a dead end. When the Israeli army invades, they enter one home; smash it up and then CUT A HOLE IN THE WALL to enter the adjacent home. They travel from home to home, making a passage way without ever exiting onto the street. This is prime evil efficiency.

The camp is fresh with the faces of last week's martyrs. Every wall is covered. There have been so many Palestinians killed in the past few weeks (according to the BBC over 140) that the poster makers can not keep up. I met a man unable to walk because a sniper blew out both knees. I met a small child who's eye was shot out by a soldier.

Every morning, when the sun comes up, our apartment becomes the gathering place for the neighborhood children. Around 7:30-8:00, over 50 kids come to our door, trying to come in through the windows, and banging on the door...curious. 'What’s your name,' 'hello,'....and the like. They just want to see the new people they're heard about, but if we open the door, they will run in with a flash. So we usually wait them out. When we walk through the camp, we get friendly attention, but a lot of it. We walk the bustling street, buying fruit and supplies and meet the refugees of the "creation of the state of Israel." When Israel was forged from Palestine in 1948, millions were displaced and murdered. Many of them ended up in camps like balata. Balata is the biggest camp is the west bank, though larger camps exist in Gaza...as Gaza is the most densely populated place on earth. Yesterday in Gaza, twenty five Palestinians were murdered by Israel, including 3 infants and 14 other civilians. The US is sending more and more planes full of weapons to Lebanon and Gaza, and the people of balata are fighting just to have a night without an incursion.

Last night, the army came into the camp. This afternoon the army came into the camp. The Palestinians fighters were calm. Walking around Nablus’s old city, about 1/2 mile from balata camp, i see fighters openly walking with machine guns. We heard a parade, celebrating the killing of a Special Forces soldier last week. Ak-47s blasted into the street sky and cars beeped excitedly. Balata is full of fighters, most likely the highest concentration in the west bank.

Yesterday, around 3 o'clock, we received a phone call. The check point on the road to Tulkarem, between Beit Iba and Beit Lid was closed, and the Israelis were firing live ammunition and tear gas at those stuck in the blockade. So we hopped a taxi and made our way. After passing through the first checkpoint, manned by a few American’s who immigrated recently, we bought some supplies. While we were passing through the checkpoint, the American soldier threatened me. He pointed his M-16; American made machine gun at my face and screamed at me to move quicker. It very much conjured up images of the Nazi camps. 'Mach Schnell,' is what the Germans used, this man just pointed his gun at my head, let his finger rest near the trigger, and screamed in broken Hebrew. He knew I spoke English, and he spoke English, but he chose to yell at me in Hebrew. Anyway, when we passed we bought some water and food to deliver to those waiting at the checkpoint, and hopped another taxi.

When we arrived at the checkpoint, the soldiers had stopped firing. One man had been arrested, and a few injured but no one killed. Our first task was to deliver the water to people who had been sitting on buses for over 8 hours. The checkpoint had been closed since the early afternoon. No food, no water, and no bathrooms for hundreds of people. When we arrived, close to 7:30p.m., the line of backed up cars was over a mile long. The soldiers were not letting anyone pass to travel north. So we got our video cameras and started questioning the soldiers. 'What’s the problem,' 'why aren't these people being allowed to pass?' 'Where are your closure orders?' Immediately the soldiers attacked Woody, the guy with the camera and tried desperately to grab the camera. Luckily, the Palestinians grabbed him and pulled him back in to the crowd. He got himself together and kept filming. The soldier tried to tell us there had been a car accident. This was the worst lie I have ever heard. A car accident, deep in the west bank does not draw 10 soldiers and 3 armored transports.

After a few minutes, the soldiers, many of which were American, said that they "were not speaking English today." We continued to stay there and console a woman who was very sick and crying. We helped some individuals pass, but only Israeli settler busses were being allowed through. to look on the faces of the Palestinians trying to travel to Jenin, those who an been waiting for eight hours, and have a bus full of international Jewish tourists pass with no problem, was heart breaking. People were sick. They were dehydrated. They needed bathrooms and shade and food.

We stayed, we filmed, and we tried to help where we could. After about an hour and a half, the soldiers started to let seven cars through every ten minutes or so. By this time it was pitch black outside and we were literally in the middle of no where. After about an hour of this, all the cars passed through. We stayed. After another half an hour, the soldiers left. With no more car lights we looked up in the sky. You could see every star and planet. I saw my first shooting star ever. We tried to identify constellations in an unfamiliar sky and seceded with our collective knowledge. Oh, by this time there were at least 10 of us, from America, Sweden, Scotland and Norway. Eventually a car passed and we got a back to the checkpoint that I was harassed at earlier.

It took us a little while to get through again. The soldiers were new, but they said they didn't want us to cross because if we were left alone to find our own way, we would be "kidnapped" for sure. They told the Scottish folks that if they tried to find their own cab the "Arabs" would stab them. This is the fear that is pumped into the minds of the Israelis. This is the fear that is pumped into the minds of Americans. We found a taxi, he was so pleasant, and he took us back to Nablus where we met friends for coffee and Nagillah, and eventually made it back to Balata for a game of group poker.

Oh, I haven't even told you all about the Moqtada. This is the government building the Israelis demolished last week WHILE PALESTINIANS WERE INSIDE. When they raided Nablus with tanks, helicopter gun ships and demolition equipment, they completely destroyed the building. You can not believe what it looks like. It looks like it was bombed from the sky. But it was not, it was slowly crushed with bulldozers and wrecking equipment. One man, a 17 year old, who was shot in the stomach, survived under the rubble or 3 days and escaped Israeli capture the last day. Israel said they were looking or Hezbollah fighters. Once again, this was a lie, that I don’t have the energy to dispel now....many other already have.

I usually try to avoid posting these kinds of photos, but I'm going to make an exception.

It is two of those murdered by Israel yesterday in Gaza. They are two of twenty five. We need to remember the human faces of this war so it haunts us until it ends. We as Americans are paying for every bullet that shreds a child and very bomb that hits a home. DIVEST.

So that's where I’m at. I’m at an internet cafe now so time is money. I hope to be able to write again soon, In'shallah.

Marhabba habibbi.

Once again we say in one united voice:

NO TO OCCUPATION
NO TO ASSASSINATIONS
NO TO CHECKPOINTS, WALLS, JEWISH-ONLY ROADS
NO TO APARTHEID, ANNEXATION AND TORTURE
NO TO 10,000 PALESTINIAN PRISONERS
NO TO THE WAR IN LEBANON
NO TO THE WAR IN GAZA
NO TO THE WAR IN NABLUS
FUCK YOU OLMERT, CONDI, BUSH AND BLAIR...and all the rest, we all know who you are.

From Nablus, the "factory for suicide bombers," with love and strength.

Michael

Condi Protest

I just got back from the protest of Condoleezza rice organized by the 'national and Islamist factions/forces.' It was a hoot. There were tons of Palestinians and our small group of about 50 internationals. We marched with Palestinian flags, signs in many languages and joined the march. We had plans to make a big banner, but forgot that the Palestinians had called for a national strike to protest her visit. So when we woke, every store was closed. When we were walking around looking for wood to make signs, we saw a UN world food program distro-center handing out 50 pound sacks of rice to masses of people.
The demonstration had it all... signs, chanting, faction flags, masked militants, people parading on top of trucks armed... The security was arranged by the Palestinian authority national forces so when we got about 200 meters from the muqata, where Condi was meeting, a line of PA police stopped the crowd. There was a lot of pushing, and the PA responded by clubbing the crowd a bit...but in a measured way, they only hit those pushing them; they did not chase people as they retreated as the Israelis do. So when the beating was happening, the rain of stones came. The shabab hurled stones from very far in an attempt to disperse the police and force their way to Condi. It did not work.

When the crowd calmed down, the truck that carried one of the armed attendees had a man speak from their car-mounted public address system. Two people spoke, and then I was asked to speak for the 'internationals.' I spoke for about 4 minutes and explained that as internationals we come in support of the Palestinian and Lebanese people, in opposition to the war mongering actions of our home governments. It was nice, but in a rally, half the people are yelling so... after the march we were invited to have a lunch with members of the protest organizing committee. We met with some high level Fattah officials, had some food and said goodbye.

Running out the door... Now I’m leaving for Nablus.

The Wedding Party

It's Saturday night and I just returned from the engagement party of Monsou and Iman, a Palestinian and a Palestinian-American who were 'married' at the Bil'in demonstration 2 weeks ago. Oh, you can now read the report on Bil’in that I photographed for and helped to write.

Before we left for the party we heard a lot of gunfire coming from Ramallah. It was quick like an Israeli Uzi. We heard some more a few minutes later. I think the Israeli strike forces assassinated someone, or a group of someone’s, we'll find out in the morning.

So to get to the wedding we had to pass through a nasty checkpoint. The soldiers made us all get out of the van and we were held for a short while. We had ten people, two babies, an Israeli woman, four internationals and three Palestinians. The Israeli woman was in a restricted area so we had to negotiate our way without her passport, passing her off as an American. But you see, being Israeli in a restricted area is not as big of a problem as being a Palestinian anywhere. The three Palestinians were all from the north: Nablus, Tulkarem, and Jenin. So they are considered dangerous. In the simplistic Israeli security formulation, the northern Palestinians are more dangerous. So we fought for a while and then the soldier said: "who here is intelligent?" He wanted to explain what was going on to a foreigner so he didn't look so bad. So he told me that Palestinians from the north should not go to the south (of Palestine). That was why we were stopped. He was making his own arbitrary foreign policy. So I thanked him for the advice, we collected our documents and left. Before we left he had to issue a threat to keep his manhood, "Just because I let you through doesn't mean you can get home later."

So we went to the wedding, which was amazing. Hundreds of people were dancing, eating, and smoking nagillah. The men were in one area and the women in another. People walked through the crowd with endless plates of fresh fruit, cakes, tea, and coffee. We danced the debka which sort of looks like a mix between the Jewish horra and a Russian dance, though it predates both. Some people were in traditional 'village' dress, others in sharp fashionable clothes. There were people of all ages hugging and dancing. The men grabbed me and threw their arms around me. We danced for a long time until I was too minded to go on. The dance involves a lot of coordinated stomping and it wears you out. People shot off fireworks, a traditional debka dancing troop came through with torches and kaffias. They played loud music from a DJ and we stopped the ad hoc wooden dance floor.

I got to see all the great Palestinians I have met here. They were all there in a festive mood. We ate food from their lands, drank traditional (non-alcoholic) drinks, and danced and danced. It was so nice. While the men did their thing outside, the women did the same outside on the other side of the house. Children watched from the roof and many played in the sand pile. Monsou was carried from man to men on their shoulders, lifted high into the air and danced with all of us. Everyone was so welcoming and open, and the males are so strong and affectionate. I was treated like a member of the family even though I was so obviously an outsider. When we finally decided to leave, they were just starting to serve a gigantic diner. We had to go because the two babies were sleeping and their mom wanted to get them to bed. So we left.

On our way home we passed through the same checkpoint. It took us about twenty minutes to get up to the soldiers. The younger baby had been asleep on my lap the whole time. When the soldier approached us, he asked the American in the front seat, "are you civilians off?" We all looked confused and he said it again much louder and angry. He reached for my friend who pulled back. Then he rephrased: "Where are you civilians?" We figured he was asking, “Where are we CIVILIANS OF?” so we answered. He then roughly threw open the sliding van door and demanded to know the name of the British man we were traveling with. With two sleeping children VISIBLY on my lap, he being three inches from me screamed, "YOUR NAME!?" When he was finally satisfied, without checking passports, he let us through. This is yet another countless example of the irregularity and arbitrariness of Israeli security. They do what they want when they want.

All in all the engagement party was an experience I shall not soon forget. I had an amazing time and pictures should be forth coming.

As five civilians are murdered in Nablus, fifteen in the Mugazi refugee camp, the Palestinian death toll for the invasion passes one hundred. As bombs rain on Lebanon and the death toll reaches four hundred, another Palestinian family is begun from Monsou and Iman. We wish them peace and happiness.

From the beautiful hills of occupied Palestine, with love and strength:

Michael

Bil'in, al-Quds

Friday was Bil'in, and for the first time in a very long while, the military did not atatck us. After the mass violence last week, the popular committe of Bil'in had a new plan. They decided to have a mourning march, carrying a large black flag and in silence. We planned to only stay at the checkpoint for 1 minute, which would not allow the military enough time to coordinate and attack. So we all marched under and along side the black flag, in honor of the countless victims in Lebanon and Gaza, and the new martyrs in Nablus and Balatta camp. We approached the soldiers, the commitee read a passage from the holy Qur'an, and we turned around and marched back. It was nice because no one was hurt, and for the first time we left the site in a unified march, not in a scattered flee for safety. There were no soldiers chasing us through the olive groves shooting unarmed children in the back. No beatings.

When we got back from the demo we decided to go to al-Quds to blow off some steam and spend the night at the faisal. A friend and I went to the Wailing Wall during the time when Shabat prayers go on for some people watching. It's truly amazing. Thousands of people praying, the Dome of the Rock glows from behind the Wall, and its speakers (which announce the 5 daily calls to prayer) face the Jewish worshipers. The square where the Wall is full of Jewish tourists and settlers. Many of the settlers pray with rifles slung over their shoulders. The army has rifles, the police have guns, the border police have guns, the settlers have guns...

We left West (Jewish) al Quds, and reentered our world. We had a good crew of folks and decided to have some drinks at a hole in the wall bar in Israel... open on Shabat night and serving taybah, the Palestinian beer on tap. We had a few rounds and were able to relax with the international crew and two Israeli anarchists. It was really nice to be out of the fray. The streets are still filled with soliders, border police and settlers, and we still have to pass through security, but it's nice none the less. We were harassed a little by some Hasidics returning from prayers: They suspected we were sleeping with the enemy.

Today we took a little time in East al Quds. We looked at the old city from atop the Austrian hospice, had some Palestinian-style pizza, and then took the service back to Ramallah. Passing Qalandia checkpoint, the car traffic was heavily backed up. When we got back to Ramallah I caught up on my email and all... but in the middle of writing this email... about a paragraph up, we got a call.

Israeli soldiers had entered Ramallah and were moving through al-Manara (the city center) quickly. So we got our equipment and went quickly out of the apartment towards where we were told the soldiers were. Along the way we asked the local kids where the soildiers were and we got to the site. By the time we had gotten there the soildiers had just returned to their armored jeeps and rode off. Before driving off, they kidnapped five Palestinians and left. Since this just happened, we don't know what the Israelis are saying is the cause. We'll just have to wait.

Over the next few days I'm planning for the week and expect to be spending about a week up north as soon as we sort out the details. So I'll likely be in Ramallah until Monday and leave about then. My phone seems to work fine, I spoke to a few folks Friday but left my phone in the office when I was in al Quds yesterday and today. I saw a missed call but couldn't find the number. So whoever called, try again, it's with me now.

I can't really call anyone from here because it's a phone with add-on credit. In order to initiate an international call it's more credit then I usually have. It's a phone for me to recieve work calls on... so sorry but I can't be calling people. Calling internationally only gives me about 3 minutes on one phone card.

A few folks have asked for good maps of the areas i'm discussing. Try this UN map.

It's bit confusing because it shows checkpoints, road blocks, etc., but it's the most current, detailed maps around. Everyone here uses these maps. For more maps, or maps of specific regions in the West Bank or Gaza, check out OCHA's site on Palestine.

So that's that. Someone may be setting up a blog for me real soon so if that comes through, I'll stop sending these out and just maintain the blog. We'll see if that works.

All my love from occupied Palestine:

Michael

Qalqilya Wall

Here is a picture of the annexation/apartheid wall in Qalqilya...enjoy.

Tulkarem

I had a very busy few days since I last wrote. I only have a few minutes so I'm gonna go fast.

On quick note...When we claim that Jewish Israeli settler beat us and Israeli army shoot us no one listens. When the US State Department, CNN and FOX news say it people listen. Check out the brief report and click the links inside to see the "real bews."

The first day of my solidarity visit tour I went to spend with ICAD, the Israeli coalition against home demolitions. This group rebuilds homes that Israel demolishes as collective punishment. So ICAD rebuilds them, Israel destroys them and so on. Their office, called the Rachel Corie house, has been demolished four times in three years. Now, we all know that home demolitions and collective punishment are both illegal, but Israel does them every day. Just today when I was driving back to Ramallah, I saw two American made armored bulldozers on the road with military escort returning from a demolition. Often times families die as their homes are collapsed on top of them while they sleep inside. So we worked hand in hand with Palestinian laborers clearing the rubble, moving the beautiful pieces of tile and art work from the pile of rock, plaster and possessions. We worked from 9-7:30 and managed to clear the foundation and pour the concrete for 8 of the 12 columns that will hold up the roof. Each home takes two weeks to rebuild. ICAD works with 30 volunteers for 2 weeks. We were needed because they give them one day off to see Palestine. So on their day off ISM replaced them and got some great work done. Later that night I went back to their camp with one other ISMer and gave a talk on what ISM is and what it does.

oh, the night before I met a real Israeli spy who we uncovered at the ISM=friendly hostel.

The next morning I traveled to Al Quds, and met up with other folks to go to Nablus. We hired a service taxi, filed it and proceeded to Nablus, the city with the most fighters in the West Bank. So we planned to go to the main checkpoint outside of Nablus, and meet a contact there. We drove for about forty minutes, listening to pop love songs from American movies, and when we were about five minutes outside Nablus I received a phone call from an Al Quds contact. He told us that three Israeli soldiers have been killed in Nablus (this was untrue) as well as four Palestinians (this was true). He correctly reported that the Israeli occupation forces were initiating a full scale incursion, tanks, apache attack helicopters, bulldozers, the whole deal. We were told that Nablus was sealed off, and so we diverted our travels and went to Tulkarem, a very conservative and militant city near Nablus.

We spent two days in Tulkarem. In order to get from hwarda checkpoint to Tulkarem we had to find a taxi for nine dollars. We found a man willing to travel that way and he asked for 250 NIS ( 4.5 NIS = $1). After we described why we were in Palestine, and why we were going to Tulkarem, he said it was his national duty to assist us and he would take us for 120 NIS. We said great and hoped in. When we arrived, after going through a few checkpoints, we met our contact there. This man had spent six years in Israeli prison for being a member of a student union in Turkey.

Tulkarem is a fascinating place. It is very conservative, with many women in full hijab (head covered, nose and moth covered, gloves) and many women and men in traditional dress. The walls are covered in fresh martyrs posters, and most of the light posts bear billboards of martyrs (fighters killed by Israel). The logos of Islamic jihad, Hamas, and Fatah were everywhere.

We visited a summer camp for the children of martyrs. They taught art, music, biology. We saw them do exercises in the hot sun. We saw a toxic chemical factory as well. This factory used to be in Israel, but popular protests had the factory removed because of the toxic fumes. So Israel moved the factory to Tulkarem, surrounded it with a giant wall, and set up military atatck towers to watch for problems. All of Tulkarem is surrounded by the wall. The agricultural industry has been crushed, villages have been separated. It takes the local children forty five minutes to get to school, when it used to be a five minute walk. Now they have to drive around the wall and cross through a checkpoint. In one area, the wall split the town, leaving only one home and one farm on the Israeli side. Now these Palestinians residents must cross through a checkpoint to enter their village. It is a small checkpoint so soldiers agree only there two times a day. If the family wants to cross they have to cross at these times or the gate is locked. If the soldiers do not come or are late, they can not get food or leaver their home. They can't enter Israel and they can't enter their Palestinian village because of the wall.

We saw the wall split areas and segment the town into useless segments. Later that day we visited a Tulkarem refugee camp. This was a very large traditional refugee camp. These are refugees from the Nakba (catastrophe). The nakba is the formation of the state of Israel in 1948 when millions of Palestinians were forcibly removed from their homes and thousands were killed outright. The Palestinians from what is now south western Israel settled in this Tulkarem camp. The UN helps to run the camp as they do all official refugee camps. Inside the camp the children run all over. We met with two families.

At the first house we met a woman recently released from an Israeli jail. She served two and a half years because Israel claimed she transferred information to a terrorist. The terrorist was her brother. Within this intifada (9/00-present) this woman's brother, husband and father were all murdered by Israeli soldiers. She was arrested the day the soldiers invaded the camp, killed tens of Palestinians and arrested hundreds. She served 2.5 years, spent months at a time in solitary confinement, and was tortured regularly. We spoke with her for some time. She served us tea, coffee and juice. She seemed very happy to be out of prison. She had a lot of visitors.

The next home we visited had two martyrs as well. The star was Majid, the 2.5 year old boy, released from prison only two months ago. Majid was born in prison as many Palestinians children are. In Palestine, when a woman has a child in prison she is allowed to keep them for two years, until the child is removed. So for two of Majid's two and a half years, he was in a Israeli prison. His mother is still in prison. We were told by the family that he is still deadly afraid of men, and runs to hide in the closet whenever a door opens. He still expects a soldier to enter. This boy's father and older brother were both martyrs as well. In the camps, everyone is related to a martyr. Israel always invades the camp, those who resist are murdered.

The horrors of the occupation in Tulkarem go on and on. Everyone has a martyr in the family, the wall has destroyed the area and the town is being strangled. While we were waiting to go to Nablus, Israel laid siege to it, as well as the refugee camp near Nablus named Ballata. They killed many, they arrested the Palestinian police and they bulldozed the government building while the workers were still inside. Ambulances were being prevented from entering. No Israeli soldiers were killed but at least seven Palestinians were. So we did a few more things in the area and eventually left.

The ride from the Tulkarem area to Ramallah should only take forty minutes. It took us three and a half hours though. We illegally circumvented five checkpoints, passed through two and drove for hours through olive groves to skip security. Our driver would receive checkpoint updates on his phone, and we would take a cart road off the main road and drive up and/or around a mountain. We waited in one checkpoint for over an hour.

This story is already too long. What sticks with me is the kids. Where we slept was in the heart of Tulkarem. We had forty kids that would run after us all the time. They would follow us and shout our names, take pictures with my camera and jump on our backs. These children already had a preferred faction. Some were Fatah, some Hamas.

Anyway....I now HAVE A PHONE...Anyone who wishes to call me, my number is:

011-972-523-197-372

Dial that from an American phone and you're set.

So 300 dead in Lebanon, about ten in the West Bank (in two days) and untold hundreds in Gaza. This place is exploding.

I'm done for now. Emotionally, physically and mentally.

Here is a picture one of the kids took of me. This is only a very small fraction of the kids. The boy on the right in the blue proudly told me in arabic that his brother and father were Fatah martyrs.

All my best hopes and dreams are leaving this space and entering your communities. I love you all.

from occupied and besieged Palestine:

Michael

Children Die in Convoy Attack as Israel Widens Lebanon Assault

These are four AP pictures of casualties from the Israeli assault in Lebanon. They were sent to the ISM. They are Associated Press photos but no publication would publish them. It seems unfair since graphic pictures of Israeli casualties after a suicide bombing are often shown. Look if you want, but know that much is being kept from you including the massive assault on the Lebanese citizenry including children. The civilian death toll is well into the hundreds. There is a demonstration in Ramallah in less then 1 hour, that's where I'll be.

http://chicago.indymedia.org/usermedia/image/3/victim1.jpg
http://chicago.indymedia.org/usermedia/image/8/victim_2.jpg
http://chicago.indymedia.org/usermedia/image/5/large/victim3.jpg
http://chicago.indymedia.org/usermedia/image/10/large/victim_4.jpg


Children die in convoy attack as Israel widens Lebanon assault
- Inigo Gilmore in Nahariyah, Patrick Wintour in St Petersburg and Tracy McVeigh
Sunday July 16, 2006
The Observer

Israel steeply escalated its military campaign against Hizbollah in Lebanon yesterday with a series of air strikes that left more than 35 civilians dead, including a single strike on a convoy of families fleeing the fighting in a village near Tyre in the south of the country that killed more than 20 people, most of them children.

The intensification of the conflict, in which Hizbollah fired missiles deep into Israel, came as international leaders appeared to be deeply split over how to respond to a crisis that threatens to spill over into a full-scale war involving Syria and Iran as well as Israel, Palestine and Lebanon. Last night the Lebanese Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, declared the country in a 'state of catastrophe'.

According to witnesses and photographs from the scene of the worst incident, an Israeli missile incinerated a car and a small truck full of families leaving their Lebanese border village of Marwaheen near Tyre after the Israeli army used loudhailers to tell residents they had just hours to go. Pictures showed charred bodies of children strewn across the road.

UN peacekeepers recovered the bodies. Half the passengers were children or teenagers, according to medical sources. It was the deadliest single strike since Israel started an air campaign against Lebanon after two of its soldiers were captured by Hizbollah on Wednesday.

Relatives gathered at a hospital to identify the dead said they came from two families - Abdallah and Ghanem.

Around 100 residents sought shelter at a nearby UN base, but left after officials were unable to confirm the warning by Israel, a UN spokesman said.

Other residents had tried later to leave and were killed in the missile strike, the spokesman said, adding that the Lebanese authorities had asked the UN to help evacuate about 160 people remaining in Marwaheen. They would be relocated in the morning. Relatives blamed the UN for the deaths, pelting peacekeepers with stones when they arrived with the bodies after the strike.

"If they had taken people in to begin with then they would never have died," said Mohammed Oqla, who was at the hospital.

Last night an Israeli military spokeswoman said they were still investigating the reports of the incident.

Other air strikes flattened Hizbollah's headquarters in Beirut and attacked roads, bridges and petrol stations in the north, east and south of Lebanon, cutting the country off from the outside world and hitting Hizbollah strongholds including the leader Hassan Nasrallah's home and office. The northern port of Tripoli was also attacked, the deepest strike yet into Lebanese territory.

Israel's campaign has so far killed at least 100 people, all but three of them civilians, and choked off Lebanon's economy, including its growing tourism industry.

On a separate front, Israeli troops also yesterday fired several missiles at targets in Gaza, killing at least two.

Hizbollah fired dozens of rockets into Israel, some reaching Tiberias, 22 miles inside the border, the furthest Hizbollah missiles have so far reached. They killed two Israeli civilians and injured several.

One Katyusha rocket hit the roof of a seven-floor apartment building in the Shmuel neighbourhood of Tiberias, a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee, damaging several homes.

There were furious political exchanges throughout the region, with Israel accusing Iran of supplying increasingly sophisticated weapons to Hizbollah. Israel claims that the device that damaged one of its naval ships off the Lebanese coast on Friday, killing four sailors, was an Iranian-made guided missile.

Tension grew when Israeli warplanes fired four rockets at a border crossing point between Lebanon and Syria yesterday - Iran has threatened Israel that it will respond ferociously if there is any incursion into Syrian territory. But Syria swiftly announced that there had been no attacks within its borders.

There is a growing chasm in the international community. President George Bush yesterday angrily rounded on Hizbollah for starting the violence and demanded Syria intervene.

At a joint press conference with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, at the G8 summit in St Petersburg, he said: 'In my judgment, the best way to stop the violence is to understand why the violence occurred in the first place.' Bush, visibly angry, added: 'And that's because Hizbollah has been launching rocket attacks out of Lebanon into Israel and because Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers. The best way to stop the violence is for Hizbollah to lay down its arms and to stop attacking. And therefore, I call on Syria to exert influence over Hizbollah.'

But in keeping with Russia's traditional role as a counterweight to the US in the Middle East, President Putin added: 'We believe that the use of force must be balanced. But in any case the bloodshed must be stopped as soon as possible.'

The European Union has asked Israel to show restraint and Britain was yesterday trying desperately tried to straddle the divide between America and other world leaders at the G8 summit, by saying it would not become involved in the 'blame game', or 'finger pointing'.

Number 10 instead focused on trying to find what it described as a 'mechanism' to de-escalate the crisis.

The EU, France and Russia have all condemned the Israeli air strikes as 'disproportionate' but Tony Blair's spokesman, speaking on the way to the G8 summit, refused to condemn the Israeli actions. Instead he said it was essential for the captured Israeli soldiers to be released 'and for all sides to act with constraint'.

Al Quds...A Nice Place to Spend a Day Off

Chilling al-Quds was my day... or at least half of it. The new crew came in this morning, 10 more internationals fighting along side the Palestinians of the intifada. Freedom loving people from Scottland, Germany, England, the US... all traveling to Palestine, while a war is waging in the north. They came for the second day training, and so I vacated our Ramallah apartment and went with some friends to al-Quds (Jerusalem). We crossed the heavily militarized checkpoint seperatingthe West Bank from Israel, riding the public bus, and had tea at the faisal, the hostel of the international Palestinian movement. After tea, we walked through the eastern old city, eventually crossing into Israeli West Jerusalem. West Jerusalem- for those who haven't been- is another world. Two worlds side by side. The Israelis have private pools while the Palestinians have no water to drink. The Israelis have thieir own roads and Palestinians have a giant wall with machine gun turrets.

We crossed from West Jerusalem, through 2 internal security checks and entered the Haram al-Sharif where the Dome of the Rock and al Aqsa sit. We walked the Haram and I went into al-Aqsa to stand with the pious and witness. I made salat and spoke with the few Palestinians lucky enough to have an ID that allows them entrance into al-Quds. After the Haram we had lunch at the lovely Austrian hospice and saw the skyline of the old city from its roof. Later that day we made the needlessly long trek back to Ramallah... it's long because the service bus has to drive around Qalandia checkpoint in order to not delay the bus. Strangely it's faster to drive all the way around and miss the checkpoint.

When I got back to Ramallah, training was finishing up. I wrote one press release about a potential ISMer who was denied access into Israel and has been in jail for 3 days, and edited another about Jewish settlers in Hebron who attacked some Palestinians and internationals. The settler violence in Hebron is always bad. The small children attack Palestinians regularly. One of our organizers was hit with a rock as large as a bowling ball... check the website for more:
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/07/16/attacksrocks/

After the media work, I did some errands in Ramallah and helped cook a traditional Palestinian diner for about 18. After eating we all went to the park for drinks and nagillah. All in all it was a great day off... we are encouraged to take one day off a week.

Tomorrow I leave for a week long solidarity tour. I may not have internet/computer access during the trip, so don't worry if I'm out of touch. Tomorrow is Hebron, then rebuilding demolished homes, then the 'militant' cities of the north. I'll check back in when I return.

Keep your eyes on the news and keep the fires burning.

All my love from occupied Palestine:

Michael

p.s. A bunch of you have told me that you have been fowarding my emails to other people... if you send me their adresses I can add them to my ISM list and it will go to them directly. It saves you time, takes no time for me, and allows me to know who's reading. Also, if anyone has any light-hearted pictures to send my way it would be nice... all I see is TV images of tanks and news shots of explosions... it's nice to read email and have a break from that.

The Road Block of Qalqiliya

Today was so very great. I awoke early and took the long ride up north to the Qalqiliya district along the green line in the West Bank. We had to pass through 3 checkpoints on the way up and 4 checkpoints on the way back... and let's remember these are checkpoints inside Palestine, not in between Palestine and Israel. One of these checkpoints in particular was what is called a flying checkpoint. This means that it is a temporary checkpoint set up for a specific action. It consists of an armored hummer and a few soldiers. So we were driving, and a hummer pulled us over. We were told that the Qalqiliya area was a "closed military zone" for the next few hours because "troublemakers were protesting the wall." This was a checkpoint set up SPECIFICIALLY to prevent international ISM activists from joining in solidarity with Palestinians. We lied to the soldiers and negotiated our way through the checkpoint after about 20 minutes.

When we reached the village we attended a rally, then a march. The march was fired upon by the Israeli army. They shot tear gas into the village's narrow streets to disperse the unarmed crowd. We waited for it to disperse and moved on. The march was intended to confront a road block set up by the military. The road block prevents Palestinians from moving cars through the village. A Palestinian group asked ISM to be at the demonstration... so we arrived en mass. We joined with Palestinians, Israelis, and other internationals and started to disassemble the road block. We worked for hours moving large boulders, massive concrete blocks and dirt. It took us a few hours but we cleared the road block while about 30 soldiers watched with their guns pointed... I really don't have the energy to write in detail since I recently finished an official ISM report. So I was the legal support team, the photographer and the report writer. PLEASE DO read my hard worked report and pictures.

We removed the road block, got attacked by the military, who were shooting LIVE ROUNDS at the unarmed crowd. Then they invaded the village... All in all it was a great day.

I worked side by side, hand in hand with the Palestinian and Israeli freedom fighters. We joined together to carry huge stones, to shovel dirt, to block the military from attacking, dragging huge concrete blocks... We passed stones hand to hand. We passed water to drink hand to hand. We shared cigarettes, hugs and hand shakes. Internationals and Israelis formed human shields to prevent the Israelis from firing on the crowd. Palestinians attacked the hummers and jeeps with stones to stop their forward movement. We all had our place. We fought for freedom of movement, for self determination and for liberation as one collective force. We fought because we could.

When the jaish (soldier/army in Arabic) invaded the village, we ran together and took refuge in a family's yard. They brought out coffee, soda, and water for hundreds of people. As we worked removing the road block, families passed through, old people passed through, and couples crossed with children in their arms.

In the end the army rebuilt the roadblock after we left, but for more than an hour, the road was open and Palestinians were allowed to pass through their village as people, not as body searched, corralled beings. They were able to carry goods for sale through without passing a check point, they were able to fight for their rights and be free, even if we all knew it would end when the army brought in the bulldozers. The action was non violent, but the Israelis shot people, threw sound grenades and provoked the crowd by driving armored jeeps through a peaceful rally.

I feel great about today.

I have to sleep now and tomorrow I take a day off and go with friends to al Quds (Jerusalem).

Much love from occupied Palestine:

Michael

Bil'in - The Second Round

Today was a great day. We had the Bil'in anti-wall protest and it was grand. The theme this week was continuing life, and so to celebrate, two Palestinian ISM coordinators got married at the wall. My best wishes to monsour and iman on their wedding night. Please read about it.

They wore suits and a wedding dress draped in the flag, and led the march in a car covered in decorations to honor their marriage. When we approached the checkpoint we began the wedding. There were fireworks, dancing and cheering. But, after only about 10 minutes of non violent demonstration, the Israelis opened fire without regard for the children, elderly, and non violent attendees at the wedding. During this assault, over 25 people were either shot, beaten, and/or hit with sound grenades and tear gas canisters. In addition, 5 members of the press were injured in similar ways. The Israelis were more brutal then I have ever seen. They shot hundreds of rounds of "non lethal" rounds, and fired at a retreating crowd for almost an hour.

The bride and groom were both assaulted and many of my international and Palestinian friends left in ambulances. Around 10 people sustained serious injuries and needed to be hospitalized. We had talked about this beforehand, but we expected the soldiers to be especially brutal because of the upsurge in anger over Lebanon. The soldiers were taking out their anger on us when they chased those that retreated into the village. The soldiers left their post and pushed almost a quarter mile into the village. This was purely vindictive. Their stated purpose was to disperse the crowd, so then why did they pursue those who dispersed. For my efforts I was struck with a baton and hit with a rubber bullet in my right arm. The bruising is minimal and so I chose to keep it out of the injury report. One of the people I have grown to respect the most, Mohammad Monsour, the best man at the wedding, was beaten all over his body. His legs, back, ass and arms were so beaten that he was hospitalized.

But all in all it was a great success. We were energetic and people stood their ground. When we got back to Ramallah, myself and two others cooked diner for twenty people. We ate and we will soon hold a meeting. Tomorrow I am going to Qalqillia to help with a protest over the road blocks there. We will attempt to reopen the roads and show the restrictions on movement.

...four hours later...

Ok so I just facilitated an amazing coordinators meeting and we made our plans for the next week. We had an amazing brainstorm and then divided up tasks. We figured out how to staff our sites all over the West Bank and what to do with the surplus of activists. Right now we have a surplus of activists after staffing our permanent sites... that is amazing. So we have organized a week of solidarity visits where ISMers will travel to the more "militant" cities of the West Bank and meet with people and build connections. They will travel to Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus...

We also have a plan with the kids. Before Palestinian children are 16 years old, they do not have ID cards (think apartheid South Africa ID cards), and once the wall is finished, there will be no way for people in the west bank to enter Jerusalem or Israel. So the plan is to take 30 Palestinian children a week to tour Jerusalem, visit the al Aqsa mosque and go to the beach. Imagine this: you're a Palestinian and you are forbidden to see the beach EVER. You are forbidden to see the 3rd holiest site in islam EVER. You are forbidden to see Jerusalem EVER. So before they turn 16, and before the wall is finished around Jerusalem, we will take the children there. This will be a memory they will have their whole life and it may be their only chance to see these things.

So next week will be amazing. We have a load of new activists coming in for training sunday. Then we have a week of actions, ongoing campaigns and solidarity trips. It's looking good.

On the other hand, Israel has called for an "all out war" with Lebanon. Israel has attacked a lot of targets, killed a lot of people. Hezbollah has struck back by repelling the Israeli paratroopers, repelling the Israeli 'human frog' amphibious unit, firing rockets... This truly is a war, but we have to keep in mind that it is a war between one of the largest militaries in the world and an Islamist militia. It is an unequal war, but Hezbollah is holding its ground. This war is burning up the north of Israel since it is within striking distance from Israel. It's not really effecting us here, except that the Israelis are extra mad and there is the possibility of incursions as retaliation. This almost makes us forget about the atrocities in Gaza. The news is too much to summarize, so PLEASE KEEP READING THE NEWS. One of the victories of the Israeli occupation is that the crimes against the Palestinians have been kept from an international audience. The biggest support work you can do for me is to read the news, discuss it with people, and yeah, keep emailing me. I'm getting an email or 2 every 2 days and its great. Please keep it up, it's my only connection to the outside since i still have no phone.

So I'm off... to discuss, to hang, and eventually to sleep. Tomorrow we leave at 9 and will be in Qalqillia for the action. Wish us luck.

All my love from Palestine:

Michael

Jericho, the Jordan Valley

I have returned from the Jordan Valley after 2 and a half days on a scouting/diplomatic mission to expand our work in the depressed region of the Palestinian east coast, between the West Bank and the nation of Jordan.

We met with a farmer who has had most of his land stolen and his remaining lands enclosed in anIsraeli settlement. Twenty five radcist settlements have been built in his region of the Jordan Valley since the 1990s. He is now surrounded by settlers, settler-only roads, military electrical fences, patrol towers, military observation posts.... this area is truly like South Africa. Areas where Palestians are prohibited from being. Roads for only Jews. And remember, this is not in Israel proper, this is in the West Bank of Palestine, an area that according to the Israeli peace plan is semi-autonomous.

We visited a muslim orphanage/school that was raided last week by the Israeli army. They brought in over 300 soldiers, 13 Hummers, and a helicopter. The army seized the computers and scanners, burned the fax machine, blew off the doors with explosives, smashed the playground, detained the volunteers and even seized a cabinet that contained video tapes of birthday celebrations for toddlers. This was part of a day long siege during which 4 charities were raided in Jericho along. Many people were shot. If this sounds unbelievable, I saw it. I saw the bullet marks in the walls. I saw the marks where the explosives blew doors off their hinges. I saw the desks with monitors, keyboards, and mouses- but no computers. I saw it all. Israel said the clinics and schools were supporting terrorism.

The hotel we stayed in, within the quiet city of Jericho, was raided last week. The owner was shot, his wife's car destroyed. The army shot over 40 rounds that were collected from the floor, as well as many gas grenades, sound bombs and tear gas canisters. Once again, I saw the holes in the walls. I saw the fresh bullet wounds in the owner. I saw the recently smashed car. I saw.

We saw Jericho prison which the Iisraelis attacked a few months ago. This was a prison maintained by the Palestinian Authority and Israel attacked it, killing many people in a successful attempt to move a Palestinian prisoner (Achmed Sadat) from the PA jail to an Iisraeli jail. The building is destroyed and riddled with bullet holes, smashed from tank shells and fire. I saw where the Palestinian flags were burned. I saw where bullets were sprayed into unarmed cell blocks. I saw where the tanks rolled in. I saw the shreads of clothing on the floor. I saw.

We toured Aqbat Jaber refugee camp, a 2,000 person camp of refugees from the 1948 'creation' of Israel. This is one of the smallest camps in palestine but it still stretches for miles. in the summer they often have no water. Their supply is from the Jordan River and controlled by Israel. The camp is surrounded by settlements, and while these Jewish-only areas have swimming pools and sprinklers, the Palestinians must buy their own water back from Israel. Israel rations it and often closes the supply for days at a time. When we were there, Israel had turned off the water a day prior: punishment for the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier 2 weeks ago. At will, Israel deprives 2,000 people of water in the hottest region of Palestine. These refugees recieve food daily from the United Nations. Without such aid they would simply die. The walls are covered in militant insignias. This is where suicide bombers are born, from the ruins of these desperate camps.

Troops were amassing around Jericho when we left. The check points took a long time to get through. We passed through 8 check points in one drive. It took us about 20 minutes at each. It takes a palestinian hours to cross from their homes to their jobs, to hospitals, and to schools.

Elsewhere in Gaza, over 25 Palestinians were murdered, including 15 children. Israel bombed the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, some more infrastructure, and many civilian targets. After the Hezbollah attack in lebanon, Israel killed over 40 Lebanese, and bombed the airport and the television station. This is a serious escalation. We watched Palestine news and watched hours of footage of children's bodies being pulled from wreckage. We saw the crushed skulls and infants and mothers screaming as their babies were dug from underneath rubble. I saw this with my own eyes.

We met with community representatives in an attempt to lay the ground work for a permanent ISM campaign in the Jordan Valley and Jericho region. We met with members of many factions, the mayor, and the leader of a labor union.

Jericho was quite an experience. It is one of the most peaceful cities in Palestine, part of area A supposedly under palestinian control. There are few incursions, few fighters. It is largely a city in the middle of a farming community, making its money from the land and from tourism. It is the oldest human city, and an important place for Christians because Jesus spent much time there. Even with such a relative calm, we saw hotels attacked, charities attacked, troops in the streets. A few days before we got there the Israelis invaded the refugee camp we visited. We spoke with the people and heard the same story again and again. A man from the camp was taken to an outpost, stripped naked and executed by the Israelis. We saw the pictures. His body full of bullet holes. Israel said he was a fighter, but even if he was, why was he not arrested? Why did they assassinate him in a dusty alley? Where is the rule of law? I say this already knowing the answer. The army killed tens of children in Gaza without consequence. They carpet bomb civilian institutions, government buildings and infrastructure.

This place fucks with you. It messes with your levels of relative acceptability. It becomes normal to execute someone if they are guilty of a crime. The question stops being, "why were they killed?" and becomes "were they guilty?" If Israel is a great democracy, "the only democracy in the middle east," how can they kill civilians without a trial? How can they sanction a democratically elected government? How can they bomb schools, hospitals, airports, television stations and bridges? I have seen these things with my own eyes and i doubt even that. How can they build walls through villages and point sniper rifles at international tourists? Since I have been here I have been shot at, attacked with projectiles, prevented from crossing autonomous areas and threatened by 18 year olds.

The violence now occurring in the Sheeba farms and Gaza will over shadow the demonstration tomorrow, but we will be there. Two of my fellow workers will attempt to be married in Bil'in. We will likely be shot at, and our peaceful, legal demonstration will be attacked. Palestinians will be arrested, many will serve long sentences and be tortured for intelligence. This is their fight for emancipation and the price they are paying for a future without settlers and without military occupation.

Tomorrow we will face the occupiers in Palestine. We will face them with our voices, and with our bodies and with our spirits. Tomorrow we will put non violence into action and be visited with violent repression. Think of us while you are driving your cars, working your jobs and paying your bills. Think that half way across the world there are those fighting for simple things; for homes, schools and roads. We will fight for Gaza, for Ramallah and for Jerusalem. We will fight; with linked arms and flags we will face tanks, armored jeeps and automatic weapons. We will fight for liberation and we will win every day.

Humdula. Through sheer human will we will win at every turn, for when they attack us they loose their humanity and we gain ever more. We will win because we are on the right side of history. The books will tell of this struggle in grand terms. Tt will tell of a 50 year fight against imperialism, colonialism and a racist state. Tonight i hope, with all my heart, for peace, freedom and victory.

We will win because we are just.

All my love to those yearning for a better tomorrow, and all my love to the families of those who have lost so much in their fight for a future.

From the occupied West Bank of Palestine, from Ramallah with love:

Michael

A Tease...

I only have a second...

I'm going to the Jordan Valley from now until at least Thursday. I'll likely have no internet connection. Friday I'll be at the demonstration in Bil'in, on the front lines with the other internationals and Palestinian community representitives. Let's all hope for the best, and I'll write again when I can, most likely Friday or Saturday night.

The Gaza incursion is still on-going and the Palestinian resistance will react soon. They fired a rocket from Jenin yesterday, the first from the West Bank. Israeli is bringing another uprising on.

From occupied Palestine:

Michael

Palestinian Authority in Ramallah

The following was written about a week ago. Didn't get around to posting until today.

I had two interesting interactions with the arms of the PA (Palestinian Authority) today and yesterday that i forgot to mention in the previous post.

The first occurred yesterday... I was hanging out with Mohammad, the man who sells falafel a few blocks from the apartment in which I've been staying. We were talking about the Philadelphia liberty bell because he had a shirt on with a liberty bell logo and wanted to know what it meant... But anyway, a man came up excitedly holding 3 $100 bills, US currency. He spoke very quickly in Arabic to Mohammad and when he was done my friend interpreted what he had said. This man worked as a police officer for the PA and had just gotten paid. The reason he was so excited is because of the economic embargo the US is promoting.

Since the Hamas party won the legislative council elections in january, the US has launched a campaign to starve the government into collapse by withholding aid money and encouraging other international parties to do the same. Because of this economic embargo, the government has been unable to pay its employees for 5 months. The PA is the largest employer in Palestine, employing over 30% of the population. (This is true in many 3rd world countries, and it is true in Palestine: The state is the largest employer.) So the employees of the PA have not been paid since February. This man had just received $300 for 5 months of work. Imagine that. Because of the lack of payment, many employees have stopped work, and many say that if more workers drop out, the government will collapse. This is the hope of Israel.

The second encounter occurred when I was visiting with a friend in Ramallah. I spent my birthday night walking through the hills of Ramallah and discussing revolutionary plans. When we arrived back at my friend's home, there were 5 heavily armed men outside her door. these men had soviet style AK-47s and military green tactical vests, assumingly packed with radions, grenades and ammunition. The men looked on guard as we approached and we said "marhabba" and they relaxed a bit. I was carrying a small child wrapped in a blanket and they seemed suspicious, but we were allowed to pass with nothing more than a stare and suspicion. I later found out that some high ranking officer in the PA security apparatus lived in the building with my friend and that the men were his bodyguards.

I relate this story to illustrate the militarization of Palestinian society. Not only are the walls covered in martyr posters and graffiti featuring faction graffiti and militant imagery, but many people on all sides are armed. The Israeli soldiers all carry American machine guns, the settlers also carry machine guns, and while Ramallah has no visible militant presence, it is not uncommon to see massive parades of armed militants in the north or the West Bank or Gaza. These guards sat outside this building day after day, night after night, armed to the teeth and awaiting an attack.

On Sunday, July 9th, there was a general strike held to protest the ongoing incursion in Gaza. This is just one of the thousands of examples of non violent direct action used by the Palestinian people in protest of the Israeli occupation. This would never be covered in the media. For the most part the intifada is not suicide bombs and rocket attacks, it is strikes, boycotts, and non violent demonstrations. This is the way of most liberation struggles, but as always, the occupiers control the media and the public opinion so you hear nothing. Because of the strike, all the shops in Ramallah were closed and the city was silent. This was a true act of solidarity that came at great cost to the Palestinian business owners and shoppers.

The training was great, we received about 18 new people, and we will get another load saturday. there are so many internationals here, it's truly inspiring.

I walked a lot in downtown Ramallah. I saw young boys selling post cards of famous palestinian fighters. Sheik Yasin, Rantisi, Ayesh, Chechen fighters, Iraqi fighters... these are their baseball cards, their movie stars their heroes. I saw a card with a young man holding a child. I didn't recognize the man so I asked a young boy. He knew his name and told me it proudly. This is the culture of the intifada and the 'culture of martyrdom.'

Michael

Day 04, 05, 06 -

Marhabba,

Today has been really chill. I spent the day- my birthday- helping out the media team catch up, on a back log of press and website work. I wrote up a press release, summarizing the international response, to the Gaza siege. Then, I compiled and edited entries from a Gaza woman's blog, for publication. I then helped on a press release, for a court case, which will be held in a few days. The case is brought by the villagers in Bil'in, to change the route of the wall through their village. As I said yesterday, the route of the wall in Bil’in bisects the community and annexes a large amount of land, for the future expansion of an illegal Israeli settlement, on Palestinian, West Bank land. So, exactly 2 years ago, the international court of justice in The Hague, ruled that the apartheid wall was illegal by international law, and since then, Israel has disregarded their ruling, and continued the construction of the wall, throughout the West Bank; including, through Bil'in.

Anyway, when I was done, I compiled the ISM digest; so when you receive the rather long email digest, today or tomorrow, know that it is the product of my labor. Then, I had an amazing lunch, that one of the Palestinians living here made, and now I'm writing this blog.

Last night was nice; when we were done with our work, me and 3 others (1 American, 1 British, 1 Palestinian) went to diner. We tried to go to a restaurant named Sinatra, which apparently is decorated with pictures of Frank. But, it was closed, so we went to a place called Stones, in Ramallah. We had an apple nagaliah and split a pizza, which was surprisingly amazing. I was also able to have my first drink of alcohol, since being here. I had 2 pints of Taybeh- the only beer made in Palestine. When we were finishing dinner, the Palestinian got a phone call from an American women living in Ramallah. She told him that 2 Israeli secret police were at her door, demanding entry; we rushed over to support her, but by the time we got there the neighbors had facilitated the encounter; the police asked a lot of questions, but eventually left. That was my night.

Today is pretty slow; I'm staying out of the fray, healing my arms, which are very sore... The call to prayer bellows through our apartment....

Tomorrow and Monday, I will be in ISM training, 9-5 both days. The agenda is:

Day 1:
9:30-9:50 -- introduction
9:50-10:20 -- hopes and fears
1:20-11:20 -- culture
11:20-11:35 -- break
11:35-12:05 -- ISM principals and structure
12:05-12:45 -- non-violence spectrum (activists may remember this, physically moving between signs reading, 'violent,' 'non-violent,' 'effective,' 'ineffective.')
12:45-2:00 -- lunch
2:00-2:30 -- hassle lines and de-escalation
2:30-3:00 -- affinity groups and action groups
3:00-3:30 -- power and privilege
3:00-3:30 -- break
5:15-5:55 -- definitions
5:55-6:55 -- media
6:55-7:15 -- regional updates
7:15 -- dinner

Day 2:
9:30-9:45 -- check in
9:45-11:30 -- legal
11:30-11:45 -- break
11:45-12:30 -- self care
12:30-1:00 -- sexual harassment and assault
1:00-2:15 -- lunch
2:15-3:30 -- responding to military actions
3:30-4:00 -- security
4:00-4:15 -- break
4:15-4:45 -- checkpoints
4:45-5:05 -- emergency procedures
5:05-5:25 -- practicalities
5:25-5:35 -- evaluation
Dinner

So that's my Sunday and Monday. Tuesday I'm back out in the field, maybe in Beit Omar (near Hebron), maybe in the north... who knows. I probably won't write again until Tuesday night. It’s hard to find time to write; usually my blogs are written in 4 parts; each about 10-15 minutes... So tomorrow I'll meet a bunch of new folks, and train for 2 days. Hope everyone is doing well in their lives and keep the emails coming this way; it’s so nice to hear from everyone and it’s a great break from the ISM internal emails, which are already flooding me with work.

It’s a sunny and cool day in Ramallah and I think I'll go for a walk later, take it easy and be bright eyed for tomorrow. I'm in this for the long haul, and know how to bide my time.

Much love, from occupied Palestine:

Michael

Day 03 - Bil'in Fence Demonstation

Marhabba,

Today was my first demonstration with the ISM in Bil'in at one if the sites of the fence. We got up early in Bil'in, had a meeting with the popular committee against the wall, a Palestinian group who decides how the demonstration will run, and then went out. The demonstration begun with a march from the village of Bil'in to the site of the soldiers. The march began as the residents left the mosque following Friday ju'uma prayers. There were hundreds of people in attendance, and the crowd was a nice mixture of internationals from the ISM and assorted leftist (read anarchist) and peace groups, Israeli Jews, as well as many Palestinians and some delegates from a Basque group. For those who don't know the Basques are an ethnic group fighting for independence and statehood in the Spain/France region.

The Palestinians led the march through the village and the Basques joined in musical style when we approached the soldiers. The Shabab (youth activists) were intermixed in the crowd and when we approached the site, the energy was very high. When the crowd approached the fence 3 Palestinians climbed the outer barrier to fly Palestinian flags above the soldiers, and after a short while, the soldiers attempted to disperse the crowd.

In an attempt to disperse a crowd of non-violent demonstrators the military fired sound grenades (grenades that explode loudly with a bright flash and some shrapnel), tear gas grenades and rubber bullets. These weapons are fired from US-made machine guns and travel at very high speeds. Many people were injured in the initial salvo including me. I was hit with a sound grenade and the shrapnel cut my arm in 4 places very deeply and I was knocked down from the force. When I attempted to get back up, a young soldier grabbed my arm and threw me into a riot shield. His grip left deep bruises on my wrist, after a few minutes the bruise formed in the shape of his grip. The adrenaline that comes with fight or flight protected my body from feeling much pain, but at this hour my arms and neck are very tender. All in all I am OK, and many were injured much more than myself. A Swedish friend was kicked in the ribs and beaten with a club, another shot in the ass (obviously as he was retreating) and many others who refused to allow their injuries to be documented.

People dispersed while the soldiers fired hundreds of rounds at the unarmed crowd, and after the shots stopped the people returned. We remained there for a long while, occasionally retreating and returning as the army opened fire again and again. One of their grenades started a fire in the dry brush and shabab, attempting to put the fire out with flags and sticks, were shot. A Palestinian activist was successfully de-arrested (recaptured from the military to avoid arrest) and the Basques served to deescalate the tension by performing traditional dances and making a lot of noise with their ass-mounted giant bells.

During the demonstration I acted as the ISM photographer and took 160 images for their records, media work and website. If you're interested you can read an account of the demonstration and see 4 of my pictures. The camera I brought here has already paid for itself in my mind. I also spent part of the day helping to update the website and publishing the press release with images. Later today, after I returned to Ramallah some internationals and Palestinians retook the disputed settlement from yesterday and remain there now in protest.

I am very tired but exited after today's action. The march was very successful, the occupation was challenged in Bil'in for yet another day and the community came out to support. I was able to meet last night with many Israeli anarchists and peace activists and was truly surprised about how many of them came to support the Bil'in demonstration. At its height, the march stretched for many blocks and flags could be seen far over the hills that make the path from the village to the military installation.

Well... I'm off to shower (for the first time) and maybe go back to the field later tonight. Please know that while I may be a little bruised, my spirit is as high as ever and I will continue to resist occupation along side the Palestinians as long as I am able. The people here are so brave in the face of such adversity and oppression. The demonstration was full of children, women, the elderly and all the rest. The Palestinians and brave Israelis and internationals took a lot of violence and returned none. Israelis stood beside Palestinians, beside Americans, Irish, Swedish, Australians, British, Japanese and the rest and faced the fear of injury, imprisonment and death. The soldiers beat many people without mercy and the people of Bil'in will return next week.

Freedom for Palestine!
No to the apartheid wall!
No to settlements!
Yes to statehood!

The intifada will continue until Palestine is free and like South Africa, Ireland and the many others, this occupation will too end in victory for the oppressed.

From my bruised body and revolutionary spirit; from inside the occupied territories, I send my love and best wishes to all.

much love & respect:

Michael