This week the Hebron team (Simphiwe, Elaine and I) made it a priority to visit the Da’ana family in Wadi al-Hussein. We soon discovered what it was like for an isolated Palestinian family to be located beside a settlement. The Da’ana family (17) live on an isolated farm land with no Palestinian neighbors. Their land and house is located very close to the Harsina settlement in the Wadi al-Hussein valley. The gravity of the situation is marked by the presence of a huge Russian winter ten in their garden, where ISM, other internationals and Israeli peace activists often sleep over to support the family and provide a protective presence.
h that he loses 50-60,000 NIS per year in loss of earnings. Psychologically speaking it has and continues to be extremely damaging on Khalifa’s heart when he sees settlers picking and eating his olives. This is very difficult for him to handle. I ask him how he manages to deal with the anger of what is happening to him and his family. The father is at a loss, and while it makes him feel crazy he doesn’t do anything because he says he can’t do anything. What he does do is files police report after police report. Khalifa then took out his copies of police reports to show us the level of violence his family has been subjected to. The sheer volumes of reports astonish us. It is a remarkable testament to his resilience that he continues to abide by the laws and file police reports instead of reacting in an aggressive manner. Khalifa files police reports after police reports fully in the knowledge that it is merely paper work and that nothing will be done.
Settlers
When I asked him whether there had been any dialogue with the settlers over the past 20 years, the father said that he considers a few of the settlers as his friends. Although a minority some of the settlers continue to ask after him and pay him greetings when they meet. They have in the past given the Da’ana family water and have said to him, that our heart is with you. It is not the case that the Da’ana family has always suffered problems with the presence of the settlement. The father traces the beginning of his problems to the arrival of settler Friedman who arrived four years ago stating that “before that it was quiet”. This gives me hope that without such barriers and with good people it is possible for both communities to live side by side in peace.
However this hope is not shared by Khalifa who tells us that he is “waiting for the day when they leave”. He then looks us in the eye and asks us a direct question, “when will I see that day?” He waits for an answer but all we can do is sit in silence unable to muster a response. Khalifa informs us of recent developments in which settler boys had erected an orange flag with the Star of David overlooking his house. The purpose of the flag is clear as it is located on what used to be Da’ana family land but which now is located on the settler side of the fence. That young boys are engaging in this type of activity does not bode well for the future.
We were deeply moved by the Da’ana families’ experience of living beside the settlement. While we all have had experience of what the Wall looked like with the Da’ana family we saw another side to the concept of the Wall. In this all it takes is for a simple fence, erected in 2004 for “security” concerns in order to cut the Da’ana family’s income in half. The fence accounts to nothing else than a land grab and that the family have to watch the settlers pick harvest his olive trees and eat his fruit must be so hard to bear.
Who will give the Da’ana family back their land that was taken from them? You? Me? The Arab states? The International Community? Israel? The Palestinian Authority? The Da’ana family is still waiting…
I truely believe that one of the issues with western perception of this decades-long tragedy is language,these are not "settlers"-a term that evokes images of rosy cheeked pioneers;they are illegal colonists,stealing land from it's rightful owners supported by the nuclear armed,US supplied Israeli army of occupation.Also anyone concerned with fairness and balance in reporting or discussion of Israel's behaviour in the region should read Paul Craig Robert's article in Counterpunch "criminilising criticism of Israel" and be very alarmed.Critical comment on Israel's murderously destructive actions in Gaza and the West Bank IS NOT anti-semitic,Palestinians and all Arabs are Semites,not all Jews are and yet I would guess most people believe otherwise.This I believe is not just an obscure bit of semantics,Israel and it's tireless supporters in the US and elsewhere have seized control of this term and the definition of "holocaust"[Israel,AIPAC and others have fought a long campaign to deny Turkish genocide of Armenians the status of holocaust].There are mountains of written material available to show that the Zionist Jews and their Israeli brothers carried out extensive ethnic cleansing in pre and post partition Palestine using rape ,murder,destruction of property-uprooting olive groves hundreds of years old-as a deliberate means of altering the "demographics" in favour of a Jewish majority.Don't take my word on this read Benny Morris: "Israel's Border Wars" and "Righteous Victims"this Jewish Israeli author and "historian"blandly records many examples[Deir Yassin,Lydda,Ayn al Zaytun,Qibya-an early Sharon-led massacre-just Google it see what you see].
ReplyDeleteWhat a great article Phelie!
ReplyDeleteYeah, screw the colonialist zionist oppressive fascist government and their supporters. Stop what they're doing, give it your all, but also be aware of the consequences of each action you take. They all have a net effect out here.
Free Palestine, Free Israel, Free Egypt, Free Iran, Free Sudan, Free Zimbabwe, Free West Papua and stop climate change, bring down systems of political oppression and dance and sing in the process.
We've got a lot to do but if we leave it to someone else there will always be a Da'ana family condemning us as complicit in oppression. And I think they have a point...
Nice article Phelie, really important to help us all connect with the issue on a human level.
ReplyDeleteGo for it in criticising Israel but just be aware that it's spending poker chips - it delegitimises you a bit so if you don't have anything else to play for the go for it full throttle but otherwise be selective.
We need to smash the occupation, the politicians, the fascists, the colonialist settler's dream. We need to free the Da'ana family, we need to build a solid movement that spans across borders liberating the oppressed everywhere and forging a path on the quest for social justice that has been unparaleled otherwise there will always be a Da'ana family asking themselves why the rest of the 7 billion human race has not come to their rescue in their hour of need, another family that will become cynical and hopeless, another family lost to oppression (not that the Da'ana family necessarily are but they aren't exactly what i'd call socially incuded).
So... The question with Palestine is quite simple: Do you except ethnic cleansing on the basis that it's needed for security (that's the rhetoric, even though i think it's pretty much the easiest way to destabalise your own country). If you do then doing nothing is perfect, go ahead and be balanced.
If you thinkthat collective punishment and ethnic cleansing are unacceptable, as written in international law. Then join the fight.
Ur my hero Phelie....world peace!
ReplyDeletePlease stop your lies about violent settlers. First of all, those are the only people who live in place designated by Almighty for them, while you, Irish and all other nations are real settles because you always displaced indigenous nations. These people bought their land. They are under threat of terror, which started not in 1967 when Israel returned this land in defensive war, but 100 years ago when Jews came and wanted to coexist with Arabs. Arabs have only one goal to expel and exterminate Jews and they did this in 1921, 1929, 1939 and 2000. I was in Israel many times. Arabs can freely and safely travel all over Israel. If Jew loses its way and come to place where Arabs live he/she will be murdered with monstrous brutality. If Arab surrender their weapon it will be peace. If Jews give up weapon it will be 6 millions murdered Jews. Study history and stop tell these revolting tales. In WWII you would tell similar story about sufferings and inconveniencies of Germans who machine-gunned thousand Jews a day. Just say simple - I hate Jews and that will be at least honest. I know you will not post it, because you are not capable to debate. Your goal is to spread Jew-hatred.
ReplyDeleteRich,
ReplyDeleteThe issues I highlight are taken from human testimonies from the people subjected to such attacks and the issue in general is placed within the framework of International Law and supported by reports from the UN.. see http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_settler_vilonce_special_focus_2008_12_18.pdf
for further information on the issue.
I visited the Yad Vashem museum last week and i was deeply moved by what i saw. The human suffering and murder of the Jews by the Nazis is one of the, if not the most, tragic event in the modern world. However it would be a disservice to the remembrance of the Shoah if it is used to demonise Palestinians and provide a framwork for speaking out against them.
I find it ironic that you count the Irish nation as being a settler nation. If you do read your history you will find that the indigenous Irish people were themselves ruled and "settled" by a colonial power (Britain) for hundreds of years. Irish people emigrated in vast numbers from the 1850s onwards due to a catastrophic series of famine during the 1840s in which over 1.5 million died and further million had to emigrate.
While one could certainly argue that Israeli Arabs can move freely and safely the same can not be said for the Arabs or Palestinians living in the West Bank. Qualifications are abound in this place and one must not generalise as you do. For when you generalise you lose the ability to understand the nuances, particularities and differing dynamics that exist in the different regions over here.
The narrative you present is, sadly, one i hear a lot. It is bound up in fear and hatred of the other that hinders the ability to see other peoples, who live in a shared space, as equals and as human beings. It makes it extremely hard to view the experience of others from their point of view and hence make useful contributes to debating various issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Any person who does not tie up their arguments on what certain religous texts tell them and who are willing to see all sides of the conflict will read your comment and laugh at the absurd nature of your argument.
I come from the point of view that all peoples, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, race or religion deserve and are entitled to fundamental human rights. The sad thing i see here on a daily basis is the fragmentation and destruction of these rights all in the name of "security". Trying to separate two peoples in one land through the construction of hundreds of kilometers of fencing only makes the situation worse.While reducing the actual physical space for both sides to come together, the wall makes the occupation more permanent thus sowing the seeds for future discontent. Bad fences make bad neighbours.
I'm tired of hearing the type of rhetoric that you put forward. Its time to hear from people who present enlighten comments that do not always delve into distort history as a means to generalisean demonise a whole population. I am interested in what will happen in the future...
Phelie,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate what you're writing is a personal account at ground level, the impact of these man made borders has been devastating on the palestian lives along these lines - there is no getting away from that
Your understanding of the borders themselves however is underwhelming
These walls were built to prevent the movement of fundamentalist suicide bombers, a truly gruesome evil that you have no experience of, nor would you want to. The walls were built out of necessity to protect lives, and are vindicated in the near complete removal of bombings on civilians. The vast majority of suicide attacks now occurs at checkpoints.
The checkpoints themselves are required to stem the smuggling of arms from Iran/Saudi Arabia etc. into the hands of Hamas.
Hamas - Palestinians choose to elect a terrorist organisation to lead them, an act which has set them back years. Hamas have no interest in peace, no two state solution - they want Israelies, specifically Jews dead and Israel wiped off the map. This is their charter and this is who palestinians have elected. Israel has no partner for peace.
So Israel exists next to a government bent on their destruction in their own backyard, a nuclear threat within striking distance (Iran) and hostile neighbours on almost all it's borders
They are desperate circumstances and the plight of palestinian farmers who've lost their livelyhood as a result is sad, honestly. But frankly I think you are the anti-war bleeding heart type who has your head firmly buried in the sand when it comes to the bigger picture