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Bikes Not Bombs

By Jonas Moffat, March 2007

While riding my bike one magnificent afternoon here in Ramallah, I saw an announcement that made my eyes light up: “The East Jerusalem-YMCA’s ’Youth to Youth Initiative’ is organizing the Palestine International Bike Race, aimed at promoting peace and tolerance among ethnic, religious and national groups in the region.” An important goal of the ride was to bring Palestinians and international activists together in a new form of non-violent protest against Israeli restrictions on freedom of movement within the Occupied Palestinian Territories. These restrictions amount to a significant violation of human rights that Palestinians have to endure every day.

I arrived at Al Bireh around 8:45 am to see 350 bicyclists ready to pedal the 30-some down-hill miles to Jericho, near the Dead Sea. The YMCA issued us T-shirts and allowed us to choose from among hundreds of bikes. Many nationalities were represented among the cyclists: hundreds of Palestinians, thirty or so Israelis, and assorted Danes, Americans, Spaniards, and Canadians--all coming together to bike in solidarity against Israel’s current system of apartheid.

As the race began, the Palestinian police did their best to keep traffic to the side. Dodging the potholes and ditches (the Israeli government will not permit the road to be maintained), I made my way past the atrocious Qalandya checkpoint, one
of the biggest in the West Bank. Built by the Israeli army and equipped with an eight-meter-high wall, the Machsom (Hebrew for ‘blockade’), looks more like a fortress. From its sniper towers, Israeli soldiers keep watch 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Machsom separates Palestinian towns from Palestinian villages and prevents access to Jerusalem, the economic, social, and spiritual center of Palestinian life, which is 10 minutes away from the Israeli-controlled fortress. To get around the checkpoint, Palestinians must take a time-consuming route through rugged terrain to reach hospitals, schools, and family members—destinations otherwise reached in a matter of minutes.

Making a slight turn onto the road to Jericho, I was filled with joy. The fresh spring weather hitting my face, the rocky cliffs and bright green grass on
either side of me, Palestinians at crossroads cheering us on - this was a Tour de Freedom. Those wheels of justice came to a screeching halt further down the road. The Israeli army was stopping the freedom racers at a checkpoint, Israeli flags were waving above army jeeps and police vehicles. As the rest of the 380 bikers accumulated there at the checkpoint, so did the traffic, for miles it seemed. Apparently, a bunch of Palestinian, Israeli, and international bicyclists were too big a threat to the Israeli army. Bikes versus bombs.

The Israeli soldiers called for backup. While we waited, they pulled some caution tape from their trunks and sealed us into a makeshift sty, like pigs on bikes. Some negotiating between both Palestinian and Israeli bikers and the army ensued, but the army wasn’t budging. For over an hour, we were forced to stand at the side of the road. The energy was starting to bubble over. A woman from Holland had had enough with waiting. She crossed the tape and started heading to Jericho. The soldiers began to push her around, and a Palestinian journalist biked over to the woman to try to protect her. The soldiers roughed him up and detained him.

A spokesperson from the YMCA arrived. Some soldier handed him a bullhorn and the race was officially declared finished. There was no trophy ceremony, no speeches about different nationalities coming together for freedom, as planned for the finish line in Jericho. Instead, the scene was filled with anger, despair, and hundreds of empty bikes lying at the side of the road. The adrenaline that had been overflowing just two hours before had evaporated. All that was left was the stench of apartheid. And thus, sadly, our attempt to pedal in solidarity with the Palestinians against Israel’s system of racial discrimination, against their walls and snipers, tanks
and jeeps—the day of Bikes Versus Bombscame to an abrupt end.

The race halted at a checkpoint.

Jonas is from the Bay Area and now residing in Palestine as a long-term volunteer with both ISM and the Tel Rumeida Circus for Detained Palestinians.