Hope and Despair
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The outlook for Palestinians has never been more desperate –
nor more hopeful. |
The crushing Israeli restrictions on Palestinians is intended
to destroy their ability to earn a living, get an education, maintain
their culture, or even keep their families together. Under the
new “infiltrator” law, it is now illegal for Palestinians in one part
of Palestine to be in another part, and they are subject to
“deportation” to the location shown on their Israeli-issued ID.
Many who went abroad for education or work have been refused permission
to return, and Jerusalemites are being expelled to the West Bank.
More than 24,000 homes have been demolished. On top of that is
the devastation of Gaza, with the threats and prospect of being
repeated. |
The Berkeley Divestment Veto: a Minority Opinion PrevailsBy The Editors 2010 |
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The U.C. Berkeley student union made news recently with its vote to divest ASUC funds from two companies that supply the Israeli military with weapons used for occupation and war crimes. Although the ASUC senate voted overwhelmingly to divest, its president vetoed the measure. Unfortunately there were not enough votes to override his veto. However, we should not look upon this as a defeat. The debates and the resulting publicity are nearly as important as the outcome of the vote. Many more people heard the arguments for divestment and learned about the issue. With enough education and outreach, the measure will pass the next time it is introduced.
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Divestment initiatives like the one at U.C. Berkeley are part
of the BDS movement that is gaining momentum and visibility in
many areas of the world. Although they will not succeed every time,
activists for Peace and Justice in Palestine can have a great impact by
organizing and participating in BDS actions. |
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Local ISM Chapter Partners with Independent Documentary Film
Maker
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| Corner Store is] a remarkable
achievement of documentary filmmaking; immortalizing the everyday to
express a facet of human life. (SF Bay Guardian) Corner Store tells the true story of Yousef Elhaj: beloved shop owner, Palestinian immigrant and long-distance father. It is a resoundingly universal tale of hard won choices for a better life, now set on the back drop of San Francisco and modern-day Palestine. |
Seizing the opportunity to amplify
the quiet voice of this incredible man and his story, Director
Katherine Bruens and a small and dedicated team of filmmakers set out
to create a documentary that throws its audience directly into this
man's shoes. After ten years of astonishing sacrifice and patient
loneliness, the feature-length film follows Yousef’s long awaited
journey to reunite with his wife and now grown children, and his
confrontation with the new realities in his family and his fractured
homeland. |
Tristan Anderson & Gabby Silverman: 2010 ISM Rachel
Corrie Award Recipients
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| A chilly day in the shadows of the
concrete canyons of San Francisco’s financial district was the setting
for the presentation of the second annual Northern California ISM
Rachel Corrie Award on March 15, 2010. March 16 marked the seventh anniversary of the death of ISM volunteer Rachel Corrie in 2003 at the hands of an Israeli soldier who ran her down with a bulldozer as she stood in front of a Palestinian home that the soldier had orders to destroy. Her parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, are suing the Israeli government. |
However, March 13, also marks the date that ISM volunteer
Tristan Anderson, of Oakland, California, was gravely wounded in the
head by another Israeli soldier firing a rocket propelled tear gas
canister in 2009 as Tristan was filming Israeli soldiers attacking
Palestinian residents of the West Bank village of Ni’lin. He has
been in an Israeli hospital ever since. |
The Village of Al-Aqaba: Resistance Through Survival
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| While volunteering with ISM in the West Bank in the summer of 2009, I visited the village of Al-Aqaba in the northern part of the Jordan Valley, next to the town of Tubas. The area has fertile land and a plentiful underground water aquifer. Israel would like to confiscate these resources, and has built three military bases around the village. Village residents and nearby Bedouins are now confined to less than 0.1 percent of their original lands. Israel implements these land confiscation and exploitation policies through zoning and planning laws forced upon the residents. The Israeli occupation government has issued 39 demolition orders in the village; no construction is ever approved. These policies are intended to destroy yet another Palestinian village, forcing its residents to join the approximately 6 million Palestinians who have been driven from their lands and homes. |
The dispossession began in 1967, when the Israeli Army began
to use the village and surrounding lands for training exercises. In
1970 three military bases were built around Al-Aqaba, and a fourth was
sporadically utilized. Much of the village land was confiscated at that
time, and the entire area was declared a closed military zone. These
actions largely put an end to agricultural production, the rearing of
livestock, and public services such as health care and education.
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) also began to raid homes and conduct
training exercises, using live ammunition. Mines were placed in the
village fields and soldiers began to harass the villagers. To date,
these practices have resulted in the death of eight and the maiming of
more than fifty residents. |
Palestine Sad
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| January and February were my first two months in Palestine. Although it was cold and rainy, I spent nearly all this time on the streets of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, staying with the Gawi and Al-Kurd families. Nowhere is the racist nature of Israeli policies more apparent than in Sheikh Jarrah. Israel recognizes a unilateral right of return for Jews (only Jews) to Sheikh Jarrah, based on vague Ottoman Empire documents. Palestinian families are being forced out of their homes and onto the streets so that Jewish colonists can move in. ISM maintains a 24/7 presence on the streets of Sheikh Jarrah. Cameras ready, we sit, play, give tours and interviews, de-arrest and document alongside the Palestinian residents. |
I currently spend most of my weekends in the village of
Al-Ma’sera near Bethlehem. Residents of Al-Ma'sera have been
participating in nonviolent Popular Struggle demonstrations for the
past three years, and as a result they are being raided, arrested,
detained and tortured. If you’ve spent time in Palestine you will
understand how some villages, people and struggles connect with you. I
feel that about Al-Ma’sera. Perhaps it is because at night their
village is full of more stars than I’ve ever seen. It is also nice that
the Popular Committee will stay up late with us smoking hookah on the
rooftop while simultaneously doing night watch for Israeli Occupation
Forces entering the village. |
Freedom Summer 2010 - Call For Volunteers |
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The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) needs office and field volunteers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. You can help provide protection during non-violent demonstrations, resist home demolitions and land confiscations, accompany children and patients to school and hospital, remove roadblocks, or just share time with Palestinians, listen to them, witness, and help ensure that their voices are heard. More info: solidarity@norcalism.org, 510-236-4250,www.norcalism.org or www.palsolidarity.org
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405 Vista Heights Rd. El Cerrito, CA 94530 510.236.4250 www.norcalism.org |
