Saturday Morning BDS Conference Sessions

Several general educational session were offered the Saturday morning of the conference; Apartheid 101, Lessons from South Africa, Popular Resistance to Israeli Apartheid, Israeli Apartheid as a Feminist Issue, Exploring Canada's Ties to Israeli Apartheid, Jewish Support for BDS, Indigenous Solidarity, Access to Healthcare Under Israeli Apartheid, and Land and Environment under Israeli Apartheid.

Indigenous Solidarity

“The burden of decolonization should not rest on indigenous people.” Harsha Walia

I was drawn to the Indigenous Solidarity session because I can see similarities between the Israeli colonization of the Palestinian people, and the European colonization of the indigenous people of Turtle Island – and because Judy Da Silva was one of the speakers. Judy is an elder from the Anishnabe nation and lives in Grassy Narrows, Ontario – a community that invited CPT to accompany them when they began their blockade of logging roads in 2002 to prevent Abitibi from clear-cutting their traditional lands.

Clifton Arihwakehte Nicholas is a Kanienkahak (Mohawk) and was the first speaker in this session. He reminded attendees that they didn't need to go to other countries to see apartheid – it exists in our own backyard in Canada. The cultural, social and linguistic depravation of the First Nations, a deliberate strategy of European colonization, has resulted in the 3^rd world conditions on reserves. There are different levels of effects of colonization across Canada because of different points of contact with European colonizers (i.e. it is more recent in western and northern Canada). Clifton shared how comfortable he feels around his Palestinian friends because they understand his struggle and he understands theirs. Clifton encouraged organizations interested in indigenous solidarity to work on getting Canada to ratify the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Harsha Walia is a South Asian activist, writer and researcher based in Vancouver who has been involved in the migrant justice movement. She warned us to avoid simplifications when working on both indigenous solidarity and the BDS campaign as 500 years of colonization is very different than the relatively recent Israeli occupation of Palestine. According to Harsha, all organizing should have indigenous solidarity at it's core because all the issues, to a higher percentage of the population, affect indigenous people. However the indigenous struggle cannot be absorbed into any other kind of struggle. Racism of indigenous people is nothing like racism of other people of colour. Our solidarity with the indigenous struggle must not come from a place of guilt but a place of responsibility.

Judy Da Silva said that only about 50 of 700 people from Grassy Narrows are active in organizing against the colonization of their lands. Her people carry a lot of fear and this affects what some of them are willing to do – especially when they experience discrimination on a daily basis from the Canadian government, companies wanting access to their land, and neighbouring white communities. The indigenous population across Canada is increasing at a rate 3% higher than the rest of Canada – and she feels that's why First Nations women are being targeted for attacks, rapes and murders – as they are the life-givers and mothers of the nations. She encouraged people and organizations standing in solidarity with Grassy Narrows to think about where the paper that they use come from and where the paper for books that they read/promote come from.

Jewish Support for BDS

“The red line in the discourse around Israel has changed from 10-15 years ago for Jews – now we can criticize Israel – the new line is BDS.” Sydney Levy

Sydney Levy has been with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) since 2000, currently working on a campaign to encourage TIAA-CREF (retirement investment planning company) to divest from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation. Sydney spoke about the importance of Jewish organizations joining the BDS campaign to help address the backlash against the campaign. The arguments are that BDS is anti-Semitic and divisive. The JVP provides Jewish answers to these arguments - to backlashes that the JVP receives and to backlashes against other non-Jewish organizations working on the BDS campaign. Israeli authorities have said that the BDS campaign is a threat to the state and there are efforts to have a Jewish counter response for any BDS campaign event within 12 hours. This article in the Tuesday edition of the Montreal Gazette is perhaps an example of such a response to the recent conference, and is full of the standard counter arguments against the BDS campaign.

These two sessions for me emphasized the strong purpose of the conference – to build solidarity both between different groups which are working on the BDS campaign – and also between other organizations who are mainly working on other issues, but who support the BDS call.

From Sharpeville to Gaza: 5 Years Since the Palestinian Call for BDS

“If calling for equality destroys any state then what does that say about the state?” Omar Barghouti

“South Africans have experienced apartheid so they don't apply that label on other parts of the world lightly.” Stephen Faulkner

The opening session of the October 22-24 BDS Conference in Montreal Quebec was an inspiring panel of three great speakers – below is a summary of the highlights for me of what each of them spoke about.

Areej Ja'fari is a Palestinian refugee living in Deheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem. She is the West Bank coordinator for the Palestine Freedom Project and has been working with grassroots Palestinian youth organizations in the refugee camps on promoting support for BDS and anti-normalization. One definition of the term 'anti-normalization', is efforts to combat “the subtle and insidious processes that legitimize Israel's colonization and occupation policies even as they purport to pursue peace.” This normalization of the occupation has been perpetuated by international organizations (especially after Oslo) that fund projects in Palestine and require the project to have an Israeli partner. From her work, Areej feels that Palestinian youth know their rights, but don't always have the tools to fight for their rights. She said that Palestinians need better leadership that comes from both women and youth. Areej was one of the organizers of the first Israeli apartheid week at Palestine universities this past spring - she's definitely a leader!

Stephen Faulkner is the International Officer of the South African Municipal Workers Union, one of the larger affiliates of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). COSATU plays a leading role in several campaigns including the Coalition for a Free Palestine, a united front of South African Palestine solidarity groups. Stephen provided several lessons that the BDS campaign could learn from the struggle against Apartheid South Africa:

• be careful in thinking that victory is around the corner, it is a long haul

• there is no substitute for self-determination, it IS a Palestinian BDS call

• make sure you give enough attention to what to do after you win the BDS demands, simply defeating apartheid has not solved the problems in South Africa

Stephen encouraged the BDS campaign to be a microcosm of the type of society that we want to build – and to be fully democratic, united, moving outwards, and willing to motivate people.

Omar Barghouti is the founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (his upcoming book, BDS: The Global Struggle for Palestinians Rights, will be published by Haymarket). Omar spoke about how the Israeli occupation has not only been a colonization of the land, but also a colonization of the mind (i.e. the destruction of thousands of Palestinian books, closures at different points through the years of schools and universities). This deeper level of colonization of Palestine makes the call for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel that much stronger. Omar also touched on the increasing shift to the right of the Israeli government, to the point that the debate in Israel among the Jewish population is about fascism not apartheid. With the Israeli government discussing anti-BDS legislation, Israel is beginning to shift towards becoming non-democratic for Israeli Jews (it is already non-democratic for Palestinian Arab Israelis). Omar had the following recommendations for the BDS campaign:

• that local organizations decide the tactics and targets as they know the context of their local situation best

• a boycott of ALL Israeli good and products (it is the state that built and supports the settlements, so don't just do a boycott of settlement goods)

• put pressure on the Jewish National Fund (for which there is a Canadian chapter of that has charitable status in Canada)

• call for an immediate arms embargo in the region (for all parties in the conflict)

• call for an end to free trade agreements with Israel

Omar was interview by The Real News Network about the BDS call.

For those of you new to the 2005 Palestinian BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) of Israel call please go to www.bsmovement.net to learn more about it. The call asks for BDS measures to be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinians people's inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by:

1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;

2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and

3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.

   
   

Haji's Nonviolent Resistance Recognized and Building a House

I only have a couple more days left in Palestine – and I haven't written that many blog posts this time around – sorry about that! Blame it on the heat....this gal from Canada is not used to temperatures pushing 40 degrees Celsius :)

It's time to write about some good things that have been happening in At-Tuwani the past couple of days. First, today the village hosted the South Hebron Hills Festival of Nonviolent Resistance which has marked the end of the summer camp in At-Tuwani for the past 3 years. Memories from this day include....

• first time in all my times coming to Palestine that I've actually stood in a crowd while the Palestinian national anthem was played (I've heard kids sing it at the school or it being played over school loudspeakers in Hebron – but not at any events that I can remember being at).
• Children from At-Tuwani acting out scenes from life in the village and helping an Italian clowning group try and make a sad clown smile. Here's a photo:

• The end of the festival included recognition of groups and NGO's that have been in solidarity with Palestinians from the South Hebron Hills. And then the various villages in the South Hebron Hills were recognized, and specific individuals from some of the villages. I'm not quite sure it was proper, but several of us cheered and whistled loudly when the Haji's (female elders) from At-Tuwani were called up one by one to be recognized for their nonviolent resistance efforts. These 5 women are really quite amazing – they are in their 70's or 80's and have worked hard their whole lives in raising a family and farming. They are teaching the younger women in the village the traditional handicrafts of cross-stitching, wool spinning, dying and weaving, and making grass baskets. And any time there is a problem in the village with Israeli soldiers or settlers some of these women will often make their way to the centre of the incident – their presence in beautiful cross-stitched dresses and white flowing headscarves demanding respect – and emphasis their solution to whatever is happening (whether it be that soldiers need to leave the village, settlers need to be arrested for harassing villagers, or people from At-Tuwani needing to be firm in standing up for their rights). Their courage and fearlessness is I'm sure an example for the next generation of nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation in At-Tuwani.

Despite the heat, a couple of teammates and I have helped a young couple (K&J A for those of you who know people here) in the village in building a new house. My previous experiences in building a house include helping Mom and Dad build their new house (I remember freezing during Christmas holidays nailing plywood on the roof) and going on a work and learn Mennonite Central Committee tour to El Salvador after Hurricane Mitch and helping a community there build small pre-fab kinda houses. And now a cement and cement-block house in At-Tuwani. All 3 experiences have been different so I can't say that my knowledge of how to build a house has increased! The day that I helped we were wiring together re-bar for the flat cement roof of the house. Here's a photo:

Inshallah I will be back sometime next year to serve with CPT in At-Tuwani, but I'm not quite sure when that would be yet. But I think that it's pretty certain the villagers will be hooked up to the Palestinian electricity grid (24hrs of electricity! Yay!!) and also have access to a water filling point. These are major accomplishments for the villagers as they have been struggling to have these basic infrastructure needs met for over 10 years. It will be exciting to come back and see how the lives of the families in the village will change as a result of these improvements in their standard of living.

What life is like in the South Hebron Hills

It's rare that mainstream (and well-known) media come down and do stories on the situation in the South Hebron Hills – but it does happen. Nicholas Kristof from the New York Times was in the area recently and wrote this article about his visit.

Just this past week the New York Times also released this video about his visit, and it really shows the extremes between the standard of life available to Israeli settlers in the area and Palestinian residents.

The video opens with the Omar Abu-Jundiya family in their cave in Tuba. A couple of nights ago a teammate and I visited this family and spent the night. And as always, this is where I've had the best tea that I've ever had in Palestine! The kids in this family were the first ones that CPTers accompanied to and from school when the project in At-Tuwani village opened. The international accompaniment of the children didn't last long because of attacks by settlers. So for the past 6 years these children have been accompanied by either the Israeli military or police on part of the road they take to school as it goes in-between an Israeli settlement and an Israeli settler outpost – and the settlers have continued to harass and attack these children even while they are being escorted. It's a bit crazy – rather than hold the settlers accountable for their actions, and removing the illegal settlement outpost – the band-aid solution of a military escort continues.

Anyway, back to the Abu-Jundiya family. Part way into the Kristof video, Ahmed Abu-Jundiya is interviewed – he has just graduated from high school and often shepherds his family's flock in the early morning. He is also a videographer for the 'Shooting Back' project of B'tselem, an Israeli human rights organization. Last week Wednesday Ahmed was shepherding and several settlers came and stole one of his family's sheep. As a result of the video that Achmed took of the incident the Israeli police were able to identify the settlers and Achmed's father went with the police to retrieve the sheep from the settlement. While Ahmed and his father Omar were at the Israeli police station filing a complaint against the settlers (Ahmed for 5 hours), one of the settlers came in and filled a counter complaint against Omar (which is bogus as Omar wasn't even at the incident). At first the police didn't want to give Ahmed a copy of his complaint, but the B'tselem field worker who accompanied Ahmed insisted on a copy as if the case goes to court and Palestinians don't have a copy of the complaint that they filed the Israeli police have sometimes claimed that none was filed. And then the complaint of the settler is the only one for which there is paperwork for and the case would go badly for the Palestinians. In instances such as this with both the Palestinians and the settler filing complaints the case will mostly likely be thrown out by a judge – and the settlers will not be prosecuted for stealing a sheep. Here is the video that Achmed captured.

Destruction of Vegetable Fields

So I'm back in Palestine this summer and have been here for just over a week – I haven't quite kicked the cold that I caught the week before I left so that's left me feeling a bit low on energy. But I think I'll soon be fine for the remaining month that I'm here for.

I'm serving with CPT in Hebron for the first couple of weeks as staffing is low in Palestine at the moment and CPT decided to pull all the volunteers to Hebron until more arrive and we can return to At-Tuwani village. Our Italian partner organization, Operation Dove has been staffing the At-Tuwani project by themselves during this time. This coming week I'll be able to head down to At-Tuwani for a couple of days and I'm looking forward to that!

We've had one crazy day in the Hebron region so far – please take a look at video and the release below. Really it's maddening and also slightly disturbing that the Israeli administration in the West Bank decided that it was necessary to rip up irrigation pipes for vegetable fields. And part of me wonders, for how many weeks and days have the Israeli civil administration authorities (in control in the region of the Baqa'a Valley where these incidents occurred) driven through the valley on the Israeli settler bypass road that bisects it....and looked at how large the tomato plants were. Did they keep track of when the plants were first transplanted in the fields? Did someone flip the calendar in their office ahead a couple of months to the date when the tomato plants would be around 2 weeks from being ripe and ready to be picked for market...and schedule an 'operation' for the Israeli border police? I do really wonder, if it is the case – that's evil.

And tear gas does definitely not improve a cough.

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Israeli border police destroyed several Palestinian fields in Al Baqa'a Valley just east of Hebron on July 6, 2010, directly impacting the livelihood of more than one hundred Palestinians.

Landowners said that Israeli border police and the Israeli District Coordinating Office (DCO), responsible for the coordination of Palestinian civilian affairs in Area C, began implementing the destruction at around 8:30am. Israeli authorities, with the assistance of hired labor, damaged fields of vegetables and destroyed the irrigation systems of those fields.

When international peace activists from Christian Peacemaker Teams arrived in the area at 11:30am, about 20 workers hired by the Israeli border police and DCO had cut and disposed of the irrigation pipes laid in two fields. The fields each measured 10 dunams (approximately 40 acres) and included tomatoes, eggplant, cauliflower, and beans. In addition to dismantling the irrigation pipes, the workers also cut the twines that were holding up each tomato plant. A matriarch of the family, Aratiki Karim, said, "These tomatoes are for the kids, for the babies, to feed the kids and to sell them to buy other food for the kids." The Palestinian farmers had planted the tomato plants nearly three months ago and the tomatoes were only 20 days from being ready for market.

The border police, DCO, and hired laborers then moved to another field further along Route 60 in the Al Baqa'a Valley to perform the same procedure. The border police blocked the junction between the residential zone and the nearby fields, shooting tear gas and sound bombs to prevent Palestinians from going to the area where the hired workers were removing more irrigation pipes. Several women and children suffered from tear gas inhalation and required hospitalization.

Badran Mohammed Jabber, looking out onto his destroyed fields uttered in exasperation, "I have spent 43 years under the Israeli reign of terror. I have lived my life in fear, I never know what the Israelis will do tomorrow. They have destroyed my land, they have destroyed my life, these fields are my life."

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This is not the first time Israeli authorities have destroyed crops and irrigation equipment in the Al Baqa'a Valley. See the following links for further reading on demolitions in the Baqa'a Valley:

*"Whose water is it anyway?" http://www.cpt.org/cptnet/2009/11/23/al-khaliilhebron-whose-water-it-anyway

*"This Used to be Paradise" http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cpthebron/message/1255

*"Fight for survival in the West Bank" http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/10/2009103018216661237.html

Oasis of Peace - Wahat al-Salam/Neve Shalom

A couple of days ago while on a short break from the work in At-Tuwani, I took the opportunity to visit a village in Israel called Wahat al-Salam/Neve Shalom.  This village is located half way between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, on land give for the village by Latrun Monastery.  The village was started 30 years ago as an intentional mixed Palestinian-Arab and Jewish village (all with Israeli citizenship) to demonstrate the coexistence between Jews and Palestinians by developing a community based on mutual acceptance, respect and cooperation.  Democratically governed and owned by its members, the community is not affiliated with any political party or movement.

The village gives expression to it's vision through programming like it's bilingual, binational school (first Jewish-Palestinians bilingual children's educational program in Israel) and the school for peace (conducts outreach education through encounter work between Arabs and Jews).

Please feel free to watch this short video about the village if you are interested...better than any words I'd find to describe it!

There is a Canadian Friends of WAS/NS group which has been working on touring an exhibit of art from last year's summer camp program in the village across Canada as part of raising awareness about the village and the programs that are offered there.  The board of Canadian Friends is currently based in Calgary and I have been involved with their efforts in the past half a year - and so I'm glad that I took the opportunity to visit the village while here.

Follow-up on the Quartet and Electricity in At-Tuwani

Thanks to all of you who responded to the urgent action that the CPT At-Tuwani team released the other week after the Israeli military delivered a demolition order to the newly constructed electricity pylons in the village.

We have heard back from the Quartet office - they are concerned about the situation and are working on it.  And just the other day the Mayor of At-Tuwani had a call from the Quartet office saying that the villagers have verbal permission from the Israeli authorities to bring electricity down.  Of course verbal permission is not as good as a written permit....however today construction workers are beginning to string the wires on the pylons down from the next town to the north!