This diary of events in Beit Surik in March 2005 demonstrates how resistance is being helped by people from all over the world.
Source; www.nwsustain.org/matthew_in_palestine.htm
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"Matthew" in Palestine
ISM Chicago Member, Matthew, (an alias for security purposes) recently traveled to Palestine.
Here are his reports:
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March 4th 2005
FW: [palsolidarity] * ACTION ALERT * - Palestinian Youth Arrested in Beit Surik
Hey everybody,
This is a report on the demo where I live ammunition was fired. I wasn't with Mansour which is why I did not know about the undercover Israeli agents. I hope everything is going well for you all in the states. Beit Suriek will be a ghetto when the wall is finished. It and two other villages will be surrounded by a wall on all sides with only one gate to exit or enter. The gate will be open at the pleasure of Israel. The idea is to make life so miserable that everyone moves out and Israel can steal the land without having to deal with the people.
yours
From: "n_g"
Subject: [palsolidarity] * ACTION ALERT * - Palestinian Youth Arrested in Beit Surik
Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2005 23:00:35 -0000
ACTION ALERT!
Palestinian Youth Arrested in Nonviolent Demonstration against the
Wall in Beit Surik
Thursday March 3, 2005
Today in the village of Beit Surik in northwest Jerusalem, Israeli undercover agents beat and arrested five Palestinian youth during a nonviolent demonstration against the Wall. The youth were taken from Beit Surik to Givat Zeev early Thursday afternoon. One of the five youth was released. The other four are being held in Kfar Etzion juvenile prison and have a trial scheduled for Sunday at Ofer military court.
Ahmad Suleiman Sheikh 14 years old
Muntaser Najib Al Jamal 12 years old
Mustafa Mohammed Khaled 13years old
Amjad Ghazi Ahmad Sheikh 14years old
This is the fourth consecutive day that Israeli `special forces' disguised as Palestinians have infiltrated the demonstrations against the Wall in Beit Surik. Yesterday two Palestinians were arrested and later released. On Monday, Israeli undercover agents arrested si Palestinians including the mayor of Beit Surik, Mohammed Kandil, while he and other Palestinians from the village tried to prevent the destruction of their lands.
Mohammed Kandil has been held in Israeli police custody since his arrest. He had a hearing in Ofer military court today to determine the conditions for his release until his hearing which will begin on Sunday. Mohammed has been accused of assaulting a police officer.
The judge agreed to release Kandil to house arrest on 12,000NIS cash bail until his hearing. The prosecution has 24 hours to appeal the judge's decision. Kandil's son Mustafa Mohammed Khaled is one of the youth being held in Kfar Etzion.
PLEASE CALL KFAR ETZION AND THE DISTRICT COORDINATION OFFICE (DCO) AND DEMAND THAT THE FOUR YOUTH ARRESTED FROM BEIT SURIK TODAY BE RELEASED!
Speak out against the criminalization of nonviolent resistance and the violence used against unarmed civilians!
Kfar Etzion Juvenile Prison: +972.2.993.4010
DCO Humanitarian Center +972.2.997.7733
DCO (Moti) +972.546.234.169
Read Mansour's report of today's demonstration...
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Why do they do it?
by Mansour
Today was the fourth day of continued Wall resistance in the village of Beit Surik. Between 200-250 men, women and children walked to the village lands to prevent the bulldozers from destroying their land and uprooting the olive and almond trees planted in this area.
The bulldozers have been working in a few different locations in Beit Surik, some near the Green Line, some inside lands of Beit Surik near to some farms. More than 1,500 dunum of Beit Surik lands will be located behind the Wall after it is completed.
The peaceful demonstration was met with nearly twenty Israeli soldiers who began shooting tear gas, sound bombs, and rubber bullets at the Palestinians. From the western side of the village three soldiers were preventing villagers who were trying to reach their land.
Eleven Israeli undercover agents dressed in plain clothes came from between some trees from the eastern side into the valley where many of the Palestinians were gathered. They left after a brief time and left into the nearby Israeli town of Mevaseret Zion.
The Israeli army was located on the hilltop above the valley where the Palestinians were located and continued throwing tear gas and firing rubber bullets at the demonstration. Five people were injured by rubber bullets. Because the ambulance couldn't reach the injured people, groups of people in the demonstration had to carry them out of the valley toward the ambulances.
After an hour and a half, we decided to be one group. The eleven plain-clothes undercover agents came from inside the village following the same path that we used to walk to the valley. Three of the agents walked passed us and my friend asked "What are you doing here?" and they said "It's none of your business." They then took pistols out of their pockets and one man began to shoot in the direction of the people and the other two were firing shots into the air.
They attempted to arrest one man, and they beat him in the head with the pistol after which the man lost consciousness. During this time, the Palestinians lay on the ground to avoid the shots being fired by the Israeli agents.
People started moving out of the area. After more than 20 bullets were fired, the undercover Israeli agents arrested five Palestinian youth who were trapped in the valley between the soldiers and the Israeli agents. After they left, a group of us tended to the man who was beaten and carried him to the clinic.
A lot of farmers have been sitting in their homes, just sitting, and knowing that bulldozers are destroying their lands, uprooting their trees, killing their lives. To go and watch the bulldozers, you feel that you are paralyzed, unable to affect the situation. Seeing the olive trees that have been in this land for centuries, and knowing that we continue to struggle and that the Israeli military will continue to arrest you and shoot you because they do not want you to fight, to sit in front of a bulldozer - not because you are threat to them, but because they do not want you to be there at all.
In fact it means that you are not completely unable to do anything. Even when we protest peacefully without violence, they do not respond to us any differently. Rubber bullets, tear gas, arrests…
We cannot give up hope, even if they will arrest us, like Mohammed Kandil and uproot us like olive trees. In a time where there are closures, curfews, checkpoints, closed military zones, more and more soldiers are being trained how to act against the Palestinians, how to uproot the "terrorist networks." In this way, we are like olive trees.
Because they uproot the olive trees, so they are like terrorists. I don't know how the international community can be silent when the symbol of peace is being destroyed. Allowing these trees to be destroyed in this way and for this "peace," in reality this means that there is no peace.
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March 3rd 2005
The Last Couple of Days
Hello everyone,
For the last several days I have been attending protests against the wall in Beit Suriek. Beit Suriek is just north of Jerusalem about 10km. Four days ago Israel began constructing the wall in the Beit Suriek area. Beit Suriek is right next to Biddu, which successfully resisted the walls stealing of village land last year, although with the loss of five dead. This has inspired the people of Beit Suriek to resist the stealing of their land.
To reach Beit Suriek from Jerusalem requires some work. First you take a service (minibus) or a real bus to Qalandia checkpoint. There you switch to a service (no bus) to the Biddu roadblock. On the way you pass Ofra military base and prison, it holds about 2000 Palestinian prisoners in tents. There is a Israeli settlement (jews only and illegal under international law) right by the Biddu roadblock but on the non blocked side. The roadblock consists of four or five giant concrete blocks in the middle of the road. The Palestinians are not allowed to drive around them or move them. There are usually about 20 cars and services waiting for people here. The roadblock cuts of Beit Suriek and Biddu from Jerusalem or even Qalandia checkpoint. Once you cross the roadblock the road is almost untravelable, extremely bad for about half a km. This is because the army gouged giant potholes in it. Palestinians are forbidden to repair the road.
On a side note, Palestinains are also forbidden to own motorcyles, luckily settlers are permitted so at least somebody gets to ride the ever convenient motorcyle in Palestine.
The first day of protests no internationals were present and Israel arrested six people from Beit Suriek including the mayor. I don't remember about injuries, although I would find it hard to believe there were none. The first day the IOF was having a Palestinian theme day, so they threw rocks the protesters according to several reports and video footage. The second day there were alot of internationals and Israeli's present so they only worked near the Green line, still on Palestinian land, but close enough the villagers did not wish to confront the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) over it. A Serbian cameraman for Reuters reported that not all IOF units had theme day on the correct day, he said they continued to throw rocks at demonstrators but he decided not to film it. The third day they waited until all of the Israeli's and internationals left except for two people (myself included). Then they came down and destroyed some Palestinian terrace walls. This went on for about an hour. As far as I can tell this destruction will have nothing to do with the wall. The funny thing is that there weren't enough internationals or Israeli's left for the villagers to feel safe confronting the IOF so they could have worked for several more hours pretty much undisturbed. I think that they really came down just to destroy things and impress upon the Palestinians that they have all the power.
Today was the real kicker. There were no Israeli's and only two internationals present, so they took the opprotunity to work on Palestinian land. At the start about 70 Palestinians were there, this later grew to probably 250. The IOF has had shoot on approach orders from at least day two of protests. Today they were quite violent, tear gas for a couple of hours and then rubber bullets for the Palestinian youth who come to throw stones at the armored bulldozers. The youth couldn't possibly hurt the bulldozers, and they aren't even allowed close enough to hit them. It is all very symbolic. David versus Goliath.
After a couple hours three IOF soldiers move about half a km from the building site while Palestinian kids throw rocks at them and they shoot tear gas at the kids. There really wasn't any reason for them to move that far from the build site, I think that it might have been attempt to claim they felt threatened (lack of numbers and distance from the main body of troops) and therefore be allowed to shoot and maybe kill a Palestinian kid. A kid on a donkey somehow managed to get higher on the hill then soldiers, when they met as the kid rode through their lines nothing happened. Obviously the soldiers don't feel very threatened. I have a picture of the kid on the donkey riding by the soldiers.
Back to the main action. The soldiers were firing rubber bullets at the Palestinians and a couple of press cameramen were waiting to get a blood shot. Finally the soldiers hit a kid with a bullet. The photographers got their picture and left. About 15 minutes later the soldiers opened up with live ammunition. Having never been shot at I can say for sure now that it is kind of scary. They were really shooting, not just one shot, but quite abit, maybe 50 or 100 rounds is my guess. This was to scare the Palestinians while they arrested four or five people. The arrested will probably recieve six months in prison and might be beaten or tortured. I think all of the bullets were aimed over our heads as no one was injured. The Palestinians then retreated back up the hill and sent everyone under about 16 home. Unfortunately for the IOF they forgot how big the hill was and at least on TV reporter hadn't reached the top yet, he filmed some of the shooting.
One Israeli was injured today. After the Palestinians retreated up the hill either an IOF soldier or a security gaurd was hit by a large rock which was pushed onto him by the bulldozer. There is a photo of him being carried off. He was walking around later though, so I don't think it hurt him too badly, although work was paused for about ten minutes.
I think that I understand more fully why Palestinians allow kids at demonstrations. The IOF is afraid of killing children, so they are less violent. The same reason the Palestinians like to have internationals and Israeli's at demonstrations. Especially Israeli's. As soon as live ammo began to be used, indicating that the IOF was ratcheting up the violence level the kids are sent away. Obviously neither the presence of children or internationals will restrain the IOF violence anymore. A demonstration without children, Israeli's or internationals would probably be met with more violence than I care to think about.
It really all feels like a scene from the Terminator. There is alien looking Israeli settlement overlooking the valley, I have a picture of it. Then there is this giant jackhammer machine to break up the rocks, when it moves it looks like a praying mantis, it sticks the jackhammer in the ground to help it turn. A giant armored bulldozer, and some armored jeeps with their identically clad IOF units who exit and start shooting at humans using slingshots.
Most West Bank towns lack sewer systems. This is slowly polluting the groundwater. Why? Because Israel requires that sewer systems in the West Bank (and Gaza I imagine) meet far higher standards than sewer systems in Israel proper. International donors are not happy about this as you can imagine, they refuse to pay for them.
I went to a mall in Jerusalem the other day to see a movie with a friend. Your bags are searched and you have to go through a metal detector to enter. After that you could be in America except that they serve alcohol in the mall. They asked if I wanted it in a to go cup. Gotta like that. Very few Israeli Palestinians were there.
It's kind of funny that Israeli's are so afraid of Palestinian towns. Most people seem to assume that I am Israeli, most people greet me with a friendly shalom (hello, peace) unless they recognize me or I speak to them in arabic first. I probably wouldn't want to carry a gun or wear zionist symbols in Palestinian towns, but outside of that no one says anything. The problem as Palestinians constantly repeat isn't jews but zionism.
Israel, and zionism are often compared to Apartheid in South Africa. This is only partially correct. While Israel would like seperation (literally Apartheid means seperation) they would also like to ethnically cleanse or commit genocide (either cultural or physical) on the Palestinians if they could. South Africa valued blacks as a cheap labor force and certainly didn't want them to disappear. Israel would like Palestinians to disappear in one way or another. This is why they try to make life so difficult but make sure that it is easy to leave for foreign countries for Palestinians.
I'm going to try to give you all a picture of the endemic racism that Palestinians both Israeli and not face on a daily basis. Below are some facts on Jerusalem.
http://www.jerusalemites.org/jerusalem/islam/45.htm
I hope all is well for everyone, yours,
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