Final entry from al-Khalil

Since joining the ISM, it seems that everything I have written has been about the protests and the tear gas - although, to be fair, that is really what life is like at the International Solidarity Movement. Today, though, is my last day: in the morning I head to Jerusalem to meet up with my mum, who I will be taking on a whistle-stop tour of the occupied territories before going to relax by the ocean in Sinai. As my last post working as an activist, I’m going to take the easy way out and just post a copy of my report for the ISM on the demonstration to open al-Shuhada Street last Friday. It was much the same as the others, although this time the internationals that got detained were my friends, the girl who was arrested I live with, and my camera – a special tough version I take for these occasions – got hit with a tear gas grenade. Don’t worry though; both it and I lived to tell the tale... Here’s what I wrote:

Many injured and several detained at al-Shuhada Street demonstration

Hundreds gathered in Hebron on Friday to march against the continued closure of al-Shuhada Street. The non-violent protestors were met with tear gas, sound grenades and rubber bullets from the Israeli army. Witnesses also said that the army fired tear gas canisters directly at protestors, which is illegal under international law. Organizers say 20 people were taken to hospital – around half for physical injuries, the rest to be treated for tear gas inhalation – and one Israeli, two Palestinians and three internationals were detained. Military sources say that only one arrest was made.

One of the city’s major streets, al-Shuhada (Martyrs) Street was forced to close following the Baruch Goldstein massacre of 1994, in which a Jewish extremist murdered 29 Muslims at prayer in the Ibrahim mosque and wounded a further 125. Friday’s march was held on the anniversary of the massacre as protestors demanded that the street be reopened. 

Protestors chanted slogans including “Hebron is Palestine!” and “Down with the occupation!” and waved Palestinian flags. The soldiers and border police occupied the centre of Hebron, blocking movement throughout the city and confining many in the city’s old town.

As the protestors were displaced widely throughout the city, estimates of the numbers vary widely. The Israeli military claim that there were only 300 present, however the Temporary International Presence in Hebron – an international civilian observer mission mandated by the Israeli and Palestinian Authority to report on events in Hebron – estimate that 1,500 people took part in the demonstrations.

The demonstrations began from several locations throughout the city following midday prayers, and the clashes with the Israeli army continued for several hours. Palestinian Authority soldiers were also present in stopping the demonstrations.

Hebron is home to around 600 Jewish settlers, living in settlements which are regarded as illegal under international law. In 2003, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the settlers should be evicted from the area and that al-Shuhada Street should be reopened, but no action has been taken against the settlers and the street remains closed.

(click here for the original post)

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When I get the time, I will write some big kind of summation: some pithy, witty, clear and frank scrap of script to tie up all the loose ends I've left in this tattered little blog. The truth is I'm tired, and I need a rest. I have a busy week ahead, revisiting all the finer spots the West Bank has to offer, but perhaps after that, when I'm drunk by the sea, I can inject a little lucidity into the bad crazyness I've seen and written about. Fuck, I'll try and even include pictures.

I'm not even going to try and write about Libya now.

Tear gas, settlers, and farewells

My time working in Palestine is drawing to a close. Although I don’t fly back for almost another month, I will stop working at the end of February and will be traveling around the area for my last two weeks, and so today I have to return to Nablus to begin what will be nine long days of goodbyes. Once I finish writing this it’s off to the shops to pick up a couple of bottles of arak and then to catch a service north. Hopefully, there will be kunaffeh and musicians waiting.

This last week has gone by calmly for me, though the same cannot be said for everyone else. On Monday, a friend and I went to visit Jericho: a beautiful, mountainous, desert city; one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world; barren in its wilderness, and a breath of fresh air after the stifling and oppressive Hebron. We came to Ramallah to spend one night, but here you can drink in the bars, and so I ended up staying three. Plus, of course, I had to get to the Friday demonstrations, so it would have been a waste going back south for just a couple of days…

Whilst I was relaxing here in Ramallah I got a word that the pair who were in the apartment had been attacked by local shabab. We’ve been getting hassle from them for a while now – they knock on the door asking to come in, sometimes just opening it without us answering, obviously trying to catch a girl alone in the apartment or looking for an opportunity to steal stuff – and we had been advised to try and get pictures of them so we could identify them. On Wednesday, Coralie and Bastian heard noises outside the flat, and so went to take photographs of them; they were confronted with three (possibly four) kids wearing masks who then pushed and threw rocks at Bastian, tried to grab Coralie and then stole her camera. After this, the shabab ran off, and thankfully they were left unhurt, but very shaken. Hebron is not a nice place to live, what with the settlers threatening you and the soldiers stopping you, but when the shabab try to steal stuff from you it really feels harsh and overbearing. The police and the neighbours were all informed, and we’re careful not to leave anyone alone in the house now, so hopefully this is the last of the problems we’ll have from them. There is no guarantee of that, though.

On Friday I went again to the demonstration in An Nabi Saleh. I was particularly interested as these demonstrations were meant to be the scene of some of the most brutal crowd control methods employed by the IDF, but when I went last week the army was unusually restrained. I wanted to know if this change of tactic was a long-term measure in order to reduce the escalating violence of the weekly protests, or just a short-term change to deflect the media attention they had so deservedly earned. I won’t bore you with the details, but I’m sure that by now you can guess (as I should have) which it was to be.

The military attacked with their usual combinations of sound bombs and tear gas, turned the village into a closed military zone, and patrolled the streets firing at anyone who looked Palestinian and threatening to arrest anyone who didn’t. After a few hours things began to calm down, and I saw one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in my four months here: the soldiers had occupied the central square of the town with their khaki and guns and, rather than throwing rocks, the shabab decided to just get on their bikes and cycle around the square, ignoring their presence and occasionally playing Frisbee. We sat drinking coffee and looking on, all the while feeling that, as the soldiers got more and more irritated, this was a genuinely pleasant form of non-violent protest.

But, as with the day, the calm does not last forever. As the final military jeep was pulling out of the town, a solitary rock found its target and shattered the vehicle’s windscreen with a satisfying clatter. Whilst everyone was pleased, we realised that now we only had a few minutes before that horrible gas would come raining down. We tried to hide, but the high-velocity canisters seemed to land everywhere; worse was the skunk wagon which came to spray its vicious-smelling shit-water across the village streets. A fourteen-year-old boy was hit in the arm with a rubber-coated steel bullet, but apart from that no one was seriously hurt. At sundown, the army finally retreated, and we returned to Ramallah to get some rest.

Yesterday, I heard that the US again used its veto on the UN resolution regarding settlements. This is an obnoxious, obstinate, and idiotic move by the United States, although fully in character with how she has acted over the last decade. Other members of the Quartet have stated that this will result in their expulsion, which would be an excellent development, but I am not too optimistic. We can only wait and see how things transpire.

It’s raining in Nablus.

Do not blame them father, they are but children and only machines.

Another weekend goes by full of protests and demonstrations. On Friday I went to An Nabi Saleh – the weekly demonstrations there apparently appearing (albeit heavily sanitized) in a recent Louis Theroux documentary – and yesterday to Beit Ummar. Both demonstrations were notable for the relative calm and the restraint of the Israeli army, although in An Nabi Saleh their actions may better be described as a change of tactics than a reduction of force. The military there has been criticised of late for using excessive force – An Nabi Saleh being reputed to be the most dangerous of demonstrations – and, perhaps due to increased media focus, seemed to tone down their efforts at ‘crowd dispersal’. Indeed, it was over an hour-and-a-half before the few soldiers stationed near the city launched any tear gas or shock grenades, and this was only after provocation from the shabab. More worrying was how quickly afterwards you could hear the slight thud of live ammunition, but this – it appears in retrospect – was mainly as a warning, as no one was seriously injured. There were about six detentions, although the three internationals were released immediately after the army withdrew. I’m not as sure as to the fate of the Palestinians.

Similarly, the demonstration in Beit Ummar – also against the continued land grab of the settlers – was relatively calm. A demonstration normally characterised by low turnout and high arrest count, this time (thanks, no doubt, to the large number of television cameras) ended with only a single temporary detention and neither tear gas nor sound bombs used to disperse the crowd. The protestors made it to the perimeter fence of a nearby settlement, the protest leader – Egyptian flag in hand - was able to say his piece for the cameras and, afterwards, everyone was able to go home following what was a genuinely peaceful demonstration. I did note, however, at one point all the soldiers had in their hand a tear gas canister, but it seems their commander thought it more prudent not to give the order to release them whilst the media was present. 

Outside Hebron, in the small village of Al-Bwayre, Palestinians are having further problems as the Israeli government gave orders for a nearby illegal outpost –an illegal illegal settlement – to be dismantled, which left around three settler families homeless and very, very angry. They took this out on locals by cutting electricity and pelting their homes with rocks, and their anger and threat of retaliation was such that Israel actually deployed a number of troops to protect the Palestinians – although of course the locals had little faith in the protection of the troops. As such, the ISM and other international groups in Hebron have made sure there has been a constant international presence in the village since the dismantling of the outpost a few days ago.

Last night, it was mine and Bastian’s turn to spend the night with a family there, and so in the evening we set off, sleeping-bags in hand, to the outskirts of Hebron. Once there, we realised we had no idea exactly which house we were meant to go to. Speaking little Arabic, wandering aimlessly around a village after dark with settlers on one side of us and scared Palestinians on the other was not the most comfortable situation, so one of the workers from another organisation – half-Palestinian himself and proficient in Arabic – came out to help us. By the time he arrived, we’d located the house and were with the family, but were nonetheless grateful that he could introduce us and break the linguistic ice which is usually so easily broken with alcohol. Through his Middle Eastern humour though you could tell he was a little worried, as he’d noticed en route that the military presence had completely vanished, and there was now only a low stone wall between the Palestinians and the settlers. And us, of course; an eccentric-looking Frenchman and myself. We drank tea, spoke politics, and laughed, before he left to write up a report on the situation for the UN. The villagers had our phone numbers, and we had our cameras; if any settlers came, we were to ring everyone we knew, and document all we could. That is all we could realistically do in this strange and volatile situation. Bastian and I got into our sleeping bags and settled down for what was to be a cold and uneasy night in the village of Al-Bwayre.

Morning came and, thankfully, nothing had happened. The kids played in the yard, the goats bleated, and the valley looked serene in the morning sun. We packed up and left, checking that they were expecting people back for the school patrol at half-one. Back to Hebron for coffee, bread and hummus, a shower, and rest. Tonight, the village will have as its protection two old ladies from the Christian Peacemaker Team. I sincerely hope tonight is as peaceful as the last, and that my friend’s appeal to the UN to take action on these illegal outposts is successful. I also hope the old dears take enough blankets with them, because that night time air bites a tough chill.

Mubarak falls and the Middle East celebrates.

We were in the service taxi from Ramallah to Hebron when the news came through: after over a fortnight of protests the Egyptian dictator, Hosni Mubarak, stepped down. We were on our way back from the weekly demonstrations at An Nabi Salah, when the taxi came alive as people finally got confirmation that the protests in Cairo not only were over, but had all been worth it. Despite his bizarre statement last night, hours delayed, in which he still refused to bow to the demands of the people and step aside, tonight he finally bit the bullet and offered his resignation.

He has ceded power to the military and the Supreme Court, who now have to help draw up a new constitution and hold on to the country until elections free and fair elections can be held. In truth, there is a long and troublesome road ahead for the people of Egypt, but Mubarak’s resignation does put an end to the chaos that has been seen across the country, and also stokes the fire of revolution which is beginning to burn in the Arab world. 

This is just a short post, as I wanted to get something out today. I’m knackered after today’s demonstration, and have one to go to in Beit Ummar tomorrow, so want to go and collapse on a bed for the next few hours. I will write more when the time is better but, for now, know that something wonderful has happened this evening in the north of Africa and, hopefully, some great things are about to happen across the Middle East.

Egyptians still hold the streets, and Palestine joins in

Today, we enter the 12^th day of protests by people calling for the Egyptian dictator, Hosni Mubarak, to step down. Mubarak has confirmed that he will not seek another term in office, but to say that is to say to the thousands on the streets that he will not move anywhere until September – and this is completely unacceptable to those who have fought so hard to get this far. Even the US president, Barak Obama, has advised that he “listen to what is voiced by the people”; and whilst not explicitly calling for his resignation, his carefully-worded statement is unambiguous as regards to whether Mubarak has the option to stay any longer than absolutely necessary.

What Mubarak must do now is admit defeat and allow a temporary government to preside over the transition to what all hope will be an authentic democracy. A Palestinian I spoke to yesterday - a man I respect and someone who has seen all the worst of the occupation – doubted that anything significant would change: he believed that the people would be offered the vote, but all five names on the ticket would just be more puppets of the US. This was the first time I’d heard a Palestinian voice genuine doubt over the revolution we are seeing – most are too caught up in the euphoria of the moment – but this doubt is borne out of a cynicism formed after many, many fruitless years of violent and non-violent struggle. 

Many, however, are optimistic, and a report in the Independent by Robert Fisk suggests that the prospective government and constitution will be negotiated on by a group of 25 political personalities who have both proved their ability and have the respect of the Arab people  – including a Nobel Prize-winner, the chairman of the Arab League, an Egyptian-American who has advised Obama, and a professor of Islamic studies who is close to the Muslim Brotherhood. If these people can propose a political system which is acceptable to the Arab people and could be held in good repute throughout the rest of the world, then perhaps we may finally see a beginning to the end of this bastard conflict in the Middle East.

This afternoon, across the West Bank, demonstrations were held to show support for the protestors in Egypt. Here in Ramallah, hundreds gathered in the streets waving Egyptian, Tunisian, and Palestinian flags and chanted “Down with the regime!”, with implicit recognition that the dictators which have ruled across the Middle East are all united by characteristics which have become detestable to the people: the corruption of the leaders; the submission to the US; the disregard for the people; and the sheer, gratuitous wealth of the few who live amongst the devastating poverty of the many. We joined them, and waved our flags, and we shouted what we could. Whilst we were there the protests were peaceful, but as I write this a flash on Maan News states that the protest has been broken up by Fattah supporters. It should be remembered that the PA, too, stand to lose a lot if Mubarak is ousted.

“The shit piles up so fast in Vietnam you need wings to stay above it” – I’ve never heard that so clearly in all my life...

Youths are buried and Cairo burns

The funeral for the Palestinian I wrote about in my last post was on Friday, and on the same day another youth – 17-year old Yousef Ikhleil – was shot by settlers north of Hebron. I wrote that following the first death, it was difficult to ascertain what happened, as the major media sources and local testimonies offered conflicting reports. However, talking to people at the funeral, and speaking with the doctor who performed the autopsy, we were able to gain a clearer picture of how he died. The following is the report a colleague and I put together for the International Solidarity Movement:

On 27^th January, 20-year old Odai Maher Hamzeh Qaddous was killed by settlers whilst farming between the villages of Burin and Iraq Burin, just south of Nablus. According to family sources, the Palestinian youth was alone and gathering wood when settlers – most likely from the nearby, illegal settlement of Bracha – shot Qaddous once through the chest, with the bullet entering his right shoulder and remaining lodged beside his left lung. Sources say that it was over an hour before an ambulance was able to reach him, and he was pronounced dead-on-arrival at the hospital. There was evidence that he was also beaten: his face was covered in blood, and a left-rib broken. Doctors concluded he died of surgical emphysema as a result of the gun-shot wound. 

The funeral for the deceased was held the following day in the village of Iraq Burin, and was attended by around 500 people from the villages and surrounding areas. A large police presence followed the procession, which lead from the Rafidia Hospital in Nablus - where the body was being held - to the village. No clashes were reported to have followed the ceremony.

This tragedy comes less than a year after his younger brother, 16-year old Mohammed Ibrahim Qaddous, was killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces in the same region of the West Bank.

The frequency of killings of unarmed Palestinians by settlers is quite horrific – two in as many days, and six in the last month – and even the Israelis can’t evade acting on these crimes. According to military sources several suspects have been arrested but, really, this means nothing; the settlers – if any have actually been arrested – will walk free within days. Nonetheless, the fact that the Israeli military is even willing to provide lip service to these accusations is I think a signifier that times may well be changing in the occupied territories.
 

It cannot have escaped your attention that the Middle East - and Egypt in particular - is in a state of revolution. Following the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, talk has been of revolt: since Tuesday, protests in Egypt have been escalating against the corruption, unemployment and rising prices, all of which are blamed on the dictator of 30-years, Hosni Mubarak. Clashes have spread from Cairo, east to Suez and south to Luxor; today, Al Jazeera stated that the army have been deployed in the tourist resort of Sharm-el-Shaikh. The cabinet have resigned, but Mubarak refuses to go. Against such widespread condemnation, however, it is hard to see how he could stay much longer.

Mubarak’s resignation, or his expulsion, would prove disastrous for Israel: the peace treaty signed whilst he was vice-president was not acceptable to the Arab people and would not have been made had Egypt been a democracy. The popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt - echoes of which are being heard in Jordan and Syria - may well be enough to swing the Arab League into taking direct action against Israel, in the form of economic sanctions. Whilst Israel could perhaps weather sanctions coming from the Arab states, it would be increasingly dependent on a United States which is increasingly unable to support it; it will be very interesting to see just how European governments react, whose premiers are not reliant on the pro-Israel vote, but who do gain financially from the economic ties.

We must remember that the South African apartheid was brought to an end by economic sanctions, not military might; the same, I suspect, will be true in Palestine. With luck, we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the dictatorships across the Middle East and, hopefully, with them will fall the Israeli occupation.

He ain't dead, he's just asleep

This morning we were sat on the balcony of the ISM apartment in Nablus, playing backgammon and drinking coffee. The local coordinator had come round to do an inventory of the flat, and whilst he was there he received a call saying that a Palestinian had been shot by settlers. We dropped what we were doing and left, but he was dead before he got to the hospital. In the chaos, it was difficult to ascertain exactly what happened – even his age seems uncertain. We were told he was twenty; Maan News have him at nineteen; Haaretz just eighteen. What provoked the attack is also unclear: an official for the PA said that he and 70 other villagers were marching towards the Yitzhar settlement when he was shot; Haaretz claims he and his cousin were throwing rocks at the settlers; the people we spoke to at the hospital said he was just out cutting wood for the fire. What is clear though is that the settlers kicked and beat him – his face was covered with blood and his body bruised – and shot him once through the chest. The entry-hole was on his right shoulder, and the doctor could feel the bullet beside his left lung. It was an hour before the ambulance got to him, and now he’s just another permanent victim of the occupation.

We had plans to go to the demonstration in Nabi-Saleh tomorrow, but now we have to go to the funeral. What angers me most about this vicious and pointless killing is that nothing will happen to the criminals: the settlers deny involvement, and the Israeli authorities are not going to bother about one more dead Arab - there have been several killings over the last month, although most by the IDF and border police. The settlers have apparently been relatively calm of late, but recently some were accused of torching a car just south of Yitzhar, and spraying “we won’t forget the evacuation” next to it in Hebrew – a reference to the dismantling of an illegal Israeli outpost near the settlement on January 12^th. This murder will most likely change little, but it will no doubt add to the growing anger in the occupied territories. Today in the centre of Nablus, the PA organised a demonstration against Al Jazeera, accusing them of slander and libel for the publication of the WikiLeaks documents, but this is just a weak publicity stunt to divert attention from the terrible revelations in the Palestine Papers. With arrests becoming more frequent – one of my friends is currently being held in an Israeli cell – and anti-government protests being held across the Middle East, talk of a third intifada is not uncommon. I hope and pray that this does not happen, but only time will tell; things may be heating up here in Palestine and I fear that, before too long, the situation may boil over one more time.