Fatah Enters The Fray

Now that we have reached the month ‘anniversary’ of the bloodshed in Gaza, let us review the political implications of the now (failed) attempt of Israel to depose Hamas in the disputed region. Not only has the death count exceeded 1,200 Palestinians (an enormous percentage of which have been confirmed by all major International Aid Agencies as civilian women and children), but the fragile ceasefire is all but a mirage - with the dramatic introduction of Fatah’s military wing (the Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade) claiming responsibility for Wednesday night’s rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel. 

As expected, news coverage is beginning to tire of the images and repetitive daily updates of Gaza militants firing rockets into Israel/of the Israeli response (always overwhelming and disproportionate), and of the cries of NGOs and aid workers declaring an ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Bo-ring. 

What is perhaps ‘new’ and important to recognize, is the participation of the predominantly West Bank-based Fatah Party in the recent rocket attacks emanating from Gaza. Long viewed by the West as the ‘legitimate’ Palestinian faction and led by a recognized leader in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah is universally regarded as the only partner capable of continuing the almost non-existent peace process. In other words, the West’s preferred partner is turning militant. Not only that, the desired (and Western cultivated) belligerence between Hamas and Fatah is clearly melting away.

This leaves Israel - and the fate of the Middle East - in a precarious situatuon indeed. With Fatah’s military wing aligning with Hamas (perhaps signifying a precursor to a similar accord between the factions’ political segments), Israel is becoming surrounded. Worse, the West’s chosen partner (puppet?) is turning against them - and in the process, eliminating a key leadership with which to negotiate peace. 

It doesn’t take a soothsayer to predict what will happen next. A wider Intifada? Or perhaps a wider regional Arab conflict?

Sadly, both are becoming more probable.

A Jewish Intifada?

It goes without saying that the hardline Jewish settlers of the West Bank (and specifically Hebron) are a continuing menace toward any prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

This blog has exhausted tireless posts highlighting the the ongoing actions by the Hebron settler community against their Palestinian neighbors. Visiting Hebron in early October, the following video gives you a feeling of the iron-fisted control and intimidation wrought by the settlers and their IDF counterparts on the Palestinian community:

http://www.vimeo.com/vimeo.com/1910175

The latest news overnight is even more bleak. Following the illegal occupation of hardline settlers in a Palestinian home in Hebron - and subsequent eviction by the IDF this week (as decided in a long and protracted court battle), the West Bank settler community have unleashed nothing short of their own Initifada - against both the Palestinians and the authority of the State of Israel.

The West Bank is now on high alert, with further violence expected as settlers continue to abuse and antagonize any Palestinians standing in their way.  Reports are already amassing of shootings, rock throwing, and house burning in and around Hebron by small bands of (armed) settlers. Over the next few days, the violence is expected to spread throughout the North of the West Bank and perhaps beyond (with Israeli authorities even fearing attempts by the settlers to infiltrate the Temple Mount in Jerusalem).

What is this ‘Jewish Intifada’ and why is the Israeli government powerless to unify their own people? The answer lies in the closely guarded truth behind the ‘myth’ of a unified Jewish Israel. With such a diaspora of differing cultures and ideologies (many peaceful, some extreme) the Jewish ‘community’ in Israel is nothing more than a forced collection of religious and political factions.

Many people have posited (and perhaps correctly) that the ongoing brutalization and subsequent demonization of the Palestinians as the ‘other’ is perhaps the only unifying feature of Israeli society. That without this ‘common enemy’ Israel itself would fall victim to a kind of religious civil war - with multiple factions vying for the ‘true heart’ of Israel.

As we watch the violence unfold in the West Bank over the weekend - it is important to keep this viewpoint in mind.

Israel is far from a unified, religious, cohesive collection of diaspora Jews from multiple countries throughout the world. The actions of the extremist settlers threaten to not only inflame the violence between Jews and Palestinians - but also threatens the very fabric of Israeli society.

From this vantage point, we can once again see how the Palestinians are merely pawns in the greater struggle for perhaps the impossible - a peaceful, democratic, and viable State of Israel.

I encourage you to follow the news from the West Bank closely this weekend - it speaks much more than the ‘obvious’ about what is really happening in Israel.

Have Your Say:

[polldaddy poll=1167330]

Huwwara Checkpoint, Nablus

During last week’s travels through the West Bank, one of the most enduring images that has remained was the situation at the Huwwara Checkpoint south of Nablus on the eve of Yom Kippur.

Notorious for its extensive harrassment of Palestinians attempting to travel to and from Nablus (including students simply commuting to school), the Checkpoint has regularly been the scene of violent clashes between the IDF, resistance fighters (including the Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade), and peaceful residents trying simply to gain access to see family or loved ones living on either side of the border.

The queues lack any sense of order, designed simply to harass and dehumanize the Palestinians who in many cases can wait up to 10 hours to cross the checkpoint. Students are forced to do this daily (!) and many never reach their classes for days on end.

As the sun began to set last Wednesday evening, we became increasingly concerned our group would suffer the same fate as the hundreds of Palestinians herded in and around the security fence. Although fearful, I marveled at the calm - the dignity -  that remained within a people who are forced to endure this treatment every day of their lives. At the last moment, given our International passports, we were whisked away and across the checkpoint - the feeling of guilt and privilege remaining with me even today.

The friction at the checkpoint last Wednesday was palpable. It is not therefore surprising to read today of two reports of Israeli violence at the Huwwara Checkpoint - both within the last 48 hours. According to the International Middle East Centre, a 20-year old Palestinian boy was shot on Tuesday evening at Huwwara simply for approaching the soldiers in frustration at his daily commute and ongoing harassment by the IDF. According to the site:

Adham Shihadeh, 20, began walking through the crossing, and did not stop when Israeli soldiers shouted at him. The soldiers then began firing live rounds at the young man, injuring him in the foot.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. Last night (Wednesday evening) the IMEU reported that a 16-year old boy was beaten and detained by the IDF, again, for being ’suspected’ of carrying a knife (in other words - for no apparent reason).

This has not been an exceptional week. This is every week.

And as we must always point out, this situation continues in flagrant violation of International Law (UN Resolution 242).

This is Huwwara. This is life in Nablus. This is Palestine.

Balata Refugee Camp (Video)

Continuing bruisedearth’s goal of original content, this is a collection of videos shot throughout the Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus on October 8th, 2008. For further background on Balata, please visit the bruisedearth photoset for images and history.

http://www.vimeo.com/vimeo.com/1921536

Balata Refugee Camp - Nablus

We have a toured a number of refugee camps along the separation barrier and throughout the West Bank over past months. Perhaps the most sobering was our visit to Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus yesterday where over 26,000 people live in less than one square kilometer.

A photojourney (with captions and explanations) has been created. Please click below to learn more:

Live From The West Bank

This is a ‘rough cut’ selection of videos shot throughout Hebron and the West Bank this week (October 6/7) as bruisedearth continues through Palestine. Continue to follow us on the Web and on twitter. Today we journey to Nablus - stay tuned!

http://www.vimeo.com/vimeo.com/1910175

Live Blogging from Palestine

It’s that time again.

bruisedearth is packing a bag and hitting the road - returning to Palestine and the West Bank for more stories, more photos, more video, and more crucial information people need to know about the ongoing occupation of Palestine.

For regular updates - follow bruisedearth on Twitter:

We’ll be updating on all our stops - so make sure and sign-up to ‘follow’ bruisedearth today! And of course, we’ll be posting regular updates on this Web site with the latest photos and information you need to know…

Stay tuned.

Settlers, Nazis & The IDF

As if Settler atrocities perpetrated on defenseless Palestinians wasn’t proof enough of the radical and violent ideals of many of the extremist West Bank settlers, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is now reporting ongoing attacks by settler youths on their soldiers throughout the West Bank.  From today’s Jerusalem Post:

Late Wednesday night, some 40 far-right activists arrived at an IDF position - manned by reservists - near the settlement of Talmon, just west of Ramallah. The activists attacked the reservists, tried to enter the outpost and damaged the pipe system that carries water to the base. The reservists tried to fend off the attackers who called the soldiers “Nazis.”

By the way, what is this ‘nazi’ nonesense anyway?! I have personally heard this yelled in my direction several times when in the West Bank - and I’m shocked the perpetrators do not realize that the ignorant use of this slur demeans the very memories of those who suffered under that regime during the Second World War. This ‘catch all’ term used by settlers at the slightest infringement of their (illegal) rights to land in the West Bank smacks of bullying and intimidation - complete ignorance plain and simple.

During this particular attack near the Binyamin Region, two soldiers sustained broken hands, Civil Administrators were attacked, tires and property damaged and one officer was even violently attacked by a settler dog on orders from its master. One IDF officer was quoted as saying:

They have crossed a red line. The legal system needs to come up with ways to curb this unfortunate growing phenomenon.

Let’s hope that red line will encourage Israelis and their military to focus more attention on the deeds of West Bank settlers rather than their Palestinian counterparts.

Mentally Disabled Palestinian Killed by Rubber Bullets

The rubber bullet has struck again - this time another fatality near the West Bank town of Ni’lin, where a mentally disabled man was shot at point blank range in the head with a rubber bullet (although Palestinian sources claim more bullets were fired). Details from today’s Jerusalem Post are as follows:

The army said that when the soldiers entered the home, the man’s mentally-disabled brother started to go wild and was promptly put in a room to calm down. However, as the soldiers were exiting the house with the detainee, his brother came out of the room swearing, before shouting “Allah Huakhbar” and trying to grab a gun from one of the soldiers. The soldier, who had his back turned, spun around and shot the man from close range.

Again we see the devastating effects of the rubber bullet. In situations as volatile as West Bank arrests and house searches, the Israeli Defence Force (armed with rubber bullets) are using deadly force in response to any perceived threat.

The problem does not lie with the soldiers (who in most cases are frightened and unwilling young men of 18, 19, 20). The responsibility rests with Senior military officials and, by extension the Defense Minister who allows their soldiers to slowly and regularly escalate the level of violence in the Occuped Territories - simply by putting them in wholly predictable circumstance.

Rubber Bullets = Palestinian Fatalities = Increased Resistance = Increased Violence.

Sometimes math can be so simple.

Palestinians May Demand Citizenship

Given the never-ending negotiation over the proposed borders of a viable Palestinian State, not to mention the ongoing carving up of the West Bank making a single contiguous state nearly impossible, Palestinian Negotiator Ahmed Qurei was quoted overnight by Reuters as saying:

If Israel continues to reject our propositions regarding the borders [of a future Palestinian state], we might demand Israeli citizenship.

Not only is this a further statement of the pessimism the Palestinian Leadership feels in the possibly of a Palestinian State, but strategically, the statement presents a true challenge to Israel to prove to the world that it is indeed a Democratic State. Given the fact that Palestinians living within the Green Line (much less those trapped in the West Bank and Gaza) are regularly and unjustly persecuted by the Israeli government (from one-sided voting rights to racist land ownership policies), the prospect of Israel handing citizenship to an ethnically separate population is impossible within the ideological tenets of Zionism (and thus the platform of the State of Israel).

Let us not forget that an Ethnic State (by definition) cannot be Democratic. It can further be argued that the subsequent ethnic cleansing of Israel’s borders and passive encouragement of emigration of Palestinian families proves Israel’s goals are quite the opposite of citizenship for Arab families. Rather, much of the impetus in continuing the so-called ‘roadmap’ is to create a prison (sorry, a broken, weak and non-contiguous Palestinian State) to deposit the non-Jewish (Arab) residents of Israel - to legitimize the final ’solution’ to the world as working for peace on behalf of the Palestinians.

The Palestinian Leadership is right (and brilliant) to raise the question of Israeli citizenship. The move is now over to Israel - who will no doubt claim their goal is a true state and ‘home’ for the Palestinians in a Palestinian-run West Bank - as Israel could never allow Palestinians the same legal rights as Jewish families within Israel.

Moreover, they simply want the Palestinians out.

How’s that for Democracy…?

Next Page »