Non-violent Movement in Palestine

When I was back in the USA for my Holiday break, I was asked whether there was any hope for the situation in Israel/Palestine to get better. This is a very tough question as the facts on the ground seem to get worse everyday. I answered, however, that the growing and persistance of the non-violent movement in Palestine is one of the more hopeful aspects of this conflict, although there are downsides when looking at this movement as well.

Non-violence has been a part of Palestinian resistance for many years. This outline is from an article written by Sami Awad. Sami Awad is the son of Bishara Awad, President of Bethlehem Bible College. He is now the director of Holy Land Trust, which is a leader in non-violent resistance in Bethlehem.

(Picture-Palestinians and Internationals in gather near the wall for the World March for Peace organized by Holy Land Trust.)

Non-Violence in Palestine - Past and Present
Despite the common mischaracterization of Palestinian resistance as wholly violent or radical, there is a long and rich history non-violent actions and campaigns, as well as a large number of contemporary ones. For instance:

In 1902, the inhabitants of three Palestinian villages - al-Shajara, Misha and Melhamiyya - held a collective peaceful protest against the takeover of 70,000 dunums (7,000 hectares) of agricultural land by the first European Zionist settlers.

In 1936 Palestinians held a six-month non-violent industrial strike against the British Mandate’s refusal to grant self determination to Palestine. The ultimate aim of the strike was to make Palestine ungovernable by anyone but the Palestinians themselves.

Fifty years later, in 1986, Hannah Siniora, then editor of the East Jerusalem Arabic Daily, called for Pales-tinian civic disobedience by boycotting Israel-made cigarettes. This led to a full-scale Palestinian boycott of Israeli soap, food, water, clothes and other consumer goods.

The 1987-1993 First Intifada was largely conducted non-violently. Palestinians held mass public demonstra-tions, refused to pay taxes, and sought out local alternatives to Israeli facilities. Community leader Mubarak Awad initiated olive tree planting on Palestinian land about to be confiscated by Israeli settlers. Israeli law prohibited any construction on land dedicated to growing fruit. Awad used non-violent resistance, and Israel’s own laws, to challenge the encroaching settlements.

Currently, and especially since construction of the separation Wall began on June 16th 2002, Palestinian villages across the West Bank have cooperated in non-violent resistance. The communities of Jayyous, Budrus, Bil’in, Ni’lin and Umm Salamonah have all non-violently resisted the Wall being built around them. Weekly non-vio-lent demonstrations against the Wall are held in the cities of Bil’in and Nihlin (north of Ramallah) which bring together Palestinians and Israelis, as well international activists.


Non-violent protests and movements are often met by overwhelming force from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Israel often disburses members of the non-violent protests against the wall using "tear gas, concussion grenades and rubber bullets to do so, but on many documented oc-casions they have employed live ammunition, and most re-cently have begun showering protesters with a mixture of sewage water and chemicals from nearby settlements."

In addition, many leaders in the Non-Violent movement are banned from entering the country again or are arrested and now spending time in Israeli jail. Mubarak Awad, brother to Bishara Awad and the founder of the Palestine Center for the Study of Non-violence, can no longer reside in the country as his Jerusalem residency ID was revoked and restrictions by the Israeli government were put on the amount of time he could spend in the country, due to his work in non-violence. In the past four months, 3 leaders in the non-violent movement, Mohammad Othman, Abdallah Abu Rahmah, and Jamal Juma', were arrested by the Israeli government and are now spending time in jail for their involvement in the non-violent movement (Source: U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation).

Although it is encouraging to see that Non-violence is growing in Palestine, it is discouraging to see the reaction by the Israeli military and government. With the strong reaction by the Israeli authorities, many members of non-violent movements are losing hope in non-violence and beginning to think that Israel will only respond to violent resistance.

For more information:
Click here for Palestine Monitor, which provides an extensive array of information about Non-violent movements within Palestinian Society. Following are two particularly relevant articles.
Article about Non-violence on Palestine Monitor
Article about an arrest of a non-violent activist
Friends of Freedom and Justice-Bilin provides an overview of the weekly non-violent protests against the building of the seperation wall in this town.

Visas

After a lovely vacation at home, I am now back in Bethlehem and with a new 3 month visa! My flights went fine, and security in the airport did too, thus allowing me to return to Bethlehem for another 3 months. As many of you may know, I am unable to get a volunteer or work visa for my work in Bethlehem. Why? Because I work in the West Bank, which is in the Palestinian territories, and a place the Israeli authorities do not want many internationals working, they will not give out visas to most West Bank organizations. The only way to receive a volunteer visa or work visa is if you work for a large and well-recognized organization, such as the United Nations or a church. Even when these visas are received, they often have limits. A volunteer visa can only be renewed for up to 2 years and a work visa can usually only be renewed for 5 years. This means, many international organizations and Palestinian organizations who rely on international workers suffer from a high rate of turnover. This increased for the organizations that cannot give their workers any type of visa, which means their workers must stay in the country with tourist visas.

When landing at ben Gurion airport, the standard tourist visa is 3 months. So for me, like many others, I must leave the country every three months in order to gain a new tourist visa upon my return. At anytime, however, the person in the passport line can refuse to give you a 3 month visa, either giving you a 1 month visa, a 2 week visa, or turning you around at the border and refusing your entry into Israel. It becomes increasingly difficult to obtain tourist visas the longer you have been in the country, and the more previous Israeli stamps you have. At no time can you let on that you work in the West Bank, or the likelihood that you will not receive a visa, increases to almost 100%.

You can then imagine how happy I was to receive another 3 month visa without any problems at the airport! Others, recently, have not been so lucky. My friend Faith Rowold and her boyfriend Jared Malsin were both denied entry into the State of Israel, which thus barred them from returning to their work lives in Bethlehem. I first met Faith last year in February, soon after I had arrived in Jerusalem for the first time. When I moved to Bethlehem, she connected me with her sister Katie, who was moving to Bethlehem and needed a roommate. Katie and I and are friend Sara now share a flat in Bethlehem.

Faith has been volunteering for the Luthern Church, working with the International Center of Bethlehem, a cultural and arts center, which provides many Palestinians in Bethlehem opportunities to learn. In the past few months, her volunteer visa expired, and since she had been here for 2 years, she could not renew it again. She decided to stay for another 6 months to try and wrap her work up before she left. In order to stay this extra time, she had to resort to 3 month tourist visas. Last week, when she tried to come into Israel with her boyfriend, after a vacation in Prague, she was denied re-entry for 3 months. She was not even given a week to pack up her things and say goodbye. After being in a detention cell in the airport for almost 2 days, she was deported to Prague. Her boyfriend, the editor for the English edition of Ma'an, one of the top Palestinian newspapers, was also denied entry. He has not yet been deported, but still awaits a hearing to see whether he will be able to come back and continue his journalism work.

Please read the following articles, as this story has been covered on BBC and the New York Times, as well as Ma'an News.
Ma'an Article
New York Times Article
BBC Article
Report from the Lutheran Church

Remembering Gaza One Year after Operation Cast Lead

One year ago, on December 27th, 2008, Israel began its bombardment on the Gaza Strip in what became known as Operation Cast Lead. The fighting which ended on January 18, 2009 killed 1,385 Palestinians, of which 762 did not take part in any of the hostilities. 13 Israelis died during the offensive, 9 soldiers within Gaza and 4 by Qassam rockets shot by Hamas from the Gaza strip (btselem.org). The fighting also resulted in severe damage to buildings, agricultural land, electricity, and water resources. Even one year after the fighting, much of the damage has still not been fixed due to the continuing siege by Israel on the Gaza strip. Buildings still lie in shambles as the Israeli authorities will not allow concrete and other building supplies through the borders in order to rebuild. Water resources are extremely limited as they have been contaminated by sewage as a result of sanitation infrastructure being destroyed. It is increasingly difficult for Palestinians to gain permits to exist Gaza, leaving 1.5 million people confined to a 146 square mile area. The economy has been destroyed as there is little capability to export the goods manufactured by farmers and fisherman must stay within 6 km of the shore of the Mediterranean Sea or they will be shot at by Israeli navy vessels.

As B'tselem (an Israeli Human Rights organization) states, the reason given by the Israeli government for the siege on Gaza is for security. B'Tselem argues, however, that the siege does the exact opposite in creating further security threats for Israel. The limitation on goods allowed in and out of the Gaza strip, has created an atmosphere in which the smuggling tunnels run by Hamas are necessary and are a growing business. Necessary goods are smuggled through the tunnels and increases support for Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It is necessary for Human rights in the Palestinian territories to end the siege and also for the security of the Israeli public.


Many people around the world are remembering Gaza at this time of the one year anniversary of Operation Cast Lead with vigils, movies, public events, and peace marches. The Gaza Freedom March took place today. Over 1300 people from 43 different countries gathered in a non-violent, mass march to the Israeli border to protest the blockade on Gaza. Read more HERE.

Help remember Gaza at the beginning of this New Year by reading more on B'Tselem's website on Operation Cast Lead and the Siege on Gaza.

You can also take ACTION by sending a letter written by Churches for Middle East Peace to your representative urging them to sign the McDermott-Ellison Letter about Gaza to President Obama. Click HERE.

Images of Christmas

This year I was able to enjoy Christmas in Bethlehem with my two friends Aimee and Elise from College. It was great to have Aimee and Elise here and show them a little bit of my life. Enjoy the pictures from the past week of fun!

P.S. Although I didn't get to see my family for Bethlehem, I will be leaving in a few hours to visit them in Florida and then make my way up to Minnesota. If you are in either of those places, I hope to see you!


My friend Majdi, was our tour guide in Hebron. Here Aimee is talking with him at the Ibrahimi Mosque.


Leather sandals, popularly known as "Jesus Sandal" are made at the factory in Hebron.


Typical pottery that can be found in tourist shops all over Israel is handmade. Here we watch the talented artists.


Eating Hummus at Afteem's Restaurant. The best place in town!


My friend Alaa gave us a tour around Jerusalem. Here we are taking a rest at the Church of All Nations on the Mount of Olives.


Many of us gather after church service on Christmas Eve to celebrate with a nice dinner at the Tent Restaurant in Beit Sahour. Many families were there celebrating that night.


People gather in Manger Square, outside of the Church of the Nativity, for concerts and celebration on Christmas Eve.


On the last day, Aimme, Elise, Sara (my roommate) and I hiked for a couple hours in the Oasis of En Gedi.


Aimee and Elise covered with skin cleansing mud from the Dead Sea.