I spent the last 2 days in an upscale hotel in Ramallah going through my ISM training. ISM stands for International Solidarity Movement. It is an organization that seeks to protect Palestinians from human rights abuses from the Israeli army and to challenge the military occupation of the West Bank.
W e will be going to protests against the separation wall that cuts into the West Bank. Israel claims it is for security, to separate it from the Palestinians. However the wall takes Palestinian land, and separates farmers from their fields, making life impossible for many. It does not divide the West Bank from Israel, it annexes a lot of land.
We learned about Palestinian culture. It is very honour based. Palestinian families will offer all of the food they have to guests. There is also social accountability. The women in our group were told that if they were to face sexual harassment from men on the street, it is enough to yell for help and everyone will respond. Saying the word “halas” (shame) in Arabic is enough to get most potential aggressors to back off.
We will also be working in Hebron and Palestinian villages, responding to violence from settlers and the IDF. ISM does not allow its members to engage in violence, and supports only unarmed Palestinian resistance. Most of that resistance is peaceful, however in some villages Palestinians do throw stones at soldiers- who fire teargas canisters, rubber bullets, and sound bombs. Having spent the last 2 weeks in Israel and Palestine with CPT, I have seen and heard evidence of the systematic destruction of Palestinian homes, water deprivation, and aggression by settlers and soldiers. Throwing a rock is a very small act in comparison to what the Israeli government is doing.
As a Christian however I am opposed to all forms of violence and do consider rock throwing to be an act of violence. I can understand the resentment and desperation that can lead to such action but I do not personally believe that violence will change the situation for the better, and it gives the Israeli military an excuse to use more violence. Therefore I will only be taking part in actions where the resistance is peaceful. It looks like I will be spending a lot of time in Hebron. I am excited already, I look forward to seeing the CPT team again.
We learned as well about our rights, as internationals we have a lot more rights than Palestinians do. We can be detained for up to 24 hours if arrested, and the worst thing that can happen to us as a result of our activism is deportation. Palestinians can be held for days, weeks or even months at a time before even seeing a judge. We learned about teargas, rubber bullets (or, as ISM calls them, rubber coated steel bullets- which is exactly what they are), sound bombs and other weapons in the IDFs arsenal as well as how to respond if we are grabbed and soldiers are trying to arrest us, if things come to that point.
We are using fake names and I cannot share pictures of other ISMers on the blog.
"Julia" and I took the bus from Ramallah and got into Hebron today in the evening. We are staying in an ISM apartment which is not too far from CPT. Everyone except one of us is from Europe, Sweden and Denmark in particular. I'm the only non-European there. Well, actually that's not true. I am Polish and proud of it. I am also Canadian and proud of that too. So we're all Europeans in a way and I guess I do fit in. The guys sat around smoking shiksha (water pipe) and discussing politics and faith stuff. An awesome evening in other words and not one argument. Everyone is OK with me not going to demos that will involve rock throwing, at least demos during in which rock throwing is sanctioned by the protest organizers.
Tomorrow we will be spending time in a Palestinian village, staying with a family that was attacked by settlers today in the morning. The field was set on fire and CPT has been doing a night shift. Me and another ISMer will be spending most of the day there tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment