The ethos of ethnic cleansing
Hello everyone,
There are so many things that I would like to write about, the trouble is figuring out where to start. In the past week or so, I have been in three places, all of which deserve plenty of description.
One is Qawawis, to the far south of Palestine (the south Hebron Hills), which is a village inhabited by shepherds and farmers, but surrounded by Israeli settlements. The Palestinians were evicted for a year, but after challenging their eviction in court, were allowed to return and now need a constant international presence in order to deter and report abuse by the settlers and the army. While I was there it was pretty quite and peaceful, and I truly enjoyed the company of the men and women of the village, they were kind and caring towards me, and even helped me learn a bit more Arabic in the process.
I was also in Aboud, this time for their second demo against the construction of the wall, which threatens to illegally confiscate much of their agricultural land and turn the village (like many others) into a small prison. Unlike their first demo, the IOF was much better prepared this time. Allowing the crowd to advance down the road, they immediately began throwing sounds bombs and tear gas into the crowd, as well as using quite a lot of physical violence. But, that did not deter the Palestinians of Aboud for a moment, and the demo continued for the next few hours despite the violence. I also made some changes this week and was sure to have an onion with me, as did my fellow ISMers, and we were able to avoid being gassed directly so that we could tend to those who had been. Eventually, the IOF were able to detain three Palestinians, all of whom were beaten severely while detained by the IOF. Myself, an Israeli activist, a Palestinian, and an Irish ISMer who is also a doctor were able to negotiate seeing the men, check their physical state, and were soon joined by their fathers, who escorted them back to the village. Like I said before, this is just the beginning for Aboud, but I have no doubt in their strength to continue to resist.
And that brings me to where I am now, Al-Khalil, Hebron, a city that is affected by settlers like no other in Palestine. I have been in many places here, ands I have seem many settlements thus far; near Nablus are the settlements of Itmar and Elon More, around Jerusalem Maale Adumim, and many more. But Hebron is where the most nasty, racist, and truly unstable ones reside, and altough Kiryat Arba is just outside the city limits, many others are located right in the Old city of Hebron, like Beit Hadassah, Avram Avinu, and Tel Rumeida. I truly thought I had seen and felt the racism here, and I have, but not like in this place.
Tel Rumeida settlement is located right where the city is split between Israeli and Palestinian control, with the tomb of the Patriarchs located in the Israeli part. What is happening here on a daily basis is nothing more than a slow-motion ethnic cleansing of the city of Hebron into Jewish and a Palestinian halves. The Palestinians who live between Beit Hadassagh and Tel Rumeida particularly, are prone to violent abuses by the army and the settlers, particularly their children. It can range from name calling, spitting, to physical violence at the drop of a hat. Just yesterday I witnessed five young settler boys spit at the feet of a Palestinian Muslim woman. It was one of many painful, repulsive things that I saw yesterday.
Yesterday, November 26th, settlers from all over the OT came to Hebron, ostensibly to celebrate aspects of the lives of Sarah and Abraham (I forget, I think it was the day he paid for her burial). What it became, however, was a riot, which targeted both Palestinians and the Internationals who were there to help protect them. I have read about lynch mobs, I have read about Kristallnacht, and I now can say that I have seen something pretty similar, which is what amounts to the basic daily life for Palestinians who live in this area. All the shop and home doors on Shuddadah street, which used to be bustling with shops and people, are closed, covered in racist graffitti, stars of david, and slurs like "gas the arabs," or “die Arab sand niggers.” Gangs of Israeli settler youth, ranging in age from 5 to 25 were roaming the streets, looking to provoke a fight whenever and wherever they could. After helping walk children from their school and people from their houses, I went to our apartment and took a nap, only to be awakened by a fellow ISMer who needed my assistance. I went outside and found myself in the midst of maybe 50 settler kids and young 'adults,' and I was soon confronted by a French speaking settler with a large rifle on his back. His first words to me were 'fuck you' and then he kicked some stones at my feet. With one 74 year old ISMer already assaulted and pushed to the ground by a teenage settler girl earlier in the day, did the best I could to stay away from him, but it was clear that a number of them, particularly the French ones, wanted to do more.
Then, I was lucky enough to be protected by the IOF! Although we tried to get back to our apartment, which was being surrounded and stoned by settlers, the army formed a line between us and the crazed settler youth, and after some time, it became clear that they were the only thing standing between us and a much worse situation. Strange, though, how the mere act of marching in 'confiscated' Palestinian land by Palestinians was enough to necessitate tear gas and sound bombs, as well as the taking of Palestinians into army detention, where they were beaten. Obviously, the IOF treats settlers with kid gloves in comparison.
So after some waiting, as well as witnessing IOF soldiers urinating on the wall of a Palestinian home, we decided to travel back out around by taxi from were we were to the Shuddadah street checkpoint (kind of like going from the 42street subway station, to the east side, up central park, and then back around to the 51st street station in NYC). There we were able to escort more Palestinians, although we did draw some more attention. I kept having these settlers from the USA stop and talk to me, which was a bit freaky- judging from their accents, most were from the NYC area, so I kept dreading the possibility that I would meet someone I knew from high school!
In the end, despite some injuries and property destruction, we were able to provide at least some kind of barrier and presence in the face of such horrible racism and hate. There is so much more that I would still like to say about the settler and their more or less pathological mental state; but let me end with this. At a demo in SF, a very angry Jewish man declared to me that the Palestinians teach their children to hate Jews. This is a very common argument and is racist to the core. In all my time, I have never seen or experienced Palestinians being anything but kind towards myself and the International and Israeli activists who are their to support them and their struggle.
But yesterday, aside from all the young settlers doing and saying horrible things, there is one thing that I cannot forget. A man, probably middle aged or in his 30s, was walking with a young boy, maybe 7 years old. Both wore matching outfits of jeans and a white shirt, sunglasses, and kipa. Assuming he was his father, he also had at his hip a very visible handgun, as did many other settlers. They were just two of the many armed settlers that were parading down Shudaddah street, with the obvious intent of intimidating and instilling fear in the Palestinians of Tel Rumeida, to make their lives so hellish they will leave and that area can be consolidated as a purely 'Jewish' place. It is the basic ethos of ethnic cleansing, and Zionism, for that matter.
As I watched those two in particular, I asked myself; just who is it that is teaching their children to hate?
There are so many things that I would like to write about, the trouble is figuring out where to start. In the past week or so, I have been in three places, all of which deserve plenty of description.
One is Qawawis, to the far south of Palestine (the south Hebron Hills), which is a village inhabited by shepherds and farmers, but surrounded by Israeli settlements. The Palestinians were evicted for a year, but after challenging their eviction in court, were allowed to return and now need a constant international presence in order to deter and report abuse by the settlers and the army. While I was there it was pretty quite and peaceful, and I truly enjoyed the company of the men and women of the village, they were kind and caring towards me, and even helped me learn a bit more Arabic in the process.
I was also in Aboud, this time for their second demo against the construction of the wall, which threatens to illegally confiscate much of their agricultural land and turn the village (like many others) into a small prison. Unlike their first demo, the IOF was much better prepared this time. Allowing the crowd to advance down the road, they immediately began throwing sounds bombs and tear gas into the crowd, as well as using quite a lot of physical violence. But, that did not deter the Palestinians of Aboud for a moment, and the demo continued for the next few hours despite the violence. I also made some changes this week and was sure to have an onion with me, as did my fellow ISMers, and we were able to avoid being gassed directly so that we could tend to those who had been. Eventually, the IOF were able to detain three Palestinians, all of whom were beaten severely while detained by the IOF. Myself, an Israeli activist, a Palestinian, and an Irish ISMer who is also a doctor were able to negotiate seeing the men, check their physical state, and were soon joined by their fathers, who escorted them back to the village. Like I said before, this is just the beginning for Aboud, but I have no doubt in their strength to continue to resist.
And that brings me to where I am now, Al-Khalil, Hebron, a city that is affected by settlers like no other in Palestine. I have been in many places here, ands I have seem many settlements thus far; near Nablus are the settlements of Itmar and Elon More, around Jerusalem Maale Adumim, and many more. But Hebron is where the most nasty, racist, and truly unstable ones reside, and altough Kiryat Arba is just outside the city limits, many others are located right in the Old city of Hebron, like Beit Hadassah, Avram Avinu, and Tel Rumeida. I truly thought I had seen and felt the racism here, and I have, but not like in this place.
Tel Rumeida settlement is located right where the city is split between Israeli and Palestinian control, with the tomb of the Patriarchs located in the Israeli part. What is happening here on a daily basis is nothing more than a slow-motion ethnic cleansing of the city of Hebron into Jewish and a Palestinian halves. The Palestinians who live between Beit Hadassagh and Tel Rumeida particularly, are prone to violent abuses by the army and the settlers, particularly their children. It can range from name calling, spitting, to physical violence at the drop of a hat. Just yesterday I witnessed five young settler boys spit at the feet of a Palestinian Muslim woman. It was one of many painful, repulsive things that I saw yesterday.
Yesterday, November 26th, settlers from all over the OT came to Hebron, ostensibly to celebrate aspects of the lives of Sarah and Abraham (I forget, I think it was the day he paid for her burial). What it became, however, was a riot, which targeted both Palestinians and the Internationals who were there to help protect them. I have read about lynch mobs, I have read about Kristallnacht, and I now can say that I have seen something pretty similar, which is what amounts to the basic daily life for Palestinians who live in this area. All the shop and home doors on Shuddadah street, which used to be bustling with shops and people, are closed, covered in racist graffitti, stars of david, and slurs like "gas the arabs," or “die Arab sand niggers.” Gangs of Israeli settler youth, ranging in age from 5 to 25 were roaming the streets, looking to provoke a fight whenever and wherever they could. After helping walk children from their school and people from their houses, I went to our apartment and took a nap, only to be awakened by a fellow ISMer who needed my assistance. I went outside and found myself in the midst of maybe 50 settler kids and young 'adults,' and I was soon confronted by a French speaking settler with a large rifle on his back. His first words to me were 'fuck you' and then he kicked some stones at my feet. With one 74 year old ISMer already assaulted and pushed to the ground by a teenage settler girl earlier in the day, did the best I could to stay away from him, but it was clear that a number of them, particularly the French ones, wanted to do more.
Then, I was lucky enough to be protected by the IOF! Although we tried to get back to our apartment, which was being surrounded and stoned by settlers, the army formed a line between us and the crazed settler youth, and after some time, it became clear that they were the only thing standing between us and a much worse situation. Strange, though, how the mere act of marching in 'confiscated' Palestinian land by Palestinians was enough to necessitate tear gas and sound bombs, as well as the taking of Palestinians into army detention, where they were beaten. Obviously, the IOF treats settlers with kid gloves in comparison.
So after some waiting, as well as witnessing IOF soldiers urinating on the wall of a Palestinian home, we decided to travel back out around by taxi from were we were to the Shuddadah street checkpoint (kind of like going from the 42street subway station, to the east side, up central park, and then back around to the 51st street station in NYC). There we were able to escort more Palestinians, although we did draw some more attention. I kept having these settlers from the USA stop and talk to me, which was a bit freaky- judging from their accents, most were from the NYC area, so I kept dreading the possibility that I would meet someone I knew from high school!
In the end, despite some injuries and property destruction, we were able to provide at least some kind of barrier and presence in the face of such horrible racism and hate. There is so much more that I would still like to say about the settler and their more or less pathological mental state; but let me end with this. At a demo in SF, a very angry Jewish man declared to me that the Palestinians teach their children to hate Jews. This is a very common argument and is racist to the core. In all my time, I have never seen or experienced Palestinians being anything but kind towards myself and the International and Israeli activists who are their to support them and their struggle.
But yesterday, aside from all the young settlers doing and saying horrible things, there is one thing that I cannot forget. A man, probably middle aged or in his 30s, was walking with a young boy, maybe 7 years old. Both wore matching outfits of jeans and a white shirt, sunglasses, and kipa. Assuming he was his father, he also had at his hip a very visible handgun, as did many other settlers. They were just two of the many armed settlers that were parading down Shudaddah street, with the obvious intent of intimidating and instilling fear in the Palestinians of Tel Rumeida, to make their lives so hellish they will leave and that area can be consolidated as a purely 'Jewish' place. It is the basic ethos of ethnic cleansing, and Zionism, for that matter.
As I watched those two in particular, I asked myself; just who is it that is teaching their children to hate?
posted by Jontheantizionistjew at 1:21 AM
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