Today almost 100 cars with 300 Israelis followed a large truck carrying much needed food and other supplies to the besieged West Bank villages of Marda and Qiri. Israeli police and army patrols observed the convoy throughout the route but there was no attempt to intervene as they had done with the convoy last month . The organizers emphasized that in addition to providing the supplies, the trip was a show of solidarity between Israeli dissenters and the Palestinian people. The common theme uniting he activists was their opposition to the continuing closure and occupation and settlement of the West Bank and Gaza. Most of the Palestinian residents of Marda and Qiri had depended on steady employment in Israel prior to the policy of ‘separation’, which was implemented during the 1990s. Palestinians then found themselves replaced by imported workers from various African and Asian countries. These foreign workers now number about 300,000 in Israel. More recently the Civil War and the resulting closure of the West Bank has further reduced the number of Palestinian workers entering Israel. The closure also denies Palestinian farmers access to markets for their products, which also exasperates the poverty in the villages.
The food for the convoy was purchased with donations from Arabs and Jews in Israel and organized by the Israeli group Ta’ayush. Other organizing groups were the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and The Coalition of Women for a Just Peace. Activists from Peace Now, Gush Shalom and the Israeli Communist Party also participated in the event.
The convoy participants were enthusiastically welcomed in the villages and a solidarity rally was held at each location. The Israeli army kept a low profile, which allowed a festive atmosphere to develop on the streets. A member of ‘Jugglers for Peace’ provided entertainment for the village children with impromptu juggling performances, and villagers circulated with cold refreshments for the activists as the heat rose to 25 degrees Celsius.
The Palestinian village of Marda lies beneath a rim of hills occupied by the Israeli settlement of Ariel, approximately 20 kilometers over the Green Line and 40 Kilometers from Tel Aviv. Ariel is a constant bone of contention with the local Palestinians since Israel has maintained throughout the Oslo negotiations that the settlement must continue to be joined territorially to Israel by a finger of sovereign Israeli territory reaching deep into the future state of Palestine. This is one of the controversial issues that gave rise to the current civil war in Israel/Palestine. Stretches of the road to Marda were devoid of growth on one side to a depth of at least two hundred meters. Scores of olive trees had been uprooted by the Israeli army in response to stones being thrown. The army considers it irrelevant whether or not the owner of the trees had any connection to the stone throwers.
The village of Qiri is five kilometers from Marda and arrived at through a narrow hilly winding road. The road is lined with olive groves that harbor trees that were probably planted during the crusader era or even earlier. The road terminates at the village, which makes it easy for the Israeli army to block off access at will.
This is the fourth food convoy since December and more are planned. Donations are welcome. Contact Gadi Algazi at algazi@post.tai.ac.il
Saturday, May 12, 2001
Tuesday, May 01, 2001
Life on the Israeli Riviera • Part 6
Life on the Israeli Riviera – Part V
It’s getting closer! We’ve had 3 bombings during the past two weeks in Kfar Saba, a town so close to us that it’s hard to tell where one town ends and the other begins. Our little bubble of safety in Ra’anana is starting to crumble. Kids are being told to stay off the main street at rush hour when bombs usually go off. The forces of Palestinian liberation are making damned sure that no-one in Israel feels safe any more. My father-in-law and his wife were here for a visit last week from the USA. The morning after the latest bombing I hid the front page of the newspaper from him since we had been a few blocks from ground zero just a few hours before the action.
I took the in-laws to Tira, a town of Palestinian-Israelis near here. We went to the Saturday market full of factory seconds, bric-a-brac, and food. Before the war started the market was full of hundreds of Israelis in addition to Palestinians. I counted six Jews there last week. Not that Tira is such a hotbed of radicals and violence but Israelis are afraid to associate with anyone other than Jews. What are we afraid of? Bombs and bullets I suppose. But more than that we are afraid of our own existential reflection, that nemesis of Zionism; Palestinian nationalism. And in denying them legitimacy we deny our own liberty and continue to live in the ghetto.
In a recent essay Israel Shamir described himself as the ‘Third Dove’, like the feathered messenger from Noah’s Ark who ventured forth beyond the receeding floodwaters and never returned, finding the world a good and safe place. Far be it for me to deny Shamir his fantasies but surely the nation of Israel (as opposed to the state) must find it’s own third dove from within the bosom of it’s body politic, not from the statement of a marginal commentator. When our dove is ready we shall fly. I just hope to G-d it happens soon.
In the meanwhile depression has settled over the land. We all deal with it in our own way. My friend Nad and I get together on my rooftop veranda late at night and commiserate together.
It’s getting closer! We’ve had 3 bombings during the past two weeks in Kfar Saba, a town so close to us that it’s hard to tell where one town ends and the other begins. Our little bubble of safety in Ra’anana is starting to crumble. Kids are being told to stay off the main street at rush hour when bombs usually go off. The forces of Palestinian liberation are making damned sure that no-one in Israel feels safe any more. My father-in-law and his wife were here for a visit last week from the USA. The morning after the latest bombing I hid the front page of the newspaper from him since we had been a few blocks from ground zero just a few hours before the action.
I took the in-laws to Tira, a town of Palestinian-Israelis near here. We went to the Saturday market full of factory seconds, bric-a-brac, and food. Before the war started the market was full of hundreds of Israelis in addition to Palestinians. I counted six Jews there last week. Not that Tira is such a hotbed of radicals and violence but Israelis are afraid to associate with anyone other than Jews. What are we afraid of? Bombs and bullets I suppose. But more than that we are afraid of our own existential reflection, that nemesis of Zionism; Palestinian nationalism. And in denying them legitimacy we deny our own liberty and continue to live in the ghetto.
In a recent essay Israel Shamir described himself as the ‘Third Dove’, like the feathered messenger from Noah’s Ark who ventured forth beyond the receeding floodwaters and never returned, finding the world a good and safe place. Far be it for me to deny Shamir his fantasies but surely the nation of Israel (as opposed to the state) must find it’s own third dove from within the bosom of it’s body politic, not from the statement of a marginal commentator. When our dove is ready we shall fly. I just hope to G-d it happens soon.
In the meanwhile depression has settled over the land. We all deal with it in our own way. My friend Nad and I get together on my rooftop veranda late at night and commiserate together.
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