[mgj-discuss] Fwd: Palestine Occupied, An anarchist is leaving bethlehem with hopes and regrets [EXCERPTS]

[Chuck Munson]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: (en) Palestine Occupied, An anarchist is leaving bethlehem with
hopes and regrets [EXCERPTS]
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 17:09:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Loukas Christodoulou" <loukasc at hotmail.com>
Reply-To: a-infos-en at ainfos.ca
To: a-infos-en at ainfos.ca

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Don't expect any kind of objectivity from me. You see, for the last few 
weeks I have not had the benefit of the mainstream media to give me a 
beautifully balanced picture of the situation in Palestine. Instead I 
have been living in the middle of the events in Bethlehem, witnessing 
for myself army brutality and civilian misery. While staying at the 
Al-Azzeh refugee camp I obviously missed all the terrorists, the 
anti-semites and the fanatics that the Israeli army and the BBC see as 
infesting the towns and camps of the West Bank.

It doesn't take a genius to be suspicious of the capitalist media -- 
anyone who's been on a political action will have become used to being 
casually misrepresented and smeared. But the depth of the campaign of 
lies waged against the people of Palestine beggars belief. Resting on 
old colonial prejudices and modern islamophobia and racism it has the 
objective of consistently blaming the victims in this conflict; presenting 
Israel as a democratic state under attack from unreasonable semi-humans. 
I am not even going to talk about Jenin, I am too angry.

Rejecting this picture leads us on to a more complex analysis of the 
conflict, and of the Israeli and Palestinian societies. It leads us
towards 
seeing the divisions and contradictions within each camp, rather than 
accepting Sharon and Arafat as the only protagonists, perfectly
representing 
'their' people. It leads one to see the crux of the problem as lying, not
in 
the outbreaks of violence that are presented as spectacles to be passively 
consumed by us in the UK, but in the everyday lives of the milions of 
Palestinians who are living under conditions of great hardship. To quote a
recent 
Israeli peace slogan 'the occupation is killing us all!'

It was with a recognition of these underlying factors that the 
Palestinian-led International Solidarity Movement has organised groups 
of international volunteers. Following on from the December 2001 campaign, 
this Easter was to see similar work replanting olive trees and dismantling 
roadblocks -- aiming, in fact, to use non-violent methods of direct action 
to give the Palestinians a chance to be non-violent themselves. 

Unfortunately the Israeli army decided otherwise. Having only pulled out
of 
the Bethlehem area two weeks previously, the APCs (Armoured Personnel
Carriers)
and tanks rolled in again. In our affinity groups we decided that our
places
were to act as observeers in the nearby refugee camps, home of the radical
and 
dispossessed, thus a favourite target for Israeli army repression, arrests
and 
random shelling.

Sitting in the neatly kept, poverty stricken, living room of our host
familty, 
with the Apache helicopters and robot drones flying overhead I experienced 
for a few days the terror that these people live through for years.
Sitting 
drinking endless cup of tea with young men who know they could be dragged 
out and shot; staying up all night because sleep is impossible. Times like 
these were almost enough to turn me from an anarchist into a liberal 
national-reformist. 

The kind of liberation that the Palestinian people need is so basic, 
resting on simple nineteenth century concepts of human rights. The kinds 
of repression they face are also very basic. A friend of mine from 
Australia was shot in the stomach on a demonstration, snipers fired at 
night into the camp from the tall hotels. During these days any sign 
that the 'international community' could pressure Israel into a withdrawal 
would have been very welcome. When Belgium cut off diplomatic ties I had a 
flash of intense Europhilia...But the invasion remained, despite such
gestures.

Just as the neighbouring Arab states have no interest in real Palestinian 
liberation, so the United States (whether of Europe or America) have
little 
interest in halting the long process of anti-Palestinian ethnic cleansing. 
The Israeli state is supported by the current framework of economic 
globalisation, just as it was once supported by the framework of
imperialism. 
Israel represents a near-fascist state, but it also represents one of the 
cornerstone of the upcoming European free trade zone, and an enclave of 
western consumer society on the shores of the East Mediterranean. In the 
end it is only the grassroots movements that can have any real solidarity 
with the communities in Israel and Palestine that want peace and justice.

This analysis is not ideology -- it is borne out by the fact that the only 
real political solidarity that has been offered during this crisis has 
been by social movements. The ISM volunteers include many people involved 
with Earth First!, Reclaim the Streets and Peoples' Global Action in the 
USA and UK. 

<excerpt>

The UK and Israeli states are both characterised by the convergance of 
their labour and conservative parties into a single political elite; they 
are both strongly neo-liberal and prepared to use repression against 
dissidents. In the last couple of days, protestors who occupied CAT's 
offices in London in solidarity with activists in Palestine have had their 
homes raided and been questioned about 'terror' links. One of the things 
that terrifies the Israeli and UK governments is any linking of our
struggles.

During my time here I have become aware of just how little I can achieve, 
and of how short my involvement has been -- even if I return, I still 
have a freedom of global movement denied to my friends in Al-Azzeh camp. 
Yet I am proud to be part of a movement that is sincere enough to offer 
direct solidarity against genocide, as well as fighting for social 
justice and ecological harmony at home. There will be another ISM campaign 
in June; I expect it to be massive. There will be ecological and
anti-capitalist 
protests accross the globe this year, I hope they will be massive too. 
This year will see both the European Peoples' Global Action conference 
<excerpt>
 I cannot detach these struggles, or indeed my own struggle for day to 
day survival, from the fight of the Palestinian people to live in 
peace and security.



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