Michael Riordon

This message just arrived from Sam Bahour, a Palestinian-American business consultant from Youngstown, Ohio, now living in Al-Bireh, a city in the occupied West Bank.  Sam is co-author of “Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians” (1994).  He can be reached via his blog.

Like the story about the olive farmers that I posted here a few days ago, this is just one more of the countless stories of injustice and cruelty that define how the Israeli military occupation strangles Palestine.  Why pass this particular one along?  Because, as Sam says, “Each life being destroyed by the Israeli revolving door policy of detainment is a person with a name and a family and a job.  And when the person is my friend or colleague, I refuse to swallow the fact that Israel has carte blanche to act above the law.”

In this case, the person affected is someone on whom a great many others depend, a reality which would certainly not be lost on the Israeli regime.

By the way, this is not a request for money.  It’s a call for justice and action.

Sam Bahour:

My friend is Walid Abu Rass.  He is the Finance and Administration Manager for the Health Work Committees (HWC), one of the largest community health service providers in the occupied Palestinian territory. HWC serves over 500,000 patients/beneficiaries per year.  More on HWC in a second.

I had not seen Walid for a while.  We are both knee deep in Palestine’s daily rat race.  About two months ago, Walid and his HWC colleagues called for a meeting of their circle of friends. They sought assistance.  HWC was going through some financial hard times, especially with the financial crisis in Europe, where many of their donors are based.

Given that it was close to the end of year, a season when I usually donate some time to assist a community based organization to fundraise, I offered to volunteer.  Walid was my counterpart.  During the past weeks, we were in daily phone and email contact, and every few days we met up to visit a potential local donor.  Progress was being made.  We then started to plan, with a few others, an end-of-year fundraising raffle.  Plans were coming together, and there was excitement among the team and staff that we were taking our fundraising needs to our local community to compensate for the loss in European institutional funding.  This is even more significant since HWC does not accept funding with strings attached (“conditional donor funds”), so they have to struggle just to keep the doors open in this tainted donor-driven market.

For nearly a week I was emailing Walid with no reply.  This was not like him.  He and I nearly live behind our keyboards.  The deadline for the raffle details was rapidly approaching and if we did not get started, we would miss the end of year opportunity for fundraising.  I started to think Walid was mad at me for some reason.  I rethought our last few weeks of working together. There was absolutely nothing there to cause him to just ignore my calls; after all, I was his volunteer counterpart.

Then, last night I learned why Walid stopped replying to me. Continue reading →

Amid all the routine horrors and brutalities of military occupation, this small news item caught my attention because I know two of the farmers, Mahmoud Issa and Awad Milhim.  More on them below.  First, here’s the item:

Saed Bannoura of the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) reports:

“Last week Israeli military authorities prevented thirty Palestinian farmers from Anin village from entering their olive orchards, which now lie beyond the Annexation Wall that cuts through their land.  Anin is a small village west of Jenin in the northern West Bank.

Local sources reported that soldiers stationed at one of the gates rejected thirty permits granted to the farmers in order to be able to reach their lands.  The villagers were trying to harvest their olive orchards.

The route of the Israeli Annexation Wall is designed to isolate Palestinians from their lands, requiring them to apply for special permits from the so-called Civil Administration, which is run by the occupying army. Permits are rarely granted, and when they are, they limit the dates and time when the residents are allowed to enter their land and their orchards.

The villagers appealed to human rights groups and the Palestinian Authority to intervene, and to pressure Israel into allowing residents to reach their own orchards and harvest their trees.”

I visited Anin with Nasser Abufarha, founder of the Palestine Fair Trade Association, the source of Zatoun olive oil.  Zatoun (Arabic for olive) is a Canadian grassroots fair trade project in which I’m involved.

In the village, Nasser introduced me to two farmers, Mahmoud Issa and Awad Milhim, whose stories are featured in Our Way to Fight.  They would certainly be among the thirty farmers denied access to their land last week.

Our Way to Fight is entirely made of stories like Issa’s and Milhim’s.  Here’s why: “Stories are one way of sharing the belief that justice is imminent.  And for such a belief, children, women and men will fight at a given moment with astounding ferocity.  This is why tyrants fear storytelling: all stories somehow refer to the story of their fall.”  John Berger.

Meet Mahmoud Issa and Awad Milhim:

In the tiny village of Anin I talked with two farmers, cousins, both of them weathered and strongly built.  Mahmoud Issa took over his father’s land a few years ago, and introduced organic farming to the village; his cousin Awad Milhim followed soon after.  Mahmoud also represents the local cooperative’s fifty member-families on the PFTA board.

Before the Palestine Fair Trade Association, Mahmoud and Milhim sold their oil to local merchants or to Israeli brokers, and were thankful if they could break even on their costs.  Has this changed?  The cousins look at each other and laugh.  “There is no comparison,” says Mahmoud, emphatically.  “Now we can support our families, and our kids will be able to go to college.”

Nasser Abufarha explains, “PFTA farmers are getting an average of about 25 percent above the market price for their oil.  This is what we promised to pay even if the market price fell.”

This feat is all the more remarkable for having been accomplished under military occupation, which is never far away.  While we stood on the roof of the new processing plant yesterday, an Israeli military helicopter hovered above.  Like many others here, Nasser hardly notices the war-jets any more, even when they break the sound barrier, but on the roof he stopped talking and watched the helicopter.  Why the difference?  “Unfortunately a helicopter often means they’re going to assassinate someone in the area.”

In Anin I ask how the occupation affects farmers.  By way of response they take me out to see where their land is, downhill from the village, more than half of it now cut off by the wall – a broad white slash through the landscape, wavering in the heat.

To reach their olive groves on the other side, the farmers need to request permits from the military authorities.  If a farmer is lucky enough to get one, it may allow him only one hour on the other side.  Whether farmers can plough, prune, maintain and harvest the trees when these functions need to be done depends entirely on the whim of the soldiers.

Olive groves throughout Palestine are also subject to attack by both settlers and the army.  Since the occupation began in 1967, it’s estimated that at least a million trees have been destroyed, and the wall threatens to destroy or cut off twice as many.  Even in a land so richly endowed with olives, the loss is catastrophic.

On the road to Anin, Nasser pointed out several large sheds on a hill across the valley – an Israeli agricultural settlement.  Mahmoud’s cousin Awad hasn’t spoken much today, but now he talks about his almonds.  “I didn’t have much experience growing them, but with help from the PFTA I began to produce quite good almonds.  When the settlers noticed this, they started to release pigs into our orchards.  Pigs like to eat almonds, and to reach them they pull down the branches, breaking them.  We chased them out, but the settlers keep letting them back in.  It’s terrible to see an almond orchard that’s been torn apart.  I’m starting to think I’ll have to stop growing almonds.  That’s what the settlers want, but what can you do?  If you try to defend yourself, the army will be here in a moment.”

My parting question to the farmers:  What keeps you going?  Mahmoud replies, “To support my family I have to work my land.  This is what I know how to do.”

(Anin village – Image: Palestine Remembered)

Our Way to Fight, on the road in British Columbia, Canada: in four days, five events and four radio interviews in three cities.   Throughout the journey I met lively, responsive audiences; enjoyed stimulating encounters with new and seasoned activists from a range of solidarity and peace action groups; reveled in generous hospitality and gorgeous country.

Now posted online are audio podcasts of the four radio interviews (different hosts, different questions), and a video podcast of my talk at the University of Victoria.  Here are the links:

Red-eye Radio, with Manuel Shulte, Co-op Radio, Vancouver.  15 minutes. Podcast here.

Gorilla Radio, with Chris Cook, CFUV, Victoria.   20 minutes.   Podcast here.

Changes Radio, with Jamie Brennan, CHLY-FM, Nanaimo.  50 minutes.  Podcast here.  Click on the Nov 22, 2011 program.

Voice of Palestine, with Hanna Kawas, Co-op Radio, CFRO, Vancouver.  20 minutes.   Podcast here.  Click on the Tuesday Nov 22 program.

Video of the talk at University of Victoria, recorded by videographer Linda Taffs of Pasifik.ca, a collective of concerned citizens aiming to foster direct democracy.   Podcast here.

I’m taking Our Way to Fight on the road, heading west to British Columbia, Canada.

Events

Victoria:  Monday Nov 21, 7:30 pm.  University of Victoria, David Strong Bldg, Rm C112.   Sponsors: Independent Jewish Voices, Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, and University of Victoria: Social Studies.

Nanaimo:  Wednesday November 23, 6 pm.  Nanaimo Harbourfront Library, 90 Commercial Street.  Sponsors: Mid-Islanders for Justice and Peace in the Middle East.

Vancouver:  Thursday, November 24, 7 pm.  Simon Fraser Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings Street, Room 1430.   Sponsors:  Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign, and Independent Jewish Voices.

Occupy Vancouver:  Friday, November 25.  3 pm.  A talk on non-violent resistance in Israel-Palestine and elsewhere.  3:30 – 5 pm:  A discussion on non-violent resistance.  Vancouver Art Gallery grounds, Hornby Street south of Georgia Street.

Interviews: all can be heard live on the internet (see URLs below)

Saturday November 19, 12:05 pm EST.  Live interview with Manuel Schulte, Red-eye, on Co-op Radio, CFRO, Vancouver.  15 minutes.  Listen online: http://www.coopradio.org/.  (At top left of Home page, click on “Listen to our broadcast online.”)  On the radio: 102.7 FM (Vancouver area).

Monday November 21, 8:00 pm EST.  Live interview with Chris Cook, Gorilla Radio, on CFUV, Victoria.   30 minutes.  Listen online: http://cfuv.uvic.ca/.  On the radio: 101.5 FM (Victoria area).

Tuesday November 22, 2 pm EST.  Live interview with Jamie Brennan, Changes Radio, on CHLY-FM.  50 minutes.  Listen online: http://chly.ca/the-program-schedule/listen/.  On the radio: 101.7 (Nanaimo area.)

Tuesday November 22, 11:20 pm EST (12:20 am AST).  Live interview with Hanna Kawas, Voice of Palestine, on Co-op Radio, CFRO, Vancouver.  20 minutes.  Listen online: http://www.coopradio.org/.  (At top left of Home page, click on “Listen to our broadcast online.”)  On the radio: 102.7 FM (Vancouver area).

Poet Rafeef Ziadah performs in London, November 12, 2011.

There is nothing I can add, except: more about Rafeef’s life and work in Our Way to Fight, chapter 17, Cracks in the wall.

Please watch/listen here.