“…The people I come from were small scale farmers and garment workers.  Like them, the vast majority of European Jews were in no position to wield any sort of economic power, but in a world where the economic lives of Jews were strictly regulated (my great grandfather had to pay bribes to work at a hardware store in a town where Jews were forbidden) the role of agent to the rulers was one of the few options offered, often under duress….”

The insights are deep and challenging in this commentary by Puerto Rican Jewish writer and historian Aurora Levins Morales.

It was published March 11 by the National Institute for Latino Policy, and forwarded by New Profile, an Israeli feminist group that strives to counter militarism in Israel.

Aurora Levins Morales:

“I am a Puerto Rican Jew, born of Ukrainian Jews fleeing war and repression to become sweatshop organizers in 1910s New York, and landed gentry from Naranjito, turned working class migrants in 1930s Harlem and the Bronx, landing in the same garment shops a generation later.  I’m also a lifelong activist historian who embraces complexity and has spent decades building alliances between people who misunderstand each other.

It is true that there are specific challenges in the relations between Latin@s (those who are not Jewish) and Jews (the ones who aren’t Latin@.) It’s true that these challenges are deeply rooted in the anti-Semitism of the Catholic hierarchy, but the belief system that burned Jews at the stake, accused us of sacrificing Christian babies, and held us responsible for the crucifixion of Christ, long predates the State of Israel. And long before that state was founded out of the ashes of genocide and at the expense of a colonized Arab people, Jews were the shock absorbers of Europe’s class societies, “Middle Agents” drafted into being the local representatives of distant and definitely Christian ruling classes who alternately exploited and persecuted them while squeezing the life blood out of Europe’s peasants and workers.

People are often confused by anti-Semitism.  They see many US Jews accumulating wealth, moving up, gaining positions of influence, and they say, “What oppression?” Anti-Semitism doesn’t work the way racism does. Racism tries to create permanently exploitable groups of workers, people kept in line through discrimination and violence, kept poor and dependent on low wage jobs.

The whole point of anti-Semitism has been to create a vulnerable buffer group that can be bribed with some privileges into managing the exploitation of others, and then, when social pressure builds, be blamed and scapegoated, distracting those at the bottom from the crimes of those at the top. Peasants who go on pogrom against their Jewish neighbors won’t make it to the nobleman’s palace to burn him out and seize the fields. This was the role of Jews in Europe. This has been the role of Jews in the United States, and this is the role of Jews in the Middle East.

The people I come from were small scale farmers and garment workers. Like them, the vast majority of European Jews were in no position to wield any sort of economic power, but in a world where the economic lives of Jews were strictly regulated (my great grandfather had to pay bribes to work at a hardware store in a town where Jews were forbidden) the role of agent to the rulers was one of the few options offered, often under duress. Continue reading →

An urgent appeal arrived this morning from Israeli activist Sahar Vardi, of Ta’ayush.

Ta’ayush (Arabic for “living together”) is a grassroots movement of Israelis and Palestinians striving together to end the Israeli occupation and to achieve full civil equality through non-violent direct-action.

Many appeals emerge from the bitter struggle for freedom in Palestine-Israel.  Some are more desperate than this one.  Still, I pass this one along for your consideration, partly because I trust Sahar and Ta’ayush, but more because I believe that movements like Ta’ayush represent the only chance for a just peace in Israel-Palestine.  For that very reason, they are under escalating assault by the authorities.  (Read more about Sahar Vardi and Ta’ayush in Our Way to Fight.)

Sahar writes:

“Palestinians in the South Hebron hills face constant violence and harassment by Israeli settlers and the army.  Preventing access to their agricultural lands and water cisterns, house demolitions, setting fire to tents, and physical attacks are common methods in the authorities’ and the settlers’ attempt to push the Palestinian residents out of their homes.

after a home demolition, South Hebron (photo: Villages Group)

The Ta’ayush movement has worked for more than ten years to support Palestinian residents in South Hebron hills in their long struggle to preserve their homes and agricultural lands.

Recently we have witnessed increasing pressure on Ta’ayush itself from state authorities.  In order to discourage our activism, Israeli police have been making more frequent arrests and opening criminal proceedings against activists.

One of our activists currently faces a trial following a non-violent Ta’ayush activity to aid Palestinian farmers in their attempt to reach their agricultural lands.

Two other activists are also facing trial for accompanying shepherds as they grazed their flocks.

Recently, the police issued an indictment against an activist in a fourth case.  She, along with other activists, was accompanying Palestinian farmers to a water cistern that they cannot reach alone because of attacks by Israeli settlers.  These farmers, like the thousands of Palestinian residents in the South Hebron Hills, are not connected to the water grid and rely on these cisterns as one of their primary sources of water.

Ta’ayush is committed to supporting activists who face trial.  However, paying for these court cases is a heavy burden on Ta’ayush’s very limited financial resources; the costs of legal fees are so high that they threaten to curtail our solidarity activities.

For this reason, we are in desperate need of your support.

Donations can be sent via bank deposit to:

Bank Hapoalim
Branch 574 (‘Hapalmach’)
Account no. 160213
Swift code ‘poalilit’
IBAN: IL61-0125-7400-0000-0160-213

You can also send checks by mail, payable to:

Ta’ayush
c/o Yehuda Agus, POB 360
Timrat 36576
ISRAEL

Every donation, no matter how small, will help us to support our activists and continue our work on the ground for equality, justice and peace.

In solidarity and thanks,

Sahar M. Vardi, for Ta’ayush
Jerusalem

On March 8, International Women’s Day, Israeli journalist Haggai Matar reported in +972 magazine:

“Hana Shalabi enters 4th week of hunger strike.”

Palestinian women face Israeli soldiers near Qalandia checkpoint (Oren Ziv / Activestills)

Now and then Western media commentators lament: Where, oh where are the Palestinian Ghandis?

Answer:  In several decades of military occupation, thousands of Palestinian Ghandis have either been killed or imprisoned.  Others are currently leading non-violent protests across occupied Palestine.

Hana Shalabi is a Palestinian Ghandi, one of more than 300 Palestinians currently held under “administrative detention,” without trial or charge, and one of more than 5000 Palestinians currently imprisoned by Israel under other forms of military law.

As Khader Adnan’s recent hunger strike did, Hana Shalabi’s resonates widely as a powerful act of resistance against the injustices of administrative detention, military law, and the occupation.

Haggai Matar’s report follows below.  Haggai is an Israeli journalist and political activist.  In 2002, he was imprisoned for two years for refusing conscription into the Israeli army.  His life before, during and since prison is documented in Our Way to Fight.

Haggai reports:

“Palestinian administrative detainee Hana Shalabi is now on the 22nd day (March 8) of her hunger strike, to protest the torture, assault and degrading treatment to which she has been subjected and her ongoing detention without charge or trial.

Three recent court rulings may mark a shift in the system’s attitude towards her, following the Khader Adnan case.

Lawyers from the Palestinian prisoner rights group Addameer report that Shalabi’s physical condition is deteriorating.  After more than three weeks of no food and very little water, Shalabi is beginning to experience pain in her chest and waist, suffers from nausea and dizziness, and is having a hard time talking without gasping for air.

Hana Shalabi was released as part of the Gilad Schalit prisoner exchange between October and December 2011.  She was re-arrested by the army on February 16 [MR: a growing number of Palestinians released in the exchange have been re-arrested], and has been held since in administrative detention.  Military authorities claim she presents ‘a threat to regional security,’ but as usual they offer no evidence, no charges.

Like Khader Adnan, Shalabi has declared an open hunger strike until her release.  She is also protesting having been strip-searched by a male soldier and abused by other soldiers after her arrest.  The army announced that military police will investigate Shalabi’s claims of maltreatment.  [MR: Such internal ‘investigations’ almost never lead to any charges against soldier-perpetrators.]

Earlier in the week, the Military Court in Ofer, [MR: where Hana Shalabi is imprisoned], decided to shorten her detention from six to four months, a decision that Shalabi has decided to challenge at the Military Court of Appeals, where her case was heard on March 7.  According to her attorneys, the judge asked the military prosecution to learn from the Adnan precedent and reach a deal with the defense.

After more than sixty days of hunger strike, Adnan was guaranteed he would be released at the end of his current period of administrative detention, that it would not be extended further. Adnan then ended his hunger strike, and has been undergoing intensive medical treatment to help his body recuperate from the trauma caused by the long strike. As to whether a deal will be struck in Shalabi’s case, the judge promised to give his ruling on the appeal by March 12.

A second appeal made in Shalabi’s name was also heard yesterday at the Petah Tikva District Court, dealing with questions of medical attention for prisoners.  Hana Shalabi is refusing to see Israel Prison Service doctors, and demands instead to be treated solely by doctors from Physicians for Human Rights – Israel.

According to both PHR and Addameer, ‘Her request was denied [MR: by prison officials] on the grounds that granting visiting access to an external doctor is based on the right to a second medical opinion, and since Hana (Shalabi) refuses to be examined by doctors from the IPS, she does not qualify as a case where such a visit is granted.’  However, the court rejected this argument, and ordered the IPS to allow PHR representatives into Shalabi’s isolation-ward cell within 48 hours.  [MR: It remains to be seen whether prison officials will comply.]

On 23 February, Hana’s mother, 65, and father, 67, began an open-ended hunger strike in solidarity with their daughter.

Solidarity in the West Bank

“The story of Hana Shalabi, like that of Khader Adnan before her, is in my opinion a remarkable example of a struggle that’s completely non-violent,” says PHR spokesperson Yael Maron.  “It is the last protest a prisoner can make, and I find it brave and inspiring.”

Addameer activists stressed yesterday that in spite of some promising news from the court, Shalabi’s condition is still deteriorating, and said they call upon the international community to intervene and promote the immediate release of Shalabi and all other 300 administrative detainees.

As in the case of Adnan, Shalabi’s hunger strike is causing a surge in acts of protest in occupied Palestine.  Last Friday’s weekly demonstration in the village of Nabi Saleh [MR: violently suppressed by Israeli soldiers] was dedicated to Shalabi, and reports are coming in that more and more Palestinian prisoners will also strike in solidarity with her.”

Khader Adnan’s health is extremely precarious, but Israel will continue to hold him in prison until April 17, under the barbaric practice called administrative detention.

At present 308 other Palestinians are imprisoned in the same way.   One has been held for over five years.  24 are elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.  None of them has been charged with any crime.

Amnesty International has launched a petition to demand that Israel ends administrative detention, which clearly violates international law, and immediately releases Khader Adnan and any other prisoner not charged and tried for an internationally recognizable crime “in full conformity with international fair trial standards.”

Adnan’s hunger strike is unlikely to change Israeli policies toward the Palestinians, and neither is this petition.  But both serve to draw wider attention to the cruelty and illegality of the military occupation, and to remind the Israeli authorities that world-wide, people are watching.  It also reminds Palestinians that, as long as our governments grant carte blanche to Israel, they do not speak for us.

The petition is here.

Please take action.  And please pass this message on to others.

Under intense international pressure, the Israeli military has reversed its earlier decision to extend Khader Adnan’s term of administrative detention beyond the four-months originally imposed by a military court in January.  For his part, Adnan agreed to end his protest hunger strike in its 66^th day.

He has not been charged with any crime.  Under administrative detention, Israeli military judges have the power to imprison people for up to six months at a time, and they can renew the detention order repeatedly.  This barbaric practice, a British invention, was the target of Khader Adnan’s hunger strike.

Belfast, Norther Ireland: Khader Adnan solidarity protest

Adnan is to be released from prison on April 17, when the original detention order expires – “if no major new evidence is brought against him.”   So says the army.  Since any alleged evidence is always kept secret, even from defendants and their lawyers, the ‘if’ remains a huge, dangerous loophole for the Israeli occupation regime to exploit.

The agreement was signed less than an hour before the Israeli High Court was due to hear the case.  The New York Times noted, “It forestalled an emergency hearing at the High Court of Justice that could have set off a broader review of Israeli military courts’ practice of administrative detention, which has been used against thousands of Palestinians over time.”  Even though the High Court can nearly always be counted on to back the army, the Israeli regime may have wished to avoid the further international scrutiny that the case would likely have drawn.

International attention has been a key factor in this story.  Most of it was generated through grassroots networks, via the internet and word-of-mouth; the mainstream media picked up the story only within the last couple of weeks.

After 66 days without food, Adnan’s health is seriously impaired.  Physicians for Human Rights – Israel commented recently that he could not survive beyond the next few days.  It is unclear to what degree he may suffer permanent damage.  But he made his point.

This story is larger than Khader Adnan, and he knew it.  A mathematician who makes his living as a baker, according to people close to him he wasn’t interested in drawing attention to himself, but rather to the grotesque injustice of the Israeli occupation.  Though his hunger strike is unlikely to affect policy, it did succeed in throwing an unprecedented international spotlight on administrative detention.  More than 300 Palestinians are currently imprisoned under it, along with thousands more held by other repressive means.

Bassem Tamimi’s story is also larger than himself.  Imprisoned 11 times (so far) by the army, held three years in administrative detention and tortured, he has never been convicted of any crime.  This week Tamimi told an Israeli judge why he continues to lead protests in his village, Nabi Saleh: “I do not know and do not care if they are permitted by your law, as it was enacted by an authority I do not recognize.  International law gives us the right to peaceful protest, to demonstrate our refusal of the policies that hurt us, our daily life and the future of our children.”

These stories manifest a long, intense struggle between elite power and people of conscience.  From its inception the Zionist movement has cultivated elite power very adeptly, first by aligning itself with the British empire which ensured the creation of Israel, then with the American empire, and its junior partners like Canada, which maintain it.

Recently the government of Canada, where I live, announced that it would expand the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement.  Since CIFTA was enacted in 1997, trade between Canada and Israel has more than doubled.  By deliberately ignoring illegal settlement activity and production of goods in Israeli industrial zones within the occupied West Bank, CIFTA effectively legitimizes Israeli territorial control over all of Palestine.  This is elite power at work.

On the other hand, there are the Khader Adnans and Bassem Taminis.  Our Way to Fight features a gallery of brave, creative people who resist tyranny and injustice in myriad ways, as do countless others whose stories we may never hear.

And then there is you, me – us.  Here are two upcoming initiatives, ways to stand and walk with Khader Adnan, Bassem Tamimi, and others:

1)  Global March to Jerusalem (March 30).  “March 30 marks Palestine Land Day, a crucial day in Palestinian national memory.  This year our aim is to mark it as an international event to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians and to protect Jerusalem.  This will be achieved by organizing a Global March to Jerusalem or the nearest point to it.  The march will unite the efforts of Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, Christians, Jews, and all citizens of conscience in the world to put an end to Israel’s disregard for international law through the continuing occupation of Jerusalem and the rest of Palestinian land….”

2)  Welcome to Palestine Campaign (April 15-21).  “There is no way into Palestine other than through Israeli control points. Israel has turned Palestine into a giant prison, but prisoners have a right to receive visitors.   Welcome to Palestine 2012 will again challenge Israel’s policy of isolating the West Bank while the settler paramilitaries and army commit brutal crimes against a virtually defenceless Palestinian civilian population.  The participants in Welcome to Palestine 2012 will ask to be allowed to pass through Tel Aviv airport without hindrance and to proceed to the West Bank to take part in a project there for children to benefit from the right to education…”

And always, to counter the elite trade agreements, there is BDS, the grassroots trade agreement, growing, worldwide: Boycott Israel- Boycott Apartheid.