If you are a Palestinian and you are arrested by an Israeli soldier...
On Saturday, February 3, 2007, I went with my EAPPI colleagues, Rune and Anna and our coordinator Valentina to help Palestinian farmers plant olive trees near the village of Al Khadr. We accompanied the staff of the Joint Advocacy Initiative (JAI) of the East Jerusalem YMCA and the YWCA of Palestine Olive Tree Campaign along with other international volunteers. Some Israeli peace activists were there when we arrived. The research team of the Olive Tree Campaign, had confirmed that the land belongs to the farmers who will be planting trees, and that at least one family member would be present on the planting day. The farmers on this day all had ownership documents. One farmer, Imad, who did not have the proper documents, paid 5,000 dollars just to open his case. He must renew the documents every six months.
The Olive Tree Campaign, through the donations of NGOs, church related organizations, community initiatives, and individuals, plants olive trees in fields where olive trees have been uprooted, or where the land is threatened to be confiscated due to settlement expansion and construction of the Wall.
The last field we wanted to plant is about 50 meters from a settler outpost. An outpost is usually a group of trailers surrounded by barbed wire, which is located a few kilometers away from an established settlement with houses. This particular outpost is about five kilometers from the settlement Nave Daniel. The settlers who live in these outposts are usually ideological – they believe that because this land was promised to the Jews in the bible, it is their land. A man from this particular outpost brought out the bible as proof of ownership to show Imad, in answer to Imad’s proof of ownership documents.
When I arrived at this last plot of land, there were about four police men and fifteen armed soldiers, telling the Palestinians they had to leave. They had a piece of paper in Hebrew declaring that that this field was now a closed military zone. There were also two settlers from the outpost.
I noticed a young man of about fifteen in a bright yellow sweater talking to the soldiers, but I preferred to get closer to the settlers to hear their reasoning for their anger.
When I looked at the young man again, five soldiers were grabbing onto his arms and yellow sweater. International volunteers stood in between the soldiers and the kid, protecting him with their bodies. The scuffle lasted for about five minutes although it was hard to judge time. The group of soldiers and internationals were pressed against each other, and moving as if they were a single body, like a tea cup with tiny legs, first in one direction and then the other. One volunteer told him to stay calm and not be scared. The soldiers were yelling but I couldn’t understand them. Other internationals were standing close by, observing. The soldiers were unsure of making any definite move, and they did not use their weapons. In the last moments, the volunteers had their arms around the kid in a giant hug and he got way and ran.
I talked to one of the employers of JAI afterwards. He said, “If they had wanted to take him away they could have. But they knew they had no convenientreason to. The kid hadn’t touched them. They were unsure of themselves. They saw non-Palestinians there, and cameras everywhere. Israeli soldiers are trained to react to violence. If you physically challenge them, you take them into their own arena where they are professionals. If you don’t attack them physically they get confused. Here they are facing people planting trees and they don’t know what to do.
“If they had taken the boy away, he would have been beaten up and left somewhere. This is what usually happens, if they don’t have a reason to arrest you. But they didn’t take this kid. I believe the international presence helped.”
Yesterday I went to a talk by Dr. LaFayette, a comrade of Martin Luther King, Jr. One of his remarks on violence was, “The reason (the whites) hit us is because they wanted us to fight back. If you don’t react with violence you take way the stimulus and you don’t follow their expectations. You don’t turn into one of them.” His experiences in the Civil Rights Movement echoed comments on the near arrest at the tree planting from the JAI employee. Dr. Lafayette also stressed the point that if you want to win a revolution, you need the support of the majority; “You need to win people over, not drive them away.” He told the group of Palestinians, that they were slowly getting more support from the rest of the world.
Settlements are in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states in article 49, a country cannot transfer its own population into the country it occupies. The policy of settlements means the destruction of Palestinian homes, building of Israeli only roads, which cut the West Bank into pieces, use of soldiers to protect the settlers through arrests, road blocks and curfews, and the confiscation of farmland and water sources.
You can support the Olive Tree Campaign, by sponsoring an olive tree for 20 dollars. Every sponsor will have a supporting document proving the sponsorship of the tree/s in addition to a plaque saying, “(Your Name) . . . in gratitude to those who choose to keep hope alive.” To learn more go to www.jai-pal.org/content.php or google, “Olive Tree Campaign, YMCA.”
“Violence is about the past: who killed how many, who did what, etc. Non-violence is about the future.” Dr. LaFayette
I work for Berlin Missionswerk as an Ecumenical Accompanier serving on the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The views contained herein are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer or the WCC. If you would like to publish the information contained here or disseminate is further, please contact the EAPPI Communications Officer (eappi-co@jrol.com) for permission. Thank you.
