[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [GushShalom] Avnery on the harvest struggle + forwarded
report
Al Kagan
akagan at uiuc.edu
Tue Oct 29 11:10:40 CST 2002
This follows on the Palestinian Truth Tour.
>From: "Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)" <info at gush-shalom.org>
>Subject: [GushShalom] Avnery on the harvest struggle + forwarded report
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>GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - http://www.gush-shalom.org/
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>[1] Avnery on the harvest struggle
>[2] Report of Israeli Settler Attack on Foreign Volunteers
>
>[Uri Avnery reflects on the harvest struggle - including his own
>experiences; after that
>an alarming report about settler violence against international
>volunteer olive pickers
>which we forward.]
>
>[1] Avnery on the harvest struggle
>
> Naboth had a Vineyard
> Uri Avnery, 26.10.02
>
> Had they been there last Saturday at sunset, most Israelis
>would not have believed
>their eyes.
> In the middle of Havarah, a small village south of Nablus, 63
>Israelis, men and
>women, young and old, were standing together with dozens of
>Palestinian villagers.
>Jews and Arabs talked together, drank juice offered by the hosts, exchanged
>addresses and phone numbers. The local children were wearing
>stickers brought by
>the guests, showing the flags of Israel and Palestine. Nobody bore arms.
> All of them looked happy, and with reason: they had just
>finished a hard dayís
>work at olive picking. They had been together under the trees. They
>were together
>when the settlers opened fire.
> All this happened deep inside Palestinian territory, after two
>years of violent
>confrontation. A feast of Israeli-Palestinian fraternization in the
>middle of the bloody
>attacks. A human experience. A political act. A symbolic event.
> Since biblical times the olive tree has been the symbol of this
>country. It has
>sustained the peasants for many generations ñ Canaanites, Israelites, Arabs.
>Throughout the year, the peasant works in the grove that has been
>handed down from
>father to son, treats the trees, cleans the ground. During the few
>weeks of harvest, the
>whole family picks the olives ñ men and women, old people and
>children. The olives
>must be picked in time and brought to the olive press, where the
>golden liquid is
>extracted ñ olive oil. These are days of rejoicing.
> A whole family can live now on ten olive trees. Without them,
>they cannot exist.
>The harsher the occupation becomes, the more it prevents movement and denies
>livelihood, the more the villagers become dependent on the olive trees.
> Therefore the actions of the settlers are so dastardly. They
>try to prevent the
>harvesting, to steal the fruit or to burn the groves. Their actions
>remind one of one of
>the wickedest deeds described in the Bible, for eternal shame: the
>story of Nabothís
>vineyard (1 Kings 21.):
> ìNaboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel,
>hard by the palace of
>Ahab king of Samaria. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me
>thy vineyard,
>that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my
>house, and I will
>give thee for it a better vineyard than it, or, if it seems good to
>thee, I will give thee the
>worth of it in money. And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it
>me, that I should
>give the inheritance of my fathers unto theeÖî The rest of the story
>is well known:
>Jezebel,
>the wife of Ahab, produced false witnesses, Naboth was stoned to
>death, Ahab got the vineyard. In the end, the dogs licked the
>blood of both Ahab and Jezebel.
> But compared to todayís settlers, the wicked Jezebel was a
>model of righteousness. The settlers take possession of the
>villagersí olive groves without even offering payment or
>alternatives. They just shoot. One Palestinian boy was shot and
>killed by them while picking olives, hundreds of others were
>driven out.
> Almost every Palestinian village has olive groves that border
>on some settlement or ìoutpostî, and that is now controlled by
>the settlers. When the owners approach to clean the ground or
>pick the olives, the settlers shoot at them ìin coordination with the
>armyî. The simple pretext: when the villagers pick olives near a
>settlement, they can see what happens there and threaten it.
> A monstrous perversion, indeed: putting a settlement in the
>middle of a dense population of Palestinians and forbidding them
>to work their land, because it is close to the settlement.
> In some cases the settlers were not satisfied with shooting, but
>invaded the groves physically, drove away the villagers and stole
>the olives they had picked. The prophets of Israel would have
>been shocked. Daylight robbery. And the army keeps silent.
> The intentions of the settlers are more evil than those of Ahab
>and Jezebel. They want to turn the life of the villagers into hell, in
>order to force them to leave. That is whatís called ìvoluntary
>transferî, or, in simple language, ethnic cleansing.
> For decent Israelis, the conclusion is clear: they get up to help
>the villagers to pick the olives, before they rot on the trees or are
>stolen. They form a ìhuman shieldî against the settlers. During
>the last few weeks, hundreds of Israelis have done just that.
> Last Saturday, 260 Israelis answered the calls of the various
>peace organizations (Gush Shalom, Taíayush, The Womenís
>Coalition, a sector of Peace Now and others.) They were divided
>between the villages that were in the greatest danger.
> My lot was to come to Havarah, a village lying in a valley
>between two high mountains. Its olive groves are dispersed on
>the steep slopes of the mountains, which are covered with rocks
>and stinging bushes. It was quite an effort just to get there. Here
>and there somebody fell down and was scratched. But all arrived.
> Around dozens of trees, groups of pickers, Israelis and
>Palestinians, started to work. The owners of the trees took
>advantage of the presence of the Israelis and worked quickly.
>Going against accepted practice, they hit the branches with sticks
>in order to get the fruit to fall on the green plastic sheets that were
>spread on the ground. Bad for the tree, but much quicker. Time
>was short.
> Everybody was working feverishly, holding the fruit-laden
>branches and filling buckets and sacks or gathering from the
>ground. Each olive was precious. Sportsmen and sportswomen
>climbed into the trees, filling hats and bags.
> The groups that reached the top of the mountain found
>themselves opposite the settlers of Yitzhar, a well-known nest of
>fanatics, dressed in their Sabbath clothes ñ black trousers, white
>shirts ñ and holding their guns. They threatened the pickers, shot
>into the air and at the ground (one of the Israeli pickers was hit by
>a clump of earth). The shots echoed between the mountains.
>Forty minutes later the soldiers appeared, and, after hugging the
>settlers, demanded that the pickers leave the area. They explained
>that the settlers were right when they opened fire, because the
>pickers were endangering the settlement. The pickers continued
>their work obstinately, defended by the Israeli ìhuman shieldî.
>But gradually they were pushed down the slope, closely followed
>by the settlers, with the soldiers in between.
> In the other groves, the work continued without interruption.
>While it was going on, cigarettes were exchanged, conversations
>started, first haltingly, than more vividly, in spite of language
>difficulties. Some of the villagers spoke Hebrew and told about
>the places in Tel-Aviv where they had worked.
> Before darkness fell, the sheets were gathered and folded,
>people put the heavy,
>full sacks on their shoulders or on donkeys, and started the descent
>from the steep
>slopes, from terrace to terrace. The local boys leapt easily, the
>elderly and the guests
>moved more cautiously, holding on to bushes and supporting each other.
> Many happy people were there. Those who had faced down the hooligans were
>happy because they had not fled. The Israeli pickers were happy
>because they had
>combined a political demonstration with a useful act. The
>Palestinians were happy
>because they had saved at least part of their harvest. They were
>carrying the heavy
>bags on their shoulders. At the foot of the mountain, the sacks were
>put on donkeys
>and ancient cars that looked as if they were about to fall apart at
>any moment.
> In the end, an emotional farewell: hundreds of Palestinians,
>men, women and
>children, waved enthusiastically at the departing Israelis, in the
>village square, the
>alleys and from the windows - a whole village. The happy earnings of
>a dayís work.
>
>[2] Report of Israeli Settler Attack on Foreign Volunteers
>------- Forwarded message follows -------
>From: Huwaida Arraf <huwaidaa at yahoo.com>
>Date sent: Sun, 27 Oct 2002 04:42:57 -0800 (PST)
>
>INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT (ISM)
>
>Grassroots International Protection for Palestinians (GIPP)
>Sunday, October 27, 2002
>For Immediate Release
>
> MASSIVE ISRAELI SETTLER ATTACK ON FOREIGN VOLUNTEERS
> IN PALESTINE
>
> Number of Internationals Injured and Hospitalized
>
>[Yanoun, Nablus]
> Militant Israeli settlers attacked a group of international volunteers
>working with Palestinians to harvest olives in the olive groves near
>the Palestinian
>village of Yanoun.
> Immediately after a Palestinian operation in the Israeli settlement
>of Ariel in the Israeli- occupied Palestinian Territories that
>killed two Israeli settlers
>and soldiers, a group of about a dozen armed Israeli settlers
>spotted the workers from
>their settlement (which is illegal under the Fourth Geneva
>Conventions), and descended
>upon the international volunteers, kicking, punching and beating
>them with stones and
>rifles butts. The internationals were out in front of the
>Palestinian workers, trying to
>protect them from the settlers. The injuries are as follows: James
>Deleplain ñ US
>citizen, 74 years of age ñ repeatedly hit in the face, wound under
>his left eye and
>massive swelling, kicked in the back and both the right and left rib
>cage, with a
>possible broken rib. James had pneumonia two weeks ago and has been coughing
>since, therefore the beating, especially in the rib cage has left
>him in a very weak
>state. Mary Hughes-Thompson ñ US and British citizen, 68 years of
>age - repeatedly
>hit in both arms.Possible broken arms. Speaking to Mary while she
>was on her way
>to the hospital, she stated "I am convinced they were trying to kill
>me." Robbie Kelly
>ñ Irish citizen, 33 years of age- beaten in the face and body with
>rifle butts. Swollen
>mouth, bruised ribs and 7 stitches in his left ear.
>
> Omer Allonñ Israeli citizen, 24 - cuts and gashes in
>both legs and bruises all over his body.
>
> Also the internationals' money and passports
>were stolen by the attackers, all of whom were of teenage years
>according to the
>volunteers. Palestinians in the area may have also been attacked
>but we don't have
>concrete information yet. Over 100 international volunteers are in
>the Occupied
>Palestinian Territories as part of the International Solidarity
>Movement's (ISM and GIPP)
>Olive Harvest Campaign. For more information about this, please see
>www.palsolidarity.org
>. Internationals and Israelis have been providing a continual
>presence in the village of
>Injuries are being treated at Lijnat il-Zakaat Hospital/Clinic in Aqraba:
>+972-(0)9-259-8550.
>
>For more information:
>Sami Hayek: +972-(0)67-758-947
>Robbie Kelly: +972-(0) 628-476 ISM office: +972-2-277-4602
>
>---
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--
Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA
tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu
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