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NEWS & LETTERS, January-February 2005Confronting Israeli land seizureJayyus, Occupied Palestine--As members of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center of Memphis, Tenn., we assisted the locals in Jayyus in holding on to their land and livelihood. Jayyus is where the apartheid wall, built six kilometers inside Palestine, separates the villagers from much of their land. Their land was confiscated to build the barrier that separates them from their livelihood. This wall has gates and sometimes the Israeli government issues permits to the property owners to work the field but they, typically, may only issue them to the octogenarians. Jayyus not only separated the farmers from their fertile lands but also the villagers from the water supply. On the western side of the wall is the Sufin settlement, built in 1986 on confiscated land (as was the dump for the settlement). Some of this land has been blasted with dynamite to make a quarry. This expanding Israeli settlement is prime real estate. Tafik Salim owns land west of the wall/barrier. In the past two weeks Israel uprooted 550 of the olive trees he planted 32 years ago. On Dec. 30, international observers watched Israeli trucks haul away the last of the trees to be sold to Israelis. This is a growing trade. The Ma’aleh Adumim settlement, which is expanding and linking with other illegal settlements and will soon cut the West Bank in half, reminds me of resort areas in Destin where the wealthy vacation. Israel will not grant Tafik a permit to reach his own olive groves. On Dec. 31, townspeople, international supporters, and Israeli peace and solidarity activists gathered to do what Israel will not allow him to do: pick up the pieces and nourish his land. On Jan. 1, we rode behind Saleh’s tractor to confront the gate/checkpoint and wait on the other side for Israeli peace and solidarity activists. Saleh and Sharif, the main organizer of today’s events, left to go wait for the Israelis to show up. Just as we were thinking that they got turned away at a checkpoint, Saleh came and told us to hurry to the top of the hill, where we saw two busloads of smiling faces “escorted” by Hummers, a bunch of teenagers and young 20-somethings with big guns, the media, and a hefty police presence. After a commanding police officer grabbed a bullhorn and announced, “This is private property,” Jews, atheists, Britons, Americans, Swedes, Christians, Muslims, men, women, young, old, hippies, professionals, punks, and country and city folk all started digging and dragging rocks and taking pictures and sharing water. We proceeded to where mature olive trees once stood and planted 50 new trees in about 20 minutes. Police and military took movies, organizers gave interviews, and people shared the responsibility of making right of this terrible wrong in tremendous spirit. When we ran out of work we demonstrated, marching towards the gate that Tafik Salim was not permitted to pass through. The military were stopping folks and pulling their Humvees in front of the procession, but people just kept flanking and snaking and zigzagging en masse towards that gate. They couldn’t stop something this great. Everyone was stopped just 20 yards from the gate, and the slogans and shouts of encouragement across the gate to the villagers’ demonstration began. As the demonstration went on, Sharif Omar and a few other organizers, local folks, and Israeli activists, began negotiating with police to pass the barricade. It would have been difficult to say no with so many eyes on this spot. Sharif and others carried an uprooted olive tree across the gate and presented it to Tafik. --Mid-South Peace and Justice Center members |
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