Gush Shalom Peace Activism in Israel and Palestine

When Jeff Halper, founder of the Israel Committee Against House Demolition (ICAHD), wrote in a recent paper (see ICAHD site), The Problem With Israel, that the peace movement had thus far been little more than a voice in the wilderness, he was expressing discouragement and pessimism about its effectiveness, historically. At the Ramallah Peace Initiative, a conference that took place in this Palestinian city in January that brought together over 60 Palestinian, Israeli, and international peace organizations, Halper debated Uri Avnery, the founder of one of them, Gush Shalom (The Peace Bloc), about strategies the peace movement should adopt in the future. Halper expressed the view that change could only be achieved from the outside through international efforts, while Avnery argued that educating the Israeli people continues to be critical. Not surprisingly, ICAHD now has international affiliates in the US and UK, while Gush Shalom does not.

This diary illustrates the types of protest activity Gush Shalom and many other local Israeli and Palestinian peace groups conduct in Israel and Palestine. Most Americans are unaware of it.

First, a word about Uri Avnery. Avnery is an Israeli who fought in the war of 1948, was a member of Israel’s Kenesset, and worked as a journalist. He knows the politics of Israel intimately. He is a Zionist, but one who disavows the hard religious/historical Zionism of the right wing government, of which he is a harsh critic. His essays about the conflict are published on Gush Shalom and other websites. Themes of justice, co-existence, sharing of the land, equality, and a two state solution to the conflict are expressed. Although he is up in age, Avnery never misses a protest or march and his organization regularly demonstrates with other peace groups. In the last photo I saw him in, he was lying on the ground ducking water hoses of the Israeli Defense Forces at Bil’in, Palestine earlier this month. Some people call him a marginal figure in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, because his organization of only two thousand members seldom gets the press it deserves for its persistent activity on behalf of peace and justice in Israel-Palestine.

Here is March’s Month of Protest Activity, in which Gush Shalom will be involved (received by email). It provides a taste of the kind of peace activism that goes on every month in Israel and the West Bank.

March 6

Transportation needed for 2 children, Tuesday, 8.30 from Hawarra to Tel Hashomer and back. You can help even with one direction. Call Zachariya Sada  050-2103982

Thanks
Yafit Gamila Biso
The olive tree movement

March 8

Palestinian and Israeli women march together

This effort is coordinated by Bat Shalom, a feminist center for peace and social justice aiming to work towards a democratic and pluralistic society in Israel

As women, we recognize that the occupation and its manifestation is the main reason for the deterioration of democracy, the violation of human rights and women’s rights, and serves as the basis for the violence and killing, which victimize innocent civilians, both Israelis and Palestinians.
As feminist peace activists, we believe that we cannot separate our struggle to end the oppression on the Palestinian people from the struggle for equal rights for all segments of the society, for non-violence and peace.

Thursday, the 8th of March 2007, 10.00
Kalandia checkpoint

Transportation: Liberty bell park, Jerusalem at 09:00 and the Commercial center, French Hill at 09:30

Information and registration: 02-6245699 or info@batshalom.org

March 9-10

Joint Israeli-Palestinian rebuilding of demolished homes in South Hebron Hills

During the weekend of March 9-10, we will hold a joint Israeli-Palestinian activity to rebuild homes that were demolished by the military in the South hills of Hebron.

Please mark the dates. Follow up update on the exact times and travel arrangements will be sent soon. For further details you can also contact us at southhebron@ gmail.com.

Participants: Ta’ayush, Rabbis for Human Rights,  Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, ISM, Coalition of Women for Peace, Gush Shalom

Background:

It appears that the State of Israel is now determined to act on its policy of destroying the Palestinian villages in the south hills of Hebron. Last week dozens of buildings were demolished by the IDF in 4 different locations: Quwais, M’neizel, Um el Cheir, and at the Cubeita family, near the settlement of Yatir. The majority of the demolished structures served as residential structures, bathroom facilities, and some served for agriculture.

March 4

Fifth prison term for CO Hadas Amit – what YOU can do

CO Hadas Amit has been sentenced yesterday (Feb 18) to 21 more days in military prison. This is the fifth consecutive prison term for Hadas. With it she has now been sentenced to a total of 73 days in prison, longer than any other woman conscientious objector we know of in Israel’s history. She is due to be released from prison on Mar 8. Her prison address is the same as before:

Hadas Amit
Military ID 6175691
Military Prison No. 400
Military Postal Code 02447, IDF, Israel
Fax: ++972-3-9579348

Since we learned the prison authorities block some of her mail from reaching her, we also recommend you to send your letters of support and encouragement to Hadas via e-mail to amitdrch@gmail.com, and they will be printed out and delivered to her on a family visit. In addition, you may want to follow some of our recommendations for action below.

Recommended Action:

First of all, please circulate this message and the information contained in it as widely as possible, not only through e-mail, but also on websites, conventional media, by word of mouth, etc.

Other recommendations for action:

1. Sending Letters of Support
Please send Hadas letters of support (preferably postcards or by fax) to the prison address above.

2. Letters to Authorities
It is recommended to send letters of protest on Hadas’ behalf, preferably by fax, to:

Mr. Amir Peretz,
Minister of Defence,
Ministry of Defence,
37 Kaplan St.,
Tel-Aviv 61909, Israel.
E-mail: sar@mod.gov.il or pniot@mod.gov.il
Fax: ++972-3-696-27-57 / ++972-3-691-69-40 / ++972-3-691-79-15

For other addressees, link here: http://www.newprofile.org/showdata.asp?pid=1187

For those of you who live outside of Israel, it would be very effective to send protests to your local Israeli embassy. You can find the address of your local embassy on the web.

March 9 (English), March 23 (Hebrew)

Sons of Abraham invite you to join tour of Hebron

We, the “Sons of Abraham” group, invite you to join us in a tour of Hebron in order to show solidarity with the Palestinian residents of the city.

Hebron is the only Palestinian city in which part of the rule is still in Israeli hands and in which Israeli settlers are present. As a result, this city is in fact governed by apartheid, which makes the lives of thousands of Palestinians unbearable. They suffer constant harassment from the army and police as well as the Jewish settlers. The army and the police, who see themselves as being responsible for protecting the Jews only, barely protect the Palestinians from these harassments and so their possessions and they themselves are at the mercy of the settlers.

The tour route: The grave of Baruch Goldstein in Kiryat Arba, The holy cave- ma’arat hamachpela, Shuhada St., the marketplace, the Jewish settlement and the Tel Rumeda neighborhood.

For details please contact Silvana Hogg at silvana.hogg@gmx.ch

Bnei Avraham

March 10

Gallery Fundraiser Against The Wall: David Reeb And Yael Reshef

8 PM, Saturday March 10th
Artists House, 9 Alharizi St reet, Tel Aviv

Yael Reshef is a painter and graphic artists whose work is often political. The subject of her current work is the “machsom” (checkpoint) employed by the Israeli occupation in the West Bank. Like Reshef’s, David Reeb’s art almost invariably reflects the Israeli political realities in which he creates. For Reeb, who was hit with a tear gas canister at a recent demonstration, that reality is far from abstract.

Reshef and Reeb will host a reception at the Artists House in Tel Aviv to raise money for Anarchists Against The Wall. The funds will be used to support the ongoing joint Palestinian-Israeli struggle against the wall in the West Bank and for legal defense of demonstrators.

For more information, please contact: Ben 050-7391431

March 12

Negev Unrecognized Villages Conference in Beer Sheva

The Beer Sheva Metropolis plan ignores the existence of scores of unrecognized Arab villages. This is the continuation of a policy of non-recognition that began with the establishment of the Planning and Building Law in Israel in the 1960s.

The Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages (an NGO) together with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Bimkom, and others has been struggling to change this situation.

The conference will be held on Monday, March 12th, at the BIG Conference Center in Beer Sheva. Interpretation will be available. For more information: Yeela, RCUV. 054 7487005 or yallylivnat@gmail.com.

March 4

Amos Gvirtz: Don’t say you didn’t know

An educational drive that attempts to remind Israelis of their government’s actions on the West Bank and Gaza.

Settlers continue to invade Palestinian-owned shops in Hebron. Most of the media reports dealt with the invasions of shops in the wholesale market; however, just a few metres away, in the vegetable market invasions have been goign on for a long time. After the massacre perpetrated by Baruch Goldstein in the Patriarchs’ Cave, the army closed the market, and prevented any access of Palestinians there. The settlers took advantage of this, broke into the shops from behind and started building flats inside them, even opened a branch of the religious youth movement Bney-Akiva.

Following the shop owners’ complaints, a few policemen and civil administration personnel arrived with search warrants. To the protest of the settlers they found out that the settlers live there illegally.

Gvirtz goes on to describe numerous incidents of injustice against Palestinians living in the West Bank.

https:/zzzen.secured.co.il/sites/gush/home/en/channels/archive/1167339599/index_html

https:/zzzen.secured.co.il/sites/gush/home/en/channels/archive/1171793196/index_html

GUSH SHALOM
p.o.b. 3322
Tel Aviv 61033

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