August 8, 2003
Awakened Woman's Circle is working for peace
Update Jerusalem
by Gila Svirsky
About the Ceasefire (Hudna)
Although both the Palestinians and Israelis have mostly kept the ceasefire (with some exceptions), the situation in the territories remains unchanged: poverty, unemployment, and the same old obstacles about moving from one place to another. Israel has not eased the closure or checkpoints even one little bit, and that continues to place a crushing weight on daily life-jobs, schooling, health, etc.
No, we are not talking about security here. If security were the only consideration, most of these checkpoints would be dismantled. There is no security need for Israeli soldiers to search Palestinians who are entering their own towns or villages. There is no security reason to prevent Palestinians from crossing their own fields to get to the next village. Traveling with a B'Tselem fieldworker last week, I saw settlers whiz through the checkpoints as if they didn't exist, while Palestinians waited in the burning sun for hours as the soldiers looked through their documents and packages. Palestinians are also barred from travelling on many of the roads. Short trips turn into hours-long sagas. This isn't about the safety of Israelis. This is about showing Palestinians who's boss.
The Separation Wall
I was relieved to hear George W. Bush call it a 'separation wall' and condemn it. The Israeli government calls it a 'security fence', trying to tone down its immense size and ascribe to it powers of 'security' that it does not have. This wall commits two cardinal sins, as I see it: First, it is being constructed inside Palestinian territory, and not on the original border between Israel and Palestine. This means that Israel is grabbing more land, destroying more homes, and cutting off more Palestinians from their property and land. B'Tselem estimates that the wall will directly harm at least 210,000 Palestinians. (Several Palestinian towns will actually be surrounded by this wall.) Second, the area adjacent to the wall will probably be declared an 'open-fire zone', thereby endangering the lives of anyone who approaches it. Who needs an open-fire zone in your backyard???
Check out the B'Tselem website for details (www.btselem.org) and tell George W. that you think this wall is a major obstacle to peace (202-456-111, available Monday through Friday, 9-5 EST). We need to offset the campaign to support it.
New economic reform?
The neo-cons have cast their shadow over Israel, too, and our new economic reform is, wouldn't you know it, good for the rich and bad for the poor. Vicky Knafo, a gutsy single-mother who walked into Jerusalem from her home in the Negev, managed to inspire dozens of Israelis to do the march and join her at her encampment opposite the Finance Ministry (now headed by Bibi Netanyahu, former Prime Minister). Those joining have included not only other down-and-outers, but also contingents from both the peace and the social justice movements. These movements are finally building bridges to each other, after many years of working in unproductive isolation. A spur-of-the-moment feminist conference, in which all the women's organizations are participating, has been called for next weekend in the park adjoining Vicky's encampment. Bring your sleeping bag, your listening skills, and at least one practical idea.
Gila Svirsky
Jerusalem
Coalition of Women for Peace:
http://www.coalitionofwomen4peace.org
Message from Bat Shalom on the "fence":
Call for Action at Anin village, victim of the fence-system
Does the latest project of the Sharon government, supported by the Labor and many other parties promise that the construction of the separation fence will create a "security border" on the green line?
The facts prove otherwise. Wishing to guard the settlements and annex more and more lands, a security separation fence is being built. In fact, it is a system of Apartheid fences which will cause more oppression, hunger, and the permanence of the settlements in the occupied territories. Frustration will lead to hate in face of a political situation being brutally imposed.
Some important FACTS about the fence-system:
- In spite of the false impression, the fence is not being constructed on the 1967 border. Its actual location is east of this border. The construction of the fence inside the Palestinian agricultural lands involves vast expropriations of land. These are fertile lands on which many of the people in dozens of villages are dependent for their living. The farmers, much of whose lands are suddenly behind the fence, cannot cultivate their fields and olive groves.
- The part of the fence-system constructed up to now leaves many thousands of Palestinians trapped between the fence and the green line, devoid of rights and disconnected from their families, communities and urban centers which supply health and education services.
- Thus, the fence-system is creating a caged-in, poor, hungry and desperate population. Some are pushed to "voluntary transfer" , which will further weaken the social fabric.
- While the government is cutting funds for children, single mothers, workers and students, welfare services and the development of normal life, it is investing hundreds of millions on the fences project whose sole end is nurturing the settlement project in the West Bank.
ACTION NON VIOLENT!
On Saturday, August 16, we will continue the Ta ayush activity to promote an alternative to the policy of Apartheid, hate and wars!
We will work together, Palestinians and Israelis in the olive groves of the village of Anin, near Jenin, including those groves which the farmers of Anin have been prevented from reaching since the apartheid fence was constructed, because the gate in the fence has remained shut.
In this work we will take another step of partnership, grow hope, and protest the fence and the hate that it will deepen.
Before the approaching olive-picking season, it is necessary to clear the land around the trees. This will be our work for the day. Bring working tools: hoes, rakes, gloves. Also, please bring LOTS OF WATER, food for the day, a hat, and an identity card. We hope everything will pass peacefully, but it is also good to bring cameras for documenting events.
The agricultural work has great importance for the upcoming olive-picking. However, it is more than agricultural work, it is our contribution to the holding-on to the land of the Palestinian villagers (Sumud), offering an alternative to the relations of hate, and a protest against the system of fences.
We invite you to join, support, contribute and be in a place where a sane political reality is created for us all.
For details and contributions: 058-817723, 04-8622932
Details on transportations will be anounced later. You can also check the site www.taayush.org or the phone 052-887185
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AVAILABLE IN HEBREW AND ARABIC IF REQUESTED