Middle of April 2010
Ta’ayush is getting bigger. This time last year, we would meet at our regular place early on Saturday morning. It felt more like a group of friends going out for a day of hiking in the hills then an established political organization. We barely fit in one transit at this time. Now we need almost three transits to fit all the new participants. Ta’ayush is growing New faces were seen, many young and some even yuppie. Of the new faces, many are wearing Sheikh Jarrah shirts complete with the slogan “nothing holy in the occupied city”. I am surprised that Shekih Jarrah has had such a strong impact on the direct action left. This time last year, the families were still living in their homes and staging last ditch efforts to stay there. A handful of Israelis were visiting and writing about the situation on the ground. Now, weekly protests of four hundred, sometimes five hundred people take place in Sheikh Jarrah. The Zionist left has started to make a serious effort to be included in the protests and the so called radical left is beginning to move on to different protests such as the one taking place in An Nabi Salih.

The new generations of Ta’ayush activists are motivated and ready to use their privilege as Israelis in order to change the facts on the ground in the South West Bank. Their experiences in Shiekh Jarrah have had the positive effect of showing them how much can be done as an Israeli. How easy it is too make a real difference on the ground and not just vote for Hadash or Meretz. I worry about the longevity of these new activists but I tend to view the left in Israel with strongly pessimistic eyes. Perhaps I will be proven wrong this time.

These days our focus in Ta’ayush has been the farm lands of Um Zetuyan which sit uncomfortably close to the settlement of Maon and its illegal sister outpost of Havat Maon. Below is a video of settler children of Havat Maon attacking us last summer with stones as their parents watch adoringly.

Um Zatuyan has always been an important place for Ta’ayush. Throughout the past year, we have paid a regular weekly visit to the farmers in the area in order to ensure that they had access to their farmlands. The Supreme Court of the State of Israel ruled in 2006 that the farmers of this area were to be given full access to their farmlands without threat or intimidation by the Israeli armed forces. In reality, the IDF operates at the request of the settlers and right elements in the government with little regard for Supreme Court rulings. The Anat Kam documents are ready proof of this reality.

It is the intention of the settlers (and their workers, the IDF) that the farmers will give up their farmlands and then their modest homes because of the intimidation. This will provide the settlement the opportunity to take over the land and grow. As sad as it sounds, this model has been very successful in the South West Bank and many farmers have given up their lands and moved to the major Palestinian city of Yatta .

Our response to this model of colonization is clear: as Israelis we refuse to let this happen. We respect the decision of the Supreme Court and because no one else is willing to protect/enforce it, we intervene directly as citizens and exercise our democratic rights. Thus, the situation in Um Zetuyan is straightforward. The Palestinian farmers invite us to join them while they farm. Within fifteen minutes, two or three army jeeps show up. The soldiers emerge and proclaim the army a closed military zone. We respond by showing the soldiers a copy of the 2006 Supreme Court ruling stating that they do not have the authority to use a closed military order in order to intimidate farmers from carrying out their work. The soldiers refuse to listen and call civilian police to arrest us for violating a military order (closed military zone). It is not that sexy but incredibly important that these actions continue if people are interested in continuing at least a semblance of democracy in this country.

This week, I am a not allowed to join the others at Um Zetuyan because I was arrested along with four other Ta’ayush members on the pervious Saturday. After six hours of detainment at the Kiryat Arba police station we were allowed to leave. The IDF was not interested in having us see a judge as the judge would have exposed the IDF’s violation of the Supreme Court ruling.The IDF did have us sign a document barring us from entering the area of Um Zeytuan for eight days. This is standard procedure. We are dealing with a truly Kafkaesque occupation.

Amiel, a Ta’ayush veteran, was arrested along with me. We plan to join farmers as they plant olive trees near the settlement of Susya. The settlers are attempting to take over their groves and so it is important that they, on a daily basis, document themselves farming the land. If they are not able to do this, then through the bureaucracy of Israeli occupation law, the settlers might be able to take over the land “legally”. Again, the work is not flashy but important as the success of the occupation lies in its straggling bureaucracy.

We were able to plant about ten olive trees near Susya. On this day, the army was slow to show up at the olive grove but they did arrive accompanied by a handful of settlers. One can cleary see the master/slave relationship when the settlers are dealing with the IDF. It always takes my breath away. The army did not force us off the land because the rest of our group was in Um Zetuyan, creating problems for the army there. We finished our work; the Palestinians were picked up by Ezra Nawi for a ride to their village. Amiel and I began to walk to the Palestinian Susya which serves as an unofficial meeting place for Ta’ayush activists in the South Hebron Hills. Within in five minutes, an army jeep showed up behind us, slowly following us on our walk to Susya.

The master and the worker. Settlers with the IDF in Susya.

On the walk, I asked Amiel how he felt about the protests in Nil’in and An Nabi Salih. I have been thinking about whether they can be called violent or not because of the rock throwing that the Palestinians engage in with the army. I believe that nonviolence is the only model of resistence that will bring about real change and so my relationship with the protests is complex. Amiel’s answer was clear. He recognized their legitimate right to protest even with rock throwing but he was unwilling to join them because his definition of non violence did not include rock throwing. Non violence is one of the only principles that the members can seem to agree on. Non violence and being against the occupation.

He told me that the uprising in Prague in 1968 was a perfect example of the limits of non violence for his generation. He felt solidarity with the protestors in Prague but had to deal with the issue of Molotov cocktails that were throw into Soviet tanks which literally burned Soviet troops to death. Definitions of non violent resistance tent to be somewhat fluid and placing the protests in Nil’in and An Nabi Salih into a category is proving to be a difficult task.

It is hard to think about Prague 68 in relationship to Nil’in. I want to make the connections and see the similarities with other résistance models but I find it difficult. To my knowledge, there were few Russians documenting the struggle of the Czechs in this episode of uprising. Because of the intimate connections that certain Israelis are making with Palestinians, I have a hard time making comparisons between the nonviolent resistance in Palestine and other movements. I am sure that there are some comparisons to be made. Sitting in the villages of the West Bank while having tea among a group of Israelis and Palestinians thinking of creative ways to resist the occupation together is truly unique in my eyes.

Eventually the army jeep leaves us and we arrive in Susya. It turns out that ten Ta’ayush activists were arrested for violating an (illegal) closed military zone order. Daniel, another veteran of Ta’ayush, was injured during all of the commotion. A soldier threw him to the ground and began to beat him. Later in the day, we find out that he will not be able to walk for one week and will have to receive medical treatment for his injury

Eventually, we receive calls from Sheikh Jarrah. Settlers are attacking some of the Palestinians in the neighborhood and our presence is needed. Our weekly visit to Um Zetuyan has gone as planned. Another direct action non violent day against the occupation complete with arrests and injuries.