[GushShalom] Gush Shalom activists sleep over at Arafat's compound.
Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)
info at gush-shalom.org
Sun Oct 5 21:30:01 IST 2003
GUSH SHALOM pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 www.gush-shalom.org
International release
October 5, 2003
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Yom Kippur 2003 - From Haifa to Ramallah
Gush Shalom activists sleep over at Arafat's compound.
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[Here follows a description by Adam Keller and Beate Zilversmidt of their
experience - from the shock of the Haifa suicide attack to spending the
night at Ramallah as part of a group which provided a human shield for
Arafat.]
Yesterday began as a routine Saturday, with news broadcasts focussing on
the ongoing strike at Israel's seaports, the occupation pushed to the
sidelines.
For several weeks there had been no major assassinations nor suicide
bombings - though people on both sides did get killed in "routine
incidents". And it seemed that Sharon did not create too big of a wave by
pushing through the settlement encompassing route of the "Separation
Wall", nor by the 600 tenders for new settlement housing. The Bush
administration appears to lose interest in mediating between israelis and
Palestinians, with the roadmap shelved until after the Nov.2004
elections.
But the Saturday siesta was suddenly shattered by the shockwaves of the
terrible event in Haifa. Emergency bulletins disrupted the leisurely
radio broadcasts, giving once again the gory details of a suicide
bombing. This one claimed the life of nineteen people, with whole
families wiped out as they sat at the restaurant tables. "Maxim" was a
place jointly owned - and visited - by Jews and Arabs. Six of those
killed were Palestinian Israelis, as were many of the wounded. (Did the
perpetrator - a 29-year old woman lawyer from Jenin, reportedly seeking
revenge for a dead brother and cousin - deliberately seek to strike at
this oasis of coexistence? Or was "Maxim" chosen randomly, as a
convenient place crowded with people?)
After about two hours, the ambitious Health Minister Danny Naveh spoke
on the radio, urging the government to "seize this opportunity to get rid
of Arafat." (He did not even bother to pretend that Arafat had anything
to do with the bombing, for which responsibility was claimed by the
Islamic Jihad.) Nave's lead was followed by a whole host of similar
pronouncements by ministers, Knesset Members and officials, as well as
"unofficial leaks" of "well-placed sources" at the prime minister's
bureau.
For us, that meant the urgent need to shake off shock and lethargy and
mobilize in very short order a group to immediately set off for Ramallah.
It is no easy matter to phone a person - even somebody who had earlier
registered as being willing to act as a human shield - and say: "Now is
the time. Be ready within half an hour."
In spite of several people being away from home in the Holiday weekend
and some others getting cold feet, still the willing volunteers added up.
Together with the Gush Shalomers came some young anarchists who have
little use for Arafat or any other president but were convinced to oppose
a move aimed at crushing the Palestinian people as a whole. Meanwhile the
ISM was rallying its international volunteers, scattered in various West
Bank towns and villages. Altogether, at 9.30pm there were some thirty
activists at the dimly lit rendezvous point outside Ramallah: Israelis
from Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem, Californians, Canadians, Brits, Danes, a
single Icelander...
We made some contingency plans for the possibility of being blocked by
the army and getting into Ramallah by side roads - a bit of a risky act
in the dark - but in the event getting past the military roadblocks
proved almost absurdly easy. A short drive, and there we were - at the
gates of the Presidential Compound, whose Arabic name "Muqata'a" has
become well-known to Hebrew speakers.
Among the ruins of buildings destroyed in previous incursions by the
Israeli army, were lurking a whole host of international journalists with
TV-cameras, who immediately pounched upon Uri Avnery and other English
speakers among the delegation. Just a few minutes after sneeking past
soldiers we were in the midst of an impromptu press conference.
"We are here as human shields to protect President Arafat," Uri Avnery
was later quoted in Ha'aretz. "We will stay here just in case Sharon
carries out an action." And in the Jerusalem Post he was quoted as
saying: [we are here] "first and foremost to protect Israel from the
catastrophe that would occur if Arafat were to be exiled, or killed.
(...) If Sharon decides to kill Arafat, this would be an unprecedented
historic catastrophe for the people of Israel."
Once past the journalists we were heartily greeted by Palestinian
officials and activists. A whole lot of drinks and snacks were brought in
and since most of us had skipped dinner we embarked upon the pitabread
and humus. Then, we were conducted to the conference hall which had been
converted into an improvised dormitory - a large room with completely new
fittings, replacing those destroyed by the Israeli army in September a
year ago.
And then, there was the long night to get through, with the attempt to
read Sharon's intentions from the ambiguous reports monitored on a
squeeking small transistor radio, and the ears alert to any alarming
sounds from outside. Some of the Israelis and internationals joined the
Palestinians on guard, and sat talking and exchanging views and anecdotes
nearly the whole night through.
The morning, after a fortunately uneventful night, brought
reinforcements. Meretz activist Latif Dori arrived from Tel-Aviv, as well
as a group of Italians who soon embarked on a recital of partisan songs.
(On the Israeli radio news magazine Likud Knesset Member Ehud Yatom
complained: "I stayed awake the whole night and listened to the news
expecting to hear of the expuslion of Arafat. I am terribly disappointed
it did not happen. And these leftists who provide Arafat with a defensive
shield, that is terrible, a terrible fissure in Israeli society.")
More Palestinians - not from the compound's staff - found their way to
the Muqata'a. Ruwaida, a Ramallah boutique owner, came especially to
distribute to the Israelis her own poem in Hebrew translation, a
heartfelt appeal from a Palestinian mother to an Israeli mother. "I
always give this to soldiers in checkpoints; these boys are already
greeting me as 'Mom'."
At noon, there was a meeting with President Arafat and Prime Minister
designate Ahmed Qurei, followed by a well-attended joint press
conference. Both Palestinian leaders sharply condemned the suicide
bombing as a crime also against the Palestinian people.
Latif Dori emphasized that he had come to show that not all Israelis are
taken in by the demagoguery of one who refuses to make peace and builds
settlements instead.
Uri Avnery denounced the outrage in Haifa: "Whoever sent that young woman
to kill 19 innocent people must have wanted to put the entire region on
fire - by way of providing Sharon with a pretext for targeting Arafat."
ISM coordinator Huwaida Arraf explained that the internationals felt they
were there instead of the UN peace forces which should have long ago been
sent to protect the Palestinian people.
The Israeli and international human shielders decided to stay on in the
compound throughout Yom Kippur, a time when there is a complete Israeli
media blackout, which in the past was more than once the occasion of
nasty surprises.
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