(Fwd) Twenty meters of fence removed - in joint Israeli/Palestinian action

[Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)]

Saturday, in the bus Jonathan - of the Tel Aviv-based "Anarchists 
Against Fences" - told us something about another anti-Wall demo,  
planned for Sunday. We promised him to forward his report. 
                                                                        
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Mon, 10 Nov 2003 21:48:22 +0100
From:           	cat <cat at squat.net>
To:             	info at gush-shalom.org
Subject:        	Zububa 9.11 report
Send reply to:  	cat <cat at squat.net>

Hi Adam, 
Here is a report about yesterday's action. A bit late, I'm sorry, but I
have a good excuse - I had to go to the hospital because of teargas
poisening.

Jonathan

--
We made clear that no walls would stand between the people.

Some two hundred Palestinians, 35 Israelis and a similar number 
of internationals gathered yesterday in the village of Zububa to 
mark the international day of solidarity against the wall, by tearing 
a portion of it down. Our day started much earlier though.

Zububa is the village located farthest north in the occupied 
territories, and adjacent to a village named Salem, inside the 1948 
borders. In the days before the wall became a cold and hard fact 
it had been a matter on mere minutes walking between the two 
villages. Nowadays the two villages are cut from each other 
completely, and so was our easy route to Zububa.
We were forced to go through a military checkpoint in the wall, 
10 kilometers away, where we were to switch to a Palestinian 
bus. 10 kilometers may not sound all that much, but in the reality 
of the occupation this short ride took us over an hour and a half of 
dirt roads and roads regarding which even former term will seem 
like an unreasonable euphemism. 
We were very lucky. The Army is regularly patrolling these roads, 
but with no regularity as to when and where. Indeed, as we were 
slowly driving we spotted an APC taking a left at a crossroads 
we were about to get to five minutes later. It was creeping slowly 
as if insisting that we remember that the picturesque scenery isn’t 
really such a pleasant one.

When we finally made it to Zububa we were led to the 
municipality building where a short meeting took place, roles were 
set and our Hebrew signs were uncovered. A march formed and 
we were heading to the site of the fence, bolt cutters and pooling 
hooks in our hands, unwilling to stop. We found a white military 
jeep waiting for us, but proceeded nevertheless. Shouting slogans 
in Hebrew for the soldiers to hear, we started cutting at the 
barbed wire. The soldiers were shocked. Five minutes later we 
were already past the barbed wire and at the electronic fence. By 
the time more army forces arrived, the fence was already 
noticeably cut. We continued. It took half an hour of teargas, 
concussion grenades and some twenty meters of fence removed 
before we were pushed back. No arrests were made.

As we retreated slowly towards the village, the soldiers fired 
warning shots over our heads. The village Qadi [religious leader] 
addressed the soldiers in Hebrew asking them to leave and come 
back without their weapons. “How can there be any peace when 
we are imprisoned in ghettos?” He talked about partnership with 
us, the Israelis present; he spoke about freedom.

When we were already on the bus ready to leave, a strong 
explosion was heard followed by three military jeeps heading 
towards Salem military camp but provocatively taking the route 
through the village. Kids were throwing stones. We later found 
out that the explosion had been a concussion grenade thrown in 
the direction of the municipality.
But, for the time being the people can go to their fields.  

Photos and video footage available from cat at squat.net