[GushShalomBillboard] Don't let them stand alone! -- action update

Tue Aug 20 18:25:57 IDT 2002

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[1] Don't let them stand alone: Thursday, jailed COs solidarity vigil
     reminder + text open letter Uri Ya'acobi
[2] Urgent Aid and protest convoy to Nablus, Saturday 24/8
[3] Rebuilding Palestinian Homes, also Saturday
[4] Sulha event in the Galilee - tomorrow

[Through billboard we forward what is on the agenda, based upon our own material and on 
announcements received from others. For more information, approach the addresses appearing 
in each item.]

[1] Don't let them stand alone: Thursday, jailed COs solidarity vigil
     reminder + text open letter Uri Ya'acobi

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Sun, 18 Aug 2002 03:57:42 -0700 (PDT)
From:           	Neta Rotem <neta_rotem at yahoo.com>

[N.B.: Gush Shalom decided to give full support to these young people who come of age in 
such terrible times, and who show courage and determination to go against the current. One 
should realize that these youngsters face many months of  the more tough prison conditions for 
conscripts.]

With four of the Shiministim (Highschool pupils/ Seniors) at the moment imprisoned
(apart from a huge number of jailed reservist) there is going to be a solidarity demonstration at 
the Defence Ministry in Tel-Aviv, Thursday, Aug. 22, at 6 pm. More background on the 
motivation of the refusers will follow. Contact: Neta 052-830494

[Here follows the text of one of the jailed COs. A shortened version appeared in Ha'aretz, 
Sunday, August 18 and (full text) in Ma'ariv, Aug. 22]

I AM NO OCCUPIER, FULL STOP.
Uri Ya'acobi

In another two days I am not going to enlist.
I will go the Soldiers House, and will board the bus together with all
other conscription candidates and after we get off the bus at the
Induction Center in Tel Hashomer,   I will, unlike the others,  refuse to
enlist, and I will almost certainly be sent to prison. In the prison I
will meet two of the fellow signatories of "the letter of the highschool
pupils" – Yoni Yechezkel and Dror Boimel . Those two were imprisoned
during the last week – because of their own refusal  to enlist. They, just
like me, and as it turns out: like  a lot of other Israelis, understand
that this war which the state of Israel is conducting, in the territories
that it occupied in '67, is not a war of the sons of the light against the
sons of darkness (exactly like many more of the wars which took place in
the course of history). 

When one hears via foreign media of Israeli tanks rampaging in the streets
of Palestinian cities (for some reason it's hardly ever on the news of the
Israeli media), then we don't hear the whole truth. The sad truth is that
what the Israeli army does in the territories is not limited to  tanks
rampaging in the streets and the destruction of the civilian
infrastructure. The military actions are also not limited to delaying
ambulances and pregnant women at roadblocks or just insensitivity  towards
Palestinian citizens. Our soldiers find themselves in difficult
situations, and part of them do it by mistake, but they do kill children 
and old people who certainly are in no way connected to any act of
terrorism. They destroy houses of whole families - and perpetrate other
acts for which "terrorism" is the most fitting definition. All these are
unforgivable acts in which I and my friends refuse to participate. These
things are against justice. And no reason in the world, certainly not the
wish  to colonise another piece of land, turns them into justified acts
from the moral point of view, just as terrorist attacks against Israeli
civilians are not right,  nor morally justified.

I don't know whether the Palestinian leadership wants peace, I don't know
whether the Palestinians want to remain for ever poor and discriminated
against (although it is difficult to believe that they would). I do know
one thing: that the Palestinians don't want us to be their occupiers. I
know that they don't want to live in a war situation  and to see the
continuous bloodshed. I know it is not them who force us to occupy them;
it's not them who turn us into occupiers. We do that quite nicely all by
ourselves, without their help.  I am not proud of my people. I am not
proud of my country, I am not proud of the acts being done in the name of
my security. I am also not proud that I will go to prison because of my
refusal to serve in the occupation army (and I am also not at all happy
about the opportunity given me to suffer for my principles). Proud I am
that I listen to the voice of my conscience, and I will be glad when there
will be more people listening to theirs, and not to what says the
commander.

[2] Urgent Aid and protest convoy to Nablus, Saturday 24/8
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From:           	"Ta'ayush Arab-Jewish" <arab_jewish at hotmail.com>
Urgent Aid and protest convoy to Nablus, Saturday 24/8

JOIN A PROTEST AGAINST THE CURFEW IN NABLUS
                             Saturday, August 24

This week we received an urgent call from our Palestinian partners in the Nablus region. We 
were told about a shortage of baby food andbasic food-stuffs. The shortage is so severe, that 
for lack of milk, babies are being fed water sweetened with sugar. The shortage is just another 
of the accumulating effects of the curfew which has been imposedfor almost 2 months.
Due to the urgency, we decided to act as soon as possible – Saturday, 24 of August.
Based on requests from Nablus, we decided to bring with us baby-food, flour and medicine, and 
hold a demonstration protesting the curfew – collective punishment for which a whole civil 
population is paying the price.

                      Join us this Saturday, August 24,
                          on an aid convoy to Nablus
           and a joint demonstration with our Palestinian partners.

We will meet at the gas station at the entry to Kufr Kassem around 10:00
More details regarding transportation and meeting places around the country will be 
forthcoming.

                       Our strength is in our numbers.
                    We will need each and everyone of you.

[3] Rebuilding Palestinian Homes, also Saturday
-------------forwarded message follows----------------
Date sent:      	Tue, 20 Aug 2002 12:00:14 +0300
From:           	Fred Schlomka <fred at icahd.org>

"THE RIGHT TO A HOME AND A HOMELAND"
A Joint Israeli-Palestinian Campaign of Rebuilding Demolished Homes
http://www.rebuildinghomes.org

JOIN US FOR A REBUILDING WORK DAY
WHEN: Saturday, August 24th
WHERE: Anata, East Jerusalem

ACTION:
On Saturday we will once again join Salim Shawamreh to continue rebuilding his home in 
Anata, which has been demolished 3 times. Come and demonstrate your solidarity through 
Constructive Resistance to the Occupation. Work alongside our Palestinian partners and 
colleagues. 
This is part of our Israeli-Palestinian campaign -- "The Right to a Home -- and a Homeland" -- in 
which we plan to rebuild at least 20 houses. 

TRANSPORTATION:
* Transportation from JERUSALEM will leave from the parking lot of Gan HaPa'amon (Liberty 
Bell Park), next to the gas station, at 9:00 AM.

* Transportation from TEL AVIV will leave at 9:00 AM from the Northern Train Station.

For more information, contact Jeff Halper (050-651425), 
Rabbi Arik Ascherman (050-607034) 
Michal Wiener ((03-605-2650.
Fred Schlomka - 056-875-893

[4] Sulha event in the Galilee - tomorrow

[We received a request to forward the announcement of an interreligious Sulha / Reconciliation 
event. Henrew information only available to fax numbers]

"Our goal is to rebuild trust, neighbour to neighbour and village to village, in order to create a 
safe space for reconciliation and creative encounters in the Middle East.

Our Plan

2002 and 2003: One- and two-day local "Sulha Gatherings" for peace in the Middle East. The 
next will be 21 August 2002, in the Galilee.

2003/2004: Sulha Peace Caravan

More on http://www.metasulha.org
Contact: Sitra, 052-425050

---
PS: Did it occur to you to write a letter to the editor (or if 
you are living abroad: to the Israeli Embassy) about the ongoing 
witchhunt against Gush Shalom - suggesting for example that 
the Attorney General investigate violations of international 
law - and not those monitoring them? 
NB: Don't forget to include your address and phone number.  

	----
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    For English  http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/forum_eng.html
    French available at request 

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