[GushShalom] A-Ram: The struggle has only begun today

[Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)]

GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - www.gush-shalom.org/

International release
June 5, 2004

A-RAM: THE STRUGGLE HAS ONLY BEGUN TODAY

[âéøñà áòáøéú úùìç ìôé á÷ùä / Hebrew version at request]


"Until three years ago, this road served seven Palestinian villages. Now 
it is reserved for the settlers only. As you can see, all the side-roads 
leading to Palestinian villages have been blocked. The villagers live 
with this since the end of 2000, but now the Wall is being erected to 
take away their fields." 

Gush Shalom and Ta'ayush had heeded the call of the a-Ram population to 
join their protest against the now imminent construction of the Wall 
cutting through the middle of this suburb of East-Jerusalem.
Shai, an activist of the Jerusalem-Ta'ayush, displayed a thorough 
knowledge of the subject during the guided tour of the Wall route, also 
part of the program.

"Over there is Biddu. The people there are very persistent in their 
courageous non-violent way of struggling against the Wall. Five people 
were killed by the shots of the army, and more than 400 hundred wounded.
"The red roofs over there, that is the settlement Har Shmuel. The Wall is 
designed to annex it to Israel, so it is curving all around to include it 
at the expense of the Palestinian fields in the midst of which it was 
erected. 
"Ahead is the Ofer camp: hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and the courts 
where the army puts them on trial. Also the room where Administrative 
Detention without trial is imposed.

At the hour,  the bus radio tells of the latest in the pathetic 
government crisis. What we have just seen and heard put a rather 
different perspective on Sharon's "Gaza Disengagement Plan" which has 
monopolized the headlines for so many months. Israel's occupation rule 
over the West Bank is getter grimmer by the day, an occupation which is  
37 years old today (two-thirds of Israel's total history!).

We arrive at the northern main entrance to a-Ram. A few border police at 
the checkpoint are dithering about letting our four buses through, 
calling on the radio for instructions from their superiors. We solve 
their dilemma by piling out, and continuing on foot. Placards and banners 
as well as Gush Shalom's popular two-flag signs are hastily unloaded and 
taken up: "The Wall: Prison for Palestinians - Ghetto for Israelis" / " 
The Wall is War!" / "Jewish-Arab Partnership" / "A-Ram is suffocated" / 
"The Busharon Wall - paid for by the USA" / "Two-thirds of the people 
under the poverty line."

A girl is wearing a T-shirt of the Brazilian Workers' Party, and near her 
a monk in the distinctive habit of the Franciscans. An old woman activist 
with a stick keeps up with the march, while those nearby create some 
shadow for her with their signs.  With a blazing sun above, Palestinian 
children do a thriving business of selling icicles and cold drinks.

Ahead, the sound of drums and trumpets. The Palestinian march is led by 
the orchestra of the local Palestinian boy scouts. The Israeli and 
Palestinian demonstrators merge effortlessly and become one single march.

At an intersection, two parked cars become an improvised podium mounted 
by Israeli and Palestinian speakers. Knesset Members Achmed Tibi and 
Muhammad Barake make short impassioned speeches in Arabic, interspersed 
with frequent clapping and the shouting of "Down With The Wall - Down 
With The Occupation". Then representatives of the Palestinian Authority 
and local dignitaries. 

"Some 15000 inhabitants of a-Ram have left and moved into Jerusalem. It 
is bad for the city; it is bad for them because they are living 
overcrowded, paying high rents. Perhaps even it is not what Sharon 
wanted, to have more Palestinians in Jerusalem but that is what he 
achieved. The people have jobs in Jerusalem, businesses in Jerusalem, 
their children studying in Jerusalem schools. We are in fact part of 
Jerusalem. If an 8-meter high Wall is going to cut us off from Jerusalem, 
what can we do?" says Sirchan Salayme, Mayor of a-Ram and longtime 
partner in dialogue with Israeli peace activists.

"We have come here together, Israelis and Palestinians, to cry out: No to 
a Wall which breaks up families, which denies people access to schools, 
to jobs and to medical services, which cuts Palestinian al-Quds into 
peaces. We are united in the struggle until the Wall falls, here and 
everywhere", said Leena Dalashe of Ta'ayush.

"This Wall is a monster, a monster trampling on hundreds of thousands of 
people, a monster erected by our government in our name. We say here to 
Sharon: there can be no security for Israel is there is no security for 
Palestine. If we deny the Palestinians the possibility of a viable 
existence, we deny it also to ourselves" says Uri Avnery for Gush Shalom.

Most of the rally had past quietly, but towards the end a large border 
police force is coming up from the south, with a threatening posture, 
clubs and tear gas held ready. Several Palestinian youths pick up stones. 
"No, no, don't give them a pretext" the Palestinian marshalls hold them 
back. The rally ends as planned. The polices turn back with their 
armament.

On the way back, we have still another installment of the guided tour, 
climbing the hill overlooking Qalandia Checkpoint and getting a chilling 
view of the fast-changing landscape. "As you see, the Wall has already 
gotten to Qalandia. This road beneath us will have high walls on both 
sides and become reserved only for the settlers. A-Ram, which is at 
present the main depot for the whole West Bank, the place where the 
containers come from the port of Ashdod and the merchandise shipped north 
and south, will become an enclave, surrounded on all sides and connected 
only through a very narrow passage to Ramallah. This is what they are 
planning but it is not yet too late to stop them. The struggle has only 
begun today", says Jamal Jum'ah of the Palestinian environmental group 
Pengon. (Few experts more knowledgeable on the Wall than Jum'ah are to be 
found outside the ranks of the Israeli armed forces.)

Some of the participants joined later the Peace Now event in Jerusalem 
(reports on www.haaretzdaily.com and www.jpost.com )

The a-Ram demonstration was shown fairly nice on Channel-I TV News.
Photos soon on http://www.gush-shalom.org

# Truth against Truth - opposite views on the history of the conflict
  in 101 steps 

Hebrew / òáøéú
http://www.gush-shalom.org/Docs/Truth_Heb.pdf

English
http://www.gush-shalom.org/Docs/Truth_Eng.pdf


# Boycott List of Settlement Products (newly updated)
   
Hebrew / òáøéú
http://gush-shalom.org/Boycott/boycheb.htm

English
http://gush-shalom.org/Boycott/boyceng.htm


# Refusniks 

Constantly-updated refusniks lists:

English - http://www.yesh-gvul.org/english/prison/
Hebrew / òáøéú - http://www.yesh-gvul.org/prison/

English - http://www.newprofile.org/default.asp?language=en
Hebrew / òáøéú - http://www.newprofile.org/

Help us free our children from the military prison! (parents of The Five)
          For ENGLISH details please click 
http://www.refuz.org.il/help.html 
          For HEBREW please click 
http://www.refuz.org.il/hebrew/help.html 
          Homepage with lots of information: 
http://www.refuz.org.il/

# Eye-witness reports from the Occupied Territories:
 
http://www.machsomwatch.org 
  (Israeli women monitoring the checkpoints)
http://www.palsolidarity.org/pressreleases/pressreleases.php
  (internationals throughout OT)

# For pictures of the Rafah destruction: 
  http://www.rafahtoday.org


--
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http://www.gush-shalom.org/arabic/index.html (selected articles in Arabic)

with
\\photos of recent actions 
\\the weekly Gush Shalom ad 
\\the columns of Uri Avnery 
\\Gush Shalom's history & action chronicle  
\\position papers & analysis (in "documents")
\\and a lot more

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