Off
with their heads!
While a bunch of Israeli and Palestinian women were hugging and kissing outside
Tulkarm today, the Israeli government dropped three 250 kg (550 lb) bombs on
an apartment building in Gaza, trying (unsuccessfully) to kill the ten Hamas
leaders meeting inside. “We were only trying to send them a message,”
said the news commentator on Israeli TV tonight. “We were trying to kill
them,” corrected the anchor, “but screwed up.”
Meanwhile, Abu Mazen resigned and Israelis have begun “the countdown” to quote
more TV talk, on the life of Arafat. Will Israel finally make the
kill or not? All agree that it’s only a matter of time.,
This kind of chatter about extra-judicial killing – this year alone, Israel
has assassinated 110 Palestinians, during the course of which it killed another
73 unlucky bystanders – goes on in a country which does not have capital punishment.
But that’s a technicality.
A better tale from Tulkarm
Tulkarm is a Palestinian town in the West Bank on just the other side of the
Green Line (1967 border) and one of the victims of the infamous Separation Wall
now being constructed. This terrible wall has already trapped 12,000 people
between it and the Green Line, cutting them off from their communities, and
has stolen the land, olive trees, and water sources from tens of thousands of
others. We went there today to call for an end to its construction, and
for Israel to leave the territories altogether.
We were 500 women – half gathered on the Palestinian side of the Tulkarm checkpoint,
and the other half on the other side (I almost wrote “the Israeli side”, but
the checkpoint is actually inside the Occupied Territories). On both sides
were a large but uncounted number of “international” women – those who come
from other countries to help us get to peace in the Mideast.
The demonstration had been organized by the Coalition of Women for Peace, on
the Israeli side, and the women of the Tulkarm branch of the People’s Party,
on the Palestinian side. We were also joined by multi-national contingents
from CPT and the Ecumenical Accompaniers – Christians doing peace work in Palestine;
Code Pink – the US-based women’s protest organization; and individual women
(and a few men). Buses came from throughout Israel.
At the checkpoint, we could see the group on the Palestinian side, roughly 50
meters (about 150 feet) away. Both sides held signs calling for an end
to the Wall and the root cause of the conflict – the occupation. As we
approached the checkpoint, we were rebuffed by a group of soldiers, clearly
angry at our presence and signs. Within seconds of our reaching them,
they pushed and then struck several of our group – aiming for the men, but also
catching some of the women who sought to get between them. Their officers
arrived quickly and managed to stop their blows, but a moment later we saw a
teargas canister explode near the Palestinian side. We were relieved that
the Palestinians did not scatter, and no further shots rang out. The women
remained firmly in sight across the military domain.
A pre-arranged group of women approached the officers on our side to negotiate
our passage across. Matters had flared much too quickly, and our negotiators
spoke calmly, explaining our peaceful intentions in meeting with Palestinian
women. Our case seems to have been buttressed by 10 very large cartons
that we had brought for the women – school supplies for Palestinian children.
After talking and talking and making us wait in the hot sun, satisfying
themselves that they had displayed their control over our movements, the officers
gave permission for 30 of us to cross the checkpoint and meet the Palestinians.
I was one of the lucky ones to go across, and when we reached the other side,
there was hugging and kissing, although most of us did not know each other.
Battery-powered megaphones allowed both sides short speeches: “We share
your hatred for the wall, your desire to end the occupation and launch an era
of peace,” and “We welcome you to our town, we thank you for the gifts for our
children, we view ourselves as sisters in the struggle for peace”, followed
by brief flute playing and a few rounds of songs that never quite got going.
We were all a little shy after the first outburst of emotion.
I watched the cartons get piled inside and out of one small, dilapidated car
that drove off toward town, where I imagined eager little hands would rip off
the plastic and find a colorful schoolbag inside, filled with notebooks, pencils,
colored pencils, an eraser, sharpener, and ruler. And perhaps their parents
would read them the letter inserted into each bag: “We, Israeli women,
send this to you with good wishes for a successful school year, and the sincere
hope that your studies will not be interrupted by bullets or tanks.”
Then we all went home and listened to the news, made by people who spend their
time planning encounters of another kind.
At the Italian Riviera
It was good to get recharged last week at the International Women in Black Congress
held in Marina di Massa, Italy, where 400 women from dozens of countries shared
their pain and their strategies. Despite the heat and intense humidity,
there was nothing limp about 4 days of sessions among women peace activists.
In addition to contingents from all the European countries (including
a busload of 50 women from the Balkans), women actually managed to arrive from
Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia, Palestine, and other war-torn regions. Two
demonstrations capped the events – one outside a US army base in Italy, where
the soldiers fervently concentrated on their softball to avoid looking at our
anti-war signs outside the gate. And the other at the resort town of Viareggio,
to remind vacationers that sunblock prevents only some problems from getting
through. They didn’t look interested.
From Jerusalem,
Gila Svirsky
*******************************
Coalition of Women for Peace:
http://www.coalitionofwomen4peace.org