HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

SouthCoast Indymedia

Reports from the Brighton-Tubas Delegation - Smashed to Pieces...

Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group | 14.04.2008 11:28 | Anti-militarism | Anti-racism | Palestine | South Coast | World

This report is part of a series of diaries from a delegation of Palestine Solidarity activists visiting occupied Palestine. The delegation is part of an ongoing project by the Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group. A group aimed at making links between grassroots groups in Brighton, UK, and Tubas, Palestine....

Smashed to Pieces and Literally Bled Dry...

Running up to our time to head in to Palestine, I had a quick sniff round the mainstream Israeli media. Typing ‘Israeli news’ into Google rewards me with a paper called Haaretz, which has got a range of opinions ranging from stuff which criticizes the occupation to stuff that is so right wing that it reads like Noel Edmonds has taken over the country using an army of Teletubbies.

However the neutral space where ‘pure news’ is reported is revealing, and very disturbing. A report on an incident in which a rabbi has shot an Arab dead near an Israeli town is presented in the following terms: the report to the IDF given by the rabbi is one in which a late middle aged man mumbled something, and lunged at him unexpectedly with a knife. He received a bullet wound which left him on the floor, but he attempted to get up and appeared to reach for the knife again so the rabbi shot him in the head, just in case. As far as it goes, taken on its own, fair enough – except that Haaretz has decided to objectify this incident as typical of a recent wave of “‘lone wolf’ terror attacks”. So, a Palestinian does not need to organize into any kind of group nowadays to be a terrorist. He or she just is one. They are guilty until proven innocent, and as our trip continued it seemed like sometimes they are dead until proven alive.

The adverts on a poppy, Arabic TV channel also provided some pointers about how the modern world creates really bitter ironies in situations like that many Palestinians are facing. Indiana Jones is currently tearing around the desert in a Hummer, advertised as available for immediate purchase in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq – the list goes on.

We entered on a sunny day, and stopped off for a snack at a shop in some farm land. We met a Palestinian guy who said he had had a good life so far, travelling around Europe and learning things, he was beaming away. He got on about philosophy, he reckoned that Hegel was important. Don’t ask me why – I’m no good at that stuff, but anyway he said that the Palestinians have got a heart, but no spirit. Still not sure what that means really, but it sounds quite sad, which is in keeping with what we’ve learned about the occupation before we got here.

We were taken to meet some farmers whose land was under threat, at Al Farsiya. Right up until this point I had been naïve enough to expect that there was something complicated about what was going on in the West Bank, that the military occupation was something that it might take a while to describe. Pretty soon I was thinking, “oh, I know your game”.

A farmer explained that he had an imminent demolition order. There was an Israeli military structure just a short distance away. He wasn’t allowed to use water from the spring which he could prove was on his own land, which had provided for his family for generations. This urgent matter had been explained to him a few months ago, and consequently the crops in his greenhouses had failed. His electricity had been cut off, and he lived right next to a power line. The price of water was so expensive that it beggared belief. It was explained, in convincing terms, that these people could not move from where they were. It just wasn’t possible. Where could they go, faced with an injustice like this? Death threats, intimidation with gunfire and verbal abuse from local settlers was then detailed. Then we got to try eating the most expensive cucumbers we’d ever got the chance to taste. It was very moving for the visitors to be given some of these, which were organic and top quality, and to realise that this agricultural business had been comprehensively smashed to pieces, literally bled dry, and was currently on the last bout of a fight for self preservation. This is an affront to the senses.

On the way in, at an Israeli checkpoint, a soldier asked us what we are doing here and got a noncommittal reply. “Enjoy Israel”, he said, sauntering off, nearly buckling under the weight of the personal Star Wars project attached to his arm. Disturbing.

Sam

Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group
- e-mail: thewallmustfall@riseup.net
- Homepage: http://www.brightonpalestine.org/tubas.brightonpalestine.org

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

-->

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

South Coast [navigation.actions2016]

South Coast [navigation.actions2015]

South Coast [navigation.actions2014]

NATO 2014

South Coast Actions 2013

G8 2013

South Coast Actions 2012

Workfare

South Coast Actions 2011

2011 Census Resistance
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Occupy Everywhere

South Coast Actions 2010

Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands

South Coast Actions 2009

COP15 Climate Summit 2009
G20 London Summit
Guantánamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
University Occupations for Gaza

South Coast Actions 2008

2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces
Campaign against Carmel-Agrexco
Climate Camp 2008
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Smash EDO
Stop Sequani Animal Testing
Stop the BNP's Red White and Blue festival

South Coast Actions 2007

Climate Camp 2007
DSEi 2007
G8 Germany 2007
Mayday 2007
No Border Camp 2007

South Coast Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
Faslane
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
SOCPA
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

South Coast Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

South Coast Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

South Coast Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech