The Tank, the Tent, and the Tear Gas
3 February 2002
“You are the tools of the occupation,” says an
international demonstrator into a megaphone as she faces the barrel of the
tank’s cannon and the Israeli soldiers beyond it, “but you have a choice not
to serve here.” She stands on
Irsal street in Ramallah, where Israeli Defense Force tanks and armored vehicles
have taken up positions, shredding roads and fields and commandeering homes in
the process, overlooking the Palestinian Authority headquarters nearby.
A group of perhaps twenty foreign civilians, with many
others observing from a distance, approached the encampment of IDF troops,
tanks, and armored vehicles with a non-violent demonstration and a message to
the men in green: The occupation of Palestine – the West Bank and Gaza Strip
– and the Palestinian people for three and a half decades is the root of the
violence and the state of disrepair that exists between the two contiguous
neighboring peoples. In English and
Hebrew, the group explains to the soldiers that more than one hundred of their
colleagues in the Israeli Defense Forces have signed a petition refusing to
serve in the occupied territories; repudiating participation in what they termed
“dominating, expelling, starving, and humiliating an entire people.”
“Israel’s attempt to isolate and suffocate the
Palestinian people [through the occupation] has created a situation of
hopelessness and despair,” reads the group’s press release.
The conglomerate of internationals, mobilized under the banner of the
International Solidarity Movement (ISM), includes citizens of various North
American, European, and Asian countries, including two members from the Italian
parliament, as well as Palestinians. ISM
was created in 2001 by a cluster of concerned foreign residents of the occupied
Palestinian territories, and its activities have embraced such methods of
non-violent, direct action intervention such as staying in Palestinian homes
threatened by demolitions, removing IDF roadblocks on Palestinian roads, and
conducting peaceful demonstrations in front of the Israeli checkpoints and
military machinery. The movement
advocates working alongside and in coordination with Palestinian efforts of
peaceful resistance instead of unilateral exhibitions.
But as unthreateningly as they try to convey their message,
usually they are met with a hostile response from the IDF soldiers.
The group that approached the tanks on Sunday morning came within fifty
meters of the soldiers before they suffered the first wave of tear gas and
concussion grenades (sound bombs). Unperturbed,
they regrouped and continued over the shredded road; constantly reassuring the
soldiers via the megaphone that they only wished to deliver their message and
retreat.
Less than ten meters from the first tank, the group finally
halted and withstood another barrage of tear gas while the soldiers themselves
huddled together to debate their response according to orders.
Meanwhile, the tank gunned its powerful engine in the face of the
demonstrators and swiveled its turret to intimidate them.
Then the tank turned 180 degrees and blasted the international group with
a massive cloud of exhaust which, thanks to the wind, blew right back upon the
soldiers and the dozens of media personnel.
The ISM spokeswoman, Huwaida Arraf, attempted to hand out fliers to the
soldiers explicating the plight of the one hundred-plus IDF reservists who’ve
made headlines with their refusal to serve in the territories.
Then as promised, the group withdrew from the confrontation under the
continued bombardment of tear gas.
“We are not finished yet,” says Arraf.
“Our solidarity is with the Palestinian people, and it is for them that
we stand here in front of the tanks and soldiers and demand that they leave.”
The ISM plans to erect a tent on the road about one hundred meters from
the tanks in a symbolic show of unity with Palestinians who not only must endure
the perils of occupation but now the invasion of the areas given to them by the
interim agreements with Israel during the Oslo process, which includes the city
of Ramallah. A much larger group of
international activists erected a tent in the same vicinity last May, after
Israeli F-16 attacks on PA installations in civilian areas motivated many to put
themselves in harm’s potential way to force the world to take notice of the
threat to innocent people by the occupying army’s retaliatory methods.
The current tent will sit on the road for three days and nights, barring any successful attempt by the IDF to dismantle it. The core group of ISM will welcome other internationals, Palestinians, and the media to join them in the tent and help get their message to the Israeli government and the world. The occupation is the root of the hostility, and Palestinians should not have to endure it at the price of their dignity and freedom.
Richard Johnson - Ramallah
(c) 2002 canadazone.com