[E-rundbrief] Info 396 - Avnerys protest against the wall.

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 396 - Uri Avnery: Who's Guilty? The Victim, of 
Course. (Nonviolent protest against the Israeli wall.)

Bad Ischl, 21.5.2006

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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Who's Guilty? The Victim, of Course

Uri Avnery

20.5.06

THOSE WHO listened to the radio news last Saturday heard a stunning 
report: that Muhammad Abu-Ter and Uri Avnery had barricaded 
themselves together in a private home in a-Ram.

The very fact that these two - the No. 2 man of Hamas and the 
notorious Israeli leftist - were together was already shocking 
enough. But the fact that they had invaded the home of an innocent 
Palestinian family and barricaded themselves there, like criminals 
fleeing from the police, was even more staggering.

This false news item would, perhaps, deserve no special mention, if 
it  were not typical of the whole media coverage, not only of this 
specific demonstration, but of all joint demonstrations of Israeli 
peace activists and Palestinians. More than that, it throws light on 
the close connection between the Israeli media and the occupation 
regime. Without this connection, it is doubtful if the occupation 
could have lasted for the 39 years it has so far.

Therefore it is worthwhile to analyse the events in detail.


FIRST OF all, the background. A-Ram (that's how the name is spoken, 
though its written form is al-Ram) was a small Palestinian village 
north of Jerusalem, on the highway to Ramallah. Since the 
"unification" of Jerusalem in 1967, the village has become much 
bigger. The reason: while the Palestinian population doubles every 18 
years or so, it is well-nigh impossible to obtain a building permit 
in East Jerusalem. For lack of an alternative, many Arab East 
Jerusalemites build homes for their enlarged families in the 
surrounding villages. A-Ram has in fact become a town, but most of 
its 50 thousand inhabitants have Jerusalem (i.e. Israeli) identity 
cards, and their life revolves around Jerusalem. Their work, health 
services and universities are there. Officially, however, the town 
belongs to the occupied territories.

When it was decided to build the Separation Wall around Jerusalem, 
the plan was to cut a-Ram off from the city. Worse: the path of the 
Wall passes right down the middle of the main street - so that it 
does not separate between Palestinians and Israelis, but mostly 
between Palestinians and Palestinians.

To get an idea: it is as if a wall had been built in the middle of 
Broadway, from 42nd Street to Harlem. Or in the middle of the 
Champs-Elysees, from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe. 
Or in Berlin, in the middle of the Kurfürstendamm, from the Memorial 
Church to the Messegelände. The two parts of the city and its 
neighborhoods would be separated by a nine meter high wall.

When this was only in the planning stage, the inhabitants held a 
number of non-violent demonstrations. To all of them, Israeli peace 
activists were invited and came. But in the meantime, the monstrous 
Wall has become reality. It cuts off the holders of Israeli identity 
cards from the city where their businesses and places of employment 
are located. It cuts off the pupils from their schools, which are 
only 100 meters away on the other side of the wall. Not to mention 
the students who are separated from their universities; the sick, 
separated from their hospitals; even the dead, separated from their cemeteries.

Now the wall is nearing completion. It is still under discussion in 
the Supreme Court, but experience shows that that is pretty hopeless. 
One can still reach the town through an army checkpoint, but even 
this hole is about to be plugged: the Wall will close off this place, 
too. In the meantime, in some places there is still a high fence 
instead of the concrete structure, pending the conclusion of the 
court proceedings.

In order to protest this, a large Palestinian-Israeli event was 
planned. It was to be a march in the main street, along the Wall (on 
the Palestinian side, of course), from the town center to an 
improvised tribune, where speeches were to be made.

The details were worked out in three planning sessions. In order to 
underline the non-violent character of the event, it was decided that 
the schoolchildren, whose schools have been cut off, would march at 
the head in their school uniforms, their satchels on their backs, 
accompanied by their teachers. Also, an alternative route was planned 
for them in case there would be a danger of a clash with the army.


WHEN WE - about 300 Israeli activists of several peace movements - 
were approaching a-Ram, we were informed that large forces were 
waiting to block our passage at the checkpoint. Going around them, we 
reached the wall on the "Israeli" side. At this point there stands a 
high fence, instead of the concrete structure. We breached it and 
many demonstrators succeeded in crossing to the "Palestinian" side, 
into a-Ram, before the army, which was surprised by this move, 
succeeded in rushing up reinforcements.

In the meantime, the Palestinian demonstration had already started on 
its way, exactly as planned - at the head a group of boy-scout 
drummers with their flags, after them the small children of the first 
class, behind them the other schoolchildren, from small to big, then 
the main demonstration with posters and flags, led by a row of 
leaders of all Palestinian parties. The Israeli activists mingled 
with the Palestinians in order to demonstrate solidarity, and I was 
invited to join the front row.

That way I found myself walking between Abu-Ter, the Hamas leader who 
has become famous in Israel not least because of his brightly shining 
dyed red beard, and the Palestinian minister for Jerusalem affairs, 
Abu Arafeh, also a Hamas member. Next to them there were the leaders 
of Fatah, the Popular Front, the Democratic Front and the People's 
(ex-Communist) Party. We marched arm in arm, and it seemed that the 
demonstration would pass off peacefully. And then, suddenly, we saw 
that the road ahead of us was blocked by a large contingent of 
soldiers and policemen who were waiting for us - rows of soldiers 
heavily armed from head to foot, in front of them mounted police on 
their horses and behind them army Humvees.

The first concern was the safety of the children. Their teachers led 
them into a side street, and we marched slowly on, on our way to the 
tribune. There could not have been a less threatening sight than the 
row of notables, arm in arm, walking in front.


ABOUT WHAT happened then I can testify as an eye-witness, and I am 
prepared to undergo any lie-detector test:

When we were about 50 meters from the concentration of soldiers and 
horses in the main street of a-Ram, a voice from a megaphone 
announced that the area had been declared a "Closed Military Zone" 
and that our demonstration was illegal. While we were standing, 
facing the soldiers, a huge salvo of tear gas canisters suddenly 
rained down on us.  It was not preceded by any provocation.

Clouds of gas rose up between us, in front and behind. More salvos of 
stun grenades raised hell, and so we escaped to the nearby houses. I 
entered the nearest one and found myself in the company of Abu Ter, 
who received me with great friendliness. Our eyes were burning and 
tearful, and we could not talk much, but we decided to have a more 
meaningful conversation soon.

When the gas dispersed, we emerged to join the continuing 
demonstration. The activists formed again and again on the road, the 
policemen and soldiers attacked us again and again with tear gas and 
stun grenades, storming forward in waves - armed and well-protected 
soldiers, Humvees and police riders (wearing spurs, which are 
forbidden by Israeli laws for animal protection.)

Only at this stage - and that's the main thing! - did some local 
children and youngsters start to throw stones at the policemen - 
stones that could do no damage, since they fell short of the 
policemen, whose gas launchers have a far longer range. The demo 
organizers did their best to restrain them, but the anger of the 
youngsters against the soldiers who had invaded their town was too 
strong. After two hours, through a dialog with the senior police 
officer, contact was broken off and the Israeli activists returned home.

In the course of the event, 12 people - seven Palestinians and five 
Israelis - were detained. The Israelis were released a few hours 
later, the Palestinians remained in custody, with our lawyers dealing 
with their cases.


THAT WAS what happened in a-Ram. From then on, it was a story of the media.

The demonstration was widely covered, for two main reasons - the 
violence used and the meeting between me and Abu-Ter, which provided 
a piquant angle, since until now there has been no dialog between 
Hamas and Israelis. The news on all the three Israeli TV networks 
reported on the event extensively. That by itself was unusual - 
generally, most TV stations ignore our demonstrations, or devote a 
few seconds to them (except for a few reports by brave reporters.)

This time, too, no Israeli medium - TV, radio or newspaper - troubled 
to send reporters or photographers to the event, so there was no 
eyewitness Israeli media report from the scene. The TV stations 
showed clips taken by foreign networks. The reporters just made the 
most of what they heard from the police and us.

And lo and behold: all the media reported the same: the demonstrators 
had started the violence by throwing stones, two policemen "had been 
wounded and treated on the spot". (This lie repeats itself at all our 
demonstrations. One could begin to suspect that there are two 
policemen whose sole duties are to be "wounded and treated on the 
spot" each time we demonstrate.)

The police and army statements were outright lies. They knew in 
advance that our demonstration would be non-violent. I rely on them 
to have their agents at all our meetings, and we spoke about our 
preparations openly over the phone and in our e-mails. Two paid ads 
were published before the events in Haaretz. It is absolutely clear 
that the army and police had prepared in advance to suppress the 
demonstration by force. Otherwise they would not have brought horses 
and Humvees.

For many years we have witnessed the mendacity of official 
spokespersons, and I have no doubt that the reporters covering the 
occupied territories are aware of it. In some media, a sentence 
saying that "the demonstrators argue that it was the policemen who 
started the violence" appeared, but in all the media it was stressed 
that the violence started with us, so the police had no alternative 
but to react.

This is an Israeli tradition, which has unfortunately also been 
accepted by the international media: the Israeli security forces 
always "react" to the violence of the other side. But, curiously 
enough, the killed and wounded are mostly on the other side.

The small example of a-Ram illustrates what happens on a larger scale 
throughout the country: in matters concerning the army and police, 
the news in all the media, without exception, from Maariv to Haaretz, 
from Channel 1 to Channel 10, is indistinguishable from government 
propaganda. (with honorable exceptions in opinion columns and the op-ed pages.)

The chances of the victims getting fair coverage are close to nil. 
After all, the victims are always to blame.

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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
     Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
     Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
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