| Liebe Freunde,
Auf Grund des beträchtlichen Interesses an Erklärungen zu unterschiedlichen
Entwicklungen, werden wir einen mehr oder weniger regelmäßigen
on-line-Service wöchentlicher Berichte und Stellungnahmen einrichten. Wir
hoffen, daß Sie dies schätzen werden. Wie in unserer Printausgabe, welche
alle zwei Monate erscheint (und zu deren Abonnement
wir Sie einladen möchten) werden wir versuchen mit Nachrichten und Analysen,
die "kleinen" Tatsachen vor Ort zu schildern, ihnen auf den Grund zu gehen
und Ihnen näher zu bringen.
Vor zwei Tagen, nahmen wir an einem
Beileidbesuch der Friedensbewegung bei der Familie von Abd-el-Majed
Abu-Turki, im kleinen Dorf Hirbat Kilkas, südl. v. Hebron, teil.
Abu-Turki war jener Palaestinenser, der zu Tode kam durch einen Stock,
welchen ein Jungen aus dem Fenster eines beschleunigen Autos von der nahe
gelegenen Siedlung Beit Hagai heraus gehalten wurde.
Sollte jemand in der Lage sein diese
'Nachrichten und Analyse' zu uebersetzen, so wuerden wir uns sehr freuen.
Bitte melden Sie sich:
other-israel@hagalil.com. Wir selbst sind dazu leider nicht in der
Lage.
Abu Turki was the Palestinan hit to death with a stick
held by boys out of the window of a speeding car from the nearby settlement
Beit Hagai. "A schoolboy prank gone out of
hand" was the comment of the principal of the settlement's "Educational
Institute", placed in charge of Israeli problematic youths, who are sent by
the government to be "educated" at this nationalist-religious settlement...
Sitting crowded in the Abu Turkis' small living room,
we listened to the astonishingly coherent monologue of the eight-year old
daughter Nur: "We have to walk four kilometres every morning to
school in Hebron. They don't allow a school to be built here in the village.
We have to pass the settlement fences every morning, and they insult and
threaten us when we pass. They already killed Papa, who was a big strong
man. What will happen to us?"
Zerstörung & Säuberung
Just in the middle of this, a Palestinian came in with
the news that at that very moment the army was demolishing homes near Yatta,
twenty kilometres to the south. After the emotional parting from the
bereaved family, the eight members of Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc), among them
Uri and Rachel Avnery, decided to get to the demolition site.
The radio in the car quoted the terse army communique:
"illegal Beduin dwellings demolished in the southern Hebron Disrict."
However, at the end of a quick drive over the hot road we didn't find the
remnants of ramshackle huts, but what was left of a solid modern farmhouse -
which had been the home of an extended family of twenty five, constructed in
the midst of their own fields. Two kilometres away were visible the rooftops
of the expanding settlement Carmel. Palestinian houses constructed near a
settlement are defined "a security risk."
When we arrived, the soldiers had already departed,
having done their job. There was little we could do beyond telling the dazed
Ali Hasan Ibrahim (father of the family) how ashamed we were as Israelis,
and that we would tell it to the world.
According to the grim statisitics kept by our friends
in LAW, the Palestinian human rights organization, this was the 81st house
demolished this year.
The "Second Redeployment", which according to Oslo
should have taken place already on September 1997, would have affected at
least 13% of the West Bank, placing tens of thousands of Palestinian
inhabitants out of the occupation's reach. Moreover, the Americans are
reportedly demanding of Netanyahu to agree, as part of the to-be-signed
deal, to a complete halt to house demolitions in all parts of the West Bank.
Exactly this may help explain the mad demolition spree of the past weeks:
the occupation apparatus trying to create as many facts as possible while
they still have a free hand. And meanwhile, Netanyahu is buying time with
ever-new tricks, such as the new proprosal for a referendum on the West Bank
withdrawal...
Netanjahu & Atereth
Cohanim
Those of you who can be in Jerusalem on the evening of
next Monday, June 29, should try to make that evening free. Ateret Kohanim,
the settler association busily taking over Palestinian houses in the Old
City of Jerusalem will be holding a big celebration at "Brechat HaSultan" in
Jerusalem, and Netanyahu will come in person to greet them. We will be
there, too - shouting and protesting and telling Netanyahu and the settlers
what we think of them. Gush Shalom will join with Peace Now and other groups
in a torchlight march, starting at 7.30 PM on the 29th from the Prime
Minister's Residence near France Square. A demonstration bus will leave at
5.45 from the El-Al Terminal at the Arlozorov Railway Station, Tel-Aviv.
Those of you who are more far away could at least
write to Netanyahu (please send us a
copy too). You can use our text (in the box below) or write your own.
To Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu
pm@pmo.gov.il
I call upon you to cease immediately the inhuman
policy of demolishing Palestinian homes. I do not accept your
government's claim that these houses are "illegal". It is your policy of
forbidding Palestinians to build on their own land while providing
Israeli settlers with government-subsidised housing which is manifestly
illegal and immoral. |
Pazifismus
& Verzweiflung
Another note: last week, the 19-year old conscientious
objector (Gewissensverweigerer) Andy Hare went through "an instant trial" of
five minutes, and was sent to a month behind bars.
The state of Israel yearly grants exemption from military service to
literally tens of thousands of "religious scholars" - most of them
nationalists who delight in the idea of war and conquest, so long as the
fighting would be done by somebody else.
But our country seems unable to give a decent treatment to a single genuine
young pacifist...
Andy is reported to be depressed in his cell, and
would appreciate a message from you. (Ordinary "snail mail" at the address:
Andy Hare
ID 5615590, Military Prison 6, Military Post 03734, Israeli Defence Forces
For further details ask
Amos Gvirtz
amos_har@netvision.net.il
This has become as long as could be sent conveniently
by e-mail - and in the meantime, news had come of the death of two
soldiers in the never-ending guerilla war in Lebanon. We are now off to a
hastily- organised "Bring back the Soldiers" vigil outside the Defence
Ministry, and will be with you next week.
Yours
Adam Keller and Beate Zilversmidt
Tel-Aviv, 25.6.98
Please note:
|
The
Other Israel
