BostontoPalestine
Boston
support group for the International Solidarity Movement
Home
About
us
News
from Palestine
Contact
Email
Subscribe
Donate
Current Delegation
Summer 2005
Past Delegations
Olive Harvest
2004
Freedom Summer
2004
Past Campaigns
Events
Photos
Videos (ISM)
Rachel Corrie
Links
Speakers
Be a Delegate
Press
faq
Actions!
Rains Rouner is local activist and a founding member of BostontoPalestine. He is staying, since several weeks, in Israel/Palestine working with peace-activist groups. In his diaries, which we will post as a series, he recounts his experiences and offers reflection on his journey.
Rains reports:
2) November 1, 2002
Palestine Diary - Confronting Self & Other in the Olive Grove -
Rains Rouner / Jama'in, West Bank
Susan and Dunya left for Hares
two nights ago. John
and the other ISMers left yesterday. The French ISMers
will remain in Jamain for tonight and tomorrow. Dunya
requested that I take responsibility for them - I was
pleased to do so.
Today, a young Frenchman became
unhinged, caught
between his fear of the settlers and his political
ideals. A sensitive and perceptive young man, he is
keenly aware of the inherent contradiction of the
Palestinians seeking protection through the army and
the police. He spoke to me at length last night about
George Orwell's novel "1984." It's been years since
I've read it, but apparently one of the traits of
fascism the novel portrays is the way in which the
oppressed population eventually learn to "love" Big
Brother. The young man is concerned about Palestinians
falling into this trap. I told him not to worry - all
the Palestinians I know have an astute political
awareness. As a people, they reflect an incredible
generosity, personal warmth, sincere love and human
pride.
In the olive grove today, the
young man's
psychology flipped the other way. Forsaking his
support of Palestinian integrity, he became
overwhelmed by fear for the villagers safety and for
his own safety as well - he wanted me to call the
police when we didn't actually need them. I reminded
him of the villagers dignity and pride - something he
himself had recognized last night. "This is their
land," I said. "Harvesting is their right. They don't
have to justify themselves to anyone. We're not going
to call the police unless the villagers ask us to." I
told the young man he had to trust me. He said he did,
but he was still overwhelmed with fear. The other
French were at a loss, so I took care of him. The
young man said he realized that his own ego was at
work here, and that he needed to let it go. I told him
about my own letting go of ego when I lost my brother
in a mountaineering accident for which I was partially
responsible. I told him that as activists we were
fighting "against" hatred, but we were also fighting
"for" love. "We need to carry that love, faith
and
happiness with us if we want to change the world," I
said. "We need to trust the Palestinians' perception
of themselves." The young man discussed this moment as
an opportunity for transformation in his life. He
talked about his brothers - he is very close to them,
as I am with mine. When he left, he and I exchanged
addresses. We will stay in touch.
Tomorrow, I will travel to Jenin,
where an Israeli
invasion is under way. The army demolished six houses
last week - tanks and soldiers are in the streets,
enforcing multi-day curfews. I discussed my departure
with Rabbi Arik Ascherman. He said that, in his
opinion, no demolitions were justified, even if they
are the homes of families of suicide bombers.
"It's still collective punishment," he said.
"It's illegal," I said.
"It's against the Forth
Geneva Convention."
My friend Mary is in Jenin, visiting
Caoimhe, whom
everyone in the Jenin Refugee Camp adores. Caoimhe
needs a cellphone, money, and phone cards. I will
bring these things to her. Jenin is a "Closed Military
Zone." Access is denied to reporters and,
theoretically, to internationals as well, so it may be
tricky getting in.
I will miss my friends in Jama'in
but will return
here in three weeks. "You are good; you are good,"
they tell me. An Israeli peace activist who spoke
minimal English said that of the Palestinians and of
me as well. Amazingly, the Jewish settler from Kfar
Tapuah said that of me and the Palestinians after he
assaulted me.
A note on Kfar Tapuah, an offshoot
of the larger
Tapuah settlement. Claire from IWPS told me that these
settlers (who were responsible for recent violence in
Yasuf) are followers of Meir Kahane, the Jewish
supremacist who was assassinated ten years ago. His
son, Binyamin, lives in Tapuah and has created the web
site www.kahana.org. I asked Christina to check it
out. She reports that the web page espouses fanatical
views and even has jokes. One joke envisions Sept. 11
twenty years from now. "What were the World Trade
Towers?" a young Jewish boy asks his father. His
father explains that they were buildings in America
destroyed by "the Arabs." "Who were the Arabs?"
the
young boy asks.
Binyamin Kahane's writings are
similar to his
father's. He writes: "The Jew cannot trust and must
never expect to build any relationship between himself
and the Gentile. Between Jews and Gentiles there is an
unbridgeable gap. All the more so when dealing with
the Arab... Any attempt to be 'nice' or to make
'peace' with them will just create illusions that will
eventually explode in the Jew's face. The only healthy
approach is to distance ourselves as much as possible
from dialogue and deals. Only thus will we avoid
dangerous and unnecessary illusions."
It was because of Kahane's fascist
philosophy that
I made a point of talking to the settler after he
assaulted me - if I could get him to talk, he would be
contradicting his leader's racist views. Somehow, I
succeeded. Not only did he talk, but he said, "These
Palestinians are good, not terrorists." I consider
this a small victory - a step toward common ground.
I) October 31, 2002
Palestine Diary: The Search for Common Ground
Rains Rouner, in Jama'in, West Bank
As a coordinator for Rabbis for Human Rights
participating in the Palestinian olive harvest in the
village of Jama'in, I serve a three-part role: 1) I
coordinate village protection from the Kfar Tapuah
settlers with the army and the Ariel police (this is
strangely like asking the fox to guard the chicken
coop, because, after all, the Ariel police are
settlers too), 2) through Rabbi Ascherman, I provide
access to the army command to gain safe passage for
the villagers when the soldiers block the road, and 3)
I host Israeli peace groups from RHR, TaYush and Peace
Now who come to Jama'in to harvest olives for a day.
Although there has been some
ambivalence on the
part of Palestinians - which I'll discuss in a moment
- all interactions between Palestinians and Israelis
have been good. There was one very intense political
discussion yesterday afternoon between my friend Rida
and a perceptive Israeli, named Oded, which promoted
common ground.
The heart of the problem from
the perspective of
Israeli liberals, Oded said, was the Israeli fear that
even if Israel were to withdraw from the territories,
Palestinian violence would continue unabated. Rida
understood this concern and sought to allay the
Israeli fear. He offered the perspective which I've
always believed to be true - namely, that if Israel
were to actually withdraw - meaning evacuate all
settlements and soldiers - and promote a truly viable
Palestinian State, the Palestinian violence would
indeed end. Rida claimed that he himself would be
motivated to end it, because at last Palestinians
would be getting what they need, even if it wasn't all
of what some wanted. He himself would be motivated to
stop violent radicals, he said, because those radicals
would finally be seen as disrupting the common need -
the need for a truly viable Palestinian State based on
Israel's pre-1967 borders, which now, for the first
time, Israel would be promoting. Rida and Oded both
acknowledged that a true motivation to end Palestinian
violence has not yet been offered by Israel - Barak's
2000 offer did not allow for a "viable state." Since
Oslo, the rate of Israeli settlement building in the
territories has more than doubled. The thorn of stolen
land remains, so what real peace can Israel expect? As
the Israeli novelist Israel Shamir (a member of our
group) pointed out today, the Israeli government does
not actually want peace. What they really want is the
land, although they would never admit this to the
international community. As the Courage To Refuse
spokesman Guy Grossman has said, to give up the land
and promote true peace would be to invite an Israeli
civil war (with settlers like the one who assaulted me
several days ago). Israel doesn't want to face its own
internal conflict, and so, instead, it claims it
cannot find "a partner for peace."
Despite such positive interactions,
the villagers
told me later that although they appreciate protection
from the settlers, they do not need assistance in
picking olives. Instead, they have greater community
needs. They mentioned, for example, the need for
non-interest loans for building infrastructure in
Jama'in - a hospital, a stone quarry, factories, a
pre-school - and assistance for individuals seeking
Palestinian IDs. Both issues are significant for
symbolic as well as practical reasons. Helping
Palestinians gain IDs and build community
infrastructure represent the opposite of "transfer"
(moving Palestinians out of the West Bank and Gaza).
Such action supports the Palestinian attachment to the
land and lays the groundwork for the creation of a
Palestinian State.
I have spoken with Rabbi Ascherman
about these
concerns and will be speaking with him further. Any
financial assistance from the U.S. would be greatly
appreciated.
Note: The political discussion
described above did
not address the issue of the Palestinian Right of
Return, which U.N. resolutions recognize as legitimate
and valid. Dr. Iyad al-Saraj, Director of the Gaza
Mental Health Center, has voiced his willingness to
forgo that right in return for reparation and an
apology from Israel for "the Catastrophe" of 1948.
He
is a courageous man of peace. Under conditions of a
just solution, would all Palestinians be given the
opportunity to exercise their own individual choice,
with some presumably agreeing with Saraj and others
not?
The discussion also did not address
the question of
the validity of a "Jewish" state. Does Zionism demand
a state that is by definition "Jewish" or simply a
state where Jews are "safe and secure"? If Jewish,
why? If oppressed Christians in southern Sudan wanted
to create a "Christian" state, would their demand be
equally valid? Will there eventually come a time when
the world no longer considers the Jews to be an
"oppressed people" but instead "a people of power,
who
are now part of the status quo"? By comparison, are
Blacks in America also gaining power? At what time is
the power gained finally enough to no longer warrent
special consideration for a people who were once
oppressed? Will there eventually come a time when
Palestinians are viewed as "oppressed"? How bad must
their circumstance become before they are viewed as
such? If many Palestinians are "ethnically cleansed"
from Gaza and the West Bank, will the world claim they
brought it on themselves? Does Israel have "a right"
to maintain control over Gaza and the West Bank, as it
has since 1967, or is it "tearing up its own birth
certificate" by illegally holding onto those
territories and transferring its citizens there, as
Israeli leader Abba Eban has said?
These are provocative, difficult
questions which
people of goodwill must have the courage to address.
For more information:
International Solidarity Movement:
www.palsolidarity.org
The Rapprochement Center: www.rapprochement.org