GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - www.gush-shalom.org/

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The dialogue of bombs & the underreported nonviolent resistance
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International release
Tel-Aviv, March 15, 2004

Just two days after Madrid the sickening images are once again coming
from closer to home, with the news of a suicide bombing at the Israeli port
of Ashdod. Once again the cycle of bloodshed is rolling on. (And, once
again a day of mass, unarmed Palestinian resistance was overshadowed
by the acts of two young desperados.) For the players on both sides of
the lethal ping-pong, casualties are instrumentalized into ammunition, into
a licence to kill the other side's men, women, old and young.

Nearly two months have passed since Ariel Sharon made the startling
announcement of his intention to evacuate the Gaza Strip - and
commentators, as well as the general public, are still puzzled about his true
intentions. One thing, however, is already crystal clear: the announced
plans for withdrawal from Gaza do not entail an end to the daily violence
and bloodshed in and around the Strip. On the contrary: in the past month,
the armed forces of Israel actually intensified the rate of their aerial
assassinations and large-scale armed incursions into Gaza City as well as
Rafah and other towns. Some commentators regard this as a prestige game
- "The generals are determined not to let withdrawal from Gaza seem a
military defeat"; others see PM Sharon using every means to distract
attention from the burgeoning corruption scandals touching upon himself
and his sons - the subject of an ongoing, intensive police investigation.
Whatever the underlying motives, the price in human life and suffering is
extremely high. In just a single Israeli raid into the Gazan refugee camps,
precisely a week ago, fifteen Palestinians (including several children) were
killed within a few hours; the following days saw a continuing death toll of
"just a few" every day, which got hardly any mention in the media.
Today came the Palestinian retaliation. For the first time since the outbreak
of hostilities three and half years ago, two young Gazan refugees managed
to break out of the fence surrounding the Strip and make their way to the
port of Ashdod, a short distance to the north, where they blew themselves
up and took ten Israelis with them - and the death toll might have been
much higher, had the blast come closer to the highly combustible
chemicals stored in large quantities at the port.
The form which the Israeli counter-retaliation is to take has reportedly
been already agreed upon between Prime Minister Sharon and Defence
Minister Mofaz. Already, as we write, Israeli helicopter gunships are
bombing Gaza and more seems to be in store for the coming days. It will
only add more to the toll of innocent lives cut short, and further fuel the
cycle of retaliation and counter-retaliation. And the long-delayed meeting
of Sharon with his Palestinian counterpart Ahmed Qurei has now been put
off yet again, and with it the faint hopes of a new cease-fire.

Meanwhile, all this served to distract attention from a highly significant
development: the dramatic increase in mass, unarmed Palestinian acts of
resistance, specifically in the West Bank villages which strand to lose their
land to Sharon's "Separation Wall". In village after village, hundreds of
people stand together to block the bulldozers. Israeli peace activists are a
welcome part of such protests, as are internationals. "We stood four
hours, and were treated to repeated barrages of tear gas. The soldiers were
extremely trigger-happy, though they had no pretext. Nobody threw
stones, there was nothing but men and women, young and old, trying to
defend their olive groves with their bare hands. Twelve were wounded and
needed medical treatment, and the others just stood their ground" was
what we heard this morning from Shai Pollak, Tel-Avivian activist of
"Anachists Against The Wall". Of course, a single suicide bomber gets
enormously more air time on the international media than a dozen mass
unarmed actions...

In the midst of all this, March 16 is coming around this Tuesday - the sad
anniversary of Rachel Corrie, American ISM activist crushed to death at
Rafah while trying to stop an Israeli military bulldozer destroying a
Palestinian house. On Tuesday, March 16, there will be several events of
commemoration and protest at the ongoing bloodshed and oppression:

At 12:00 noon,there will be a gathering of ISM activists together with
Israeli peace activists at the Erez Checkpoint between the Gaza Strip and
Israel (further information from ISM: Gabe +972.55.725.958 or
Flo +972.64.309.753 - transportation available from Jerusalem);
At 10 am, the community of Rafah - where rachel Corrie was killed - will
commemorate her with a march starting at the main square of Rafah (info:
Adwan +972.59.304.628);
Finally, at 6:00 pm the Grassroots International Protection for the
Palestinian People (GIPPP) will hold a candlelight vigil in honor
of Rachel Corrie at Manara Square in Ramallah, attended by internationals
of the ISM and GIPPP, Palestinians and Israelis (info: Bahia of GIPPP
+972.67.907.492).



[] Palestinian Romeo - Uri Avnery

"Will relations formed in the darkest times provide a basis for
reconciliation? - was the question Avnery asked himself after seeing
"Arna's Children" - film by Juliano Mer about his mother Arna Mer's work
with children in the Jenin Refugee Camp, several of whom grew up to
become suicide bombers

English
 http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/article294.html

raxiz / Hebrew
 http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/article294_heb.html


--
pekgez ienieniz aktxim n`inim r"i dgend lz`m rm
`iiai 064-604172  isichel@netvision.net.il
`xiw 050-607034  info@rhr.israel.net

Day to day presence at villages threatened by route of wall.
Contact: Ivy Sichel 064-604172  isichel@netvision.net.il who set's up a list
for people who can come at short notice, or: Arik Asherman 050-607034
 info@rhr.israel.net

--
Refuser news:

Constantly-updated list of all presently jailed refusniks:

English -  http://www.yesh-gvul.org/english/prison/
Hebrew / raxiz -  http://www.yesh-gvul.org/prison/


For the latest news about the five:

 http://www.refuz.org.il/News.html

NB:
Letters of support to
Noam Bahat / Haggai Mattar / Matan Kaminer
AGAF BET
Maasiyaho Prison
P.O.B 13
Ramla
Israel

Adam Maor / Shimri Tzameret:
Hermon Prison
P.O.B 4011
KFAR MRAR
Israel

--
List of international vigils on day of Vanunu release:
 http://www.nonviolence.org/vanunu/
 http://www.vanunu.freeserve.co.uk/

Online petition for the unconditional release of Vanunu
 http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/freemordechaivanunu/

--
 http://www.gush-shalom.org/ (raxiz/Hebrew)
 http://www.gush-shalom.org/english/index.html (English)
 http://www.gush-shalom.org/arabic/index.html (selected articles in Arabic)

with
\\photos of recent actions
\\the weekly Gush Shalom ad
\\the columns of Uri Avnery
\\Gush Shalom's history & action chronicle
\\position papers & analysis (in "documents")
\\and a lot more

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