Silwan facing demolition

When the afternoon's sweltering heat subsided, an ISM volunteer took us to Silwan. Silwan is a Palestinian neighborhood on the south east side of Jerusalem. It is more slummish than the neighborhood we are staying in, with houses toppling over each other and people crowded on to stoops and balconies. It is a tight knit and politically charged area - when the second Intifada came to Jerusalem, it began here.

The Israeli government has condemned the entire neighborhood to be demolished. They want to build an archeological park- a tourist trap that would come at the price of at least 88 Palestinian homes (design plan pictured right). Unlike at the Hunnoun house, the Israeli government is not even pretending that these houses do not belong to the Palestinians living there. They simply do not care. They are using the Israeli equivilant of imminent domain, a legal device that allows the government to confiscate land when they deem it "in the public interest" to do so. And of course it is in the public interest, so long as Palestinians are not part of "the public." Silwan is a political threat - what could be more in Israel's interest than demolishing it? (left is repeats of 8 demolition orders they recieved yesterday)

The residents of Silwan have set up a large tent in a pull out from the main road. The tent has become a center of their struggle against the demolition. Every week they flier, send out press releases, and bring tour groups to the tent in an attempt to expose the blatant ethnic cleansing taking place in Silwan. Like at the Hunnoun house they have exhasted all legal options, and are now relying entirely on media exposure and international pressure. Unlike the Hunnoun house, there are no set demolition dates. The bulldozers could come at any time to any house, and there will be no time to call the media or bring in internationals.

Many families have removed all the furniture from their homes. They have survived demolitions before, and don't want to go through the process of replacing everything they own again. Many sleep with their belongings packed in bags by their beds, so that they are ready to flee when the time comes. But not all of them plan on fleeing. For some it is better to be buried in alive than to surrender their homes.

Fighting Ethnic Cleansing

So far we have spent two nights house sitting with little event. Our first night was spent chatting, drinking date juice and hearing a full account of the family's 37 year struggle to stay in their home. The house was built and given to the Hunnoun family in 1956 by the Jordanian government and United Nations Relief and Works Agency as part of an effort to house Palestinian refugees. East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel 11 years later in the 1967 war. Since then, Israel has been attempting to ethnically cleanse East Jerusalem, using falsified documents and obstinent courts to force families one by one from their homes.

In 1998, after refusing to pay rent to the settlers, the Israeli government raided the house and confiscated their furniture. In 2002 the family was succesfully evicted, and Maher (the father) was arrested. He spent 3 months in jail, and his family spent 4 years exiled from their own property. During that time settlers broke in to the vacant property and spent three days in the house. They would have stayed longer, but the community backlash was so fierce that the police ordered them to leave the property. In 2006, after successfully obtainign Ottoman documents proving that they owned the house, the family was temporarilly moved back in. Since then they have been fighting an impossible legal battle, and in March of 2008 were issued a second eviction notice.

Though the deadline for their eviction notice is July 19, their rent is due this Monday. We don't know what will happen when they don't pay it. We are trying to keep a strong international presence in the house at all times, and to keep their mind off the pending eviction. But its hard when every night could be the last one they spend in their own beds. When the eviction comes the father will be sent to jail again. The fate of the rest of the family is less clear.

The Israeli government is trying to frame the case as a legal issue rather than a political one. They have offered to pay off the family, hoping that they will leave quietly. But in the words of Maher, "money can't by our memories, our hopes and our dreams." This isn't just about a house - it's about the silent destruction of an entire people.

Today hundreds of Israeli troops marched down the street and stopped near the house. We dont know whether this has anything to do with the coming eviction, but it probably does. The largest deployment occurred 5 minutes after a delegate arrived from the Czech Republic's embassy. The presence of Czech government officials made us feel a lot safer in that instance.

Nearby the house is a tent that was setup by a Palestinian family after their house was taken over by Police and then settlers. The husband died shortly after from a heart attack and the old Palestinian widow spends all her time in the tent as a way of fighting to regain her home(the tent is pictured to the left). Community members also facing eviction (in Sheikh Jarra there are 500) often convene at the spot to interact with internationals who occasionally visit the area. A few weeks ago some settlers threw a tear gas grenade into the tent where the old lady was sleeping. They often come to throw rocks at the tent too.

House Sitting

We all arrived in Tel Aviv and traveled to Jerusalem without any major issues. We are now currently staying in East Jerusalem. Today we got in touch with some folks in the ISM who are involved in stopping house evictions in East Jerusalem. Currently 28 families are in danger of having their houses evicted to give to settlers. The justification for these evictions are some fabricated documents the settlers registered a week or two after the 6 day war ended and East Jerusalem came under the jurisdiction of the Israeli military.

Documents of ownership have been obtained from the Turkish government after years of them stalling (to placate the Israelis) and they definitively prove that the families have had ownership since the Ottoman empire. However, the Israeli high court has refused to even look at this evidence and has instead ruled in favor of the Israeli settlers. After the homes were ruled to the settlers, the Palestinian families refused to pay them "rent as they refused to cede control over to settlers. The fathers of all the families were jailed for 3 months. Meanwhile the ISM has been conducting round the clock stay-ins in the houses to try to prevent eviction by force. One home has already been evicted a few months ago. 500 police forced their way into the house at 5am and arrested all the internationals there and forced the family out. There is another home that is destined to be forced out by July 19th (the court deadline) but the Israelis could come at any time before that to force them out. We have opted to spend a few nights there to make sure that doesn't happen.

Freedom Summer Begins!

Freedom Summer 2009: Defend the Land and Jerusalem

The International Solidarity Movement is issuing a call-out for internationals to volunteer as field activists and office workers in the West Bank, Gaza, and occupied East Jerusalem this summer.

Whether you can come for only few weeks or several months, your presence is needed to support Palestinian communities who are nonviolently resisting the Israeli occupation. Freedom Summer 2009, which will run from June 6th until August 15th, aims to challenge the continued theft of Palestinian land for the rapid expansion of illegal Israeli settlements and their infrastructure in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Volunteer training sessions will be held every week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Visit our “Join Us in Palestine” section to read more information about volunteering.

Below are some of the actions ISM volunteers can anticipate this summer:

1. ISM volunteers will stand in solidarity with the Palestinian families of occupied East Jerusalem who face dispossession.
   International activists will join families in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Shu’fat, and other neighborhoods whose residences are threatened, in resisting evictions and demolitions with non-violent, direct actions methods. ISM volunteers will also participate in demonstrations against discriminatory Israeli policies and support ongoing organization of Palestinian heritage and cultural events.
2. In the West Bank, volunteers will join Palestinian villagers in nonviolent demonstrations against the Wall, and other apartheid infrastructure of the occupation such as checkpoint, settlements, and Israeli-only roads. Activists will be working in communities such as Ni’lin, Bil’in, Jayyous, Husan and Tulkarem to support direct actions under Palestinian popular leadership. Recently Israeli military violence during nonviolent demonstrations has escalated, making it more important that international solidarity activists are present to help deter and document the repression from Israeli forces. Additionally, volunteers will accompany farmers and shepherds to deter violence from the Israeli military and settlers. In the South Hebron hills, the army’s designation of large areas as military closed zones will be challenged.
3. The ISM volunteers in the Gaza Strip will continue to accompany Palestinian farmers who frequently face live fire from the army as they work their land in the buffer zone. Volunteers will stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza against the crippling siege and sporadic attacks on the region. Several ISM activists will be joining the Free Gaza Movement’s Hope Fleet that will sail into Gaza’s port at the end of May. International activists will mass on the Egyptian border with Gaza between the 22nd of May and the 14th of June, in an attempt to challenging the ongoing closure and isolation of the people of Gaza. Individuals interested in volunteering with ISM Gaza must have previous experience with ISM in the West Bank.

Come to Palestine to support the Palestinian people in their struggle against occupation. Become an eyewitness to the Palestinian struggle for freedom! ISM volunteers have become better advocates for the freedom and self-determination of the Palestinian people in their home communities.

This summer, support and participate in the Palestinian non-violent resistance to the Occupation by using direct action methods to defend the land of East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Back in Exarchia

Today Maria and Ian ventured back towards Exarchia while Joe looked for a Greek Gym that had so far eluded him. En route to Exarchia it was clear that Greece was bracing for Sunday's European parliament elections (this picture on the left is one of the Communist Parties near the University of Athens) (The one on the right is an Anarchist group protesting the elections a block away). The center right wing New Democracy Party also had giant ads up everywhere. People are worrying that the Extreme Right wing is going to win seats in the election, while some of the Anarchists are trying to urge a total boycott of elections.

As always, Exarchia proved an interesting trip as there was new Graffiti and political posters and flyers everywhere. We wondered into a community center that we had heard serviced immigrants. Inside we found all sorts of literature and three classrooms set up to teach Greek. One was in use for Arabs and another for North Africans. Apparently the funding for the location came from the teachers who volunteered their time. The center is open every days for lessons in Greek and meetings for immigrant rights groups. It is also connected with immigrant detainee struggles and for immigrant LGBT and childrens issues. Apparently this center is associated with leftists (they werent specific but I think she meant it was associated with one of the trotskyist parties or the KKE (stalinist). There are also other ones run by far leftists and Anarchists.

There is a massive Gay Pride Rally being planned in Athens and we saw lots of of "Queer Revolution" tags spraypainted all over walls. Also the neighborhood adjacent to Exarchia was covered in Antifa messages. Apparently a group calling itself "The Antifa Panthers" or "Antifa Group 3" is based out of there. We found that out just as it became apparent that the Fascist group Golden Dawn struck another place. They stormed the International Press Center in Athens where a ceremony was taking place for the first Macedonian to Greek dictionary. It is important because the fascists do not consider Macedonians different from Greeks and them having a "separate language" is considered anathema. They smashed several film cameras, destroyed the film, and assaulted attendees. ALL THIS OCCURRED RIGHT AFTER WE SAW THEM THE OTHER DAY! Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) is a dangerous organization that will get whats coming to them one of these days.

The Palestinan Condition

While news of Nablus surfaced that it had become a "closed military zone" something more insidious became apparent about the occupation. One of the friends of a Palestinian resident of our squat who we had hung out with and had drinks with on other occasions (around 21-23 yrs old) tried to kill himself by jumping out of his 3 story window.
The end result was that he broke through the glass, seriously cutting himself and crashed to the ground below. He didn't die, but he was really messed up. We saw him after he had gone to the hospital and had escaped before police came. (he came straight to our squat afterwards) He is an undocumented Palestinian from Ramallah and was worried that he would be imprisoned for a while. He had gashes all over his body and it look like he had broken his arm. His friends at the squat are really depressed about it and have been keeping him at the squat so at to keep an eye on him and to make sure he doesn't try again. From the little English the Palestinians at our squat speak, we ascertained that he was super depressed over living off the grid here (with fear of police and with little prospects) and also sad about his family in occupied West Bank. As of now he has just sorta been sitting still and quiet. Not even the new kittens and puppies at the squat have cheered him up.

Our First Run-in With Fascists

So today was new for us for two reasons. It was our first Greek protest we attended and also our first experience with fascists. The protest was about elections and was commented on in a previous post so I wont go too much into the rationale. Joe didn't feel like going, so Maria and I ventured out by ourselves. What we learned was that it is actually illegal to refuse to vote. So what a lot of people do is they write ballots to dead people or "frodo baggins". But this protest was trying to get people to refuse alltogether. It was pretty cool.
The anarchists had an awesome newspaper and huge banners. One of the older anarchists who looked in his upper 50s spent 15-20 minutes spray-painting a slogan that said "boycott elections". It was amazing that someone could get away with spraypainting so blatantly in the middle of the day. The reason it was possible was because the police cannot venture onto university property and it was technically university property.
Another cool thing about the Anarchists there was that they were mostly normal looking. Yeah a lot of them wore black, but they didn't look like they were in the punk culture, or dressed really alternative. They also didn't have a bandanna around their necks. A lot of things about this were somewhat shocking and cool. There was a number of black motor cycle helmets that the group kept to the side for easy access. At first we thought that this was in case of police but after talking with some Greeks we learned that "these helmets are in case fasists attack". When asked if this happens a lot, the person replied "sometimes". He told us that the most extreme group, "Golden Dawn" has a lot of ex-special forces guys and is really tough. They often come with knives in addition to their clubs and he said "If you ever fight Golden Dawn, you wont ever be afraid of anything else ever again"

There is going to be another protest in the same place tomorrow and Maria and I plan on going.

After the protest, we headed back to Exarchia. We got some food, saw an eco art exhibit and were on our way back when we bumped into a massive amount of special police. The Greeks call them the "Mat", but they are essentially riot cops with sheilds and riot gear. They were on 2 major corners that we could see and there were cops on motor cycles one block away. We heard some loud Greek voice ranting about something so we figured we might as well check it out.

We wandered over to the direction of the voice only to find out that it was a huge gathering of Greek Fascists. They were all carrying giant greek flags on poles and some of them had long white clubs in their hands. There was also a big banner that we couldn't get close enough to check out.

Meanwhile, the man with the loudspeaker was yelling really loud about something in Greek and every other word out of his mouth was "Pakistani" this and "Pakistani" that. The gathering was mostly large dudes and they kept having these gutteral cheers. Then they all sang the Greek national anthem and repeated some sayings. I took a picture at a distance and when I went closer to take another picture, some dude with a club came over to me and pointed at my camera and started talking in Greek. I said "sorry dont speak Greek" and moved farther away from the rally. In all I would say that there was 150-200 of them. There was also a ton of cops 2 blocks away from them. What was interesting was that the cops werent facing the fascists, they were looking away from them in what appeared directed at a possible antifa response.

I dont know how strong Greek Antifa is, but you would have needed an army to get past the police and expect to be able to come out alive from any confrontation with the fascist group that was there. Shit is crazy here sometimes.