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The Israeli Holocaust Against the Palestinians - Part Four: November 22-30, 2000
News and Analysis
CONTENTS
1. Jewish Woman Turns Human Shield for Palestinians
2. Catholic Priest Describes Assault by Israeli Settlers
Editor's note: Here is a report of one Jewish woman who is standing between the Israeli guns and Palestinian farmers. The story will come as a shock to Americans who have no idea that Palestinians are gunned down while they try to harvest their olives, even as the olive trees (some of them centuries old) are chopped down by the Israelis in order to further curtail the livelihood of the Palestinians, thereby forcing them off their land and ethnically cleansing them from Palestine.
Neta Golan knows that her "Jewish skin privilege" keeps her from being treated like the "Arab dogs" (Rabbi Kahane's words) and draws attention to their horrible plight. She risks her life to bear witness to the deaths and oppression of civilians. She has learned the lessons of World War Two and is applying them selflessly and heroically. If there were more Israelis like her, then the "Holy Land" would be a paradigm of mutual respect and peace, instead of the devil's playground.
What she is doing what is most admirable in any human being, using elite status to cut across party lines and partisan allegiance to mercifully reach out to the helpless, despised "other" and at long last breath some life into the heretofore desiccated Jewish cliche, "Never Again."
--Michael A. Hoffman II
Jewish woman turns human shield for Palestinians
A Jewish woman has turned herself into a human shield to protect Palestiman olive pickers from Israeli soldiers and armed settlers.
For the past month, the 3,500 residents of Hares have watched their olive crop spoil on the bough. When they nip over the earth-works erected by the Israeli army which has sealed them into their village, to try to pick the fruit, the Jewish settlers from the nearby West Bank colony of Ravava, shoot at them.
And when the Palestinians want to move the barriers which surround their village, Neta Golan is there to stand between them and the Israelis, daring them to shoot a Jew.
On Wednesday night at the end of a day in which she endured threats of rape, a settler sent her a message wrapped in a full metal jacket. The bullet from his M16 automatic rifle struck close enough to blast a piece of rock into her face.
She had been shouting at them with a loudhailer and demanding that the group of 40 to 60 settler vehicles, which had gathered at the entrance to the village, should leave.
The army stood aside as some of the settlers marched towards Hares carrying their guns. When they opened fire, Golan kept her nerve. "That is a crime and I will lodge a complaint with the military courts and you will go to an army jail," she yelled.
"That did the trick," she said. "They didn't like the idea of the stockade, so they got the settlers to go away. But as soon as I am gone, they'll be back."
Golan's sympathy with the Palestians and the publicity she had generated about the military noose around Hares where at least 25 have been injured and one boy of 14 killed by the Israeli army has enraged the authorities. The military said that Hares has been sealed off and olive groves close to the main road bulldozed because stone-throwers have been attacking cars, which is true.
Golan, a therapist specializing in Chinese medicine, and her friends are part of a small but growing number of Israeli "leftties" who have been horrified by the Palestinian death toll since the start of the al Aqsa Intifada.
Last week they came to the West Bank to harvest help the villagers of Hares to harvest the olives which form the basis of their economy, especially as they have been banned from travelling to their jobs in Israel and elsewhere by the army.
"If we were not here, these people would not be able to go into their fields, it's as simple as that. If 'we leave, they'll get shot at straight away," Golan said.
Sam Kiley | Times of London | Calgary Herald | November 18, 2000
Catholic Priest Describes Assault by Israeli Settlers
RAMALLAH, Israel-occupied West Bank. "You must leave now: They are going to bomb Ramallah." In the small offices of the Latin Patriarchate Schools, these were familiar words. Employees grabbed their belongings and headed out, numbed into nonchalance by the recurring threats to their security and property.
The city--whose outskirts are lined with the villas of cabinet members of the Palestinian Authority, set close by the large grey concrete buildings in which Yasser Arafat meets his ministers and delegates-- has become synonymous with violence. Every day, its inhabitants live in expectation of air-strikes and missile attacks, waiting for the dull drone of the Apache gunships from the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) that act as a signal to shut up shop and stay indoors.
On international news broadcasts, the images of Islamic chants and heavily masked demonstrators give the impression that Ramallah is a refuge for Islamic fundamentalists. It is not. With 10,000 faithful and a municipal protocol that stipulates that the mayor must be a Christian, this is a traditionally Christian city.
The parish priest for the 1,500-2,000 Roman Catholics in Ramallah, Father Ibrahim Hijazin, is a respected figure in the city. His confidence in the possibility of peace spurred him to initiate a "Peace Education Program" in the Latin Patriarchate School which he runs here. When we met him, he spoke proudly, but also sadly (in the light of recent events) about his project. "We are the first school in Palestine to have meetings with Israeli students and teachers," he said of a program, which began five years ago. "We have had many meetings with Israeli schools about the peace process, the environment and water resources, as well as games like basketball. But when our students see the killing on TV, how can we teach and convince them of a real peace with Israelis-- who they think are killing their people and taking their land?"
The frustration which Father Ibrahim feels is reflected in the faces and speeches of his teachers and students, as well as their parents. A few hundred yards away, young children are collecting stones around the wreck of a burnt-out bus, while Israeli army (IDF) soldiers, protected by heavily armored jeeps, load their M16s in preparation for the afternoon's conflict. In this atmosphere, it is easy to despair-- even more so for Father Ibrahim, who has himself been the victim of aggression.
The incident, at he recalled it, developed in this way: Father Ibrahim was driving back to Ramallah from nearby Nablus, where he had been conducting services. As always, he used the main road between the two towns. At about 6:20 he was stopped by a group of between 45 and 50 Israelis from the nearby settlement of Shilo, who were blocking the road. They were middle-aged, dressed in civilian clothes, the men brandishing machine-guns while the women placed boulders strategically on the road to halt oncoming traffic. As the priest brought his vehicle to a halt, a well-dressed man addressed him: "What is your business here?"
"I am a Catholic priest," he replied, "returning to my parish from religious services in Nablus." (He was dressed in cassock and clerical collar.) When asked for his papers, he produced his Vatican passport, at which one of the men scoffed before throwing it back into the car. The leader shrugged and stated, "You can't use this road; it is for Israelis only. Go back."
"But I used it only hours ago. I always use it; it's a main road," Father Ibrahim replied. At this the leader leveled his gun at the priest's head and repeated that the road was for Jews only. The people behind him were beginning to get angry, shouting and gesticulating at the car. Father Ibrahim put the vehicle in reverse and attempted to turn around. Behind him, however, had gathered another group of some 30 younger settlers in their mid-20s. One of these approached the driver's side and said, "Shalom."
Father Ibrahim replied, "Shalom," and was astonished to hear the breaking of glass from his rear window. He looked back to see that the younger group had surrounded the car, were gathering stones and hurling them from as close as two or three yards away. The attack continued until they had run out of stones, by which time every window of his vehicle had been smashed, every plate dented; he too had been struck on the arm. He quickly put his car into gear and set off the way he had come, in a state of severe shock.
At a nearby service station, the owners took one look at the condition of the car and its driver, and called first the police, who refused to come, and then the army, who did not come. As he was wondering what to do--driving back to Nablus would be dangerous after dark, since he would face the threat of another attack from other settlements; yet he could not risk returning to the blockade -- an Arab taxi drove past, in too much of a hurry to give any assistance. A quarter of an hour later, however, the cab returned, its elderly driver and his vehicle having received much the same treatment as Father Ibrahim and the Volkswagen Passatt. The driver informed Father Ibrahim that he knew a back road to Ramallah, so the priest followed him slowly back to his parish.
The next day, Father Ibrahim visited the police station in Jerusalem. The officers there redirected him to offices in Beit El, where he filled in numerous forms and complained to the officer in charge that, by law, he should be compensated by the government for this attack. "I'm sorry," shrugged the policeman. Israeli laws stipulate that the government should pay compensatation for damages done by Palestininans, but not by Israeli citizens. "If you want to take this matter any further," said the police officer, "you will have to go to Shilo and sue these people yourself." The priest threw the papers on the desk in disgust, and left. The 10,0000 shekel ($2,500) bill for repairs to his vehicle was paid by the Latin patriarchate, out of funds which had been raised abroad to be spent on schools, housing projects, and other needs of the local Church.
This is not the only time Father Ibrahim has felt the threat of violence. He has had guns pointed at his head, and his Vatican passport does little to curry favour with Israeli officialdom. Once, he was travelling in a car with a group comprising both Christians and Muslims. Soldiers stopped the car and ordered the Christians to dismount while the Muslims stayed inside the vehicle. "This was to divide the Muslims and Christians," the priest observed. He was the first in line to dismount, but refused, saying, "Either we all get down or we all stay inside." Consequently, he was made to wait in the street for four hours.
In the light of such experiences, it is understandable that Father Ibrahim feels: "Israel has no respect for anybody, only for its own benefits. Still he also stresses that "the Jews are human beings like us."
Father Ibrahim is now working to bring about peace without violence. The Church Council of Ramallah, in which the Christian denominations sit together, has organized demonstrations in which the parishes pray and march alongside each other with candles, singing songs of peace. They have been joined by many Muslims, who feel solidarity with their compatriots. But Father Ibrahim is under no false illusions, and does not expect peace overnight. "Worse is to come for all the Palestinian people," he fears. "Maybe soon we will have no food, no water, no electricity."
...But Father Ibrahim retains his conviction of peace: he hopes there will be "real peace, the baby of justice." He adds a final note: "Without justice, we'll never find peace."
Michael Hirst & Nicholas Jubber, Nov. 22, 2000 Catholic World News
news & analysis part one: Sept.28-Oct. 27 2000
news & analysis part two: Oct. 28- Nov.10, 2000
news & analysis part three: Nov. 11- Nov.21, 2000
israeli army shoots muslim worshippers
israeli army fires on medical personnel and ambulances
israeli child murder documented
israeli holocaust against palestinians / archives / bookstore / news bureau