The Vision of ‘Looking the Occupation in the Eye’
Who are we?
We are a group of Israeli women and men who are certain that military domination of Palestinians and the colonization of the Occupied Territories are the two major problems of the State of Israel. We act to change this for the good of all Palestinians and Israelis.
Our vision
Placing the dire need to end the occupation and its injustices at the center of Israeli public discourse, while supporting all efforts to instate a just peace.
Our action principles
Activism
The members of this group participate in acts that serve the purpose stated above while taking personal responsibility.
We act in three areas:
- Defending Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and supporting them.
- Publicly protesting in the Occupied Territories and inside Israel through demonstrations and advocacy.
- Publicizing in the social media and mass communication channels.
Rapidity and flexibility
Reality in the Occupied Territories and in Israel demands a rapid and determined response by our activists to the challenges taking place.
Cooperation
‘Looking the Occupation in the Eye’ cooperates with Palestinian, Israeli and international bodies that maintain a similar worldview.
Independence
‘Looking the Occupation in the Eye’ protects its independence, careful to be politically and financially free.
Organization
Members of ‘Looking the Occupation in the Eye’ are volunteers. Our policy and modes of action are set by the leaders of the organization, in full transparency.
Non-Violence
The organization and its members are committed to non-violence.
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Who we are
We are a group of normative Israeli citizens, people who care about human rights and the future of the state. We oppose the occupation and act to put an end to it. In the meantime we participate in inter-organizational activities in order to prevent as much as possible the harming of Palestinians’ rights in the Occupied Territories.
Our purpose here is clear: raising consciousness of the general Israeli public and exposing it to reality in the Occupied Territories, without the media’s mediation but simply as reflected by us, activists on the ground.
In our protest encampment, we speak about human rights, morality, the loss of humaneness, power relations of occupier and occupied, and that even under occupation there are laws, duties and red lines that should not be crossed.
Through videos, leaflets, lectures, activities and encounters with artists and activists who know the ground are willing to hold a discussion with anyone, we try to make people look occupation in the eye, reach the many who understand and know but choose to ignore it, those who are aware but prefer not to know, and those who hear and see but are afraid to take sides…
We believe that change begins slowly and gradually infiltrates reality. Thus, too, a change of consciousness is so sorely needed by Israeli society, crossing over from an occupier-mind to a recognition that solution must be found.
We ask the Israeli public to take its head out of the sand and look at harsh reality without softening filters: we do things to the Palestinian people that under international law are defined as war crimes. Harm to Israeli society is enormous: moral and value decline, violence that permeates our society, traumas that remain with those who have served in the Occupied Territories.
We wish to look at occupation in the eye and understand where this is taking us all.
To join Looking the Occupation in the Eye, please click here...
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Amir Pansky - The voice of an Israeli activist
My name is Amir Pansky and I have a long, complicated relationship with the Occupation. Before diving into that, a little bit about me: I...
Israeli Activists
Amir Pansky
May 15, 20233 min read
My name is Amir Pansky and I have a long, complicated relationship with the Occupation.
Before diving into that, a little bit about me:
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I was born in Safed, some years after Mahmud Abbas was forced to leave the city in 1948.
My father was a sole holocaust survivor who taught me to always be involved, responsible and to care for people. His legacy was ”No More!” but in a broader, universal sense:” No More!” for any human being, regardless of race, gender, religion, opinions or any other distinctions.
Following military service... I graduated and completed Ph.D in Physics from Weizmann Institute of Science. I got married, built a family and worked intensively in medical devices development companies.
During that period, in parallel to my civil life, I served in the reserved force of IDF as a mid-rank officer in the Armour Force, defending the Israeli borders but also serving in the Occupied West Bank. This was actually the first time that I Looked the Occupation in the Eyes. My first duty in the Occupied Territories was in 1987 in Nablus. I strongly felt the dissonance between the beauty of the city and the violence there due to the Occupation. Even at those early years (the first Intifada) I looked differently at the situation and understood that the Occupation is wrong and immoral. I also realized that it will not go on without resistance.
Around 2010, I joined Yesh-Din, a human rights organization which collects testimonies from Palestinian victims, represents them to the Israeli Court when possible and tries to bring some justice where justice for the Palestinians does not or cannot exist. Looking at those Palestinians victims of settlers terror or military hostility and listening to them made my frustration grow huge. I felt I had to do something, to be more effective.
Fortunately, during one of the testimony collections in Ein Hilweh in the Jordan Valley, I met Guy Hirschfeld and decided to join the group of volunteers that chaperon Palestinian shepherds in the Jordan Valley, helping them to survive, to put food on the table, in the hostile environment of violent settlers, army and police. There, I could take advantage of being a privileged Israeli citizen who can sometimes protect the human rights of deprived shepherds. In the last 6 years (or so), I’ve spent hundreds of days in the West Bank, especially in the Jordan Valley. During which time I met and connected, even without speaking Arabic, with Palestinian shepherds and their families. I am inspired by the way they are able to keep their daily hard life in harsh desert environment in spite of the continuous violence of the Jewish settlers, the discrimination of the army and police. The social bond of the Palestinian people reminds me of Israel several tens of years ago.
Spending time in Palestine with the Palestinians made me able to see them as they are: proud people, stick to their land, their traditions, carry themselves with dignity, decency, and self control, in spite of their complex, fragile existence. This is in contrary to the common prejudice perspective of them by the typical Israeli.
More and more frequently I am overwhelmed by the cruelty of the settlers, their arrogance and aggressive behavior towards the innocent Palestinians but also towards us, the Israeli human rights defenders: those extremists who live in the violence nests, usually called “farms” or “outposts”. But also from the silence and indifference of those who live in the surrounding area, in the big settlements and communities, next door to those illegal terror outposts.
More and more frequently I am astonished by the corrupted behavior of the law enforcement authorities- Israel police. But also the loss of moral values and ethics, lack of humanity of all official entities including what is called Israel Defense Forces while in fact acts as Settlers Defense Force. All is backed up by the policy of the Israeli governments through 56 years of Occupation.
I simply cannot accept that the crimes of Occupation will continue, the abuse of human rights in the West Bank is intolerable and sure enough will lead us all, the state and people of Israel, to a dead end. I cannot accept, yet feel helpless, starting maybe to comprehend just a little bit of the helplessness of the Palestinians under 56 years of Occupation. That’s why me and my friends stick to our moral obligation and will stand and record the crimes and evil in the West Bank as long as can.
During the last months, I can be recognized by a 4 legs anarchist companion – Karma. A young lovely Boxer dog which familiar and aware to the occupation more than 99 % of the Israeli.
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Doron Meinert - The voice of an Israeli activist
My name is Doron Meinert. I was born in 1960 in Kibbutz Beit Hashita in the Yizrael Valley. Both of my parents were pioneers who worked...
Activists
mistaclim
Apr 13, 20235 min read
Doron Meinert - The voice of an Israeli activist
Writer: mistaclim
mistaclim
Apr 13, 2023
5 min read
Updated: Apr 23, 2023
My name is Doron Meinert. I was born in 1960 in Kibbutz Beit Hashita in the Yizrael Valley. Both of my parents were pioneers who worked in the establishment of the kibbutz. They were proud Zionists, but were also socialists devoted to peace, human love, and respect for every human being.
Since early childhood I have known that Beit Hashita was built on the ruins of the Arab village of Shatta. I remember the sheikh's house that survived, several other ruins and orchards of Arab villages, whose lands was forcefully taken away from them. I used to listen to the stories of the veterans about the relationship with the neighboring villagers, that were at times peaceful and at times violent. Some conflicts over pasture and crop were conducted with cold weapons, some were bloody fights with guns.
When I was 7 years old, me and my mother heard the radio announcement on the capturing of the old city of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War. Despite the collective euphoria – the words of Yitzhak ben Aharon, who was then one of the leaders of the kibbutz and one of the first to oppose Israeli occupation, influenced me and made me an opponent of the occupation ever since.
I kept on the track with the kibbutz like – school and youth movement, a year of community service. Then enlistment in the Armored Corps. I served the required Regular period and then continued to a permanent position, a service of all together 5 years, and by the end was ranked a company commander. At this capacity, I participated in the 1982 Lebanon War, where I tried as much as I could to conduct fairly with the diverse Lebanese population. During these years of service, I was never stationed in the West Bank, and was not familiar the reality there.
From 1983 to 1990, I served in the reserve duty. These were the years of the first intifada, during which I was stationed in the West Bank in several positions. I saw myself as a representative of the "enlightened conquest" approach that uses force proportionately only against those who use force against me, without harming civilians and without killing, for example, stone throwers and tire burners, whom we tried and sometimes even succeeded in stopping. Of course, I was also involved in actual combat, both in the West Bank and in Lebanon.
In 1990 I reenlisted in the army service and was appointed a battalion commander. In this capacity I continued to serve periods of operational activity. The most morally difficult period was my four months of service as a battalion commander in the city of Hebron. There, alongside the effort to maintain security, I had to constantly deal with violence and vandalism committed by settlers against the Palestinian population. Raby Levinger led the settlers in the city, and alongside him were figures who have become well-known – Itamar Ben Gvir (today the Minister of National Security), Orit Strook (today the Minister of Settlements), Baruch Marzel, Noam Federman and others. During this period, I realized how antithetical was my worldview from that of the settlers. I realized how far they were willing to go to realize their worldview and how competent and organized they were in spreading their ideology. As part of my job, I had to constrict their power as much as possible, and I knew that in the future I would have to fight against them even harder.
After finishing my duties as a battalion commander, I held several other senior positions in the army. My contact with the occupied Palestinian territories was minimal, and I was happy about that. In all my positions, I tried to ensure, as much as possible, a proportionate use of force and a fair treatment of the civilian population. But I was an army officer for all intents and purposes, one who knows how to use force and speak the language of force. The most important and positive task I performed was leading the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, mainly the removal of the settlers and the dismantling of the settlements.
I completed my army service in 2010. Alongside developing a career in a hi-tech company, I gradually began efforts to promote helping Palestinians. For several years I participated in the olives harvest during the autumn months. It was then that I became associated with the veteran activist Yaakov Manor, who is one of the first members and founder of the "Peace Now" movement, a figure of inspiration and admiration. After several years, Yaakov asked me to become a partner in the Harvest Coalition and take responsibilities in the organization. During this period, I started expressing my opinions against the occupation and against the settlements on Facebook and sometimes in the newspapers. Posting my criticism resulted in my exemption from reserve duty. I wasn't officially discharged from the reserves, but I was never called up to duty again.
In 2021, I felt that my participation in the harvest activity, which lasted only two months a year, was not enough. So, I started accompanying shepherds in the Jordan Valley where I was involved in leading several operations of protecting the Palestinians against the settlers.
In January 2022, on Tu Bishvat (Jewish Holiday for the trees), I co-organized a group of activists who went out to plant olive trees in the Palestinian village of Burin. A group of settlers from Givat Ronen, a nearby outpost, showed up and attacked us with clubs, threw stones at us, and burned the car of one of the activists. About eight elderly people were injured. I suffered a head injury and a broken arm. I had to undergo a surgery and had platinum implanted in my arm.
This event encouraged me to continue my activism and to lead various more actions. I joined the organization "Looking the Occupation in the Eye". As a member of the leading team of the organization we operate a wide range of activities for making the Israeli public understand that the occupation cannot be ignored or accepted, because it corrupts us all and destroys the State of Israel. Our activities are held in the occupied Palestinian territories and within Israel. In Palestine we continue to accompany shepherds and protect them from the abuse of settlers, the army, and the police. We guarantee the supply of water to farmers, help harvest the olives in season, and more. All our activities are in full cooperation with the Palestinians. Inside Israel, we carry out protests and activities that discredit the occupation, and that educate Israelis about the lives of Palestinians in the occupied territories.
At the same time, I express my harsh criticism, on Facebook and sometimes in the press, of the settlers as well as of the security forces who, to my regret and shame, widely cooperate with settlers and often avoid fulfilling their responsibility as an occupying force to protect the lives of the Palestinian residents. In my writings, I try to stay close to the facts while analyzing the situation dispassionately, without arguing. Nevertheless, my activism and my writings are accompanied with deep pain for the lost track of the State of Israel and of Zionism – to which I am still connected, and still try as much as I can to correct.
These days we have joined the general protest, along with other anti-occupation organizations, against the judicial overhaul that will make Israel a dictatorship. We emphasize the message that a nation controlling another nation for years is not a democracy. More and more people understand that this is the root of the problem.
Alongside the difficulties and hard feelings we experience these days, I have found in "Looking the Occupation in the Eye" comrades who have also become personal friends. Together we try to cultivate hope for a better future.
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Moriah Shlomot - The voice of an Israeli activist
My name is Moriah Shlomot, I am a lawyer, mediator and facilitator of restorative justice proceedings in the field of sexual abuse. In...
Activists
mistaclim
Feb 28, 20233 min read
Moriah Shlomot - The voice of an Israeli activist
Writer: mistaclim
mistaclim
Feb 28, 2023
3 min read
Updated: Apr 23, 2023
My name is Moriah Shlomot, I am a lawyer, mediator and facilitator of restorative justice proceedings in the field of sexual abuse. In recent years, I have been the CEO of Parents Against Child Detention, a group whose goal is to expose the full picture of the arrests of Palestinian children in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This is one of the most horrendous practices designed to break the spirit of Palestinian resistance to the occupation, and therefore its scope is enormous: over 1,000 children arrested in the West Bank each year and a similar number in the eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem. As parents and human beings, we cannot agree to the practices that accompany the policy of these mass arrests – night arrests, hand cuffing, blindfolding, use of threats and violence, denial of consultations with lawyers, and detention until the end of the proceedings, if not longer. Each of these crimes constitute a fundamental violation of their human rights as children and as detainees. Israel acts are in contrary to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and severely and irreversibly harms the children themselves, their families, and the community around them.
After I left Baaram, the beloved kibbutz where I was born and raised, I studied Theatre. On November 4, 1995, I was already living in Tel Aviv. I remember exactly what I was wearing that day in the demonstration “Yes to peace, no to violence”. I stood in a circle around the stairs leading down from the balcony of the city hall to the parking lot to see from short distance, my heroes, Rabin and Peres. I remember the shots and watch Rabin collapsing in front of my eyes. I screamed and plucked my hairs, something I have never done neither before nor after. The next day, I joined a group which was the closest to my ideas at that
time –" Dor Shalom" [Generation for Peace]. Attending a major event of historical magnitude made me feel that I can make a change and that a change is possible. Since then I've been engaged with these kind of activities in an attempt to make a change in our society by trying to repair, reunite and bring some solace into our society.
When the second intifada broke out, I served as the secretary of "Peace Now"["Shalom Achshav"]. When Prime Minister Ehud Barak came back from Camp David, he declared that there was no partner for peace on the Palestinian side and that there was no feasibility for the two-state vision. The peace movements groups lost many of its supporters and activists. I remember the assembly room of the secretariat, turned from a bustling crowded Into empty from its operators and its content.
After that – for eight years I managed the Women's Counseling Center with a feminist psychographic approach, at the Counseling Center for Women. I acquired from the founders, my feminist education, and the gender-sensitive worldview that motivated the feminist pioneers in Israel that established a unique therapeutic framework for women.
In 2014 I finished my law studies. I worked for Attorney Michael Sfard and Attorney Michal Pomerantz, they gave me the best possible legal education. They let me look into the most important and righteous legal battles imaginable. I learnt of their battels and struggles with the state authorities, or on such work against the institutionalized discrimination, or their effort to reveal the overt and covert robbery, or issues such as immigration policy and the settlement enterprise.
About eight years ago, I joined the movement "A Land for All – Two States of One Homeland" (https://www.alandforall.org/english/?d=ltr) founded by Meron Rappaport and Awni El Mashni. The movement proposes a cooperative vision for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to which an independent Palestinian state should be established alongside the State of Israel, with relations of cooperation and trust between the two sovereign states through joint institutions that will serve as an umbrella that creates unity in various spheres of life. I am a board member of the movement and I have no doubt that the vision we propose is the most just and the most possible vision.
Although my life revolves around conflicts, I personally feel that I the world is a safe and good place for me. I only can thank for this deep inner optimism to the people I work and live with. They all are wonderful, attentive, and dedicated to human values.
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Daphna Alexandrovitch - The voice of an Israeli activist
My name is Daphna Alexandrovitch I am 64 years old from Jerusalem. I grew up in the Abu-Tor neighborhood, at a corner of streets, each of...
Activists
mistaclim
Jan 18, 2023 3 min read
My name is Daphna Alexandrovitch I am 64 years old from Jerusalem.
I grew up in the Abu-Tor neighborhood, at a corner of streets, each of which was crossed by the border fence between the Arab and Jewish Abu-Tor between Jordan and Israel before 1967. The windows of my house looked to the walls of the Old City. My father was a leftist. He mentioned to me that the elementary school where I study used to be an Arabic children school, called Omaria. After the 1967 war he supported Arab people he knew from the neighborhood and Siluan village, never the less, as a family we visited sites in the occupied territories
None of these really mattered to me. As a student of the State education system, I received an enthusiastic Zionist education and I was a loyal patriot. I had no hesitation about my enlistment in the military, though I chose to go to a kibbutz that is not in the occupied territories but in the Arava desert.
During my military service, I spent six months in a small military settlement called "Kochav Hashachar", which later became a civil settlement on the mountainside in Samaria.
During the stay in" Kochav Hashachar" we used to walk around in uniforms. I was like a little girl with a gun and a uniform. Since we really had nothing to do, We did a lot of sports.
One morning I went for a run with some friends. As we ran along a narrow road, leading out of the settlement, I noticed a Palestinian family sitting on a small hill on the side of the road. They brought up water from a cistern. They looked at us, I saw their eyes... Sad and angry eyes. They stopped being transparent to me, the situation ceased to be taken for granted to me, and I had a nagging and penetrating question: "What the hell am I doing here? Why am I walking between these people disturbing their lives?" we kept running, but from the moment I had that insight, nothing seemed obvious to me anymore.
Later on, I lived in a kibbutz in the Arava desert, very far from the reality in Israel. When I returned to Jerusalem after 12 years in the Arava, I began to be more active. For many years I was content with demonstrations and helping the farmers of Wallage village, south of Jerusalem, and introductory tours of Silwan and the Old City.
About four years ago I started learning Arabic with the understanding that it is one of the most terrible things that our society does. Ignoring culture and language of people who live with us.
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About two and a half years ago, I met Guy Hirschfeld, who told me about the shepherding activities. I joined the activities of accompanying Bedouin and Palestinian shepherds in the Jordan Valley, who are trying to graze their flocks, and to farm their lands, despite the apartheid and the occupation regime that makes their lives miserable through their emissaries: the settlers, the military and the police.
In this activity, our role is to accompany the shepherds in the morning when they go out to graze, to document any settlers' activity that threatens the livelihoods and lives of the shepherds. When possible, try to prevent contact and the settlers' threat. Sometimes by speaking and sometimes by calling the police, which usually does not prevent the settlers from harassing the shepherds. For me, it's a very challenging activity, and I encounter very violent and determined settlers who disrespect human beings that don't share the same believes or don't belong to their sect. I encounter very young boys who come masked to startle and drive away shepherds and children. I encounter security coordinators act beyond the boundaries of their duties of their communities. Even on Saturdays they pray and drive wildly into a flock of pregnant sheep who later miscarriage their newborns. I meet soldiers who support the activities of the settlers, treat the Palestinians, the Bedouins and their sons arbitrarily, forcefully and rudely. And I meet policemen who are indifferent to the fate of those who are not Israelis that support the occupation and do not understand their role of protecting residents of this land.
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Yasmin Eran-Vardi - The voice of an Israeli activist
My name is Yasmin Eran-Vardi, and I am 22 years old from Jerusalem. I grew up in a left-wing secular family, where the discourse about...
Activists
mistaclim
Dec 14, 20223 min read
My name is Yasmin Eran-Vardi, and I am 22 years old from Jerusalem.
I grew up in a left-wing secular family, where the discourse about human rights was always present and the situation in the Occupied Territories was part of the daily conversations.
The environment, of course, was different. At an early age I realized that my opinions deviate from the society norms. Through my parents and friends of the family, I met Palestinian children since Young age, something most children in Israel do not have the privilege to meet. Most Jewish children in Israel only hear the word "Palestinian" in the news in the context of terrorist attacks. For me, this word symbolized friends.
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Around the age of 14, an Israeli terrorist attack on the residents of Gaza broke out, which Israel called "Pillar of Defense." In one week, Israel killed over 160 Palestinians, almost 100 of them civilians who were not involved in the hostilities. As always in Israel, the atmosphere warmed up. Racist statements were heard from all sides, calls to harm and kill Arabs. Arab women and children were attacked in the streets. Around this time, I began to get more into the "business" of activism. I started going to the demonstrations against evacuation people from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah east Jerusalem myself, joining days of activity in the South Hebron Hills, accompanying shepherds in the Jordan Valley. I also decided that I want to refuse to join the army, and I began to be active in the "Network of Refuses," a network that supports refusal to enlist in the IDF.
When I reached the age of eighteen and it was my turn to report to the recruitment office, I went into the induction center with the backing of demonstration of my family and "Network of refusers", declaring that I refuse to enlist in the occupation army. From there I was sent to military detention, and after about a year that included many different attempts by the army to make it difficult for me, at the age of 19 I received my exemption.
During this entire period, I was interviewed to newspapers and spoke out against the occupation, trying to use the privilege that I have as a white Jewish privileged in Israel to shine a spotlight on the injustices committed in the Occupied Territories and Gaza by the Israeli army.
For the next two years, I volunteered at an anthroposophical boarding school for at-risk youth and children. At the end of this period, with a very high thirst and lack of field activities, I joined the project of an Arabic course combined with documentation activities in Masafer Yatta south Hebron hills. For three months we learned Arabic, through classes and conversations with the residents who became friends, we documented dozens of shocking incidents of settler attacks, house demolitions, arrests and nighttime military incursions into villages. We accompanied shepherds and farmers who were attacked by soldiers, and a variety of other forms of abuse used by the Zionist regime.
The idea is that our presence here as privileged people will cause the occupation forces to act less violently for fear of harming us. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not.
In addition, the documentation of these events is intended for a legal purpose, in case the military tries to claim that something else happened there, also to expose the public to the reality of Palestinians who live here, in Masafer Yatta.
A year has passed since the end of the course, I have never really left Masafer Yatta since. With other activists we keep on documenting every day the frustrating, worsening, hard and hearting reality for the people Israel is trying to expel from their home.
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Ido - The voice of an Israeli activist
My name is Ido. I am in my early 30s, and I am currently a Ph.D. student in Literature. I have lived most of my life in this land, the...
Activists
mistaclim
Nov 14, 20222 min read
My name is Ido. I am in my early 30s, and I am currently a Ph.D. student in Literature.
I have lived most of my life in this land, the land that is almost now a crime to call Palestine. I grew up pretty normally - the only stories I heard were Israeli and Zionist. I did not hear one story. There were contesting stories about the land, the history, the politics, the social structure, about racism. I heard the left-wing narrative and the right-wing narrative. But in all these stories, the Palestinians and their narrative were absent. They were there as an idea, badly portrayed, but never as real people with agency.
Only when I grew a bit older I started noticing the problem. I heard stories, met Palestinians, and saw their condition. In almost a leftist cliché, I began seeing things as they were. I began to read and research the history of this land and the Zionist project (not that one needs to learn the past when he sees the daily crimes of the apartheid state).
ree
So, in the last couple of years, I have become more active. I joined Palestinians in their activities, protests, and struggles. I join olive picking with Palestinian solidarity activists when the season comes; I participate in weekly demonstrations in the West Bank against the settlements and the land theft by Zionism; I join protests inside the Green Line against the Zionist agenda in support of Palestinian prisoners.
I know many actions and things need to be done and ways to fight the apartheid. However, for me, there is one way to fight the apartheid effectively and righteously. That is standing alongside the Palestinians in a struggle led by Palestinians.
ree
I will try to explain shortly why. If we understand that the current situation results from Jewish and Israeli supremacy. If we understand that Palestinian voices, opinions, thoughts, and lives are being ignored in the current situation. If we understand that this hierarchy is one of the primary roots of our current problem. If we understand that this hierarchy is almost everywhere, in nearly any interaction of Jews/Israelis and Palestinians, even within the left and activism. If we believe a goal cannot be reached in a contradictory method. Then this struggle must be led by Palestinians, and we must follow. As a matter of fact, there is a Palestinian struggle led by Palestinian – either local or national, personal or communal, in the streets and the hills, in politics, and everywhere. We need to abandon our need to be in charge and control everything and join this struggle.
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Hagar Gefen in her own words
Hagar Gefen, a 71 years old activist is telling: On the 19th of October, I was part of a group of Israeli activists, volunteers from...
Activists
mistaclim
Nov 14, 20224 min read
Hagar Gefen, a 71 years old activist is telling:
On the 19th of October, I was part of a group of Israeli activists, volunteers from Italy and quite a few Palestinians that went to harvest olives in one of their olive groves in the area of Kisan. These groves and this land are owned by the people of Kisan.
We gathered in our cars at the entrance of Kisan and from there made a big detour on the stony hilly area around one of the Jewish settlements. We didn't want to drive too close to any of the settlements so we drove as far as we could from the settlements and as near as possible to the olives grove.
After parking down the hill, we quickly started to climb towards the grove because we were eager to start working. On our way up, there were a few, maybe 8, maybe around 10 young settlers, who shouted profanities toward us. I took some photos but we continued climbing.
When we reached the grove we heard the shouting, the crying and the weeping of the Palestinian grove owner who realized that before our arrival, Jewish settlers had destroyed his trees and his olives. Despite that, we started working, doing our best to save the grove.
Around 10 or 15 minutes later, when everyone was occupied picking the remaining olives and watering trees, we saw quite a big crowd of settlers running down from the nearest high hill above us.
Most of us started running down, escaping actually. The Jewish settlers who came closer to the olive grove started to pick very big stones and throw them towards the escaping people. Me and a young woman who came with me started going back. My back was to the main road because I wanted to continue taking photos and do a short film and to see the stones thrown at me and verify they do not land on my head…
The young woman and I thought we would go to the side of the hill, not the same side as the rest of the group had been escaping. We thought we could slowly go down and nobody would be able to see us. I turned my back towards the Jewish settlers and started to go down but they did see me, ran towards me and started to beat me up hard.
At least three young men with clubs beat me and threw stones from zero range at my head. I was helpless. Four of my ribs were broken, creating a hole in my lung. My right hand was broken, my back was hit too near the left shoulder, my head was bleeding (I needed four iron stitches in my head) and I was having trouble breathing. They did not only hit me ruthlessly, but also tore my backpack from my back. The backpack was full of my personal stuff I am using for my activity- notebooks, books, body camera etc…
ree
After they violently took my backpack, I thought they were leaving so I shouted at them- “you stole my bag! You stole my bag!”. I wanted it back. They stopped and went over the content of my bag and started looking for my cell phone because they previously saw I was taking photos. They couldn’t find the phone there because I hid it under my dress so within a few moments they came back to me.
I couldn't move any part of my body. I was sitting like a broken tree on the stones when they violently put their hands under my clothes, found the hidden phone and tore it away from my body. Then they finally went. While climbing back to the settlement, they shouted at me “people like you should be killed” and “people like you shouldn't live in this state”. Another woman from our group who tried to come to my assistance was beaten by the settlers too.
Soon after they left, the young activist who came with me, approached me to check my status and see whether we would be able to crawl down the hill. She quickly realized that although I have survived and can still talk- I can't move at all. She left me a bottle of water and started slowly to crawl down the hill to find a way or a spot and get cellular reception so she can call some help.
I was left alone, beaten and struggling to breath for over an hour. The whole time I was looking toward a certain area from which I was sure someone would come and help me. About an hour and a half later, a small crew of soldiers came to check what was going on and help me. They carried me up to the other side of the hill. With them came a policeman and I immediately gave him my phone number and my id and he could very quickly try, with other policemen or investigators, to locate my cell and bag and the rest of my stuff. I later found out that one of our group members reached the entrance of the settlement while I was beaten and asked two police officers to track my phone, but they refused and did nothing to locate it. A few hours later we understood the policeman who came with the soldiers didn't do anything either.
The soldiers carried me and I was transferred between ambulances that finally took me to Shaarei Tzedek hospital.
Over three weeks have passed and no one was arrested or charged.
While this is my personal story, it is very important for me to emphasize that I am not the only woman that Jewish settlers, with the help of the military and the police, had beaten in the last year or even in the last month. This is not a unique, isolated incident. These types of settler attacks happen on a daily basis, in many cases while the Israeli military watches, protects the attackers and in some cases even joins the settlers in attacking Palestinians and peace activists.
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Shaul Tcherikover - The voice of an Israeli activist
My name is Shaul Tcherikover, and I was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. Both of my parents were born in Palestine. My mother was born in Tel...
Activists
mistaclim
Oct 17, 20224 min read
Shaul Tcherikover - The voice of an Israeli activist
Writer: mistaclim
mistaclim
Oct 17, 2022
4 min read
Updated: Apr 23, 2023
My name is Shaul Tcherikover, and I was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. Both of my parents were born in Palestine. My mother was born in Tel Aviv, and my father in Jerusalem, and both were subjects of the British Mandate in Palestine until 1948. Obviously I was raised on the bedrock of Zionism, ready to do my part to protect the homeland from enemies, foreign and domestic, and when it was my time, I joined the military and became a commissioned officer. I served a little short of five years in the military, during which the October 73 war broke out, then gave my share in the reserve forces.
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The cracks in my shield started to be visible during my multiple deployments to occupied Lebanon, but the event that really broke the camel's back occurred several years later, during the first Palestinian uprising, the first Intifada. This event exposed the way the system works in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and introduced me to the lies, the cover up, the disrespect for Palestinian lives and the way the system protects itself. And it happened like this:
The OMI (Office of Military investigations, or Metzah in Hebrew) agent who was in charge of the military investigation into the event that occurred a day earlier, asked me to describe the event, and I told him about a Lieutenant Colonel who popped out from nowhere, shot and severely wounded a Palestinian kid, and then tried to interfere in providing the kid with medical aid. How old was the boy? Ten years old, give or take. Are you sure it was the Colonel who shot the kid? Yes, I was standing next to him. And what was your role? I was the commanding officer in charge of the event. Was the boy holding something in his hands? No. Are you sure it was the Colonel who shot the boy? You already asked me, and I have already given you an answer. The boy was alone? Yes. There where no other terrorists with him? No, and he was not a terrorist. Then why was he running? How should I know, maybe he got scared, after all he was just a young boy. OK, so you are absolutely sure that it was the Colonel who shot him, right? Yes. He then scribbled something on the investigation form and asked me to sign. I refused, since it read that the driver of the Lieutenant Colonel was the one who shot the boy. The OMI agent tore up the investigation form and thanked me for my cooperation.
A couple of weeks later I made a follow up inquiry into the status of an investigation regarding a ten years old kid who was shot by a Lieutenant Colonel during an uprising event in the occupied Jordan Valley. An officer with the OMI assured me that no such investigation existed at all, and when I insisted she told me that I was shell shocked, and suggested that I seek help.
Since that event, I almost completely stopped replying to reserve duty calls. We spent 3 years, between 1995 and 1998 in Madison, Wisconsin, on behalf of an Israeli tech corporation, and in the year 2000 we left for the US again and stayed there, and later on in Europe, until our return in 2019. I am a proud father of three sons who never served a day in the military. After our return I joined the Balfour protest, which paved the way to my activism today.
I strongly believe that ethnic cleansing is a crime, that access to food and water is a basic universal right and that preventing occupied subjects from accessing food and water for the purpose of pushing them out of their lands, is considered ethnic cleansing. But the IDF and the illegal settlers in the west bank, with the help of both the Military and the Civil Justice Systems, go out of their way to prevent food and water from the Palestinians who depend on livestock and agriculture for survival.
They do that in various “creative” ways, such as declaring lands of agriculture and grazing as Nature Reserves or Military Training Zones. Civilians are forbidden from accessing military training zones during weekdays, and agriculture is forbidden in Nature Reserves. Both prohibitions are being enforced on the Palestinians, but never on settlers who freely build illegal settlements in Nature Reserves and military training zones. During weekends, the settlers take the place of the IDF soldiers and enforce the No Zone on the Palestinians. This is where my friends at “Looking the occupation in the eye” and myself come in.
At the shepherd’s community of Kaboon, located east of Mughayir (Ramallah) village people are being harassed daily by the illegal settlers of “Malachey Hashalom” (Angles of Peace) . These Angles of Violence vandalize water hoses and agricultural equipment and violently prevent the locals from filling their water pits with fresh water during summer. These terrorists attack the modest residences of the locals, protected by a group of elite IDF soldiers, positioned just a couple of hundred yards from the illegal settlement. This military unit makes sure that the shepherds do not fill their water pits or work the land during weekdays, because most of the land was confiscated for the purpose of military training.
Every week we come together with the people of Kaboon to make sure that their tractors can safely haul the water tanks through the rough hilly trails to the water pits located in the grazing lands. We provided them with a camera (contributed by B'tselem) so they can document and collect evidence when they are being attacked in their homes by the illegal settlers, and we stand with them in protest against occupation and injustice.
This is what my friends and myself at “Looking the occupation in the eye” do, because we believe that if we don’t stand against occupation, apartheid, terrorism and violence, then we abandon the only hope for normal and decent life between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
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Jude Liemburg - The voice of an Israeli activist
My name is Jude Liemburg. Born in The Netherlands and moved to Israel in 1991 when I was 24. I came to Israel because I could, as a Jew,...
Activists
mistaclim
Sep 7, 20223 min read
My name is Jude Liemburg. Born in The Netherlands and moved to Israel in 1991 when I was 24. I came to Israel because I could, as a Jew, without too many administrative hassles. One of the things that I really liked about Israel was the “us” feeling. When somebody would fall on the street, everybody would rush over and help the person. That is gone now.
Until two years ago I lived inside my pink bubble, there was no Palestine and if a Palestinian was killed, he must have deserved it. Bibi and the corruption, now that was an issue that I was willing to go to the streets for.
I started going to Balfour, which created some holes in my pink bubble. Realising that what we see on TV and read in the newspapers is not true. Now if the reporting is not true about certain things, what does that say about the other items that are reported? And what about those items that are not reported on at all?
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I joined the Mothers Against Police Violence at Balfour (crazy Kobi Jakobi) and with them I went to Um El Fahum to stand in solidarity with the mothers there, with their then weekly demonstrations to beg the police to take actions against all the killings taking place in the city.
And here my pink bubble was shattered into 1000 pieces. It made me realize, with pain, that the narrative told to me my whole life about Israel, its existence, and the outside threat that we have to defend ourselves against, has been carefully crafted from the top down since day one of its existence. Once the veil has been lifted, you can't unsee it anymore.
I can't unsee the daily atrocities our government instructs the Israeli army, our boys, to inflict upon millions of people. By daily harassing them, controlling them, by denying them any basic human rights such as water, electricity and housing. By stealing their land, allowing illegal settlements to be built, denying them to work their land next to these illegal settlements, arrest them (over 1M Palestinians since 1967 and preferably in the middle of the night) and hold them in administrative detention (723+) if they can't build a proper case against them, with many endless extensions. A "legal system" where the oppressor rules over the oppressed.
I realized that being a Palestinian, throwing a stone, protesting the occupation, holding a Palestinian flag, being a Palestinian journalist reporting from the ground or a Palestinian medic providing aid is a crime that can get you wounded (6717+ so far in 2022) or killed (2589 Palestinians in occupied territories and another 7718 Palestinians in Gaza since 1967)*.
I wanted to do something and I found out that there are Israeli activists that stand in solidarity with the Palestinians in occupied territories. I started going with some of them on Fridays to Beita, where the village is demonstrating to get their mountain back that is still occupied by the IOF. I wanted to share the absurdities that I was seeing there and the only way I know is with the power of the camera. Palestinian sources are not taken seriously, so by reporting from the territories as an activist it might make it a bit truer. I joined the group Looking the Occupation in the Eye and join some of their activities, like the quiet demonstration every Friday at Zaatara junction and guerilla activities such as cutting illegal fences somewhere in the Jordan Valley. I join Palestinian demonstrations against the occupation as much as I can, as I find it important to show the Palestinians that they are not alone and to make noise, lots of good noise in Israel so people can’t say that they didn’t know.
Imagine a life under occupation. Under constant threat for just being. Constant fear.
I do not stand for this behavior and this regime and I hope neither will you. Join us in fighting the good fight and making some good noise!
#Looking_the_occupation_in_the_eyes
*source https://statistics.btselem.org/en/all-fatalities/by-date-of-incident?section=overall&tab=overview)
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Pepe Goldman - The voice of an Israeli activist
My name is Pepe Goldman, I was born in Argentina in 1952 and at the age of 24, in March 1976, four days after the rise of the last...
Activists
mistaclim
Jul 11, 20223 min read
Pepe Goldman - The voice of an Israeli activist
Writer: mistaclim
mistaclim
Jul 11, 2022
3 min read
Updated: Apr 23, 2023
My name is Pepe Goldman, I was born in Argentina in 1952 and at the age of 24, in March
1976, four days after the rise of the last military dictatorship, I immigrated to Israel.
Most of my young years in Argentina I lived under military dictatorships, each crueler than the last. Night raids, abductions in broad daylight, torture and oppression in all areas of life were an integral part of the life menu in a country that from 1930 to 1983 did not know what an entire term of a democratically elected government was. This reality has led me to form an intolerant and uncompromising position and political stance towards undemocratic regimes and ideologies.
Like many other young people in the Argentine Jewish community, I received a non-formal Zionist and socialist education, and by the same values I educated hundreds of Jewish youths. With this value charge I arrived in Israel, convinced that within the borders of 1948 a democratic state lives and breathes for all its citizens, who must evacuate the territories it occupied in the Six Day War to enable the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state and return to being a worthy state again.
As a result of the political activity I started shortly after arriving in Israel in various frameworks, party and non-partisan, my eyes were opened and I came to a number of insights:
1. There is not and there was not a true democracy within the State of Israel. Although there are democratic mechanisms (elections, separation of powers, etc.), the regime is far from democratic in the essential sense that there is full equality for all citizens of the state. The Palestinian population has been discriminated against since the establishment of the state (military administration, lack of master plans for construction in accordance with its demographic needs, discrimination in the allocation of budgets and resources, etc.). Over the years, and as a result of the nationalist strengthening of Israeli society and its governments, the anti-democratic signs became even stronger (an expression of this is the anti-democratic legislation of recent years).
2. The Nakba process did not end in 1948 and continues to exist even today, within the Green Line and in all the occupied territories.
3. In the current reality, it is inevitable to regard our regime in the whole region, Israel and occupied territories, as apartheid where there is rule for oppressors and rule for oppressed (Israelis and Palestinians respectively), with two systems of laws, rights and obligations.
As one who grew up under dictatorships and oppression, I cannot remain indifferent to what Israel is doing to the Palestinians: the oppression, the unjustified military killings, the violence of the privileged Jewish caste in the Occupied Territories, and the wrongful practices of the Israeli forces that leave mental and physical scars among the Palestinian
population, specially children. And all this is happening in front of the indifferent eyes of the Israeli Jewish society, which ranges from feeling victims to carelessness.
Nowadays, I am concentrating my activities on Taayush (coexistence in Arabic), a group of activists that coordinates its work mainly in the southern Hebron Hills and assists Palestinian communities in dealing with settler violence in the area, the arbitrary and discriminatory behavior of Israeli security forces and legal battles over land ownership.
I also participate in the struggles of the Palestinian community in East Jerusalem in the face of the constant threat of expelling its families from their homes for the benefit of right-wing organizations based on discriminatory laws between Israelis and Palestinians enacted in dubious Israeli democracy.
Another front of my activity is in the framework of the organization "Looking at the Occupation in its Eyes" whose main purpose is to bring to the attention of Israeli society the atrocities and crimes committed by the Israeli security forces and the Jewish settlers against the Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories.
I do think that despite the difficult times, the violent reality and the permanent incitement directed at us, activists for human rights, we must not stop working to end the injustices of Israeli apartheid.
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Danny Danieli - The voice of an Israeli activist.
Rabbi (secular-humanist) Danny Danieli. Married to Liora, father of three and grandfather of five. Professionally, I am an organizational...
Activists
mistaclim
Jun 7, 20225 min read
Rabbi (secular-humanist) Danny Danieli. Married to Liora, father of three and grandfather of five.
Professionally, I am an organizational consultant and mentor to managers, after many years in which I was involved in initiating and managing projects and institutions, especially in the field of culture and Jewish identity. Last year I was certified as a secular humanist rabbi by the Tmura Institute.
Throughout my years as an adult I defined myself as an Israeli, a Jew, a Zionist and also a leftist, and I never hid it. I participated in the "right" demonstrations, donated my money to the activities of human rights organizations and spoke out as much as I could against the occupation and its injustices. However, due to my demanding management career, I was not able to participate in field activities as I always wanted.
For the past four and a half years, I have been very active in protesting against the corruption of Benjamin Netanyahu and his partners, both in the "Paris Square" in Jerusalem, and later in what became known as the "Balfour Protest." A change I have made in my professional occupation has opened up new possibilities for me in terms of utilizing my time in favor of activism. Along with the protest activity, it was clear to me that the time had come to increase my involvement in everything that was happening in the "Occupied Territories" (Palestine). In the Balfour Protes I met Guy Hirschfeld who connected me to practical "platforms" to do so. For the past year and a half, I participate, consistently and quite intensively, in accompanying shepherds in the Jordan Valley, in further activities to prevent harm to Palestinian shepherds and farmers in the Taibeh and Deir Jarir areas, and in demonstrations against the ongoing abuse of Palestinian residents in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
In recent months I have also been taking part in the "looking conquest in the eyes" activity, especially demonstrating on bridges.
I should note that the activity in the field, which allows meeting with all the relevant parts of the reality in the occupied territories, is not at all similar to the "remote" identification, such as participating in demonstrations which I have been part of many years.
During this period, I was closely, and tangibly, exposed to some of the injustices of the Israeli occupation. This "experience" shakes the soul. For example, I saw with my own eyes the expulsion of a shepherd community, the destruction of a water tank used by hundreds of people, the arbitrary conduct of officers and soldiers in the field who use dubious orders to keep shepherds away, blocking water sources for Palestinians who have used them for decades , and failed police handling of settler crime on the ground.
The most outrageous thing, in my opinion, is the outrageous and humiliating is the sinergy between the various security forces and the settlers, including extremist settlers who sit in illegal outposts, which are defined as such by the authorities of the State of Israel. For me, as someone who defines himself as a Zionist, and served in the IDF as a soldier in combat service until the age of 46, this is an unforgivable low of morals and morality.In front of our eyes are realized phenomena from which wise and foresighted people warned, such as the late Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz.
I am not a jurist, and certainly not an expert in international law, so I can not contribute to sophistry whether this or that conduct is a "war crime" under international law or not.
To me, this is an intolerable injustice that the State of Israel inflicts through its institutionalized and non-institutionalized emissaries, towards the Palestinian civilian population.
The issue is not limited to that.
The payment charged by the occupation is very heavy. I believe that there is no area in the society and the state that is not affected by it !! It has a detrimental effect on the rules of government and the judiciary, on political culture and on the under-allocation of aid resources to vulnerable populations. The fact that Israel "leads" in the parameters of social inequality in the Western world is also an outgrowth of the occupation and all this only at the "in a nutshell.....
No less important, is the "Jewish matter," which preoccupies me greatly. It is difficult to describe the depth of the damage caused by the occupation to contemporary Jewish-Israeli identity.
The experiences of the Jews for thousands of years created a very complex culture, from which also grew sharp contrasts. From a deep dialogue with Judaism, on the one hand people like Martin Buber and Shulamit Aloni emerged and on the other hand "Rabbi" Meir Kahana and the murderer Baruch Goldstein.
In the occupied territories there are many Jews who believe they are the new pioneers who settle a land promised by God in the Torah to their ancestors. Most believe that the people of Israel are the chosen people and that the other inhabitants of the land must accept this and submit to Jewish rule. Not everyone is violent, but it is no wonder that from this nationalist approach that also has a messianic face, very violent nuclei have sprung up, some of which do not even accept the authority of the state. There are sources in Jewish culture on which some things can be based on, although it should be noted that the political and spiritual leaders among this public specialize in a "selective reading" of the sources on which they relly on.
On the other hand, I believe and am committed, as a Jew and as a secular-humanist rabbi to other values that can be found in the heart of Jewish thought, values that emphasize human dignity ("a person created in god's image), that demand fairness and morality in principle to whom are different from you and live with you ("And you loved the stranger... because you were strangers in the land of Egypt").
The teacher and rabbi of the great Jewish-Zionist humanist, the late Professor Yaakov Malkin, emphasized many years ago that occupation over time, sabotages "humanistic development" and prevents human beings from being considerate and empathetic human beings, who promote a society in which we all would like to live.
And it is not just a textual value debate. It is inconceivable that less than a hundred years have passed since the terrible Holocaust for the Jewish people, prevalent here, in a country founded by Jews many of whom and their families suffered from anti-Semitism and persecution even before the Holocaust, racist, nationalist and even fascist views. These days, in the Knesset of Israel and in the state authorities,these views nourish the occupation and feeds it, and degenerate the State of Israel into a deep abyss. Unfortunately, most of the Israeli public is indifferent to it, does not see, and even if sees is not willing to face the consequences of rhis frustrating and threatening reality. My friends and I, are not ready to give up.
It is our duty to continue to fight resolutely in the hope that many of us in Israel and abroad will join us.
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Zoria Haddad - The voice of an Israeli activist
My name is Zoria Haddad, I was born in Tunis 60 years ago. I am a psychotherapist by profession. When I was 5 years old, my family...
Activists
mistaclim
Apr 25, 20223 min read
My name is Zoria Haddad, I was born in Tunis 60 years ago. I am a psychotherapist by profession.
When I was 5 years old, my family immigrated to Israel, I grew up in a religious and right-wing family.
By the age of 22 I had already voted two times for two right-wing parties.
My first turning point was at the university in the class "Society and Regime in the State of Israel", where I met a man and a great teacher who opened my eyes and introduced us to the truth and hidden reality.
The second turning point was in the first intifada at the end of 1987, when I volunteered with friends at the "Center for the Defence of the Individual" who helped the Palestinians locate their family members who had been "kidnapped" by the GSS and the army. For the first time, I was exposed to the suffering of the Palestinian people, the oppression, the violence, the cruelty that Israel is using and to the palestinian pain.
For almost 35 years, my friends and I have been fighting the occupation that is only intensifying day by day, like a giant octopus whose arms grip the Palestinian people and suffocate it.
Since then my life has completely changed, gradually as in a puzzle I began to see the full picture, part by part, revealed to me, the lies the Israeli government tells the people and the world,I realize that the real goal since 1948 is to expel the Palestinian people from its land and all means are allowed. Racism and supremacy, inhumanity towards the Palestinians, as if they were not human beings.
It is very difficult for me to live in this country and to be part of a society that part of it is abusing other people and most of it is silent.
In my understanding this is not a conflict, there are no two strong sides here, the occupation is not political,it is a moral matter that requires everyone to fight it, the State of Israel uses the holy word "security" to expel the Palestinians.
Later, I joined Yesh Gvul movement, which mentally and financially supports soldiers who refuse to take part in the occupation, we tried to raise awarenes to the illegal orders that soldiers are forced to carry out. I had hope that we would be able tomake an impact.
Than I joined "Machsom Watch", I felt the need to operate in the occupied territories, within the occupation, as I got closer the difficulty and mental distress increased.
In the days when I stood at the checkpoints, I could not function later. The harsh sights of old people, mothers with babies, small children standing for hours in all weathers, the degrading treatment of soldiers and sometimes the violence against the Palestinians and the abuse of them just because they can .
After about a year and a half of activity I left .
I joined “Taayush” (living together in Arabic) which was established in partnership with Palestinian friends to fight the occupation and I am there to this day.The joint activity creates personal connections and I feel a great closeness to them, also because of the resemblance to my family.The struggle gets more personal expression, it is no longer "their" stories, these are people I love and appreciate.
I also stand with "Women in Black," which during the wake of the first intifada, exposed the atrocities of the occupation to the Jewish Israellis. Women stand in squares in different cities with signs in Hebrew, Arabic and English that say "End the occupation".The goal is to fight the attempt to hide the occupation from the collective consciousness, which unfortunately is quite successful.This leads to the new and all-important organization of "Looking the Occupation in the Eye", to tell Israelis who do not know or do not want to know, what we have been doing to the Palestinian people and to ourselves for 55 years.
These activities changed my life completely.
As in a "family" in distress that cannot take care of itself, I think Israel needs an external border, a border that helps it stop the transcendence of the Palestinian people, a border that helps it to be more moraland humane.
In my point of view, the world has a very important role to play in influencing the situation. When you support Israel without bounds, you are "helping" it to deteriorate further and further .
The Israeli society is detached from the suffering of the Palestinian people .This in itself has a lot of meaning.
As long as the occupation is not over, a lot of blood will continue to be shed on both sides and a lot of pain and suffering will be caused to everyone on both sides.
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Guy Hirschfeld - The voice of an Israeli activist
Twelve years ago, when the wave of evacuations of Palestinian refugees from their home in Sheikh Jarrah began, I returned to activism for...
Activists
mistaclim
Mar 13, 2022 3 min read
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Twelve years ago, when the wave of evacuations of Palestinian refugees from their home in Sheikh Jarrah began, I returned to activism for the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. I realized that I had to act and not just speak out against the injustices of the occupation.
Since then activism has become my life, and together with Israeli and Palestinian friends I do my best to ease on the Palestinians, and fight for the image of my country, that despite everything- I love.I started my years as an activist within the Ta'ayush organization in the southern Hebron Mountains. In 2016 I, together with a number of friends, established the activity in the Jordan Valley. The activity is non-violent, mainly to accompany the shepherds while grazing. The undeclared goal of the State of Israel is ethnic cleansing of the Jordan Valley from the shepherd communities. There are many cruel ways to do this, which include grazing prevention, house demolition, boycotts, water prevention, arrests, violence and more. All this is done by the official and unofficial occupation forces, the army, and police, and residents of the illegal outposts in the area. Everything with the knowledge of the senior echelon. In the last year, despite the "government of change" that has arisen here, there is a severe escalation and an attempt by the people of the extreme right to challenge the new government.
I coordinate the activity of volunteers who come to the shepherds early in the morning and go out with them to the pasture to prevent violent actions against them, and report any wrongdoing committed there.
Our presence there manages to slow down the process and make it a little easier for the shepherd communities and also shows them that there are Israelis and Jews who oppose the occupation and its conduct towards them. We as Israelis have the privilege of protesting and resisting, in contrast to the Palestinian activists who are more challenged by the occupation regime. We must take advantage of this in the face of the treatment of Palestinians and Palestinian activists in particular.
Such activity also has a social, family and emotional cost, but it comes mainly from a lack of understanding and knowledge of the majority in Israeli society, who does not know, neither the real situation under the rule of the occupation nor our activities on the ground. I think I am in the right place at the right time and therefore willing to pay the price for my activities
In the last six months, together with a number of members of the Democratic protest (Netanyahu's removal protest) and occupation activists, we have established "Looking the Occupation in the Eye" in Tel Aviv. Today, "Looking" is indeed a small movement, but it has a significant presence in the public sphere and its purpose is actually to bring what is happening under the occupation to Israelis. Without filters, without shame and without apology, thus bringing about a change in the discourse within the Israeli public.
All our activities are voluntary; once a week we set up our encampment in the center of Tel Aviv for 24 hours to bring to the public what is happening in the occupied territories with the help of conversations, lectures, videos, and more. On Saturdays we are also present on 15 major bridges in Israel, and once a week we stand in solidarity with Palestinian society at one of the main intersections in Palestine with large signs in Arabic. We have discovered that doing so contributes greatly to the morale of the Palestinians passing us by.
In addition, we recently issued a letter to international leaders and Jewish organizations calling for intervention and pressure on the State of Israel and an end to the conflict.
Most of our activities are shared with the Palestinian side in the belief that this is the right way and that in the end, no matter what the solution will be, we will have to live together.
We continue our activities as much as we can from within Israel but we understand that without pressure from abroad, our ability to change is limited.
We see in you the power that can influence and explain to the State of Israel that this current situation cannot continue. Including not being ashamed to explain what consequences can be caused by the continuation of this situation and even take such actions.
With every day that passes, the Palestinian people continue to suffer and be killed and every day Israeli society is destroyed and crumbled. Everything is done partly because of the silence of the masses.
So on behalf of my Israeli and Palestinian friends we call on you to stand up and take action.
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