Resistance

On a slightly different note from my other posts, there are some really amazing, exciting things going on in the West Bank right now. Acts of resistance are springing up in lots of different villages, and the people are able to sustain the momentum from these initial acts, and turn them into regular, sustained resistance movements. These kinds of things are important to talk about because they're coming in the face of all the repression and harship that the people face on a daily basis.

The village that I'm most familiar with that's been rising up lately is called Jayyous, it's north of where I'm living. Right now, the Wall goes through village land, isolating most of the farmland that belongs to it, and cutting off 7 of the 8 artisan wells that serve the village. There's a gate through which villagers can pass to access their farmland, but nobody can pass unless they get a permit from Israel, and for most people, getting a permit is almost impossible. So for a village where 85% of the people are (were) farmers, most of whom can no longer access their farmland, this is absolutely devastating. Also, the gate is controlled by Israeli soldiers, who only open it once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once in the evening. If you miss the opening, then too bad, you have to wait around. And keep in mind that this is all on Palestininan land, and all Jayyous land. In essence, the Israeli soldiers are in charge of who crosses from one half of the village to the other. It's absurd that the soldiers should have any jursidiction at all here.

But recently, there's been so much resistance in Jayyous because Israel has just implemented a court decision to move the Wall back a little bit. Might sound like a good thing, but it really isn't. With this decision, about 200 olive trees will be uprooted, in addition to the hundreds that have already been uprooted - some of them dating back to the Roman era - and almost 6,000 square kms of village land will be permanently confiscated. The villagers will have no access to their farmland, not even through the gate that's currently opened three times a day. In fact, there will be no gate at all. So what's going to happen to the village? What will the people who rely on that farmland do? It's not like they can all just move to the nearest city and find jobs.

So the people resist. They've been having these strong weekly demonstrations, and they aren't letting up. Normally the soldiers come and shoot tear gas and rubber bullets and sound bombs to quell the protests. Two weeks ago, though, the villagers somehow caught the army off guard, and they were able to march right to the Wall, where they proceeded to take rocks, sticks, anything they could find, and destroy the gate. People started tearing pieces of the gate off and taking them home. Really amazing, they actually tore down the gate, part of the Wall, this ultimate symbol of their oppression.

Obviously the soldiers didn't appreciate this, so they arrived on the scene firing rubber bullets and whatnot into the crowd. Over the next week, the soldiers continually threatened the villagers, coming into the village at 2 or 3 in the morning to harrass and intimidate people, carrying out door to door investigations, threatening to use massive violence if another protest took place.

So, in the face of these threats, what do the villagers do? Do they back down and allow their livelihoods be stolen from them? Well, no. Actually, they do the opposite. The next demonstration was even bigger than the earlier one, with everyone in the village, women, men, old people, youth, everyone coming out to demonstrate. They simply will not back down, will not let up, and will not stand for the perpetuation of occupation and increased colonization. Allowing this to happen isn't even an option for them. This is their home, and they're not giving it up, and no amount of threat or repression is going to change that.

The spirit of resistance that these people have is really incredible, and really inspiring. And this spirit is spreading around the West Bank, so now there are many villages doing similar things. I don't think the army knows what to do with them, because they've tried about everything short of mass arrests, and nothing is stopping the villagers. And at this point, the villagers are so strong and have so much momentum that if they try mass arrests, the people will become even more militant. In the end, the demonstrations probably won't directly result in the Wall being torn down. But it's the spirit that's important. By keeping this spirit alive, and by spreading it around the country, the resistance to occupation is certainly not going away, no matter what the people are up against.