1-"Nadav's" Putsch (by: Uri Avnery) 2-ACTION UPDATES: Gaza, Qalqiliah and Bethlehem (December 29, 2002) 3-Photo Essay - Dheisheh Camp

1-"Nadav's"
Putsch (by: Uri Avnery)

The coming elections will be decided - and perhaps have already
been decided - by an anonymous person, whose nom-de-guerre
is "Nadav".

"Nadav" calls himself an "expert" in the service of the General
Security Service (known by its Hebrew acronym Shabak or Shin-Beth).
According to him, his official title is "chief of the research
department in the field of Israeli Arabs".

If "Nadav" were the commander of an armored brigade and instigated a
military coup-d'etat, like a South-American general of old, the results
of his action would not be much different. Of course, his bosses did not
send their tanks to the Knesset, neither did they
arrest leftist leaders and drop them from helicopters into the sea. Of
course not. They are much more humane. They only use paper.

The "Nadav's" paper is an "expert opinion" submitted to the
Central Election Committee by the Attorney General. In it, the man in
quotation marks - the quotation marks appear in the document
itself - states that the Balad party aims to destroy the State of
Israel, to aid and abet the enemies of the state, to incite the Arab
citizens to rebellion, and more of the same.

On the basis of this expert opinion, the committee intends to
disqualify Balad and its leader, Azmi Bishara, together with some other
Arab MKs, from taking part in the elections.

The Election Committee is composed of the representatives of the
parties in the outgoing Knesset, on a proportional basis. Therefore, the
representatives of the right-wing parties, including the Shinui party,
have a majority. They are united in their hatred of Arabs, and they also
have a common interest in their expulsion from the
Knesset.

They will follow the orders of the "security establishment", as the
Knesset majority has always done. In the past, this was done
discreetly, but lately it is happening quite openly. "Nadav's"
bosses can count on them.

When a senior officer speaks, the Knesset stands at attention. In most
cases, this applies also to the Supreme Court judges, one of whom is the
chairman of the Election Committee.

The intervention of the Security Service in the election campaign is
much more than a cosmetic defect. It is also much more than an act
against the Arab citizens. It concerns every person in Israel, and most
of all the Jewish public. Because this is a putsch that
changes the very fabric of the state.

In order to understand why this is so, one has to analyze the
Israeli electorate. It is composed of five large blocs, as follows:

1. The middle-class Ashkenzi (European-Jewish) sector, which votes
mostly for Labor and Meretz.

2. The Oriental-Jewish (also called Sephardi) sector, which votes mostly
for the Likud party.

3. The religious and orthodox sector, which votes mostly for the
two orthodox parties (Agudat-Israel and Shas) and the Mafdal
(National Religious) party.

4. The sector of the new immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who
vote mostly for the two Russian parties (led by Natan Sharansky and
Avigdor Liberman).

5. The Arab sector, which votes mostly for the three or four Arab
parties.

Sectors 2-3-4 constitute the right-wing camp. Sectors 1 and 5
constitute the Left. The two camps are almost equal in size, and
elections are generally decided by the "floating votes" that
swim with the current.

(In the forthcoming elections, the picture is blurred by the
unexpected growth of a comparatively new party, Shinui [Change],
which is almost entirely composed of well-to-do Ashkenazis, united
mainly in their fervent hatred of the religious people. Seemingly, this
party has no clear stand on the crucial problems of war and
peace. But its unquestioned leader, Tommy Lapid, a journalist and
television personality, is basically a rabid chauvinist. He has
already declared that under no circumstances will he join a
coalition that includes Arabs.)

One glance at this political map shows that without the Arab votes, no
left-wing coalition has any chance of forming a government - not today,
nor in the foreseeable future. Worse, without the Arab votes there can
be no "preventive bloc", such as those which have played a crucial role
in the last ten years. In order to prevent the setting up of a
right-wing coalition, such a bloc needs 60 seats in the 120- seat
Knesset. This means that without the Arabs, the Left cannot
even dictate terms for its participation in a coalition dominated by the
Right. It could join such a coalition only with raised hands, like
prisoners of war.

Against this background, the full implications of the putsch of
"Nadav" and his bosses can be grasped. If the Balad party or its
chief is disqualified, all or most of the Arab citizens will
boycott the elections. The Arab sector, constituting almost 20% of the
Israeli population, will disappear from the political map.
Without it, there is no chance for the Left ever to return to
power, or even to play a meaningful role in a "Unity Government".

If the leftist parties, headed by Labor, do not put up a
determined fight against this conspiracy, it will be tantamount to
suicide.

When a coup d'etat of this sort is carried out by the General
Security Service, it means that Israel is leaving the community of
democratic countries and joining the Third World. This does not
concern the Arab citizens only. It concerns every Jewish citizen, too.


============================================================2-ACTION
UPDATES: Gaza, Qalqiliah and Bethlehem (December 29, 2002)

[The following reports provide basic info about some recent actions
involving the ISM. More detailed reports will be posted in the
coming days by on-the-ground ISM activists. – Jaggi (ISM volunteer in
Beit Sahour)]

1)Rafah-Mawasi (Gaza): IOF soldiers shoot at Palestinians
attempting to deliver food and medical supplies; Palestinian
photographer injured in the head

2)Jayyous (Qalqiliah District): Palestinian farmers attacked
by private security and soldiers in march against Apartheid Wall; Curfew
imposed in Jayyous

3)Bethlehem: March to Bethlehem-Jerusalem checkpoint to take
place on New Year's Eve; Rally demands an "Open Jerusalem"
----------------------------

1)IOF Soldiers shoot at Palestinians attempting to deliver
food and medical supplies

Today (December 29, 2002) more than 50 Palestinians, as well as 17
internationals, attempted to deliver food and medical supplies to
Mawasi, a Palestinian town behind a checkpoint that is surrounded by
illegal settlements, near Rafah (Gaza). The Israeli Occupation
Forces (IOF) placed roadblocks on the way to the checkpoint, and
demonstrators weren't able to remove them. In response,
demonstrators emptied two ambulances full of medical supplies and
carried it themselves. At the Rafah-Mawasi checkpoint, soldiers
responded by firing rounds of live bullets without warning. Still, many
Palestinians tried to cross the checkpoint, including two
elderly women from Mawasi who had not been back to their home
village for almost two years. One Palestinian photographer, who
works for Associated Press, was wounded in the head by shrapnel, and was
hospitalized. He is in stable condition. Demonstrators plan to return
again to the checkpoint to try again to deliver the supplies. For info
on-the-ground, please contact Kristen at 067 341 268 or 059 357 526.

2)Palestinian farmers attacked by private security and
soldiers in march against Apartheid Wall

Up to 500 Palestinians, supported by more than 100 internationals,
converged on the village of Jayyous today (December 29, 2002), after two
separate marches passed through several villages in the
Qalqiliah district in the occupied West Bank of Palestine. The rally was
to demonstrate clear opposition to the building of Israel's
so-called "security fence", better known as the "Apartheid Wall". A
large section of the wall is being constructed in Qalqiliah
district.

During the marches through district villages, demonstrators were
confronted by soldiers who used tear gas against marchers. Still, the
marches continued to Jayyous, where speeches were given
denouncing the wall at a local school. From there, Palestinian
farmers and internationals tried to march to the local fields, near
where the wall is being built. Private contract security for the
wall were already present, armed with loaded and pointed M-16
rifles. Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) soldiers attacked the
demonstrators -- who couldn't even leave Jayyous for the local
fields -- with tear gas, percussion grenades and rubber bullets
(there were also reports of live bullets). After opening fire, many
children threw stones at soldiers. One man was shot in the leg with a
rubber bullet, while one Palestinian journalist, with a media
pass, was arrested on the suspicion of throwing stones. Private
security also attacked demonstrators with batons.

Later, at least five army jeeps – accompanying over 30 soldiers on foot,
drove threw Jayyous trying to impose curfew. There were
reports of soldiers entering homes, and demanding to see IDs. There is
one report of soldiers attacking a mother in her home who
intervened in support of her young son.

According to a report by the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network
(PENGON), the entire planned Apartheid Wall, which has begun to go up in
the Qalqiliah district, will effectively annex 10% of
Palestinian land in the West Bank. In Jayyous alone 72% of local
land will be lost. The land in the Qalqiliah area is some of the
most fertile in the West Bank, and contains important water
aquifers.

For more information on-the-ground, please contact Radhika at 052 574
754 or Patrick at 067 628 514 or 052 371 338.

3)March to Bethlehem-Jerusalem checkpoint to take place on New
Year's Eve

On Christmas Day, hundreds of Palestinians and international
supporters intended to march to the Bethlehem-Jerusalem checkpoint, in
opposition to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and to demand open
travel to Jerusalem. The checkpoint march was postponed, mainly due to
inclement weather. At the demo, one organizer promised that before next
Christmas, a march would be organized to the checkpoint.

A march is now being organized before next year.

On New Year's Eve (December 31, 2002), local Palestinian groups are
organizing a march to the Bethlehem-Jerusalem checkpoint, demanding an
end to occupation, and an "Open Jerusalem." The march will begin at the
Ministry of Education Junction in Bethlehem, and will depart for the
checkpoint at 3pm, expecting to arrive at 4pm. At the
checkpoint, there are planned prayers, as well as the lifting of
balloons.

For more info about the march, please contact the Rapprochement
Centre 02 277 2018 or the Arab Educational Institute 02 274 4030.
==========================================================3-Photo Essay -
Dheisheh Camp December 27, 2002
In memory of Kifah Khaled Obeid
[To view the photos, go to http://www.palsolidarity.org. Click on
Bethlehem Area reports on the main page, and then click on Photo
Essay.]

[NOTE: This essay is posted (December 29, 2002) on the day that
another Palestinian boy, 8 year-old Abdel Karim Salameh, was killed by
Israeli soldiers in Tulkarem; like Kifah, he was shot while
throwing stones.

The day before, a 9-year old Palestinian girl, Hanneen Abu Suleiman, was
shot in the head by Israeli soldiers, according to Palestinian sources,
while playing outside her house in Khan Younis (Gaza).
Israeli army sources claim that Palestinians in the area had earlier
fired at an army outpost, and that soldiers fired back.]

By Husam Qassis and Jaggi Singh

DHEISHEH REFUGEE CAMP, near Bethlehem, occupied Palestine (December
27, 2002) - Curfew was lifted today, or at least people were
ignoring it, probably because the sun finally came out after a week of
cloudy skies and rain, and the temperature was a lot warmer.

This afternoon, Husam Qassis, 18, an activist in Beit Sahour, and Jaggi
Singh, a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) from
Montreal, visited the Dheisheh Refugee Camp beside
Bethlehem.

Dheisheh Camp is located just beside the main road, connecting
Bethlehem to Hebron in the south and Jerusalem to the north. It was
created in 1949, and is one of the scores of camps that provided
humanitarian relief to the more than 750,000 Palestinian refugees that
fled their villages just before and after the creation of
Israel in 1948 (there are two other refugee camps in the area as
well: Aza and Aida). The Dheisheh camp was supposed to be a
temporary solution, but more than half-a-decade later, it
still exists, and has slowly transformed from tents and dirt roads to
today's dense concentration of low-rise buildings and narrow
laneways.

Dheisheh could almost be considered a poor neighborhood of
Bethlehem, except that camp residents consistently refer to their
villages of origin in Palestine, which shapes their identity, even
generations later.

Several camp residents knew enough English to tell us, in
approximately the same words, "We dream to go back to our villages."

Dheisheh is home to more than 10,000 refugees, who originate from the
de-populated Arab villages west of Jerusalem and Hebron. On a clear day,
some of these former villages are even within sight of the camp. The
villagers were forced out by the incursions of the
Haganah, the Zionist underground militia that was incorporated into the
Israeli Defense Forces in 1948.

Today, the 10,000 residents of Dheisheh occupy an area of less than half
a square kilometre. Until the Israeli army withdrew in 1995, the camp
was surrounded by a barbed wire fence, and occupation
soldiers controlled entry to and from the camp, creating a military-
enforced ghetto.

Military incursions during this period were frequent.

When limited Palestinian autonomy was granted in 1995, one of the first
acts of camp residents was to remove the fence enclosing the camp,
leaving just the main entry gate as a reminder of the former Israeli
presence (the gate was painted over in Palestinian colours).

Over half the residents of Dheisheh are children. There are severely
limited playgrounds and open spaces, and most of the kids play in the
narrow laneways of the camp. The economy of the camp was
previously based on remittances from residents who would work on a
temporary basis in Israel, usually in construction or service jobs in
restaurants and hotels.With the outbreak of the second intifada, work is
now impossible in Israel, or even in other areas of occupied Palestine
due to the imposition of checkpoints, roadblocks and
curfews. Most of the camp's residents are financially supported
through extended family networks and Islamic charities.

The temptation to migrate to a nearby Arab state or beyond -- to
work in the service or construction sectors -- is very strong; but all
the residents we talked to considered staying in Dheisheh as a basic act
of resistance against Israeli colonialism.

Dheisheh is a renowned center of resistance to Israeli occupation - like
Balata and Jenin -- and consequently it has been the target of frequent
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) attacks. Dheisheh had its own uprising
three months before the start of the 1987 intifada.

The residents of Dheisheh feel sold out by the "peace process"
efforts of the Palestinian Authority, which has yet to adequately
address their right to return to their home villages. According to the
brochure for Ibdaa, the only cultural center in the camp:

"Dheisheh camp and the Palestinian refugees in general have remained
alienated from the beginning of the peace process; its dreams and
reality have been ignored in the negotiations for a Palestinian
state. This has heightened the sense of frustration felt in the
community and renewed the refugees' resolve to continue the struggle
against the occupation."

During our visit to Dheisheh, we were accompanied by Nizar Alayasa,
whose family is from the destroyed Arab village of Zackariah, which was
near Jerusalem. He works in the cultural center, mainly with
children, teaching them computer skills. Several children he has
taught were killed in incidents with Israeli soliders, mainly rock-
throwing [the case of Kifah Khaled Obeid is described in more detail in
caption 9 below].

We asked Nizar if he thought he would ever return back to his
village of origin. He replied, like many others, "I dream of it
every day." We then asked about what he thought about the people
who've settled in the place of his parents and grandparents. His
reply (in the original English):

"Maybe we can live together, but only with freedom. We don't want
soldiers, checkpoints or curfew. Just respect."

[The photos in this essay were taken on December 27, 2002 by Husam
Qassis and Jaggi Singh. The extended photo captions are included
below.]

[To view the photos, go to http://www.palsolidarity.org. Click on
Bethlehem Area reports on the main page, and then click on Photo
Essay.]

PHOTO CAPTIONS:

1) A view of Dheisheh, atop Dheisheh's highest point. 10,000
refugees live within less than half a square kilometer. The camp is on
the slope of a hill.

2) One of the entrances to Dheisheh. This gate was the only entrance and
exit during direct Israeli Occupation Forces' direct control of the
camp. In 1995, when the camp was put under the Palestinian
authority, the barbed wire and fences surrounding the camp were
taken down. This gate remains as a symbol of the Israeli occupation. It
has been painted in the Palestinian colours.

3) Another view of Dheisheh from beside the entry gate.

4) Children playing outside the gates, beside the main road; one of the
few open spaces near the camp.

5) Graffiti outside the camp. Loose translation of Arabic graffiti (on
left): "Greetings to a martyr! -- Ibrahim Wahadnah. The Cobra Group."
Throughout the visit to Dheisheh, residents made reference to martyrs,
referring to anyone who died fighting against the
Israeli occupation.

6) Another graffiti.

7) Arabic graffiti on right (loose translation): "With the people until
victory" (with logo of the PFLP)

8) Arabic graffiti on left (loosely translated): "The blood of
Muhammed Durra comes at a price." Muhammed Durra was the boy who was
killed by IOF bullets on September 30, 2000, as he hid behind his father
crying in fear, in an image that has come to define the
second intifada. Arabic graffiti on the right is the signature of Fatah.

9) A stencil of Kifah Khaled Obeid. This stencil is painted all over the
walls of the camp, and beyond in Beit Sahour and Bethlehem.
Kifah, 13, was a resident of Dheisheh, who died from a bullet wound
while throwing stones at IOF soldiers at a checkpoint near Bethlehem
last November. Kifah was a student at the Dheisheh boys school,
active in summer camps, and was a member of a soccer team. At Ibdaa, the
local community center, he was beginning to learn how to use
computers [his teacher was Nizar Alayasa, see caption 18 below]. The day
before he died, five children were killed in Gaza as a result of an
unexploded bomb left by the IOF. The next day, Kifah and other
schoolkids decided to march to the Bethlehem-Jerusalem
checkpoint to protest the killings. They held a banner reading
(roughly translated), "The smile of a child is stronger than Israeli
weapons." The kids also threw rocks at the soldiers. Kifah was shot in
the chest with a live bullet fired by an IOF soldier. He died on arrival
at hospital, and was buried the next day in the Cemetery of Martyrs at
Dheisheh.

10) Arabic graffiti in black (loosely translated): "Fatah youth is a
place for struggling, not for being quiet." Red graffiti: "We die
standing, not on our knees" -- People's Party." Stencil of Kifah
Khaled Obeid on wall.

11) Main road of Dheisheh.

12) Dheisheh laneway.

13) Residents of Dheisheh. Nizar pointed out that their home was
that of a martyr.

14) Dheisheh children.

15) Dheisheh children.

16) Dheisheh children.

17) Dheisheh child.

18) Nizar Alayasa, a worker at Dheisheh's Cultural Center, Ibdaa. He is
at the highest point at Dheisheh, which is built on the slope of a hill.

19) View from the hill in Dheisheh, with main road below.

20) Another view of Dheisheh.

21) View from Bethlehem of the settlement of Gilo (with
skyscrapers). Gilo is considered by Israel to be a "neighborhood" of
Jerusalem, although it was built on land illegally occupied after 1967.
Most of the illegal settlements around Jerusalem are
called "neighborhoods" by Israel. One settlement in particular,
Ma'ale Adumim, will effectively cut the West Bank in half, and is being
considered for annexation into Jerusalem.

22) Another view of the Gilo settlement. Many of the residents of
Dheisheh originate from de-populated Arab villages near Jerusalem.

23) Main road to Hebron. Dheisheh is on the left.

24) Rubble of Palestinian Authority buildings in Bethlehem, down the
road from Dheisheh. The buildings were hit by two missiles from
Israeli F-16 fighter planes, during the re-occupation of the West Bank
in the spring.

25) Another view of the rubble.

26) Rubble with graffiti.