Resist

Visit to Israel & Palestine

I visited Israel and Palestine in 2007, and was amazed at the number of walls and check points that people have to travel through in their day-to-day lives.
Not everyone is allowed through, and the crossing of the lines marked out by the walls is very symbolic. Some people view areas as their land, others as historically belonging to their own people.

The walls around Bethlehem, graffitied by Banksy and others with the contrasting motifs of masked bombers and donkeys, made a real impact on me. A place of peace is in the midst of a war.

alicebrunton@hotmail.co.uk

by Alice Brunton on 07/04/10 | Read More

Around the globe, walls spring up to divide neighbors

Alrededor del mundo aparecen paredes para dividir vecinos
Por Bernd Debusmann, corresponsal especial
TIJUANA, Mexico, April 30 (Reuters) - What do Tijuana, Baghdad and Jerusalem have in common?
TIJUANA, México, 30 de abril (Reuters) - ¿Qué tienen en común Tijuana, Bagdad y Jerusalén?
They all have walls that divide neighbors, cause controversy and form part of an array of physical barriers around the world that dwarf the late, unlamented Iron Curtain.
Todas ellas tienen muros que dividen barrios, causan controversia y forman parte de una serie de barreras físicas en todo el mundo que hacen que la antigua y no lamentada Cortina de Hierro parezca pequeña.
There are walls, fences, trenches and berms. Some are reinforced by motion detectors, heat-sensing…

by Bernd Debusmann on 26/02/10 | Read More

The walls of Shame

Hi,
We are two french director and have recently finished a 52’ documentary called “The walls of Shame”.
The fall of the Berlin Wall gave us hope for the end of divisions. However, 20 years later, many walls, be it of concrete, metal or wire, have been erected thoughout the world. In the U.S.A., in Israel, in Europe, and in many other parts of the world. The aim of these new walls is not to prevent people from going out, like in Berlin, but to prevent them from coming in. In our so-called global world, these walls are for us the evidence of a global crisis.
In Mexico, in Israel, in Berlin, we met those who live near these walls,…

by The Walls of Whame on 04/12/09 | Read More

Gaza - The true story behind this war is not the one Israel is telling.

I came across an article from our UK paper “The Independent” that astounded me today, perhaps because it is a clear and undiluted approach to a current tragedy; also about a wall, similar to the border you have chosen as a subject. I thought it might interest you as this would be the subject of the film I would make if I thought the media would broadcast it.

Johann Hari: The true story behind this war is not the one Israel is telling.

The world isn’t just watching the Israeli government commit a crime in Gaza; we are watching it self-harm. This morning, and tomorrow morning, and every morning until this punishment beating ends, the young people of the Gaza…

by anonymous on 03/01/09 | Read More

Gaza - we've been able to defy an unjust and illegal policy while the rest of the world is too intimidated to do anything.

The Free Gaza Movement is delighted to announce that their third boat, the Dignity, carrying 27 crew and passengers, arrived in Gaza at 8:10 Gaza time, in spite of Israeli threats to stop them. In the pouring rain, the boat pulled into port amid cheers from the people of Gaza and tears from the passengers.  David Schermerhorn, a crew member called an hour before the boat entered Gazan waters to say, “There is a rainbow stretching across the Mediterranean from where we are right now.”
Yesterday, the Israeli Navy said they would stop our vessel once it reached Israel’s territorial waters. Apparently to save face, they said they would harm our boat, arrest us and tow us IF we entered…

by Greta Berlin on 29/10/08 | Read More

Gaza - We intend to break Israel's blockade as often as we can.

On October 28, 2008, the Free Gaza Movement will set sail again for Gaza.  On board will be a Nobel Peace Prize winner, five physicians, a member of the Israeli Knesset, and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council.  The boat will again carry 26 passengers and crew to the port of Gaza.
“We’ve spent the past month making sure our boat is better and stronger, because the weather is getting more severe.  Since we promised the people of Gaza we’d return, we wanted to make sure we would return safely”, said Derek Graham, first mate on board the boat.  Mairead Maguire, the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner for her work for peace in Northern Ireland and one of the…

by anonymous on 24/10/08 | Read More

Israel - In prison for the next 7 days

Sahar Vardi, 18, from Jerusalem, has been sentenced today (25 Aug) to 7 days in military prison (more will likely follow after she is released).

Sahar is the third conscientious objector, and the first woman, to be imprisoned among a new group of high school seniors, who signed a collective declaration of refusal to serve in the Israeli army of occupation, and in the work of organising which she has been very strongly involved.

While she stresses the importance of resisting the occupation of Palestine as a motive for her refusal, Sahar’s conscientious objection is also rooted in a wider pacifist position. In a letter to the Minister of Defence, declaring her refusal to serve in the military, She wrote:…

by Yesh Gvul on 26/08/08 | Read More

Israel - Refusing to serve in the army

My name is Omri Evron, and I am a 20 year old socialist peace activist from Israel. In October 2006 I was supposed to be drafted into the IDF, but I refused to do so. As a consequence I was court-martialed and sent to an IDF military prison where I was put in solitary confinement for a few weeks.
This is the letter I wrote before being imprisoned (sorry if it’s a bit too long):
Refusal Statement
Omri Evron,
Tel Aviv 12 October 2006

I, Omri Evron, refuse to serve in the army because I am faithful to the moral principles in which I believe. My refusal to enlist is in protest against the longstanding military occupation of the Palestinian…

by Omri Evron on 05/06/08 | Read More

Palestine - None so strong as the converted

“Enraged by the attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001, Jonas Moffat was set to join the US Air Force – until 90 minutes with the PLO turned his worldview upside down”

Pondering from these Prison Walls

Not far from Tel Aviv, as I lay here in my Ramla prison cell staring at the ceiling, not much is there to do besides recap the events in my life that caused me to arrive in this position. I am wearing all black, as if my future self knew before I left my cozy apartment in Ramallah, that this color would represent the mood I currently occupy. Yesterday, I spent the whole day in questioning. “Viscous” is but an understatement for…

by Jonas Moffat on 05/06/08 | Read More

Palestine - Resisting by staying still

I know a man from the west bank village of Mas’ha , his house located behind the wall which separates his house from the other houses of the village and keep it imprisoned between the settlement and the wall.

The man refused to evacuate the house and refused to bargain over his house. He is insisting to stay at home with his family although he is imprisoned with his family in their old house for more than 5 years.

by anonymous on 04/06/08 | Read More

Palestine - It is not easy to fight somebody who doesn't want to fight back

I live in Beit Sahour, a village in the Westbank (Palestine) with a majority of christian Palestinians. Recently a group of Jewish settlers arrived to the east side of the town to create a new settlement, taking land from Palestinian farmers and posing a direct threat to the safety of the Palestinians who live near there. Settlers often carry guns and attack Palestinians (which we never hear in the media! but believe me, i saw that with my own eyes!).The settlers said they want to prevent the Municipality of Beit Sahour to build a childrens hospital there. Arab children obviously dont deserve medical treatment?! .We resist the start of this new settler outpost. How? .By non-violence and by confusion! .With…

by anonymous on 01/06/08 | Read More