Dodaj nową odpowiedź

As the Anarchists Against the Wall (AATW) get more credit as serious activists, we are both invited to (and on our own initiative) join other struggles. Among the struggles within Israeli borders, we have recently been invited to participate in four main struggles. There is the gentrification project in the old Palestinian neighborhood of Jaffa (now annexed as the southern district of Tel Aviv). About 500 Palestinian families holding Israeli citizenship were issued court orders for the demolition (of the whole or part) of their homes - to clear the area for gentrification by the rich (mostly Jews from Tel Aviv). The few direct actions AATW people were involved in have already prevented some demolitions for a while.

Following that, in connection with the Jaffa struggle, we were invited to participate in the struggle of 30 families from Kfar Shalem who were issued with eviction orders to make space for a building project. (This is the old village of Salama where immigrant Jews were placed after the original Palestinian inhabitants were transferred out in the 1948 war.) demolitions for a while.

A third struggle is that of the Palestinian bedouin of the Negev - the southern part of Israel. These are the indigenous, semi-nomadic Palestinian dwellers of the arid lands in the region where Beersheba city is located. Many of the original inhabitants were driven away to Egypt (Sinai) and Jordan between 1948 and 1952, during the birth of Israel. Some were forced to relocate within that region. Throughout the years, the Israeli state made efforts to confiscate their land, which was used for marginal agriculture and villages, and to concentrate them into a few new towns. demolitions for a while.

The latest wave of suppression involves the demolition of more than 100 houses, with court orders for the destruction of whole villages. Lately, as part of the struggle, they and their Jewish supporters invited AATW activists to join them. A protest tent camp was recently set up in Jerusalem, near the Parliament. demolitions for a while.

And the fourth, somewhat different, project is that of the homeless tent compound in the center of Jerusalem. They are the present tip of the iceberg of some tens of thousands of people who lost their homes due to the neo-liberal policy of the Israeli State, that privatized public housing projects and refuses responsibility for housing problems of the very needy. The tent camp is organized by veteran social-struggle activists with long-established contacts with the extra-parliamentary left and with the anti-authoritarian left. We were naturally invited to join them. Some of our members have spent days and nights there. The struggle against homelessness in general and against the eviction of the camp in particular is on the agenda. demolitions for a while.

Yesterday evening, we had a joint demonstration in Jerusalem of the three struggles: the homeless camp (which initiated this demo), The Kfar Shalem people who will soon be homeless too, and the bedouin activists. About 300 people participated in the demonstration. We marched for about an hour along the two main streets in central Jerusalem towards the prime minister's official residence. The AATW drum circle and team of clowns made the march livelier. The speeches made by the activists of the three struggles stressed the joining of hands of Israeli Jews and Israeli Palestinians. Afterwards we marched to the homeless camp in the center of city and socialized there before dispersing. demolitions for a while.

Ilan Shalif