Palestinian "freedom riders" are arrested when they board buses reserved only for Israelis.

Palestinians who boarded a segregated Israeli bus in the occupied West Bank to travel to East Jerusalem were arrested for taking action reminiscent of the Civil Rights Movement’s Freedom Rides

Earlier today, seven Palestinian Freedom Riders were violently arrested while attempting to ride on segregated Israeli public transportation transporting settlers from inside the West Bank to occupied East Jerusalem in an act of civil disobedience inspired by the Freedom Riders of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.

Inspired by the Freedom Rides of the Jim Crow American South and asserting their own aspirations for freedom, justice and self determination, six Freedom Riders boarded a settler bus at 3:30 pm in the occupied West Bank near the illegal Jewish-only colony of Psagot.

In a scene reminiscent of the early U.S. civil rights movement, border police and army surrounded and shut down Jerusalem Bus 148, blocking the Freedom Riders at the Hizmeh checkpoint. The action clearly highlights the injustice and dispossession that Palestinians face under Israeli occupation and apartheid. The six freedom riders who boarded the bus originally as well as an additional rider, were arrested and are currently at the Israeli Atarot police station.

Badee’ Dwak from Hebrom, who was arrested during the ride ,said: “The companies operating Israeli buses, like Egged and Veolia, are directly complicit in Israel’s violations of our rights. They transport settlers in and out of our occupied land, on roads that we often can’t use into places that we can’t reach, including Jerusalem.They need to be divested from and boycotted. Not just here, but around the world. It is a moral duty to end complicity in this Israeli system of apartheid.”

Human Rights Watch in December 2010 released a 166-page reportⁱ on the “two-tier” system that Israel administers in Area C and East Jerusalem.  It makes clear that Israel’s legal system enables and facilitates the theft of Palestinian land and openly discriminates against Palestinians.  West Bank Palestinians are prohibited from driving on certain roads and are limited in their housing choices.  Police and army brutality are a fact of life.

Huwaida Arraf also among those arrested, stated, “The US. Congress repeatedly claims it is for the rights of people around the world facing oppression and injustice. But when it comes to Palestinian rights and Israel’s decades-old denial of them they are notably silent.  In fact, they continue to provide Israel with the most deadly weapons, money and diplomatic cover to maintain its oppression and protect it from international sanctions. Too many lack the courage to even criticize Israel for the racism on display here today.”

Basel al-Araj commented prior to his arrest: “The settlers are to Israel what the KKK was to the Jim Crow South – an unruly, fanatic mob that has enormous influence in shaping Israeli policies today and that violently enforces these policies with extreme violence and utter impunity all over the occupied Palestinian territory, especially in and around Jerusalem.”

Hurriyah Ziada, one of the event’s organizers said: “Israel’s occupation and apartheid system must end and all of Israel’s Jewish-only colonies that sit on stolen land must be dismantled. As the Arab Spring spreads across the region, rekindling hope for freedom, social justice and democracy to replace tyranny and repression, we struggle on the ground for the basic, comprehensive rights of the entire Palestinian people. We call on people of conscience around the world to compel Israel into complying with international law by applying creative, sustainable, and context-sensitive boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) initiatives. We too deserve freedom and justice.”

Among prominent international figures who have endorsed the Palestinian Freedom Riders campaign, best-seller Alice Walker wrote:

“Board the buses to Everywhere.  Sit freely.  Go into Jerusalem with my blessing. Like many of my country people, I have witnessed this scenario before and know where it can lead.  To a straightening of the back and a full breath taken by the soul. Some of us have shed blood, others have shed tears.  Some have shed both. All sacred to the cause of the dignity we deserve as beautifully fashioned citizens and Beings of this Universe.”

Renowned US. Civil Rights activist and former Black Panthers leader Distinguished Professor Emerita Angela Davis wrote:
“Palestinian Freedom Riders poised to collectively resist Israeli apartheid are inspired by the fifty-year-old legacy of U.S. Freedom Riders, whose bold defiance of Jim Crow laws in the South helped to dismantle legal structures of racism.  All those who celebrate the achievements of the Civil Rights Era should be prepared to stand in solidarity with our Palestinian sisters and brothers today.”

Background
Several Israeli and transnational companies, among them Egged and Veolia, operate dozens of lines that run through the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem), many of them subsidized by the state. They run between different Israeli illegal settlements, connecting them to each other and to Israel. Some lines connecting Jerusalem to other cities inside Israel, such as Eilat and Beesan (Beit She’an), are also routed to pass through the West Bank.

Almost no limitations are imposed on the freedom of movement of Israelis in the occupied Palestinian territory. On the contrary, the Israeli government allows and even encourages its citizens to settle in the West Bank (especially in and around East Jerusalem), in violation of international law. Palestinians, in contrast, are not allowed to enter Israel without procuring a rarely granted special permit from Israeli authorities. Even Palestinian movement inside the Occupied Territory is heavily restricted, with access to occupied East Jerusalem and some 8 percent of the West Bank in the border area also forbidden without a similar permit.

While it is not officially forbidden for Palestinians to use Israeli public transportation in the West Bank, these lines are effectively segregated, since many of them pass through Jewish-only settlements, to which Palestinian entry is prohibited by military decree. This is one aspect of Israel’s regime of occupation, colonialism and apartheidⁱⁱ against the Palestinian people.

The buses that the Freedom Riders boarded are operated by Egged, the largest Israeli public transportation company. Another prominent public transportation company in the Occupied Territory is the French transnational company Veolia. Both companies are complicit in Israel’s violations of international law due to their involvement in and profiting from Israeli’s illegal settlement infrastructure. Palestinian Freedom Riders endorse the call for boycotting both companies, as well as all others involved in Israel’s violations of human rights and international law.ⁱⁱⁱ

In July 2011, an Egged subsidiary won a public tender to run bus services in the Waterland region of the Netherlands, north of Amsterdam. The company makes money from trampling on the rights of Palestinians and has been a target of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign, which is endorsed by an overwhelming majority of Palestinian civil society. The Freedom Riders call on the people of the Netherlands to sever all dealings with companies, like Egged, involved in human rights violations.

Veolia has been a target of an international divestment campaign for running bus lines through the West Bank connecting illegal Israeli colonies to Jerusalem and for its involvement in the Jerusalem Light Rail which connects illegal settlements in and around occupied East Jerusalem to the western part of the city, thereby directly servicing the settlement enterprise.^iv

Israel has laid its military control over 42 percent of the occupied West Bank for the building of illegal Jewish settlements and their associated regime^v (including the wall which was declared illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004), depriving local communities of access to their water resources as well as agricultural lands. Settling Israelis in the occupied Palestinian territory constitutes a war crime according to the Fourth Geneva Convention^vi and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.^vii

Settlements’ infrastructure includes hundreds of kilometers of segregated roads that are forbidden for Palestinians to use. They carve deep into the West Bank further separating Palestinians and their cities and villages from each other.

Notes
i HRW report: Israel/West Bank: Separate and Unequal; Available at: http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/12/18/israelwest-bank-separate-and-unequal

ii In its most recent session in Cape Town, South Africa, the eminent jury of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine concluded that, “Israel’s rule over the Palestinian people, wherever they reside, collectively amounts to a single integrated regime of apartheid.” http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/sessions/south-africa

iii Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS, available at: http://www.bdsmovement.net/call.

iv http://www.bdsmovement.net/activecamps/veoliaalstom#.TsDEckOGXxQ

v B’tselem Report: “By Hook and By Crook, Israeli Settlement Policy in the West Bank, July 2010; summary available at: http://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/201007_by_hook_and_by_crook.

vi See “Israel’s settlement policy is a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention,” The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Gaza, highlighting the relevant articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention to support the determination that settlements are a war crime, at http://www.pchrgaza.org/Intifada/Settlements.conv.htm; see also “Demolitions, new settlements in East Jerusalem could amount to war crimes – UN expert,” UN News Centre, June 29, 2010, at http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35175&Cr=Palestin&Cr1.

vii Article8(2)(b)(viii) of the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court prohibits “[t]he transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”

The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin used to separate East and West Berlin. Now thousands walk under and through it, able now to pass freely from one side to the other since the Wall came down in 1989.

Today I stood, as if I could hear voices from the past, present and the future of both horror and hope, but hope won.  For today I walked through the Brandenburg Gate, which used to separate East from West Berlin as one of the most famous places in the Berlin Wall.  I remember standing there in 1980, looking at the sign that said “Attention, you are leaving West Berlin,” horrified by Checkpoint Charlie and the feeling of oppression being subjected to soldiers with machine guns ruling over life in East Berlin.

It was as if I could hear both the voices of the past – the wail of horror that must have gone up when the wall went up – and the voices of the present – and you said it couldn’t be done!

And I found President Reagan’s words from the past:

Today (1987) I say: as long as the gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone tht remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind.  Yet I do not come here to lament.  For I find in Berlin a message of hope, even in the shadow of this wall, a message of triumph….

…this wall will fall.  For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth.  The wall cannot withstand freedom.

So I stand tonight to salute all those Palestinians, Israelis and internationals – and there are many – whose collective voice will one day overshadow the wallbuilders and the settlement expanders and the rocket launchers.  Don’t give up, even in the face of evidence that that wall – and injustice and oppression and fear – will stand forever scarring your land.  It won’t, there are too many working and praying and yearning for freedom and truth to win the day. 

Can you not almost hear the cry from the future:  and they said it couldn’t be done!

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, and other ecumenical faith leaders met with White House officials to express urgency and encourage action on the situation in Israel and Palestine.   According to Hanson, continued meetings with the Obama administration are “a priority because of our commitment to our companions in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. It is also carried out in the commitment we have made in the ELCA’s Churchwide Strategy for Engagement in Israel and Palestine.

“As we began our conversation with Mr. Ross, I expressed disappointment. We hear our Christian partners in the region question the United States’ commitment. They wonder why the U.S. has not been more vocal about the increased settlement construction. I told Mr. Ross that we repeatedly hear Palestinian churches say they see this as a moment of abdication by the U.S. administration.”

Hanson said afterwards that, “More progress must be made toward the goal of a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. Since our meeting a year ago, the prospects for peace seem to have diminished with the expansion of settlements and the absence of face-to-face negotiations.”

According to a Nov. 10 news release from Churches for Middle East Peace, the church leaders who attended the Nov. 8 meeting said they are disappointed with developments since their 2010 meeting at the White House. 

“The position of the Palestinian Christian community is precarious,” stated the release. “There are constant problems of obtaining visas for clergy who must travel outside Jerusalem and the West Bank. Restriction on movement between Bethlehem and Jerusalem is a problem that undermines Christian life. Church leaders are humiliated at check points.”

Ecumenical leaders at this year’s White House meeting included Hanson; Katharine Jefferts Shori, presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church; Denis James Madden, auxiliary bishop of Baltimore and chairman-elect of the Committee for Ecumenical and Interfaith Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Neil Irons, executive secretary of the Methodist Council of Bishops; and Sara Lisherness, director of compassion, peace and justice for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A).
The meeting was arranged by Churches for Middle East Peace, a coalition of 24 national church denominations and organizations working to encourage U.S. government policies that promote a just and lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Read full ELCA story

As a YAGM serving at the Dar Al-Kalima School (DAK) in Bethlehem, but living in Beit Sahour, I am privileged with the opportunity of riding the school bus with the kids everyday to and from school (I have to admit that I really do find this as a great privilege since I was “denied” such privilege growing up as a child).  While the kids are pretty fun on the bus, quiet in the morning and crazy loud in the afternoon with lots of singing and sometimes even a impromptu ice-cream stop, it is the morning bus driver that I would like to post about.  To be honest, I don’t even know his name.  He picks me up every morning with one of the biggest grins on his face, we exchange polite sabah ilher’s (good morning) and kif halak’s (how are you) and then start on the morning route to pick up the rest of the kids.  Now, the buses aren’t like buses in America.  1) They aren’t yellow 🙁 and 2) they are the same buses that also run from Beit Sahour to Bethlehem everyday so it is more like DAK rents the bus every morning and afternoon, but when school is not in session the bus drivers are the same bus drivers who drive the other routes throughout town.  The typical bus pick up is at the main village intersection where one would also go to catch a taxi, go to the supermarket, or even buy fresh produce.  As I visit this intersection quite often for one reason or another, without fail every time my morning school bus driver sees me he rushes over to check to see where I am going, what I want, or if I need anything.  Most the time, I am really just buying some veggies, but it is always reassuring when I am trying to catch a taxi that he stops me, asks where I am going, and tells the taxi driver to make sure I get there.  1)He makes sure that I get a fair price on taxis (which sometimes can be hard when you don’t always know what a fair taxi price is and you look like a tourist) and 2) he just makes the whole process a lot more comfortable (as I actually get intimidated trying to get from one place or another).  I don’t always know what he is saying (he doesn’t really speak any English and well, my Arabic is also quite limited), but he continues to put a smile on my face and I know if I ever needed anything I could always run down to the intersection and if he was there he would help me with anything.

I guess I am telling this story, not just to tell you about my bus driver, but to illustrate how friendly people are here in Palestine.  The people you meet here, even briefly, even if you don’t know their names, become those who you can rely on in any situation.  People here go out of their way to say hello to you if you past them in the street or invite you over for coffee even if you met them only briefly going to the market.  I think, or I guess I know, that there are many misconceptions regarding Palestinians, but to be honest I feel safer, more welcomed, and more at peace here, when I am among Palestinians than I did back home.  Despite what might be read in the news or what is going on at the negotiation tables, my morning bus driver, the English teacher at my school, those I work with at the Lajee Center in Aida refugee camp, the taxi driver who tells me about his love for America are the true peacemakers here and I can only pray that others of the region, others of the world, can learn the true meaning of peace from them.

-Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath, YAGM, J/WB 2011-2012

According to a September, 2011, report by the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy in cooperation with the Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ), the Palestinian economy would be about twice what it is now were it not for occupation policies including restrictions on Palestinians using their own resources, movement restrictions, damages to infrastructure and agriculture and other factors. From the The Economic Costs of the Israeli Occupation on the Occupied Palestinian Territory:

 

Today these restrictions have deepened further and according to our estimations in 2010 they are almost equal to the value of the entire Palestinian economy. The total costs imposed by the Israeli occupation on the Palestinian economy which we have been able to measure was USD 6.897 billion in 2010, a staggering 84.9% of the total estimated Palestinian GDP.

In other words, had the Palestinians not been subject to the Israeli occupation, their economy would have been almost double in size than it is today.  Table E1 below summarises these costs split by the main types of restriction. In line with the colonial paradigm of the Israeli occupation, the majority of these costs do not have any relationship with security concerns but rather come from the heavy restrictions imposed on the Palestinians in the access to their own natural resources, many of which are exploited by Israel itself, including water, minerals, salts, stones and land. Over USD 4.5 billion per year, a full 56% of GDP, is the cost (in terms of both foregone revenues and higher costs of raw materials) for the Palestinians for not being able to access their own resources.

Four Christian denominations have issued a statement in support of the Palestinian bid for membership in the UN.  Officials from the Presbyterian Church, the United Church of Christ, The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society signed the statement, which also urges negotiations as a necessary step to resolution of the conflict. 

From the statement:

We understand the view expressed by United States and Israeli representatives that international recognition by the UN is no substitute for two-party, two-state negotiations. But the reverse is also true, given the prolonged and undeniable failure of the negotiations between parties of vastly different power. Membership for Palestine does not preclude either the need for or the possibility of negotiations. Outstanding issues including an end to the occupation, final borders, the status of Jerusalem, settlements, and the right of return would remain to be resolved through negotiation. We believe that UN membership for Palestine would increase the likelihood of fair and transparent negotiations on these issues, as those negotiations would then take place between two members of the United Nations.   

Read the full statement in this Presbyterian News Service story

The Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall in Jerusalem on a hotly-contested spot of land in East Jerusalem.

Today, church leaders in the United States made public their response to the communique issued by the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem regarding the current status of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both documents were produced in September.

In their statement, the U.S. heads of churches, in the context of the Arab Spring, “recognize the complex and difficult situation regarding the current and future realities of the Middle East.” Beyond developments in the region, however, the church leaders voice their dismay “that the Obama administration has actively opposed Palestinian efforts to achieve a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through appeal to the United Nations.”

Click below for the full text of each communication (in PDF format):

Sept. 12, 2011 – Communique from the Heads of Christian Churches in Jerusalem

Sept. 30, 2011 – Response to Communique by Heads of Churches in the United States

Today, Rev. Andrea Zaki, Ph.D., Vice President of the the Protestant Community in Egypt, issued a statement from the churches on the recent violence in their country. This statement follows a similar declaration from the Coptic Orthodox Church, with which the Protestant communities are in a close relationship. The statement is reproduced here, in full:

*******

Statement from the Protestant Church in Egypt:
On the Incident of the Church of Al-Marinab village, Edfu-Aswan and Events of 9^th October, 2011.
 

The Protestant Church in Egypt condemns outright all forms of violent actions.  Particularly, the Protestant Church rejects acts of violence in Egypt during this time of socio-political transition.

Leaders of the Protestant Church have closely followed recent violent events and, in response, call for:

• Lawlessness to be swiftly addressed and corrected.
• Compromising policies and Recognition meetings to be abandoned.

In addition, the leaders of the Protestant Church stress that the recent violence does not accurately represent the national Egyptian context.  Violence as has recently been witnessed serves only to undermine not only the country’s prestige and dignity, but also works to erode national security and stability.

The Protestant Church laments the repeated incidents – first with the violence in Edfu-Aswan, followed by the events of 9 October – events which occurred due to a lack in reaching a solution to problems.

The Protestant Church, therefore, appeals to all those within the nation to stand together side by side in order to confront these incidents.  We call on all Egyptians to reject the use of violence and, in doing so, work together to create a unified legislation to allow for building places of worship for all.  In addition, we call for the law to correctly punish those responsible for harming citizens and property.

With Egypt standing on the cusp of a new era, the Protestant Community raises its prayers to God, calling for the protection of the people of this great nation from all that is being plotted against them.  The Protestant community also raises its prayers for those victims and injured in the violence in Edfu-Aswan and across the nation on October 9, 2011.  Finally, the Protestant Community calls on the interim government to meet it’s responsibility to the nation by ensuring the safety and security of all citizens.

Rev. Andrea Zaki, Ph.D
Vice President (and Acting President)
The Protestant Community in Egypt

Almost 30 people, mostly Christian Copts, were killed in Egypt in violence apparently based in religious discord.

We express our sincere sympathy and pray for the people of Egypt and the Coptic Church who have suffered recent violence and death arising from religious discord.   The Rt. Rev. Munib Younan, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and President of the Lutheran World Federation, released a statement  detailing his concern and prayers over the recent violence and killings:

In light of recent events, we are concerned that the fair implementation of freedom of religion for all Egyptians is not yet a reality—freedom to build houses of worship and to worship in security, regardless of religion, denomination, or sect.

We call upon all in leadership roles to ensure this freedom for all Egyptians alike and to protect its citizens against those few extremists —whatever their religion — who are self­‐centered in their aims and violent in their actions. We mourn with the families and friends of those citizens of Egypt who were killed this week. We hope that no further casualties will occur.

We pray for the people of Egypt and especially our sisters and brothers in the Christian community. We urge the intermediary government and the military to cease all violence against civilians, to hold those accountable to justice, and to lead the country with integrity so that a new government can be democratically elected.

Read the full statement. |  Read more about it

In the mix of the muddle over the Palestinians’ UN statehood bid, something often gets lost.  The US – and others – are adamant that the only way to Palestinian statehood is negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, probably brokered by the US.  But this is not negotiation between two equal parties.  One is the occupier and one is the occupied.   It is an illusion to think that they sit at the same table with equal power.  One has the unquestioned support of much of the world’s power – and $3 billion a year from the US, which is supposed to be the honest broker.  The other doesn’t, and has watched while illegal settlements and land reserved for their future growth and infrastructure have eaten up half of the land supposedly reserved for their future state.

Chris Cowan, a Luther seminarian, is an accompanier for the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) living in the Southern Hebron Hills, protecting Palestinian school children and villagers from some of the violent settlers there.  Read her reflections and follow her days at her blog http://christiarts.wordpress.com/.    The Lutheran church sends a big percentage  of the EAPPI-US program.                        .

But for now, read her observations about what it’s like to live under occupation.  And think about what you would do if you lived under those circumstances.    Perhaps you would do something as “unilateral” as appealing to the most multilateral peace organization in the world – the UN – for some protection, some hope and a fulfillment of the almost 60 UN resolutions supporting international law and a just peace.

Dear friends,

Today, I want to reflect a little bit on the experience of living in a militarized environment.  It goes without saying that Jesus himself lived in such an environment, when 1^st century Palestine was under Roman occupation.  So it’s worth spending a few moments thinking about how it feels to experience this.

Of course, I can’t know, really know, how it feels because I have a 3 month visa and a foreign passport.  I am clearly and visibly an international and am treated as such. This isn’t my country, no matter how much I love it, and I know every day that in a short time I will go back to the “land of the free”.  As for being in “the home of the brave”, however, I am already there.

We were stopped by the Army yesterday as we drove to a village.  And we were stopped by the Army today as we drove to a village. And also yesterday, in the Old City of Hebron, we walked past several soldiers, their guns pointed at us as we approached, because they were in the process of detaining a man in that place. We kept a wide berth between the guns and us.

When you have guns pointed in your direction, however casually, you are not free. You are not free, for instance, to openly take photographs, although you might try to take one on the sly.

When you have guns pointed in your direction, you have to do what you are told. Show your ID. Leave the road. Get out of the car. Go over there. Come with me. Wait here. Answer my questions. The conversations may even seem friendly but the guns send a different message.

When you have guns pointed at you, you feel tense, and it’s a little hard at that moment to interpret exactly what is happening.

For instance, it’s a confusing experience to be told by a soldier, while other soldiers train their rifles on you, to “be careful because it can be dangerous here”.  It’s an interesting experience to be told by a soldier wearing a gun that you can’t go into a place of prayer because you are wearing a peace vest.   Really?  Really?

This is living under occupation.

This is not the land of the free, but I am already in the home of the brave.  In such an environment, continuing to be civil, continuing to be hospitable, continuing to be hopeful, continuing to be loving, continuing to rebuild, this is courage.

Today I hope to use my freedoms and to act bravely. 

Blessings on your journey,

Chris Cowan