In Palestine and a new call

1) Report from this trip into Palestine: Right to enter Palestine
2) A New call (please comment back if you support this)

1) Report from this trip into Palestine: Right to enter Palestine

After much touch and go and three days, my wife and I are finally in
occupied Palestine.   Experiences so far are bitter sweet and range from
meeting Kathy Kelly (of Voices for Creative Non-Violence) in Amman to being
tormented by Israeli border officers. I will take time to only describe the
experiences crossing from Jordan into the occupied West Bank.  My wife and I
both have US passports but I also hold residency "rights" in the occupied
areas.  5 million Palestinians live outside Palestine and are denied entry.
Roughly five million (of which nearly 2 million are refugees or internally
displaced people) live inside Palestine: 1.5 million Palestinians live
inside the Green line and are given (10th class) Israeli citizenship while
3.5 million live in the occupied areas of the West Bank (incl. East
Jerusalem) and Gaza. I happen to belong to the latter historically created
category.   My wife has no residency Papers and it has been now fairly
common for Israeli's to deny "tourist" visitor visa to spouses of
Palestinians if they do not carry the residency papers.  This applies even
if those spouses are born and raised in Palestine (mine is not).  This is a
method to thin the population as any marriage like this means that both the
resident and their spouse are excluded because the only way they can live
together is live somewhere else.  Of course such restrictions do not exist
to Israelis or even to Jewish non-Israelis.  Any Jew in the world can become
an automatic citizen and bring his or her spouse whatever their nationality
happens to be.

To go back to my story.  Some of you may wonder why I come through Jordan.
West Bank residents cannot fly to Palestine (which became Israel) nor can we
cross into our homeland except through one entry point only.  In the case of
Bethlehem area that is the King Hussein Bridge (Jordanian Name), AKA Allenby
Bridge (Israeli Name), AKA Al-Karameh Bridge (Palestinian Name).  Hence, we
must fly to Jordan and the next day travel to that thing which may better be
called hell.

On the morning of July 12, 2007, we said goodbye to our kind host in Amman
and embarked to the Bridge border crossing.  The taxi driver has six
children; four of them graduated from college and one is in the army.  He
said the economy is poor but people are surviving.  He earns about $450 a
month driving the taxi.  This leg is about one hour, but we had to switch to
a second taxi for the last three-minute ride because the first taxi does not
have the special permit to operate in the area nearby the border crossing.
The terrain along the taxi ride is hilly, brownish dry landscape without
much vegetation.   In a distant hill, we can see the site of one of the many
ruling family palaces.  A herd of goats in a seemingly no-man's land facing
the Jordan river and in the distance the Israeli colonies dotting the
landscape that is only 3 miles away and yet hours away (if we were lucky to
get in).  Bags and luggage go through security checks (to protect Israel
even before the border crossing).  My wife had to stop and get her exit visa
in a different building of the Jordanian terminal and get a special slip to
say she can ride on the "Arab bus" (i.e. Those like us who go through the
more rigorous examinations).  I had to wait in long lines to get my papers
finalized and then onto the "Arab bus" which had one mile drive to the
Bridge but that mile took about one hour including two or three stops to
wait for instructions (I assume from the Israelis who like to pace the
arrival of us Arab hordes).  At the immediate line of the border right after
the bridge the bus stops and everyone disembarks for initial Israeli checks
of luggage, people (including documents) and to make sure the bus has no one
unaccounted for.  Back on the bus and onto the border terminal where there
are areas for "foreigners" and for Palestinian residents.  So my wife and I
go to two different areas.  The lines are long and yet almost half the
people (in all lines) do not get approval at the window counter (their
passports taken and they are told to wait).  My wait was relatively short
(about one hour).  My wife's on the other hand got rigorous questioning for
10 minutes at the counter and then told to wait.  Some four hours later,
they come and call her and ask more questions (many of the same questions
they had asked her earlier).  Then she is told to wait again (more hours).
Here are some of the questions:

- What is you relationship with Mazin?
- Is this the first time you visit here?
- What was the purpose of your last visit?
- What is the purpose of this visit?
- Where are you staying (A: Beit Sahour)
- Where is Beit Sahour? (!)
- When will you leave?
- Show me your return flight ticket?
- Give me phone numbers and names of people you will stay with (your
in-laws)?
- Will you be traveling to other cities/other areas?
- Who will you be meeting?

The total time to traverse the 3-mile border area (Jordan/Occupied
territories) for us was about 9 hours.  Getting out would also mean going
either to Jericho in the north then taking roundabout ways to get to
Bethlehem area or taking a taxi (expensive) with a change in Al-Aizariya
(named for Lazarus' Tomb) and still going through the Wadi Narr area.  Got
home around 9:30 PM.  But we were the lucky ones.  Some visitors were denied
entry including a Palestinian family.  The father, the mother and their son
who were going into the West Bank for the Son's wedding.  Both mother and
father were born in the West Bank but were outside when Israel occupied it
and thus had no ability to get back.  All three carried American passports
and have done a tremendous amount of work and preparation just for this
problem (they had spoken with lawyers, US State Department, Israeli and
American Consulates and Embassies etc).  Ultimately it is not what Israeli
or International law says or even what the State Department informs you, it
is essentially up to these low level Israelis who are at the border
crossings.  The idea is to make Palestinian natives strangers and unwanted
in their own lands (lands coveted and stoilen by these colonial settlers).
The one who was supervisor of the team that denied entry to that family and
delayed us was a middle-aged woman with European features (not Semitic) and
a strong Russian accent who felt in full control.  Her employees were mostly
young Israeli recruits (serving their compulsory military service).  Those
young ones ranged from those who seemed to like to boss around Palestinian
old women and children (one wanted all children picked up to show her so
that she does not have to get up from her chair and look down at them) to
what looked like teenagers trying to bide their time doing unpleasant work
while sneaking time to hook-up with others for love relationships.

The hours and days of travel are fortunately filled with meeting very
interesting and thoughtful people and by reading all sorts of interesting
material. I met young Doctors in training, great drivers of many vans,
buses, and taxis, old folks who tell us they have seen it all. I read a book
by Abdullah AlTal, the Jordanian commander of the Arab Army in the Jerusalem
area in 1948.  The latter book was very fascinating.  It corroborated the
material presented in Avi Shlaims's book "Collusion across the Jordan" about
collaboration with Zionists before and during the establishment of Israel on
Palestinian land.  The documents that AlTal show are rather devastating to
the role of King Abdullah and his Army's commander (a British by the name of
General Club) in

1)      strictly forbidding units from fighting Zionist forces (AlTal disobeyed
orders in the Jerusalem area) and eventually went into exile in 1949.

2)      After the hostilities ended, the Jordanian Army was ordered to vacate and
give the nascent state of Israel some areas in Jerusalem (June 1948, Mt
Scopus, parts of Sur Baher and Beit Safafa), Lod and Ramla areas (July
10-12, 1948), the Galilee, areas near Hebron, and areas of South
AnNaqab/Negev (in March 1949). Palestinian inhabitants of Lydda ("Lodd") and
Ramla were then driven out (after all hostilities have ended). The Galilee,
which was designated to be part of the Arab state continues to be Judaisized
to this day. Those Palestinian refugees in Lebanon from the Galilee and
those in Gaza and the West Bank who came from Lydda, Ramla and villages
south were then denied their basic human rights to return to their homes and
lands.

Anway I digressw but it did seem history repeats itself and those in power
never learn that it is far better to have peace than continuing injustice.

We need to push our government, embassies and foreign officials on this
issue of right to enter.  Please take a few minutes to jot a note to those
people to complain about this. For more information on right to enter
issues, please visit http://www.RightToEnter.ps

Today's Israeli paper Haaretz had an opinion piece by Dr. Ghada Karmi on the
use of academic boycotts (posted at
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/881390.html ).  The fact is that not a
single Israeli educational institution has complained about the right to
enter or move around (which obviously also is intended to cripple
Palestinian educational institutions).  This alone justified the boycott of
Israeli institutions (see also http://www.pacbi.org).

I will continue to update you from our trip as in previous trips as time and
access to internet permits.

2) NEW CALL: (This is also being translated to Arabic and distributed in
Palestine and beyond.  Please read and if you agree, email us your name,
city, and state.)

We are Palestinians and others who believe in freedom, rights of refugees to
return, and self-determination.  We write to express our steadfastness, our
unity, and to relay our vision for a just peace in Western Asia.  We assert
the following points:

* The Palestinian people endured incredible adversity and tragic historical
confluence of events from colonization, ethnic cleansing, occupation, land
confiscation, economic dedevelopment (and indeed also mistakes and
collaboration). But there was also inspiring heroism, steadfastness,
resilience, resistance, International solidarity, and more over the past 100
years.

* Some Palestinian leaders engaged in good faith negotiations with Israel
hoping to end the occupation and achieve freedom and self-determination in
the context of some division of land into two sovereign states.  This led to
signing of agreements including Oslo, Wye River, and Sharm El-Sheikh
accords. Those hopes were dashed on the wall of Israeli intransigence
supported by the US. Many agreements were violated and/or have expired
without implementation (e.g. Oslo called for negotiations to be concluded in
a five year interval and that expired in 1998). Israel's intention to
consolidate its grip on the West Bank has become increasingly clearer.  It
is therefore incumbent on all Palestinians (whether in positions of
leadership or not and whether they supported previous strategies or not) to
contribute to a national rethinking of strategies to achieve our human and
national rights.  Each Palestinian (and our supporters) has rights and
responsibilities in this regard.

* We condemn the US illegal invasion and continued occupation of Iraq that
has caused the second largest refugee population in the world (second only
to Palestinians) and resulted in the deaths of nearly a million Iraqis (and
thousands of US troops).  We believe that architects for that invasion are
the same neoconservative Zionists in the Bush Administration who helped
extend last summer's war on Lebanon and are now pushing for conflict with
Iran. The lobby representing political Zionism is active in both major
parties in the US and in mainstream media in such a way as to suppress open
dialogue about US real interests and the suppression of constitutional
rights for an endless "war on terrorism" that serves special interests
(Zionists and the military-industrial complex). But we also believe that
this debacle is now more and more recognized thanks to collective efforts.
We believe we can effect real change in America and are inspired by the many
new organizations formed and by the formation of coalitions bringing
together many groups to coordinate and plan joint actions for peace with
justice .  We are also encouraged by the mobilization of Palestinians in
exile and diaspora to work together regardless of their political leanings
(e.g. see palestineconference.org).

* Despite the challenges, we believe that there are many options and
opportunities open to us in the coming stages of the struggle. There is now
a greater international understanding of the Apartheid nature of Israel. The
apartheid wall is the last stage of a reality becoming harder to ignore
(including to people like President Carter who wrote a book titled
"Palestine: Pace not Apartheid").  Apartheid also exists within the Green
line.  Apartheid in South Africa ended because of the local resistance and
also because of the way the African National Congress rallied international
support for a campaign of boycotts, divestments, and sanctions.  We were
thus inspired when Palestinian civil society called for similar actions
until Israel complies with the basic Palestinian rights (which also are
called Palestinian Constants "Al-thawabet Al Falastinya"): rights of return,
freedom from occupation and colonization, equality, etc. See
http://www.pacbi.org/boycott_news_more.php?id=66_0_1_10_M11

* Among options being increasingly discussed for political change are:
working for equal citizenship in one state for all its people (Jews,
Christian, Muslim, others), confederation, binationalism, and even using the
two state scenario as an intermediate step towards achieving the border-less
society that is being developed (e.g. in Europe).  Many are now articulated
in books and developed into associations and societies and even beginnings
of political parties.  We believe that discussions of these options are
healthy and urge all to not limit their horizons of potential political
solutions. It is the best measure of real democracy when people are
empowered to think for themselves and develop the political structures
needed.  Yet, in all cases, the litmus test must be respect for basic and
fundamental human rights as there can be no peace without basic rights.

* The Internet and other forms of communications gave us new tools to
network, to educate others, and to work together to achieve our collective
goals.  In the coming and challenging stage of our struggle, older activists
must redouble their efforts while making way for youth, women, and people
with unique skills to step forward to take more leadership roles.

The Arabic saying is: "God does not change what is in a people (i.e. their
destiny) unless they change what is within themselves."  We are optimistic
that we have within ourselves the tools and the resources to achieve
freedom, justice, and peace which will be good for all people in Western
Asia (what is referred to in Europe and America as "the Middle East") and
people around the world. Thus we call for renewed and enhanced dialogue
among all Palestinians (and our supporters) wherever we are to shape our
future as a people.

(list of signers in formation and will be initially sent by July 20, 2007)

Mazin Qumsiyeh
http://qumsiyeh.org