Ed note: the following article was posted on the website of Grassroots International, http://www.grassrootsonline.org/edie.html, a delegation of which toured Palestine in the fall of 2000.)

–Edith Cacciatore, member of Grassroots’ delegation to Palestine

Ziad Abbas, a Palestinian refugee, sits on stone steps in front of a pile of rubble, the remains of the demolished home of his grandmother. In the valley below us are the ruins of a Palestinian village, now partially covered by trees. The trees were planted by Israelis to make a park after they had destroyed Ziad’s village, sometime in 1948. On a hilltop beyond, we can see one of the recently built settlements where Israeli Jews live in freedom and comfort on confiscated Palestinian land while Ziad and his family live as virtual prisoners in an overcrowded, poverty-stricken refugee camp.

I had met Ziad on a tour of the Palestinian Territories, arranged by a human rights group in Boston called Grassroots International. During my trip, I was alternately moved and appalled: moved by the suffering of the Palestinian people; appalled that my government continues to support Israel despite the injustices it is inflicting daily on an occupied people. I had worked in kibbutzim in 1950-51 and was inspired by the vision of a homeland for the Jews. I empathized with their fear of being "driven into the sea." How profoundly shocked I was to return to Israel 50 years later and see what had become of the vision.

Martin Buber, a Jewish philosopher, sent this powerful message to his fellow Jews in 1961: "Only an internal revolution can have the power to heal our people of their murderous sickness of causeless hatred. It is bound to bring complete ruin upon us. Only then will the old and young in our land realize how great was our responsibility to those miserable Arab refugees in whose towns we have settled Jews who were brought from afar; whose homes we have inherited, whose fields we now sow and harvest; the fruit of whose gardens, orchards, and vineyards we gather; and in whose cities that we robbed, we put up houses of education, charity and prayer while we babble and rave about being the ‘people of the book’ and the ‘light of the nations.’"

Buber’s scathing condemnation was written six years before 1967, when the level of oppression escalated dramatically with the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. That year began the Israeli government’s elaborate strategy to virtually strangle its Palestinian population. I saw the effects of that strangulation last month; the entire world is witnessing its effects in the violence that erupted in October.

After 1967, a massive construction program began to permeate Palestinian land with Israeli settlements. These settlements effectively choke and isolate existing Palestinian towns. An expansive network of highways and by-pass roads connects the settlements with each other and with Jerusalem. These roads are generally closed to Palestinians, who are forced to take circuitous routes, often doubling or tripling travel time. Professor Jeff Halper, a Jewish American anthropologist who lived in Israel for some 30 years, compares the system to apartheid in South Africa, with its elaborate separation between blacks and whites.

Israel also began systematically siphoning off the resources of the Palestinians. It’s not unusual for Israeli authorities to harass Palestinians by shutting off electricity for several hours in the evening. At our hotel, we were given candles, which we used when the electricity was turned off.

The Israeli plan for water distribution restricts each Palestinian to a small fraction of the amount of water allotted to each Israeli. In summer, many Palestinians can only have running water a day or two once every week or two. This is particularly hard on farmers whose meager existence depends on water for their crops. When conservation programs are in effect, Israelis have to give up washing their cars and watering the lawns in front of their homes; Palestinians have to cut back on drinking water and water for toilet, shower and laundry uses. Driving from the parched Palestinian enclaves to settlements with beautiful swimming pools and green parks, the difference is palpable.

Today, this is what it means to be a Palestinian: Israel controls your job and whether or not you can travel to your workplace; Israel decides if you can seek medical treatment in another part of the Territories; Israel may bulldoze your house to make way for bypass-roads for settlers.

These injustices are ravaging the economic, social and political fabric of Palestinian society. They are rapidly destroying what’s left of what was once Palestine. They are building a state based on apartheid, where the powerless–relegated to their "reservations"–are merely cheap labor for the powerful.

It took many generations to dismantle apartheid and bring equality to South Africa. And yet here we are now promoting the creation of an apartheid society in Israel. As an American, I find it disturbing to hear our government leaders call on Palestine to stop the violence instead of calling on Israel to end its flagrant violations of international laws and to stop the oppression. It makes our friend Ziad smile ruefully and shake his head as he leaves the village of his ancestors and heads back to his refugee camp, the only home he has ever known. It makes millions of other Palestinians dreadfully, justifiably angry. I saw why the Palestinians are angry.

*********

Grassroots International is an independent, non-profit agency working for social change. We provide financial and material support for community-led development in Brazil, Eritrea, Haiti, Mexico, and Palestine. In the US, we do educational and advocacy work on issues of concern to our partners. We also draw press attention to global issues often overlooked by mainstream media outlets. Our partnerships at the grassroots level provide us with a unique basis to inform the American public about poverty, power, and social change. Grassroots International is supported entirely by tax-deductible private donations. For more information: 179 Boylston St. 4th Floor; Boston, MA 02130-4520, USA; Ph: (617) 524-1400, Fax: (617) 524-5525; info@grassrootsonline.org

Return to Left Curve no. 25 Table of Contents