Killing Palestine - When will enough be enough?

Killing Palestine - When will enough be enough?

Catherine Shakdam

July 27, 2014 In yet another gruesome display of violence and bloodshed, Israel has declared war on the Gaza strip, its prime minister having announced that an example would have to be made out of Hamas for peace to ever have a chance to flourish. Under PM Benjamin Netanyahu's impetus, Israel's peace will be negotiated with hard iron, guns pressed onto women and children's neck, since all Palestinians have been labelled terrorists. But this new war on Gaza has little to do with peace and even less to do with terrorism, unless of course one would be willing to admit that killing and maiming innocent civilian populations would actually qualify, in which case the award would go to Israel. Israel is not the victim western media have quite clumsily and desperately attempted to portray; the horrors which have unfolded before the world's communities, the ever mounting death toll, the images of wounded children, dead children, orphaned children should suffice as testament to Israel's barbaric streak. But Israel, the apartheid state, the terror state, the racist state, the police state wants the world to empathize and sympathize with its people. It wants to project onto the world this idea that its people, the so-called "Chosen People" have, because of their inherent superiority the right, and to an extent the duty to annihilate whoever and whatever they perceive as a threat to their existence. Waving the guilt of the holocaust as a protective cloak, Israel has perpetuated this idea that its people can bear no critic and face no opposition. Forever the victim, forever the martyr of the world, Israel feels the world ought to bow before its will, never to challenge its actions as its very existence has been ordained by God. It is such a narrative which has driven the Palestinian-Israeli conflict since 1948. Because Nazi Germany committed genocide against the Jews, Israel was given a licence to kill on Palestine. Because the world felt too guilty to argue with Zionits' calls for a state of Israel, Palestine was made to burn and cry. Because the world has been blinded by lies, Palestine has stood to suffer decades of humiliation and injustice. A perfectly well-oiled terror machine, Israel has committed more crimes against humanity than any so-called democracy. Israel cannot claim moral high ground against Palestine, it has lost the right to ever be granted the luxury of a tear as its land is still soaked with the blood of the innocent. Israel's buildings have been erected on stolen lands, its fields bear the stolen fruits of Palestine, its people claimed ownership of a land which was never theirs to have. Israel's hatred Because Israel has been driving the propaganda bus, always pushing for the demonization of Palestine, its people, its politicians, it is often too easy to forget that it is Palestinians who are paying with their lives for Israel's aggression. Driven into a crazed trance by Prime Minister Netanyahu over the death of three young settlers, whose death it is important to note was exploited by the government to sell yet another war on Gaza, Israelis have spit their venom at Palestinians in the most horrific manner, revealing to the world the extent of their hatred, the blackness of their hearts. Israel is the monster not Palestine. In a detailed report Electronic Intifada clearly outlined Netanyahu's deceit, detailing how his cabinet chose to stage a revenge campaign against Hamas to revert into a state of war and thus refocus Israel's attention toward the cause which has been feeding its very life force – the destruction of Palestine. Israel's June rescue show, the calls for the return of Israel's three youth after their disappearance, was all but an elaborated plan set in place to legitimize another war, another bloodshed on Gaza. "Max Blumenthal has documented it was all a shameful and cynical political show. The Israeli leadership knew within the first day of their disappearance that the youths were dead; bullet holes, blood samples and a telephone recording provided evidence of what happened. But the ever-receptive Jewish-Israeli public demanded revenge and by the time the extent of the sham was revealed, the Israelis had killed nine people in the West Bank and three more in the Gaza Strip through missiles they fired in "retaliation" for the West Bank murders," wrote Ahmed Moor. But Israel' sickening gist would not end at the unwarranted and illegal brutalization of an entire people. Israel pushed the envelope further yet, revealing the true nature of its essence. Following weeks of what can only be described as a vicious, racist campaign against Palestinians Netanyahu has quite overwhelmingly convinced his people that Palestinians are lesser human beings destined to die under the mighty boot of Israel. Regardless of officials claims before the international community that Israel is a moral people, a good people; Israel has shown its true colours too many times for the world to care to ignore. When officials have felt so bold as to openly call for the massacre of all Palestinians – women, children and the elderly - there is little moral ground to be had. Earlier this week Israeli politician, Ayelet Shaked, wrote in a controversial Facebook post, "all Palestinians are our enemies...Israel should declare war on the entire [Palestinian] people, including its elderly and its women, its cities and its villages, its property and its infrastructure." Many Israeli Facebook users have posted violent and disturbing content on their personal accounts. Talya Shilok Edry, who has more than one thousand followers, posted the following "status": "What an orgasm to see the Israeli Defense Forces bomb buildings in Gaza with children and families at the same time. Boom boom." Edry's Facebook timeline shows a pattern of calls for bloodshed against Palestinians. Writing about the murdered sixteen-year-old Mohammed Abu Khudair, who was kidnapped and burned alive by Israeli youth, she stated: "Sweet settlers, next time you kidnap an Arab boy, call me and let me torture him!! Why do you get to have all the fun?" And yet, Palestinians are made to bear the blame. While Israel rains death and terror onto Palestine much of the world has looked onto Palestine and in a perfect paradox called on its people to look for peace. But how can there be peace when Israel continues to deny Palestinians the right to exist? Where else on earth is there a system where a government tolerates and condones its citizen to infringe on another people' sovereignty – illegal settlements – while arguing it is legitimate? Is there ever a justification for the targeting of children? Is it ever legitimate to brutalize and terrorize children on account of their ethnicity? Is it ever moral to impeded on another's most basic human rights and yet pretend to righteousness? Israel is the monster not Palestine. Source

Is the West Bank ripe for an intifada?

Is the West Bank ripe for an intifada?

Mya Guarnieri

July 27, 2014 Media and politicians have been quick to claim that Palestinian protests against Operation Protective Edge mark the beginning of a third intifada. But in Beit Sahour, the town that was the heart of the First Intifada, some are skeptical that today’s demonstrations will turn into tomorrow’s revolution.  Some ten thousand Palestinians marched from Ramallah on Thursday night to Qalandia checkpoint, in protest of Israel’s military assault on the Gaza Strip and in hopes of reaching Jerusalem. One man was killed and dozens were injured in what was the largest demonstration the West Bank has seen in years. While protesters and observers alike speculate that this marks the beginning of the Third Intifada, the mood in Beit Sahour – the small, predominately Christian town that was the heart of the First Intifada – is decidedly more pessimistic. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, "Nasser," a Beit Sahouri and veteran of the First Intifada who was arrested nearly a dozen times for his political activities says that recent protests in West Bank are "emotional." Palestinian youth burn an Israeli flag during clashes following a protest against the Israeli attack on Gaza in the Qalandyia checkpoint near Ramallah, July 24, 2014. Palestnians marched from Al Amar refugee camp to Qalandyia checkpoint to protest against the Israeli attack on Gaza. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org) The First Intifada was "based on hope," he explains, which allowed people to slow down, think ahead, and "restrain themselves and strategize." People are "moving out of emotions now and that becomes violent," Nasser says, pointing to the Second Intifada as an example. Many Palestinians feel that the Second Intifada accomplished very little. Today, he adds, "We lack any political movement that’s capable of moving the masses—neither Hamas, nor Fatah, nor any other group." Nasser’s sentiments were echoed at a small demonstration in Beit Sahour on Monday, as the West Bank observed a general strike in protest of Operation Protective Edge and what is being called a massacre in Shajaiyah. A few dozen protesters attempted to march towards an Israeli army base that is perched on a hill outside the village. But they were quickly deterred by tear gas. "This is all about Gaza right now," said a woman in her late twenties. She hung back, watching, as theshebab, young men, edged forward. "When there’s a ceasefire, the people [in the West Bank] will go back to sleep." For years, Palestinians have pointed out that demonstrations in the West Bank are usually reactionary and don’t reflect clear goals, vision, or a long-term strategy. Protests and strikes against Israel’s last two military operations in Gaza – 2008-2009’s Operation Cast Lead and 2012’s Operation Pillar of Defense – did not snowball into Intifadas. "We have no leadership," is another oft-repeated explanation as to why there is no sustained revolt against the Israeli occupation. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is widely viewed as a puppet who is more concerned with placating the Israelis than taking care of his people. And West Bank protests are often put down by Palestinian Authority security forces.          A professional in his mid-30s, who was born and raised in Beit Sahour and whose father was arrested three times during the First Intifada, attended Monday night’s march. The man, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym, felt discouraged by the small demonstration. "There’s no one supporting the protesters," George said, calling the PA the "Palestinian Zionist Authority." "When you have an authority that supposedly works for your benefit and you see the [Palestinian] security personnel…acting just like Israeli soldiers," George continued. "There will be no motivation to do anything." Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh is the author of Popular Resistance in Palestine, a professor at Bethlehem University, and an activist. He responds to concerns regarding leadership and organization. Such questions, Dr. Qumsiyeh says, "assume that colonized, occupied people sit down together to come up with a strategy. If you’re looking for organization, it doesn’t happen this way. Sometimes at the peak of a revolution, leaders emerge—revolution makes leaders, leaders don’t make revolutions." Clashes erupted between Palestinians and the Israeli army during a demonstration in Solidarity with the Gaza Strip, at Huwwara military checkpoint, Nablus, West Bank, July 24, 2014. 3 Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets. (Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org) He adds that claims that leaders or political parties are necessary for an intifada suggest that Palestinians are "still thinking paternalistically, that a father figure has to tell them what to do." Dr. Qumsiyeh points to the spontaneous nightly protests in Bethlehem as proof positive that the youth can get an intifada moving on their own. "Uprisings happen when there is no leadership. That’s happening in Bethlehem now. Who told these kids to go out every night?" Hundreds of protesters have attend the nightly demonstrations in Bethlehem, which neighbors Beit Sahour. But these demonstrations are dominated by shebab – young Palestinian men. And some young Palestinian women say they’re uncomfortable joining. "We are a patriarchal society," Dr. Qumsiyeh reflects. "I hate that personally. The old men in the PLO—I’d love to see them all gone and see women and young people in charge." While the media’s eyes are trained on the male-dominated, urban protests that erupted in response to Operation Protective Edge, demonstrations are more sustained and egalitarian in the Palestinian villages. The weekly protest in Nabi Saleh comes to mind. Since 2009, men, women, and children have been marching to reach the village’s spring that was expropriated by Israel. Nariman Tamimi, the wife of organizer Bassem Tamimi, is a leader in the demonstrations. And Nabi Saleh has seen a number of women’s marches, as well. Indeed, many argue that the strength of the First Intifada is that it engaged men, women, children, and families of all economic classes. That the middle class Beit Sahouris interviewed for this article all asked to remain anonymous suggests that, today, they feel like they have too much to lose. Many here say that neoliberal policies has had a sedating effect on the West Bank. Some blame former Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and his focus on economic development; they blame banks that give loans to Palestinians, encouraging them to live beyond their means and chaining them to debt. Others point to a society that is increasingly driven by consumerism. Family members and friends mourn next to the body of killed Palestinian Mohammed al-Araj during his funeral at the Qalandiya refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah, on July 25, 2014. Al-Araj was shot with live ammunition in his head during a demonstration the night before in Qalandiya. At least other 500 Palestinians were injured from live ammunition, some of them are still under critical condition. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org) All people think about today, George argues, "is paying off their debt. There’s no time to think of the occupation." He adds that in 1987, when the First Intifada began, the financial system was different. Loans and consumerism "didn’t exist" then. Nasser agrees that Palestinian society is more consumerist and individualistic than it was in the past and that this is an obstacle to getting a revolution off the ground. But he’s quick to add that "the generation that grew up under the PA and Israel cannot help but be individualistic, to find a way to benefit from the situation." Also problematic, Nasser says, is that Palestinians have "adapted" to the occupation. "We got used to not going to Jerusalem, we got used to checkpoints. We’ve lost a major part of our self-respect. We cannot have a massive intifada without a mental shift." While Dr. Qumsiyeh agrees, remarking, "Our first liberation has to be of our own minds," he insists that the circumstances are ripe for a revolution. He ticks the list off on his hand, taking the opportunity to again point out that previous intifadas didn’t begin with leaders but, rather, with the people. "They started because of pent-up frustration," he says. The other conditions? "One: paralysis of the peace process; two: lack of trust in the Palestinian leadership." The third, according to Dr. Qumsiyeh, is that "the occupier becomes even more arrogant. They assume they can get away with anything." Like killing civilians in Gaza. Nasser maintains that the Third Intifada has yet to begin. But he calls it "inevitable." "There’s one thing I’m sure of," he says. "Palestinians are not going to raise a white flag." As for the young woman who, on Monday, was sure that the West Bank will go back to sleep – on Friday morning, she woke up to the news of the 10,000 strong march on Qalandiya. And she said, "[No one] can predict anything anymore." A shorter version of this article was first published on Al Jazeera English.  Source

Merciless Israeli mobs are hunting Palestinians

(Ismael Mohamad / United Press International) Merciless Israeli mobs are hunting Palestinians Rania Khalek Right-wing Israelis rioting in Jerusalem earlier this month.(Tali Mayer / ActiveStills)  July 27, 2014 All eyes are on Gaza, where the death toll from Israel’s merciless bombing campaign has topped 1,000.  But back in Jerusalem, where sixteen-year-old Muhammad Abu Khudair was burned alive by Jewish vigilantes in a "revenge killing" incited by Israeli politicians early this month, right-wing lynch mobs continue to roam the streets in search of Arabs to attack.  Their most recent victims are twenty-year-old Palestinians Amir Shwiki and Samer Mahfouz from the Beit Hannina neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem. The pair were severely beaten into unconsciousness on Friday night by Israeli youths armed with iron bars and baseball bats.  Mahfouz told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that he and Shwiki were on their way to the light rail when they were stopped by "a man [coming] from the direction of Neve Yaakov,"  an illegal Jewish-only Israeli settlement in occupied East Jerusalem.  "He said give me a cigarette. I told him I don’t have any, and he heard [from my accent] I’m Arab and went away, coming back with his friends, maybe twelve people. They had sticks and iron bars and they hit us over the head," Mahfouz recounted.  Haaretz added, "According to the victims, police officers that arrived at the scene did not call an ambulance, and they were instead evacuated by passersby to receive medical treatment at a Beit Khanina [sic] clinic. They were later rushed to Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem in serious condition." Though investigators believe the beating to be racially motivated, no one has been arrested.  Police complicity Israeli police have a pattern of ignoring hate crimes against Palestinians, as was the case immediately following the reported kidnapping of Muhammad Abu Khudair. Police did not immediately respond when his family called to report that he had been kidnapped and they actively thwarted efforts to locate those who murdered him by spreading false rumors that Abu Khudair was murdered by his family in an "honor killing" over his sexuality.  Police also neglected to respond when Abu Khudair’s murderers tried to kidnap ten-year-old Mousa Zalum from the same East Jerusalem neighborhood two days earlier.  When police aren’t busy ignoring Jewish vigilante violence against Palestinians, they are actively participating in it.  On Thursday night last week, police teamed up with a Jewish mob assaulting two Palestinian men while they were delivering bread to grocery markets on Jaffa Street in West Jerusalem from their van.  The men — identified by Ma’an News Agency as twenty-year-old Amir Mazin Abu Eisha and Laith Ubeidat (age not specified) — were encircled and beaten with empty bottles by a mob of some twenty to thirty Israelis, according to their attorney, Khaldun Nijim.   Rather than assist the men as they were being attacked, Nijim told Ma’an, "The Israeli police stopped them in their van and pointed guns at them." Nijim added: "After they drove away a few meters, the police shot at them. They then stopped and were assaulted again." After barring an ambulance from transferring Abu Eisha, who sustained head and ear injuries, to the hospital for medical treatment, police detained the two Palestinian men at the Russian Compound police station close to the scene and charged them with "having a knife and obstructing the work of police," according to Nijim.  Abu Eisha and Ubeidat were eventually released on bail but are currently under ten days of house arrest. Meanwhile, several of the mob participants filed complaints against their victims, accusing the men of trying to assault them with a knife. Racist activism on the rise The same Ma’an article notes that in Jerusalem, "Jaffa street has been covered with flyers warning Arabs not to 'touch’ Jewish women in recent weeks, as part of a right-wing Jewish campaign to prevent mixing among Jews and Arabs." The fliers were probably designed and distributed by Lehava, a fanatical anti-miscegenation group whose sister organization, Hemla, receives state fundingto "rescue" Jewish women from romantic relationships with Arab men.  Leanne Gale, an anti-racist activist living in Jerusalem, recently reported on her blog that Lehava has been holding nightly gatherings in West Jerusalem’s Zion Square and littering all of Jerusalem with stickers and fliers in Arabic that state, among other things, "Do not even think about a Jewish woman." Other catchphrases adorned on Lehava T-shirts and stickers include "Jews love Jews" and "The women of Israel for the nation of Israel," according to Gale.  Fascist mobs from Haifa to Tel Aviv Violent mobs of anti-Arab fascists aren’t isolated to Jerusalem. Last week in Haifa, the Arab deputy mayor and his son were brutally beaten by a mob of Jewish supremacists chanting "death to Arabs" and "death to leftists" in response to a rally against the Gaza onslaught. Police did nothing to stop the assault. Similar fascist demonstrators have surfaced in supposedly liberal Tel Aviv as well, verbally and physically attacking Palestinians and leftists protesting the war on Gaza.  Israeli blogger Elizabeth Tsurkov, who has been regularly attending and live-tweeting the racist attacks against anti-war demonstrators in recent weeks, heard a new racist chant mocking the more than two hundred children slaughtered by Israel’s merciless bombing campaign in Gaza: "Tomorrow there’s no school in Gaza, they don’t have any children left."  Incitement from the top While calls for extermination have been rampant both in the streets of Israeland on Israeli social media for months, the "death to Arabs" sentiment is not isolated to vigilantes.  Take for example Israeli lawmaker Ayelet Shaked, a rising star in the far-rightwing Jewish Home party, who recently called for genocide by slaughtering Palestinian mothers to prevent them from giving birth to "little snakes." Fast forward several weeks, and the United Nations is reporting an alarming rise in miscarriages and premature births in Gaza, where newborn infants are dying due electricity blackouts that shutdown their incubators. Another Israeli public official inciting violence is Dov Lior, Chief Rabbi of the illegal West Bank settlement Kiryat Arba, who issued a religious edict declaring that it is permissible under Jewish religious law for the Israeli army to "punish the enemy population with whatever measures it deems proper," even if that means "exterminat[ing] the enemy." Since then, portions of Gaza have been reduced to rubble in apocalypse-like scenes that look indistinguishable from the flattened cities of Syria.  With all eyes glued to Israel’s destruction of the besieged Gaza Strip, little attention is being paid to the heightened levels of racism in Israeli society as demands for "death to Arabs" echo across the country with devastating consequences for Palestinians from Shujaiya to Qalandiya to Jerusalem to Haifa.  Source

'Political arrests' plague Palestinians

'Political arrests' plague Palestinians

Jillian Kestler-DAmours

People demonstrate in Ramallah against political arrests [Jillian Kestler-D'Amours/Al Jazeera] October 8, 2012 Rights groups complain of abuses by Hamas and PA amid tit-for-tat detention of rival activists in Gaza and West Bank. A'sira, West Bank - Alaa Shuli still has the scars to remind him of his time in prison. Hung from a wire affixed to the ceiling, with his toes barely touching the ground and his hands tied behind his back, Shuli says he was left that way for hours on end. He remembers prison guards repeatedly beating his legs and arms with a wooden stick, hurling taunts at him, insulting his family members, and sometimes preventing him from praying. Most often, the 35-year-old says he was held alone in windowless, two-metre squared cells, with barely any light penetrating the cement walls. "If I go into the details of the torture, it's still very difficult," Shuli said. Stories of mistreatment and torture in prison are widespread in Palestinian families across the occupied territories. But Shuli's case has a crucial difference: He wasn't tortured by Israeli prison guards, but by Palestinian Authority(PA) jailers. "From the Israelis it's expected. But from your own people?" Shuli said from his home in the West Bank town of A'sira, in the northern Nablus district. "It's wrong." Widespread political arrests  Shuli has been in and out of both Israeli and PA-run prisons since 1997. He says he's been arrested four times by the Israelis and 11 times by the PA, and has spent a total of approximately eight years in jail. From 2007 until today, he says the PA has summoned him for interrogation 170 times. "If you're a journalist belonging to Hamas, the eye of the [PA] security forces will be on you more than others " -  Sami Radi Alassi, journalist "What happened in Gaza [with Hamas winning the 2006 election] is reflected in the West Bank, and I belong to Hamas," Shuli says, attributing politics as the reason behind his frequent imprisonments. His latest arrest took place on September 24 and was part of large-scale PA arrest campaign that saw approximately 130 people taken into interrogation from across the West Bank. Almost all the people who were detained - including students, journalists, teachers and human rights workers - were members of Hamas. Some remain in prison, and others were released. The PA has denied that the recent arrests were politically motivated. "All the recent arrests were on a legal basis, and originated with the public prosecution and Palestinian judiciary," PA security forces spokesperson Adnan Dmeiri told Palestinian news agency Ma'an. "The Hamas leadership is attempting to threaten Palestinian civil peace through its alliance with chaos, which is clear from Hamas' statements in Gaza," Dmeiri added. But according to Randa Siniora, the executive director at the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) in Ramallah, the arrests were carried out without respecting the proper legal procedures. "We're seeing arbitrary arrests which are for political affiliations. This has been very consistent since 2007. We have seen a lot of arrests being taken without proper legal proceedings," she said Siniora said that the non-implementation of court rulings is a major problem in the West Bank. For example, the PA security forces often doesn't release a prisoner from jail despite a court ruling ordering them to do so, she explained. "I think it won't be resolved without political reconciliation among the parties [Fatah and Hamas]. We will continue suffering from it and the human rights situation will not improve." Exacerbated internal divisions Following Hamas' victory in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections, tensions grew as the PA refused to acknowledge the Hamas government and the two sides failed to come to a power-sharing agreement. Violence quickly ensued - including a bloody coup attempt in the Gaza Strip. Since 2007, the Palestinian territories have been divided along sectarian lines, with the PA controlling the West Bank and Hamas governing Gaza. The two factions first signed a reconciliation agreement in May 2011 after months of negotiations, but discussions over how to implement the plan quickly disintegrated. In February 2012, Hamas representative Khaled Meshaal signed a new agreement with PA President Mahmoud Abbas to end the division, but this too has stalled. Today, the rift between Ramallah and Gaza persists, and arbitrary arrests and torture on both sides have only made the situation worse. "Both the Hamas government in Gaza and the government in the West Bank violate human rights and they deny having political prisoners," explained Hamdi Shaqqura, deputy director of the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR). "The background [of these arrests] is a political background. This is not security grounds. We are talking about political grounds." Shaqqura added that a reciprocal process is in place, where a PA arrest of Hamas-affiliated people in the West Bank will lead to a Hamas arrest of Fatah-affiliated people in Gaza, and vice-versa. Sami Radi Alassi says  he was arrested by PA forces for taking pictures of a Hamas rally [Jillian Kestler-D'Amours/Al Jazeera] "It's a kind of action and reaction, both ways. Who pays the price? The Palestinian society at large. Who pays the price? Activists from both sides - the activists of Hamas in the West Bank [and] activists of Fatah in Gaza. Who pays the price? The Palestinian cause in general," Shaqqura said. On October 3, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report detailing the serious abuses Palestinians face in the Hamas-run criminal justice system in Gaza, including arbitrary detention, torture, civilians being tried in military courts, and denying detainees access to lawyers or communication with their families. Hamas has also failed to hold its security service officials accountable for allegations of wrongdoing and abuse, and has allowed a widespread system of impunity to grow in Gaza, HRW found. Islam Shahwan, spokesman for the Hamas interior ministry in Gaza, said the HRW report was "politically motivated" and stated it "relied, in part, on guessing rather than on facts", Reuters reported. Still, Joe Stork, HRW deputy Middle East Director, stated "there is ample evidence that Hamas security services are torturing people in custody with impunity and denying prisoners their rights. The Gaza authorities should stop ignoring the abuse and ensure that the justice system respects Palestinians' rights." Freedom of expression compromised Palestinian journalist Sami Radi Alassi was arrested earlier this year; he believes he was arrested for taking a photograph at a Hamas-affiliated march through Nablus and posted it on Facebook. A former radio and television reporter who now writes for local newspapers and websites, Alassi has been in and out of Israeli and PA prisons since 2004. His arrests, he said, are both because of his journalism work and his affiliation with Hamas. "If you're a journalist belonging to Hamas, the eye of the [PA] security forces will be on you more than others," Alassi said. He said that when he was released in 2010 after three years in Israeli prison, the PA called to tell him that he only had ten days to spend with his family before they would arrest him themselves. "The direct impact is to enhance the self-censorship among the journalists, whether in the West Bank or in Gaza." - Riham Abu Aita, public relations officer "It's not like before," Alassi said, about continuing his work as a journalist in the West Bank after these numerous arrests. "I can't go to all events. I can't speak as freely. I don't feel safe." Despite this, he said he wouldn't abandon the profession. "I can't leave my work as a journalist because of pressure from the PA or anything else. I love my work, especially because it's about being close to people and talking to people." According to Palestinian media freedom group MADA, nine Palestinian journalists were arrested in the occupied Palestinian territories since the beginning of 2012. Over the past four years, MADA reported a total of 113 arrests and 371 violations of media freedoms committed by the Palestinian authorities. "The direct impact is to enhance the self-censorship among the journalists, whether in the West Bank or in Gaza," Riham Abu Aita, MADA public relations officer, said. "When there is no atmosphere or horizon for reconciliation between the parties that is reflected on journalists and on freedom of expression." According to Palestinian human rights group Al Haq, the arrests signal the failure of the PA "to adhere to all principles essential to a society that aspires to democracy". "Chief amongst these is an abiding respect for freedom of association. Arbitrary arrest and detention without charge or trial have no room in such an environment," Al Haq said in a statement.

WATCH: IDF fires tear gas at olive harvesters in West Bank

WATCH: IDF fires tear gas at olive harvesters in West Bank

By Alon Aviram

On Saturday, Palestinian families in the Hebron Hills found themselves subject to state violence yet again, this time in the form of a tear gas attack. Their crime: harvesting olives on their land. October 9, 2012 It’s that time of the year again and the olive trees are ripe and ready for harvest. I found myself last Saturday picking olives alongside Palestinian families and Israeli activists from Ta’ayush in the village of Tarqumiya, northwest of Hebron. CC Alon Aviram As the morning light crept over us, the only sounds to be heard were those of intermittent conversations, of hands sifting through coarse olive branches as they plucked the fruit, and then of the olives dropping like scattered rain drops on the nylon sheets below. The annual olive harvest is a family affair. Toddlers gather olives which have strayed from the sheets below the branches, men and women work on separate trees, each in their own conversations. Up until midday, sweet tea had been the only interruption to this monotonous but somewhat therapeutic work. At around 11:30 a.m.., heads turned and we saw an army jeep with some soldiers standing outside peering down at the harvesters from the other side of the olive grove. A few Israeli activists meandered through the shrubs, trees and boulders, finally arriving at a fence which separated us from the four or so soldiers and security guards who had come from the neighboring Adora settlement. As we arrived, a squat young-looking soldier was already directing another one of the men to fire a tear gas canister into the center of the valley. His justification: that some Palestinians had allegedly come too close to the fence, which in itself was deemed to be a security hazard. Within the space of a few minutes, two tear gas canisters and two tear gas grenades had been randomly fired into the valley among the families. People scattered and fell, and those who were fortunate enough to avoid the clouds of chemicals continued  harvesting with evermore determined intensity. I could not help but feel a deep sense of irony as these young men in uniform from across the fence tried to justify their actions. They claimed to be enforcing security in order to protect Jewish citizenry. And here were we, a group of Israeli and Jewish activists on the other side of the fence, standing among the security threats, and the only thing that we were subject to were copious amounts of sweet tea, food and good company. The ability of these troops to fire chemical weapons upon these families is symbolic of a deeply entrenched orientalism within Israeli society. It is a socialized racism, typical of any colonial-settler society, which frames the indigenous population as inherently inferior, dangerous and in need of discipline like some sort of disobedient delinquent. This is what enabled those who fired to ignore the blatantly obvious: that these people were of no threat whatsoever. The events of Saturday cannot be dismissed as the work of a bad apple. There is a systemic logic to these widespread and repeated episodes of state violence. They, alongside a conveniently burdensome state bureaucracy, a maze of imposed legislative measures and outright racist policies, aid a concerted political effort by Israeli policy makers to remove the Palestinian population from Area C. As building permits are denied authorization, homes are demolished, and olive groves are either vandalized or left to rot, life for ordinary Palestinians in Area C is made ever more unsustainable. Consequently, the cities of the West Bank continue to swell in size, which only further exacerbates the already rampant levels of unemployment and endemic poverty. Whilst some of us sit back and criticize the settlers and their actions over coffee, their and the state’s expansionist project is gaining tract and becoming an oppressive physical reality. Alon Aviram is graduate of Sussex University with a degree in international relations, and is currently an intern with +972 Magazine.