BIL’IN, West Bank (Ramattan) – Far from the typical wrapping up of a normal conference, the fourth Bil’in international three-day meeting closed on Friday with a peaceful march towards the separation wall that is robbing up to 60% of the villagers’ land.
Awaiting ahead, Israeli soldiers, fully armed with tear gas grenades and live ammunition, ready to greet the protestors.
Only a week ago, 31-year-old Bassem Abu Rahma was killed here after he was shot in the chest by a tear gas canister from close range, as he was on the frontline in the weekly protest against the occupation. Footage released soon after shows clearly that he was not involved in any violence.
A week later, the people of Bil’in are still in mourning, but they are encouraged by the presence of hundreds of foreign peace activists gathered here, including Israelis, who are marching with them in solidarity while holding posters of Bassem’s photo.
The Palestinian flag was flanked by dozens of others from all over the world, including the EU flag carried by the European Parliament’s vice-president Luisa Morgantini.
“We are here, Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals from across the world to say together: stop the occupation, for Palestinians but also for the Israelis,” she said. “Stop building the wall, stop confiscating land, stop the siege on Gaza.”
Morgantini told Ramattan the international community has to get Israel to stop the cruel occupation.
“That is why I’m here, and that is why the European Parliament has frozen the upgrade of Israel’s relations with the EU,” she said. “It’s high time the Israeli government stops considering itself above international law.”
The Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire was also present for the march, stating her full support for the nonviolent resistance that started off from Bil’in four years ago and which is spreading over to other Palestinian villages facing the same policies of segregation
“We won’t solve our world’s problems unless we use peaceful means,” she said, calling Israeli policy of evictions of Palestinians from East Jerusalem and the confiscation of their land all over the West Bank “ethnic cleansing”.
Even former US President Jimmy Carter, though not present in person, sent a letter that was read at the start of the conference, calling the villagers “an inspiration for the world” and urging them “to continue their nonviolent struggle for peace”.
Also present was a delegation from the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) – the first union in the world to issue directives to its members boycotting Israeli products from being offloaded in Durban after the war on Gaza.
“Apartheid is not over until Zionism is over,” said SATAWU International Officer Zico Tamela. “We decided we did not want to dirty hands with Israeli ships. What we did at the beginning of the year is just the tip of the iceberg.”
As the march progressed Israeli soldiers, as always, showered the demonstrators with tear gas and rubber-coated bullets. At least 10 were injured and had to be hospitalised.
Indeed, just as the soldiers violently deny Palestinians the right to cross the fence into their own land – as granted to them even by an Israeli court – Israel persists in its policy of occupation as more settlements keep being built and more land is confiscated illegally.
Besides a sentence by the Israeli Court of Justice in 2004 stating that the wall goes against international law, a case filed by the villagers of Bil’in has resulted in an Israeli High Court ruling, stating that a substantial part of the wall here has to be re-routed as it “imposes undue hardships on Palestinians”.
That might be an understatement, but the Israeli government is blatantly ignoring even its own High Court as what it calls a “security fence” – aptly dubbed “apartheid wall” by Palestinians and foreign sympathisers – remains totally closed and heavily guarded.
Video report:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvEzf8VFWAw
Journey to Gaza
Friday, April 24, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
The elephant who freed a bird
As the village of Bil’in mourns the killing of one of its young anti-wall activists, the victim’s relatives say they are more determined than ever to keep resisting the occupation peacefully. By Karl Schembri
BIL’IN, West Bank (Ramattan) – The streets of this tiny village surrounded by Israeli checkpoints and an illegal so-called “security fence” are eerily calm under the afternoon sun.
One by one, villagers, friends and relatives are all heading to the mosque to comfort the Abu Rahma family on the third day of mourning since Bassem, aged 31, was killed by a tear gas canister shot in his chest by an Israeli soldier, as he was peacefully protesting against what on this side of the fence is called “the apartheid wall”.
Pictures, banners and posters of this latest victim of the Israeli occupation adorn the village, hanging side by side with the Palestinian flag and messages of solidarity from all over the occupied territories.
The young Palestinian farmer was killed last Friday at the weekly nonviolent demonstration held for the last four years since the separation fence started being built illegally by Israel. Together with the accompanying settlements, the fence is robbing the village 60% of its agricultural land.
Abdullah Abu Rahma, a relative of the victim and the head of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall, was near Bassem when he died. He says the whole village of slightly less than 2,000 people is in mourning, as Bassem – also endearingly called “Al Fil” (The Elephant, an apt nickname given his strength and stature) – was everyone’s friend here.
“We lost a great man,” he says. “I remember many years ago, when we were children, he was always helping other people whatever their needs. He was active here from before we started our demonstrations. He would be the first one to come every Friday and ask what he could do to help. He was always insisting with me to take care of the luggage of foreigners who come here to protest with us in solidarity. He would tell me: ‘Abdullah, these are our friends, we don’t want anyone to take something, some bag or camera, from the internationals, so let’s take care of them.’”
The villagers’ distraught faces and their constant flow into the mosque is testimony to his charisma as a simple and kind but determined man struggling for his people’s land.
“Whoever you speak to in Bil’in has lots of stories to tell you about Bassem. All of the people remember his generous work here, and he was always cracking jokes. Whoever came to our village would find Bassem, and he would come to you and ask you whether you need anything. He was a friend to everyone – Palestinians, Israelis, foreigners. Not just to people: He raised a cat in his room, feeding it every day and taking care of it very lovingly. I don’t know how to explain it but it looked very sad after Bassem died, and the day after his funeral they saw it sitting on his grave.”
On the same morning when he would die, Abdullah says Bassem fed the bird he kept in a cage, and freed it soon afterwards, before heading towards the mosque to prepare for the demonstration.
“He gave the bird some food and then he let it fly out of the cage. I think he must have felt something,” Abdullah says.
After their midday prayers last Friday, Bassem marched with his fellow villagers, Israeli and foreign peace activists towards the fence.
“He did not even have a stone in his hands,” Abdullah says.
The International Court of Justice had ruled this fence and accompanying land-grab to be “contrary to international law” as far back as July 2004, while an Israeli Supreme Court ruled two years ago in a case filed by Bil’in’s mayor that there were not enough “security-military reasons to retain the current route that passes on Bil’in’s land”. In a separate, paradoxical Israeli Supreme Court ruling in 2007, the settlement of Mattiyahu East built on Bil’in’s land was legalised retroactively.
The fence is still there and the land stolen from the villagers is called a “closed military zone”, giving Israeli forces a pretext to shoot at anyone approaching the area.
“We carried a metal sheet in front of us because we knew soldiers would be shooting at us,” Abdullah says. “ My friend and I opened the gate and walked in with the shield, and Bassem was behind us, around 20 metres away on a hill. We entered there and they threw gas hand grenades at us. But then they started shooting their canisters towards Bassem with their guns.”
At one point Bassem was shouting at the Israelis to stop shooting as they had hit what he believed to be an Israeli activist – who turned out to be French – in her leg.
“I heard Bassem shouting ‘Don’t shoot, there’s an Israeli injured’,” Abdullah says. “He knew she was an international activist but had no idea she was French. So he shouted at the officer ‘Stop firing, you’ve just injured an Israeli... Don’t shoot’. Then all of a sudden I hear him say ‘A ya abba’ (Oh my father) and he fell to the ground. A friend of mine started shouting ‘Fil’ is injured. I ran next to him and I saw this big hole full of blood in his chest.”
Rushed in a car to a government hospital in Ramallah, Bassem was already dead by the time they arrived.
“We all started crying, some fell down in distress. I didn’t know how to convey this bad news to the family and villagers. Everyone, from children to the oldest people, has many stories to tell about Bassem. He gave his life, not to Bil’in, but to all the Palestinian people.”
Despite the terrible loss, Abdullah and Bassem’s family insist that nonviolence remains the only effective resistance against the occupation.
“It’s more effective than anything else, and that’s why the Israelis want to kill us,” Abdullah says. “They’re terrified, they want to stop us at all costs, because they are seeing other villages following our nonviolent path, and Israelis and international activists are joining us. Bassem was killed at the moment he believed he was helping an Israeli.
“We want to continue our strategy of nonviolent action. If someone from here had to fire a machine gun towards the wall, then the Israelis would have every pretext to come with planes and tanks and bomb all the village. And they would tell the entire world ‘they shot at us’ and Europeans would say ‘the Israelis want to defend themselves, they have a right to kill Palestinians because they’re armed with guns’. But that’s not the case here. We have told all our people we are not against Israelis, we are not against Jews, we are not even against the soldiers. We are against the occupation. We need our land to live in peace, we need it for our children.”
The Israeli soldiers’ response to the nonviolent demonstrations is becoming increasingly forceful, and tear gas canisters are clearly being aimed as projectiles at individuals rather than to merely disperse the crowds. Last month in Na’alin, American activist Tristan Anderson was hit in his head in a near-fatal shooting that has left him struggling for his life in a coma.
“This is what we’ve been seeing over the last month,” Abdullah says. “They are shooting at individuals. You know, tear gas is usually shot in the air to disperse the crowds, not to hit demonstrators. It’s more dangerous than live ammunition.”
This is not the first time the Abu Rahma family made headlines in tragic circumstances. In July last year, Bassem’s younger brother, Ashraf, was shot in his leg with a rubber-coated metal bullet as he was handcuffed and blindfolded in the hands of an Israeli battalion commander. Both Ashraf’s and Bassem’s incidents are the subjects of military inquiries, although nobody here trusts the Israeli investigations.
Another brother, Ahmed aged 35, says with tears in his eyes that the only way to remember Bassem is to continue the peaceful struggle for their land.
“Bassem’s death makes us stronger, and we will continue now with more determination, in his name, struggling against the settlements and the wall and to reclaim our land.”
Bil'in villagers gather outside the mosque as Bessam's
family is visited by friends and neighbours inside
Ahmed Abu Rahma
Abdullah Abu Rahma (centre) flanked by mourners on Monday
A child looks from the roof of the Bil'in mosque, Monday
BIL’IN, West Bank (Ramattan) – The streets of this tiny village surrounded by Israeli checkpoints and an illegal so-called “security fence” are eerily calm under the afternoon sun.
One by one, villagers, friends and relatives are all heading to the mosque to comfort the Abu Rahma family on the third day of mourning since Bassem, aged 31, was killed by a tear gas canister shot in his chest by an Israeli soldier, as he was peacefully protesting against what on this side of the fence is called “the apartheid wall”.
Pictures, banners and posters of this latest victim of the Israeli occupation adorn the village, hanging side by side with the Palestinian flag and messages of solidarity from all over the occupied territories.
The young Palestinian farmer was killed last Friday at the weekly nonviolent demonstration held for the last four years since the separation fence started being built illegally by Israel. Together with the accompanying settlements, the fence is robbing the village 60% of its agricultural land.
Abdullah Abu Rahma, a relative of the victim and the head of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall, was near Bassem when he died. He says the whole village of slightly less than 2,000 people is in mourning, as Bassem – also endearingly called “Al Fil” (The Elephant, an apt nickname given his strength and stature) – was everyone’s friend here.
“We lost a great man,” he says. “I remember many years ago, when we were children, he was always helping other people whatever their needs. He was active here from before we started our demonstrations. He would be the first one to come every Friday and ask what he could do to help. He was always insisting with me to take care of the luggage of foreigners who come here to protest with us in solidarity. He would tell me: ‘Abdullah, these are our friends, we don’t want anyone to take something, some bag or camera, from the internationals, so let’s take care of them.’”
The villagers’ distraught faces and their constant flow into the mosque is testimony to his charisma as a simple and kind but determined man struggling for his people’s land.
“Whoever you speak to in Bil’in has lots of stories to tell you about Bassem. All of the people remember his generous work here, and he was always cracking jokes. Whoever came to our village would find Bassem, and he would come to you and ask you whether you need anything. He was a friend to everyone – Palestinians, Israelis, foreigners. Not just to people: He raised a cat in his room, feeding it every day and taking care of it very lovingly. I don’t know how to explain it but it looked very sad after Bassem died, and the day after his funeral they saw it sitting on his grave.”
On the same morning when he would die, Abdullah says Bassem fed the bird he kept in a cage, and freed it soon afterwards, before heading towards the mosque to prepare for the demonstration.
“He gave the bird some food and then he let it fly out of the cage. I think he must have felt something,” Abdullah says.
After their midday prayers last Friday, Bassem marched with his fellow villagers, Israeli and foreign peace activists towards the fence.
“He did not even have a stone in his hands,” Abdullah says.
The International Court of Justice had ruled this fence and accompanying land-grab to be “contrary to international law” as far back as July 2004, while an Israeli Supreme Court ruled two years ago in a case filed by Bil’in’s mayor that there were not enough “security-military reasons to retain the current route that passes on Bil’in’s land”. In a separate, paradoxical Israeli Supreme Court ruling in 2007, the settlement of Mattiyahu East built on Bil’in’s land was legalised retroactively.
The fence is still there and the land stolen from the villagers is called a “closed military zone”, giving Israeli forces a pretext to shoot at anyone approaching the area.
“We carried a metal sheet in front of us because we knew soldiers would be shooting at us,” Abdullah says. “ My friend and I opened the gate and walked in with the shield, and Bassem was behind us, around 20 metres away on a hill. We entered there and they threw gas hand grenades at us. But then they started shooting their canisters towards Bassem with their guns.”
At one point Bassem was shouting at the Israelis to stop shooting as they had hit what he believed to be an Israeli activist – who turned out to be French – in her leg.
“I heard Bassem shouting ‘Don’t shoot, there’s an Israeli injured’,” Abdullah says. “He knew she was an international activist but had no idea she was French. So he shouted at the officer ‘Stop firing, you’ve just injured an Israeli... Don’t shoot’. Then all of a sudden I hear him say ‘A ya abba’ (Oh my father) and he fell to the ground. A friend of mine started shouting ‘Fil’ is injured. I ran next to him and I saw this big hole full of blood in his chest.”
Rushed in a car to a government hospital in Ramallah, Bassem was already dead by the time they arrived.
“We all started crying, some fell down in distress. I didn’t know how to convey this bad news to the family and villagers. Everyone, from children to the oldest people, has many stories to tell about Bassem. He gave his life, not to Bil’in, but to all the Palestinian people.”
Despite the terrible loss, Abdullah and Bassem’s family insist that nonviolence remains the only effective resistance against the occupation.
“It’s more effective than anything else, and that’s why the Israelis want to kill us,” Abdullah says. “They’re terrified, they want to stop us at all costs, because they are seeing other villages following our nonviolent path, and Israelis and international activists are joining us. Bassem was killed at the moment he believed he was helping an Israeli.
“We want to continue our strategy of nonviolent action. If someone from here had to fire a machine gun towards the wall, then the Israelis would have every pretext to come with planes and tanks and bomb all the village. And they would tell the entire world ‘they shot at us’ and Europeans would say ‘the Israelis want to defend themselves, they have a right to kill Palestinians because they’re armed with guns’. But that’s not the case here. We have told all our people we are not against Israelis, we are not against Jews, we are not even against the soldiers. We are against the occupation. We need our land to live in peace, we need it for our children.”
The Israeli soldiers’ response to the nonviolent demonstrations is becoming increasingly forceful, and tear gas canisters are clearly being aimed as projectiles at individuals rather than to merely disperse the crowds. Last month in Na’alin, American activist Tristan Anderson was hit in his head in a near-fatal shooting that has left him struggling for his life in a coma.
“This is what we’ve been seeing over the last month,” Abdullah says. “They are shooting at individuals. You know, tear gas is usually shot in the air to disperse the crowds, not to hit demonstrators. It’s more dangerous than live ammunition.”
This is not the first time the Abu Rahma family made headlines in tragic circumstances. In July last year, Bassem’s younger brother, Ashraf, was shot in his leg with a rubber-coated metal bullet as he was handcuffed and blindfolded in the hands of an Israeli battalion commander. Both Ashraf’s and Bassem’s incidents are the subjects of military inquiries, although nobody here trusts the Israeli investigations.
Another brother, Ahmed aged 35, says with tears in his eyes that the only way to remember Bassem is to continue the peaceful struggle for their land.
“Bassem’s death makes us stronger, and we will continue now with more determination, in his name, struggling against the settlements and the wall and to reclaim our land.”
Bil'in villagers gather outside the mosque as Bessam's
family is visited by friends and neighbours inside
Ahmed Abu Rahma
Abdullah Abu Rahma (centre) flanked by mourners on Monday
A child looks from the roof of the Bil'in mosque, Monday
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Thousands celebrate Orthodox holy fire Saturday in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM, (Ramattan) – Thousands of Orthodox Christians flocked to Jerusalem to celebrate the Easter Satruday’s ritual of the holy fire.
A massive presence of heavily armed Israeli police and security forces cordoned the Old City, preventing many of the pilgrims from visiting the holiest shrine for Christianity – the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – where Jesus is believed to have been crucified, buried and resurrected.
Even inside the church, armed soldiers and police separated the followers of various Orthodox denominations, where monks are known for the fierce preservation of different sections of the temple in what often degenerates into violent scuffles.
The ritual involves the “miraculous” spontaneous fire that is said to emanate from Jesus’ tomb, which is then passed on by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch to the faithful holding bundles of candles and torches, who within seconds filled up the church with candlelight and smoke.
Text + photos: Karl Schembri/Ramattan
A massive presence of heavily armed Israeli police and security forces cordoned the Old City, preventing many of the pilgrims from visiting the holiest shrine for Christianity – the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – where Jesus is believed to have been crucified, buried and resurrected.
Even inside the church, armed soldiers and police separated the followers of various Orthodox denominations, where monks are known for the fierce preservation of different sections of the temple in what often degenerates into violent scuffles.
The ritual involves the “miraculous” spontaneous fire that is said to emanate from Jesus’ tomb, which is then passed on by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch to the faithful holding bundles of candles and torches, who within seconds filled up the church with candlelight and smoke.
Text + photos: Karl Schembri/Ramattan
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
All eyes on Birzeit elections
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Ramattan) – Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza will be closely following student elections at Birzeit University on Wednesday in what is held to be a close reflection of the major parties’ popularity in the wider Palestinian society.
Thousands of students carrying green, yellow, orange, black and red flags swarmed the campus this morning where student leaders held the heated open-air election debate.
Security personnel allowed only students, journalists and university employees inside the university precincts on the outskirts of Ramallah amid fears of clashes between the parties.
But the annual event is in fact a celebration of Palestinian democracy as attested by the student leaders’ vociferous open criticism levelled not only against each other but also at the ruling parties in Gaza and the West Bank – Hamas and Fatah.
The leader of Hamas-affiliated Ismail Haniya Bloc called on Fatah to apologise to the militant group for “persecuting Hamas followers in the West Bank”.
“Hamas is about the truth, the right path,” said Naguib Maferja to the cheering crowd of students wearing green caps and conservative Islamic attire. “It won the war on Gaza and I promise you that from the mountains of Haifa to the Gaza Strip, all Palestinians are going to be free. Our victory in Gaza is proof that our Qassam rockets are not being used for nothing; it’s proof that our strategy is a winning one.”
Ahad Hamdan, the leader of the ruling Yasser Arafat Student Bloc, affiliated with Fatah, responded: “You speak of Fatah and Hamas, I speak about Palestine. Christians and Muslims, we all fight for our independence, for one Palestine.”
While the rhetoric emulates most of the major parties’ discourse here with little mention of student politics, independent movements also stand a chance of winning some of the 51 seats on the student council.
The leader of the Democratic Students’ Movement, Atua Jaber, decried the disorder in Palestinian society that is distracting the people from seeking their rights.
“We used to demand the right of refugees to return to their land, and now we are calling for the opening of Israeli checkpoints,” he said. “We used to ask for prisoners to be released from Israel, now we are asking for unity among Palestinians. Why is this happening? This shouldn’t be happening in my country. Only when we have unity can we fight for our demands. Only then will we finish our journey in Jerusalem and put the Palestinian flag on every roof.”
Raed Halaby representing the student bloc affiliated to the People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine accused both Hamas and Fatah of being solely interested in maintaining power at the expense of the people.
“There is no end to the fighting between Palestinians,” he said. “We have to change, we have to solve our problems, and with our vote we have to punish those responsible for Palestinian disunity. The present student council should be punished because university is expensive. Hamas should be punished for what it did in Gaza, Fatah should be punished for what it did in the West Bank. All they’re interested in is keeping their power, but in reality Israel has all the power and it wants us to remain like this. Let’s show them through our vote that the Palestinians are sick of all this. Today is the right day to raise our voices.”
Some of the students present during the debate said they expected Palestinians to be more united, while others celebrated the democratic spirit in which the elections are held here.
“I’ll be voting for Fatah because my family supports them, and they also have a good political programme for students,” said Ranim Omari, a second-year Psychology student. “Ultimately, both Fatah and Hamas are Palestinian movements and we should be supporting more unity.”
Two first-year female students aged 18 – one of them wearing the Kufiya, a symbol of Palestinian resistance that is increasingly becoming synonymous with Fatah and the PLO – expressed their confusion, although they said they will be voting Hamas.
“I don’t understand anything. I’m only wearing this because it’s fashionable, I like it, but I think I’ll vote for Hamas because they are leading the resistance,” she said.
An MA student in computer science, Samer Ali said student elections were a reflection of Palestinian society.
“Especially on this campus, the results reflect which way the power is shifting, so everyone will be awaiting the results,” he said.
Founded in 1924 as a village school for girls, Birzeit University is nowadays the most prestigious Palestinian campus and a symbol of defiance in the face of the Israeli occupation.
Student leaders have been repeatedly imprisoned under administrative detention, which allows Israeli authorities to detain people without charge for six months, renewable at the end of the term.
“It’s good to see all these students here today as it wasn’t always like this,” said Mohammed Kittana, a consultant at Birzeit’s Faculty of Law and former student here.
“In my time we had many elections that were deferred because students were not allowed through checkpoints, while student candidates were imprisoned. Of course the occupation is still there, and so is the resistance.”
In November 2007, then student council leader Fadi Hamad from the Islamic Bloc was kidnapped in a dramatic ambush by Israeli special forces, and accused of belonging to an illegal Islamic group.
But Israeli military laws effectively criminalise many of the student union activities, even though they are known to concentrate on student welfare and academic support.
Even foreigners studying here have to deal cautiously with Israeli authorities, who routinely deny them entry into Israel once they know they are here to study at Birzeit or any other Palestinian university.
Jessica, a foreign student from Switzerland is on an exchange programme. She could not give her full name or be photographed because she was only allowed into Israel as a tourist.
“I would have problems with my visa and studying here if they know I’m at Birzeit,” she said.
“It’s impressive, seeing all these students showing all this interest in their elections. At my university you would miss the student elections unless you were contesting for the council.”
For Kittana, now that both Fatah and Hamas have had their chance in power, these elections are even more important to gauge public opinion.
“I think today, more than ever, Palestinians are looking at these elections. Things are changing and everyone wants to see an evaluation of power between the two main parties, especially since both have been tried and tested.”
Thousands of students carrying green, yellow, orange, black and red flags swarmed the campus this morning where student leaders held the heated open-air election debate.
Security personnel allowed only students, journalists and university employees inside the university precincts on the outskirts of Ramallah amid fears of clashes between the parties.
But the annual event is in fact a celebration of Palestinian democracy as attested by the student leaders’ vociferous open criticism levelled not only against each other but also at the ruling parties in Gaza and the West Bank – Hamas and Fatah.
The leader of Hamas-affiliated Ismail Haniya Bloc called on Fatah to apologise to the militant group for “persecuting Hamas followers in the West Bank”.
“Hamas is about the truth, the right path,” said Naguib Maferja to the cheering crowd of students wearing green caps and conservative Islamic attire. “It won the war on Gaza and I promise you that from the mountains of Haifa to the Gaza Strip, all Palestinians are going to be free. Our victory in Gaza is proof that our Qassam rockets are not being used for nothing; it’s proof that our strategy is a winning one.”
Ahad Hamdan, the leader of the ruling Yasser Arafat Student Bloc, affiliated with Fatah, responded: “You speak of Fatah and Hamas, I speak about Palestine. Christians and Muslims, we all fight for our independence, for one Palestine.”
While the rhetoric emulates most of the major parties’ discourse here with little mention of student politics, independent movements also stand a chance of winning some of the 51 seats on the student council.
The leader of the Democratic Students’ Movement, Atua Jaber, decried the disorder in Palestinian society that is distracting the people from seeking their rights.
“We used to demand the right of refugees to return to their land, and now we are calling for the opening of Israeli checkpoints,” he said. “We used to ask for prisoners to be released from Israel, now we are asking for unity among Palestinians. Why is this happening? This shouldn’t be happening in my country. Only when we have unity can we fight for our demands. Only then will we finish our journey in Jerusalem and put the Palestinian flag on every roof.”
Raed Halaby representing the student bloc affiliated to the People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine accused both Hamas and Fatah of being solely interested in maintaining power at the expense of the people.
“There is no end to the fighting between Palestinians,” he said. “We have to change, we have to solve our problems, and with our vote we have to punish those responsible for Palestinian disunity. The present student council should be punished because university is expensive. Hamas should be punished for what it did in Gaza, Fatah should be punished for what it did in the West Bank. All they’re interested in is keeping their power, but in reality Israel has all the power and it wants us to remain like this. Let’s show them through our vote that the Palestinians are sick of all this. Today is the right day to raise our voices.”
Some of the students present during the debate said they expected Palestinians to be more united, while others celebrated the democratic spirit in which the elections are held here.
“I’ll be voting for Fatah because my family supports them, and they also have a good political programme for students,” said Ranim Omari, a second-year Psychology student. “Ultimately, both Fatah and Hamas are Palestinian movements and we should be supporting more unity.”
Two first-year female students aged 18 – one of them wearing the Kufiya, a symbol of Palestinian resistance that is increasingly becoming synonymous with Fatah and the PLO – expressed their confusion, although they said they will be voting Hamas.
“I don’t understand anything. I’m only wearing this because it’s fashionable, I like it, but I think I’ll vote for Hamas because they are leading the resistance,” she said.
An MA student in computer science, Samer Ali said student elections were a reflection of Palestinian society.
“Especially on this campus, the results reflect which way the power is shifting, so everyone will be awaiting the results,” he said.
Founded in 1924 as a village school for girls, Birzeit University is nowadays the most prestigious Palestinian campus and a symbol of defiance in the face of the Israeli occupation.
Student leaders have been repeatedly imprisoned under administrative detention, which allows Israeli authorities to detain people without charge for six months, renewable at the end of the term.
“It’s good to see all these students here today as it wasn’t always like this,” said Mohammed Kittana, a consultant at Birzeit’s Faculty of Law and former student here.
“In my time we had many elections that were deferred because students were not allowed through checkpoints, while student candidates were imprisoned. Of course the occupation is still there, and so is the resistance.”
In November 2007, then student council leader Fadi Hamad from the Islamic Bloc was kidnapped in a dramatic ambush by Israeli special forces, and accused of belonging to an illegal Islamic group.
But Israeli military laws effectively criminalise many of the student union activities, even though they are known to concentrate on student welfare and academic support.
Even foreigners studying here have to deal cautiously with Israeli authorities, who routinely deny them entry into Israel once they know they are here to study at Birzeit or any other Palestinian university.
Jessica, a foreign student from Switzerland is on an exchange programme. She could not give her full name or be photographed because she was only allowed into Israel as a tourist.
“I would have problems with my visa and studying here if they know I’m at Birzeit,” she said.
“It’s impressive, seeing all these students showing all this interest in their elections. At my university you would miss the student elections unless you were contesting for the council.”
For Kittana, now that both Fatah and Hamas have had their chance in power, these elections are even more important to gauge public opinion.
“I think today, more than ever, Palestinians are looking at these elections. Things are changing and everyone wants to see an evaluation of power between the two main parties, especially since both have been tried and tested.”
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