"Operation S" - LSE Palestine Society Occupy for Israeli Apartheid Week

By Nadia Marques de Carvalho
A Personal Reflection on the LSE Palestine Society Settlement Occupation

"The Palestinians have been ready to make peace with us; it is we who are unwilling to make peace with them .. as an occupation force it is we who trample over human dignity, it is we who crush the liberty of Palestinians and it is we who push an entire nation to crazy acts of despair. Finally, I call on my brothers and sisters in the settlements – see what we have come to." 

Yitzhak Frankenthal 

For 24 hours we occupied. We occupied the main road on the campus of the London School of Economics and Political Science: Houghton Street. We settled illegally like those illegal, 500 000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank. We created our own “outpost of colonialism” in the heart of London just like the Israelis have created their 146 “outposts of colonialism” in the heart of Palestine – on second thought, Palestine was “wiped of the map” so perhaps Judea and Samaria is more fitting? Alas, we were the Blue People of the Blue Land: for 24 hours I was a Blue Land Settler and my doctrine was, “War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, Freedom is Slavery and Apartheid is Democracy.” This is good.

Israeli Apartheid Week has just begun, but Apartheid for the Palestinians began long ago. The aim of this occupation, which involved bombarding the streets with tents, flags, banners, literature and of course an actual Wall, was to raise awareness of the system of Apartheid endured by Palestinians and the severe issues with the illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian land. The illegal occupation was a surprise to the LSE students who assumed it would be just another university day only to realize that 40 students had occupied their land: at midday, Thursday 10^th March occupation began. Houghton Street was buzzing with students eager to learn who the hell were these arrogant Blue People who have come to occupy their land, with a doctrine of superiority and racism. Although most of the student body received us well, and were also highly fond of our extensive literature and free gifts, including free DVDS of films from Palestine, there had to be, just had to be, somebody who thought it necessary to complain. But of course they have every right to complain, just like the Palestinians have been complaining for decades to the International Community, appealing persistently to International Law about the illegal occupation of their land but naturally to no avail… The police did come and realized that we were not causing such an obstruction as had been portrayed to be, nonetheless thank you to the dear and caring soul who was highly considerate for the well being and rights of other fellow students. Perhaps he/she should too join the Palestine Society as we are also fighting for the rights of others who have had to deal with a constant obstruction since 1882. 

Our settlement was a grand success. It only worked because we all were united with the same resolve: as the cliché goes, we did find unity in diversity. The atmosphere was vivacious and energetic, this energy stayed with us all throughout the day and into the night where the university gradually became quieter and with this the Arabic music came out, the houmous and falafel and naturally the apple and grape flavoured shisha. But we have to remember it is different. Our settlement was fun: Merom Golan, Mush Etzion and Hebron are not. Zionism’s settler colonialism is logic of elimination: like North America and Australia they do not exploit the natives, but replace. It thus becomes a relationship of invasion and thus an absence of consciousness, or as Theodor Herzl more eloquently puts it, “If I wish to construct a new building to replace the old one, I must demolish it before I construct.” Thus the erasure of the native began as early as 1905 by the settlers, but as Ilan Pappe commented at a recent conference, these settlers have remained the same, their first impressions – “aliens in our homeland” has not changed since 1905. Zionism is a Romantic Nationalist Movement, and thus the settlers are like Romantics whose discourse, first-impressions and complaints have not changed despite such economic, political and social developments. A century has passed and they have failed to uncover the veil from their eyes and realise these are not “aliens” but brothers.

Settlements are of strategic important to the Zionist cause. Not only do they egregiously dismiss the 4^th Geneva Convention by the Israeli Supreme Court arguing that settlements are in the interest of Israel’s security, thus if it is needed for security hence they are legal but they also flagrantly obstruct a Two-State solution. Sharon’s Drobles Plan naturally ensured this where he provided such tempting incentives to draw settlers: invested around $120 000 per family (free or near free mortgages), created a lot of jobs and promised higher living standards with better facilities. Ariel Sharon:

“As long as these settlements are built, a Palestinian state will not be established in this area. There is already a Palestinian state, Jordan is a Palestinian state. The majority there are Palestinian Arabs.”

He created facts on the ground, to make sure a Palestinian state would never be created. But now we are creating facts on the ground, with over 60% of Palestinian land under Israeli control it is about time we united. Israel may have the 3^rd strongest army in the region, it may be America’s 51^st state that receives $3 billion dollars per annum and it may have indoctrinated the majority of the world with their Zionist narrative: but Israel we have the moral resolve. And with this moral resolve we the LSE Palestine Society will continue to educate and draw awareness to the persistent suffering of the Palestinian people in their own land, as the genesis for change is awareness. We cannot change what we do not acknowledge. Most of the time, we are not aware of what is wrong or what is not working. We don't see what could be. By becoming more aware, we begin the process of change. 

So, listen up Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Obama, with Morality and Humanity on our side Dialogue becomes Peace, Education becomes Freedom, Knowledge becomes Strength and Justice becomes Democracy. 

24 Hour Illegal Settlement Occupation by the LSE Palestine Society

By Lukas Slothuus

The Palestine Society's 'Blue Land Settlement' taking place Thursday to Friday last week was a much-needed change in atmosphere on Houghton Street after a Lent Term 2011 that has seen a range of controversial events unfold at LSE.

There are surely many different opinions about Thilo Sarrazin, the German anti-immigration speaker; Abdel Bari Atwan, the critic of the US Zionist lobby; Roberto Maroni, the Italian minister from the fascist party Lega Nord who was due to speak this week; the blood and oil-money received from Gadaffi; and an endless list of other controversial issues. But the real litmus test of a politically engaging student society is whether it is able to draw in new people to support its cause, build connections with other groups in London and abroad, and engage with academics at the LSE to further the aims of the society.

Here at the LSE, the Palestine Society is doing all of that, most recently exemplified by the 'Blue Land Settlement' where committed students set up a makeshift tent camp on Houghton Street symbolising a West Bank settlement. With educational settlement walls, a stall with information and sign-up sheets for the society’s mentoring scheme and divestment campaign, it pursued what the Society and broader society should call for: Justice for Palestinians and a long-lasting peace solution in the Middle East.

It is hardly possible to find a more timely situation for a peaceful 24-hour demonstration against the Jewish settlements in the West Bank. People are dying on both sides of the settlement boundaries as you read this sentence. It is in the interest of both Israelis and Palestinians for indiscriminate killings to end. But as the occupying force, it is the responsibility of Israel to do what the US government and essentially all other governments around the world as well as the UN and the EU have called for: an end to the illegal settlements. It is not the fault of Jewish settlers that their government is unable to negotiate a sustainable solution to the unrest. And it is definitely not the fault of Palestinian families who are driven away from their homes because an extremist Prime Minister in the neighbouring country uses a scripture to justify the forced removal of civilians.

The Blue Land Settlement was an educational and social tool to highlight the conditions under which millions of people are living due to inept governments, corrupt pseudo-religious politicians abusing Holy Scriptures, a brutal military force, billions of US aid, racism, and so forth. Just like the black resistance in South Africa was labelled a terrorist movement by Western governments due to its strategy of violent resistance and racial liberation, the Palestinian resistance is also labelled religiously extremist or terrorist. Peace dealings with "impartial" negotiators have become a euphemism for business as usual. But the outrageous consequence of this is a lose-lose scenario which nobody ought to accept. Jews and Muslims believe in the same g-d and a great deal of the Torah and the Qur’an deal with the same characters, stories, and messages. It is thus outrageous to say that these people are fundamentally opposed to peace. And if there is one thing Jews and Muslims should be able to co-identify with it is the state of intense persecution, from the Alhambra Decree that expelled Jews from Spain to the current scape-goating of Muslims in Europe. This must mean a commitment to peace from civil society.

As students in the UK, little can be done about the suffering of innocent civilians in a land far away. But it is our duty as students, the group of people who have led all liberation, resistance and justice movements in the last two centuries to do the small things we can do. And that is what the Blue Land Settlement sought to do.

A village, A Well and Two Graves.

Zachariah Sammour

In this story these three nouns are the centrepiece; the beginning, middle, and end. They are the where, the why and the what. They explain everything.

In a normal story these three nouns could only be connected through location; they may exist together in the same place but no other connection would be feasible or meaningful. But this is not a normal story; a normal story would be located within a normal context, a normal setting and it would be subject to the general constraints that our lives are. This, however, is a story set in a place where a well can be a catalyst for death and destruction, where an entire village can be hounded and harassed because of it and how two young boys can be shot dead because of it.

This is clearly not a normal place. And I do not mean to blame the well for the tragedies which I shall disclose to you in this story; it is of course an inanimate object and unable to be a cause in and of itself. It is rather what the well represents that will emerge as the villain of our story, as the prime antagonist, as the murderer of two young boys.

And so to begin.

The village is called Iraq Burin. It’s a small village, a cluster of houses nestled atop a small mountain. In another time and place the village could be considered beautiful; surrounded by steep hills on one side and by an even steeper drop from the other, the views are truly incredible. But it is not the aesthetic value of the place which makes it of interest; it is rather its location.

This village is home to hundreds of Palestinians and has been for over a century. The surrounding hills and the flowing fields below have provided the inhabitants of that village with sustenance and commerce since its inception. But the village is also home to another, allegedly far older than even the olive trees planted by these Palestinian farmers’ years before- a well.

If you ever, per chance, stumble upon this small village you would certainly be forgiven if you did not in turn stumble upon this well. It is not signposted, there are no tour guides waiting eagerly to show you it or too teach you of its historical importance, waiting to bore you with a lengthy monologue on the style of architecture it exhibits. It is a simple, small, concrete block protruding from a hill facing the village; nothing more. Despite its relatively unimpressive looks however, this well is believed by some to be Jacob’s Well, immortalised by its mention in the bible and holy to Jews and Christians alike;

John 4:5:  So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

These poor villagers! Little did they know that this entire time they have been living on the very sight that Jesus (pbuh) once sat and drank; where he preached a message of brotherhood between Jew and non-Jew. We could perhaps forgive them for never making the connection however, particularly in light of the fact that the villagers claim the well was built in the 60’s. We might also forgive them when one discovers the fact that a short drive away in Nablus a colossal church sits atop the sight that most Christians and Jews believe Jacob’s Well to actually have been. A church which itself has witnessed the brutality that a well can cause, but that’s another story.  

But nonetheless, the scene is now set and our tale can begin to unravel. A village of Palestinians living atop a Judeo-Christian religious site; of course it must be made open to worshipers. As Christians (and the rest of the world) believe the site to be in Nablus, it will only be Jewish worshipers who will come to pay homage. If they are to journey down and pray at the Well there must also be a place for them to rest, store their prayer materials and so forth. Of course, these worshipers must therefore have a plot of land around the well in order to have such a place to rest.

And so the trouble begins. Land atop the hill is appropriated and turned into an ‘outpost’, a place where Jewish worshipers can rest, store their materials and protect their holy site. Of course the appropriation of land owned by the villagers of Iraq Burin will not occur without protest, thus more land must be taken in order to establish and IDF Security Zone. The outpost naturally grows as more and more Jews flock to pay homage to the site of religious significance, more and more land is appropriated atop the hill, and the Palestinians at the bottom grow more and more agitated.

Animosity is high, over 100,000 square metres of the Villagers land has been appropriated as a result of the discovery of a Jewish religious site in their village. The entire hill is now a Security Zone, prohibited to Palestinians to access. The Palestinians are envious of their new neighbours who have large, well maintained homes with decent access to water, nice cars and their own roads- far more direct and safe than the winding, pothole ridden roads designated for the indigenous inhabitants. They are angry that these people, most of whom having arrived recently in the continent from Eastern Europe, have taken the lands there fathers and grandfathers farmed and loved without so much as a courtesy note.

One day the settlers walk down the hill, accompanied by IDF soldiers, and violence erupts. Some say it was Palestinian stone throwers, others say the settlers attacked a Palestinian man who was trying to graze his flock of sheep, this part of the story is unclear. Perhaps a Palestinian wished to expel the invaders from his land, perhaps a settler wished to push the Palestinian further from it.

The reaction is predictable. IDF soldiers flock into the area in order to protect the settlers; they impose a curfew on the entire village. Armoured cars, soldiers with state of the art machine guns, children with rocks; the reality of conflict descends upon this small village atop the mountain. A jeep proceeds down the hill, it is hit by stones from nearby youths. Muhammad Qudus turns to run from the advancing soldiers, the 16 year old boys heart racing at the excitement; he finally gets to confront the enemy, he can finally vent his anger, showcase his machismo to his friends. He stops. The rock in his hand drops to the floor, he soon follows. Everything goes blank. A bullet entered his back, travelled through his abdomen and erupted out of his stomach, taking with it all of young Muhammad’s dreams, his anger, his hate, his life.  

Muhammad’s cousin, Asaud, see’s his kinsmen fall to the ground. He sees the massive hole in his cousin’s stomach; he watches the blood pour from it like the tears of a bereaved mother. He run’s to his cousin’s side when his world too goes blank. A bullet from an IDF rifle pierces his skull and enters his brain, nestling there like the village atop the mountain. Asaud is rushed to hospital, but there is nothing that can be done. Just as the village will not disappear at the behest of the invading settlers, the bullet will not disappear at the behest of the doctor’s scalpel.

So Muhammad and Asaud now lie together in an eternal sleep; their new, clean, white graves surrounded by flags and flowers bringing life to the graveyard.

The village, the well and the graves; all connected in this abnormal and abhorrent course of events.

And so we see that it was not the bullets, or the settlers, or the IDF that really killed these young men. It was the well and everything it represents. It’s assertion that my past is greater than your present; that my religion trumps your existence, that my needs are greater than any of yours, that I am greater than you. The religious observance at this well should not be mistaken with a real attempt to honour ones religion and God; it is the inverse. It is the perverse use of religion to facilitate the illegal annexation and occupation of another’s land. It is the opportunistic attempt to delegitimize the existence and claims of another to land by usurping them with blatantly false claims of historical significance.

The well is Israel; the logic which drives the settlers to steal land from the Palestinians, to live on their own in communities exclusively for Jews, with Jew-only roads and Jew-only water; to exclude and harass the Palestinians and to in turn create a ‘Jewish’ utopia. It is the logic that drives the settlements and drove the Nakba; it is logic of Zionism. So what if you live here, if your father lived here, if your grandfather lived here; Jews once lived here and therefore this land is mine. My claim is greater than yours.

The inability of Zionism to acknowledge the legitimacy not only of Palestinian claims to land but of the Palestinian people is the driving force of this conflict. The story of Iraq Burin is the story of any settlement, of any outpost, it is a case study of a settlement in its embryonic stage. A historical claim, an outpost, a settlement, armed action in the Palestinian village, a gradual exodus of non-Jews, the Juadisation of the West Bank.