US Weapons, Israeli Death Squads
Coloradan Experiences Life In Occupied Palestine
By Mark Schneider
January 20, 2002
On the road to Nablus, an ancient Mideast city, I came face to face with my direct relationship with Israel's illegal military occupation of Palestine: an Israeli tank, paid for and provided by the US, blocked my path. A day prior, Israel had invaded Nablus with 26 tanks and killed a man, Deeb Al-Sarawi.
Ø12/22/01:
Foreigners and Israelis from the International solidarity movement wave
Palestinian flags next to an Israeli tank during a demonstration against the
Israeli closure and occupation in the Palestinian territories in the village of
Bourin, north of the West Bank town of Nablus Saturday, Dec. 22, 2001. (AP
Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)
Al-Sarawi's pregnant wife tearfully told me about his death. As Deeb heard the approaching tanks, he glanced outside to see what was happening.
Without warning, an Israeli tank fired three times, killing him instantly. When his wife went after him she was shot in her neck and back. She survived, but doctors couldn't remove the bullet in her back without endangering her baby, due in one month.
I recently joined hundreds of internationals in three weeks of nonviolent witness and action to confront Israel's military aggression in Palestine and to question my country's support of Israel with billions of dollars of annual aid, most of it military.
The day I arrived in Palestine, Dec. 14th, six young Palestinian men were executed in an Israeli death squad raid. A week later I visited with the family of one of the victims. Sipping bitter coffee, as is customary after a Muslim death, the father told me his martyred son recently became a Palestinian police officer. Although his son had an engineering degree, there are, for half of Palestinian adults, no jobs. Trying to notify a friend of the death squad raid in progress, the young man was shot in the back of the head in full view of several witnesses. In parting the father said, "Please ask American fathers if they love their sons as much as I love mine."
In Gaza, one of the most oppressed and densely populated places on earth, I viewed photos of the bodies of three Palestinian teenagers murdered by the Israeli military and mutilated (all their organs crudely removed) by an Israeli coroner. Four days prior to my arrival the unarmed teens were shelled by an Israeli tank and shot.
Israeli authorities claimed the teens were ominously approaching an Israeli military post. As with 900 other Palestinians killed in the last 15 months by the Israeli military, there has been no serious Israeli or international investigation.
Nor is the U.S. likely to condemn Israel's recent killing of a Palestinian father and the demolition of nearly 60 homes in Rafah, Gaza, leaving 900 more Palestinians homeless. Rafah is a hellish place where many dozen Palestinian homes have been previously demolished by Israel. Amidst the rubble of their homes many people live in tents provided by the cash-strapped United Nations Refugee & Works Agency. One man whose home was recently demolished refused to talk to me because he's tired of words; he wants action.
We internationals tried to heed his call with mass non-violent direct action, in concert with Palestinian leaders. In one action, we non-violently took over an Israeli military checkpoint near Ramallah, in an area that is supposed to be under total Palestinian control. There are over 140 such checkpoints throughout Palestine, illegally created and maintained by the Israeli military. These military barriers have the dual purpose of controlling the basic essentials of Palestinian life (work, school, medical care) and humiliating and degrading Palestinians.
Before the action I observed Israeli soldiers call Palestinian men "dogs," and take their IDs for hours. When I asked why, a soldier said, "They must learn to come when I call.”
For six hours 300 internationals liberated this checkpoint, opening it up for travel to Palestinians while effectively keeping the Israeli military from re-occupying it. Though several times we were attacked by Israeli soldiers using tear gas, percussion grenades and beatings, we held on. International media were on hand to expose not only our treatment but what Israel does on a daily basis to Palestinians.
Walking out of Nablus over dirt roads because Israel had blocked the main highway, my group had a face-off with the Israeli tank that killed Deeb Al-Sarawi. Before our group of 50 forced the tank to retreat we pasted a picture of Deeb on the tank and a banner with a simple message, "Return to Sender."
Mark Schneider is the Organizer of the Colorado Campaign for Middle East Peace. Last year he was in Iraq for three weeks. He can be contacted at dogbuckeye@cs.com. More information about his trip can be found at www.CCMEP.org