MYSH: ISRAELI VISUAL ARTIST’S MEDITATION ON JEWISH SUFFERING, PSYCHIC TRAUMA AND ISRAELI RACISM

May 28th, 2012 Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם http://www.richardsilverstein.com (USA)

A Problem of Self-Image' (Mysh)

I was just looking through my Facebook Newsfeed and discovered the Israeli graphic artist, Mysh. The first work of his I saw was this breathtaking cartoon, A Problem of Self-Image, which speaks so profoundly to elements of the Israeli psyche and explains how historical trauma has led to political dysfunction. In fact, this to me has the classic feeling of R. Crumb‘s comic about nuclear war in which a survivor of a nuclear attack walks through a nuclear winter landscape with a TV in one hand and a plug in the other looking for an outlet. These brilliant images bring with them a shock of recognition, almost a shiver of the soul as you both see the image and absorb its meaning.

A few translations and explanations are in order for the graphic. First, the child in the mirror is based on the famous Holocaust era photo of the young Jewish boy raising his hands in surrender. Looking into the mirror is the Israeli strong-man/bully who’s just smashed in the faces of a few African refugees in Tel Aviv. The fat man’s body is covered with tattoos of a sort which say:

Death to Sudanese
Whatever doesn’t work using force will work using violence.
The only good Arab is a dead Arab.
Run over the Orthodox.
Russians back to Russia, Ethiopians back to Ethiopia.

Title: Shavuot night/ Kristallnacht Tel Aviv 2012 caption: 'It's great you've come to make a minyan, Mireleh.'

Though I’m tempted to offer my own commentary on the image, I’m also leery of over-analyzing it since its eloquence speaks for itself. Suffice to say, that Mysh tells us that the average Israeli racist, the types that smashed windows and beat up refugees in Tel Aviv, lives with a psyche not just wounded by the Holocaust, but poisoned by it. He is a prisoner of his past and fated to inflict his suffering on anyone who is less strong than he is. We all know who those victims have been and will be.

The second cartoon features two Israeli politicians who recently made rabidly racist smears of African immigrants: Kahanist MK Michael Ben Ari and Likud MK, Miri Regev. Both addressed and incited the crowds of pogromists who later rampaged through the African neighborhood in south Tel Aviv. Regev in particular said that the refugees were a “cancer” in Israel’s body. The background of the cartoon is that the night of the Tel Aviv pogrom was also the first night of Shavuot, usually a night of meditative study of Jewish sacred texts.

In the cartoon, a white-hooded Yishai welcomes Regev to a Ku Klux Klan like night-time party. One of the words of tikun leyl Shavuot is crossed out, which turns the phrase into the Night of Glass [Kristallnacht]. As Regev reaches out to take the noose Yishai offers, he smiles and says to her: “Thanks for making a minyan, Mireleh.”

In Jewish religious practice, “making” a minyan allows the prayer service to commence. But here the minyan allows the pogroms to begin. The satiric reference to the minyan also alludes to the Orthodox religious beliefs espoused by Yishai and many of the extreme Israeli right which are used to fortify their racist attitudes.

Where has this wonderful artistic voice come from? Mysh or Michael Rozanov, was born in Riga, Latvia in 1977 and emigrated to Israel as a teenager. He became a visual artist and his oeuvre includes graphic illustration and film and animation work both for TV and cinema. He studied at Israel’s leading art school, Bezalel, and now teaches there.

Related articles
Tel Aviv 2012 – Berlin 1938 (richardsilverstein.com)

Students cheer Nazis at Holocaust Remembrance Day play

April 23, 2012, The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com (Israel)

News of youngsters’ behavior at Cameri performance of ‘Ghetto’ prompts debate about educational failures

By Aaron Kalman

The Cameri Theater (Photo credit: Moshe Shai/Flash90)

“You embarrassed the Jewish people and the Holocaust,” actor Oded Leopold said from the stage of the Cameri Theater last Thursday, lashing out at hundreds of high school students after they repeatedly disrupted a play dealing with the Holocaust on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The students’ behavior, news of which only hit the Israeli media on Monday, prompted an intensive bout of national radio debate and soul-searching about indiscipline, educational failures, poor parenting and lost values among Israeli youth.

During the play “Ghetto,” which portrays the life of Jews in the Vilna Ghetto in the early 1940s at Tel Aviv’s Cameri Theatre, students in the audience made fun of the actors and shouted offensive remarks toward the stage. Some laughed and cried out encouragement during scenes depicting Jews being killed by Nazis, and when a kapo beat a Jew. Calls of “hit him harder” and “well done” were heard from the audience.

When the two-hour play ended, Leopold, who played the kapo, silenced the post-performance applause and addressed the audience. “I hope what goes on in your heart is different from what came out of your mouths,” Leopold said. “It was disgraceful behavior, embarrassing yourselves most of all. You also embarrassed the Jewish people and the Holocaust,” he said.

Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Monday condemned the students’ behavior, calling it “a disgrace that pains the heart.”

Students from four different high schools were in attendance — two from Rishon Lezion, one from Tel Aviv and one from Ramle.

Most of the actors cried when the play was over, Leopold told Maariv. “We cried because we were frustrated and offended.” When acting out scenes from the ghetto, you are “very vulnerable,” he said.

Avi Kalma, director of the Cameri’s educational department, told Maariv that it was normal for students to disrupt plays from time to time, but what happened on Thursday was different. “You would think it was a comedy” based on the students’ reactions, he said, noting that thousands of students saw the play that week and only this group acted in such a manner.

Some of the actors, including Natan Datner and Rami Baruch, said the educational staff “didn’t lift a finger” to try to stop the catcalls. You expect students to know who’s good and who’s bad, “but they didn’t,” said Baruch.

But Rinat Meron, a teacher from Rishon Lezion, wrote a letter condemning Leopold’s castigation. The actor’s reaction was extreme, she wrote to the theater’s management. “Reactions from students are not in any way a disgrace to the Jewish people.”

Other educators from the schools involved did not defend the students’ behavior.

“Four of my students were removed by the teachers from the play,” Hili Tropper, principal of Branko Weiss High School in Ramle, told Army Radio. One of the teachers is the daughter of survivors, he said. “There was a very harsh talk with everyone immediately following the event,” Tropper added, adding that there was still work to be done in addressing the episode.

The play “Ghetto,” written by Joshua Sobol, has been performed across the globe, including New York and London, winning many awards. It premiered in Hebrew in 1984 and in English in 1989.

TEL AVIV 2012–BERLIN 1938

May 23rd, 2012, Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם http://www.richardsilverstein.com (USA)

Israeli pogromist, dragging on a fag, proclaims 'Death to Sudanese.'

Today, Israel moved one step closer to Nazi Germany circa 1938. In Berlin, Nazis walked the streets terrorizing Jews, smashing windows, burning books and synagogues. Today, in Tel Aviv’s poor Hatikva neighborhood, the cream of Israel’s political Übermenschen, Kahanists Michael Ben Ari, Itamar Ben Gvir and Baruch Marzel terrorized foreign workers who live there with mass violence and nothing less than a pogrom:
Hundreds of demonstrators assembled in…Hatikva…alling for the ousting of African migrant workers. Some people attacked people attacked Africans that passed by. Others smashed the windows of a grocery store serving the migrant worker community and looted it.

Another group of demonstrators stopped a shuttle taxi and searched for migrant workers among the passengers, while banging on the windows.

The crowd cried “The people want the Sudanese deported” and “infiltrators get out of our home.” Miri Regev, a Likud Knesset Member said that “the Sudanese were a cancer in our body.” 17 protesters were arrested.

The protesters expressed their dismay with the government’s dealings with the “problem” of asylum seekers, especially with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Some people carried signs in support of Interior Minister Eli Yishai who called for the expulsion of the asylum seekers earlier this week.

The march was organized by Knesset member Michael Ben Ari of the National Union party, along with far-right activists Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel, who runs a neighborhood security group in south Tel Aviv.

…One speaker…called for the establishment of a political party that will champion the expulsion of the migrants. “It’s not racism,” he insisted.

Jewish shop windows smashed in Nazi Germany

My friend, Israeli journalist, Haggai Matar was also assaulted during the festivities. It shook him up considerably and he’s still getting his bearings. Meanwhile, he’s written this blog post (Hebrew): On the Way to a Lynching.

Who are these refugees? They’re from South Sudan, a nation still wracked by civil war and rapidly descending into chaos foisted upon it by the central Sudanese government. This is the same government responsible for the genocide in Darfur. Refugees, genocide, ethnic hatred: does it sound familiar?

Another element of this pogrom that is critical to grasp is that while it was initiated by the extreme Judeo-Nazi right wing, MKs from the governing Likud party (Danon, Regev, Tirosh and Levin) stepped in and took credit publicly for the event. That’s the way creeping fascism works. First the extreme stakes its claim within political discourse. Then, the more mainstream parties step in to co-opt the radical right. By then, the extreme becomes subsumed into the mainstream and transforms it into something truly hateful and ugly (roughly the way the Tea Party functions in American political discourse, though it hasn’t sponsored any pogroms yet). Tonight, Tel Aviv, and by extension Israel, has become something truly hateful and ugly.

If you look at the statements of the “responsible” leaders of the country, you see them hopping on the bandwagon. The Interior Minister Eli Yishai inveighs against the dirty Africans. The Attorney General says he’s ready to provide legal support for mass deportations. The prime minister, never one to harbor any sympathy for the downtrodden, whether Jewish or non-Jewish, will sacrifice these poor souls in half a heartbeat in return for political advantage.

This, of course is a recapitulation of the far-right, neo-Nazi message of many European parties like the English Defense League, Marie Le Pen’s National Front, etc. It echoes Anders Breivik’s anti-immigrant manifesto penned before he murdered 77 Norwegian liberal youth. I suppose it’s not surprising that there would be such a poisonous political movement developing inside Israel, which, after all, is not immune to the same venom infecting the European and American body politic. But what IS surprising is how closely this echoes the historic tragedy of the Holocaust as it first manifested itself in 1930s Germany. We too had our Jewish refugees who were scorned when they sought refuge on these shores. Jewish history is replete with examples of similar persecution of Jews including the Crusades, the Inquisition, and various other expulsions.

Tel Aviv shop serving foreign workers with smashed window (Activestills.org)

I’m not predicting genocide in Israel against foreign workers. But given Jewish history of the last century, you’d think that Jews, including Israelis would be more sensitive to repeating the horrors perpetrated on our ancestors then.

To be fair, there have been equally noxious manifestations of hate including expulsions from Nigeria, Gabon, Angola and others. But we’ve Jews have suffered this fate ourselves. To perpetrate it against the weak and vulnerable of Tel Aviv is a true schandeh. It is less than reassuring that Israel plans a similar mass expulsion of its own immigrants to soothe the raging beast of Israeli xenophobia.

In the shadows of the Occupation and Israel’s brutal treatment of the Palestinians, foreign workers are the Palestinians, the Niggers of Israel. Like Palestinians, they have no legal status within Israel. This renders them invisible, powerless and at the mercy of whoever wishes to exploit them. The only difference between the two groups is that the foreign workers are within Israel’s body politic while Israel has succeeded in excluding Palestinians (to its mind) from the body politic.

SOUTH AFRICAN ARTISTS TO RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS: DON’T ENTERTAIN APARTHEID, CHOOSE THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY!

24 May 2012, Alternative Information Center http://www.alternativenews.org (Israel)

We are South Africans artists who have recently learned that in the course of your upcoming international tour (which will include Bulgaria, Greece, Lebanon and Turkey) the Red Hot Chili Peppers are also planning to perform in Israel in September. We appeal to you to heed the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel.

As you may know, the boycott enjoys the support of the overwhelming amount of Palestinian civil society (including artists and artist groups) and an increasing number of progressive Israelis.

You might wonder what purpose refusing to perform in Israel might serve? As a people whose parents and grandparents suffered under (and resisted) Apartheid in South Africa, our history is testament to the value and legitimacy that the international boycott had in bringing an end to the Apartheid regime in our country. When artists and sportspeople began refusing to perform in South Africa, the world’s eyes turned to the injustices that were happening here. This then created a wave of pressure on politicians and world leaders representing their constituencies, to insist on a regime-change - this contributed to a free, democratic and non-racial South Africa. The same is not only possible for Palestine-Israel, but inevitable. The question is: on which side of history do you want to be? Performing in Apartheid South Africa during the 80s, or in Israel today, is choosing to be on the wrong side of history.

As South Africans, we recognise the role that internationally-recognised artists like yourselves played in helping us to end apartheid in our country. It is this recognition, along with our belief in you, that leads us to join the many others around the world who are calling on you to cancel this part of your tour.

We understand how difficult it would be for you to reject an opportunity to share your enthusiasm and skills with others. Bands like you are the reason artists want to exist. Your music motivates beyond concert stages, penetrating into the intimate personal spaces of individual human lives and transforming them forever, the way only true art can.

Unhappily, matters are not so simple in this context. Art does not simply take place in a vacuum. The belief that cultural activities are “apolitical” (or that you are simply performing music, not getting involved in politics) is a myth. You performing in Israel will be a slap in the face of Palestinians (who have, since 2005, asked international artists not to perform there) but it will also be tacit support for the Israeli regime and its practices of apartheid.

The audiences before whom you would perform at Haryakon Park in Tel Aviv will not include your Palestinian fans from Gaza or the West Bank - they are barred from traveling to Tel Aviv. They are excluded, like how Blacks were excluded under Apartheid in South Africa, by laws which shut them out of places in a land which, historically, is as much their own as those who are permitted to attend.

These are laws which the International Court of Justice (the highest court on this earth) has declared to be illegal and in violation of international human rights law, just as apartheid was declared to be illegal in our country. The Court found that the fundamental rights of people who would otherwise be enjoying your performances have been violated and their rights to a cultural life and to self-determination denied. By agreeing to perform before segregated audiences – whether in Israel, Gaza, or the West Bank – the Red Hot Chili Peppers would be used by those responsible to claim legitimacy (with or without your consent) for the injustices and humiliations they are inflicting on Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza as well as those living anywhere else in Israel.

From our own experience of the cultural boycott of South Africa which we ourselves called for, we had no sense of being its unwilling victims and isolated from the rest of the world. In fact, our experience was precisely to the contrary – we were strengthened by a powerful sense of world-wide solidarity with us and support in our struggle for freedom.

As Palestinians (and an increasing numbers of progressive Israelis) have themselves called for the boycott, we have no doubt that they will feel as heartened and encouraged in their struggle as we were.

We urge to you to stand by them, to exclude Israel from your tour, and be on the right side of history.

MEUS IRMÃOS JUDEUS CANTAM AL WARD JAMIL (AS ROSAS SÃO BELAS)

12 maio 2012, blogdobourdoukan http://blogdobourdoukan.blogspot.com (Brasil)

Abaixo vocês vão assistir a uma bela apresentação de um grupo musical judaico.
Esses são judeus verdadeiros e verdadeiros semitas.

A canção que Moshe Habusha canta é uma composição do final do século 19, que até hoje faz sucesso na voz da imortal Oum Kalthoum.

Clique AQUI para conhecer, em inglês, um pouco mais desse cantor de Jerusalém que não esqueceu suas raízes.

E deleitem-se com a voz de Moshe Habusha e de seu conjunto musical de judeus semitas.

MY CONGREGATION PRESENTS “UNTOLD STORIES” OF LIFE UNDER OCCUPATION

May 25, 2012, Shalom Rav http://rabbibrant.com (USA)
A Blog by Rabbi Brant Rosen

My hometown paper, The Evanston Roundtable, has just published a thorough feature on "Untold Stories," a program initiated by my congregation's Peace Dialogue Task Force that features Palestinians sharing their personal stories of their lives under occupation.

"Untold Stories" was initiated after we invited two Chicago-area Palestinians - a man from Gaza and a woman from the West Bank - two speak about their lives during our Rosh Hashanah discussion groups. The presentation was so successful and well-received, the Peace Dialogue decided to make it an ongoing program - and eventually invite other faith communities in Evanston to participate as well.

From the article:
This fall, St. Nicholas Church will host another chapter of “Untold Stories,” knowing the narratives lend themselves to surprise endings. They allow (Palestinian presenter) Daniel Bannoura to learn that in Chicago, some of his best friends can be Jewish. And (JRC's Peace Dialogue chairperson) Sallie Gratch can discover that her involvement with Palestinians and their stories “sticks closer to my Jewish values than anything I’ve ever done.”

MANIFIESTO DEL "RUMBO A GAZA 2012"

22 de Mayo de 2012, Rebelión http://www.rebelion.org (México)

Rumbo a Gaza

En 2012 navegar Rumbo a Gaza sigue siendo navegar Rumbo a Palestina , un pueblo que desde hace 64 años continúa sufriendo la vulneración de todos los Derechos Humanos y de la legislación internacional. Derechos y leyes redactados a lo largo de más de dos siglos con el objetivo de proteger la dignidad de la persona y de los pueblos.

Las revoluciones árabes o la denominada crisis económica no han sustituido esa gran tragedia palestina, sino que se han sumado a ella y a tantas otras diseminadas por todo el mundo y que deben hacernos recapacitar que quien sufre los reveses de la llamada economía global, los gobiernos tecnócratas, las dictaduras o las guerras sigue siendo la sociedad civil, esté en Egipto, Mali, Iraq, Palestina, Congo, Siria o España.

Este año la Flotilla Internacional vuelve a denunciar el ilegal e ilegítimo bloqueo marítimo sufrido por Palestina en su zona costera, la Franja de Gaza. Dos proyectos pondrán de nuevo encima de la mesa, no sólo el papel en la ocupación y el bloqueo que juega el gobierno de Israel, sino la complicidad de la sociedad internacional que calla y se convierte en cómplice necesario para ejecutar ese acto criminal. No sólo se insiste en la impunidad de Israel, sino que se denunciará el papel pasivo del resto de los países del mundo ante una injusticia que se remonta a casi siete decenios.

Sólo la existencia de esa complicidad explica porqué Israel ha extendido los límites de su imposición de bloqueo al resto de Europa y otros países de varios continentes, tal y como quedó evidenciado en el secuestro administrativo ejecutado por el gobierno griego el pasado verano y la prohibición de volar a centenares de personas de todo el mundo haciendo listas negras y obligando a numerosas compañías aéreas, bajo coacción, a no dejar embarcar a gente que mostraba su intención de viajar a los Territorios Palestino Ocupados.

La Flotilla ha evolucionado con el objetivo de romper la asimilación del gobierno israelí y sus prácticas de boicot a nuestra misión, que han ido desde el asesinato de nuestros compañeros hasta el secuestro de nuestros barcos; de esta manera la solidaridad tendrá diferentes maneras de manifestarse de aquí en adelante.

Por una parte el velero Estelle navegará desde los países nórdicos a Gaza recorriendo varios países europeos y del norte del Mediterráneo para reclamar el derecho legítimo de navegar libremente hasta una zona con aguas territoriales reconocidas internacionalmente. Mar Báltico, Mar del Norte, Mar Cantábrico, Océano Atlántico y Mar Mediterráneo será su itinerario, realizando una labor de sensibilización en cada escala que haga el velero en puertos y buscando la adhesión y compromisos del mundo político, de la cultura y de la población civil. Por otra, el Arca de Gaza será un barco que se construirá en el puerto de Gaza por gente palestina, en coordinación con un equipo de voluntariado internacional, que romperá el bloqueo desde dentro hacia afuera , ya que la prohibición impuesta militarmente por Israel no sólo impide navegar a Gaza, sino que también impide a los palestinos navegar a otro puerto. Incluso a los pescadores no se les permite faenar dentro de las 20 millas marítimas que legalmente les corresponden, ya que la armada israelí los ataca apenas a 3 millas náuticas de la costa, impidiendo obtener capturas de pesca para la subsistencia, además de disparar a los propios pescadores y requisar sus barcos y aparejos.

Toda ayuda y colaboración es bienvenida y necesaria para seguir denunciando este atropello ilegal y consecuentemente inhumano. Es por ello que os pedimos vuestra adhesión a esta nueva misión y que, como hicisteis en el pasado, volváis a colaborar con nosotros firmando la adhesión solicitada a través de nuestra página web o enviando un correo con vuestro nombre y/u organización en el caso de que representéis alguna a la siguiente dirección info@rumboagaza.org

Atentamente: Grupo de trabajo de Rumbo a Gaza.

IS THERE A LINK BETWEEN ISRAELI PROFITS, ANTI-AFRICAN INCITEMENT?

May 24 2012, +972 Magazine http://972mag.com (Israel)

As Interior Minister Eli Yishai incites against African asylum seekers–leading to outbreaks of violence against Africans–his ministry issues visas to foreigners who pay tremendous amounts of money to come to Israel.

Mya Guarnieri*

Interior Minister Eli Yishai has called African asylum seekers “infiltrators” who threaten “the Zionist dream,” adding, “Jobs will root them here.”

But if foreigners are such a threat and jobs will root them here, then why does Yishai’s ministry continue to issue work visas to migrants?

It could have something to do with the fact that the manpower agencies—the companies that turn huge profits by importing foreign workers—have a strong lobby in both the Knesset and Ministry of the Interior.

But, wait, what does the MOI have to do with manpower agencies? Doesn’t the MOI just issue the visas and handle deportations?

In 2009, there was a major governmental restructuring that changed the supervision of both migrants and the manpower agencies that recruit them.

Rivka Makover was once the manager of the registration department in the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Labor. From 2004 to 2009, Makover supervised the licensing of manpower agencies, shutting down hundreds of those agencies over shady business dealings.

While Israeli labor law stipulates that agencies can charge approximately 1,000 US dollars for arranging jobs and visas, many charge far more. Chinese laborers have reported paying as much as $30,000 in fees. Indian workers usually pay upwards of $10,000; Filipinos between $5000 and $10,000.

In 2009, Makover’s position was eliminated, her responsibilities transferred to a body under the umbrella of the Ministry of Interior—putting all the power related to migrants in the hands of the MOI.

Since the restructuring, employees at both Kav LaOved and the Hotline for Migrant Workers say that enforcement of labor laws regarding manpower agencies has become noticeably lax, with some complaints against manpower agencies going completely ignored.

Maybe that’s because the MOI has been too busy issuing work visas. In 2009—the year that Israel announced it would deport children of migrant workers; the year that the government began inciting against African asylum seekers; the year that the Oz Unit attempted to take Africans out of South Tel Aviv—27,000 new migrant laborers entered Israel on state-issued work visas.

In 2010, the state embarked on a campaign against asylum seekers, including advertisements in which actors claimed that foreigners had taken their jobs. But, in 2010, Israel actually issued more work visas to bring more foreigners than it had in 2009, granting 32,000 new migrants work permits.

According to MOI spokeswoman Sabine Hadad, an additional 11,000 legal migrant workers arrived in Israel in 2011 on state-issued work visas. 2012 has seen the state bring 2300 new workers. While both 2011 and this year have seen significant drops in the number of new workers, the question remains—why bring them at all? Why not allow Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers—groups that cannot be deported and that are forced into unemployment and homelessness—to work?

Further, the current number of legal migrant workers stands at nearly 75,000. As migrants typically get 63-month work visas, it’s safe to say that most of these 75,000 have arrived in the past five years—the same time the country saw an influx of African asylum seekers. There are now between 45,000 and 60,000 African asylum seekers here. If the state wasn’t so intent on bringing new workers, if the state would draw from the existing labor pool, each and every one of those asylum seekers could have jobs. They wouldn’t be sitting around in parks in South Tel Aviv.

The big difference between those Israel gives work visas to and those that don’t? Those that pay the manpower agencies, a powerful group that has close ties to the MOI, get work visas. Those who don’t pay don’t get work visas. It’s that simple.

*Mya Guarnieri is a Jerusalem-based journalist and writer whose work has appeared in dozens of publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, Slate, Counter Punch, The Boston Review, and Caravan. She was a stringer for The National and Al Jazeera English and has been invited to serve as a commentator on Israel/Palestine on the BBC and Al Jazeera, among others. Mya holds a Master's of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Florida State University. Her short stories have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Narrative, and elsewhere. She is currently working with an agent on a book about migrant workers in Israel.

HOW MAINSTREAM ISRAELI POLITICIANS SPARKED THE TEL AVIV RACE RIOT

May 24 2012, +972 Magazine http://972mag.com (Israel)

Noam Sheizaf*

Israeli governments have neglected the poor neighborhoods of Tel Aviv for decades. Today, Knesset members use the asylum seekers to channel the anger of local residents and score easy political points.

Eritrean refugees react less then a minute after their shop was attacked by a mob following protest against African refugees and asylum seekers in Tel Aviv's Hatikva neighborhood on May 23, 2012.

For a moment, at around 11 p.m., it seemed that things were really getting out of control: Each report from the Hatikva neighborhood in south Tel Aviv was worse than previous ones: A couple of journalists – Haggai Matar from +972 and a reporter from Haaretz – were attacked and rescued by police; a mob of roughly 100 people tried to storm the Central Bus Station, considered a meeting place for African asylum seekers; a car was stormed by protesters, its windows smashed; at least two shops were looted; a woman holding a baby was struck in the head with a bottle, the baby to fell and both were rushed to a hospital; a man from Eritrea was chased by dozens of rioters and rescued by police.

Here is a short video of the attack on a car carrying African refugees:


After midnight, things calmed down a bit, and the night ended with several injured and 17 people arrested. It could have been much worse, if activists hadn’t warned African families to stay out of the streets, fearing violence. In daycares, notices like the one below were posted, urging parents to take their kids home early. If anything positive that can be said about last night, it’s the fact that no one was killed.


Note advising African asylum seekers to avoid the streets on May 23, 2012 (photo: Rotem Ilan)

According to most estimates, there are between 50,000 and 60,000 African asylum seekers in Israel, most of them from Sudan and Eritrea. There are around 100,000 illegal aliens in Israel with expired tourist and work permits, but this has not kept populist sentiment against the African refugees from gaining momentum in the last few weeks.

In recent years, the refugees – who crossed Israel’s southern borders, mostly from war-torn Sudan and dictatorial Eritrea – settled in the poorest neighborhoods of Jewish Israel – in south Tel Aviv, Eilat, and Ashdod. The residents of the southern town of Arad have elected a new mayor from Avigdor Lieberman’s Israel Beitenu party, after she ran a campaign solely based around the promise to remove the aliens from town.

In south Tel Aviv, refugees – like the work immigrants who preceded them – moved into the area of the Central Bus Station (Shapira neighborhood), a poor area that was slowly going through early stages of gentrification. Later, Africans also settled in neighboring Hatikva, east of Shapira. Last night, the mob was stopped on the bridge over the Ayalon highway, which links the two neighborhoods.

The Jewish population in this area is very poor, and all of those neighborhoods have been neglected for years by the municipality and Israeli governments. The area around the bus station in particular has long been known as a center for drug trafficking, abuse and prostitution. In Kfar Shalem (near Hatikva), families of Sephardic Jews were evacuated from their homes recently to make way for new construction projects. The “Argazim” (boxes, in Hebrew) area nearby is one of the only places in Israel where Jews live in shacks and improvised homes, also under constant threat of evacuation. This socioeconomic foundation to the refugee problem is far more important than the statistics regarding their relatively small numbers or the actual crime rate.

Rioters smashing the window of an Ethiopian bar during a riot in Hatikva neighborhood on May 23, 2012 (photo: activestills)

Regarding crime, it’s important to note that refugees are not allowed to work in Israel. Hundreds of refugees, most of them men, are homeless, and can be seen roaming the streets at nights, and not only in the south. On several occasions when I was out late at night in the last couple of months I was approached by Africans asking for food, money or cigarettes. There is no denying that desperation among the refugees is on the rise, and so are the reports in the media on violent crimes committed by them. The emphasis is on “reports,” because numbers from the last few months are unavailable, and according to previous statistics, the crime rate among asylum seekers was much lower than among the Jewish population.

I should also say that my personal feeling is that the media hype regarding the situation in south Tel Aviv was much stronger than what I have actually felt there. I don’t live in Shapira, but both my brother and sister do, and I spend quite a bit of time there. I never felt threatened and I thought that the headlines in the Israeli media – both Haaretz and Maariv wrote last week that the atmosphere in the area is “on the verge of explosion” – were an exaggeration. The media certainly played its part in promoting xenophobia and fear of the Africans (the common term in Israel is not “asylum seekers” or refugees, but rather “infiltrators,” the same term used to describe Palestinians who tried to return their lands and homes in the 1950s, and were regarded by the government as potential terrorists).

MK Michael Ben-Ari giving a speech at a protest against African refugees and asylum seekers in Tel Aviv's Hatikva neighborhood on May 23, 2012 (photo: activestills)

More than the media, politicians are to blame for last night. According to most reports, the protest was initially very quiet, and local residents who spoke at the event weren’t as harsh on the Africans as the Knesset members – none of them live in south Tel Aviv, by the way – who took the stage right after them.

MK Miri Regev from Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party called the Africans “a cancer.” MK Danny Danon (Likud) said that they had established an enemy state, with Tel Aviv as its capital. MK Ben-Ari (Ichud Leumi, a national-religious party) called for every one of them to be imprisoned and deported. Ben-Ari used to be a member of Meir Kahane’s organization, which was banned in Israel and placed on the U.S. State Department’s terror list. He is now serving in the Israeli parliament. There was even a representative of the so-called moderate Kadima party – MK Ronit Tirosh – who also said that all of the African infiltrators need to be deported.

All of those MKs know all too well that deporting the refugees is forbidden according to international commitments Israel has taken upon itself. Coalition members speak out against their own policy: after all, the government could deport the refugees and pay the diplomatic price for it. But it effectively chooses to leave them here while inciting the public against them.

Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who wasn’t present at the protest himself, said that if he were authorized to use “the right measures, not one African infiltrator would be here within a year.” The Shas leader didn’t say what measures he was referring to. And above all, there is the deafening silence of Prime Minister Netanyahu, who spoke against the demographic danger posed by the “infiltrators,” but didn’t say a word about last night’s violence.

Israel has seen race riots before: In 1992, following the murder of a teenage girl by a Palestinian, local Israeli Jews stormed construction sites in Bat Yam, beating up Arab workers there. They were later joined by dozens of hooligans who wanted to help avenge the spilled Jewish blood. The police ended up completely blocking the city and the riots continued for five days. Since 2000, mobs have attacked Palestinians at least twice in the mixed cities of Nazareth Ilit and Akko, also cities with relatively poor Jewish populations. Both the mayors of Nazereth Ilit and of Akko were known for their violent rhetoric against Palestinians.

Untimely, this is what’s troubling the most about the current riot: the incitement is coming from the mainstream. Israel will soon enter a very long elections season – primaries will be held in the Likud and other parties within a year or so, and it seemed that many backbenchers have found in the refugees issue a populist theme that can promote their brand. Interior Minister Yishai, who has been losing support to Likud in all recent polls, was probably happy too last night, when he saw the signs with his name carried by the protesters in Hatikva, and heard the chants against Netanyahu (as I write this, Knesset Speaker Rivlin and Police Minister Aharonovitz ask MKs to show “restraint.” Netanyahu is still silent UPDATE: PM Netanyahu had since stated that “he feels the pain of the people of south Tel Aviv [...] but there is no room for the actions and statements we have seen yesterday”).

It’s less the size of the flames that have me worried today than the identity of those who are supposed to put out them out.

The blood of an African which was attacked during a riot in Hatikva neighborhood on May 23, 2012 (photo: activestills)

Read also:
Africans attacked in Tel Aviv protest; MKs: ‘infiltrators’ are cancer
How I survived a Tel Aviv mob attack
Using rape to justify racism


*Noam Sheizaf I am an Independent journalist and editor.
I have worked for Tel Aviv's Ha-ir local paper, for Ynet.co.il and for the Maariv daily, where my last post was deputy editor of the weekend magazine. My work has recently been published in Haaretz, Yedioth Ahronoth, The Nation and other newspapers and magazines.
I was born in Ramat-Gan and today live and work in Tel Aviv. Before working as a journalist, I served four and a half years in the IDF.

Demonstrators attack African migrants in south Tel Aviv

Likud MK describes Sudanese migrants as cancer; government prepares for mass deportation.

May 24, 2012, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)

By Ilan Lior and Tomer Zarchin

Israelis protest against African migrant workers in south Tel Aviv, May 23, 2012. Photo

by Moti Milrod

Some 1,000 protesters rallied in Tel Aviv's Hatikva neighborhood on Wednesday and called for the ousting of African asylum seekers from Israel.

Demonstrators attacked African passersby while others lit garbage cans on fire and smashed car windows.

Another group of demonstrators stopped a shuttle taxi and searched for migrant workers among the passengers, while banging on the windows.

The crowd cried "The people want the Sudanese deported" and "Infiltrators get out of our home."

Likud MK Miri Regev participated in the protest and said that "the Sudanese were a cancer in our body."

The protesters expressed their dismay with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government's dealings with the "problem" of asylum seekers. Some people carried signs in support of Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who called for the detention and expulsion of all asylum seekers earlier this week.

Following the protest, hundreds of people assembled in the main street of the Hatikvah neighborhood. Several protesters smashed the windows of a grocery store that served the migrant workers community, broke the windows of a barber shop and looted it.

Police arrested 17 people during the protest, with some of them detained while beating Sudanese migrants. Those arrested will be brought in before the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on Thursday for an extension of their remand.

Earlier Wednesday, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein said he supported the mass deportation of South Sudanese migrants if an investigation will find that they are not legally entitled to refuge.

Weinstein will argue next week before the Jerusalem District Court that there is no legal obstacle to the expulsions since individual checks will establish that none of them face any threat to their lives in South Sudan.

The Jerusalem District Court recently issued a temporary order prohibiting the migrants' deportation until it rules on a petition filed by five human rights organizations against the state's intent to deport the refugees.

Weinstein, who has expressed support for sending migrants from South Sudan back home, will ask the court to lift the temporary order preventing their expulsion.

The Foreign Ministry recently outlined its position regarding 700 South Sudan nationals staying in Israel; the government says there are as many as 3,000 here.

The position is based on a report by Ambassador Dan Shaham, who was sent to South Sudan in April to examine the situation and see if it was suitable to return the migrants.

The document says returning the South Sudanese nationals in general would not constitute a breach of international law, which prohibits a state from expelling foreign nationals if returning them to their home country presents a clear and immediate danger to their life.


-----


Day after violent anti-African protest, Likud MK calls to 'distance infiltrators' immediately

Police extends remand of 17 Israeli protesters arrested during rally for attacking African asylum seekers; Danny Dannon calls to remove African migrants from city centers.

May 24, 2012, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)

By Dana Weiler-Polak and Yaniv Kubovich

Following Wednesday's violent protest against African migrants in Tel Aviv, Likud MK Danny Dannon called to remove African asylum seekers from population centers in Israel.

Speaking to Haaretz, Dannon said that the immediate solution for calming the situation and for putting a stop to the violence requires the evacuation of the African migrants from south Tel Aviv.

"The infiltrators must be distanced immediately," he said. "We must expedite the construction of temporary detention facilities and remove Africans from population centers."

MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union), who makes regular appearances at protests against the migrant population of Tel Aviv, nonetheless said he was “very upset by the violence.” Ben Ari pointed out, however, that “there are things that are outside of my control, that’s the reality.”

Ben Ari expressed satisfaction that his campaign to remove the migrant population from Tel Aviv has begun to gain momentum. “Suddenly we see MK’s from Likud and Kadima showing up at protests. Suddenly I hear the Interior Minister saying things I’ve said myself,” said Ben Ari.

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, called for public officials to stop encouraging passionate reactions. “When the masses are furious, public leaders must try to contain that anger and offer a solution, not to fan the flames. We must not use the same language anti-Semites use against us. We are a people that suffered a great deal of incitement and harassment, and we have an obligation to be extra sensitive and moral,” said Rivlin.

On Thursday, 17 demonstrators who were arrested during the protest were brought before the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court for an extension of their remand.

Several of those arrested were detained while beating African migrants who passed on the street and shattering windows of businesses that tend to the foreign worker community.

Some 1,000 protesters rallied in Tel Aviv's Hatikva neighborhood on Wednesday and called for the ousting of African asylum seekers from Israel.

Protesters launched attacks on African migrants who passed by, while a group of demonstrators stopped a shuttle taxi and searched for migrant workers among the passengers, while banging on the windows.

The crowd cried "The people want the Sudanese deported" and "Infiltrators get out of our home."

Also on Thursday, the remand was extended of two members of a gang suspected of systematically targeting African migrants in south Tel Aviv. Police suspects that the 11-member gang, comprised of residents of south Tel Aviv, was set up in order to attack African migrants, in particular citizens from Sudan and Eritrea. The nine other members are minors, who will be tried in juvenile court.

Danny Dannon, who participated in Wednesday's protest, told Haaretz that he condemns the violence.

"Violence is not the answer and it cannot be justified," he said. "The government neglected the residents and they are frustrated and that must be addressed. It is a ticking time bomb on the part of the infiltrators as well as on the part of the margins of society."

"I arrived at the protest relatively early. The crowd was pretty irritated – also toward me. I spoke for several minutes and the main message was deportation."

Dannon said that the immediate solution for calming the situation and for putting a stop to the violence requires the evacuation of the African migrants from south Tel Aviv. "The infiltrators must be distanced immediately. We must expedite the construction of temporary detention facilities and remove Africans from population centers."

Meanwhile, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai began a campaign on Thursday that calls to imprison and deport illegal migrants.

The campaign was initiated and funded by Huldai, who has called for implementation of the government’s decision to expel migrants to their home countries, or to relocate them to holding facilities. In addition, local authority heads are claiming that they are carrying the burdens of dealing with infiltrators, such as funding the “Mesila” organization, an acronym in Hebrew for “center for information and assistance for the foreign community.”

Six mayors have pledged to take part in the campaign, including Yehiel Lasry, Mayor of Ashdod, Yaakov Asher, Mayor of Bnei Brak, Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin, Petah Tikva Mayor Yitzhak Ohayon, and Eilat's mayor, Meir Yitzhak-Halevi.

How a Tel Aviv anti-migrant protest spiraled out of control
By Ilan Lior | May.24,2012 | 12:48 PM
Demonstrators attack African migrants in south Tel Aviv
By Ilan Lior and Tomer Zarchin
May.24,2012 | 12:48 PM
Israel prepares mass deportation of South Sudanese refugees
By Tomer Zarchin | May.24,2012 | 12:48 PM

WHERE’S THE PALESTINIAN GANDHI? SOAKING IN BLOOD SHED BY SETTLERS

May 20th, 2012 Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם http://www.richardsilverstein.com (USA)

Jewish settler terrorist shoots Nemer Fathi of Asiara in cold blood

Yesterday, in the northern West Bank, outside the village of Aserra, a Jewish settler shot a Palestinian boy who was participating in a demonstration. Here is the picture of the assassin aiming his rifle and there is the picture of the boy after the bullet has hit its target.

UPDATE: Sheera Frenkel has spoken to the victim’s family and tweeted to me that the bullet entered by his cheek and exist by his ear. So by the grace of God it didn’t enter his brain, though it easily could have.

Pictures like this enrage me when I think of the inane questions of liberal Zionists like Gershom Gorenberg: “Where’s the Palestinian Gandhi.” Gorenberg makes his living off asking numbskull questions like this when the answer is staring him in the face. The Palestinian Gandhi, Nemer Fathi, age 24, is pictured here soaking in his own blood. The question shouldn’t be where is the Palestinian Gandhi. The question should be what will Gorenberg and the liberal Zionists do to stop the murder of the Palestinian Gandhis. When will they stop blaming the Palestinians? When will they recognize that the blame lies solely with Israel and that the timidity of the liberal Zionists allows their countrymen to continue to live under the illusion that they’ve done enough for peace and that it’s the Palestinians who haven’t.

These settlers are terrorists, but their government will not bring them to justice. That is the crime. That is where the Gorenbergs of the world should focus all their energy. He should identity this settler and demand the police arrest him. He should bring his liberal Zionist friends to the settlement and knock on the man’s door and make a citizen’s arrest (if such a thing is possible). And if the police won’t arrest him he and his liberal Zionist friends should camp outside the police station till they do.

But it’s so much more appealing to blame Palestinians instead of looking in the mirror to see where the real problem lies. It’s also appealing to smear critics like me by calling me an anti-Zionist in the pages of American Prospect instead of dealing seriously with the criticism.

Here is B’Tselem’s report on this incident. It makes clear that not only were police and IDF present at the shooting, that they did nothing to stop it. In fact, one shooter used a military issued rifle and was likely a soldier on leave and another was likely a police officer similarly off duty (or at least not in uniform):

On Saturday, 19.5.2012, around four thirty in the afternoon, a large group of settlers descended on the eastern outskirts of the village ‘Asira al-Qibliya, from the settlement Yitzhar. B’Tselem volunteer photographers filmed the events from two angles. The video shows the settlers, some of whom were masked and armed, throwing stones at Palestinian homes, and fires beginning to burn. One of the masked settlers was armed with a “Tavor” rifle which is only used by infantry soldiers, raising the suspicion that he is a soldier on leave.

Palestinian youths from the village soon arrived and threw stones at the settlers. A few minutes later, soldiers and Border Police officers arrived at the scene. During these moments, the video records the sound of several rounds of live ammunition being fired, but does not show its source.

Around 5pm, a group of three settlers are seen standing with a soldier in front of the Palestinian youths, while all around there is mutual stone throwing. Two of the settlers seen were armed with M4 rifles, and one was armed with a pistol. One of the settlers is wearing what looks like a police cap. The video footage shows the settlers aiming their weapons at the Palestinians and firing.

The firing injured village resident, Fathi ‘Asayira, 24, in the head. He is seen being evacuated from the area by a group of youths. He is hospitalized in a stable condition in Rafidiya hospital in Nablus. About fie other Palestinians were injured by stones.
The video footage raises grave suspicions that the soldiers present did not act to prevent the settlers from throwing stones and firing live ammunition at the Palestinians. The soldiers did not try to remove the settlers and in fact are seen standing by settlers while they are shooting and stone throwing.

B’Tselem wrote urgently to the Judea and Samaria Police requesting that those involved in the violent attack are arrested and prosecuted. Additionally, B’Tselem wrote to the Military Police Investigative Unit (MPIU) requesting that a military police investigation is opened at once into the suspicion that the soldiers did not adhere to their obligation to protect Palestinians from settler violence, and that one of the attackers was a soldier on leave.

B’Tselem additionally requested that the soldiers are instructed to cooperate with the police investigation and identify the suspect in the shooting.

Here (and here) are the B’Tselem videos of the assault on the Palestinians. Though B’Tselem has demanded an investigation, we all know what the result will be–no result. A pro forma investigation in which the case will be dropped for lack of evidence or for lack of interest or for whatever reason the army and police choose. The reason: “injury while Palestinian.” Now, our big, brave pro-Israel readers will come forward and remind us that Palestinians threw rocks and therefore what should they expect. But keep in mind that the settlers, according to B’Tselem’s statement, not only threw rocks first, but had deadly weapons and used them, while the Palestinians had none.

While I do not support violence on either side, can anyone except the pro-Israel flacks not understand how homicidal behavior such as this is one of the single most incendiary elements of the conflict? Put yourself in the shoes of anyone who was at this incident. Or any Palestinian who sees the video. What would you think? What would you do? Ehud Barak already knows what he would do. He’s already said publicly in one of his rare moments of truthfulness and candor that if he were Palestinian he would be a militant. Personally, I know that I wouldn’t be. But I do know that I’d find other ways to resist. I do know that that could be me out there in the line of fire were I Palestinian.

Once again, I say that these settlers are Jewish terrorists and that a State which permits their rampant violence aids and abets terror. The State is an accessory after the fact. I pray that sometime down the line the settler leadership and military and police commanders who stood by and did nothing while this attempted murder happened will be tried before an international criminal court for their reprehensible behavior. Like the militia leaders of Croatia and Serbia during the civil war, who were tried and convicted for their collusion with ethnic killers, these Israelis too are no less guilty.

Know that the world will hold you accountable. That you do not represent Judaism as I and most Jews know it. That Jews with any moral sense renounce you just as most Muslims renounce Al-Qaeda terrorists. Any Jew or Jewish organization that does not explicitly renounce this chilul haShem is not worthy of the support of anyone in the Jewish community.

SETTLER SHOOTING PALESTINIAN, 'ASIRA AL-QIBLIYA, 19.5.2012, RAW FOOTAGE, 2ND CAMERA

20 May 2012, B'Tselem בצלם http://www.btselem.org (Israel)


הצטרפו לעמוד הפייסבוק של בצלם: https://www.facebook.com/btselem

עוד מידע על האירוע: http://www.btselem.org/hebrew/press_releases/20120520_asira_al_qibliya

South Africa to ban labeling settlement products as 'made in Israel'

19 May 2012, The Israeli Communist Party המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית‎ (Israel)
info@maki.org.il

The South African government decided last week to draw attention of consumers that products they buy labeled “Made in Israel” could have been made in illegal settlements mushrooming the occupied Palestinian territories, a press release issued by the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee said on Saturday. It said that after more than a year of joint work between Palestinian and South African organizations, South Africa’s Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies announced he will forbid false and misleading labeling of settlements products.

He said that the South African government will forbid the misleading labeling of products originating in the Jewish settlements in the occupied territory as if they were produced in Israel. According to Wafa Palestinian new agency “Consumers in South Africa should not be misled into believing that products originating from the occupied Palestinian territory are products originating from Israel," said a ministry statement. “The burden of proving where the products originate will lie with traders,” a step that will further trample attempts to obscure the origin or connection to settlements of some Israeli products.

A Palestinian activist confronts heavily armed Israeli soldiers in a weekly demonstration against the separation wall in Al-Masara, West Bank, on May 18, 2012 (Photo: Activestills)

According to the statement, the government of South Africa recognizes the State of Israel only within the 1948 borders, which do not include Palestinian territories occupied in 1967.

Mohammed Khatib, a resident of the West Bank village of Bil'in and the coordinator of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee who was involved in the efforts to promote the notice, said, “The notice is based on the recognition of the injustice done to us Palestinians by the occupation and Israeli settlements. It highlights the fact that the de-facto annexation of our lands as well as the settlements themselves are entirely illegal. The notice is an important first step, which, reason suggests, should be followed by a complete ban on the marketing of these products in South Africa, no matter how they are labeled.”

Denmark had also announced on Friday that all goods produced in the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank should have clear label of origin on them in order to differentiate them from products made in Israel proper. Denmark intended to follow European Union policy of banning settlement products from their markets because they originate from illegal locations.

This is a move that will clearly show consumers that this produce has been produced under conditions that not only the Danish government, but also the European governments have rejected," Danish Foreign Minister Villy Sovndal was quoted as saying by Danish online news-site Politken.

"Then it is up to consumers whether they are prepared to buy the produce," he added. The Danish FM said that stricter controls and labeling of settlement produce should be seen as part of the European Union's support for a two state solution. Enforcing controls on settlement produce also shows the Palestinians that the world is against illegal settlement building. The move targets illegal settlements and not Israel, the Danish FM added. In April, the Co-operative group, one of the United Kingdom's largest food retailers, decided to boycott four companies that export products from Israeli settlements.

Related: UK food retailer boycotts settlement exports

“EL ESTADO DE ISRAEL ES UN FRACASO DEL SIONISMO, NO UN ÉXITO”

18 mayo 1012, Latitud 194 http://latitud194.com (España)

Entrevista con Sergio Yahni, periodista y activista israelí.

Ignacio Díaz-Roncero, Madrid

Sergio Yahni, es periodista y activista antisionista en Israel, además de co-director del Alternative Information Center (AIC) de Jerusalén. En el ámbito académico, se ha dedicado al estudio del desarrollo del movimiento comunista en la Palestina histórica.

Sergio Yahni

Fue promotor de la objeción de conciencia contra el servicio militar en los territorios ocupados de Cisjordania y Gaza y en la Guerra del Líbano, siendo encarcelado tres veces por esos motivos. De origen argentino, su familia emigró a Israel en 1979. Yahni creció en un kibbutz y actualmente vive en Jerusalén occidental. Recibe a Latitud194 en la cafetería lavapiesina La Marabunta, en medio de un viaje que le ha traído por España para impartir varias conferencias en torno al conflicto israelo-palestino, con especial énfasis en la búsqueda de alternativas al actual modelo de Estado moldeado por un sionismo que considera ampliamente fracasado y del que es especialmente crítico.

¿Cuantas veces le han llamado “self-hating jew“?
Eso se escucha más fuera de Israel. El “self-hating jew” viene más bien por parte de judios de fuera de Israel que de dentro. Es una expresión muy diaspórica.

Aún así, ¿se sentiría comodo con esta definición?
Si fuera por definición, preferiria la de “non-jewish jew” del libro de Deutscher. Es todo un problema definir qué es el judaismo, algo no resuelto hasta el dia de hoy por nadie, ni siquiera por el propio judaismo. ¿Qué es ser judio, más alla de la religion?.

Las conferencias que va a realizar estos días tratan del tema de la identidad…
“ser israelí acaba siendo estar ahí y no ser palestino; es una negación más que una definición positiva”

La verdad es que yo me meto menos en el tema de la identidad, en el qué es ser israelí. Prefiero aceptar que israelí es el que vive allí, sin entrar en el tema de quién es judío, que es mucho más complejo. Pero lo que yo qusiera discutir es el tema de la lucha conjunta. Desde los últimos 20 años, desde el 92, se ha venido desarrollando la idea del diálogo en el cual los palestinos tendrían que negar su lucha nacional. De pronto ha habido una emergencia de nuevas alternativas y de lo que vengo a hablar es precisamente de esas emergencias de luchas conjuntas israelo-palestinas, alternativas de trabajo conjunto que no solamente no caen dentro del vaso de la “normalización”, sino que intentan crear un espacio diferente.

Creció en un Kibbutz, en un Estado de Israel que parece radicalmente diferente del actual, marcado por el auge de lo religioso. ¿Es posible definir de qué es ser Israelí, más allá de su definición minimalista de “la persona que vive ahí”?
Hay dos cosas. Una es que no existe una definicion inclusiva de qué es ser israelí. Hay diferentes tipos de israelíes: hay israelíes que son judíos, otros que no son judíos pero tampoco son palestinos (como la generación de los hijos de los trabajadores extranjeros, israelíes pero no judíos, cuyo idioma es el hebreo y que ahora los quieren deportar). Hablo también de israelíes de origen ruso, que tampoco son judíos en un 30%, pero sí israelíes, y su lengua es el hebreo. Hay israelíes etiopes… es toda una amalgama de comunidades con muy poco en común. Entonces, ser israelí acaba siendo estar ahí y no ser palestino. Es una negación más que una definición positiva.

Por otro lado, el Estado de Israel hoy, el estado del apartheid, confesional, es mas que nada un fracaso del sionismo, no su éxito. El objetivo del sionismo era el establecimiento de un estado laico y la laicización del judaismo. Establecer el judaismo no como una religión, sino como una nacion.

Entonces, después de 60 años de Estado de Israel, ¿da al proyecto sionismo por muerto?
El sionismo ha fracasado en dos elementos: generar una identidad colectiva que vaya más allá de la religión y establecer un territorio autónomo con mayoria judía. En el estado de Israel hoy los judíos no son ya mayoría: hay una paridad con los palestinos y no judíos, y hasta quizás haya una pequeña mayoría sólo palestina. Por esta razón emerge el apartheid, como un fracaso del proyecto sionista.

¿Qué debería haber hecho para no fracasar?
“el apartheid emeerge como un fracaso del proyecto sionista”
El problema es que el sionismo es un movimiento que lleva su fracaso en su propia definición. Esta obligado a fracasar y a decaer porque no existe una definición laica de qué es ser judío, y porque la única posibilidad que tiene el sionismo de no fracasar, entre comillas, sería llevar adelante una continua y permanente limpieza étnica, algo imposible e insostenible. Lo que ocurre hoy es que la limpieza étnica ha llegado a sus límites e Israel tiene que transformarse en un estado de apartheid donde los judíos son la minoría.

Un argumento frecuente, independientemente del debate sobre el sionismo, es que Israel es “la única democracia en Oriente Medio”…
Eso es mas bien una frase de marketing, de “marca país”: intentar crear un marketing de Israel como algo que no es. Me parece que ha tenido tanto éxito como la “marca España”.

¿Es Israel una democracia?
No. El estado de Israel no es un estado democrático. Es una etnocracia donde se van reduciendo las libertades que existen, sobre todo con este último gobierno. Ahora, las libertades eran para la población judía, no para el colectivo palestino ciudadano de Israel y para el colectivo palestino en Cisjordania y Gaza. Ahora lo que se van reduciendo son también las libertades que tenían los judíos en este espacio.

en los barrios pobres y entre la clase media va surgiendo un movimiento de protesta bastante fuerte

La presidencia de Netanyahu está tomando posturas muy ideologizadas ante una población fragmentada. ¿Goza de un apoyo suficiente?
Los sondeos de opinión le dan una mayoría bastante estable. Esta mayoría en un momento determinado se rompe hacia la derecha. Gran parte de la base social del Likud está más a la derecha que Netanyahu. Por otro lado vemos cómo en los barrios pobres y entre la clase media va surgiendo un movimiento de protesta bastante fuerte. Se ha visto en el extranjero la parte más europeizada de él, pero el movimiento de protesta en los barrios pobres va creciendo. No creo que se pueda romper todavía la hegemonía de la derecha y el Likud (o del centro creado por el laborismo y la derecha), pero sí se van creando grietas en esa hegemonía.

Usted escribió que “el eje del conflicto árabe-israelí define los límites de las identidades políticas dentro de la sociedad israelí”, y que un punto relevante de las protestas del año pasado fue la ruptura de esta inercia. Sin embargo, los manifestantes evitaron toda referencia al conflicto para no romper la unidad. ¿Es posible que ocurra un cambio social autónomo dentro de Israel, o permanece todo ligado irremediablemente al conflicto?.
Existen tres actores para un cambio futuro. Uno son los palestinos y su Movimiento de Liberación Nacional: saber si va a lograr establecer una movilización social suficientemente amplia que rompa la gobernabilidad de Israel. El segundo elemento es el movimiento social internacional. No hablo de la opinión pública internacional, ni la comunidad de naciones, sino los movimientos sociales: hasta qué punto lograrán romper la legitimidad de Israel o mantenerla. En tercer lugar están los movimientos sociales y políticos dentro de Israel. Ninguno de estos factores puede cambiar por sí solo la realidad, sino una combinación de ellos. El Estado está dispuesto a utilizar todos los medios para que el movimiento de liberación nacional no cree una situación de ingobernabilidad. La unica manera de restringir la violencia del Estado y establecer un espacio alternativo es la movilización internacional. Solo se puede romper la impunidad del sistema desde fuera, y entonces es cuando se liberaría la capacidad de la mvoilización interna para hacer sus propuestas.

“muchas veces la gente transforma el número de entidades en la cuestión central. La cuestión es la lógica política del colonialismo sionista”

¿Qué consecuencias tiene la citada autocensura de los “indignados” israelíes respecto al tema de Palestina?
El problema es que las movilizaciones en Israel se crearon sobre un cisma en la sociedad. Existe un ala joven de clase media, de origen occidental, ashkenazi, que no podía continuar reproduciendo su condición de clase media; y otro ala en los barrios pobres y las periferias sociales de Israel. El que se conoció fue el de la avenida Rotschild, que no buscaba salir del consenso nacional israelí: de ahí la autocensura. Se repite aquí una peculiaridad de la clase media israelí, y es que son rebeldes hasta los límites que se les permite, sin salir de eses espacio. Un claro ejemplo son dos de los rostros visibles de este movimiento: una fue financiada por el Ministerio de Exteriores para dar una serie de charlas en Inglaterra, mientras que otra de pronto apareció como diputada del laborismo. Imagino que en cualquier movimiento del tipo “indignado” fuera de Israel, esto hubiera sido polémico.

Lo que no se ha visto fuera es el movimiento de los barrios pobres, que incluye población palestina, beduinos del Negev y más relaciones con lo que pasa en Cisjordania. Esto sí que es un nuevo fenómeno.

¿Tiene visos de continuar en el futuro?
Sí, tiene una base de movilizacion bastante estable. Lo que no sé es hasta qué punto va a poder movilizar masas o no.

¿Podrán los “indignados” israelíes, sean los de los barrios pobres o los de Rotschild, volver a intentar tomar las calles?
Existe la perspectiva, se intentó y la represión fue muy fuerte y va a ser muy fuerte. No hay nigún espacio politico para un movimiento de protesta hoy. La cuestién es si va a ser posible crear un movimiento de protesta en las condiciones actuales. Es mucho más fácil crearlo cuando no te reprimen. Hay una gran diferencia entre lo que pasó el verano pasado y lo de ahora: entonces el tomar la plaza fue bien visto por la policía y la municipalidad de Tel Aviv, sirvió para presentarse como un Estado democrático, para avanzar en la “marca Israel”. Sin embargo, al movimiento pobre se le reprimió mucho más fuertemente, con mucha más gente presa y cargada con multas y fianzas . A mucha gente que salió bajo fianza se le prohibía ir a reuniones, ya no sólo a manifestaciones. Ese movimiento intenta reeditarse, y la represión es mucho mas fuerte.

¿Cuál es su alternativa frente al presente modelo de Estado?
Yo soy miembro de la fundación Tarabot, que es una nueva fundación de izquierda con militantes judíos y árabes. Lo que nosotros habalmos es de “descolonizar” el régimen del Estado de Israel. La cuestión ya no es cuántos estados van a haber en el futuro: hay muchas alternativas, desde los anarquistas que defienden cero al hizb-ut-tahrir con un califato musulmán basado en Jerusalén. El tema no esta en cuántos estados habrán sino cuál es nuestra estrategia para descolonizar, des-sionizar al estado sionista y su transformación en un estado democrático. El número no es la cuestión: muchas veces la gente transforma el número de entidades en la cuestión central. La cuestión es la lógica política del colonialismo sionista.

Además, hay problemas con las propuestas de un Estado y dos Estados. Con la idea de dos Estados, no se responde a la cuestión de los refugiados. Con un estado, queda candente el tema de las colonias. Son dos temas problemáticos si no hablamos del carácter colonial del estado de Israel, que es lo que tiene que ser cambiado.

FROM SINAI TO "THE THUNDER" AT NAG HAMMADI

22 may 2012, The Shalom Center http://www.theshalomcenter.org (USA)
A Blog by Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Dear friends,

Yesterday I shared with you some thoughts about the Book of Ruth, traditionally read on the festival of Shavuot (which begins Saturday evening). (If you missed yesterday’s letter, it is on our Website Home Page: click here.) Since one aspect of Shavuot is that it celebrates the Revelation at Mount Sinai, we continue our exploration of its meanings with two documents that focus on Anokhi, I– the supernal I that speaks at Sinai.

Recently, Phyllis & I and Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kremer took part along with about 15 Christians in a discussion of a number of religious texts written in the first two centuries of the Common Era. Most were clearly Christian, but the early Church had not included them in what became known to Christians as the “New Testament.” Should they have been? Should they, even now?

One of the texts, found in the Nag Hammadi collection, was not in any clear sense Christian. It did not mention Jesus, or Christ, or the apostles. It was called “The Thunder: Perfect Mind,” but one of the scholars present said this title had been appended much later, and that it had no connection with the content.

When I read it, however, I felt and said that its title, “The Thunder,” was precisely about its content – for the whole text felt like The Thunder that spoke at Sinai. Someone asked whether I meant it was/ is a midrash on Sinai. “No!” I said, “It IS Sinai.”

Here is “The Thunder.” Perhaps you will find Her as holy, as awe-inspiring, as I did. Perhaps not. Reading Her for Shavuot, do you hear Her teaching us how to live? To think, to feel, to commune, to be silent? If so, how? I welcome your responses.

With blessings of sharing and caring, shalom and salaam, healing and wholeness -- Arthur

Excerpts from The Thunder: Perfect Mind
(Translated by Rev. Hal Taussig and others from a text
in Coptic from the Nag Hammadi library,
1st 2 centuries of the Common Era.)

I [in Coptic, Anokh] am the first and the last
I am she who is honored and she who is mocked
I am the whore and the holy woman
I am the wife and the virgin
I am the mother and the daughter
I am the limbs of my mother
I am the sterile woman and she has many children
I am she whose wedding is extravagant and I didn’t have a husband
I am the midwife and she who hasn’t given birth
I am the comfort of labor pains
I am the bride and the bridegroom
And it is my husband who gave birth to me
I am my father’s mother,
My husband’s sister, and he is my child
I am the slave-woman of him who served me
I am she, the lord of my child

But it is he who gave birth to me at the wrong time
And he is my child born at the right time
And my power is from within him
I am the staff of his youthful power
And he is the baton of my old womanhood

Whatever he wants happens to me
I am the silence never found
And the idea infinitely recalled
I am the voice with countless sounds
And the thousand guises of the word
I am the speaking of my name

You who loathe me, why do you love me and loathe the ones who love me?
You who deny me, confess me
You who confess me, deny me
You who speak the truth about me, lie about me
You who lie about me, speak the truth about me
You who know me, ignore me
You who ignore me, know me

I am both awareness and obliviousness
I am humiliation and pride
I am without shame
I am ashamed
I am security and I am fear
I am war and peace

…

Why do you despise my fear and curse my pride?
I am she who exists in all fears and in trembling boldness
I am she who is timid
And I am safe in a comfortable place
I am witless, and I am wise
Why did you hate me with your schemes?
I shall shut my mouth among those whose mouths are shut and then I will show up and speak

Why then did you hate me, you Greeks?
Because I am a barbarian among barbarians?

I am the wisdom of the Greeks and the knowledge of the barbarians
I am the deliberation of both the Greeks and barbarians
I am he whose image is multiple in Egypt
And she who is without an image among the barbarians
I am she who was hated in every place
And she who was loved in every place

I am she whom they call life
And you all called death
I am she whom they call law
And you all called lawlessness

I am she whom you chased and she whom you captured
I am she whom you scattered
And you have gathered me together
I am she before whom you were ashamed
And you have been shameless to me
I am she who does not celebrate festivals
And I am she whose festivals are spectacular

I, I am without God
And I am she whose God is magnificent
I am the one you thought about and you detested me
I am not learned, and they learn from me
I am she whom you detested and yet you think about me
I am he from whom you hid
And you appear to me

Whenever you hide yourselves, I myself will appear

…

Blame the part of me within yourselves
Come toward me, you who know me
and you who know the parts of me
Assemble the great among the small and earliest creatures

Advance toward childhood
Do not hate it because it is small and insignificant
Don’t reject the small parts of greatness because they are small
since smallness is recognized from within greatness

I am the learning from my search
And the discovery of those seeking me
The command of those who ask about me
And the power of powers
In my understanding of the angels
Who were sent on my word
And the Gods in God, according to my design? …

I am being
I am she who is nothing
Those who do not participate in my presence, don’t know me
Those who share in my being know me

Those who are close to me, did not know me
Those who are far from me, knew me
I am the coming together and the falling apart
I am the enduring and the disintegration
I am down in the dirt and they come up to me
I am judgment and acquittal

I myself am without sin, and the root of sin is from within me
I appear to be lust but inside is self-control
I am what anyone can hear but no one can say
I am a mute that does not speak and my words are endless

…

Since what is your inside is your outside
And the one who shapes your outside is he who shaped your inside
And what you see on the outside, you see revealed on the inside
It is your clothing

Hear me, audience, and learn from my words, you who know me
I am what everyone can hear and no one can say
I am the name of the sound and the sound of the name

IN SUPPORT OF THE “BATTLE OF THE EMPTY STOMACHS”

May 16, 2012, Shalom Rav http://rabbibrant.com (USA)
A Blog by Rabbi Brant Rosen

From the Palestinian NGO, Adameer: Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association:

After nearly a full month of fasting, around 2,000 Palestinian political prisoners ended last night their mass hunger strike upon reaching an agreement with the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) to attain certain core demands...

The written agreement contained five main provisions: the prisoners would end their hunger strike following the signing of the agreement; there will be an end to the use of long-term isolation of prisoners for “security” reasons, and the 19 prisoners will be moved out of isolation within 72 hours; family visits for first degree relatives to prisoners from the Gaza Strip and for families from the West Bank who have been denied visits based on vague “security reasons” will be reinstated within one month; the Israeli intelligence agency guarantees that there will be a committee formed to facilitate meetings between the IPS and prisoners in order to improve their daily conditions; there will be no new administrative detention orders or renewals of administrative detention orders for the 308 Palestinians currently in administrative detention, unless the secret files, upon which administrative detention is based, contain “very serious” information.

This is heartening news to be sure, particularly for the families of the strikers. But on an even deeper level, this deal is a testimony to the astonishing moral/political power of fasting in response to oppression. As my colleague Rabbi Alissa Wise recently wrote:

I can not even begin to fathom the pain, the discomfort, the anguish of starving yourself to protest injustice. Their decision to take up this action surely was not taken up lightly, and neither, I imagine, (was) their decision each and every day to continue with the fast.

Nor can I think of any more basic or courageous form of resistance than the simple act of refusing food. And I can think of no greater expression of this principle than the widely published letter written by hunger striker Thaer Halahleh to his two year old daughter Lamar. (Halahleh, who has hovered between life and death for weeks, has just ended his strike at 77 days):

When you grow up you will understand how injustice was brought upon your father and upon thousands of Palestinians whom the occupation has put in prisons and jail cells, shattering their lives and future for no reason other then their pursuit of freedom, dignity and independence. You will know that your father did not tolerate injustice and submission, and that he would never accept insult and compromise, and that he is going through a hunger strike to protest against the Jewish state that wants to turn us into humiliated slaves without any rights or patriotic dignity.

Hunger striking is, of course, is an ancient time-honored form of protest. As a Jew, I'm particularly mindful that the Book of Isaiah passionately connects the act of fasting to the pursuit of justice:

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?

Indeed, it is critical that we understand that the Palestinians' "Battle of the Empty Stomachs" as part of this long and honorable tradition of nonviolent resistance. As we have seen from the events of the past several months, it has lasted so long largely because it is a tactic that works.

At the same time, however, it is imperative to bear in mind what has been accomplished and what has not. While several specific demands regarding prison conditions have been met, Israel's overall policy of administrative detention essentially remains in place. Adameer's press release rightly noted this point:

Addameer is concerned that these provisions of the agreement will not explicitly solve Israel’s lenient and problematic application of administrative detention, which as it stands is in stark violation of international law.

In a recent blog post for +972mag, Palestinian journalist Omar Rahman also viewed this agreement in context of the overall Israeli/Palestinian power dynamic:

We must also remember that Israel holds all the chips. These hunger strikers have managed to pressure Israel into a level of accommodation, but only while people are focused on the issue. As soon as that attention dissipates, Israel is free to take back what it has offered. In the relationship between the occupier and the occupied, Israel is the Lord who giveth and taketh away. What will the Palestinians do? Stage another collective hunger strike only to repeat the process of give and take? The costs are simply too high to stage such a strike every time the need arises to challenge the system.

In the meantime, it seems to me, the most important outcome of the hunger strike campaign is the way in which it powerfully frames the ethical stakes of Israel's occupation. As a recent Guardian editorial stated plainly, "Israel cannot claim the moral high ground while it is holding Palestinians without charge."

And finally, as Jews, the "Battle of the Empty Stomachs" presents us with a profoundly critical challenge. Will we, who are the bearers of a tradition that bids us to call out oppression, find the wherewithal to stand with those who fast in response to their oppression by the Jewish state?

I don't know how to say it any better than my colleague Rabbi Rachel Barenblat:

When I read anything which speaks ill of Israel and of Judaism, my heart aches. I do not want to hear these things about my coreligionists. But the answer is not to silence or ignore those who are speaking out. The answer is for my fellow Jews to live up to what is best in our tradition. Detaining people without trial, without informing them or their lawyers of the charges against them, is wrong. When the only Jewish government in the world makes those choices, we are all diminished.

CUANDO SE CUMPLEN 64 AÑOS SIN DERECHO A RETORNO

Inter Press Service (IPS) http://www.ipsnoticias.net

Por Pierre Klochendler

LIFTA, Israel, 14 may (IPS) - "Allí está el inicio de mi vida. Mi padre convocaba a la plegaria ‘Allahu Akbar’ y toda la aldea lo escuchaba", dice el palestino Yacoub Odeh, de 72 años, señalando una casa destruida en lo alto de una colina jerosolimitana.
Entonces Odeh tenía ocho años. Ahora, 64 años más tarde, evoca la Naqba, "gran catástrofe" que recayó sobre el pueblo palestino durante la guerra que condujo a la creación del estado de Israel.

Cientos de miles huyeron de sus hogares o fueron expulsados por las fuerzas del país naciente y, como Odeh, se convirtieron en refugiados.

La aldea de Lifta languidece en medio de las ruinas esparcidas entre Jerusalén occidental, israelí, y oriental, ocupada por Israel. Para muchos palestinos, el lugar simboliza el recuerdo de la tierra perdida y la falta de un estado propio. Allí, Odeh vuelve a sentir la libertad y la paz.

Allí, entre las murallas seguras de su infancia, acaricia con cariño las piedras vivientes. "Por nuestra puerta entraba el sol matinal", relata.

Muchas casas todavía están majestuosamente en pie. Todo lo que queda de la de Odeh es un hinojo silvestre y muros medio enterrados.

Antes de la guerra de independencia de Israel, Lifta era una aglomeración de 500 hogares, una comunidad rica de 3.000 personas que vivían en armonía.

"El manantial, los jardines, los campos, la mezquita, la prensa de las aceitunas… Así era mi mundo", recuerda. En sus oídos todavía suena el eco idílico de "personas bailando y cantando".

"¿Cómo no ser acosados por ese fatídico día de febrero de 1948? Estábamos bajo sitio. Yo oía a las pandillas sionistas disparando", dice.

Cuando una centena de palestinos fueron asesinados por milicianos judíos durante un ataque a la aldea cercana de Deir Yassin, el horror disparó una ola de pánico.

"De repente, mi padre cargó a mi hermana y a mi hermano. Cruzamos el valle, trepamos la montaña, y nos llevamos solo lo que había en nuestras mentes: nuestros recuerdos", cuenta.

En apenas semanas no quedó ni un alma en aquella aldea de 2.000 años. "En un momento nos convertimos en refugiados", dice Odeh.

En el plazo de un año, la mayoría de los que todavía vivían en lo que se convirtió en el estado de Israel se volvió una minoría a la que se le negó el derecho a la tierra.

En techos y pisos se hicieron grandes agujeros que volvieron inhabitable la aldea abandonada. La familia Odeh nunca volvió a vivir allí. Nadie lo hizo. Pero los oriundos de Lifta nunca dejaron de soñar con regresar a casa.

"Nunca olvidaré ni perdonaré hasta que recupere mi derecho a ser libre en Lifta, en Palestina", asegura Odeh.

Año tras año, cada 15 de mayo, "Día de la Naqba", los palestinos manifiestan su aspiración a cumplir lo que, insisten, es su "innegable derecho de retorno". En esa ocasión, los refugiados blanden llaves simbólicas como recordatorio de los hogares que perdieron.

Según la Agencia de las Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados de Palestina en Oriente Próximo (UNWRA), actualmente hay más de cuatro millones de refugiados registrados dispersos por Medio Oriente.

La mayoría de los israelíes consideran que el histórico reclamo palestino es "una amenaza existencial".

Creen que el cumplimiento del "derecho de retorno" destruiría su estado desde adentro, dado que la absorción de millones de palestinos alteraría irrevocablemente su mayoría judía.

Según Odeh, "hay suficiente lugar para musulmanes, judíos y cristianos. Debemos vivir juntos, igual que nuestros abuelos".

Algunos esperan que el fantasma de esa sentimental solución de un solo estado termine alentando a Israel a negociar una solución política de dos estados, y que Palestina absorba a la mayor parte de los refugiados.

Odeh personifica la historia de su pueblo. Poco después de su desplazamiento forzado, su padre falleció; tenía "el corazón roto", dice. La familia se reasentó en Jerusalén oriental.

Él trabajó en una videoteca en Kuwait, estudió derecho en Beirut y militó en el Frente Popular para la Liberación de Palestina. Tenía 27 años cuando Israel conquistó el oriente de Jerusalén.

Al regresar, resistió la ocupación. Sentenciado en 1985 por un tribunal israelí a tres cadenas perpetuas consecutivas por "actividades terroristas", fue liberado en un canje de prisioneros.

Actualmente es activista por los derechos humanos y autodesignado custodio de la memoria de su aldea.

Lifta es un paraíso para los hippies sin techo que la eligen y un refugio para los soldados con licencia en busca de serenidad. Y es una de las últimas aldeas vacías en pie después de la guerra de 1948.

En aquel entonces se destruyeron 500 de esas aldeas palestinas. Por lo general, lo que queda son terrazas, piedras mohosas y hierbas que señalan cementerios abandonados, añosas higueras silvestres o perales, y restos de muros.

Al seguir a Odeh en su recorrido por la aldea de su infancia, el visitante no puede dejar de admirar la belleza del lugar y la dignidad que de él emana, las cicatrices que la naturaleza y el tiempo fueron infligiendo, la invasión de la ciudad moderna y la nostalgia por el paraíso perdido.

En 1959, un decreto convirtió a esta codiciada zona en reserva natural. Queriendo emular la preservada aldea de Ein Hod, donde ahora vive una comunidad artística israelí, urbanistas de la Autoridad de Tierras de Israel intentaron convertir Lifta en un barrio lujoso.

Pero exhabitantes del lugar, respaldados por organizaciones israelíes de derechos humanos apelaron al tribunal distrital. En febrero, el plan se archivó… por ahora.

"Queremos preservar Lifta tal como está, renovarla como museo histórico abierto para todos", insiste Odeh.

"¿Por qué quieren destruir este patrimonio cultural? ¿Para construir chalets?", pregunta.

"Palestinos, cristianos, judíos, musulmanes… Eso no importa. Lo que importa es poner fin a la ocupación, crear un estado democrático", dice Odeh. Y murmura: "La historia no irá siempre en la dirección equivocada".

Entonces Odeh vuelve a su casa, que se encuentra a pocos kilómetros de aquel que alguna vez fue su hogar. (FIN/2012)