ZGram - 8/17/2001 - "Orient House" - Part IV

[Ingrid Rimland]

Copyright (c) 2001 - Ingrid A. Rimland

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

August 17, 2001

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

When I prepared these "Orient House" series, I had hoped to free myself a
bit from being tied to the computer - however, things are moving much more
rapidly in the conflict-ridden Middle East territories, and I will try to
bring you first, the original Zgram, followed by a brief update.  Things
are now moving very fast!

Today's Part IV is the the story of an eyewittness.  This man, obviously a
politically incorrect Jew who tried to aid the Palestinians - there are a
few such rare individuals! - was  arrested among others at the protest
against the closure of the Orient House.

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[START]

 By Charles Lenchner, Olive Tree  Summer

 1:48pm Sun Aug 12 '01

 clenchner@foe.org

 On Thursday all hell broke loose; a suicide bomber blew  himself up, with
more than a hundred dead and wounded as a result. The  Islamic Jihad took
responsibility and promised more to come. But of course,  this was hell
primarily for the Israelis.

Another kind of hell, the kind that  produces  suicide bombers in limitless
supply, has been going on for many  months in  the Palestinian Territories.
The bombing makes for many  satisfied  Palestinians, who support such
actions by at least 70%. And it  makes for  very angry Israelis, who
support assassinations, even when the  targets are  political leaders and
the victims include innocent children, by a  similar  margin.

  It is difficult to be an Israeli or Palestinian peace  activist, who
rejects  these manifestations of hate and rage, even while  sharing in many
of the  emotions of our respective peoples. My response to the  bombing,
sadly and as  usual, was to be very very cynical. I can't really  repeat
the off-color  comments that floated in my head. Of course, visiting  the
site of the  bombing and witnessing the impromptu demonstration of Kahana
supporters did  little to get me feeling pensive. Too much blood, too much
dancing on the  blood, too many things to do. Anyway, I was in a hurry: to
join the  activities of the International Solidarity Movement and others,
in  support  of nonviolent resistance to the occupation.

  My impressions of  the 'internationals' camp are many, and will be
addressed  elsewhere. Suffice  to say that the people involved are
generally thoughtful,  concerned peace  activists, who are giving of their
time and money to support  a just cause. No  one can say that this sort of
behavior is not called for at  this time, even  if the community of seekers
of justice and peace have a  variety of opinions  on some of the details.

I wish it could be written that  the camp included a  large delegation of
Jews from abroad, interested in  making a statement about  the possibility
of Palestinian - Jewish cooperation  for peace. At least seven  Jews are
involved, on a full or part time basis;  but the Jews most interested  in
participating in this sort of activity are  in many cases the least willing
to come together as Jews, and explore  together the emotional, spiritual,
and  religious content of our actions in  this context. This saddens me,
and I hope  it will change.

  On Thursday evening, the day of the bombing, the Israeli  police stormed
the  Orient House, known as the political representation for  Palestinians
in the  city of Jerusalem. Minister of Internal Security, Uzi  Landau, had
wanted to  shut it down since entering office, five months ago.  The
bombing was used,  cynically, as an excuse; no one had accused the Orient
House of being  anything other than a political headquarters for mainstream
Palestinians.

 (Uri Avnery from Gush Shalom has written an excellent article  on the
takeover: http://www.avnery-news.co.il/english/index.html )

 On Friday morning, the group of 30 or so  Americans, Italians, French, and
British peace activists made their way to  the closed off street that
houses  the Orient House, right next to the  American Colony Hotel. We
joined a small  number of Palestinians, and a large  number of journalists.
The protestors,  led by the leading activists of the  International
Solidarity Movement, moved  against the police barricade that  sealed off
the street. Occasionally they  were able to push aside or pull a  metal
barricade, forcing the police to  link arms and push the demonstrators
back. Occasionally, police on horseback  rode around menacingly, forcing
the  demonstrators to lie down, a tactic  aimed and preventing the horses
from  kicking people.

  One of our members, a lovely English woman with all the  glorious history
of  the British anti-nuclear movement radiating from her,  insisted on
entering  the street. Her insistence paid off, and she was finally
admitted and  arrested. A bit later, as I was standing near the barricade,
I  saw that the  police had opened it up and were massed along the breach.
The  protesters  were not next to it, although I was. I turned around, and
saw two  policemen  with an elderly Palestinian man between them being half
carried,  half  dragged, coming towards me quickly. Stunned a bit by the
escalation in  mood  and police tactics, I was motionless until the three
had passed me and  were  crossing the barricades, some of which were on the
ground.

  The  Palestinian man had tripped, or was shoved down, and was lying face
down  getting beaten, as the police tried to get a better grip on him to
drag  him  away. I instinctively, and perhaps foolishly, jumped on the
lower part  of  his body to protect what I could from the blows. (This man
looked about  60  years old.) Seconds later I was dragged by my belt into
the sealed  off  street, as an officer asked what should be done with me. A
second  later,  someone else said authoritatively that I was to be
arrested.

  I  was not given the chance to stand up, but carried by my belt and arms
for  the  fifty meters or so to the police van, while I remained silent and
in a  fetal  position. For the entire time, I was beaten by 5-7 police
officers  with  batons, punches, and kicks. I was also dropped and kicked
along the  way. One  officer was unable to reach me because the others were
in his way,  and he  shoved his baton up my bottom as forcefully as
possible, sometimes  hitting my  genitals. Upon reaching the police van,
the police did their best  to shove me  in awkwardly, taking advantage of
the metal doorway as leverage  for more  beating and punching. The most
active participant was the  plainclothes  officer in a white t-shirt and
earring who was also the one I  saw hitting the  Palestinian man I tried to
protect.

 After I was pushed all the way  inside, I remained curled up in a fetal
position, as I had been since being  first picked up. I saw that same
officer  enter the van, shouting and pushing  another Palestinian man, as
well as a  French man. At one point, the officer  simply slapped the
Palestinian man  hard, unprovoked, and when the man tried  to defend
himself by shouting and  pushing the officers hands away from his  face, he
was brutally beaten by at  least three officers. The action was so
intense, that I was carried out to  give the police more space to beat up
the  occupants of the van. I think that  I was carried out also because my
behavior  made it clear that I was willing  to be completely submissive,
unlike the  Palestinian man, who made the  mistake of protecting himself.

While standing  outside the van, I turned and  spoke in Hebrew to the
officers, informing them  that I am an Israeli who is  planning on
submitting all that I have seen as  evidence in a complaint of  police
brutality. The violence ended shortly  thereafter, and did not  continue. I
suspect that my statement is the basis  for getting accused of  assaulting
the police.

  All of this was done by  policemen or border police, who serve
professionally, not by conscripts or  young officers. Most were men between
the ages of 30-40. Many had insignia  that showed them to be mid level
non-commissioned officers or officers. None  of them was wearing a badge or
name tag that allowed people to get their name  or number. At least seven
different ones hit me after I was arrested, and  this was witnessed by at
least twenty five police, including senior officers  who seemed to be in
charge of the situation.

  We were duly handcuffed  with plastic ties by an officer. A few minutes
later, the plainclothes  officer came in, and yanked all of our plastic
ties  with great force. A few  minutes later, another officer came in and
cut all  the ties off. A few  minutes later, that plainclothes officer came
in and  re-applied the dreaded  plastic ties. This time I knew to hold my
hands in  such a way that the sudden  tug wouldn't leave my wrists bound
too tightly.  Nonetheless, I have scabs  where they cut into my flesh.

  At one point, that same plainclothes  officer walked around the van,
shutting  the windows one by one from the  outside, and shutting the back
door of the  van, the one on the other side of  the security door that kept
us locked up  inside. He said in Hebrew to another  officer that the
arrestees should sweat  as much as possible. As a result of  the heat, I
suffered a migraine  headache, which forced me to seek medical  attention
afterwards. The doctor  who examined me was convinced that my  condition
might be related to blows to  my head. Perhaps she was right; I'm  not sure
that makes any difference.

At  the moment, my back is covered with  large bruises, up to a foot long.
Most  of them are from police batons,  although some could be kicks. They
look  quite shocking. I'm getting a  perverse pleasure of out of showing
off my  back to unsuspecting friends; none  of them has ever seen such a
battered  piece of flesh as my back. In a few  days the colors will fade,
along with  all the other pains, scratches, and  bruises on my body. I will
not forget.

 The next day, the police were even  more brutal, choosing to beat people
both  before and after arrest. The head  of the Jerusalem police was filmed
punching a Palestinian woman in the  stomach, while she was pinned down by
other burly policemen.

On that day I  got a call from a peace activist who  had read the initial
report of my  arrest, and wanted to know what could be  done on my behalf.
I explained that  this is the country we live in, and just  because I was
beaten severely today,  does not give me much pause for  thought. Other
friends of mine were beaten at  other times, and more will be  beaten in
the future. This is one of the many  faces of Israel:  a smirking  cop
shoving his baton into the ass of one of the  citizens he has sworn to
protect, another one shutting off the fresh air to a  van full of
detainees.

  But please, do not discount my Israeli face, which  I hope is also an
important part of the picture. Some Jewish Israelis are  deeply concerned
about what we are doing to Palestinians, and are deeply  concerned about
the  violence done to our own national soul as a people.

Some  Palestinians,  facing incomparably more difficult circumstances, are
trying to  present a  vision of the future that includes respect for both
peoples.  Whoever behaves  with great violence and inhumanity, Israeli or
Palestinian,  is obviously  suffering from severe psychological scars and
intense fear.  Without trying  to promote an obviously false symmetry, let
me say that all of  us here,  Israeli and Palestinian, need the active
participation of the  international  community to resolve our conflict. We
need it to come from a  place of love  and understanding, and we need it
now more than ever  before.

[END]

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Update today, August 17, 2001:  ADC Action Alert:  Third Day of Washington
Post Campaign to Incite Israeli Attack on Palestinians

 In a third day of relentless warmongering designed to incite, and lay the
rhetorical groundwork in case of, an all-out Israeli assault on the
Palestinians of the Occupied Territories, right-wing columnist George Will
today adds his voice to the others demanding that Israel launch an massive
war.  Following appalling anti-Palestinian incitement from:

 Michael Kelly
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/opinion/columns/kellymichael/A12316-2001Au
g14.html>

 and

 Charles Krauthammer
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/opinion/columns/krauthammercharles/A17584-
2001Aug15.html>,

 Will demands "a short war" designed "to kill or capture those terrorists
(and those who direct them) whom Arafat has permitted to remain at large,"
"to destroy the Palestinian Authority's military infrastructure" and "to
destroy other physical infrastructure useful to the Palestinian Authority,
including all newspaper and broadcasting facilities."

 Finally, Will urges Israel to complete this aggression by "defining, with
finality, Israel's borders, around which a wall should be built. All of
Jerusalem should be within the wall."

 Unlike Kelly and Krauthammer, Will does not explicitly call for the
expulsion of any Palestinians from the occupied territories, but he does
advocate massive violence by Israel against a population living under its
occupation, including attacks on civilian infrastructures such as
newspapers and broadcasting facilities.

 ACTIONS REQUESTED:

 1) If you want to write a letter intended for publication, please send a
brief letter to the editor of the Post Email: <letters@washpost.com>

 Mail: Letters to the Editor

 The Washington Post

 1150 15th Street Northwest

 Washington, DC 20071

  The Post website says "Letters must be exclusive to The Washington Post,
and must include the writer's home address and home and business telephone
numbers."  Try to keep these letters under 200 words.

 2) Also consider writing directly to the man responsible for the Post
commentary section and hence this campaign of incitement, Editorial Editor
Fred Hiatt, at the same addresses listed above.

 Please let the Post know that its campaign of relentless anti-Palestinian
incitement and attempts to goad Israel into war are completely unacceptable
and irresponsible.

 =====

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