Above photo: The ruins of the Asfi School in Masafer Yatta, which was demolished by Israeli Forces on December 19, 2022. Mamoun Wazwaz/APA Images.
Defeating the zionist master plan of dividing the West Bank in two and taking over the entire territory will require that solidarity activists put their bodies on the line to defend threatened Palestinian communities.
Returning to Palestine after 17 years was a surreal experience, and met with a constant sense of nagging and overwhelming suffocation. Walking and driving along the ancient blood-stained streets, I am acutely aware that there is no post-traumatic stress disorder while there’s constant trauma and stress being dished out every day on this magnificent and tortured stolen land.
Being in constant awe at Palestinians’ everyday stories of normalized violence, juxtaposed with their unending generosity, kindness, and sense of sumud or steadfastness, is almost too much to bear witness to, much less comprehend. Everyone we met had countless stories of trauma they and their loved ones were enduring — and holding just beneath the surface — open, willing, and ready to share when asked. Ready to feed you their family’s share of food while opening their intimate and traditional homes to us, complete strangers, or ajaneb; to stand with and accompany them to their land, which they haven’t been able to reach since October and in many cases for much longer.
The way international presence works is that we, the people of the world, who are fed up with the double standards and hypocrisy, waiting for our so-called leaders to live up to their responsibility by providing a political solution, have taken it upon ourselves to provide some basic accompaniment.
We do so by staying with and standing by families who are on the literal front lines of the zionist cancerous virus spreading like a plague without a cure — fueled by global complicity and impunity — surrounding, suffocating, and squeezing — with the ultimate aim of displacing communities from one another and their land.
Everywhere we go is the same story — Palestinian communities are forced to live under targeted, enduring, and escalating settler violence and military attacks by an ever-growing number of settlements that continue to expand daily. From the north in the areas of Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nablus; to the furthest south of the Nablus district in Turmusayya, Qusra, Duma, and Beita; to the south ern West Bank such as Hebron and Masafer Yatta, the access of communities to the land continues to shrink as violent colonial fascist zionist settlers expand their presence by focusing their attacks one home, one chicken farm, one municipality, and one factory at a time.
The state of Israel has employed its settler-soldiers, who are hard at work finalizing the zionist master plan. It has been in the works since 1999 and served as a blueprint for land use for municipal planning purposes up to 2020 — planning to cut the West Bank in half and separate the North from the South. They may be a few years behind their intended target date, but to make it abundantly clear, it is not far off from completion.
Israeli settlers blatantly attack U.S. citizens in West Bank city of Qusra
On the heels of the ICJ decision on July 21, pronouncing Israeli occupation illegal as a whole and pointing out a systematic lack of accountability for settler violence, settlers violently attacked international volunteers alongside Palestinian farmers whom they were accompanying as they tended to their lands.
Israeli settlers carried out the attack using metal pipes and batons and threw stones at the people from close range. Three of the international volunteers sustained wounds requiring hospitalization with suspected fractures. A German national was bludgeoned in the face and arm with a metal pipe, and two American volunteers were clobbered using wooden batons. A fourth American volunteer suffered more minor injuries after being hit by stones thrown at her by the settlers, who also stole her phone. Soldiers who arrived at the scene failed to carry out any arrests. Additionally, the Israeli Police emergency hotline refused to dispatch forces, telling the volunteer who called them for help that “the army notified them there is no need to send forces.” For additional info and documentation of the attack, see the following social media post.
We need your help! Calling on international civil society
International activists, including American citizens, must take it upon themselves to accompany Palestinians and document these attacks and the impacts of the rampant violations on the ground. It’s all so horrifying and overwhelming, it makes you feel helpless. That is by design! But we’re not helpless. In the words of the late great Rachel Corrie, I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop.
As these crimes are largely made possible with U.S. weapons, funding, and diplomatic/Congressional support, we urge you to take the following steps to uphold both U.S. and international law and stand on the right side of history.
**Long-Term Volunteers are Needed!** Join the Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the entrenched, systematic oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian population — using non-violent, direct action methods and principles. For more information and to apply, visit palsolidarity.org or see Instagram @ismpalestine.
Can’t come? You can still participate! Consider donating to support our work in Palestine.
ACT NOW TO END ISRAELI IMPUNITY: CALL/WRITE YOUR REP AND DEMAND SANCTIONS! Please use this template to send a letter and call your Congressional representative and to the State Dept to demand accountability, justice, and sanctions!
For regular updates on Instagram, see:
@ismpalestine
@Faz3a_pal @BayAreaAlAwda
Ask how you can get involved! right2return@gmail.com