Mustafa's story

After the recent protest in Abu-Dis

The interviewees name has been changed in this post for reasons of confidentiality.

Mustafa is 39 years old and teaches in schools in Abu-Dis and Ramallah. He lives in Abu-Dis with his wife, also a teacher, and their three young children. He is a kind and friendly man and works especially with disadvantaged students.

It is a cliche, but it is true, that everyone in Palestine has a story about Israel and the occupation. I have got to know Mustafa well over the last couple of months and only recently did he tell me about his experiences.

Mustafa was 16 years old when the first intifada (uprising) broke out in 1987. Like thousands of others he and his brother joined in the mass civil disobedience against the occupation.

"I did what most of us did at that time, throwing stones at Israeli tanks and soldiers. I also wrote anti-Israel graffiti on walls and raised the Palestinian flag in a mosque. For this I spent 1 year in prison".

"For the first two weeks they kept me in a cupboard size cell. I could only stand or crouch down. After that i was moved to a bigger cell. When they interrogated me they tied me to a chair in painful positions for hours. They hit me after asking questions. Then they would throw freezing water over me".

I ask Mustafa how he felt during this interrogation. He said, "I felt good. First you feel very afraid. During the first punches you are in pain and very scared. Then, when you don't say anything, it's a good feeling. You feel strong".

He then tells me about a 'room' in the prison. With his heavily accented English i think he is saying 'bedroom', but after some clarification it turns out that he is saying 'birdroom'.

"In the prison there was a room called the 'birdroom'. It is where they took all the prisoners to try and make them become spies for Israel. If you refused, which i always did, they hit you and threw you across the room. I was taken many times to the 'birdroom'".

Mustafa's story is common in Palestine. It seems almost everyone has either spent time or has a friend or family member who is, or has been, in Israeli prisons. In fact, Mustafa's sentence of 1 year was relatively short. But, as he says, "one day is enough in Israeli prisons, so one year was hell".

Despite his ordeal Mustafa is proud of the first intifada, and he says it was better in some ways than the second intifada (2000-2005).

"The first intifada came from the people, and everyone was united. In the second it was in the hands of the different organisations, and they controlled it more. Also, during and after the second intifada there was more of a division between rich and poor in Palestine. Now the government men, even in Gaza, have big houses and don't think about the people".

Mustafa is scathing about the current Palestinian leadership and the leaderships of all the different organisations. "Now, i hate Fateh, i hate Hamas, i hate Islamic Jihad, i hate the Egyptian government, and i hate the Jordanian government. They all just look for their own interests, and they don't care about the people".

"I love the kind man. I love the man who looks to those who are suffering and poor and doesn't forget about them".

The day after speaking to Mustafa i interviewed some boys that i happened to pass in the street.

I ask them what the problems are in Abu-Dis. The reply immediately, "the Israeli soldiers. They hit us. Its like a game for them". I ask them if many children are arrested for throwing stones. One replies, "Yes many, sometimes they are in prison for years. They miss the important years in school". He points to his friend, "He was shot four times in his leg by soldiers". His friend looks about 14 years old.

So, it seems, there has been little change since Mustafa was arrested over twenty years ago.

There was one big difference between the boys and Mustafa. Whereas Mustafa was not excited by the prospect of a third intifada, as soon as i asked the boys about it their faces lit up and an excited murmur circulated around the group.

After so little has changed in two decades, should anyone really be surprised if and when there is a third intifada?

'Golden Ramallah' and Palestinian identity

If you ever happen to be in Ramallah i recommend a visit to the La Grotta cafe and bar in the old city. It does a great range of cocktails and arak including the locally made 'Golden Ramallah' (which i enjoyed). Arak, a strong aniseed flavoured alcoholic drink, is produced all over the middle east and La Grotta is well stocked with different versions from Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

La Grotta is owned by two Christian Palestinian brothers. They, like most Christian Palestinians, are just as committed to the cause of Palestinian liberation as Muslim Palestinians. The painting at the top of this post is by one of the owners and hangs on a wall in the bar.

The Christian presence is a historic feature of Palestinian identity. The other day i was walking in the nearby town of Aizarieh, when i stumbled upon the most beautiful church, maintained and supervised with pride by local Muslims. Although a small percentage of Palestinians currently in Israel and the occupied territories identify as Christian, when the global Palestinian diaspora is included the figure rises to around 30%.

There are also those in Palestine who could be described as 'secular Muslims', people who value aspects of Islamic culture and practice as part of their identity, but do not make Islam the central focus of their lives. There is also a tradition of atheism which used to be associated with the left, but which seems now to have largely disappeared. The memory of it comes out whenever i confess my own atheism, a common response being, 'ah, so you are a red man.'

I think all this is important because much of the misinformation about the 'Israel-Palestine conflict' is based on varients of the 'clash of civilisations' thesis in which the Palestinians are portrayed as motivated by a fanatical, fundamentalist adherence to Islam. In its most ignorant and racist form this can be seen in the diatribes of commentators like Melanie Philips against 'the Arabs' in Palestine (anyone with decent knowledge of the term would know that being 'Arab' does not preclude being secular, Christian or even Jewish). There is a more liberal version in the arguments of Richard Dawkins, who seems to believe that the cause of the conflict is rooted in theological disagreements. Again this shows ignorance of the multi-faceted nature of Palestinian identity which has been formed by shared territory, culture and experiences of occupation, oppression and resistance.

'Half the sky is better than no sky'

After spending time here it is possible to get a sense not only of the brutality of the occupation, but also just how absurd it is.

This emerges sometimes when Palestinians talk about their experiences. My friend told me about when he was interrogated by Israeli soldiers and one of them tried to make banal small talk. As he related, with a bitter smile, what the soldier said, it was as if it was from a dark comedy sketch.

I could also see this dark humor in a short film by a local Palestinian film-maker. With tongue firmly in cheek, the film is a mock holiday ad for 'The great wall of Palestine'. Under 'the great wall' you can enjoy the shade, and you can see the talents of local graffiti artists..... And, the film reminds us, the wall may cut off half of the sky but, 'half the sky is better than no sky'.

The absurdity of occupation can be seen in the description of recent protests in Nablus as an 'illegal riot' by an Israeli military spokesperson. Firstly there is the dubious legitimacy of an illegal occupying force defining a protest in it's territory as 'illegal'. Secondly, it would be interesting to inquire if it is possible to have a 'legal riot', and, if so, what is the application process?

During the recent protests in east Jerusalem an Israeli police spokesperson said, 'Throughout the morning we have been dealing with local disturbances...[groups] of Palestinians who are causing riots'.

From what i have seen in Abu-Dis this is clearly absurd. What happens is that protesters block off a road with rubbish bins and set fire to a few tyres. This isn't against the law because there is no civilian law under occupation. It is not any real danger to people or property. It is not any real inconvenience, as most people support it and after a while a passage is cleared for vehicles.

Everybody knows the 'disturbance' will only start when the Israeli soldiers turn up. Sure enough they do, at which point people throw stones at them (no threat to army jeeps made with reinforced steel) and the soldiers disperse people with tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition.

The soldiers could just not come - and nothing much would happen.

But of course they never 'don't come'. They must force a 'clash' to happen. Firstly, they can't tolerate Palestinians having control of their own streets. Secondly they need to get some 'hits', in other words shoot some people to send a message to others - don't come on the streets, don't raise your heads, stay in your homes and ultimately just give up.

The occupation is brutal, degrading, humiliating - and absurd.

Reporting the resistance

A Palestinian man and child walk past Israel's separation wall in Abu-Dis, east Jerusalem.

For a report on the protests which i have been writing about visit Socialist Worker online here.

Also in this week's Socialist Worker Michael Lavalette asks 'Will there be a third intifada?'

Two boys shot dead in Nablus

Last week Mohammad Qadus, aged 15 years old, and Osaid Qadus, aged 17 years old, returned home on a bus to their village of Iraq Burin, near Nablus. When they arrived a protest was taking place against Israeli settlers who had invaded Palestinian farmland.

After they got off the bus both boys were shot in the head by Israeli soldiers using live ammunition, even though witnesses say that neither was involved in the protest. The doctor who treated them said the x-ray showed a "classic, pure metallic bullet".

You only have to imagine the outcry and condemnation if Hamas had shot two Israeli teenagers, to understand the value which is placed on Palestinian life.

Postcards to David Miliband

In some of my lessons i have been getting students to write postcards to the foreign secretary David Miliband about the situation in Palestine. I will post them from east Jerusalem. Here are two examples, both written by 15 year old students:

Dear David Miliband,

First i want to tell you that Palestine is a good country but Israel gives it a bad image in Europe. All the European countries think the Palestinian people kill the Israeli people but in fact they are wrong because Israel made us bad people, they killed our children, old people, and women. I want to ask you, "why did Britain give Palestine to the Israeli people?" They destroyed it and built many settlements in it.
We try to be safe here in Palestine and have a good life. I want you to help and support Palestinian people and try to give us our freedom from the Israeli occupation.

Dear David Milliband,

I read what you think about Palestine and Israel, and some of your thoughts are not true. Hamas is violent but it's not bad, actually Fatah is bad, it kills innocent people, and lots of Fatah guys are spies for Israel, they help it to arrest innocent people and put them in jail for a long time, and for no reason.
The situation in Palestine is now very bad, Israel wants to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque and Palestinians are protecting it, so lots of people are injured and lots of them were arrested for throwing stones.

Update on the situation after the protests

There were no protests today, and apparently there was a very heavy police and army presence in east Jerusalem. It is possible there will be protests tomorrow across the West Bank.

The headteacher of a local school in Abu-Dis has reported that five boys are being treated for rubber bullet wounds, all in the back. Yes, that is the Israeli Defence Force. One boy reportedly had his leg broken after being shot and then beaten by the soldiers.

It seems that at least one protester in Abu-Dis has been detained by the Israeli army. It is common for protesters to be jailed for months or even years for throwing stones at the army. However even this 'offence' is never proven, because it is decided at a military court without the normal legal processes of a civilian court.