CANNOT NOT
BE BROKEN
THE STRUGGLE FOR LAND RIGHTS
NEAR THE GAZA BORDER
ED Noor: It
goes without saying that one reason for the treatment of Palestinian
farmers and their land is definitely food control since and hunger is one of the oldest Jewish tools of genocide.
By Joshua Brollier
By Joshua Brollier
December 17, 2012
Gaza City
Yesterday in al-Faraheen, Gaza, Israeli
Occupation Forces shot and wounded an unarmed 22 year old farmer, Mohammed
Qdeih, from behind. Mohamed and nine others went out to their fields in the
early afternoon, walking approximately 250 meters from the Israeli
border.
Within minutes,
two heavily armed Israeli military jeeps rushed to the security fence.
They issued a warning for the farmers and residents to leave the area and
shortly thereafter the Palestinians, intimidated by the heavy military
presence, began to head back to the village of Abasan.
The soldiers
were not satisfied and opened fire, piercing Mohamed’s right arm from the
backside. Israeli forces continued to shoot rounds of live ammunition while
Mohamed and the others frantically evacuated and waited for an ambulance.
Another young Palestinian, 19, was shot yesterday near the border in Jabaliya.
.
.
Under the siege, Israeli “closed military zones” have confiscated up to 35 per cent of Gaza’s arable land, which was previously used for fruit and olive orchards, wheat and various vegetables.
With nearly half
of Gaza’s population designated as “food insecure” by UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the farming industry having
been crippled from the inability to export products under the Israeli blockade,
this land is essential for the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and
residents of Gaza.
Even so and
given that four Palestinians have been killed and over 50 injured
since the November 21st, 2012 ceasefire agreement, one might ask why anyone
would risk their life and venture near the border at all.
Palestinians
have had varying experiences near the fence. There have been some successes
with farming and some incidents resulting in death and serious injuries.
The agreement
between Israel and Hamas clearly stated that Israeli forces would “refrain from
targeting residents in the border areas” and to “stop all hostilities in the
Gaza Strip land, sea and air including incursions and targeting of
individuals.” Hamas and other factions have held up their end of the bargain
with not a single rocket being fired from Gaza.
As a participant
in an international solidarity team,
I sat down this with Mohammed Qdeih and family members this afternoon to get
their perspective on the breach of the ceasefire and why they would risk their
lives in pursuit of reclaiming their land.
“The ceasefire
is without any sense,” said Mohammed. “They attempted to kill me.”
Mohammed is
single but works the land to help provide for his 15 extended family members
who reside together in Abasan al-Kabir. The family has approximately ten dunams
of land which fall in the vaguely defined “buffer zone.” He is one of only five
who are able to work in the fields and now the family will be without his help
for a month at best.
.
.
After waiting patiently for Mohammed to tell his story, attention shifted to the eldest member of the family, Ahmed Hassan Jabbar Qdeih. Around ninety five years old, Ahmed became infuriated and began to speak up passionately.
After waiting patiently for Mohammed to tell his story, attention shifted to the eldest member of the family, Ahmed Hassan Jabbar Qdeih. Around ninety five years old, Ahmed became infuriated and began to speak up passionately.
“What I have seen in my lifetime is too much to bear!”
Though they are
originally from Abasan, the Qdeih family used to have 500 dunams of land which
spread far beyond Gaza’s borders, most of which fell in what is now considered
Israel.
In 1948 when
Ahmed was in his thirties, he was working near the local water well when
Zionist militias terrorized his farm. Ahmed was detained, along with his
family, and taken to their house where they were forced to watch as his father
was murdered in front on them. The militias destroyed their home, bombed the
well and set ablaze 60 dunams of land. Additionally, they stole 60 sheep and
two cows to take with them.
Mr. Qdeih also
spoke of February 7th, 1957. Just before Israel withdrew from the
Gaza Strip in March of that year (under very strong pressure from the United
States), Ahmed again barely escaped with his life.
Presumably
during one of Israel’s last “screening operations” to eliminate members of the
Palestine Brigades in which over 500 Palestinians were killed, Israeli forces
lined up Ahmed and ten other men who were then mowed down with gunfire and
executed. The rifle which targeted Ahmed malfunctioned. When he was later
discovered to still be alive, he was arrested and imprisoned in Israel for eight
years.
While in jail,
the prison guards stomped on his hands and beat him mercilessly, leaving him
permanently disabled and unable to walk properly. In the process of explaining
this, Ahmed almost removed his shirt successfully in front of all present before
being discouraged by a relative standing nearby. “Look, look! You can
still see the scars on my back,” he nearly screamed in a fashion as if he was
still reliving those torturous years.
.
.
Having a proud persistence in farming and a history of tragedy dating back to the Nakba, the connection to the land runs deep for the Qdeihs and obviously so do the scars. As many Palestinians feel that they have taken the victory from the recent conflict, the present situation holds many possibilities farmers like the Qdeih family.
Having a proud persistence in farming and a history of tragedy dating back to the Nakba, the connection to the land runs deep for the Qdeihs and obviously so do the scars. As many Palestinians feel that they have taken the victory from the recent conflict, the present situation holds many possibilities farmers like the Qdeih family.
Recent events
have been no less distressing. Two days after the Israeli Pillar of Cloud
offensive, Anwar Qdeih, the twenty year old cousin of Mohamed Qdeih, was shot and killed
while participating in an impromptu demonstration near the border.
In a celebratory
mood due to the gains supposedly guaranteed by the ceasefire and in defiance of
the brutality of the recent Israeli assault, a small group consisting primarily
of young men headed to the “buffer zone.”
When approached
by heavily-armed Israeli soldiers, some threw stones and managed to cross the
first security fence, which does not constitute
the official border. Upon confrontation with the soldiers, the group
turned back and the Israeli forces opened fire striking Anwar in the head and
killing him instantly. Eighteen others were wounded, including three children.
(There is also a second fence the protesters did not reach which is
electrically charged, more heavily guarded and virtually impenetrable to such a
group.
There are no
Israeli houses or civilians in the vicinity. It is also essential to remember
that Palestinians have a legal right to resist the occupation
through such demonstrations and even armed resistance.)
The Israeli military establishment seems to
be confounded that, for all its advanced weaponry and fire power, hundreds of
young men like Anwar and Mohammed and elders like Ahmed continue to come out
daily to their fields.
The right-wing, ruling elite and even many self-proclaimed “liberals” in Israel appear to be in denial that the Palestinians’ claim to their land and will for self-determination is unquenchable.
While they talk of more deadly operations
like Cast Lead and Pillar of Cloud, they continue with the harassment of
farmers and fishermen.
While they provide for and forcefully
protect more illegal settlements and carry out the demolitions of Palestinian
homes in the West Bank, they justify the killing of a
young man at a check point in Hebron and the following vicious assaults
on the media.
While strengthening apartheid policies
against Arab and non-Jewish Israelis and fortifying new stretches of the
separation wall, they feel the need to collectively punish the civilian
population of Gaza with siege.
While they aggressively stomp any remnants
of a two-state solution under their feet and isolate themselves with mantras of
victimhood, the United Nations has affirmed the right to Palestinian statehood.
What are the
goals and likely consequences of these violent and obstructionist policies?
How could they
possibly make Israel more secure or lead to a just solution?
All the while,
resistance is again becoming more and more popularized among Palestinian
civilians and the factions are moving towards uniting. Regardless of the new
shapes the resistance takes or any path the Israelis choose, as evidenced
clearly since 1948 until this very day, the Palestinians’ deep connection to
and affection for their homeland cannot be broken.
Joshua Brollier is a
co-coordinator with Voices for Creative
Nonviolence. He can be reached
at Joshua@vcnv.org.
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