Israelis Taking Risks

A couple of weeks ago an Israeli activist chastised a Palestinian activist on a public listserv (run by
Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall) for not giving enough credit to the Israeli activists who had been arrested at a weekly demonstration. The Palestinian, a noted academic, activist and professor had, erroneously, written that the Israeli activists who were arrested blocking the Israeli military bulldozers had been released without processing whereas the Palestinians had been taken to court. The exchange, while only one instance, was indicative of a common thread amongst many Israeli activists. The Israeli wrote,

“I was with the arrestees - we were all (Palestinian and Israelis TOGETHER) We were all charged, all judged, all sat together from morning to evening in police stations. The only difference is that the 5 out of 15 arrestees (all Israeli) got more severe punishment because we had files for previous arrests.  we got 180 days not to get close to the wall in [the village].”

While other Israeli activists may not have had the gall to write such a ridiculous statement (one would presume they realize that the “more severe punishment” faced is the theft of land and livelihood and imprisonment behind a fence built by an occupying army), the underlying premise—that Israeli anti-occupation activists are somehow equal partners in a “joint struggle”-- is quite popular across the Israeli anti-occupation movement. While the idea of a “joint struggle” has very little support amongst Palestinians, it is an attractive proposition for radical Israelis who are enticed by the idea of being identified with the occupied, rather than the occupier. Even those radical Israeli activists who would reject any idea of an equal partnership, on the principle that such partnership is impossible while Israelis enjoy freedoms of the occupier class while Palestinians do not, cannot avoid seeking credit for the risks they do take to confront their government's policies, which almost always amount to nothing more than a night in jail.

The goals of these committed activists are genuine. They believe that they cannot only oppose the
policies of their government by writing letters or standing on the street corners in Tel Aviv, but
must also support the Palestinian struggle physically, by joining their demonstrations and exploiting the racist policies of the Israeli military who will treat a demonstration where Israelis are present differently than one where they are not. Israeli activists have been injured, arrested, and in some cases jailed for their support of the Palestinian liberation struggle and many of them have dedicated enormous amounts of time and energy to the cause. Many would argue, however, that it is the least they can do.

The undeniable facts remain: Israeli activists are not subject to occupation. They return to their homes after a demonstration, fairly safe in assuming that their houses will not be raided by armed men, their families will not be arrested and held as collateral until they turn themselves in, they will not face years in jail for participating in these demonstrations. No Israeli has been killed in a demonstration, though they have been participating by the hundreds since at least 2003. Serious injury to an Israeli is extremely rare, even more rare than for their international counterparts, and nowhere near as common as an average Palestinian activist. The fact that the majority of Israeli activists, even those working with the Anarchists Against the Wall, served in the Israeli military, makes them all the more culpable. The stakes, too, are incomparable. Though some liberal Israeli activists wax philosophical, proclaiming the fight against the occupation is a fight for “Israel's soul”, the “punishment” suffered by Israelis for the occupation is nothing compared to the suffering of the people whose lives and land are occupied.

Yet another very different sort of action was also organized a few weeks ago by Israelis and
Palestinians, and it may serve as a new model for Israeli anti-occupation activists. Last month, a group of middle-aged Jewish Israeli women decided to try to find a group of Palestinian women who would want to be smuggled across the Green Line. For the Israelis, their aim was to challenge a law that prevents Palestinians from traveling freely throughout historic Palestine while Israelis are allowed to do so. They wanted to open a debate inside Israeli society about the logic of the checkpoints, and Israelis' “blind obedience” to immoral laws. The Palestinian women contacted readily agreed, supporting the political aims and thrilled at the opportunity to see the sea. After the trip, the Israeli women proclaimed their action in a national newspaper, signing their names to a document they titled “we will not obey”.  What made this action unique was that for the first time, an action was organized where the Israeli participants risked more, had more to lose, than the Palestinians. While a Palestinian woman caught inside Israel could face jail time, it is relatively unlikely. Often, when Palestinian men are caught working inside Israel without a permit (as thousands do) they are fined and brought back into the West Bank. Even when they are given jail time, it is only a few months, and women are very rarely jailed for such activity. In comparison, imprisonment for people accused of smuggling people illegally into Israel is common, and can be for a year or more. These Israeli women took every precaution to protect the Palestinian women involved while simultaneously publicly announcing their “crime”.

Surprisingly, hundreds of Israelis, most of whom also come from mainstream Israeli society, have
signed up to participate in similar actions. Word of the trips spread quickly throughout the Palestinian communities where the women live and dozens have already volunteered for future journeys. What was particularly refreshing about this action was that all of the responsibility, and much of the risk, fell to the Israelis. Rather than relying on the Palestinians to organize the protest, to accept total responsibility for its success or failure, the Israeli women first asked the Palestinians what they wanted to do, and then organized it. The Palestinians just had to show up for a day at the beach. And while there were of course a few moments of anxiety as the women passed through the checkpoints, and the Palestinians knew full well that safety from arrest was not guaranteed, they also knew that the Israeli women were willing to do everything in their power to accept the risk and responsibility themselves.  In their statement, the Israeli women did not focus on their possible punishment, but on their duty as citizens of an occupying country to defy the “illegal and immoral” laws of their government. Quoting Henry David Thoreau, they wrote,

“when a sixth of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the
refuge of liberty are slaves, and a whole country is unjustly overrun and
conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not
too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize. What makes this duty the
more urgent is the fact that the country so overrun is not our own, but ours is
the invading army.”

In emphasizing the duty of Israeli citizens to rebel against their occupying nation, no matter the risks, these women demonstrated true solidarity. They did not seek praise or gratitude, describing themselves as ordinary citizens engaging in a simple act of defiance that can and should be replicated. WhenIsraelis begin to truly risk their personal comforts and freedom in the struggle for the freedom of Palestinians, then perhaps they will earn the privilege of considering it a joint struggle. Meanwhile, for a short time, the responsibility for resisting the occupation lay squarely on the shoulders of Israelis, who did so while at the same time providing a few Palestinians with something they greatly desired and deserved—a small taste of freedom.