West Bank Journal: Last Update -- The Israeli Activist Festival

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Exile, a small taste of the experience of generations of Palestinians and diaspora Jews, an experience which would, in a better world, draw us together, not lead us to build walls of separation. As in a better world, our history of oppression would lead us to oppose injustice and alleviate suffering, not perpetuate them.

But even a short sojourn in the West Bank teaches that the world is rarely better, that justice does not always win out in the end, that good may not prevail, that those of us who stake our lives on the possibility that compassion, creativity and love might be stronger in the end than domination and force can lose, bigtime. And still, in the face of that knowledge, with five people already killed in peaceful protests in their town, the women of Biddu are preparing to march on Sunday, into the lines of soldiers, the hail of sound bombs, tear gas, rubber coated steel bullets and real bullets, to sit in front of the bulldozers and try to protect their land. Aisha, who fed us the wonderful feast, her daughters-in-law, who proudly showed their wedding pictures and kept urging me to dance, the tiny woman who lent me her bee suit so I could watch them work their hives, the young volunteers with the ISM and the grandmothers will be there.

And the only way that I can accompany them, now, is with the unglamorous but real support from afar, the phone calls, the letters, the emails and petitions, the pressure on those governments who fund and supply the bullets. If you've read these stories, if you now know more than you did before or care more, it's time to hammer at the doors of Bush, Sharon, and all their supporters, to say:

No to political assassination as a policy.
Stop killing nonviolent protestors.
No to the wall and the annexation of the West Bank.
No to legitimization of the illegal settlements.
Yes to a real peace process, that leads to reconciliation and justice for both peoples.

• Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister pm_eng@pmo.gov.il
• Shaul Mofaz, Minister of Defense sar@mod.gov.il
• George Bush president@whitehouse.gov
• Israeli Embassy in Washington DC 202-364-5500

For more information about the International Solidarity movement, see www.palsolidarity.org.

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