News from the Region
Peace Comes Through Work
By Mansour Mansour*
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| Mansour Mansour leads a protest against the Separation Wall in the West Bank village of Beit 'Anan. |
After the February 2005 Sharm El Sheikh Summit between Palestinian President Abu Mazen, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other leaders, many people understood that peace had come to the region, that there were no obstacles and no occupation. But in fact, everything remains the same.
The number of checkpoints, roadblocks and soldiers in the West Bank has increased. Israeli invasions continue. While the Israeli army withdrew from West Bank town of Tulkarem, they placed checkpoints at all of Tulkarem's entrances so that it is like a big prison.
Israel continues assassinations, and has only released a small number of Palestinian prisoners. Though now there are no Palestinian attacks, bombings, or shootings, Israeli soldiers still harass Palestinians.
Sharon has delayed the withdrawal of settlers from Gaza, but even if they do withdraw the settlers from the Gaza Strip, they will be resettled in illegal West Bank settlements, especially around Jerusalem. The Israeli government plans to enlarge one of the biggest West Bank settlements near Jerusalem, Maaleh Adumim. A line of settlements from Jerusalem to Jericho will cut the West Bank in half. Settlement construction is increasing everywhere. In Tulkarem region new Israeli settlements are being built on the other side of the Wall, on Palestinian land.
I don't think that peace just comes through words. Peace comes through work. We the Palestinian people, despite all the violence used against us, see non-violent resistance as a powerful strategy.
We will continue our non-violent resistance throughout the West Bank and never give up hope. If I find that just a single Israeli believes in peace, I am ready to work with that person, even if the two of us must stand alone.
The Wall is one of the most urgent issues for Palestinians. The Israeli government is turning the West Bank's towns into ghettoes, and cutting the West Bank into eight prisons. Where the Wall has been built, Israeli authorities often don't give farmers permits to reach their land.
The Wall's construction targets farmland because Israel wants to destroy Palestinian agriculture and take our land. We live from our olive trees, fruits and vegetables. When they confiscate that, we will have nothing left.
Wall construction on my village's land in northwestern Jerusalem began in February, 2004. Our village of Biddu has about 7,000 residents living on 1,600 acres of land. When we learned that this apartheid Wall would confiscate 875 acres of our land, we began peacefully protesting. The first day of construction we sat on our land in front of the bulldozers, but 30 Israeli soldiers started beating everyone. They broke bones, arrested six people and used teargas and bullets. The next day the soldiers killed three Palestinian protesters and wounded a fourth who died later. A few weeks later Israeli soldiers shot and killed a fifth protester from Biddu.
Despite all of this, we still succeeded in mobilizing the whole village for peaceful protests. We explained to the soldiers that we did not come to confront them, just to protect our land and sit in front of the bulldozers. And we were not alone. International and Israeli peace activists were with us, side by side.
I don't think that peace just comes through words. Peace comes through work. We the Palestinian people, despite all the violence used against us, see non-violent resistance as a powerful strategy.
We will continue our non-violent resistance throughout the West Bank and never give up hope. If I find that just a single Israeli believes in peace, I am ready to work with that person, even if the two of us must stand alone.
Peace and security must be for both people. Security won't be built by walls, but instead by returning to the negotiating table and withdrawing from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Before the elections many Israeli soldiers said to us, go and elect Abu Mazen. We elected Abu Mazen because we want peace, and we thought Abu Mazen would bring peace for us. But since Abu Mazen's election, Israel has not taken a single positive step. Yet the international community remains silent.
We want President Bush to recognize that Abu Mazen has taken important steps towards peace and reforming the Palestinian Authority. The next steps for peace must come from Sharon's government.
We want Abu Mazen to talk with President Bush about the Wall, because the Wall completely destroys the possibility of a Palestinian state. Peace with the Wall is impossible. The Wall is turning the West Bank into eight big prisons, confiscating what remains of our land, and destroying our economy.
President Bush must tell the Israeli government to stop building the Wall on our land and through our fields. If Israel wants a Wall, they must build it on their land. If you want security, you build a wall around your house, not around other people's homes.
* Mansour Mansour is a farmer from the West Bank village of Biddu and a grassroots, non-violent organizer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
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