Despite Ceasefire, Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rages On

Many of my friends at home are asking me how folks here in the West Bank are taking the news of the Gaza peace plan. Based on what we are observing here, our assessment is that those talks have absolutely no meaningful impact on the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the West Bank except, perhaps, supporting an acceleration of the violence. Illegal Israeli settlers and the military seem to be desperate to grab the land now, while they still have a chance. Every morning, we wake to learn of a new kidnapping or killing of Palestinian youth or home demolition that happened in the night, as well as regular invasions by the Israeli military not only of refugee camps and small villages, but also of cities under full Palestinian control. While the world's eyes are on Gaza, Israel is working rapidly to complete its annexation of the West Bank. It seems they will not stop until all of Palestine is theirs.

Yesterday, our team joined a large Palestinian family in a village north of Ramallah to help them harvest their olives. It had been several years since they had been able to harvest from some of these trees - the location is so close to the road that they are very vulnerable to attacks by illegal Israeli settlers. Such attacks have become increasingly vicious in the last several years. Gangs of young men in their teens and twenties armed with automatic rifles and metal pipes feel emboldened to beat up Palestinians and international observers alike, at times using live fire, knowing that they will not be prosecuted. Despite these risks, this Palestinian family felt that our team of five internationals could be enough of a protective presence to allow them to go out to their fields. Thankfully, there were no incidents, and we harvested from dozens of trees.

Tomorrow and the next day, we join more harvest events. Given the area and the day, we expect to be met with violence from the military and perhaps illegal settlers as well. Pray for us.

Due to the rain today, there were no active harvests for which protective presence was requested. Instead, we have been staying put in the city, doing laundry, writing, and catching up with an old Palestinian friend! We have been receiving regular updates and photos from Al Khalil, our first placement here and a place to which we hope to return.

In Al Khalil, both yesterday and today, the Israeli military forced Palestinians and internationals off the streets of the Old City, using concussion grenades and the threat of live fire to do so. They did this in part because it is currently a Jewish holiday - Sukkot, a week-long harvest festival. On Jewish holidays in Al Khalil, illegal Israeli settlers and other Jewish visitors take over the streets, and it is not safe for Palestinians to be in their own city. This year, the Palestinian Ministry of Education shut down school for the entire week - already open only three days due to financial constraints - in order to keep the children safe from soldiers and settler violence. Like snow days. But much, much worse.

Illegal Israeli settlers decided to celebrate the holy festival this year by taking over a Palestinian building in the old city and establishing it as a new illegal Israeli settlement. Above the shop of our Palestinian friend fly several Israeli flags. We are not allowed to take pictures of this new outpost because it is in front of a military base. If we are caught photographing military bases or one of the many, many checkpoints that encircle the city like prison walls, we will be immediately deported. It would seem that the Israeli military does not want the reality of what they are doing to be known to the world.

If the United States government refused to fund Israel's military occupation of Palestine, this ethnic cleansing would end tomorrow. This conflict is not a religious one or even a complicated one. It is settler colonialism - a nation-state choosing to destroy and replace the Indigenous culture of the land that already exists in order to extract resources for a capitalist, and in this case Zionist, society. For those of us with U.S. citizenship, we have the choice to refuse to fund this project. We can refuse to pay federal taxes that fund the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.