Posted on: January 2013

By Ola Anan

As part of the popular resistance movement in Palestine, a group of about 250 Palestinian activists established the new village of Bab Al Shams or “The Gate of the Sun”, on a piece of confiscated land in Eastern Jerusalem, referred by Israeli authorities as “Area E1“.

A Press releasewas published on the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee website earlier today, describing the reasons behind the establishment of Bab Al Shams. In their Press release, they said:

For decades, Israel has established facts on the ground as the International community remained silent in response to these violations. The time has come now to change the rules of the game, for us to establish facts on the ground – our own land.

In addition to the Press release, the Palestinian activists used Twitter to declare their movement, and provide updates and photographs from the ground.

Activist Abir Kopty was among the first few to declare the establishment of Bab Al Shams as she tweets:

@AbirKopty: We a group of #Palestinian women and men have established the new village of #BabAlShams on Palestinian land on what Israel refers to as #E1

She also clarifies:

@AbirKopty: #BabAlShams is a new village, not one revived but it symbolizes a lot of things including return to our land.

This movement could be considered as the first initiative to take an effective reaction to the confiscation of Palestinian land by the Israeli army, and its declaration that this area will soon be built into an Israeli settlement, which is illegal under international law.

Palestinian Pal_1948 explains [ar]:

@Pal_1948: The Israeli government recently announced the construction of 4,000 residential units and hotel rooms, and an industrial zone in the region [E1], so a group of 300 young Palestinians established the Village of Bab Al Shams.

He adds:

@Pal_1948: So far, 25 tents have been erected, with an equipped medical clinic, where there is a doctor on call and in the coming hours about 50 tents will be set up.

A few hours later, the Israeli army surrounded the area, closed the checkpoints leading to Bab Al Shams, and handed the activists an administrative eviction notice to evacuate the village. Interestingly, the Israeli supreme court issued a suspending order, which states that the village cannot be evicted for 6 days.

Fadi Arouri explains with a photo of the eviction notice:

@farouri: The [Israeli] army delivers immediate evacuation notice of Village Bab Alshams, despite the Supreme Court’s decision to prevent eviction by 6 days.

Abir kopty wasn’t surprised by the Israeli notice, and tweeted:

@AbirKopty: We were ready to the eviction order so along with building #BabAlShams we went to the court & got suspending order! We are using their tolos.

Despite the Israeli notice of evacuation and the cold weather, the Palestinian activists decided that they will stay the night at their tents in the new village. Keep following updates on Twitter on the hashtag #BabAlshams for further developments.

Source:

https://globalvoicesonline.org

osted on: January 25, 2013

By Irene Nasser

‘What made Bab Al-Shams significant was the fact that it asserted that Palestinian activists would not simply react to injustices the occupation laid at our doorstep, but that we were determined to create our own realities on the ground.’

Last week, I witnessed a remarkable victory for Palestinian unarmed civil resistance. Over a frigid January weekend, I joined hundreds of Palestinians in establishing Bab Al-Shams (literally ‘Gate of the Sun’), a new Palestinian village, erected on private Palestinian land near Jerusalem in the territory known as E1, which Israel has controversially slated for future settlement growth.

The planning, coordination and discipline that went into this action were extraordinary. The exact plans were kept as a closely guarded secret until the last moment, when they were revealed to activists who gathered for a supposed planning camp in Jericho. Those who opted to participate boarded buses and began work on constructing the village. When we arrived at the site, tents were quickly erected, electricity connected, and a media center and clinic set up. On the owners’ behalf, lawyers obtained an injunction from Israel’s High Court barring our immediate evacuation. We held discussions and strategy sessions, as Bab Al-Shams provided the rare opportunity for Palestinian women and men from throughout Palestine to meet face to face. Before long, we were met by others who had run for miles through the hills, bypassing an Israeli cordon to join us.

Forty-eight hours later, in the middle of the night, after the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office argued before the court that we posed an extreme security threat, hundreds of Israeli Police special forces arrived to evict Bab Al-Shams – proving that acts of unarmed civil resistance are often the most disquieting to those bent on domination and intimidation.

Throughout our time in Bab Al-Shams, local and international media covered our story intensively, recognizing it for the act of creative, strategic nonviolence that it was, while numerous messages of support poured in through social media, phone calls and text messages. Seeing how Bab Al-Shams brought a new sense of optimism and hope to people around the world helped us endure the bitterly cold nights and violent evacuation by the Israeli forces.

But it was not just the level of organization and discipline that set Bab Al-Shams apart, nor the media interest that catapulted our story into headlines around the world. What made Bab Al-Shams significant was the fact that it asserted that we, as Palestinian activists, would not simply react to injustices the occupation laid at our doorstep, but that we were determined to create our own realities on the ground. With our own hands, we would lay the foundation for a society that is not rooted in strength of arms or coercion, but in partnership, equality and moral determination. Though Bab Al-Shams was evacuated and destroyed within days, it was a milestone in Palestinians’ efforts to take control of their own destiny.

Sadly, we did not have long to celebrate those achievements. Two days after Bab Al-Shams was evacuated, we received word from the West Bank village of Budrus, a bastion of the unarmed struggle against Israel’s Separation Barrier, that 16-year-old resident Samir Awad had been shot and killed by the Israeli army. He was hit from behind with three live bullets, though he was unarmed and by all accounts posed no threat to the soldiers. He was the fourth unarmed Palestinian to be shot and killed by the Israeli military in five days. In the blink of an eye, the triumphant protest songs filling the air in Bab Al-Shams were replaced by cries of anguish in Budrus, a community shattered by the loss of one of its sons.

Such extreme transitions are commonplace for those who live here. All too often, the promise of a fresh idea is swept away in a torrent of blood and tears. Yet even at the height of his community’s anguish, one of Budrus’s most resilient organizers, Ayed Morrar, told me that the village remains committed to using nonviolence to resist the occupation. Moved by messages of support and condolences that came in from around the world, Ayed asserted that the people of Budrus would not allow the violence visited upon their community to taint the way they raise their children.

Whether popular resistance ultimately succeeds in bringing about a better future in the region depends on our ability to follow the lead of remarkable communities like Budrus. It will be determined, in the end, by our capacity to emerge from the inevitable setbacks and tragedies we encounter with renewed commitment to steel ourselves and try something new.

But that future will come more quickly and with less blood spilled if those around the world, and particularly those in Palestinian and Israeli society who believe in the causes of human freedom and equal rights, pay attention to our actions. That partnership and moral sustenance from afar will help us remain steadfast in the wake of each horrendous death, each crippling injury, or each day spent in a dark and filthy cell. It will allow new forms of creative resistance to take root and flourish, rather than wither in the face of public indifference. And it will help make the sum of our actions something more than a succession of minor headlines about yet another series of “clashes” in an unspecified town in the West Bank.

The residents of Bab Al-Shams have been evacuated, its tents removed. Those of Bab Al-Karameh (‘Gate of Dignity’), a second protest village founded in its wake, are now gone too. What remains is our reinforced conviction, that despite everything, civil resistance can pierce through the hard layers of indifference and animosity that prevail here. That perhaps the occupation can end without a bloodbath after all. Like so many others who have trodden this path before us, we do not know if we will succeed, through efforts like Bab Al-Shams, in beginning the process that finally delivers freedom and dignity to all who live here. But we know we must try.

Irene Nasser is a Jerusalem-based activist and multimedia producer with Just Vision. 

Source:

http://972mag.com/