{"id":13555,"date":"2010-05-06T16:54:23","date_gmt":"2010-05-06T22:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/?p=13555"},"modified":"2010-05-06T16:54:23","modified_gmt":"2010-05-06T22:54:23","slug":"mazin-qumsiyeh-mazin-george-dia%e2%80%99-nafez-arrested-in-al-walaja","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/?p=13555","title":{"rendered":"Mazin Qumsiyeh: Mazin, George, Dia\u2019, Nafez arrested in Al-Walaja"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Mazin Qumsiyeh<br \/>\n6 May 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thank you to all who inquired, made phone calls, and had us  in his\/her thoughts and prayers while we were arrested.\u00a0 This youtube shows our arrest as we blocked bulldozers in Al-Walaja  Thursday 6 May 2010<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Arrests at Al Walaja\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_Bknk8DEjO0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And below is description of what happened to  us.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Our ten hour ordeal with the occupation forces started at  8:30 AM as we gathered in the small village of Al-Wallaja. A tiny store with an elderly women who insisted on  making me coffee and not charging me.\u00a0 \u00a0Idyllic setting except for the heavy  bulldozers now carving the hills to separate the remaining people from their  lands via an apartheid wall that is planned to completely ring the village.  \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This village that already lost much of its lands is in the unfortunate  position of being near the Green line sitting on rich agricultural lands and the  Israelis want the land but do not want the people that come with the land.\u00a0  \u00a0Israeli military has already demolished homes in eth village (most were  rebuilt) and fined others for building without permits (which are not issued in  this village).\u00a0 The heroic villagers inspired so many including Internationals  and Israelis to join them in their popular resistance.\u00a0 Earlier, I shared with  you many videos of the actions.\u00a0 Today\u2019s even started as we came through the  woods and sat in front of the bulldozer.<\/p>\n<p>As the soldiers gathered their forces around us, you could  feel the soldiers preparing themselves for attack.\u00a0 We remained calm and  peaceful.\u00a0 They dragged us one by one forcefully from the bulldozed lands.\u00a0 They  picked the four of us for arrest for no obvious reason.\u00a0 George from Canada, me  from Beit Sahour, and two  brothers from Al-Walaja (Dia\u2019 and Nafez).\u00a0 They were  particularly brutal with the two brothers using pepper spray repeatedly, hits  with clubs (twice), and once with the rifle butt especially on Dia\u2019. Dia\u2019 could not see for a  long time. \u00a0They took us down the hill with full military escort and demanded  our ID cards on the way (I and Nafez had them, Dia\u2019 and George did not carry them).\u00a0 At the bottom of the  hill sits a checkpoint for cars (mostly settlers) crossing into Jerusalem (from  the illegal settlements of Har Gilo, Gilo, and Gush Etzion complex of settlements).\u00a0 There we were told to sit  and wait as two private security guards were brought to supplement the four  soldiers guarding us.\u00a0 Half an hour, an hour, two hours passed by. We spend time  talking to soldiers explaining why they are wrong to punish people trying to  defend their lands.\u00a0 I finally asked to go to the bathroom.\u00a0 They refused.\u00a0 I  insisted and finally they escorted me to an outhouse (portable type).\u00a0 Other  followed.\u00a0 Time passed. Officers came and said for us to sign a paper claiming  all it said was that in our detention we were not beaten or mistreated.\u00a0 We  refuse to sign. Finally, they receive the green light to arrest us officially so  we are driven\u00a0 through Jerusalem and on to the investigation offices near Qubbit Raheel (Rachel\u2019s tomb).\u00a0  Along the way, Dia\u2019a nd  Nafez comment that this is unusual for them to enter  Jerusalem (forbidden to them since the Oslo accords).\u00a0 Al-Walaja is in the area of the area that they consider Israeli  territory (the Gush Etzion complex of colonial  settlements). Al-Walaja sits even partially on land  annexed to Jerusalem, yet its residents are given Greed ID cards like me meaning  West Bank Palestinians not allowed into Jerusalem.<\/p>\n<p>We arrive at our destination and are locked up in a metal  container.\u00a0 Two more hours pass by.\u00a0 Only some time soldiers come in and we talk  to them.\u00a0 In all three we talk to three  Arab soldiers including Marzouq and Madi (I nicknamed  them M&amp;M of the Israeli occupation army), three Ashkenazis, one Sephardic women who never smiled and seemed  out of place, and one Ethiopian.\u00a0 Some are cold and distant, others  argumentative but not knowing much, and yet others slightly more open and listen  to what we had to tell them.\u00a0 I was proud of the Al-Walaja brothers using calm logic to explain: what would you  do if some came and uprooted trees that your grandparents planted for you?\u00a0 How  would you react if your source of life and livelihood is taken?\u00a0 But most of the  nearly 40 soldiers and police officers we encountered along the way only uttered  few words of orders and refused to engage with us.\u00a0 To them it seemed like a  routine job.\u00a0 As they hauled us from one place to another, they would be  chatting or texting on their mobile phones or joking with each other about  things (I really have to take Hebrew classes).<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cinvestigator\u201d finally arrives.\u00a0 We are finally allowed  to make the call to a lawyer.\u00a0 The lawyer advises and we follow his advise. \u00a0Each individually is taken to see the investigator.  We are asked to sign other papers and again we refuse (in Hebrew).\u00a0 They force  us to put our thumb on a separate form that merely has our names, ID numbers etc  on it.\u00a0 Handcuffs are added and mobile phones are taken from us.\u00a0 As each one is  returned to the container, we brief each other.\u00a0 We wait.\u00a0 The handcuffs are  hurting.\u00a0 I notice it says on mine \u2018Hiatt-Made in England\u2019.\u00a0 I think to myself  this whole mess was made in England (Balfour declaration and all that).\u00a0 An hour  later, we are told they will take us to court and that each of us is to call a  relative or friend to bring NIS 2500 (about $750) to the court in Jerusalem to  use as bail.\u00a0 The phones are returned to us to make the calls.\u00a0 We are then  ordered to get on the van to go (we presume to court). But then they change  their minds.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know what is going on. \u00a0We are told not to use the mobile  phones but we do when we are alone.\u00a0 \u00a0My family manages to gather the money and  as my wife is on the way nearly an hour later, the lawyer sends a message that  we need to wait as they are negotiating with the judge.\u00a0 Yet another hour. We  are then ordered on the van.\u00a0 They take us to Talpiot  police station where they fingerprint and photograph us.\u00a0 Dragged like criminals  with handcuffs in this now rich neighborhood.\u00a0 Old Jewish woman stares at me on  the way out and I wish I am allowed to speak to her to tell her our stories.  \u00a0\u00a0On the way in the back of the van, I tell the fellow inmates that this was an  Arab neighborhood before the ethnic cleansing of 1948.\u00a0 Many Arab houses still  stand taken over and converted into everything from residential villas to bars.  \u00a0We go back to the container holding pen.\u00a0 The handcuffs still  hurting.<\/p>\n<p>It was now nearly 5:30 and we were starving (no food and  many of us have left home without breakfast and held since about 9 AM).\u00a0 We had  asked for food on occasions.\u00a0 Finally they bring us some bread, each a slice of  cheese and a small packets of jam (I guess because we have been in handcuffs for  four hours at least and that is formal arrest).\u00a0 We devour it quickly and wonder  whether this is a sign of us staying longer or that we would be released soon.\u00a0  Another half an hour and we are dragged (this time together) in front of a new  investigator who asked us to sign a release form that says that we are told to  stay away from the wall (yes it says the wall on official Israeli documents) for  15 days and if we don\u2019t we will be have to pay each NIS5000 (about $1200).\u00a0 A  friend from Al-Walaja was kind enough to come and  cosign to ensure that we will follow the stated orders.<\/p>\n<p>George\u2019s situation was not clear.\u00a0 They insisted on seeing  his passport.\u00a0 A friend finally brought it after George was threatened with  immediate deportation if he did not get the passport.\u00a0 The lawyer andus tried to persuade them to let him go.\u00a0 They asked me  to translate for him at first that he must reappear at the same place Sunday and  we thought they were releasing him with us.\u00a0 But alas, it was not to be.\u00a0 I hope  he will not be deported anyway (their words are always not to be trusted).<\/p>\n<p>The three of us were released but the soldiers did not give  us our ID cards.\u00a0 In our jubilation at being released, we also had forgotten to  ask about them (they had them for the 10 hour ordeal). So I came back with my  wife and she was allowed into the checkpoint and an hour later, I had the ID  cards.\u00a0 We had visitors from Jenin staying overnight  with us and I was supposed to work with my technologist at the University today.  \u00a0But here I am way past midnight still writing this note and uploading a video.\u00a0  Tomorrow (Friday) there will be a demonstration in Al-Masara and \u00a0the lettuce festival in Artas and other work to do.\u00a0 Life goes on in the land of  Apartheid.\u00a0 La luta continua.\u00a0 Stay  tuned.<\/p>\n<p>PS Here is a video of me from last week in the same village  of Al-Walaja explaining to soldiers a bit of the  reality. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VGQYz9vz8V8\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VGQYz9vz8V8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD<\/p>\n<p>Chairman of the Board<\/p>\n<p>Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcr.ps\/\">http:\/\/www.pcr.ps\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Professor, Bethlehem University<\/p>\n<p>Author, Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the  Israeli-Palestinian Struggle<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/qumsiyeh.org\/\">http:\/\/qumsiyeh.org<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Phone calls can be made from the US using this US number  937-558-5535<\/p>\n<p>Otherwise dial 011-972-2277-3446 (Note time difference: add 7  hour from EST)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mazin Qumsiyeh 6 May 2010 Thank you to all who inquired, made phone calls, and had us in his\/her thoughts and prayers while we were arrested.\u00a0 This youtube shows our arrest as we blocked bulldozers in Al-Walaja Thursday 6 May &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/?p=13555\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdXTf-3wD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13555"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13558,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13555\/revisions\/13558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}