new year's at the israeli embassy

This is the first of what I think will be several posts of reports and analysis of the remainder of our actions on the Gaza Freedom March, which I would have loved to have written more promptly, but was too busy and/or tired to do so.

On New Year's Day we staged one final large group protest at the Israeli embassy. This was a location we had not yet targeted during the five days of protest that the Gaza Freedom March morphed into. Many people thought we should have gone there on the first day, but as it played out, we ended up there on the first day of 2010, pledging our commitment to a new year of resistance.

I feel a bit ashamed to admit I almost didn't go. It was our fifth day of protest (after two days of flying for most of us from the US) and I was exhausted. Between waking up early to sneak out of our hotel before we were barricaded in by riot police, staging mass civil disobedience and resisting the cops in downtown Cairo, and then staying up until 3:30 in the morning to report it all, my adrenaline reserves were completely spent. It sounded like it might be a high-risk action and I didn't think I had another one in me.

As it turned out, for whatever reason, the cops were chill--maybe because we'd publicly announced that we would only be there for two hours and were planning to stay on the sidewalk. For whatever reason, they were back to their earlier strategy of just containing us, and the action ended up being comparatively low-key, although very important.

The Israeli embassy in Cairo is in a nondescript residential high-rise apartment building overlooking a busy bridge over the Nile. For years it was referred to as "the secret embassy" and not even marked by a flag. (They have a flag now, because they ultimately can't resist putting flags on shit.)

We were a bit late in arriving due to some adventures with the Cairo metro, which is fast, clean, and very cheap but unfortunately did not let us out anywhere near where we needed to be. So we missed the initial flash-mob convergence, but apparently it worked great, again, and the cops didn't arrive in force for 20 minutes. By the time we got there several hundred people (I've heard estimates between 250 and 400) were holding a very long stretch of sidewalk right on the on-ramp of the bridge directly across the street from the embassy. As on previous days, hanging places for flags and banners were found in conveniently located trees, fences and lamp posts. There was spirited chanting led by a great contingent of the French, and as it was Friday, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb led a Shabbat service for the Jews among our group, of which there are many.

But the highlight of the demonstration by far was seeing people who lived in the apartments on the floors below the embassy come out on their balconies to watch, to wave, and in one case to give us an enthusiastic victory sign (as did one speedy taxi driver who tooted his horn in rhythm with our chants as he zipped over the bridge.) I have some good picture of the demo, but they're currently trapped on my other computer which doesn't seem to want to recognize the modem in my apartment. I'll upload them once I schlep over to campus where there's wireless.

I'm really thankful that Mateo, one of our new friends who was staying at the same hotel as us, was there to convince me and my two protest buddies that it was important to go, even when we were all running on empty. "It feels good not to give up, even when you're tired," he said when we were at the demonstration. And it did.

This protest in particular has apparently had a significant impact in Egypt. "First ever protest at the Israeli embassy" announced the headline of a major Egyptian newspaper, and folks who are still in Egypt are reporting that the impact of our protests is still being felt. There are activists in Egypt, who organize at great personal risk and under far, far more dangerous conditions than most of us have ever faced. There is nothing we need to teach them about organizing--and indeed, much we have to learn from them--but if anything we did in any way helped them, by creating political space or simply some minimal protection due to the presence of internationals, then that is worth the whole trip to me. It wasn't what we set out to do, but in the end I think it may end up being even more important that what we could have done in a few days in Gaza.

"no army, no prison and no wall can stop us"

Letter from Abdallah Abu Rahmah, high school teacher, nonviolent activist, and coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in the village of Bil'in, in the West Bank. Abu Rahmah is currently in Israeli prison after being arrested in a 2am night raid last month.

January 1, 2010

To all our friends,

I mark the beginning of the new decade imprisoned in a military detention camp. Nevertheless, from within the occupation′s holding cell I meet the New Year with determination and hope.

I know that Israel’s military campaign to imprison the leadership of the Palestinian popular struggle shows that our non-violent struggle is effective. The occupation is threatened by our growing movement and is therefore trying to shut us down. What Israel′s leaders do not understand is that popular struggle cannot be stopped by our imprisonment.

Whether we are confined in the open-air prison that Gaza has been transformed into, in military prisons in the West Bank, or in our own villages surrounded by the Apartheid Wall, arrests and persecution do not weaken us. They only strengthen our commitment to turning 2010 into a year of liberation through unarmed grassroots resistance to the Occupation.

The price I and many others pay in freedom does not deter us. I wish that my two young daughters and baby son would not have to pay this price together with me. But for my son and daughters, for their future, we must continue our struggle for freedom.

This year, the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee will expand on the achievements of 2009, a year in which you amplified our popular demonstrations in Palestine with international boycott campaigns and international legal actions under universal jurisdiction.

In my village, Bil’in, Israeli tycoon, Lev Leviev and Africa-Israel, the corporation he controls, are implicated in illegal construction of settlements on our stolen land, as well as the lands of many other Palestinian villages and cities. Adalah-NY is leading an international campaign to show Leviev that war crimes have their price.

Our village has sued two Canadian companies for their role in the construction and marketing of new settlement units on village land cut off by Israel’s Apartheid Wall. The legal proceedings in this precedent-setting case began in the Canadian courts last summer and are ongoing.

Bil’in has become the graveyard of Israeli real estate empires. One after another, these companies are approaching bankruptcy as the costs of building on stolen Palestinian land are driven higher than the profits.

Unlike Israel, we have no nuclear weapons or army, but we do not need them. The justness of our cause earns us your support. No army, no prison and no wall can stop us.

Yours,

Abdallah Abu Rahmah
From the Ofer Military Detention Camp

You can send Abdallah Abu Rahmah a letter of support here.

video of gaza freedom march in tahrir square

2 minutes of police brutality + 1 minute of our awesomeness afterward.

I was sitting in the street pretty much directly in front of this cameraperson. You can see my head pop into the frame briefly around 1:20.

viva palestina 3 finally makes it to gaza!

From the Reading (UK) Palestine Solidarity Campaign website. No additional commentary needed.

Reading PSC Salutes Viva Palestina Convoy

Reading PSC salutes the Viva Palestina ‘Return to Gaza’ convoy partnered with the PSC who have finally broken the blockade of Gaza with their entrance into the Gaza Strip.

After 31 days of an inspiring journey, followed by more than 250,000 people on this website from around the world the goal has been achieved. This, despite a journey which at times seemed to be frustrated at its every turn.

We would like to thank the following:

• The many thousands of you who have followed and willed this inspiring convoy to succeed.
• The organisers of the convoy for their persistence and determination to force it through.
• The heroic crews of the vehicles for their grit and resolve to achieve their goal.
• We would like to thank the peoples of the many countries they have travelled through who have provided unstinting support, both moral and material.
• We would like to thank the Governments of those countries that facilitated this convoy, especially the Turkish Government and its peoples for its help at so many levels.
• We also thank those unknown and unseen from many countries around the world who have ensured diplomatic pressure to ensure the success of this convoy.
• Most of all we salute the heroic people of Gaza who have endured beyond what most of us can only imagine, whilst the political elites of the world turned their back on them.

video of viva palestina convoy being attacked in el arish

VIVA PALESTINA CONVOY ATTACKED IN EL ARISH

The Viva Palestina convoy, after finally making it en mass to El Arish, 25 miles from Gaza, was attacked by up to 2,000 Egyptian riot police with tear gas and water cannons just a few minutes ago. The full-scale riot has apparently died down for now, but the situation is very tense. Perhaps because El Arish is more isolated than downtown Cairo, or because VP has so far refused to give in to any of the Egyptian government's attempts to stop them, they faced a police attack that makes what we experienced in Cairo look like a slap on the wrist.

Please contact the Egyptian government to express your disapproval with this unprovoked police attack and attend any protests in your area. Good live updates can be found here and here, or follow viva_palestina on Twitter (or search for the #vivapalestina tag.)

back in the states

After 24 hours of travel I am back safely in the US. Look for more updates, including a report on our January 1 protest at the Israeli embassy in Cairo, in the coming days, as well as some personal reflections on the experience of the Gaza Freedom March. In the meantime, check out my article summing up the week's events on SocialistWorker.org.

And if you haven't yet, please read the full text of the Cairo declaration, a fantastic statement and framework for future action that came out of the Gaza Freedom March convergence. To endorse, either individually or as an organization, email cairodec@gmail.com.