And the police were just laughing

Some 300 people, both Palestinian and Jews, marched from the Clock Tower square in Jaffa to the Yiftah police office on Salameh Street, protesting against thelatest wave of police violence.

Among the speakers were Jerrias Kobti, who was violently arrested by the police some three weeks ago,  Gabi ElAbed of the AlRabita (the Association of the Arabs of Jaffa), Omar Siksik, municipal council member of the Jaffa List, Yoav Goldring, municipal council member for "A City for All" (Ir lekulanu), MK Dov Khenin and Sheikh Ahmad Abu Agua of the northern Islamic movement, who spoke in Arabic and in Hebrew against police violence as we have been experiencing over the last several weeks. 

The demonstration was  peaceful , people marching together, shouting slogans in Arabic and Hebrew demanding an investigation. a change of policy and a respect for democracy.

Severa l policemen, among them Ohion, the Yiftach commander, were laughing. One wonders why. The recent reports of serious violence towards citizens should worry him deeply.

Jerrias Kobti gave a short report of what had happened to him in the police station after he had been arrested and handcuffed. His testimony is  terrifying. The violence he went through could happen to any of us. And that should worry us all. And it should worry Ohion as well. A police corps that resorts to violence as a regular method, is in deep trouble.

There is little belief in "Mahash" (המחלקה לחיקרת שוטרים the unit that is supposed to investigate crimes committed by policemen) and distinct feelings of anger and despair were expressed by some of the speakers and many in the audience. 

Few of us here have never witnessed or experienced incidents with the police. Many of us feel helpless face a face police violence. Some are so scared of revenge, they will not complain nor testify against abusive police officers.

One wonder why Ohion was laughing so much.

Black forces in a not so orange orange grove

When demolished, a home makes an awful sound. Yesterday it went on for hours, the slow demolition process of the second floor of the Dake home. Large yellow machines slowly crunched away at the building. Huge blocks of falling concrete demolishing the garden in the same go.
The people watching on helplessly. Their possessions, clothes, furniture, kids' schoolbooks etc. out in the dust.

Two years ago some 100 people barricaded themselves on the roof of the Dake home in Jaffa's Dake orange grove and prevented its demolition. Yesterday the Dake family were less, much less lucky, when Ron Huldai's municipality goons demolished their home under the "protection" of hundreds of blimp led ninja-style clad special forces policemen.

In the early hours masked policemen entered the Dake home and arrested the men of the family and told the family's women to start packing. Literally hundreds of policemen, special forces and border police blocked off all roads to the Dake grove and the close surroundings.

Whole streets were closed to the public, even to those living there and wishing to go back home. The operations were led from a special command tent where police men kept track of the ground forces by means of a camera studded blimp high up in the air.

To understand the true impact of the demolition of the Dake house is is important to back in history.

The Dake family were the proud owners of a huge orange grove prior to 1948, the Naqbe, just south of Jaffa. 

In the grove were the large family home, storage facilities, guard houses, a pump house etc.

After 1948 the family stayed on. They lived in the grove and over time, as the family expanded, more houses were added. 

The municipality did not bother to make a zoning plan for the grove, although it is on municipal territory. As a result, it is impossible to receive a building permit for anything, not even for repairing your house: as there are no zoning plan definitions for the area, there is no buroicratic procedure possible for getting a building permit.

Yet the Dakes, who own the land, needed homes, so they constructed those without a permit.

The municipality never provided any services in the grove, there are no roads, no waste disposal, no kinder garden (by now there are a few hundred people, including many children, living in the grove). The sewage system is horrid and floods every now and then and until a few years ago every winter the grove was flooded. Only after a young child drowned inside his home, the municipality did something about the flood drains.

The lack of a zoning plan has been going on for some 60 years now. The Dakes cannot build anything on their land and live in poverty. When they try to build the municipality arrives and destroys. The houses  are rebuilt, making use of cheap materials or recycling some of the rubble in the construction of the new house, as all know it is only a matter of time until the next demolition.

After the municipality took out a demolition order on the flat he built for his son, Moussa Dake decided to fight back. He lost in the Tel Aviv peace court, but won an incredible victory in the regional court, where the judge criticised the municipality for 60 years of planning neglect. The Dakes felt victorious and the verdict was f major importance as it had implications for many other areas in the country as well.

But the municipality appealed to the high court of justice and won. The verdict in this case was formalistic and did not even try to deal with the serious criticism and legal concerns of the regional court's verdict.

The Dakes appealed once more, but the municipality decided not to wait for the court's decision and yesterday, in spite of the request to wait until the verdict, the goons went about their ugly business.

Moussa had become a symbol and the legal fight he put up was being followed by many involved in planning and housing rights.

  

Violence by the authorities, no one seems to care very much

Hikmat is 2 weeks old, a tiny little girl, red faced and well wrapped up.

This morning the police broke the door to the small house she lives in, tear-gassed the place, her room included. Then they carried out a violent search, basically taking the place apart. They didn't find a thing, as her young parents know well. There is a relative living not far way who's involved in things better not mentioned.  They carry the same family name, so perhaps that is how the police justify themselves. 
In any case, little is left of the small home, the wooden ceiling partially removed, holes made in the wall, all electricity points removed, cooking stove and new fridge damaged beyond repair, after the police finished their search. Nothing was found, the damage done is huge: the bathroom basically taken apart, sewage pipes connecting the toilet all broken, the shower cubicle taken apart, all taps leaking. Furniture broken, but all of that is nothing compared to the traumatized children, who woke up choking on tear-gas.  When i visited the family today the sligtly older kids were still crying, scared of any stranger entering what was left of their home.
Hikmat was the only one peacefully sleeping, perhaps she's forgotten, who knows what goes on inside baby heads.

But Hikmat not the only one who suffered violence from the authorities over the last few days.

Ask Abu Isa, whose son is laying unconscious and brain damaged attached to life support machinery in Tel HaShomer hospital. The kid was beaten up by two "security goons guards" employed by the municipality to guard the beach park. What the guards didn't notice is that there was a witness to their acts. A witness who called the police and whose testimony put the guards under arrest.

The witness' testimony makes it clear the boy and his friend (who was released from hospital in the mean time) did not start the fight. In fact they begged to guards to stop.

he amazing thing is that the security company tried to cook up a story and went to the park's storage room manager in order to convince him to file a complaint there had been a break-in and stuff had been stolen the night of the violence. Thankfully the store room manager refused to do so but it makes one wonder; what if there had been no witness and what if the manager had been a little more "compliant"?  Violence by the authorities has become almost too common to mention in Jaffa.

Israel's old new hate police: privatization of a dangerous force

Yesterday they carried out their first action, by rounding up "illegal aliens" in the area of the central bus station in Tel Aviv. They made use of a private bus company, Alant, to transport the arrestees to a private prison. I'm amazed at how easy it is to privatize "services" dealing with very basic rights, such as freedom. Not just amazaed, also scared. Private goons carrying out private justice.

According to the Ministry of the interior there are about 250.000 foreigners without a permit residing in Israel. Some are victims of trafficking, others refugees from Darfour or Eritrea, yet others laborourers from China or the Filipines who ran away from the slave like conditions under which they were made to live and work for much less than the minimum wage (which already is very low).

A few years ago the migration police was established and then abolished in order to be replaced by a private police force operated by the ministry of the interior as of yesterday. The private police force are not bound by the rules that bind the regular police.

Yesterday they carried out their first action and their spokesperson "promised" its continuation. They do not care if a refugee might be in danger. They have also stated they will not respect the unofficial agreements between NGO's school and the migration police which held that no arrests would be made around the school areas, the free clinic and other NGO's assisting the labour migrants, refugees and victims of modern slavery. In fact the new police force stated they would actively search those areas, because that is where those without rights receive their services.

Their spokesperson has also informed the public they will arrest and deport children. A very large part of the children were born in Israel. go to Israeli schools and speak predominantly Hebrew. They have never been to their parents' country (or countries, when parents come from different areas of the world, there are quite a few "mixed" children) and are not familiar with their parents culture(s).

The arrest and deportation of children stand in direct opposition of various international agreements the country has signed. Yesterday parents with children were warned to leave the country within one month, if not, they will face arrest and deportation. Arresting babies and toddlers, little schoolchildren? This place is seriously sick.

A new witchhunt is on its way targetting Israel's weakest groups with modern and forceful means.

However, one needs to look also at the larger picture. The new police force is private. It is used against the weakest of weak population who cannot risk protesting. But at the same time, society gets used to the idea of an "efficient private police". I expect it will only be a matter if time until this force will be used against others, Israeli citizens as well.

So long democracy.....

If you love Jaffa....help us save her

Tomorrow, Tuesday the 9nth at 18.00 at Jaffa's Clock-tower Square there will be a demonstration against the plans to construct a 140 room hotel on top of Jaffa's "Kishle", the old police station at Jaffa's northern entrance.

The ancient "Kishle" is a historic and protected building. When it was bought in 2006 by the Nakash brothers (of Jordache fame) for a whopping 38 million, the idea was to turn it into an exclusive boutique hotel. However the plans submitted to the municipality show someting entirely different: a 140 room monster, adding several floors to the original building, thereby dwarfing not only the original ancient walls surrounding the Kishle's court yard, but also the clocktower and the Mahmoudia mosque, which togehter make up part of Jaffa's beautiful skyline.
This is not just uglyfying one lovely building, but completely destroying Jaffa's northern entrance and skyline.

In addition the planned added floors will created problems for the Mouhmoudia mosque.
Oh, and by the way, the whole thing is designed in th style of "andromeda orientalism".

Police violence against children and women in Jaffa

Yousef (12 years old) and Ahmed (14 years old) were playing with a toy gun next to their home in Gorki street, a dead end alley in the center of Jaffa, this afternoon.
In Jaffa, close to the Jewish holiday of Purim, all toy-stores sell these guns, wildly popular with young boys who use them to shoot small colourful pellets and have fun.
Fourteen year old Ahmed broke his leg a while ago and walks with difficulty due to the heavy cast enveloping it.
Their little brothers stood around, in the hope of be allowed to join the game. A police car came by and the policeman shouted something at the boys who ran off, into their home.
Yousef's pregnant mum was playing with her youngest child, his grandmother taking care of things in the home, as was his 13 year old sister, Dunya. A few seconds after the boys had entered the home, the police burst in and started beating both 12 year old Yousef and 14 year old Ahmed, who fell due to his plaster cast. One of the policemen jumped on the plaster cast.
The mother intervened and got hit, falling on her pregnant belly.
Thirteen year old Dunya stared screaming and was hit as well, she fell, scratching her face.
Yousef was taken into the hospital, his head bloody and painful. Ahmed was taken into arrest. We just learned Ahmed has a bad asthma attack but is still under arrest, it is unclear if he will be taken to the hospital, as he is still under arrest.
Yousef and his mum have been released from hospital in the mean time, with concussion and wounds to the face, the pregnancy is OK.

Yousef's little 8 year old brother, who witnessed it all, has not stopped crying since the attack and is very upset.

Miriam & her 6 kids have been evicted

The good news, another apartment has been found and the contract has been signed. It's a nice place, but the rent costs 3000 NIS a month. Miriam's over all income (inlcuding 1200 NIS rent subsidy) stands at about 3400 NIS.
That will leave her not enough money for food, electricity, water, the very basics. She has 6 children, all school kids except for the youngest 2 year old girl. She has no one to take care of her, so Miriam cannot easily go out to work.

We started gathering at about 7.45 this morning, the usual activists as well as a few new faces. The police contacted us a few times and we told them we are working on a solution, please give us more time. One deal almost came through, then failed. The police came by a few times as did the Halamish representative, at that time there were some 30 activists around and cars had been parked very close to the entrance making forceful entry problematic. They left.
The youngest kids played in the streets, the teenage girls kept mainly to themselves, nervous, scared, not knowing if they will have home in another few hours.
During the day we contacted the press as well as the mayor's office. The mayor has not come back until now.
Time passed by and the feeling was that that will probably do it tomorrow. Miriam had gone off to see another flat and the activists played with her young children. However, the activists were leaving quickly one after the other.
Around 17.30 the room suddenly filled up with police men and moving company people, who were pushed into action. We pointed out Miriam, the mother isn't in, only her minor children.
It didn't help. In the mean time Rasha, the lawyer left to assist Miriam in making a contract for her new flat. There is no way she can afford this flat, but she had no choice. It's this flat or the street, which means loosing her children her her children loosing their mum.
We called her and asked the police to wait at least until she's back, pointing out that she is right now signing a contract. The police refused point blank and instructed the moving company to start working.
We felt helpless.
We knew Miriam was getting another flat, although there is no way she can afford it. They could at least have given her some time to get ready. But nothing helped. The movers worked quickly but not at all carefully. We were unable to prevent nor to intervene.

Miriam's new flat is not hooked up to the electricity system as a previous inhabitant left debts.
Reconnecting costs a lot of money, which Miriam doesn't have.

Police brutality against a Jaffa teenager

Yesterday the police stopped a teenage boy close to his home in Jaffa's Karem Dalek neighbourhood and asked for his ID card.
The kid was just hanging around close to home and said he would pop over to his home and bring it, as it was not on him when they stopped him.
As an answer the police beat him up badly and left him wounded.

Israel is such a lovely and true democracy....

Since last night several Jaffa activists (all of them Palestinians) have been taken into the Salameh Police Station where they were interrogated by the internal security services, the Shabak, who behaved in an insulting and threatening way (in some cases using the good-bad guy technique) .

Amongst those interrogated was Omar Siksik, member of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipal council and Sami AbouShade as well as Rolla and Shirin Agbariye and many others,
Rolla and Shirin have been released into three days of house arrest. Sami has been released and
Omar was released this morning but then requested to go for more interrogation, this time by the police. As of now he is still in the police station.
So much for Israeli "democracy". Arrest and intimidation are efficient ways of stopping legitimate protest.
Oh but i forget, in Israel; true protest is not legitimate, or only in a very limited way.

There is more information elsewhere

Anti-War Demo opposite the Ministry of Defence

Some two thousand people gathered this night to protest, walking from the Tel Aviv Cinemateque to the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv's "Kiriya", shouting slogans in favour of peace and against the war-crimes committed by the Israeli government and the IAF.
The police, among them the horse brigade, tried to violently break up the demo several times, hitting the demonstrators who were trying to get away from the charging horses with their clubs and horse whips.
MK Dov Khenin adressed the gathering.

And for more information about civil action.
Video of the demo

Jaffa home in danger - court tomorrow

Itidal and her two children live in a small house in what is known in Jaffa as "Pardes Dalek", a tiny neighbourhood of shacks, somewhere between "Gan Tamar" and Jerusalem Boulevard, in an area which once was an orange grove, hence its name (Dalek Grove in English).
Last week on Tuesday the demolisher saccompanied by the police came to carry out a municipal demolition order. At the last moment the demolition was prevented.
Lawyer Rasha Asaf of the "Popular Committee Against Home Demolitions" managed to prevent it, but the case will be back in the Municipal Court tomorrow.
So, those of you living in Jaffa, it may be necessary to come and defend the home, if the court will decide to leave Itidal and her children homeless. Keep in touch.

Itidal is poor and if her house will be destroyed, she'll be out on the streets as the welfare department have no solution for her and her children. There is no way she can afford to rent a home.

Police beat up handcuffed boys in Jaffa

A fight erupted between a few young boys from Jaffa's public "Shem HaGdolim" housing estate and a yeshiva student.

The word on the street -which perhaps may be not correct- is that they plan to build a yeshiva right in front of a nearby mosque. To the best of my knowledge the yeshiva is on the corner of Toulouse street and Korchak street. But rumours have their ways. Perhaps they do pan to build another yeshiva close to the mosque.

In any case, a fight erupted. Apparently there had been words (death to the Arabs) and insults before, or so it is being said.

The police was called and they arrested three boys. The wrong boys by the way, not the ones who had been in a fight with the guy from the yeshiva. The kids arrested, were at home at the time of the fight.

While the boys were under arrest and handcuffed, the police beat them up. Another kid managed to film it on his phone camera. The kid bragged about it, stating he would complain about it or take the film to the media. As a result, the unlucky photographer was arrested as well and kept for more than 24 hours at the police station, his phone taken from him and the film wiped out.

While under arrest, the kids were threatened that they would go to jail for 5-10 years, as "we are dealing with activitןes against the safety of the state". Young boys, all minors, according to the juvenile law, from good homes, who had nothing to do with the fight yet were intimidated, while not having access to legal advice.

So much for democracy. "Acco" is closeby it appears.

The atmosphere on the streets is one of fear. Last week three flats in Tel Aviv's HaTikva neighborhood were torched by ultra right wingers. The common ground: all three flats were inhabited by Arabs. I call it a progrom.

Last week grafiti was sprayed inside a building on Jaffa's Jerusalem Boulevard; "Death to the Arabs".

Speaking to my friend Zeinab and others, we wonder what we can do to prevent further violence. And we don't really know.

Six trees, the Janosh Korchak park, perhaps a grave or two and Dankner, THE Dankner

Susan contacted me: "they are uprooting the trees next to my home", she said. The little park at the crossing of Toulouse and Korchak streets in Jaffa.
My first reaction was one of not comprehending. I know that little park. Sometimes i sit there, below the trees to read a book, or think and watch the sea.
My friend Halil owns a plot there, inherited from his late aunt, although it appears it was sold to the Dankner family in a some sort of deal and not by the inheritor and actual owner, Halil.
I wonder if i should mention it here, i cannot afford to be sued by the Dankners.

So: it's what's being said, OK, not sure. Maybe someone stole the plot from Halil. It wouldn't be the first time, in Jaffa.

But the trees were being uprooted, that's for sure.
Adult "Eshel" trees. I don't know their name in English.
There is something so violent about uprooting a tree. They even had a permit for it, so the police couldn't interfere. All of the neighbourhood were outside, trying to prevent it. Some of them even stood in front of the bulldozer.
The Israel Land Authority (the so-called owners) want to build a road and a parking lot over there, so they came to uproot the trees. They stated they had informed the neighbours and "no one disagreed". Yeah right, only , all the neighbours were out there, and no one had heard anything about this plan. All they know is that it is supposed to be a park. So the Land Authority are lying, very simple. They did not inform anyone, because they expected to be stopped. They came over the holiday, so people wouldn't be able to stop them, as all offices and courts are closed.

For the time being the uprooting has been stopped. Who knows. When your name is Dankner you can pull a few.... Lawyer Tagrid Gahshan will assist the neighbours in filing a suite against the Israel Land Authority to stop further uprooting and the construction of a parking lot where there is a park right now.

Oh, and about the graves? Well, some people state the park is the site of an ancient burial site, making it unfit for building in the first place, at least according to tradition.

another article (in Hebrew)
and in English

Akko, for a change

Akko's old city was empty today. Some local kids, the occasional woman buying some vegetables for dinner. At the sea front a single fisherman. The harbour: empty. Trays of delicious and tempting nut-candy find no buyers.
The restaurants: the owners of nearby empty coffeeshops and humus places share a coffee and a languid game of sheshbesh.
And police, yes, there were quite a few police men for such an empty town.

Normally during Sukot, Akko is host the the alternative theatre festival; lots of shows in many of Akko's ancient halls as well as in the streets, filled with tourists who arrive annually especially for the festival.

Not this year.

Right-wing extremists carried out a pogrom against Akko's Palestinian population. Three homes of Palestinian families were torched and completely burnt and several more families have had to leave their homes and have not yet been able to return. They are waiting until it will be safe again. But will it?

When Palestinian wounded were carried to ambulances, the police watched and stood by when the angry mob attacked them.

The theatre festival could have been used as a place to come together, to talk, to try to deal with the conflict. The theatre festival takes place far away from the troubled "Mizrahi" neighborhood where the pogrom took place. Its cancellation was the mayor's punishment of Akko's Arab population.
The Palestinian population of the Old City depend for their livelyhood on the festival. It's the one week of the year when Akko is full and festival participants spend much money eating out, buying drinks, sweets and trinkets.
Cancellation the festival robs all of Akko's people of a fun event, and theatre lovers of a quality experience, but it hurts the people of the Old City, many of whom are poor, of their livelihood.

Yet the implications go beyond Akko.
A similar situation could easily arise in all of the mixed cities, where the Palestinians have been undergoing decades long discrimination in all fields: education and culture, welfare, housing, employment etc etc.

Jaffa in that sense is very much like Akko.
Yet, violence is preventable. It really depends on how wise we all are.

Having an extremist yeshiva right in the middle of Ajami doesn't help and is potentially dangerous.

Newly homeless in Jaffa

Fauziyeh Dake, in her late forties, fainted when her teenage son Salim wanted to explode himself with a cooking gaz container in the centre of their living-room this morning, the moment the municipality goons and special police forces came to demolish the family's home in "Pardes Dake" in Jaffa.

One of the older sons of the family was murdered some 3 years ago in the infamous "Benny the Fisherman" murder case. Since then the family's youngest son, Salim, finds it hard to get organised and to live a regular life.
The family has been fighting a legal battle over the last 6 years against the demolition order that the Tel Aviv municipality took out on their only home.
The Dake orange grove, located in the center of Jaffa and Bat Yam's urban sprawl, is privately owned land by Jaffa's Dake family. According to the city development plan the grove, home to the large Dake clan, is considered agricultural land.
As a result there is no building plan and as a result of that, one cannot get a building permit. However, the grove stopped being a grove ages ago and the land is home to the large Dake clan.
Who cannot legally build any homes on it, because it still is "agricultural land".
Mousa Dake successfully fought a legal battle when the court decided it is in fact illegal for the municipality to take out demolition orders for homes in the pardes, but that decree did not help Fauzieh and her husband, Abu Jalal Dake, whose demolition order preceded that decree (appealed by the municipality in the supreme court). The municipality did not bother to inform them of the approaching demolition (which they should have, in writing) and took them by surprise. As a result nothing could be done to prevent the disaster. Destroying a family's only home is an act of extreme violence.
The illegal procedure used by the Tel Aviv municipality should not come as a surprise; If they would have warned the family, they could and would have gone to court and stood a good chance to win, given the new decision on the grove. But there are other interests.

Part of the Dake family reportedly signed agreements to sell their homes to a wealthy land developer, Samuel Flato Sharon, who wants to destroy the existing homes and build another closed compound for the wealthy. Fauziyeh and her family did not sign such an agreement. Many other families don't either.
Many of the families who did not sign, have received demolition orders. Is there a connection there? Hard to prove but a question that needs to be asked.

Although the answer comes too late for Fauzieh and her family. Where can they go? Where can they stay? What will the future hold for them?

Salim, the youngest is supposed to be under house arrest. The only question is where? He doesn't have a house any longer....

And in the mean time, the father was subjected to police brutality

Hanna Nadi and her 8 young children stand to be evicted into the streets from the small "Halamish" owned flat they squatted in. So far Hanna has not been able to find another flat (big enough to house her and her kids) she can afford. The police have informed her she will be evicted, probably today.

We're trying to assist her, but in the mean time the father of her children was arrested yesterday afternoon, because of debts. The father, in his fifties and very ill, is dependent on social security as his disease prevents him from working.
As a result he cannot take care of his children either.

Over time, unable to meet municipal and other payments, he made a debt of about 5000 NIS.

The repossession people came after him accompanied by the police, and somehow a fight erupted. The father was wounded; 3 broken ribs and a head wound. Both hands and feet shackled, the father was taken to nearby Wolfson hospital, where he received stitches to his head and treatment (being shackled throughout the medical procedures) and then taken to the Abu Kabir jail.

Yes, this is an enlightened country...

Trying to tell the truth about the "liberation" of Jaffa

Some 20 - 30 demonstrators and at least 40-50 police men, including special forces (Yasam) and border police.
In spite of the law, none of those last two groups wore name tags on their uniforms.

At the etzel museum a small audience listens to a sound & light heroism performance,
We are kept at "a safe" distance, but using old pots and sticks as well as small flutes we raise a lot of noise.
Banners tell the story of the naqbe in Jaffa, of the acts of terror carried out by Etzel against civilians. Sixty years ago, the naqbe.

Reuven Abergil tells the story of how that happened, while the Brits and the Hagana conveniently looked in the other direction. They controlled the road blocks on the way to Jaffa and the Etzel people dressed to look like local Arabs, passed through with their weapons and explosives.
Bombs hidden inside a watermelon cart and a truck exploded in Jaffa's market. Children and women were murdered. The aim was to create terror and make the population want to flee away.

The police tried to force us to another location, close to the Turkish railway station, where no one passes by and no one can see nor hear us. So much for democracy. So much for our right to express our views and be heard.
We disagree to move to that far away spot. In reaction they bring iron fences and "cage us in".
More police arrive on the scene.

The atmosphere becomes uneasy, then violent.

Four (?) people are arrested, some are lightly wounded, one journalist's press card appears to have been taken away by a police man who refuses to identify himself. Some of the police become very violent.

The police move us even further away in a concentrated and violent effort. It appears the noise we make bothers some of the "etzel heroes".
Their public doesn't really want to know the true story.
But the true story can be well learned from the etzel themselves. Prior to "pc" language in the fifties and sixties, they published books about their "heroism" against Jaffa's civilian population as well as the acts of looting Jaffa's homes and stores.

The police actively assist in telling the Etzel narrative.
They do all to keep us quiet.

But we won't, we won't be quiet.


And by the way, i found a camera in the area of the demo. I think it belonged to participants, please contact me.

Sick child robbed of life saving electricity

M is 5 years old, a friendly, funny child, rather small for his age.
His mother and brothers and sisters live in a flat they squatted many years ago. M suffers from a severe form of asthma, and needs inhalation every 5-6 hours in order to breathe.

His kindergarten teacher is not able to provide the inhalation and as a result, M is at home all day long. His mother has to take care of him and as a result , she cannot work.
Her ex-husband stopped paying alimony and for reasons of bureaucracy, she has not yet started receiving social security.
Medicine and food are more important than paying the electricity bills, leading to a debt. With as a result she was cut off from the grid half an hour ago.
So was her neighbour, the single mother of a 1 week old baby.
Normally neighbours' lend a hand in these cases, but the whole building has been cut off.

For M this means danger, he cannot survive without inhalation.
His mother asked the electricity company guy to come upstairs and see for himself.
He refused.

The electricity company people were accompanied by two border police goons.

Jaffa, winter 2008

The Hamad Family Home in Ajami was Destroyed Today.

They lived in 4 Sarid Street, a "stonethrow" from my home; a family with children. A simple structure with an asbestos roof, the Hamad family home.

That was until tonight, as the Hamads are out on the street. And it isn't too cold right now, but winter wil be returning tomorrow, so the forecast says.

It doesn't really matter, they are homeless now, the Hamad family.

The police arrived around ten this morning. The family had not been given a demolition order (as they should have, by law). A family member who dared to protest was wounded by the police. who cordoned off the area, stating it is closed, due to the presence "dangerous materials" (that's the asbestos, i suppose).
The bulldozers came and the work was carried out quickly. No more home.
Apparently the family had a lawyer, who tried to put up a fight. As the family had not contacted the popular committee against home demolitions, no one knew about it and only few demonstrators managed to come to prevent the demolition.

The police serving big money as usual. Who cares about the people?

Omar and Zeinab Adasi and their 4 children became homeless today

Zeinab and Omar Adasi woke up to the sound of a huge bulldozer today. Some 500 policemen, many of them from special units ('yasam"), surrounded their small 3-room home at 6 o'clock this morning.
The bulldozer started working before they were able to take all their things from the house which had been their home for the last 26 years. Zeinab was still in bed and barely got out of the house before its walls caved in into what only half a minute before had been her bedroom.
Zeinab and Omar have four children. the youngest of them (a 12 year old boy) is severely handicapped.
Omar used to be a construction worker, but today he lives of social security payments, due to an illness he suffers from. Zeinab spends most of her time taking care of their youngest handicapped son, who needs much attention.
All around the small family home close to the harbour new luxury buildings are being erected for the very wealthy. For 26 years Omar and Zeinab lived in the house which Zeinab's father had bought for them from its previous owner.Over time Omar added a small room, as his family became larger. They also developed a small garden next to their house. The garden land, so Omar admits, didn't belong to him.
A few months ago they were served with a demolition order. Apparently Zeinab's father had not bought all of the house or sold a room of it. The demolition order however, was taken out on all of the home.
Zeinab and Omar don't know how to read Hebrew very well and they tried to do what they could, to no avail.
This mornng they tried to convince the police to give them an hour, in order to run to the court and take out a prevention order. Their request was refused. The house was destroyed in a few hours and except for the mountain of rubble, it almost seems it never was there.

The older son was upset and screamed at the police, tried to stop them, and as a result was arrested Later today he was released.
The story is typical of what is happening in Ajami.
Many families live in what now it prime development land, close to the sea, with a lovely view. It's easy to remove poor people from their homes, especially when their reading skills aren't too developed. When they don't know their way around the bureaucracy.

The family members have nowhere to go. The handicapped child was place in foster care, the mother went to an uncle and the other three children each to another relative.
And Omar? Omar walks around in circles, crazed, in what once was his home.
I think there were tears in his eyes.

Jaffa, summer 2007