WEBVTT - On The Ground In Palestine, Part 1 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:07.240 All Zone media. 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:08.920 Hello and welcomed to It could happen here. This is 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:11.680 Sharene and today is part one of a two part 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:13.960 series where we talked to someone who was on the 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:17.000 ground in Palestine, in both Lesse and the West Bank. 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:19.400 I'm going to say Lesday because that's how you say 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:22.960 in Arabic, but that means gaza for those who are unfamiliar. 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:26.759 Ever since Israel began bombing the people of Lesa in 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:30.760 October of last year, it has been virtually impossible for 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:34.599 AID to get into Lesse. Both the Israeli government and 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:38.760 its citizens, acting on their own initiative, have blocked AID convoys, 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:43.000 destroyed life saving medical and food aid, and harassed people 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:47.280 for supplying aid. AID workers who even can get into 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:51.320 Rasse have been bombed, shot at and killed. And it's 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:55.320 not just AID that can't get into Lessee. It's extraordinarily 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:59.240 hard for information to even get out. Cell Phone signal 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.760 is scarce, and understandably people there use it to contact 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:06.960 their families, not foreign journalists. So to get a good 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:08.960 sense of what life is like on the ground. In 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:11.560 the Dafa, we spoke to Ava, one of the mutual 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:14.800 aid volunteers who at great risk to her own life, 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:17.240 traveled into lesday to help the people there. 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:21.600 My name is Ava. I am a nurse and street medic. 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:26.800 I'm Jewish of European ancestry and was raised in Pacific Northwest, 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:30.880 on the traditional lands of the Chinook, Tualitan and Clackamas 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.440 and many other First nations what is commonly called Portland organ. 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:38.200 Ava was able to send us some voice notes describing 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:40.840 her day to day back in April. She told us 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:44.920 what she saw, what she experienced, what she heard. Understandably, 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:47.200 there is some background noise in some of this audio, 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:49.720 but I personally think it helps ground us in the 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:51.320 moment that she's experiencing. 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:56.680 So here I am the morning of Friday, April nineteenth. 0:01:57.120 --> 0:01:59.559 This is the start of my second day in Lazza. 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:05.560 I spent a full day yesterday at Aja Hospital in 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:10.760 the emergency department, getting introduced to the staff there. The work, 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:18.320 the equipment, the patterns of illness and injury, the shortages, struggles, 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:23.400 the pain, the happiness is really quite beautiful and hard, 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:29.480 and a mashup of everything I've experienced in occupation, things 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:32.280 I've experienced as a new nurse to a floor, and 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:36.440 things I haven't experienced before, which is being a site 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:41.480 of an active war zone and genocide. Ajar Hospital is 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:47.840 located very close to the Rafa border crossing. It's also, 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:50.800 I guess, one of the areas more heavily impacted by 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:56.200 violence right now in Rafa, which is still much less 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:59.520 so than areas to the north like Communis, et cetera. 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.240 We asked Ava to explain the situation in the Dapha 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:04.760 at the time of this recording and where she was 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:08.320 within it. The following conversation with Ava took place on 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:09.280 April twenty ninth. 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:13.880 I mean, I will first locate myself on Cla, which 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:17.480 is the only part of Flaza that I have ever seen, 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:21.440 and I have only been in the Gaza during the 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:25.079 last two weeks. I've been in Palestine twice. This is 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:28.359 my first time in this area, and I haven't seen 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.160 Adina Haza. I haven't seen a hone yness. I haven't 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:34.680 seen the destruction up there, and I think that that 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:37.640 is from the people who I have met who are 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:41.440 refugees from those areas, healthcare workers, members of the public. 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:47.840 There's really uh oh yeah, that's just a moto. Sorry. 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.160 There's a lot of rumblings and things that happened periodically, 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:54.120 and a lot of them are explosions that I think 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:57.360 is just a motor but yeah, I mean it's it's 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:02.600 really interesting because I arrived at a when food stuffs 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:05.320 had just started to cross in a little bit more regularly, 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:08.600 and I was told that basically in the week before, 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.600 like street markets had reoccurred, which hadn't been a thing 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:15.800 for months, And that's like a big part of my 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:19.000 experience in the West Bank. And so it was really 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:20.960 great to see people, even if it was just like 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:23.599 a little bit of food selling food on the street. 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:27.719 Starting to see bread being baked and distributed, seeing people 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:31.840 out and about was exciting. There is rampant signs of 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:35.600 destruction everywhere. There are lots of standing buildings, but there 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:41.479 are lots of piles of rubble in streets the sites 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:45.360 of former buildings. People have done a remarkable job clearing space, 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:50.320 but there's sense of destruction everywhere, and I think in 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:54.200 some ways the most painful sites are where buildings aren't 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:59.360 completely destroyed and you can see into people's bedrooms, kitchens, 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:03.080 bathroom and things like that, see artwork still hanging, seek 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:07.320 fragrants of their homes and lives. There are tent cities everywhere. 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:10.839 I am currently speaking to from within a house that 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:14.560 is one of the houses that are rented by NGOs 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:19.359 in the area from generally people who have managed to 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:23.800 escape that'sa and who are renting their homes for a 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:27.320 bit of income and to decrease the likelihood their house 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:31.520 will be bombed. And in this particular house, we're in 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:34.360 the neighborhood of Tel Sutan, and there are tense cities 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:37.240 all around us. So it's one of those weird situations 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:41.760 of staying in a somewhat palatial home where there are 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:48.039 people sleeping in very rudimentary tents and structures, sometimes completely 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:52.359 uncovered in one hundred plus degree weather. I think the 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:54.280 highest temperatures we've seen where a couple of days where 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:56.840 it was about four to eight degrees centigrade, which is 0:05:56.839 --> 0:06:00.840 about one o seven fahrenheit. There are a lot of 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.159 sick people, a lot of struggling people. 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:09.120 Longtime listeners of the podcast will remember our interview with 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:12.400 Tadic Lobani, one of the inventors of the three D 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:15.880 printed tourniquet, as well as the founder of Glia, a 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:19.960 medical aid charity. Ava, who was also a medical professional, 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:21.159 is working with them. 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:26.040 I've been working with an organization called Glia that works 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:32.240 with primary care clinics and with maternity and like natal clinics, 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:34.760 and has also been starting to work with at least 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:37.680 one emergency department. And I've been working at the hospital 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:41.520 al Naja, which is used to basically be a community 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:48.240 tertiary hospital with basically an urgent care clinic, that has 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:53.960 basically become the only remaining general public emergency department in 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:57.839 the RAA. There are other there's like an maternity emergency department, 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:01.240 hospital department, there's an emergency department run by MSF and 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:02.800 like these other ones, but like this is the only 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.880 general public one. And I've been there just you know, 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:09.320 for two weeks most every day to day off when 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:10.720 I was sick and took off the day to day 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.520 to see some different parts of some other clinics, which 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:15.640 is really good comparison. 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:18.880 We asked Ava what kind of injuries she sees and 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:21.360 what the medical situation is like in the l's. 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:25.160 But I will say that it's wild the variety of 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:28.360 you know, injuries and illnesses that you'll see in that space. 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:32.360 That is true of any emergency department. But depending on 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:35.040 the hours, I have foundering the day. Most of the 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:40.720 illnesses and injuries are more usual except exacerbated by the 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:44.679 lack of resources, lack of primary caricter resources la celebated 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:49.040 by the lack of medications, exacerbated by the lack of 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:57.880 clean water and sanitation. Occasionally injuries like from bombings or 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:02.520 shootings at night when I have not been there. I 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:07.120 have heard of many missile strikes, whype, we got entire families, 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:10.960 large numbers of people murdered. I have seen, you know, 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:14.160 several people killed in that way come to the emergency deburbon, 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:18.560 but in no way representative of what's been happening, and 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:21.320 it's been a vi all account better these weeks than 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:25.400 it has been before, though number of missile strikes and 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:28.760 things are kind of increasing. There has been word given 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:31.520 that there is likely going to be evacuation orders starting 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.439 in the next in this next few days to a 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:38.839 week from the Israelis, but no signs of an immediate inclusion. 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.920 That said, we don't know. Most people are pretty hopeful 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:46.680 of that that I've talked to, that a ceasefire will 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:50.160 be reached, although it's unclear what that would mean. But 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:53.120 I can say from my time working in these hospitals 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:56.600 that and just being in the community that like most 0:08:56.600 --> 0:08:58.840 people are hanging on by a thread, whether they have 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:04.120 just gotten something very loosely resembling a hint of stability, 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.160 of like having a place where they are having access 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:10.880 to food. There are children playing, there are you know, 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:13.120 some some of the signs of life that I'm used 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:18.240 to seeing in Palestine. There are emergency departments that are 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:22.040 somewhat functional. They're like my colleague is working at a 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:25.040 NICU where it's always full, but they are able to 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:27.520 care for the babies that are there, even not as 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:29.280 well as they would like to, but like they are 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:33.520 able to if this population is displaced again, which is 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:37.240 what the Israelis are suggesting in this case, towards con 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:39.240 units which they've leveled, and they are trying to get 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.560 the international community to set up ten cities there. That 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:45.840 will kill a lot of people, that will tear apart 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:49.600 a lot of what little people had left. So very 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:54.640 very difficult in that way. That said, it's also more 0:09:54.640 --> 0:10:00.000 alive than I expected. There's more signs of daily life, 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:05.040 life of children playing, of people making and serving coffee 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:09.319 in the street of a couple of bakerries are producing 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:11.920 you know, all those pieces like flawhel SAMs like those 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:16.640 things exist coast of food or atrocious We don't, you know, 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.480 buy food here, but I'm aware of some of the prices, 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:21.520 and they are much higher than they would be in 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:24.920 the West Bank, where food is you know, not on Embarco. 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:28.600 For those who aren't super familiar, the West Bank refers 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:31.840 to the West Bank of Jordan. It stretches across the 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:34.560 eastern border of Israel, along the west banks of the 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:37.800 Jordan River and most of the Dead Sea. It was 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:41.400 designated as its own region when Israel established itself and 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:44.679 ethnically cleansed Palestine in nineteen forty eight, but it has 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:48.679 been eaten away to a massive amount. In nineteen sixty seven, 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.480 it was occupied during the Six Day War, and during 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:55.400 the nineteen seventies and eighties, Israel began establishing settlements there, 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:59.440 which was and is still illegal under international law, and 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:04.079 even with protests from the international community, Israel continues still 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:09.320 today to establish settlements on Palestinian land. The first major 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:13.480 Arab uprising aka the First Intifada, also referred to as 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:17.120 the Stone Intifada, began in nineteen eighty seven in the 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:20.160 Gaza Strip and spread to the West Bank. It ended 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:22.720 in nineteen ninety three with the signing of the First 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:27.880 Oslo Accords. The Second Intifada, also known as the Usa Antifada, 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:32.559 was another major Arab uprising by Palestinians against the Israeli occupation. 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:37.120 During the twenty tens, the Fatah dominated Palestinian authority worked 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:40.560 toward establishing itself as an independent government in the urban 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:43.720 Palestinian areas of the West Bank. At the same time, 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:48.640 Israel expanded its settlement activity in the territory. FUTA, formerly 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:53.080 the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist and 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:57.560 social democratic political party. It is the largest faction of 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:01.800 the confederated multi party Palestine Life Biation Organization and the 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:06.400 second largest party in the Palestinian Legislative Council. PATTA has 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:09.920 been closely identified with the leadership of its founder and chairman, 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:13.080 Yasser Arafat, who was elected chairman of the PLO in 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:16.360 Cairo in February nineteen sixty nine until his death in 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:38.160 two thousand and four. In May twenty twenty one, Palestinian 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.280 families in Schechestradra, a neighborhood and occupied East Jerusalem began 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:45.640 protesting against Israel's plan to forcibly evict them from their 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:49.280 homes to make way for Jewish settlers. Many of the 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.800 families were refugees who had settled in Schechtradra after being 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:56.120 forcibly displaced around the time of Israel's establishment as a 0:12:56.120 --> 0:13:00.240 state in nineteen forty eight. Since Israel occupied the East 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:02.600 Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank in nineteen 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:07.000 sixty seven, Palestinians and Schechterrara had been continuously targeted by 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:12.920 Israeli authorities, who used discriminatory laws to systematically dispossess Palestinians 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:16.160 of their land and homes for the benefit of Jewish Israelis. 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:19.840 The events of May twenty twenty one were emblematic of 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:23.720 the oppression which Palestinians have faced every day for decades. 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:28.440 The discrimination, the dispossession, and the repression of descent, the 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:31.400 killings and injuries, they are all a part of a 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:34.680 system which is designed to privilege Jewish Israelis at the 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:38.920 expense of Palestinians. This is apartheid, which is, as you 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:42.880 should know, prohibited an international law. In twenty twenty one, 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:47.160 Amnesty International reported that Israel imposes a system of oppression 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:51.320 and domination against Palestinians across all areas under its control 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:56.160 in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, and against Palestinian 0:13:56.160 --> 0:14:01.600 refugees in order to benefit Israelis laws, policies, and practices 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:05.079 which are intended to maintain a violent system of control 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:11.400 over Palestinians have left them fragmented geographically and politically, frequently impoverished, 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:14.280 and in a constant state of fear and insecurity, with 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:18.640 no freedom of movement or freedom's period. And then there's 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:21.960 Israel's Apartheid Wall, which began as a fence along the 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:25.320 border between the West Bank and what is called Israel. 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:28.440 It was first constructed by Israel in nineteen seventy one 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:31.840 as a security barrier and it has been rebuilt and 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:35.600 upgraded since. It was constructed by Israel to control the 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:39.120 movement of the Palestinian population as well as goods between 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:42.760 the Gaza Strip and Israel. So that's some history on 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:46.320 the West Bank, and just for some context, twenty twenty 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:50.120 three was the deadliest year for Palestinians since the United 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:55.080 Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs AOCHA began 0:14:55.200 --> 0:15:00.560 recording casualties in two thousand and five. Since the Gaza genocide, 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:03.240 Israel has stepped up military raids in the West Bank, 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:06.400 where violence had already been surging for over a year. 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:11.080 UN records show that Israeli forces or settlers have killed 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:14.400 hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank since October seventh. 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:17.680 In twenty twenty three, at least five hundred and seven 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:22.160 Palestinians were killed, including at least eighty one children. Between 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:26.040 October seventh and December thirty first, twenty twenty three, two 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.800 hundred and ninety nine Palestinians were killed in the West Bank, 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.600 marking a fifty percent increase compared to the first nine 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:36.280 months of the year. According to the World Health Organization, 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:40.960 since October seventh, four hundred and seventy four Palestinians, including 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.080 one hundred and sixteen children, have been killed in the 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:48.600 West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, and about five thousand 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:52.880 were injured. There are many days where Israeli forces killed Palestinians, 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:54.680 but I'm going to refer to a couple just to 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:58.440 give you a general idea of the violence the Palestinians experience. 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:01.200 On March twenty five, first, there was a day when 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:05.160 Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in separate incidents in the 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:08.560 occupied West Bank, resulting in ten Palestinians killed in the 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:12.240 territory over a twenty four hour period. This was reported 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:17.040 by the Palestinian news agency WEFA. On April twentieth, Israeli 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:20.800 forces killed fourteen Palestinians during a raid in the occupied 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:24.160 West Bank, including an ambulance driver who was killed as 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:26.800 he went to pick up wounded Palestinians from a separate 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:32.800 attack by violent Israeli settlers. Erica Guavera Rosas, Amnesty International's 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:36.160 director of Global Research, Advocacy and Policy. 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:39.640 Said under the cover of the relentiss bombardment and atrosty 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:44.720 crimes in Gaza, Israeli forces have unleashed unlawful lethal force 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:48.880 against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, carrying out unlawful 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:52.880 killings and displaying a chilling disregard for Palestinian lives. These 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:56.320 unlawful killings are in blatant violation of international human rights 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.160 law and are committed with impunity in the context of 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:05.840 maintaining iss institutionalized regime, the systematic oppression and domination over Palestinians. 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:19.160 Because Ava has experience in both clus in the West Bank. 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:22.000 I wanted to ask what she witnessed while in the 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:25.040 West Bank. Here's Ava telling us about her experience. 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:28.960 Specifically, I was working with the International Solidarity Movement, which 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.359 is the same group I worked with when I was 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:35.240 in Palestine twelve years ago. And that's basically exactly what 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:38.960 it sounds like. It's a vaguely anarchist and her socialist 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:43.480 and our communist informed assembly of most the internationals with 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:47.960 this s mattering of Palestinians and a couple Israeli activists. 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:52.159 I was in the West Bank this round from the 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:57.000 end of January until I came to Gaza, which was 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:00.560 halfway through April, so basically two and a half months. 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:04.880 Most people who volunteer there it's anywhere from like two 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:07.440 or three weeks to two or three months. Because of 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:11.120 tourist visa last that long, and that's usually the most 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:14.959 you can expect. During this time I was there, Ism 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:19.280 and other solidarity organizations got to be a topic of 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:23.200 much discussion in the Israelikan essets, as they got very 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:26.240 excited about the dangerous anarchists in the South. There's a 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:28.280 lot of interesting converisons between the West Bank and. 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:31.760 Gaza, Palestinian people are divided by the State of Israel 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:35.320 into two areas, with two separate governments and two different 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:39.000 experiences of occupation. We asked Ava what people in Redsiday 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:41.439 had to say about the situation for those living in 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:45.360 the West Bank, where settler colonialism spreads every single day. 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:48.959 Maybe I'll start VI saying, when I rolled into Gaza 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:51.680 and met members from the Health of Ministry and like 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:54.119 they're like, oh, you speak some Arabic, particular in Arabic, 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:55.600 and I was like in the West Bank and they're like, oh, 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:59.439 it's so hard there. And I was like really, and 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:01.679 they were like, yeah, you know, I mean obviously, like 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:04.119 the war, which is what they call the genocide you 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:07.320 usually hear too, has been very hard, but like before that, 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.960 like they have to live under a different version of 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:14.199 occupation or direct version of occupation every day. And I 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:17.760 thought that that just like touched something intense in me 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:20.920 and like was really like a big I don't know, 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:23.280 it just affected me a lot. But as far as 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.160 like comparisons, there are parts of the West Bank that 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.160 feel independent, that you feel like, oh, I'm in an 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:32.840 area that is, you know where ostensibly are not supposed 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:35.159 to see Israelis, and if they are there, they're like 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:38.600 my friend who just lives in, you know, lives with 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:41.520 her husband who's Palestinian, and they hang out there and 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:45.399 are fine most of the time. But a lot of 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:47.600 these areas that I spent almost of my time are 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:54.520 areas where there's more direct contact constantly between settlers, soldiers 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:58.440 and the Palestinian community who are often in those areas, 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:02.840 like we're in rural and it's like a very different 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:06.000 scale of genocide. I often talk about that as like 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:08.720 a slower genocide, and this is a faster genocide here 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:13.160 in Gassa, but it's like no less horrible. It ends 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:16.720 up being like a person a person, and like parcel 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:20.320 of land, a parcel of land Palestinian heard of sheep 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:23.800 is rarely heard of sheep, herd of sheep, And it 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:26.240 sounds like very parallel, except that the Palestinians have been 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:29.280 shepherding there for generations or hundreds of years. And the 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:33.800 settlers there, some of them, most of them are like teenagers, 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:36.440 war dropouts and like get in trouble all the time, 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:38.440 and then they're brought up there at this community service 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:40.879 and some of them know how to shepherd, and some 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:42.840 of them don't, but they use it as an opportunity 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:46.200 to graze their animals on like Palasinian wheat fields. 0:20:46.800 --> 0:20:50.600 Settler colonialism isn't just a vague concept or a way 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:53.800 of looking at the past in Palestine. It's something that 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:59.159 happens almost every single day. The violent displacement of Palestinian people, 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:02.439 which began with the Nekba, has never really stopped, and 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:05.400 the families in the West Bank experience their own nekbas 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:08.800 every time their land is stolen. That's why volunteers like 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:12.240 Ava go there to be in solidarity with the Palestinian people. 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:15.480 We asked Ava what the process of appropriation looks like 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:16.320 on the ground. 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:23.320 They stand somewhere, get confrontational with the Palestinians, with the international, 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:27.080 and it's really solidarity activists. They get the police to 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:32.040 and soldiers who arrest people and harass people. They occasionally 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:36.280 fire at and sometimes kill or sairly injure Palestinians, less 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:43.480 commonly at jenab Or. It's really octivists. After the seventh 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:47.680 all across the West Bank. Initially, a lot of the settlers, 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:50.000 as I understand I, responded by kind of clamping down 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:53.359 security concerns and then very quickly turned it into an 0:21:53.359 --> 0:21:56.320 opportunity for attack and turned up at villages like the 0:21:56.400 --> 0:21:59.119 village of Zenuta and just were like which had like 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:01.879 about one hundred fanms and was like, you don't leave, 0:22:01.920 --> 0:22:05.160 We're going to kill you all. And so people left 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:07.240 and it was a credible threat and they did kill 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:09.600 a lot of people. I think that's the largest village 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:13.320 I've heard of recently. They disappeared other places. People ran 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:17.240 away and their homes were destroyed, their animals were taken. 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:21.920 People come back and their cars get torched. They get 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:26.920 arrested on no charges and held for longer than ever 0:22:27.359 --> 0:22:30.880 and in many cases or torture to death. I have 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:33.160 a friend and comrade that I organized up a little 0:22:33.160 --> 0:22:36.600 bit who was in Janine at the start, right after 0:22:36.600 --> 0:22:41.680 October seventh, and she witnessed truly horrific you know, targeted 0:22:41.760 --> 0:22:45.960 killings by drone strikes and other things, and basically fled 0:22:46.040 --> 0:22:51.120 south so she would be okay and physically. So that's 0:22:51.119 --> 0:22:54.040 some of what has happened. Most of the villages that 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:58.359 historically have had the like nonviolent weekly protests, which a 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:01.239 lot of people who in the past and volunteered like 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:04.760 as you know, internationals, we'll have experience with and like 0:23:04.800 --> 0:23:08.000 there's a lot of the popular images of like youth 0:23:08.240 --> 0:23:11.280 in Kafias during stones or at some of those sites. 0:23:11.880 --> 0:23:16.720 Since October seventh, almost all of the villages stopped as 0:23:16.720 --> 0:23:19.080 far as I know, because it was too dangerous. When 0:23:19.119 --> 0:23:21.400 I arrived, I was told all of the villages had stopped. 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:23.480 But then we found out part way that there was 0:23:23.480 --> 0:23:27.199 a village that was having protests kofor Katum on the 0:23:27.240 --> 0:23:30.320 northern half of the West Make and it turns out 0:23:30.359 --> 0:23:34.480 when I went there, they'd never stopped. They protested each week. 0:23:34.480 --> 0:23:37.040 They did scale back what their goals were because whereas 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:39.320 in the past they had been many of them had 0:23:39.320 --> 0:23:44.160 been shot with lve ammunition like twenty two caliber rifles. 0:23:44.880 --> 0:23:49.000 Since the seventh it basically became all land ammunition. And 0:23:49.240 --> 0:23:52.320 only by the grace of God or luck were none 0:23:52.359 --> 0:23:55.440 of them murtyred in that time because the soldiers were 0:23:55.440 --> 0:23:59.439 not shooting at ankles as is the conventional guidance. I 0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:02.439 saw video of them shooting into buildings, into homes, shooting 0:24:02.520 --> 0:24:04.480 at head height, things like that, and like the week 0:24:04.520 --> 0:24:06.240 before I went, but guy was shot in the face 0:24:06.280 --> 0:24:09.680 and he only survived because it deflected down through his 0:24:09.760 --> 0:24:14.760 Johns diadive into his skull. So they've experienced a lot 0:24:14.800 --> 0:24:18.080 of severe oppression there. There's been hundreds killed in the 0:24:18.080 --> 0:24:21.680 West Bank just since October seventh. There is active fighting 0:24:21.880 --> 0:24:25.359 in parts of the north of like kind of Jinine 0:24:25.640 --> 0:24:29.040 and I think until Karen and some other places between 0:24:29.080 --> 0:24:34.600 some armed resistance and Surli soldiers. But it's definitely not 0:24:34.640 --> 0:24:37.520 at the same scale as in Laza, and there aren't 0:24:37.560 --> 0:24:40.879 like active bombs falling on people. But it's you know, 0:24:41.040 --> 0:24:45.359 still murderous. It's still driving people out, it's still squeezing 0:24:45.400 --> 0:24:47.320 people to they either lash out or leave. 0:24:48.200 --> 0:24:51.200 I mean, it's it honestly sounds like just a repeat 0:24:51.880 --> 0:24:54.000 in some way of the Nekaba, you know, like that's 0:24:54.000 --> 0:24:57.520 just what happened. It is a little maybe a little slower, like. 0:24:57.480 --> 0:25:00.600 You said, like a slower genocide, right, Yeah, it never 0:25:00.640 --> 0:25:03.679