On the International Day of Action Against Caterpillar (April 13), a CAT D9 Armored Bulldozer works alongside an Israeli Merkava tank and other heavy equipment on the route of the Wall in Rafah.

There are some things that make you yearn for the friendly confines of the Bethlehem ghetto. As Israel surrounds Bethlehem with a Wall (a Wall of Segregation, a Wall of Apartheid, a Wall of Annexation) Israel's bulldozers and cranes are also active in other areas. This week I was in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Rafah is like another world - a horrifying, sad and dangerous world. Less than 300 meters from my friend's home in the Yebna Refugee Camp, an Israeli tank guarded a bulldozer, crane and other heavy equipment erecting additional sections of Wall between Palestinian Rafah and Egyptian Rafah.

The Wall in Rafah is constructed on Palestinian land that was once covered by the homes of Palestinian refugees. The land is now a sinister wasteland, patrolled by Israeli Merkava Tanks and Caterpillar D9 Armored Bulldozers. Sniper towers loom over the Wall, dominating the area and shooting anyone who approaches. On April 9, three Palestinian children were shot and killed when they ventured too far into this "buffer zone."

According to the Rafah Municipality, Israel has demolished approximately 4,000 Palestinian homes in Rafah since October 2000. An additional 1,500 homes have been partially demolished and more than 10,000 damaged. Around 7,000 individual Palestinian families in Rafah have lost their homes and 5,000 more families have been forced to leave their houses. The rest of Rafah wait nightly for their homes to follow suit.


Demolished homes and shops in the Al Brazil neighborhood of Rafah Refugee Camp. These ruins remain from a large-scale Israeli incursion in May of 2004 - one of many invasions of Rafah last year.

Residents of Rafah have lost approximatly $24 million worth of agricultural land to Israeli bulldozers and the municipality estimates damage of up to $16 million to roads and public infrastructure as a result of repeated Israeli invasions. There is little work in Rafah and 80% of the population is unemployed. Every man, woman and child is traumatized. It is painful to see anywhere, but especially in the children who struggle to sit still, their eyes darting from side to side, frantically waiting for the "jaysh" (Israeli soldiers) to come.

Over the past two years I have had the honor of spending several nights with friends in Rafah. There is never a night in Rafah that the town does not face a barrage of heavy caliber gunfire from Israeli tanks and sniper positions. The army sets nightly explosions underground and in homes in the buffer zone- systematically clearing more land and terrorizing the town.

Returning to Bethlehem, I walked through the checkpoint and entered the ghetto through the narrow gap in the Wall that now severs the once bustling road between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The Wall in Bethlehem is choking the city, killing the economy and imprisoning the people in a ghetto - but it could be worse.


The northern entrance to the Bethlehem ghetto. . . home sweet home.

For more information and updates from Rafah see Rafah Pundits and Rafah Today.

For more information on Caterpillar Bulldozer sales to Israel see the Electronic Intifada CAT Focus and the CAT Campaign website by A Jewish Voice for Peace.

Bethlehem is a tourist city - or rather it used to be. This is no surprise as the three main classical theist religions all find significance here. These days however visitor figures struggle between the 5-10% mark of what they used to be.

Traditionally many of the visitors are Christian pilgrims who feel the need to visit the city which is at the core of their religion. The 5-10% that still come to the area must enter through the huge concrete gates which indicate the border of the Bethlehem Ghetto. How can it be therefore that many of the pilgrims who come here have either little of no knowledge at all about the situation in this city?

Now, Im not a Christian man - yet this is not to say that I am atheist. I understand the need of these people to undertake holy pilgrimages and feel closer to their idea of God. Also, Bethlehem as a city badly needs visitors to support its choking economy. So on both of these counts, the tourists are very welcome. What I don't understand about these pilgrims is that my concept of a pilgrimage would include meeting, understanding and empathising with the local population of the place I choose as my pilgrimage site. Surely if you believe you are visiting Gods city then you would feel a desire to mix with Gods people?!

I encountered one of these groups this morning outside my office. They were just one of many groups which I have met that all have one thing in common. They had no idea about Bethlehem Christianity or the suffering of the people here. One group had even requested an armed guard to keep the local 'problems' away from them during their visit. I have lived here in this 'problem' city for over six months and the only time I feel intimidated is when I have to cross an Israeli military Check point.

One of the most common misconceptions about Palestine is that it is a Muslim country. The majority of the population are Muslim but they live side by side with the Christians here. If only the visiting Christians from the West could see how badly Israel desires to conceal this population and why. I personally do not know which of the two religions many of my friends and acquaintances here are - it makes little difference. But propaganda in the West has created the image of the 'scary Muslim Palestinian terrorist' and the 60'000 Christians obstruct this myth. Some analysts even explain the ghettoisation of the city as a deliberate attempt to eliminate this 'obstruction' by encouraging the mass exodus of the Christians.

Why am I writing this? For two reasons really. Firstly I want to say to all Christians out there, you are very welcome to come to Bethlehem and I assure you that you will be safe. Secondly, to all those who do wish to come, for Spiritual or other reasons, embark on your journey with your eyes open. Talk to the people, absorb the atmosphere, see the suffering that the Israeli state policies cause on an almost daily basis.

The PLO Negotiations Support Unit (NSU) has just issued a Press Advisory concerning imminent home demolitions in the village of Al Khader, near Bethlehem (see map). 6 Palestinian homes, a well and 2 chicken coops, in the neighborhood of Um Rukba South could be demolished at any time, leaving 58 Palestinian civilians homeless.

The demolitions will clear the area for the expansion of the illegal Israeli settlement of Efrat and its nearby settlement outposts (Giv’at HaDagan and Giv’at HaTamar). Israel’s Wall is also scheduled to slice through the area. According to the “finalized” Wall plan published by Israel on February 20, most of Um Rukba South will be inside the Bethlehem ghetto. These demolitions, however, suggest that Israel is intending to isolate the neighborhood, demolish the homes and appropriate the lands. The NSU Advisory explains:

According to this route, the Wall in Bethlehem would have dipped at least 5 km into the occupied West Bank, but most of Um Rukba South would have remained on the “Palestinian” side of the Wall. . . These targeted demolitions and nearby settlement expansion, however, suggest a different intention. Now it appears that Israel might re-route the Wall to incorporate the settler access-road, which links Efrat directly to Jerusalem (via Highway 60).

Israeli Peace Group Gush Shalom has called on people around the world to contact authorities in an attempt to stop the demolitions. Gush Shalom released these contacts:

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
Phone: +972-2-6753333 Fax: +972 2 6521599
pm_eng@pmo.gov.il

Israeli Minister of Justice Tzippi Livni
Phone: +972-2-6708511 Fax: +972 2 6285438/6288618
sar@justice.gov.il

Israeli Minister of Defence Shaul Mofaz
Phone: +972-3-5692010 Fax: +972-3-69-62757/16940/17915
sar@mod.gov.il or pniot@mod.gov

Israeli Foreign Minister Silwan Shalom
ph: +972-2-5303111 fx: +972-2-5303367
sar@mofa.gov.il

American Consulate, Jerusalem
Fax: +972-(0)2- 627-7230 keenme@state.gov

European Union, Jerusalem
Fax: + 972- (0)2-532 6249 mailto@delwbg.cec.eu.int

UN Special Coordinator, Gaza
Fax: +972-(0)8- 282-0966 unsco@palnet.com

US White House Comment Line
202-456-1111

US State Department Bureau of Public Affairs Comment Line
202-647-6575

Israeli Embassy email addresses

This is just one example of Israel’s recent colonization activities in occupied Palestine. All along the route of the Wall, Israel is forcing small changes in the plan released on February 20, taking more land for settlement expansion. As usual, it is Palestinians who are paying the price. Maybe this one can be stopped – it never hurt to try.

• Check out the NSU assessment of the "finalized" Wall route

Israel's settler extremists celebrate Purim by attacking Palestinian shepherds (photo from ISM/ei).

I've posted a couple times on the situation in Nahaleen recently, including information on Israeli settler attacks from the illegal settlement of Betar Illit. I mentioned that settler attacks have been on the rise recently. I just came across two articles on recent settler rampages. One from Khaled Amayreh in Egypt's Al Ahram Weekly and another by an activist in the International Solidarity Movement which appeared on the Electronic Intifada. An excerpt from the ei article reads:

The trouble created by mad, fundamentalist settlers, who believe in a literal interpretation of religious texts, is a well calculated part of the Israeli government's policy of colonization. The settlers, more or less knowingly, are doing the governments bidding, but also the judicial system seems very lenient when it comes to settlers. A grave example is the story of an eleven-year-old Palestinian boy, Hilmi Shusha, who was "pistol whipped" to death by a settler from Betar, on the way to Bethlehem from Hebron. . . The perpetrator was arrested, tried and acquitted on the grounds that "the child died on his own as a result of emotional pressure".

On appeal, the Israeli Supreme Court characterized the act as a "light killing", and the settler received six months of community service and a fine.

Read the articles here:

• Israel's Settler Rampage. Khaled Amayreh in Al Ahram Weekly
• Falling Through the Looking Glass in Hebron. K.L. on the Electronic Intifada

Salam Max'’s last couple posts inspired me to stay with the music theme and post this letter I wrote last week.

After we sent out our initial Bethlehem Bloggers Press Release we received a forwarded message from one of our colleagues who sent the release to a number of contacts in Israel and Palestine. The Press Release started with the line: “ "The shaheed (martyr) Tupac Shakur once wondered whether heaven has a ghetto. . .”"

Our colleague received a response from a man named Mark, a bureaucrat from the British Embassy in Israel. Mark’s e-mail was unsigned and formed all of one line:

"Why is Tupac a shaheed?"

Bethlehem Bloggers is happy to share views on politics and resistance, even when doing so requires us to throw a little light into the dark and stale prison of bureaucratic impotence. So I drafted the following note to our friend Mark:


Dear Mark,

Thank you for your interest in Bethlehem Bloggers and thank you for your considerate and elegant response to our Press Release. I am always more than happy to help friendly bureaucrats, such as yourself, understand some of the many nuances which color the world the rest of us live in. You ask, why is Tupac a shaheed? Let me try to explain.

Tupac Amaru Shakur was the son of a Black Panther . He grew up in a politically charged community in the poverty of ghettos from Brooklyn to Oakland. He died when he was 26 years old. His murder has never been properly investigated.

Tupac’'s lyrics are full of references to the ghetto. This was one reason that we chose to cite him in our Press Release. His experience as an African American growing up in US ghettos draws certain distinct parallels with the experience of many Palestinian kids growing up in Israel’i-created ghettos in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Israel itself. But growing up in the ghetto does not, of course, automatically make someone a shaheed.

There are several ways to view Tupac’'s martyrdom . The first theory of Tupac’'s murder holds that he, like so many Palestinian martyrs, was killed by government security forces . Tupac is the most influential artist in recent US history. His lyrical skill has never been matched and he burst into popularity as hip-hop culture took over, not just in America’s ghettos, but in (mostly white) suburbs and small towns as well.


Two artists, two shuhada: Grafitti of Tupac Shakur in the Bronx, New York and Ghassan Kanafani in Deheishah Refugee Camp, Bethlehem

The immense popularity of hip-hop (which has always been an African American folk style) produced a backlash in “"well-bred”" (racist) white culture and Tupac was one of the main targets of “white fear. The danger that Tupac represented was never his irresponsible, party-all-night attitude, but rather his poignant and strong political consciousness. Songs like Trapped, Soulja’s Story, Brenda’s Got A Baby, Keep Ya Head Up, So Many Tears, Dear Mama, Life Goes On, White Man’'s World, I Wonder if Heaven Got a Ghetto, This Ain’'t Livin'’, My Block, They Don’t Give a Fuck About Us, Never B Peace and Panther Power, among others, tell stories of the ghetto war zone on America’s sensitive underbelly and portray a future where the people can rise up to overthrow the powerful and create the conditions for real peace.

Tupac, the most popular artist in the US, rapped about the ghetto, revolution and reconciliation. Three things that are very threatening to the US elite. For these reasons, many believe that a government counter-insurgency unit ordered and carried out the hit on Tupac Shakur, making him a shaheed in the fullest sense of the term. As usual, he said it best himself:

On the streets or on TV
It just don't pay to be, a truth tellin’ MC
They won't be happy 'til I'm banned
The most dangerous weapon: an educated black man
(Rebel of the Underground)

The second theory into Tupac’'s martyrdom posits that he was killed because of feuding in the hip-hop community and the East vs. West grudge match he fell into later in his career. This version is disputed by most rap artists and hip-hop historians, but let us give it the benefit of the doubt.

The East vs. West feud in hip-hop was purposely inflated by record companies in order to sell CDs. The companies used the animosity of the artists to swell their own pockets and blow the feud out of proportion.

In fact, the role of the record companies in the East vs. West conflict in hip-hop, draws certain parallels to the role of many western governments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If we examine closely the role of the US and British governments, for instance, we see that there are ample opportunities to end the occupation of Palestine and reach a just resolution to the conflict. These opportunities, however, have never been attempted. Not once has the US or Great Britian threatened to end military aid to Israel. Not once has either government threatened to cut diplomatic ties.

In fact, the opposite is true. The US and Great Britain have maintained ever warmer relations with Israel, selling huge amounts of weapons for use against Palestinian civilians in the ghettos of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The increasing amount of commercial ties between western nations and Israel benefits the corporate elite at the price of thousands of lives - both Palestinian and Israeli.

Like Tupac, who was caught up in a feud exploited by corporate interests for their own profits, thousands of Palestinian and Israeli youth are in the middle of a twisted game of world domination and corporate profit played by the world’'s economic and military powers. In my opinion, almost everyone that dies in this conflict is a martyr. We have only to look at the reality of the situation, however, to understand that Palestinians are paying the harshest price for US and British profits.

The primary reason we chose to reference Tupac in our Press Release, however, was not his martyrdom, but his message. The question we cited - whether heaven has a ghetto - frames the dire situation that exists in Palestinian ghettos such as Bethlehem. Tupac'’s lyrics speak of the struggles faced by youth growing up in the ghetto, but he also provides a potent vision of an alternate reality.

Tupac'’s classic track, Changes, is one of the most influential hip-hop songs of all time:

I see no changes
All I see is racist faces
misplaced hate makes disgrace to races
We under,
I wonder what it takes to make this
One better place,
Let's erase the wasted
Take the evil out the people they'll be acting right
'cause both black and white is smokin' crack tonight
and the only time we chill is when we kill each other
it takes skill to be real, time to heal each other. . .

We gotta make a change...

It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes.
Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live
and let's change the way we treat each other.
You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do
what we gotta do, to survive. . .

The message of Changes is one of desperate hope and ultimate reconciliation. The song captures the kind of sentiment I have witnessed on countless occasions in Palestinian ghettos from Rafah to Bethlehem. I can’t say that Tupac was speaking for Palestinians when he wrote these words, but I am sure there is something shared in their experience which leads many to similar conclusions. For instance, Palestinian lyricist Tamer Nafer has this to say in the song Born Here:

This is a hunting season the prey is one more home
Of a dove trying to survive under the hawk’s regime
lets try something more optimistic:
each day I wake up and see like a 1000 cops
maybe they came to arrest a dealer…
(he’s over here, over here, oh no they came to destroy his neighbor’s home)
what is happening here?
A hate bubble surrounding the ghetto. . .
Anywhere I go, excuses are there to greet me
I broke the law?
No, no the law broke me

The frustration in Nafer’'s words also contains an implicit challenge to address him and his community in a different way. If the challenge is not met, there is a threat that he will be left to act in the only way he is allowed- as a criminal. In Everything They Owe , Tupac makes the same point:

Supreme ideology, you claim to hold
Claimin' that we all drug dealers with empty souls
That used to tempt me to roll, commit to violence
In the midst of an act of war, witnesses left silent
Shatter, black talon style, thoughts I throw
It remains in your brain then of course it grows
Maybe, even your babies can produce and rise
Picture a life where black babies can survive past five
But we must have hope, quotin'’ the reverend from the pulpit
Refuse to turn the other cheek we must defeat the evil culprit
Lace me with words of destruction and I'll explode
but supply me with the will to survive, and watch the world grow

In conclusion, I submit that we must all meet this challenge. The ghettos of Palestine are as much a creation of US and British corporate greed as they are of Israeli colonialism and racism. It is up to all of us to shift this paradigm and to create a reality where the ghetto can realize its hope instead of being forced to explode. Break your bureaucratic chains. Don’t reproduce exploitation, join us in fighting it.

End British support for Israel’'s occupation. Free Palestine. And get the hell out of Iraq!

Hutt Al Nasr-

Shihad
Bethlehem Bloggers


More Resources:

• Download Tupac Shakur’'s Changes
• Download music from Tamer Nafer, DAM and other Palestinian hip-hoppers
• View the trailer from the upcoming film Slingshot Hip-Hop: The Palestinian Lyrical Front
• Download music from Palestinian-American rapper The Iron Sheik
• Download music from Palestinian-American rappers The Philistines