2012-09-08 

Today is Saturday, and it’s a good day for a nonviolent action here in the Occupied Territories. The meeting is at 10 am, just in front of the gate of Ma’on settlement.

While we walk through the hills in order to reach the place, we wonder about the things we should expect today. When we talk of nonviolence, we always think of a demonstration full of people who are not afraid to scream all the injustices they suffer, and demand for their right of dignity.

Once we walk down the hill, we see just one tractor, a few soldiers on the road that divides the Palestinian land and the entrance of the settlement, and few Palestinians who are sitting on the top of the hill. The aim, of course, is to work on the land.  This, however, sounds unrealistic due to the small distance between them and the Israeli settlement.

Though, there is a haunting atmosphere: there is not the deployment of Palestinians we expected to be, and the youngests of Jawwaya are standing still, far from the land they’re supposed to work on. In the middle, there is just the tractor and its driver, two Palestinian men, the owners and five Israeli Ta’ayush activists. On the other side of the road, fifteen soldiers are facing us.

The work starts, and after a few minutes things turned in the way we’ve thought: the Israeli authorities block the tractor, make a few calls and check the documents, while the Palestinians start to come closer. We already know how it is going to end: a small discussion then everybody at home, chased away by the soldiers. Today though, these documents are very relevant. The eldests stand in the front and leave the youngests beside, and wait for the verdict. It sounds like a miracle when the Israeli activist tells us that the works can go on, as all the documents fulfill the requirements.

The lawyers did a great job and the action has been very well prepared. There are very few people on the field, in order to prevent the provocations that can blow up the legal work of legitimization of a fundamental right, the right of the land.

Army jeeps, soldiers and police arrive, but we feel they are not interested in the Palestinians who are working, not even they are interested in the volunteers that document the action. The work starts now.

Suddenly, a group of settlers come out from Ma’on. First the young boys, then the adults. They march to the soldiers that divide them from the land the Palestinians are working on.

They realize it is not possible to stop the tractor, so they try to bypass the soldiers. If they get to reach the Palestinians, for sure the second ones are going to lose: the works are going to end and someone will be arrested.

The tension gets higher as the settlers shout at the soldiers and try to push them away. Today though, they are not able to go through, and the soldiers do their job -they enforce the law. Even the fews who are able to elude the authorities, are catched by the cameras of the internationals. The settlers try with every mean to annoy the Palestinians, but still the tractor is able to plow up. Then, the Palestinians safely go home and the settlers can do nothing but go back to their illegal houses, which are set on Palestinian lands.

We too we go home, and we think of what has happened today. In short: today the Palestinians have been able to work on a land that has been inaccessible for more than ten years.

Today some legal documents have prevented the illegitimate -but still possible- intrusion of the military that aimed to deny the access to the land to its legitimate owners.

The very same soldiers who often abuse their authority over the Palestinians, today they respected the Palestinian and our right to be there, protecting us from the settlers violence.

Moreover, settlers clashed orally and physically with the soldiers, breaking that conniving that often characterize them.

Pictures : http://snipurl.com/24y75x7