{Email Content}Date:

Sun, 14 Sep 2003 12:45:44 -0600

hi everybody, greetings from Old Jerusalem. i hope this finds you all
in good health and spirits.

things here are cool, i have found the people i need to and am gettin alot of info on the situation here. i changed my hotel to a hostel, its alot better, cool people who are mostly here for the same reasons as me {religous pilgrims of course} and i got 2 books to start studying more Arabic.

i got lost again today, so that was good-smile.
its pretty hot here. there is free e-mail at this hostel, before i was
going to a cafe, its about $2.50 an hour, not bad, though this one is actueally
much faster.

Last night i went to take photos of the Dome of the Rock over
the Wailing Wall, it was very beautiful, so beautiful that i left my
camera bag there and now its gone. this is a huge blow of course, i lost
everything but the camera itself, which i luckily had in my stupid paws.so i
lost the voice recorder, both computer plugs, all my extra memory chips and all directions. this is a huge disappointment for me as i was so excited
to do interviews, send back digital photos etc. i have screwed my great
friend
Josiah who was ready to do the website and then a film of sorts when i
got home, using my audio and pictures. i am so sorry Bro, i don't know
what else to say, i just plain forgot it, then it was gone. Triage this and
tell me what to do to salvage projects, i'm still down. next time we're
comingtogether media man, cause i know you wouldn't have done that. again, i am sorry, its a huge disappointment . there is a fighting chance that
there will be equiptment where i get sent to. lets hope so.
anyway, i can't think about that too much or i get mad at myself.

yesterday i went with an Israeli man to a Peace Now! demonstration.
that is an Israeli group calling for a return to the '67 borders, i had read
about them back home. it was rather depressing, like our protests at home
are, aboiut 30 people were there. Sound familiar? They said they have
considerable support but folks are afraid to speak up due to extremism
from the far right. i just left a situaTION like that, if i'm not
misstaken. "western democracy" is not worth exporting if thats the best we can do. a few years ago a settler threw a grenade into their demo, killing one.
on another occasion near a settlement, an elderly female Holocaust
survivor was punched in the face, beaten to the ground and had her wrist broken, all by Settlers {most of whom are from NYC- which is true}. we were luckier, the man who attacked the demo last night didn't use lethal force. he stood across the street and threw eggs, lots of eggs, one after the other,
calmly, i watched him the whole time, looking into his eyes, and dodging his
volley of eggs.. we were only a bout 50 yards from Sharon's official
quarters, so there was incredible security. there were a few soldiers loosely
guarding the demo, they gave chase, but this guy was fast, we watched him run towards Sharon's house, he jumped a fence into the street, with soldiers close behind, when they caught up he hit one and continued running,other
soldiers tackled him {tackled him well i might add-...smile} and this all
happened in 25 seconds. security guards from Sharon's house poured out with Uzi's, not sure what the disturbance was. they are incredibly intimidating folks, i observed. Secret Service equivalent. My Israeli companion told me that the only charges the guy would face was for hitting the soldier.
i don't look forward to dealing with the Settlers, but i do have my
newest t-shirt in mind,{they tell Westerners to "go home" } "Dear American
Settlers, i'll go home if you will." How dare they come here and
initiate so much violence? they are the extremists who are getting real
Israelis killed, and forcing the hardline stance that results in Apartheid.
they have everyone by the throat, including sane Israelis.
they carry guns everywhere. In Hebron 500 settlers have created a
situation where 50,000 Palestinians are under strict curfew, settlers take 10
soldiers with them when they leave the house. Many of the soldiers hate it of
course. Imagine that, 50,000 caged like animals so that 500 New
Yorkers can waltz around, acting out a bizarre, Old Testament era wet dream. What is that situation if its not colonialism?
Also, they have disallowed Palestinian businesses in Hebron to open
their doors.....period. the long term political goal is obvious, if not
officially stated, break them financially so they'll sell and hopefully
move [to where though?}. that just ain't the way to treat folks, not in any
situation.

We , as the funders of ALL of this need to really
re-evaluate our opinions on who exactly is on the offensive. the people of Hebron are not on the offensive, they are on house arrest. i'm going there this week to check it out for myself. Cassie said that some things i said reminded her of a trip to Occupied Ireland, i thought that was a great observation, one i had never really thought of. it would be very interesting to compare Thatcher's or Major's old quotes on Irish resistance and compare them to Israeli and American depictions of Palestinians. They discredit them by calling them terrorists, but who puts forth the bulk of the violence, who creates and heats up the situation, who actively kills Peace Plans to ensure that they won't have to give an inch? The occupier, of course. Could anyoine
actually believe that the Palestinans actively seek out confrontation
with the Israeli military, one of the 10 strongest in the world? a nuclear
power, mind you. With what? With rocks? With slingshots? With falafel?
Half this story has never been told.
Friends, if you love or even care about Israel, as i do, we must
realize that they will NEVER have peace in this situa tion, it simply defies
the human spirit. What are the Palestinians supposed to do.. ? If you love
Israel you must oppose the settlements....actively, with votes and phone
calls and simply having the courage to call a spade a spade, even if
its not popular {yet}, even if they call you an Anti-Semite {which you are
not}, even if you feel more cultural affinity with Jews than Muslims.

When we tiptoe around these issues and bite our tongues out of empathy for the Holocaust and bus bombings etc, we aren't doing anyone any favors.
keeping truths from people is not a favor, it simply prolongs the mutual
horrors of this situation. We've been lied to, friends. more soon
Yours In Struggle,
Ben