Sukkos in Central Park
Pictures from JATO Sukkos Demonstration in Central Park 9/1401
May we lie down in peace and awaken to life
May the sukkah of peace be spread over us…
This week we celebrate Sukkos, rejoicing in the earth’s abundance and remembering our ancestors’ years of wandering as refugees. We leave the comfort of our homes for temporary shelters and invite friends and strangers to share our meals and companionship.
As we recall our history of displacement, let us remember the Palestinian refugees still seeking a return to their homes – still exiled in our names after more than half a century – and let us commit ourselves to the struggle for justice and peace in Palestine and Israel.
Refugees
For 54 years, Palestinians driven from their homes and land during and after the creation of the state of Israel have been living in ‘temporary shelters,’ deprived of their right to return home and build stable communities. The inhabitants of these temporary shelters – refugee camps – have suffered decades of deprivation, overcrowding, and in many cases 35 years of military occupation by the same army that drove them from their homes. Generations of Palestinians have known only these horrific conditions – an amplified version of the ghetto life that many of our ancestors were lucky enough to escape. Both international law and any kind of justice demand that all the refugees be allowed to return home.
Home Demolitions
The forced displacement continues today in the form of the ongoing destruction of Palestinian homes, especially in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. During the Oslo negotiations 740 Palestinian homes were demolished by the Israeli government; between September 2000 and May 2002, another 2,000 were destroyed. The most common excuse given is ‘illegal construction’ – but any construction by Palestinians can be considered ‘illegal’ since the Israeli government forbids them to build even on land they own.
At this moment several thousand Palestinians whose families have lived in caves and houses in South Hebron since the 1830’s face the destruction of their homes by the Israeli government which is trying to expand the settlements, its paramilitary foothold in the area.
As we eat and drink, let us remember the attacks being carried out on Palestinian farms and olive orchards this harvest season – in our names and with our money – and let us commit ourselves to the struggle for justice and peace in Palestine and Israel.
Olive Harvest
Olive trees have been the economic and ecological base of rural Palestine for centuries. They yield the olives and oil that are not only key parts of the region’s staple diet but also its cash crops. Each tree means education for a child, space for a growing family, or food on which the family survives. Many of the trees are now gone.
The past two harvests have been full of violence directed at Palestinian farmers and their orchards by the Israeli army and Israeli settlers. In dozens of villages, farmers were injured by gunfire and stones, and orchards were destroyed. In the village of Hares alone, Rabbis for Human Rights documented the destruction of 1,500 trees – the livelihood of many families. The Alternative Information Center, an Israeli human rights monitoring group, reported similar attacks by settlers and the Israeli army all across the West Bank.
24-Hour Curfew
Another threat to this year’s harvest is the devastating ‘curfew’ which the Israeli army has imposed on all Palestinians living in the occupied territories -- a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week lockdown, on pain of being shot on sight for leaving home. This forces farmers to choose between harvesting their crops – survival for the coming year – and safety for themselves and their families. This is not a choice anyone should be forced to make.
For more information and to get involved with the campaign to protect Palestinian farmers during this year’s harvest, contact JATO (212-539-6683 - jatonyc@yahoo.com - www.jewsagainsttheoccupation.org) or the International Solidarity Movement (www.palsolidarity.org)
I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun;
and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter;
and on the side of their oppressors there was power, but they had no comforter.
[Kohelet 4:1]