US and UK Drop Bombs, Ta'ayush Drops Off Food by Bryan Atinsky of Indymedia Israel 6:49pm Sat Mar 22 '03 bryan@indymedia.org.il While the US and British Governments drop tons of bombs on the Iraqi people, a group of approximately 300 Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel and tens of Internationals brought a semi-truck loaded with around 40 tons of flour to the Palestinian village of Karawat Bani Hasan, situated in the Tsalfit district of the central West Bank. print article US and UK Drop Bombs, Ta'ayush Drops Off Food by Bryan Atinsky While the US and British Governments drop tons of bombs on the Iraqi people, a group of approximately 300 Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel and tens of Internationals brought a semi-truck loaded with around 40 tons of flour to the Palestinian village of Karawat Bani Hasan, situated in the Tsalfit district of the central West Bank. The hills surrounding the village are occupied by the two settlements of Barkan and Kiryat Netafim, another newer small settlement outpost and the Barkan Industrial Zone. Because the village is not so distant from the large Israeli settlement of Ariel, there is a looming danger that the line of the planned ‘security wall ’ will encompass the land of the village and eventually be annexed to Israel. The military some time ago dug up the main road into the village and put up a series of four earthen barricades across the road, every twenty or so meters. Villagers can not go in or out of the village by automobile, but must park their car at the first barricade, which has become a makeshift parking lot, and walk the approximately 150 meters to the final barricade before they reach the unblocked portion of the main road. The day went quite smoothly. Everyone lined up and moved the 60-kilo sacks by hand over the barricade into waiting tractors, which were then taken into the village. It took at least 15-20 tractor loads to transport all the flour. In a stroke of luck, no settlers harassed us and there was only a token military presence with 5-8 soldiers standing around in the olive groves watching us with bored looks... After filling the tractors with the flour sacks, we all made our way up the hill road into the village, sat and talked with the villagers and each other, a couple of speeches were made...it rained a bit and then we made our way home... indymedia.org.il add your comments

congratulations by Leslie 7:33am Wed Mar 26 '03 leslie@spaiser.net print comment This was wonderful to see. Congratulations from Concord California, east of San Francisco. Mr. L. Spaiser Proud member of SF Tikkun nowar.chayt.net add your comments

suggestions after the Tsalfit action March 22 by Illit R. 12:20pm Wed Mar 26 '03 phone: 02 5637876 irose45@earthlink.net print comment Sorry my computer does not have Hebrew fonds. Thank you for the experience! The image of all 300 of us on the closed road & surrounded by settlements is still with me. In retrospect I am thinking what we can do in future similar action, in addition to transporting the food, waiting around etc. What if we were to group ourselves into affinity groups and have each group come up with a creative way to respond to the situation. For example: We could take small buckets and shovels (beach stuff) & start dismantling the dirt mounds closing the road. We could have arranged a "teach in" with testimonies from the villages on their daily lives. We could have stood there pointing fingers and shouting "shame" at the settlements & soldiers. We could have played the drums angrily. Doing many diferent things at the same time. Thus taking advantage of our numbers and adding a political message to our humanitarian action. I feel it's time we voice loudly our outrage. Thanks, Illit PS how about arraging a campain to "introduce" (lehakir) the "unknown" villages -- i.e. to have people from these villages introduce themselves & their villages where they & their ancestors have lived for a long time to the Israeli courts & society that apparently do not "know" them. -- It could maybe done in the media with ads, or with introduction tours. -- "Tiolay hekerut" add your comments

Leading by Example by jamie 7:37pm Wed Mar 26 '03 jrdigs@hotmail.com print comment This is the kind of action that will eventually lead to world peace. "Feed your enemy", as it says in the bible. Not to say that the Palestinians are enemies, but rather to accentuate the fact that help and cooperation goes much further than bullets and bombs. I am proud of your efforts and one day when I return home to Israel, I will look forward to working together with you on future projects like this. Jamie Toronto, Canada add your comments

dear jamie by goldberg 1:00am Tue Jun 24 '03 print comment ..dear jamie...the palestinians are the enemy. in every respect. they have spurrened peace at every turn, killing and maiming israelis and americans at every oppurtunity. they will never be peacefull, as israels defense measures make them evermore crazy with fury. if israel backed away,the madmen leaders would take it as weakness and would then attack with renewed vigor and barbarity. add your comments

Dear Goldberg by John Veldhuis 3:02pm Tue Jun 24 '03 print comment The racists are the enemy. The religious fundamentalists are the enemy. The terrorists are the enemy. These can be found on both sides. What is the difference between the sides? On the Palestinian side these are non-governmental militant groups. On the Israeli side these are the government, the army, the police and the settlers. add your comments