Coming
Soon!
From Common Courage Press
Recent
Stories
May
29, 2003
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Jason
Leopold
Despite Thin Intelligence Reports,
US Plans Overthrow of Iran Regime
Ron
Jacobs
Popular Uprising, Inc.
Michelle
Ciaccorra
Bush's Nuclear Policy: Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Yves Engler
The Economics of Health Care in
America: Pay More to Die Sooner
Kimberly
Blaker
Vouchers for Jesus
Harry
Browne
Stakeknife: Britain's Army Spy at
the Top of the IRA
Stew
Albert
Cops of the World
Steve Perry
Greens 04: In or Out?
May
28, 2003
David
Vest
DubyaCo.: It's Not So Funny Any More
Dave
Lindorff
My Grandfather's Medal
John
Stanton
America's Dying: Arts and Philosophy Hold the Key
Bernard
Weiner
A PNAC Primer
Robert
Jensen
Texas Dems Set a Standard for the Rest of the Party
Ahmad Faruqui
The Oil Business of Regime Change:
the CIA and Iran
Hammond
Guthrie
Disarming Conundrums
Steve Perry
What If There's No Such Thing as Al-Qaeda?
May
27, 2003
Kurt
Nimmo
Condoleezza Rice: Huckstress for Israeli
Myths
Anthony
Gancarski
Hillary: a Dem the NeoCons Could Love?
Patrick
Cockburn
Terror, Bush and Joseph Conrad
John Chuckman
an Interpretation of Bush's Character
Kathleen
Christison
What Sharon Wants, Sharon Gets
Jeffrey
Blankfort
AIPAC Hijacks the Roadmap
Steve
Perry
Trouble in the Hinterlands
Hot Stories
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click Here
for More Stories.
|
May
31, 2003
A Duet of the People
Waiting for
the Lament to End
by GILA SVIRSKY
Oh, Mother Jerusalem,
You lie there naked with fear,
A mermaid in an enchanted bed,
A wall encircling you,
Burning like a candle from within,
But the houses--locked shut
In loneliness and tears.
In what may have been one of the most moving moments
of protest in Israel, hundreds of women and men wearing stark
black lay down outside the Cinematheque in Tel-Aviv, completely
covering the large plaza in front of the building. At first,
it seemed too hot to attempt such an act--exactly at 12 noon--and
first efforts to lie flat on one's back seemed a misguided idea.
But then the unaccompanied voice of Reem Telhami began its chant,
the haunting harmonies reminiscent of the call of the muezzin
during Ramadan at dawn before the sun has risen, and soon there
was utter silence. I lay there, too, the heat pressing against
my arms, back and legs, my eyelids luminescent with sun, and
soon I too was inside Reem's deep, mournful lament. "In
loneliness and tears", she sang three times, each more tender
and plaintive than the last. As the last strains evaporated into
the air, I could feel my face wet with those tears.
So began today's demonstration of the
Coalition of Women for Peace, marking 36 years of Israeli occupation,
calling for its end and an end to the killing that has enveloped
our lives. How can this still be happening to us? Haven't 36
years been enough?
The speakers alternated--Jews and Palestinians
from Israel, two Palestinian women from the territories, and
one woman representing the internationals who risk their lives
in an effort to intervene nonviolently. Dalit Baum, feminist
Jewish activist, opened by showing the connections among all
the forms of violence -- occupation, poverty, brutality against
women -- through their common roots. Suher abu-Uksa Daoud, a
Palestinian writer doing her doctorate at Hebrew University,
spoke of how her own life moved from anger to peace activism.
Yali Hashash, a feminist defender of Mizrahi rights among Jews,
challenged us to examine our commitment to justice, and pay a
solidarity visit to the protest encampment of impoverished Israelis
in Tel Aviv.
Flo Razowsky a U.S. peace activist with
the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), told how the Israeli
government is trying to prevent peace and human rights activists
from entering the territories, and noted that she is personally
struggling to prevent Israel from deporting her. A particularly
moving letter written by Cindy Corrie, the mother of Rachel--the
American peace activist who was killed by a bulldozer as she
tried to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home--was read
out loud and said, in part: "There have been times when
I have been quiet because I felt there were others who knew more.
But I am no longer intimidated by experts and critics. After
all, my daughter had the courage to stand in front of a bulldozer"
[full text attached]. Shulamit Aloni, former Israeli cabinet
minister and outspoken defender of justice and equality, was
eloquent in demanding an end to the bloodshed and the dawn of
an era of peace.
From the occupied territories, Fadwa
Khader of the Palestinian Agricultural Association came to extend
her hand in peace. Zahira Kamal, senior official in the Palestinian
Authority, and committed all her life to peace, women, and workers,
declared "I believe in the power of women. Women are grounded
in their awareness of the sanctity of all human beingsI believe
we can work together for ending the occupation and that we can
live in peace together." Rauda Murkus, Palestinian from
Israel, closed with an aching and touching poem.
When all the painful words were used
up, Yana and Haya, our Jewish and Palestinian co-moderators,
again asked us to lie down on the pavement, and I thought we
could not recapture that initial moment. But we lay down again,
and Reem began her lament again, and soon I heard a very quiet
clapping in response to the weeping in her voice, and a new space
was created together, a space where we met the loneliness and
tears of Reem's singing with the quiet clapping of our hands.
While there was sorrow, we were no longer "locked shut /
In loneliness and tears".
As the situation in the territories gets
worse; as witnesses are barred from the scenes of violence; as
political rhetoric raises expectations and then retracts them;
our hopes still lie with the duet of the people, the lament caressed
by quiet clapping, the Palestinians and Israelis who have kept
their faith, who still reach out to each other inside the pain
and wait -- and work together -- for the lament to end.
Gila Svirsky
lives in Jerusalem. She is a member of Coalition
of Women for Peace. She can be reached at: gsvirsky@netvision.net.il
Special Thanks To:
The organizers: Dorit Abramowitz, Dita
Bitterman, Yana Knopova, Molly Malekar, Yakov Manor, Manal Shalabi,
Gila Svirsky, Guy Tatsa, Alix Weizman.
International friends and supporters:
Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Sally Gottesman, Kvinna till Kvinna,
Moriah Fund, and many dear friends.
Knesset Members (present and past) who
attended: Yael Dayan, Tamar Gozansky, Issam Makhoul.
Solidarity vigils all around the world:
in North America, Europe, and Japan.
Today's
Features
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Jason
Leopold
Despite Thin Intelligence Reports,
US Plans Overthrow of Iran Regime
Ron
Jacobs
Popular Uprising, Inc.
Michelle
Ciaccorra
Bush's Nuclear Policy: Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Yves Engler
The Economics of Health Care in
America: Pay More to Die Sooner
Kimberly
Blaker
Vouchers for Jesus
Harry
Browne
Stakeknife: Britain's Army Spy at
the Top of the IRA
Stew
Albert
Cops of the World
Steve Perry
Greens 04: In or Out?
Keep CounterPunch
Alive:
Make
a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online!
home / subscribe
/ about us / books
/ archives / search
/ links /
|