Global Network for Nonviolence

June 5, 2007 marks the 40th anniversary of the start of the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. That war was an episode of significant physical violence, in which some 16,000 people lost their lives, and hundreds of thousands of people fled their homes. The June 1967 war also brought under the control of the Israeli military considerable stretches of land—in the Palestinian areas of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza, in Egypt's Sinai region, and in Syria's Golan. The populations of those areas thenceforth had to live under the rule of a foreign military occupation force.

Rule by foreign military occupation is an affront to the ideals of democracy and human dignity, including the idea that governments gain their legitimacy primarily from the consent of the governed. It is also a clear example of administrative violence, which is wielded by the (completely unaccountable) occupation authorities against the 3.5 million indigenous residents of the occupied areas, denying their ability to exercise their normal human rights and severely limiting the ability of their communities to flourish.

In Sinai, foreign occupation rule ended with the implementation of the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, under which Israel withdrew completely from Egyptian territory in return for a full peace and the demilitarization of most of Sinai. But in the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan, the indigenous residents of these areas have continued to live under occupation to this day. In addition, over the course of this 40-year-long occupation, successive governments in Israel have systematically settled some 400,000 Israeli civilians in the occupied areas of the West Bank, and some 17,000 in Golan, in clear infringement of international law. Israeli governments have given considerable support to these settlers, including through the expropriation of Palestinian (or in Golan, Syrian) land and other resources, the provision of subsidies to the settlers, the creation of a discriminatory system of Israelis-only highways in the West Bank, and the erection of the large barrier that snakes through the West Bank, cutting Palestinian communities off from each other or from their own lands and stifling the possibility of normal economic life or livelihoods for most Palestinians.

One of our members has provided details on the following events to commemorate the 40th anniversary of June 5, 1967:

5 June: Anata, Big Gathering – 40th anniversary of Israeli Occupation

"Together to Ending the occupation, Two states, Two people" – under the auspices of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

We wish cordially to invite you to attend the public festivals commemorating the 40 th anniversary of Israeli Occupation of 1967. The event will include prominent Palestinian, Israeli and International Peace activists highlighting the Palestinian desire for peace through presentations, activities, music and traditional Dabka.

The event will start at 17:00, June 5th, in Anata. The organizers expect more than 1,000 people.

The schedule:

16:30 Music, scouts marching through Anata to event site
17:00 Opening of ceremonies (moment of silence, lighting of 40 torches, etc)
Speakers: MC, Mayor of Anata
Campaign's Speaker
Gibril Rajoub
Israeli Speaker (not finalized)

18:00 Theatre—Palestinians and Israelis together
Speakers: Representative from the European Council
MP Mohammad Barake
President Jimmy Carter video speech
Dabka Performance

19:00 Speakers: Combatants for Peace- Guy Elhanan & Sema Ahed
Bereaved Families Forum

19:30 Israeli Singer David Broza

20:00 Closing Ceremonies

(There may be changes in the program.)

Transportation:
Tel Aviv –Central Rail station (Arlozerov) at 1 4:45
Jerusalem – Binianei Hauma at 15:40
or at the UN Headquarters on Road Number 1 (Mandelbaum Gate), at 16:00

For transportation confirmation and general information please contact:
Itamar Shapira itamarshap@gmail.com

(there's more!)

We're sorry our reports from the events that GNN people organized and participated in around the June 5 anniversary of 40 years of Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan have been a little delayed. Below, find the first of these-- from GNN co-chair Hagit Tarnari. We hope to get a couple more good ones up here in the coming days... Also, following some changes in administering the site, we intend to have it be much more timely and useful over the months ahead. We apologize that it was shut completely down for a few days in late August. Bear with us! Check back often! And send any suggestions you have for the site to webmaster@www.gn-nonviolence.org.)

Description of Israeli-Palestinian events to mark 40 years of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza

by Hagit Tarnari

See some photos of the events here.)
Tantur is located on a hill belonging to the Vatican. I think that legally it is not Israel. It is part of the Vatican state and is now on the Israeli side of the wall. Palestinians need permits to enter this area. With the help of IPCRI and especially Yael Shalem, we managed to issue hundreds of permits for Palestinians who registered through phone and internet.
 
But the permits arrived from the IDF only a day or two before the events, and we could not distribute them on time for most people. We arranged for busses to take the Palestinian friends, but eventually, not that many managed to make it. Those who did enjoyed very much. It was an uplifting hopeful ending for a week of  commemorating hard memories for Palestinians, and impossible present for both Palestinians and Israelis...

In June, as part of GNN's commitment to trying to inject an intentional "nonviolence message" into commemorations of the 40 years of Israel's occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and Golan, Co-chair Neven Bondokji organized two half-day workshops on the topic of nonviolence for Jordanian and refugee youth in Amman, Jordan. (The refugees were Iraqi nationals, survivors of some of the worst violence in today's world who are among the two million Iraqis currently living as refugees in Jordan and Syria.)

For more details of GNN's mobilization around the June commemorations, click here.

Neven wrote a great report on the workshops in Amman. You can read the full text of that here. It starts like this:

"Non-Violence: The Ignored Option"
Workshops on 10 & 15 June 2007
Amman- Jordan

Under the banner of GNN, two workshops were held in Amman with around 30 participants of Jordanian and refugee youth to explain the philosophy of non-violence and to explore non-violence as an option in daily lives and political contexts.

The first workshop was held on June 10th and addressed refugee youth of ages 14-18 years. The second workshop was held on June 15th addressing Jordanian youth of ages 19-24 years.


Workshop Agenda

Introduction –GNN
Questionnaire & exercise "what is violence?"
Forms of violence
Violence and counter options
Elements of nonviolence
Methods of nonviolence
Nonviolence philosophy in the global context
Role play/ case studies
Understand nonviolence as an approach

Here is Neven's summary of the results of the questionnaires she used at the beginning and end of the workshops:

At the beginning of workshops, most participants defined violence in forms of physical and verbal violence. Almost 90% of female participants defined violence to include verbal violence. Around 35% of participants referred to structural violence that deprives them from certain rights.

In defining non-violence at the beginning, 15% said they don’t know; 45% defined it as dialogue or talking to the "other" while 30% defined it as trust and peace.

After the workshops, participants defined non-violence as a method that builds peace and trust. Many referred to some means or elements of non-violence to define it. Around 40% of participants said more awareness sessions or campaigns on non-violence must be organized.

... Anyway, do go read the whole text of her report. Great job, Neven!