Grossman e 25 scrittori israeliani contro la Firing Zone 918,

Image Credits: Il Post

Venticinque scrittori israeliani hanno pubblicato una petizione sollecitando l'Alta Corte di Giustizia Israeliana affinché si pronunci contro lo sfratto di circa 1.000 abitanti dai villaggi palestinesi situati nella cosiddetta Firing Zone 918, l'area collinosa a sud di Hebron dichiarata negli anni '70 zona di addestramento militare.
La petizione, scritta da Grossman e firmata tra gli altri da Sayed Kashua, Etgar Keret, Amos Oz, Meir Shalev e AB Yehoshua, arriva alla vigilia della sentenza definitiva, dopo 15 anni di battaglia legale.
La popolazione vive «nella paura costante, impotente di fronte a un potere spietato che fa di tutto per spostarla dalla casa che ha abitato per secoli», scrive Grossman, «In una realtà di occupazione permanente, di cinismo e meschinità, ognuno di noi ha l'obbligo morale di cercare di alleviare le sofferenze, fare qualcosa per contrastare la mano crudele del gigante dell'occupazione».
L'area è stata dichiarata Firing Zone nei primi anni settanta, nel 1999 il Ministero della Difesa Israeliano ha emanato un'ordinanza per sfrattare i residenti, circa 1.000 arabi che da secoli si dedicano all'allevamento di capre e vivono all'interno di caverne in piccoli villaggi incastrati tra le colline. Dall'ordine di evacuazione, 700 residenti sono stati sfrattati "per ragioni di sicurezza" senza ricevere nessun risarcimento e senza che il governo israeliano abbia provveduto a un piano di delocalizzazione.
Nel 2000, Shlomo Lecker, un avvocato israeliano, ha portato il caso alla Corte Suprema, riuscendo ad ottenere che i residenti tornassero alle loro case e che si trovasse un compromesso sulle esercitazioni militari.
La lettera di Grossman arriva dopo che nel 2012 il Ministero della Difesa ha deciso la demolizione di otto villaggi su dodici e dopo che Lecker è tornato a fare appello ottenendo una discussione di fronte alla Corte Suprema il 15 luglio prossimo.
Lo scrittore Eyal Megged ha detto che la letteratura è riuscita a risvegliare l'interesse dei lettori su ciò che sta accadendo intorno a loro. «Qui non si tratta solo di politica, ma di questioni morali e umanitarie. Questo è ciò di cui si occupa la letteratura, della condizione umana».

Nena News Agency | Scrittori israeliani contro la Firing Zone 918

Grossman, Oz e Yehoshua contro lo sfratto dei palestinesi da Hebron

 2  

ARTICOLO ORIGINALE

Israeli authors lend their names in effort to save Palestinian villages

Ahead of High Court case, authors sign petition, tour south Hebron Hills villages in support of 1,000 residents facing possible eviction.

June 26, 2013 – Writers Zeruya Shalev, Eyal Megged and Alona Kimhi and attorney Shlomo Lecker (from left to right) speak in the village of Mufaqara, south of Hebron, about Palestinians living within Firing Zone 918, who face possible military eviction. (photo: Matt Surrusco, +972 Magazine)

Twenty-four prominent Israeli writers recently signed a petition in support of Palestinians in danger of eviction from their homes in the South Hebron Hills. Next to Israeli activists, foreign journalists and Palestinian residents, four of the petition signers stood out on Tuesday as they toured three villages in Israel’s line of fire.

“We cannot bring peace today. But the least we can do is to expose and condemn ‘small’ local outrages,” the petition, drafted by David Grossman, reads.

“The only way to push out the Palestinians here was to declare it a military zone,” said attorney Shlomo Lecker, who along with Association for Civil Rights in Israel lawyers, is representing residents from eight villages in a petition to the High Court of Justice that will be heard July 15. “Every structure on the ground has a demolition order,” Lecker said.

Writers Sayed Kashua, Alona Kimhi, Eyal Megged and Zeruya Shalev, along with journalists and a coalition of Israeli activists, met with Palestinian residents in an effort to bring public attention to their ongoing struggle.

More than 1,000 people who live on the land that the IDF declared Firing Zone 918, a military training zone, face possible eviction and forced relocation by the state. Khalid Jabril, a resident of Jinba, the furthest southeast village in the West Bank, said sometimes the army uses people in the village unwillingly in training exercises. Israeli soldiers come to the village at night, wake up families and force the people to go outside, Jabril said. Sometimes there is verbal abuse and arrests are made. He said solders last came to Jinba for training exercises as recently as two days earlier.

The Palestinians, some of whom live in cave dwellings as their families have for generations, are not invaders or enemies of Israel, said Lecker, who first represented inhabitants of villages outside Yatta in 1999, after more than 700 residents were forcibly removed from their homes.

Well-known writers showed up and sat in the front row of the courtroom then to show support for the Palestinians in that case.

“I believe it made some difference,” Lecker reflected.

A village leader in Jinba Othman Jibril said he hoped the courtroom presence of Israeli writers would be even larger next month.

“The residents here are not doctors or lawyers. They’re farmers [and herders],” Jibril said. “They rely on their land for their livelihood.”

Twenty people live together in one cave dwelling in Jinba. Their toilet is inside the cave, despite health and sanitation concerns, because they fear the IDF will demolish any outhouse structure built outside the cave.

“If someone tells you to leave your home how would you feel?” said Said Mohammad Ibrahim Rabaa, a resident of Ar Rakeez, a nearby village in the South Hebron Hills. He said some of the cave dwellings were built three generations ago. His great-grandfather built his home, he added.

June 26, 2013 – The mosque in the village of Mufaqara,
south of Hebron, an area within the military-designated Firing Zone 918, was demolished by the IDF in 2011. (photo: Matt Surrusco, +972 Magazine)

Israel claims the Palestinians living on the 30 square kilometers (or 7,400 acres) of land designated Firing Zone 918 are not permanent residents. However, lawyers and activists said they have been living there for 200 years, as evidenced by Defense Ministry documents and historical accounts.

But Lecker rejected the question of permanent residence, noting that the Palestinians own the land. The military, in this case, does not have the right to push people off privately owned land, he asserted.

In addition, international law says occupied land cannot be confiscated for the purpose of military training unless it is being used to prepare for current military action or immediate security needs.

Under a large tent in Mufaqara, where concrete remnants of a mosque demolished in 2011 still surround the cracked foundation, the three writers who stayed for the final leg of the tour spoke about their hope to raise public awareness with the petition.

“I think Israeli society is tired,” said novelist Zeruya Shalev. But, “you can wake her up from time to time.” Shalev said she plans to attend the hearing in July.

“Our whole image of the occupation has become very virtual, very abstract,” saidAlona Kimhi, another novelist.

The Palestinian residents of Jibna and Mufaqara said they are resolved to remain on their land.

“We tell the Israeli state, you may destroy the cement, but you will not destroy our steadfastness,” a Mufaqara village leader said.

Lecker said he doubts the courts would offer any final decision on possible evictions at the July 15 hearing. But the military, he added, will likely continue to harass villagers living within Firing Zone 918 and demolish structures in the interim.

“[An] eviction of 1,000 people is much harder than demolition,” L