David Grossman (2010) a Sheikh Jarrah: "Abbiamo coltivato una specie di pianta carnivora che ci sta lentamente divorando"
Venerdì (9 aprile 2010) l'autore israeliano David Grossman ha tenuto un discorso improvvisato alla manifestazione contro i continui sgomberi di famiglie palestinesi nel quartiere di Sheikh Jarrah a Gerusalemme est e la loro sostituzione con coloni fondamentalisti.
"Penso che stiamo tutti iniziando a capire - anche quelli che forse non lo vogliono - come 43 anni fa, chiudendo un occhio, cooperando attivamente o passivamente, abbiamo effettivamente coltivato una specie di pianta carnivora che sta lentamente divorando noi, consumando ogni parte buona dentro di noi, rendendo il paese in cui viviamo un posto dove non è bello vivere. Non va bene non solo se sei un cittadino arabo di Israele, e certamente se sei un residente palestinese dei Territori - non va bene anche per ogni ebreo israeliano che vuole vivere qui, che nutre qualche speranza di essere in un luogo dove gli esseri umani sono rispettati come esseri umani, dove i tuoi diritti sono un dato di fatto, dove l'umanità, la moralità e i diritti civili non sono sporche parole, non qualcosa della Sinistra dal cuore sanguinante. No. Queste parole sono il pane e l'acqua, il burro e il latte delle nostre vite"
,Grossman ha parlato dopo che la polizia ha soppresso un tentativo, prima della protesta, da parte di un gruppo di attivisti per la pace , accompagnati dalla giovane leadership del movimento di protesta di Sheikh Jarrah, di vedere in prima persona le case delle famiglie già sfrattate e di quelle sotto minaccia . Bernard Avishai, che era con il gruppo, riferisce :"Da quando sono iniziate le manifestazioni del venerdì a gennaio, la polizia ha isolato le case delle famiglie sfollate dopo le 14:00 circa, in modo che i manifestanti non potessero mostrare solidarietà direttamente alle persone sgomberate o esprimere il loro disgusto per i coloni ebrei.
On Friday (April 9 2010) Israeli author David Grossman made an impromptu speech at the protest against the continued evictions of Palestinians families in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and their replacement with fundamentalist settlers.
I think that we are all beginning to grasp — even those who maybe don’t really want
to — how 43 years ago, by turning a blind eye, by actively or passively
cooperating, we actually cultivated a kind of carnivorous plant that is slowly
devouring us, consuming every good part within us, making the country we live
in a place that is not good to live in. Not good not only if you are an Arab
citizen of Israel, and certainly if you are a Palestinian resident of the
Territories — not good also for every Jewish Israeli person who wants to live
here, who cherishes some hope to be in a place where humans are respected as
humans, where your rights are treated as a given, where humanity, morality, and
civil rights are not dirty words, not something from the bleeding-heart Left.
No. These are the bread and water, the butter and milk of our lives, the stuff
from which we will make our lives, and really make them lives worth living
here.Grossman spoke after police suppressed an attempt, ahead of
the protest, by a group of veteran peace activists, accompanied by the
young leadership of the Sheikh Jarrah protest movement, to see first-hand
the homes of families already evicted and of those under immediate
threat. Bernard Avishai, who was with the group, reports:Ever
since the Friday demonstrations began back in January, the police had cordoned
off the homes of the displaced families after about 2 PM, so that demonstrators
were unable to show solidarity directly to the people evicted, or express their
disgust with the Jewish settlers. In response — a kind of outflanking operation
— the group invited about 30 of us, including the author David Grossman, former
speaker Avrum Burg, NIF President Naomi Chazan, Israel Prize winner Zeev
Sternhell, to gather at the homes of the families at 1:30 PM, where we
conducted a kind of impromptu seminar for a couple of hours (not a hard thing
for writers and professors, as things turned out).At around 3:30 PM, we all
suddenly emerged onto the street with our signs, and stood across from the
homes that were confiscated, kitty-corner to the others that are under threat.
When the police commanders realized that we were actually behind their lines,
they quickly organized and sent a phalanx of heavily armed officers to form a
line behind us, and began pushing us out toward the main demonstration in
a park across the street.WE HAD ALL agreed in advance that we would not resist,
or do anything to challenge police authority. As we were being pushed, we
walked very slowly but steadily toward the demonstrating crowd that was
gathered in the usual place. Now and then we would scold the police for pushing
too aggressively. Most of the young officers seemed a little abashed to be pushing
well-known sixty-somethings around, but that was the point.Then something
unexpected and chilling happened. The commander of the police spotted Assaf and
recognized him as the group’s organizer. He instructed several officers to
seize him and put him under arrest. Immediately, Avner, Amos, and another
leader sat down, challenging the police to arrest them, too, which is exactly
what the police did. The instinctive way the three sat down in solidarity,
unwilling to allow Assaf to be arrested alone, touched those of us who were
walking beside them in ways that are hard to explain. It reminded me of a
sentence in Albert Camus’ The Plague, that there is no heroism in fighting
something like the plague, just common decency.
Scrittore inglese Ian McEwan partecipa alla protesta a Sheikh Jarrah insieme a David Grossman
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