Anarchists Against the Wall
אנרכיסטים נגד גדרות
LeadersNone
Dates of operation2003-present
Active regionsIsrael, West Bank, Jerusalem, Gaza
Ideology
StatusActive

Anarchists Against the Wall (AAtW), (Hebrew: אנרכיסטים נגד גדרות) sometimes called "Anarchists Against Fences" or "Jews Against Ghettos",[1] is a direct action group composed of Israeli anarchists and anti-authoritarians who oppose the construction of the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier and Israeli West Bank barrier.

A member of Anarchists Against the Wall has described the construction of the barrier as part of a strategy of ethnic cleansing, "one of the greatest threats the Palestinian population has known over the last century... which is to make life so appalling for the Palestinian people that they will be left with one choice: move out."[2]

History

Destroying fences at the border by the AATW, 2007

On 26 December 2003, during an AATW demonstration near the village of Mas'ha, the Israeli Defense Forces shot and wounded Gil Na'amati, an anarchist and former paratrooper. Shots were fired after demonstrators started to shake the locked gate in the fence.[3]

On 12 March 2004, during a demonstration against the Wall at the village of Kharbatha, Itay Levinsky was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet.[4]

On April 3 Jonathan Pollak was shot in the head with a tear gas canister from an M16, at a distance of approximately thirty meters, at a protest against the Wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in, leaving him with internal brain hemorrhaging and a wound requiring 23 stitches.[5]

In February 2006, Matan Cohen, a 17-year-old member of Anarchists Against The Wall, was shot with rubber bullets by Israeli soldiers during a demonstration in Beit Sira village.[6] Cohen, whose left eye was injured, later told reporters, "My feeling is that the blood of left-wing activists and the Palestinians is cheap." Three soldiers and Border Police officers were injured by rocks thrown at them, and one police officer was taken to hospital.[6]

On August 11, in the midst of the 2006 war in Lebanon, marked the most severe injury to an Israeli activist yet. During a demonstration against the wall in Bil'in, an Israeli border police officer shot Limor Goldstein in the head with a rubber coated steel bullet from a distance of 10 to 20 meters.[7] Shooting rubber bullets from such a short distance is prohibited and video evidence indicates that the shot was unprovoked.[8] With border police officers at the scene initially refusing to provide medical treatment to his injury, or let others treat him properly, it took two hours to complete the evacuation.

Goldstein, who suffered brain damage, later told a Haaretz reporter: "I'm not depressed, but I feel an ongoing helplessness and disorientation. I have nightmares in which I relive what happened."[9]

A collection of writings by various anti-wall activists under the name Anarchists Against the Wall: Direct Action and Solidarity with the Palestinian Popular Struggle was published in the english language by AK Press in 2013.[10][11]

Political position

Anarchists Against the Wall, along with Ta'ayush, main political support comes from Arab parties and the radical left. It openly opposes the state and activists routinely break the law as they consider the government's decision to be illegal according to international law and therefore illegitimate.[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Anarchist Studies, Volumes 11-13. White Horse Press. 2003.
  2. ↑ We Are Anarchists Against the Wall: On the non-violent resistance of the Israeli anarchist movement and the Palestinian popular committees against the Apartheid Wall. Federazione Dei Comunisti Anarchici. 2004. Archived from the original on 2022-03-30. Retrieved 2004-10-20.
  3. ↑ Shohet, Dan (26 December 2003). "An account of the shooting of Israeli protestor Gil Na'amati". The Electronic Intifada. Archived from the original on 2023-05-30. Retrieved 2023-11-12.
  4. ↑ Amir, Merav; Kotef, Hagar (June 2015). "Limits of Dissent, Perils of Activism: Spaces of Resistance and the New Security Logic". Antipode. 47 (3): 671–688. doi:10.1111/anti.12130. ISSN 0066-4812.
  5. ↑ "Fence protester hit in the head by tear gas canister". Haaretz. Archived from the original on October 9, 2018. Retrieved Aug 14, 2013.
  6. 1 2 Beit-Or, Meital Yasur (2006-02-25). "Injured anti-fence 'anarchist' speaks out". Ynetnews. Archived from the original on 2023-05-18. Retrieved 2023-11-12.
  7. ↑ "One blow to the brain". Archived from the original on 2022-08-26. Retrieved 2007-12-30. Limor Goldstein, a lawyer who was born in Germany and who holds permanent residency in Israel, was wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet that penetrated his brain.
  8. ↑ Lymor Goldstein, An Israeli demonstrator got shot in his head by an Israeli border patrol soldier during a demonstration in Bil'in Archived October 11, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ One blown to the brain Archived 2012-10-16 at the Wayback Machine, Haaretz, 8 September 2006 (in English)
  10. ↑ Gordon, Uri; Grietzer, Ohal (2013). Anarchists Against the Wall: direct action and solidarity with the Palestinian popular struggle. AK Press. ISBN 978-1-84935-114-0. OCLC 813861818.
  11. ↑ "Anarchists Against the Wall". www.akpress.org. Archived from the original on 2017-10-27. Retrieved 2023-11-12.
  12. ↑ Lamarche, Karine (2009), Marteu, Elisabeth (ed.), "Political Activism and Legitimacy in Israel", Civil Organizations and Protest Movements in Israel, New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 73–90, doi:10.1057/9780230621749_4, ISBN 978-1-349-37852-4, retrieved 2023-11-12

Further reading

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