Breaking It Down
I do not think that I can do justice to the march by attempting to write an emotional piece. I have therefore decided to break it down for you, and give you the facts. (I will use the names of places, if you are unfamiliar with where things are, there is a glossary on the bottom)
The march was supposed to start with a demonstration in Netivot on Monday, and then continue throughout 3 days until reaching Kissufim entrance to Gush Katif. The police declared the march illegal, and because the yesha council would not cancel it, therefore the entire thing including the Netivot demonstration was declared illegal.
I was planning on going down for the first day with two friends DHH - who I went through the Jerusalem part with and B who met us in Netivot - sleep over, and come back up to Jerusalem the following afternoon.
Busses were supposed to leave from Binyanei Hauma at 2pm. At 1:45 when I got there there were no busses yet. My friend and I decided to grab some lunch in the tachana merkazit instead of waiting in the heat. Pizza was delicious. We were walking back to binyanei hauma when we were passing by people decked out in orange going the other way. They told us the busses were cancelled and we should take public transportation. Not wanting to just follow blindly, we rushed to binyanei hauma to find about 1000 people there, and no busses in sight. Someone was on a megaphone calling for a "revolution", most people were ignoring him and trying to figure out what was going on. Apparently the police had ordered the busses not to allow people to board. Any driver who did had his license taken away, and then threatened that if he drove without a license he'd be arrested.
There were people organizing private shuttles (10 person vans) to go down to Netivot. I discussed this with my friends, but our fear was we would get stopped and just be 10 ppl on the side of the highway and that would not be as big a statement as being with the 1000 people in Jerusalem. Someone came over and told us that it was a secret, but busses were waiting by a Yeshiva about five minutes away. We, along with hundreds others made our way to the yeshiva. When we got there, there were already police spread out, and the busses had been surrounded. The decision was made to go to the trempiada and tachana merkazit and find ways down. The police did not want us to cross the street. They brought riot horses and water canyons to discourage us from going in our desired directions. People who tried to go otherwise were nudged back by the horses or pushed back by the police. One of the Parlimentary Ministers, Benny Alon, was in our crowd. He went to talk to the head police officer. They threated him with a water gun, but in the end he won and we were allowed to walk to the trempiada.
At the trempiada there was a bus that had come up from Psagot. The bus had been stopped by the police, and the passangers joined our protest. Led by Benny Alon a large part of the group decides to start "walking" to Gush Katif. (I am forced to stay back, because I was watching someone's bag who decided they needed to find a bathroom.)
There are about 200 people left with me up at the trempiada. Rav Shapiro comes and gives a shiur. Mincha and tehillim are started. After about 1 1/2 hours David shows up. He had been on a bus coming into the city, stuck in traffic b/c of the traffic jams the protesting had caused (We were not blocking the street, however the police were blocking lanes b/c we were there) As Dav and I were talking most of the remaing protesters decided to bypass the police and go back into the city, and down a different exit - joining the "walk to Gush Katif" group.
Seeing that there were only a handful of protesters left the police came over to David, DHH, and myself telling us we had to move farther up. I tried explaining that we had been sitting there for almost 2 hours, and can't they just leave us alone, but they insisted we move - and so we did.
A car with 2 empty seats stops and offers us a ride, they're going to the beach in Tel Aviv. We decide to go with them, and as we pass the "walk to Gush Katif"ers - who had not made it very far before being stopped by police - we get out and join them.
On the side of the highway there is a slight cliff, and a number of houses on the bottom. Kids from those houses started coming up, bringing us fruits and watermelon. The protesters themselves were all sharing water, pita, wafers and whatever else they each had. There was a true feeling of camaraderie.
After a few hours 3 busses pulled up and police told us we were allowed to get on the busses. Being that there were more people then seats on the busses, there was still a large group left on the side of the highway when the three busses left packed - standing room only. Not long afterwards we were told there are busses in the city that we can take. We thanked the police for hanging out with us (no really...) and went to find the busses. We filled 3 or 4 more busses and left for Netivot.
It was just after 9 pm when we reached Netivot. The rally had just ended and the march had begun. We began marching toward the first stop - Kfar Maimon - about 7 KM away. A few KM before our campsite police and soldiers again blocked our way. We emptied into a field on the side of the road. police and soldiers linked arms and tried to corral us in. There was no violence that I saw, in fact mostly the participants sang to the security forces that they are not against them, and they are brothers.
People did continuously try to run through the blockade. It felt a little like "Red Rover". About an hour 1/2 later the security forces were beginning to tire, and everyone as a group ran the human blockade.
We then continued on to the camp site, just outside Kfar Maimon. We reached the campsite with no problems.
The next morning we were awoken around 5 with a loudspeaker repeating that the security forces are on their way. Please wake up, davven, so we can start our day. The soldiers, now 3 person deep lines, once again linked arms and tried to block us from entering Kfar Maimon. We were able to quckly break through that block and within minutes we were all within the fence of the kfar (village). The plan was to spend the morning there; learning, playing ball, walking around, napping, shmoozing, etc.. and continuing to march after the heat of the day around 4:30. I had to leave at 10. I was not blocked into the kfar. I caught a ride down to the end of the service road, and then hung out at the trempiada for a ride to Netivot.
That's when I spoke to David and heard he was 5 minutes away. David filled me in on the media talk, and I filled him in on the truth through my eyes. Soon, David went into the kfar - again without any problem or blockade - and I started walking with DHH and B to Netivot.
Along the way we passed a group of soldiers who were on break. One came over to us and asked us why we were leaving. We told him that was our original plan and we simply could not stay for longer. He asked if we were planning on coming back, stating how important this is. Wow.
I made it back to Jerusalem at 2, my apartment at 3:30, and I was at a wedding that night at 7.
Wow.
I only wish i was a better writer so more people can understand the feelings of what it ws really like.
The march was supposed to start with a demonstration in Netivot on Monday, and then continue throughout 3 days until reaching Kissufim entrance to Gush Katif. The police declared the march illegal, and because the yesha council would not cancel it, therefore the entire thing including the Netivot demonstration was declared illegal.
I was planning on going down for the first day with two friends DHH - who I went through the Jerusalem part with and B who met us in Netivot - sleep over, and come back up to Jerusalem the following afternoon.
Busses were supposed to leave from Binyanei Hauma at 2pm. At 1:45 when I got there there were no busses yet. My friend and I decided to grab some lunch in the tachana merkazit instead of waiting in the heat. Pizza was delicious. We were walking back to binyanei hauma when we were passing by people decked out in orange going the other way. They told us the busses were cancelled and we should take public transportation. Not wanting to just follow blindly, we rushed to binyanei hauma to find about 1000 people there, and no busses in sight. Someone was on a megaphone calling for a "revolution", most people were ignoring him and trying to figure out what was going on. Apparently the police had ordered the busses not to allow people to board. Any driver who did had his license taken away, and then threatened that if he drove without a license he'd be arrested.
There were people organizing private shuttles (10 person vans) to go down to Netivot. I discussed this with my friends, but our fear was we would get stopped and just be 10 ppl on the side of the highway and that would not be as big a statement as being with the 1000 people in Jerusalem. Someone came over and told us that it was a secret, but busses were waiting by a Yeshiva about five minutes away. We, along with hundreds others made our way to the yeshiva. When we got there, there were already police spread out, and the busses had been surrounded. The decision was made to go to the trempiada and tachana merkazit and find ways down. The police did not want us to cross the street. They brought riot horses and water canyons to discourage us from going in our desired directions. People who tried to go otherwise were nudged back by the horses or pushed back by the police. One of the Parlimentary Ministers, Benny Alon, was in our crowd. He went to talk to the head police officer. They threated him with a water gun, but in the end he won and we were allowed to walk to the trempiada.
At the trempiada there was a bus that had come up from Psagot. The bus had been stopped by the police, and the passangers joined our protest. Led by Benny Alon a large part of the group decides to start "walking" to Gush Katif. (I am forced to stay back, because I was watching someone's bag who decided they needed to find a bathroom.)
There are about 200 people left with me up at the trempiada. Rav Shapiro comes and gives a shiur. Mincha and tehillim are started. After about 1 1/2 hours David shows up. He had been on a bus coming into the city, stuck in traffic b/c of the traffic jams the protesting had caused (We were not blocking the street, however the police were blocking lanes b/c we were there) As Dav and I were talking most of the remaing protesters decided to bypass the police and go back into the city, and down a different exit - joining the "walk to Gush Katif" group.
Seeing that there were only a handful of protesters left the police came over to David, DHH, and myself telling us we had to move farther up. I tried explaining that we had been sitting there for almost 2 hours, and can't they just leave us alone, but they insisted we move - and so we did.
A car with 2 empty seats stops and offers us a ride, they're going to the beach in Tel Aviv. We decide to go with them, and as we pass the "walk to Gush Katif"ers - who had not made it very far before being stopped by police - we get out and join them.
On the side of the highway there is a slight cliff, and a number of houses on the bottom. Kids from those houses started coming up, bringing us fruits and watermelon. The protesters themselves were all sharing water, pita, wafers and whatever else they each had. There was a true feeling of camaraderie.
After a few hours 3 busses pulled up and police told us we were allowed to get on the busses. Being that there were more people then seats on the busses, there was still a large group left on the side of the highway when the three busses left packed - standing room only. Not long afterwards we were told there are busses in the city that we can take. We thanked the police for hanging out with us (no really...) and went to find the busses. We filled 3 or 4 more busses and left for Netivot.
It was just after 9 pm when we reached Netivot. The rally had just ended and the march had begun. We began marching toward the first stop - Kfar Maimon - about 7 KM away. A few KM before our campsite police and soldiers again blocked our way. We emptied into a field on the side of the road. police and soldiers linked arms and tried to corral us in. There was no violence that I saw, in fact mostly the participants sang to the security forces that they are not against them, and they are brothers.
People did continuously try to run through the blockade. It felt a little like "Red Rover". About an hour 1/2 later the security forces were beginning to tire, and everyone as a group ran the human blockade.
We then continued on to the camp site, just outside Kfar Maimon. We reached the campsite with no problems.
The next morning we were awoken around 5 with a loudspeaker repeating that the security forces are on their way. Please wake up, davven, so we can start our day. The soldiers, now 3 person deep lines, once again linked arms and tried to block us from entering Kfar Maimon. We were able to quckly break through that block and within minutes we were all within the fence of the kfar (village). The plan was to spend the morning there; learning, playing ball, walking around, napping, shmoozing, etc.. and continuing to march after the heat of the day around 4:30. I had to leave at 10. I was not blocked into the kfar. I caught a ride down to the end of the service road, and then hung out at the trempiada for a ride to Netivot.
That's when I spoke to David and heard he was 5 minutes away. David filled me in on the media talk, and I filled him in on the truth through my eyes. Soon, David went into the kfar - again without any problem or blockade - and I started walking with DHH and B to Netivot.
Along the way we passed a group of soldiers who were on break. One came over to us and asked us why we were leaving. We told him that was our original plan and we simply could not stay for longer. He asked if we were planning on coming back, stating how important this is. Wow.
I made it back to Jerusalem at 2, my apartment at 3:30, and I was at a wedding that night at 7.
Wow.
I only wish i was a better writer so more people can understand the feelings of what it ws really like.
posted by 2R at 4:04 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home