Ta'ayush

Ta'ayush (Hebrew: תעאיוש‎, Arabic: تعايش‎; lit. "coexistence" or "life in common") is a grassroots volunteer organization established in the fall of 2000 by a joint network of Palestinians and Israelis to counter the nationalist reactions aroused by the Al-Aqsa Intifada.[1][2] It describes itself as "a grassroots movement of Arabs and Jews working to break down the walls of racism and segregation by constructing a true Arab-Jewish partnership. Together we strive for a future of equality, justice and peace through concrete, daily, non-violent actions of solidarity to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and to achieve full civil equality for all."[3]

They organized convoys of food and medical supplies to Palestinians during sieges in the Second Intifada.[4][5]

Activities

In January 2005, Ta'ayush activists along with Gush Shalom, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Machsom Watch, Anarchists Against the Wall and local residents of the Palestinian village Jayyous, began to plant hundred of olive saplings which they had brought with them to the plot of land where the bulldozers of the settlers had uprooted hundreds of olive trees. Advocate Wiam Shbeyta, an activist of the Ta'ayush movement said:-

"In spite of the police and army assertions, we do not recognise the ownership of the settlers over this land. This land belongs to the Jayyous villagers and the company "Geulat HaKarka" which is associated with the settlers took control of it on the false assertion that it was sold to them. The matter is still awaiting legal review, and we will not allow the settlers to dictate facts on the ground, to grab Palestinian lands and to commence establishing a new settlement on it".[6]

In 2007, after hearing that settlers had stolen a donkey from a Palestinian boy from Tuba, Ta'ayush went to the Havot Ma'on settlement to retrieve the donkey. The police and Israeli Defense Forces stopped them on the way to Tuba and at the entrance of Havot Ma'on.[7] Ta'ayush activists have also aided residents of the un-recognized village of Dar al-Hanun in Wadi Ara to repave the road to the village after it was dug up by Israeli Interior Ministry employees, the demolition had been ordered by the Haifa Magistrate's Court May 2006. The village of Dar al-Hanun was founded 80 years ago by the Abu Hilal family on a hill near the Wadi Ara route, on land owned by the family. In 1949, when the land was transferred to Israeli sovereignty, the Israeli authorities did not recognize the village, and the residents were asked to move to nearby villages.[8]

The village of Yanun was abandoned in October 2004 when the harassment of the village by Avri Ran and his people became intolerable, leaving behind only two aged people who refused to accept the village decision to go. The village was re-occupied with the aid of peace activists from Ta'ayush and the International Solidarity Movement. David Nir of Ta'ayush was assaulted by Avri Ran in Yanun.[9]

One member, David Dean Shulman, recalls the gratitude the cave-dwellers of the South Hebron Hills express to the Ta'ayush volunteers who struggle to ensure that they can stay on their land:

The cave-dwellers tell and retell stories of the volunteers' visits the way they tell epics; for these people, Ta'ayush matters, like oxygen to the drowning'.'[10]

In 2011 Two Jewish settlers suspected of involvement in the beating of Midhat Abu Karsh, a 30-year-old Palestinian teacher and resident of as-Samu, were arrested as a result of a video recording of the incident that released by Ta'ayush which appeared on YouTube and in Israeli television.[11][12][13][14][15]

Political position

Ta'ayush has been described as belonging to the radical left.[16] The organization's activities, which, like Machsom Watch, Yesh Gvul and Women in Black are focused on specific issues, rather than an inclusive approach embracing all problems,[17] are ignored by the Israeli mainstream but find support among Arab Palestinian parties and the extreme left.[18] Ta'ayush has no ideology (attempts to form a constitution failed) and its members restrict their work to concrete activities of solidarity.[19] Ta'ayush has a pacifist agenda, being opposed to both the Israeli occupation and Palestinian movements that employ violent forms of resistance.[20] It openly opposes the measures taken by the state of Israel in the Occupied Territories, policies that lead to 'isolation, poor medical care, house arrest, the destruction of educational institutions, and a lack of water and food for Palestinians'.[21] Ta'ayush activists underwrite civil disobedience, support a Two State Solution,[22] and routinely break the law as they consider government's decision to be illegal according to international law and therefore illegitimate.[18]

Ezra Nawi affair

In January 2016, Channel 2 (Israel) broadcast footage of Ta'ayush activist Ezra Nawi boasting that he poses as a prospective Jewish purchaser of land from Palestinians, then provides the Palestinian National Security Forces with the names and telephone numbers of Palestinian land brokers willing to sell land to him. Nawi is both Jewish and Israeli, and the Palestinian legal code regards sale of land to Israelis as a capital offense. Nawi said such people are beaten and executed. In the recording, Nawi says "The Authority catches them and kills them. But before they kill them they beat them up."[23][24][25]

Notable members

David Dean Shulman a winner of the Israel Prize who donated the prize money to Taayush[26]

Notes
  1. Fricker, Karen; Lentin, Ronit (26 March 2009). Performing Global Networks. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 209. ISBN 978-1-4438-0703-6.
  2. Goldfarb, Jeffrey C. (9 May 2013). Reinventing Political Culture: The Power of Culture versus the Culture of Power. John Wiley & Sons. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-7456-3748-8.
  3. "About Ta'ayush". Ta'ayush. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  4. Katz, Sue (December 2004). "What's Left of the Left in Israel?". Z Magazine. Woods Hole, MA: Z Communications. 17 (12). Archived from the original on 30 October 2007.
  5. Roane Carey,The New Intifada: Resisting Israel's Apartheid, Verso 2001 p.328.
  6. Shalom, Gush (1 January 2005). "Replanting The Olive Trees of Jayyous". Scoop.co.nz.
  7. Grinberg, Mijal (1 December 2007). "Palestinians: Settlers throw stones at boy, steal his donkey". Haaretz. Tel Aviv. Archived from the original on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  8. Stern, Yoav. "Residents of unrecognized Wadi Ara village repave razed road – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News". Haaretz. Israel. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  9. Lavie, Aviv (10 April 2003). "The Sheriff". Haaretz. Tel Aviv. Archived from the original on 24 October 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  10. Neiman, Susan (6 October 2009). Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-up Idealists. Random House. p. 384. ISBN 978-1-4090-7759-6.
  11. "Middle East | Arrests follow 'settler beating'". BBC News. 7 July 2008.
  12. "Palestinians document settler violence – 08 Jun 08". YouTube. 8 July 2008.
  13. "Israeli Settlers Caught Beating Palestinian – ABC News". USA: ABC. 13 February 2009.
  14. "News". AlertNet. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  15. Azoulay, Yuval. "VIDEO: Settlers tie Palestinian man to phone pole and beat him – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News". Haaretz. Israel. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  16. Svirsky, Marcelo (2013). Arab-Jewish Activism in Israel-Palestine. Ashgate Publishing. p. 5. ISBN 9781409476733.
  17. Wendy Pullan, Britt Baillie (eds.), Locating Urban Conflicts: Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Everyday, Palgrave Macmillan 2013 p.156.
  18. Marteu, Elisabeth (2009). Civil organizations and protest movements in Israel mobilization around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 82. ISBN 9780230621749.
  19. Michael Riordon, An Unauthorized Biography of the World: Oral History on the Front Lines, Between the Lines, 2010 p.188.
  20. Chris Farrands, Imad El-Anis, Roy Smith, Lloyd Pettiford, A New A-Z of International Relations Theory, I.B.Tauris, 2015 p.249
  21. Judith Butler (2008). "The Charge of Anti-Semitism". In Silberstein, Laurence Jay (ed.). Postzionism: A Reader. Rutgers University Press. p. 379. ISBN 978-0-8135-4347-5.
  22. Susan Neiman, Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-up Idealists, Random House,2009 pp.383-390, p.383.
  23. "Israeli Leftist Taped Trying to Set Up Palestinians Who Seek to Sell Land to Jews". Haaretz. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  24. JTA. "Left-wing Israeli says he helps kill Palestinians who sell land to Jews". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  25. Kubovich, Yaniv (11 January 2015). "Police Make Airport Arrest of Left-wing Activist Who Turned Palestinians in to PA". Haaretz.
  26. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.719171 Israel Prize Winner Donates Cash Award to Israeli Group That Helps Palestinians
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