Un-making the Enemy
by Aaron Lakoff
Hebron, Palestine - February 25, 2005

11 years ago today, Baruch Goldstein, a crazed American-Israeli settler,
walked into the holy Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron and opened fire with a
machine gun, killing 30 Muslims as they prayed and injuring many more. An
unexplainable hate must have been flowing through this man’s veins as he
turned human life to waste, spilling blood all over the resting place of
Abraham and Sarah.
Unfortunately, this is a hate that still lingers here in Hebron today.
Just last Saturday, about 100 Jewish settlers spent their Shabbat

My Glasses will Survive
by Aaron Lakoff
Bil'in, Palestine - February 20, 2005

--to view photos of Bil'in fighting the wall, visit;
http://gallery.cmaq.net/album42
and
http://gallery.cmaq.net/album43

I have attended about a dozen demonstrations over the last month in
Palestine, and I am left with a feeling of deep frustration. I have seen
non-violent Palestinians brutally beaten by the army. I am tired of
seeing these people arrested, I am tired of seeing their Israeli allies
arrested, and I’m tired of breathing in endless canisters of tear gas.
At a demonstration earlier this month, I was really roughed up by

On Travelling in Palestine
by Aaron Lakoff
February 19, 2005

--To view the photos which accompany this story, visit
http://gallery.cmaq.net/album40

Even though I love being in Palestine, I have to admit that I hate
traveling around it. The idea of movement here scares me, but movement
seems to be intimidating for most.
Take my travel yesterday as an example. I went in a taxi with five other
Palestinians from Ramallah to Balata refugee camp in Nablus. We started
the journey going through the massive Qalandya checkpoint, a permanent
fixture and now unfortunate mandatory stop for Palestinian travelers. We

Report – Kefar Qadum Residents Demand the Opening of their Road
February 19, 2005
International Solidarity Movement

Kefar Qadum, Palestine - Today, approximately 300 Palestinians from the
village of Kefar Qadum, along with the support of Israeli and
international activists, held a demonstration to demand the re-opening of
the main road in their village.
Kefar Qadum is a village of 4000 people in the Qalqilya district. It
lies very close to the illegal Israeli settlement of Kedumim and the
Kedumim military base. The residents have been suffering due to the
military closure of the main road leading into the village. The road is

Original to Resist.ca
http://resist.ca/story/2005/2/18/6534/56804

Defiant Palestinian Sheppards Face Down Settler and Army Violence
By Aaron Lakoff
Hebron, Palestine – February 17, 2005

--To view photos from this demonstration, visit:
http://gallery.cmaq.net/album39

We were in a van about 100 meters down the road from our destination of
At-Tuwani, and it had only been half and hour since we had left Jerusalem
this morning. An Israeli woman turned to me from the seat in front,
smiled, and said, “Pretty fast, no?” I was in a van with a group of
Israeli activists, and we had just zipped down one of Israel’s

Tuwani – 500 years and counting
By Aaron Lakoff
Hebron, Palestine – February 14, 2005

On a seemingly harmless day in 1980, a Jewish-Israeli group entered the southern tip of the West Bank and planted a patch of trees. Four years later, this little ranch expanded into a settlement project named Ma'on, which fell just a few hundred meters away from the small Palestinian village of At-Tuwani. So began the most recent troubles of this 500-year old village.
At-Tuwani is a simple village. In fact, it's about as simple as any village could be. At-Tuwani lies just south of the town of Yatta, and is about a one-hour drive from Hebron. It would be a much quicker drive if proper roads were accessible, but all the good roads in the region are for Israelis only.

The Town that Sharm Al Sheikh Forgot
By Aaron Lakoff
Hebron, Palestine – February 10, 2005

--To view my recent photos of occupied Hebron, visit
http://gallery.cmaq.net/album33

I walked down the old stone steps from my apartment in the old city of
Hebron tonight to find an Israeli soldier pointing his M-16 gun at me. I
was carrying a large plastic bag. “Shoo?!?” he said in Arabic, wanting to
know what I was doing, and then realized I wasn’t Palestinian. “What are
you doing?!?”
“Taking out the garbage,” I replied, and plunked the bag down in the
street. This is why people don’t like to leave their homes in this city.

Interview: Israeli Anarchism – Being Young, Queer, and Radical in the Promised Land

Yossi is a young resident of Jerusalem and a member of the International Solidarity Movement. He is part of many social movements in Israel and Palestine, including Anarchists Against the Wall and Black Laundry, a radical queer group. Yossi is currently working at the Alternative Information Center. Here he speaks about anarchism in Israel, it's relationship to the Palestinian struggle, and radical anarchist and queer culture.

Interviewed by Aaron Lakoff

Aaron: Can you tell me about the anarchist movement in Israel?

(To view my photos from Hebron, visit http://gallery.cmaq.net/album32)

“Visit Hebron”. So exclaims the front of a settler bus parked just outside Hebron’s old city. It’s a welcoming invitation to a place wrought with conflict.
Hebron is a city with many faces, some intended and some not. Even how name Hebron is said details where one is coming from. In Hebrew, the city is known as “Hevron”, and in Arabic, it’s called “Al Khalil”. One thing that cannot be disputed is that this ancient city is of great importance to people of many faiths. But still, it remains a hard place to come and visit.

By Aaron Lakoff
Hebron, Palestine - February 1, 2005

In a country where fear is so ingrained in the culture and many are racked with the fright of being attacked at any second, it’s strange to see what can pass as a security threat.
I am a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The ISM is a non-violent organization. All members of the ISM must abide by its principles at all times. Therefore, as logic follows, I am a peaceful activist.
Many, if not most, of the Palestinians I’ve met are also peaceful activists. To be peaceful for them is one choice of many, but to be an activist is not. When your lands are being erased, your children are being shot, and your very identity is being denied, resistance becomes your only option. You must resist to exist.