BEFORE OCTOBER 7TH, those of us who are part of the Palestinian-Israeli civil resistance community in the occupied West Bank saw each other often: sometimes at protests or civil disobedience actions, sometimes at large community gatherings, sometimes just to spend an afternoon together. But especially in the past six months, many of these interactions have vanished in the face of growing state and settler violence, confining our togetherness to less frequent visits and small protective presence trips. So it was somewhat of a shock to the system to find myself, one early spring evening, in the schoolyard of the village of Tuwani in the Masafer Yatta region of the southern West Bank, surrounded by what felt like the entire joint resistance community—hundreds strong—that has been fighting the forced depopulation of the area. For years, those gathered in this courtyard had together blocked roads, been tear-gassed and beaten, faced batons and stun grenades, accompanied shepherds, slept in tents ahead of anticipated demolitions, cleared the rubble of destroyed homes, rehabilitated roads and schools and gardens, and waited outside police stations to file complaints or to receive arrested comrades. We had harvested olives, eaten iftar meals on hot summer nights, shared more cups of sugary tea than I could ever count, attended funerals and weddings, spent long days sitting under the trees in the summer and huddled around ovens in the winters, and sat in so many meetings planning protests and campaigns. Along the way, we helped bring international attention to the ongoing displacement of Palestinians in Masafer Yatta—and created a rare community of Palestinian-led co-resistance in the process….more
