WORLD WORLDWIDE BULGARIA ISRAËL JAFFA News Journal Update - (en) Bulgaria, ABG: "A Nuclear Superpower and a Dispossessed People" - An Anarchist from Jaffa on the Escalation in Palestine and Israeli Repression (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Translation by Georgi Konstantinov of the CrimethInc interview. with the

anarchist Yonatan Polak from the city of Jaffa ---- Hey comrades! As
conflicts intensify around the world, we bring you real perspectives on
how to understand what's happening and how to support liberation
movements in the midst of it. ---- On October 7, as we were preparing to
publish this interview, Hamas, the ruling party in the Gaza Strip,
carried out a coordinated wave of attacks. The Israeli government
responded with a full-scale military operation. While both sides attack
both civilian and military targets, these events can only be understood
in the context of decades of repression and ethnic cleansing.

To gain insight into the events, we interviewed Jonathan Pollack, an
anarchist from Jaffa. A longtime participant in Anarchists Against the
Wall and other anti-colonial solidarity efforts, Yonatan today faces the
threat of prison for protest activity earlier this year. In the
interview, he describes how he sees the current escalation, describes
how the Israeli justice system structurally oppresses Palestinians,
explains how to support Palestinian prisoners, and assesses the
effectiveness of solidarity efforts over the years.

The escalation of hostilities

On Saturday, October 7, as we were preparing to publish this interview,
Hamas carried out a wave of coordinated attacks. The Israeli government
responded by launching a large-scale military offensive. How do you
perceive these events from where you are?

This is an event of historic magnitude for the Palestinian resistance
against Israeli colonialism, which continues today. It's too early to
say what exactly will happen, so I'd rather talk about the general
context of the situation than analyze current events while the details
are still unclear. Anything I can say now may be out of date in a few hours.

It is certain, however, that terrible days lie ahead.

The short version of this story is that Hamas forces have been able to
break through Israel's brutal siege on the Gaza Strip and infiltrate, if
not outright capture, Israeli settlements on the other side of the wall,
in some cases. The number of casualties on the Israeli side is in the
hundreds and the images broadcast in the media are horrific and
shocking, especially on social media. But I'm getting a little ahead of
myself.

Some of the terms I use in this context may be confusing to people who
follow what is happening in Palestine at all and are used to the term
"Israeli settlements" being reserved for areas occupied by Israel since
1967. However, I think it is necessary to understand Israel as a
colonial project in itself, and Zionism as a colonial movement for
Jewish supremacy. It would be remiss to ignore Israel's long history of
ethnic cleansing, culminating in Israel's 1948 ethnic cleansing of
Palestinians known as the Nakba. Today's Gaza Strip, which is only a
small part of the Gaza Strip in pre-1948 Palestine, is home to refugees
from 94 towns and villages in the historic area that have been
completely depopulated. Today, 80% of the residents of the Gaza Strip
are refugees, besieged in an area that, at 365 km², is the largest
open-air prison in the world. The cities that were captured or attacked
by the Palestinians at the beginning of the current fighting are some of
the depopulated cities that some of the refugees are deprived of.

In the international corporate media, the story is presented mainly as
either a bilateral war between Israel and Gaza, or as a senseless,
one-sided Palestinian aggression devoid of any context. The missing
context, of course, is that Palestinians have lived through years and
years of colonial subjugation, and this is especially true for
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Like I said, the pictures are dirty and gruesome. It is impossible not
to be influenced by them. However, they are not enough by themselves.
Outside of the historical context already mentioned, over the past two
decades Gaza has been repeatedly reduced to ruins by Israeli airstrikes
and military operations. Now, once again, the bombing has started again
and mainstream Israeli society and its media are openly talking about
committing genocide in Gaza. If nothing is done to prevent this, it can
indeed happen.

When we ask the Palestinians not to resort to violence, we must not
forget the reality they face. When Palestinians in Gaza demonstrated in
2017 and 2018 against the Israeli wall enclosing them, they were shot by
the hundreds. The images currently circulating are dirty and shocking. I
have no intention of euphemizing, justifying or excusing them, but in
the course of the struggle the path to liberation almost always takes
terrifying turns.

The African National Congress (one of the main umbrella organizations in
the struggle against apartheid in South Africa) is often ignorantly
cited as the starting point for those who try to argue that violence has
no role in the struggle. But after establishing its military wing, MK
(uMkhonto we Sizwe, "Spear of the People"), the ANC never gave up
violence. Nelson Mandela (ANC member and co-founder of MK) refused to do
so, even after several decades in prison. In 1985, ANC president Oliver
Tambo told the Los Angeles Times:

We have said in the past that the ANC will never deliberately take the
lives of innocent people, but today, looking at what is happening in
South Africa, it is difficult to say that civilians will not die.

The fight here is between a nuclear superpower and a people who have
nothing. Colonialism does not back down. He won't retreat on his own,
even if you ask him nicely. Decolonization is a noble cause, but the
road to it is often ugly and marred by violence. In the absence of a
realistic alternative to achieve liberation, people are forced to commit
unjustified acts. This is the basic reality of power inequality. To
require the oppressed to always act in the purest way is to wish them to
remain forever enslaved.

The court case

A protester evacuates a child injured by army fire during a protest in Beita

Let's go back a bit - Yonatan, you were tried by an Israeli government
court, on charges of throwing stones during a protest in the West Bank.
Can you explain to us the context in which you were arrested?

I was arrested in Beita, a village near the city of Nablus in the West Bank.

Beita has a long tradition of resistance against Israeli colonialism. It
was one of the centers of resistance during the First Intifada
(1987-1993). In early 1988, about twenty men from Beitah and the
neighboring town of Huwara were surrounded by the Israeli army after
they were identified by the Shin Bet, Israel's infamous secret police,
as having been involved in stone-throwing. They were handcuffed, then
the soldiers broke their bones with stones and clubs. The soldiers were
following the direct order of then-Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who
publicly called for a policy of "breaking arms and legs."

Later that year, Beita was the scene of one of the most notable
incidents of the intifada, when a group of young Israeli settlers led by
extremist Romam Aldubeh invaded the city under the pretext of organizing
a Passover trip. After Aldubé shot a villager in the olive groves
surrounding the town, the group proceeded to Beita itself, where they
were met by residents who came out to defend themselves. The settlers
were eventually disarmed by the residents, but not before their shooting
killed two other Palestinians, as well as a 13-year-old settler girl who
was mistakenly shot by Aldubeh himself during the clash.

After this incident, there were numerous calls in Israeli society to
"wipe Beita off the map." Although the details of the incident had
already been clarified by the military after several operational
debriefings, in retaliation the Israeli army demolished fifteen houses
in the village and arrested all the men, then deported six of them to
Jordan.

In recent years, Beitah has been marked by constant conflict against the
Israeli army and settlers seeking to establish settlements on stolen
land belonging to the city. The protest for which I was arrested on
January 27 was part of a local uprising that began in May 2021,
following the establishment of an Israeli settlement in the Jabel
(Mountain) Sa-bih area on the outskirts of the city. During these
protests, ten people were killed by Israeli sniper fire. Thousands of
people were seriously injured and hundreds were arrested. The uprising
succeeded in forcing the evacuation of the settlers, but only
temporarily and with the government's promise that they would later be
allowed to return. After the settlers left, the site was used as a
military base, and recently the settlers returned to occupy the houses
built with the help of the government.

I was arrested during an operation by the Border Police (a paramilitary
part of the Israeli police) in the village after a demonstration. At the
police station I heard two officers who had arrested me preparing their
statements together; I was then charged with aggravated assault on
police officers (throwing stones), obstructing police officers and
disorderly conduct. I was kept in prison for three weeks, then put under
house arrest because of my failing health.

Families of Palestinian detainees wait to be admitted to the military
court near Ramallah

(Part 2)

You asked to be tried by a military court, as the Palestinians are
tried, not by a civilian one . Can you explain to us the meaning of this
request?

I am clearly not a fan of the State, neither this nor any other. But in
so-called democracies, the idea of legitimate state violence-which is
the very basis of legal and repressive systems-stems from a false ethic
of justice and the mistaken idea that these systems represent the
collective interests of those subject to their authority.

There is a unique mechanism in Israeli apartheid that did not even exist
in the South African apartheid system. There are two parallel court
systems in the West Bank: one for the Palestinians and one for the
Jewish settlers. Being accused of the same crimes - even when they are
committed in the same place, at the same time and under the same
circumstances - I will be prosecuted and tried under civil criminal law,
while my Palestinian comrades will face a military tribunal, which shows
clearly the reality of a total military dictatorship. To capture
Palestinians, the government uses armed forces, often arresting them in
the middle of the night, forcibly and at gunpoint. It can take up to 96
hours to meet with a judge (24 hours for me), and even when you finally
do, that judge will be a soldier in uniform, just like the prosecutor.
They will be tried under Israel's draconian military law, possibly
without the possibility of bail, and sentenced after conviction in a
system where fewer than 1 in 400 people are acquitted.

This dual justice system is often cited as one of the main components of
Israeli apartheid. This is such a striking manifestation of apartheid
that even some moderate Zionists cannot hide it. Yet they fail to
recognize that this is a core element of Zionism as a settler movement,
as they focus only on the 1967 occupation and Israel's control of the
West Bank and Gaza Strip. We often hear that the system is bad, but that
it is not racist because the distinction is based on citizenship. This
statement is false. There is a Palestinian minority (20% of the Israeli
population) whose members live in the areas occupied by Israel in 1948
and hold Israeli citizenship (as opposed to Palestinians who live in the
West Bank or Gaza Strip, who live under Israeli control as stateless
subjects). Little is known about it, but even Palestinians who have
citizenship are sometimes tried by military courts in the West Bank. The
truth of the matter is simple: I was accused by a civil court because
the state considers me a Jew. If I were a Palestinian with Israeli
citizenship, I would be tried by a military court. The system works
along ethnic and religious lines.

The laws themselves are different, and martial law is not really
legislation, but rather a set of decrees issued by the military command
of the region. One of these decrees, Order 101, for example, prohibits
any gathering of a political nature of ten or more people (for example,
a meal during which politics is discussed), even if that gathering takes
place on private property. This is a crime punishable by ten years in
prison. Likewise, any political organization or association can be
declared illegal, which happens regularly.

I see anarchism as an ideology - or rather a movement - of struggle. I
believe that activism should not be moralizing (ie smug and patronizing)
but rather aimed at effective change. In itself, there is nothing
positive about wasting time in prison instead of trying to do something
useful outside. I asked to be court-martialed to shine a light on a
system that very few know about and at the same time try to undermine
it. So we presented a pretty strong legal argument, given the
limitations of Israeli law, but the court simply ignored it based on a
made-up technicality - quite impressive legal tinkering. My decision to
refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the court after my application was
rejected was also part of my strategy.

There is also a more fundamental reason why I refuse to cooperate with
the court and follow the procedures, which stems from my understanding
of power and my own experience in the justice and prison systems. These
systems are designed in such a way that we are always praying or
waiting, always at the mercy of authority, deprived of any agency.

Lack of cooperation overturns this entire system of control. It allows
you to reclaim power and agency in a situation where you are supposed to
have none. There is certainly a price to pay and it should be considered
each time, depending on the circumstances. I'm not saying this is the
best strategy when dealing with the legal system, but I find it helps me
regain control of the situation.

My chances of being acquitted or avoiding jail were non-existent at
first, I didn't have much to lose anyway.

Exterior view of the Ofer military court

This isn't the first time you've faced jail, is it?

No... I think it might be the sixth time, but I'm not a hundred percent
sure. On the other hand, my Palestinian comrades are in and out of
prison all the time, and it is very difficult to imagine a life without
the threat of imprisonment, given the circumstances in which we live. In
fact, I am fortunate (or privileged) to have spent so little time in
prison in twenty-something years of activism. This is also one of the
consequences of Israeli apartheid.

You mentioned that you were released earlier this year due to health
issues. Can you describe the living conditions in the various
establishments you have been to?

Like the judicial system, the prison is also divided. There are separate
areas and prisons for Palestinian political prisoners (Israel calls them
"security prisoners") and for everyone else. For political prisoners,
conditions are much harsher, visits are more limited, they do not have
access to a telephone, among other restrictions. There, however,
organization, solidarity and sometimes even resistance are stronger.
Despite the fact that I am being prosecuted on political charges for
which Palestinians are classified as "security prisoners", and despite
the fact that I asked to be detained with my comrades, I have always
been classified as an "ordinary" prisoner.

The Israeli system has three different levels of imprisonment:
pre-indictment detention, post-indictment detention and post-conviction
detention. Pre-trial detention is the phase where conditions are worst,
where access to the outside world is most limited. At this stage,
telephone communications and access to TV and radio are prohibited, as
well as the purchase of consumables in the canteen. No books or reading
materials other than the Bible or the Koran are permitted. By law, you
are entitled to one hour of walking per day, but you rarely get even a
few minutes. Some of these conditions gradually improve after you've
been charged or convicted, depending on the prison and neighborhood
you're in. ( In general, the regime before the trial and in the penal
wards after the verdict in the prisons of the Bolshevik "paradise" are
much more severe than in the Jewish prisons - note trans. )

Material conditions vary widely. The number of people in the same cell
can vary from two to twenty, I have experienced both extremes. I
generally prefer to have as much privacy as possible, but it really
depends on who the cellmates are. Being locked in a cage with just one
other person can be pretty hard to bear, especially for someone like me
who isn't very good at making small talk.

Drugs and addictions are also a problem and there are a lot of them
hanging around. Pain relievers, opiates, opioid autoagonists, we have it
all. But the supply is never stable, and so it's often the case that
you're stuck in a cell with several people moving between different
addiction states. There are always battles for a share of the little
that reaches the cells. Non-smoking inmates technically have the right
to be housed in non-smoking cells, but this is only theoretical. In
fact, the only non-smoking cell I was held in was solitary confinement.
I was not allowed a non-smoking cell even when I got acute bronchitis.

The most common form of violence among prisoners, apart from fist
fights, is cutting (burnt and pressed cigarette filters are very common
and easy to obtain) and dousing with boiling water mixed with sugar.

I have been vegan for almost thirty years. I suffer from type 1 diabetes
and gluten intolerance (coeliac); I also have epilepsy since I was shot
in the head with tear gas during a demonstration. This makes it a
constant struggle for food in prison as I cannot eat everything that is
prepared in a prison kitchen. It usually takes one to two weeks for the
food to become available and even longer to get everything I need and am
entitled to. Meanwhile, my diet consists mainly of cucumbers and, when
I'm lucky, carrots.

During my last stint in prison, I lost about 12 kilograms in three weeks
- about 15% of my body weight. I came down with acute bronchitis which
caused my blood sugar to spike to life threatening levels.

I was fortunate enough to be released under house arrest on bail, mostly
because of my health. This is an opportunity that the Palestinians do
not have. This experience left me with doubts about the way I was
managing my judicial-political case and maybe even broke me a little. It
took me a while to recover physically and even more to come back to
myself mentally and emotionally. I had to make a decision on how to
approach this case, but none of the options were good, and I wasn't even
able to decide. Eventually I realized that I was faced with a dilemma:
either I had to stick to the agreement I had made with myself when I
discovered the mirror world of anarchism as a teenager and realized how
twisted the world was and screwed myself, or I had to taking what I can
from it and... moving on. That's a pretty easy choice, right? After all,
you have no choice.

Are there any other charges against you?

In addition to the charges already discussed, there are several pending
cases-charges on which I have not yet been tried, but may be. Most
notable is "incitement to violence and terrorism" following an article I
published while in prison in 2020 that called for people to support and
join the Palestinian resistance against Israeli colonialism.

Protesters in Beita using "night confusion" tactics to harass settlers,
flashing powerful laser pointers and other lights at the settlement,
marching toward it with torches and blowing smoke from burning car tires.

(to be continued)

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