stop prawer plan sukkot toolkit 2013, jewish voice for peace

SUKKOT can help #STOP PRAWER An action and reflection toolkit

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We are delighted to be offering this action & reflection toolkit in honor of the Jewish holiday of sukkot and in opposition to the Prawer Plan. The holiday of sukkot is marked by constructing and then living in a sukkah -‐-‐ a temporary dwelling, like the ones the Israelites lived in when wandering through the desert. Sukkot remind us of the importance of stability and home. They are open, designed to encourage welcoming in guests, both strangers and familiars. As we gather in Sukkot aware of the reality of vulnerability and the possibility of openness we will strategize how to stop the mass displacement and forced transfer of Palestinian Bedouin in the Negev. In response to requests from our allies and friends organizing in the Negev/Naqab who have asked us to do education and also action, we are excited to offer this toolkit to help you and your JVP chapter and larger community take action around the Prawer Plan. We are including resources both for private gatherings and for public actions, depending on what you have planned you can use whatever makes sense! Please find inside this toolkit the following for your own or your community’s sukkah: 1. Materials for reading/discussion 2. A ritual for shaking the lulav & the etrog 3. Decorations for your sukkah 4. Suggested additional reading – for yourself or to provide in your sukkah You will also find these materials in the event you plan to hold a public action during Sukkot: 1. Street theater skit 2. Flyer for distribution Please do let us know how you are using these resources by emailing [email protected] and by posting photos at stopprawer.tumblr.com Thank you to JVP members Jade Brooks, Mark Gunnery and Rabbi Lynn Gottleib for their work creating these resources. Onward, Alissa & Stefanie PS. This toolkit would not have been possible without the work and great resources provided by Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (http://adalah.org/eng/), they provided most of the facts here and also the lovely myth/facts images we suggest for the Sukkah. Check them out for more great info.

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During the holiday of Sukkot, Jews across the world eat, meet, and sleep inside temporary dwellings called sukkot. The sukkah's origin is in the temporary dwellings that agricultural workers lived in during autumn harvest seasons in the past. They also symbolize the dwellings that ancient Israelites stayed in during the 40 years they spent travelling through the Sinai desert after the Exodus from Egypt. These structures have come to represent Jews' liberation from slavery, and Sukkot is a time when we honor that liberation. But Sukkot is also a time when we reflect on the precariousness of our freedom. The ancient Israelites were freed from slavery, but they didn't move into palaces. Instead, they lived in collapsible homes that were portable, vulnerable and temporary. Today, in a desert not far from the Sinai, another group of people is standing up for their liberation. Earlier this year, the Israeli Knesset approved the Prawer-‐Begin plan which will lead to the mass expulsion of the Arab Bedouin community in the Naqab, or Negev, desert in the south of Israel. If the plan is fully implemented, Israeli forces will destroy 35 Arab Bedouin villages and forcibly dispossess up to 70,000 people who live in them. The inhabitants of these villages not only have centuries-‐old links to their land, they are also citizens of the state of Israel. They have demonstrated their complete rejection of the plan, and have been protesting against their dispossession for years. Throughout the world, solidarity activists have demonstrated in support of the Naqab's Arab Bedouin community. And yet, the Israeli government is prepared to move ahead with the Prawer-‐Begin plan. Many Arab Bedouins share the sentiments of Abu al-‐Kian, a 70-‐year-‐old resident of Atir, a village that has already been razed by Israeli bulldozers—and rebuilt by its inhabitants. He remains steadfast in his refusal to leave his land. "For 41 years I worked on this land, in the fresh air, for the Ministry of Agriculture and the Jewish National Fund, planting trees and putting out forest fires," he said. "I have citizenship, but they still destroyed my house. Now I have only the shirt on my back. It's like they're saying to me, 'Just leave and go to hell.'” This Sukkot, let us reflect on not just Jewish people's liberation thousands of years ago, but also on the struggle for liberation happening today in the Naqab. Please discuss the following questions with your friends, family, and community. •What does “home” mean to you? •During Sukkot we create temporary dwellings. What does it mean for you to be in a “temporary dwelling?” How would you feel if someone decided that your home is a “temporary dwelling” that needs to be destroyed? How would you respond? •How does building and being in a Sukkah help you relate to people whose housing is more precarious than yours? •How do you feel when you read Abu al-‐Kian's quote? •Do you think the Prawer-‐Begin plan is something you want to stop? If so, what are ways you can work to fight it within your own community?

Please visit stopprawer.tumblr.com for more information

READING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR SUKKOT

A RITUAL FOR SHAKING LULAV & ETROG 1. Traditionally, the lulav shaken at Sukkot is created based on this quote from the Torah (Leviticus

23:43) "On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before Adonai your God seven days." "Fruit of goodly trees" refers to the etrog (citron). "Branches of palm trees" refers to the lulav. "Boughs of leafy trees" refers to the myrtle (hadasim). "Willows of the brook" refers to the aravot or hoshanot. For this ritual as part of the JVP Sukkot day of action, we encourage you to create your own lulav using plants that grow in the place where you live. Try to find a branch, flower, or grass from three different plants. Look for a piece of citrus fruit (traditionally, an etrog or citron, but could be a lemon, lime, orange, or pomelo, based on where you live and what is in season or affordable). Draw the branches and grasses together and bind them with string or yarn to form your own lulav for this ritual.

2. Stand facing east-‐-‐towards the Negev desert where the Prawer Plan aims to displace 20,000 Bedouins from their land. "All this is not new," said Hakmeh Abu Mdeighem, a Bedouin who faces displacement. "Everything has been destruction and more destruction, humiliating human beings, displacing people. They are not doing this only in Al-‐Araqib. They want to expel all the Bedouins out of Israel." Lift the lulav that you have created in your right hand and the citrus fruit with your left.

3. Bring your two hands together so that the citrus is touching the lulav. The bud of the citrus (the part where it attaches to the tree) should be facing down. If you wish to say or chant it, the traditional blessing for shaking the lulav is:

Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha'olam asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu al netilat lulav. ("Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us concerning the waving of the lulav.")

On the first day of waving add: Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha'olam shehehiyanu v'kiyemanu v'higiyanu lazman hazeh. ("Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who has granted us life, sustenance, and permitted us to reach this season.")

Read aloud this quote from a Bedouin man named Ghadara Jahalin before shaking the lulav: "You can see now we are trapped between the settlements, their power cables and the road," Ghadara Jahalin says. "We used to have wells, now we can't reach them. We can't plant anything so there is no pasture for the goats and sheep."

4. Hold the lulav out to the east (in front of you) and shake it three times. Each time the motion of shaking should be a drawing in to you-‐-‐reach and draw in, reach out and draw in, reach out and draw in. As you shake, draw in the stories and demands of the Bedouin community. As you reach out-‐-‐feel the outrage at Israel’s actions and the hypocrisy of displacing a people from their land by a people who have been displaced and whose ancestors wandered in the desert without land.

5. Repeat the same motion three times to your right (south), behind over your shoulder (west), to your left (north), raising it the lulav and citron above you, lowering it down below you. Each time you change direction commit to taking action in opposition to the Prawer Plan. As you shake to the south commit to posting a picture on the Stop the Prawer Plan website, as you shake north commit to writing a letter to the editor of the town or city where you live, as you raise up the lulav commit to talking to your family or friends to inform them about the Prawer Plan and the Bedouin opposition to it, as you lower the lulav to shake it below you, commit to speaking to a group-‐-‐at your school, place of worship, or workplace-‐-‐to inform them about what's happening.

6. Turn the citrus right side up to indicate that you have shaken the lulav in all four directions. Speak out loud the words of Bedouin protestor, Eman Hanna: “We have a legal right to be here. We are citizens of this country and have a permit to have the protest, and look, we’re being treated like the enemy. What sort of democracy is this?”

7. Pass the lulav and citrus to a friend in your group to give them the chance to shake the lulav and commit to taking action.

Print these quotes, pictures, and myths/facts; cut them into strips; and scatter them around your sukkah as a way of inviting in the voices and faces of Palestinian Bedouin individuals during this time of reflection.

SUKKAH DECORATIONS

“It is not every day that a government decides to relocate almost half a percent of it’s population in a programme of forced urbanization. This is precisely what Prawer wants to do.”

-‐-‐ Rawia Aburabia

“We have a legal right to be here. We are citizens of this country and have a permit to have the protest, and look, we’re being treated like the enemy. What sort of democracy is this?”

-‐-‐Eman Hanna

“They push us into cities, to concentrate us. They want a lot of Bedouin on a very small amount of land, and a few Jews on a big amount of land.”

-‐-‐Awad Abu Freih

“All this is not new. Everything has been destruction and more destruction, humiliating human beings, displacing people. They are not doing this only in Al-‐Araqib. They want to expel all the Bedouins out of Israel.”

-‐-‐Hakmeh Abu Mdeighem

“Nobody can stop them. This is their project and they will implement it no matter what. They will push us to somewhere where we won’t be able to survive.

-‐-‐Ghadara Jahalin

Bedouin children play in the unrecognized village of Assir in the Negev/Naqab. The village was established by the Israeli military in the 1950s and is now under threat of eviction by the Prawer Plan.

"Why can't Bedouin live with camels, when Jewish people can?" Mr Abu Freih asks. "It's our profession to milk camels. But now I drink camel milk from Jews."

Israeli troops stand guard, preventing residents from interfering in the demolition of Bedouin village Al Araqib

The school in Khan al-‐Ahmar where Eid Jhalin sends his two children is under demolition orders.

Youth protesting the Praer Plan near the Bedouin town of Rahat

Overview: This skit should take about 5-‐7 minutes and can be repeated during your action. The words come from Bedouin poetry and commentary about the Prawer Plan. Theme: forced exile Image: A group of people wearing white masks and they put up a tent or sukkah. Label the Sukkah “AL ARAQIB” or the name of another village under threat of demolition. They say: "We are bedouin. We have lived on this land for generations. We like to say: "When you sleep in your room, your thoughts are as high as the ceiling, when you sleep outside, your thoughts are as high as the stars." "The bedouin root of knowledge is not in books but in reading the language of the earth and sky. Like the North Star, we are steadfast in our love for the Naqab. We belong to this land." Then another group of people come in carrying a sing that says PRAWER RESETTLEMENT PLAN They are wearing half-‐face mask... They circle the tent people. They say: "We want the land" We have a plan. Resettlement. Re-‐education. Re-‐moval. The Prawer Plan! As they continue to recite, "resettlement, reeducation, removal" the Israelis use their signs like weapons and push the bedouins together and off to the side perhaps shoving them into a refrigerator cardboard box, and/or use long thin cloth or rope to tie them together so they can't move. When they try to move as a group, the people with the Prawer Plan signs push them back to the side. The Prawer Plan group strolls about smiling and muttering: resettlement is good, reeducation is good, Jewish only land is good. The Israeli half masked people are still carrying "Prawer Plan" signs. to keep the white masked bedouin in place. The Bedouin say: (They also have a sign with these words) We see this plan as a declaration of war on the Bedouin community of the unrecognized villages, even though we welcome any village recognition of our 39 unrecognized settlements! This plan was never discussed with us or our representatives. We do not support this plan. The bedouin (white masks) lift their hands, cover their faces, lift their hands: "We are like a gray haired woman who dies consumed by grief in a strange country, driven out by those she welcomed to her land. They reject her, humiliate her, deprive her. Our soul cries out because we are ordered to depart. We are being forced toward a destination that will destroy everything. Unless you stop the Prawer Plan. Then hand out leaflets.

STREET THEATER TO #STOP PRAWER

#STOP PRAWER Join us in stopping legislation—the Prawer-Begin Bill—that will forcibly expel up to 70,000 Bedouin citizens of Israel

from their ancestral land, homes and communities.

Do the math. Prawer = Injustice.

0 - The number of Bedouin who were consulted in the planning

process for the Prawer Plan, which would effect nearly all Bedouin in the Naqab/Negev.

1 - The Prawer-Begin Bill has passed the 1st reading in the

Knesset, meaning the bill is halfway to being law.

7 - Arab Bedouin have been inhabitants of the Nagab/Negev desert

since the 7th Century.

100 - If Israel applied the same laws to Bedouin citizens and

Jewish citizens of the Nagab/Negev, they would recognize and provide infrastructure for 100% of the 35 Bedouin villages they are trying to destroy with Prawer.

70,000- The number of Bedouin citizens of Israel that

could be expelled from their ancestral land, homes, and communities if the Prawer Plan is passed.

join us. #stopprawer.

www.jvp.org/stopprawer

From Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel:

Report: The Arab Bedouin and the Prawer Plan, 2012 Factsheet: Myths and Misconceptions about the Arab Bedouin in the Naqab Article: Four Reasons to Reject the Prawer Plan, by Dr. Thabet Abu Rass and Professor Oren Yiftachel Legal letter: Adalah and ACRI Objection to the Prawer Plan Summary: The Alternative Master Plan for Bedouin Villages in the Negev

From the Palestinian Boycott National Committee http://www.bdsmovement.net/2013/palestinian-‐bds-‐national-‐committee-‐calls-‐freezing-‐knesset-‐membership-‐inter-‐parliamentary-‐union-‐light-‐racist-‐laws-‐11148

From JVP's Director of Campaigns, Rabbi Alissa Wise http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-‐alissa-‐wise/prawer-‐plan_b_3438201.html

From +972 http://972mag.com/tag/prawer-‐plan/

From The Independent http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/06/28/a-‐snapshot-‐of-‐the-‐lives-‐of-‐the-‐bedouin-‐tribe-‐of-‐%E2%80%9Cal-‐araqib%E2%80%9D/

FURTHER READING ON PRAWER

stop prawer plan sukkot toolkit 2013, jewish voice for peace

Documents

sukkot aware

jewish holiday of sukkot

action reflection toolkit

prawer plan

temporary dwellings

stop prawer

great resources

sinai desert