By Meagan Wohlberg, The Link
There is an old saying which suggests that "good fences make good neighbours."
But you may have a hard time hearing that in the West Bank.
"There are streets you can step on because you are Jewish and Palestinians have to take a different path[…] It's very difficult to see this kind of separation," said Noam Lekach of Israeli direct action group Anarchists Against the Wall.
AATW visited Concordia last Friday as part of the organization's North American speaking and fundraising tour.
The group, which has participated in thousands of demonstrations and other acts of protest against what they call the "Israeli occupation" of Palestine, is in desperate need of money to address rising legal fees created by the constant arrests of its members and others in the movement.
"Activists both Israeli and Palestinian are being arrested all the time and legal expenses are very high," said Lekach. "AATW has decided to pay all legal expenses of any Palestinian arrested. We are $15,000 in debt to our lawyers."
Founded in 2003 after Palestinians invited several Israeli activists to join in the popular struggle against the construction of the wall that divides Palestinians from Israelis, AATW's first action was to protest the fence at a point where it cut Palestinian farmers off from their land. During the action, Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition at the demonstrators, injuring some of the Israeli activists. According to Lekach, this had permanent consequences for the popular struggle.
"For the first time the Israeli press was dealing with resistance," said Lekach. "Many asked why the soldiers did not have non-live ammunition. Until then, the IDF didn't think about rubber bullets or tear gas because there were only Palestinians, because according to the Israeli state, my blood is worth more than Palestinian blood."
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