Crimes, Victims and Witnesses: Apartheid in Palestine

297 Pages·2013·14.244 MB·English

by  Mats Svensson

CRIMES, VICTIMS
AND WITNESSES
Apartheid in Palestine
Mats Svensson
Published by: Office 253, Second floor
Real African Publishers Dunkeld West Shopping Centre
The Mills Jan Smuts Avenue, cnr Bompas Road
66 Carr Street Dunkeld West 2196
Newtown Johannesburg
Johannesburg 2001
South Africa
ISBN 978-0-9870348-0-9
@ Mats Svensson 2012
Photographs: Mats Svensson
Text: Mats Svensson
Translation: Matilda Svensson
Editor: Angela McClelland
Design: Osama Emerezian (Palestine)
Design: Adam Rumball (South Africa)
Printed and bound in South Africa
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior written permission of both the copyright holder
and the publisher of the book.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out
or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
CONTENTS
Foreword 7
Preface 9
The red and white bird in Gaza 11
The order to destroy has been given 23
Retaining one’s dignity 45
“Mats, you must be balanced” 55
The devouring dragon 63
The making of a Palestinian state 73
“Recently I was someone, now I’m nobody” 87
The dance of the cranes in Jerusalem 101
Short film sequences at a checkpoint 109
Strangers at a checkpoint 121
Half a green apple 127
Playing beach tennis while the helicopters pass by 141
Who is a terrorist? 151
Her mother’s sad eyes always remain 161
Longing to be free 169
In the shadow of the wall 183
The pilot plays computer games over Gaza 189
Dad does not want to know 199
“I will never vote for corruption” 209
The crimes have no period of limitation 221
“Comrades, your enemy is yourselves” 237
The last dance in Ramallah 251
Apartheid on two continents 271
Photo index 286
For more information 292

To my father, Valter Svensson,
who taught me to always ask another question
and not go for shortcuts.

FOREWORD
It was in June, 2010 that I first encountered the work of Mats Svensson.
He had submitted his essays and photographs for publication in The Thinker magazine and I was
immediately struck by the powerful messages conveyed by his hauntingly lyrical text—the more
powerful for its simplicity—and poignant images. For they capture—perfectly and accurately—
the daily struggles: the constant deprivations and humiliations; the rapid encroachment and
dispossession and destruction of entire communities; the theft of land; the gross violation of
human rights—on a daily basis—of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Having travelled extensively throughout the Middle East, including Israel, Mats Svensson tells the
story of occupied Palestine exactly as he sees it: with honesty and brutal clarity. His long experience
working in Africa, including South Africa, alerted him to something very wrong in this place. So he
delved further.
Read this book and gain insight into what daily life feels like for the people of Gaza—and those
living elsewhere in the occupied territories.
When South Africans visit Palestine most are shocked at how much worse apartheid is there than
that of the old South Africa. And they comment that it cannot be called anything other than
apartheid.
Crimes, Victims and Witnesses is not a tirade against the occupying power. Rather it is a collection
of impressions gathered by a man taking long walks along a very long and ugly wall. A man who
watched and listened and documented exactly what he saw. So you and I can see, and hopefully
feel, the sensations of lives that are so blighted by an illegal colonial occupying power, Israel. This
book is a reminder of our commitment as South Africans to support the struggles for liberation of
people everywhere, regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity, class or religion.
7
Today the struggle of the Palestinians for national liberation, independence, democracy and human
rights deserves the support and solidarity of progressive humanity.
The Thinker thanks Angela McClelland and Reedwaan Vally for publishing Mats Svensson’s articles
and images so that his work can have a much wider exposure.
I invite you, therefore, to open your mind as you open this book and take an unbiased look at one
man’s impressions…
Dr Essop G. Pahad
8
PREFACE
I lived four years in Palestine. That is a very short time. But I have been walking, talking, listening,
crying and very, very often laughing. All of my questions were never answered.
I went to Congo fourteen years after France had left; I went to Bangladesh six years after Pakistan
had been beaten; I went to Eritrea six years after its independence, and I came to South Africa six
years after the apartheid regime had given up. But sadly, I was not late in Palestine. In Palestine the
occupation has been deepened, the colonialism is a fact on the ground and Palestinians are living
under the most effective apartheid rule.
This is not a book about hope, for you’d have to be blind to live in Palestine today and feel hope
for the future. Feelings are short-lived, though, and not constant. The history of the oppressed tells
us that occupation is just a temporary disease. Even the most brutal apartheid regime will not last
forever; they are doomed to fall. This is, therefore, a book about a short time in history. For this will
also pass.
Many people made this book possible: Matilda, who helped me with the translation and linguistic
styling; Anna-Klara with all kinds of support during the work; Garo, who developed all of the
pictures; Osama Emerezian behind the wall in Al Ram, who made the draft version; and finally, and
most important, Mohammed in Abu Dis, who represents all the people in Palestine who shared with
me some of their time.
Mats Svensson
9