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May Day photos from West Bank, Occupied Palestine
Por IWPS -
Thursday, May. 01, 2003 at 9:41 AM
iwps@palnet.com
Photos from the May Day in Salfit, a small town in the West Bank of Occupied Palestine
The day started with everyone meeting at the Karawa roadblock to get on the bus to go to Salfit. Although the distance is less than 20km, it took a long time, since we had to get off at another place where the road had been blocked up with rocks (by Israeli settlers and the army). There we transferred to another bus.
When we reached the small town, there was a march of 500 people chanting revolutionary slogans against capitalism, the Apartheid Wall (see http://www.pengon.org), Bush, Sharon and Blair.
The march went to the graveyard to place wreaths on the graves of those killed by the Israeli army since May Day 2002. After this the May Day marchers adjourned to the Salfit hall where we viewed the dubke dance by Palestinian youth, and listened to revolutionary songs and poetry.
After this there was a discussion on the relevance of socialism today and the need for socialism and an end to occupation of Palestine.
The trip home was longer. New checkpoints had been set up. Other taxi drivers warned us in Salfit. After waiting for about two hours before departing, the Palestinians decided to take a chance. Bad luck since a whole bunch of Israeli soldiers appeared on the main road and the bus had to stop. All male Palestinians had to get out of the bus and be searched by soldiers. The May Day leaflets, flags of Che Guevara, and the megaphone were quickly stashed under the chairs of women on the bus.
One unlucky Palestinian had left his dompas, apartheid style ID at home. This meant a 3 hour wait with the soldiers on the side of the road while someone from his village went to bring it. Eventually we all arrived back in our villages. May Day 2003 was over for this year. We all hoped that next year the conditions would be better – no more occupation, no more checkpoints – but at the same time, we wondered, if this happened what sacrifices would ordinary Palestinians be forced to make?