LONDON: Salim Shawamreh’s house in Anata, a couple of miles east of Al Quds, has been demolished by the Israeli authorities three times, on a series of bureaucratic pretexts. Jeff Halper, coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, is helping to rebuild it for the fourth time. Three weeks ago Halper was arrested again as he tried to prevent the demolition of houses in another village.

On Feb 3, 300 peace activists defied the ban against travel to Palestinian Authority-controlled areas and went to Ramallah. They pressed on when Israel Defence Force (IDF) soldiers tried to stop them at a checkpoint along the way, met Arafat, and later chanted at the IDF: “Soldiers come home.” The soldiers responded with stun grenades.

The Israeli left has been beset by despair and depression, and there has been no centralized political opposition to Sharon, especially since the Labour party joined the national coalition government. Throughout the past 17 months a small but symbolic array of Israeli peace groups has intensified its efforts, and has been further galvanised by the combat reservists’ recent petition calling on soldiers to refuse to serve beyond the “green line” (the 1967 borders). Their numbers may be tiny but their moral and political significance is huge. They shift the terms of the debate from one for or against Israel to for or against the occupation.

Those who visited Arafat belong to a group of Arab and Jewish activists, Ta’ayush (partnership), formed a month after the intifada began. The group specialises in solidarity delegations to proscribed West Bank areas, whose inhabitants are suffering economic strangulation because they can no longer work or market their produce in Israel. In January, despite IDF harassment, they walked 5km up a mountain and through deep mud to reach a South Al Khalil village.

Israeli women’s peace organizations run some of the most interesting, least publicised, projects. Among them are the 70 members of Machsom Watch, who conduct daily observations at checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank, challenging capricious new rules invented by officers in charge, and Women in Black, which holds regular anti-occupation vigils.

More high-profile is Yesh Gvul, the organization supporting refuseniks, which has developed the idea of “selective refusal” for reservists prepared to serve, but not in the occupied territories. Peace Now, is holding Saturday-night vigils outside Ariel Sharon’s Al Quds residence. Last Thursday it launched its first new campaign since Sharon took office: “Leave the settlements - stop the terror”. —Dawn/The Guardian News Service.