Vanunu Greets Peace Cycle

in Jerusalem!

 

After a difficult and eventful ride through the Occupied West Bank, the Peace Cycle finally rode into Jerusalem on Friday 15th September.

 

The cyclists were delighted to be met at Jerusalem's Damascus Gate by Mordechai Vanunu, who was imprisoned by Israel for 18 years after exposing it's secret nuclear weapons programme, and who is still being held in Israel against his will. Vanunu is one of the Patrons of the Peace Cycle, and he greeted the cyclists warmly before spending the afternoon touring parts of the city with them.

 

The arrival in Jerusalem was an emotional moment for the Peace Cyclists, after completing a 2500km ride across Europe and the Middle East. This epic mission for peace and justice covered 10 countries and included climbing the Alps, but nothing could have prepared the cyclists for the physical and emotional journey they experienced in Occupied Palestine. The ride was constantly harassed and hindered by the Israeli military and police, starting with an eight hour ordeal at the border crossing from Jordan, a further three hour wait at a checkpoint once they entered the West Bank, and a seven hour wait as they were detained at another checkpoint near to the northern West Bank town of Jenin. Even when the ride eventually got back on schedule, the Israeli authorities seemed determined to make things difficult for the cyclists, forcing them to re-route the ride on several occasions.

 

The cyclists, however, were inspired by the Palestinian spirit of "Samoud" - a steadfastness, a refusal to give in - and they were all the more determined to visit the Palestinian people they had come all this way to meet. So the Peace Cyclists rode into the towns of Tulkarm, Qalqiliya, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jerusalem, and many villages on the way, and were welcomed warmly by the Palestinian population who asked that they voice their cry for peace to the rest of the world.

 

Most of the cyclists had not visited Palestine before, and were visibly shocked when faced with the reality of occupation. The twenty four men and women from different backgrounds and nationalities became witness to checkpoints, roadblocks, demolished homes, ruined lands, separated families, and the horrific sight of "the wall" - an ugly mass of concrete in some places, fencing and razor wire in others - which cuts deep inside Palestinian territory and destroys the very fabric of human existence.

 

Once in Jerusalem, the cyclists met with representatives of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees, and with the YWCA and YMCA Joint Initiatives in Palestine.

 

The ride ended with a return trip to Jenin - the town the Israeli forces had prevented the cyclists from entering at the start of their journey, but which they were determined to visit. Once inside the town, they met the children at The Freedom Theatre and played a musical medley to them using bicycles as instruments, and then toured Jenin refugee camp, a place where the brutality of occupation is as evident as the indomitable spirit of the Palestinian people.

 

Another Peace Cycle has ended, but the movement against the injustice of occupation has become stronger and more determined than ever.