Andrey X, as he prefers to use the name on social media, is a Russian-Israeli journalist and activist living in Palestine. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he immigrated to Tel Aviv, which turned his world upside down and also gave him an opportunity to delve into Israel-Palestine conflicts. Now he is covering unjust practices in the West Bank. We have talked about conditions, the current situation, and importance of journalism in the West Bank.
Andrey, can you tell us about your immigration from Russia to Israel?
It's like I initially ended up here accidentally. I was here on a holiday for a couple of weeks to see my grandparents. Back then, my political and academic work were Soviet based. However, once um once the Russia invaded Ukraine, I knew that, regardless of where I live, I have to do political work. I have to try to contribute to peace wherever I live and fight for justice wherever I exist. If I was doing that in Russia, i would go to jail very quickly. Thus, I immigrated here. I realized what was going on after my immigration. Up until then, my viewpoint had been affected a lot through the image that Israel projects itself. In my first six months in Israel, my work was focused on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Afterwards, i started reading books and articles, speaking to people, going to different places, and trying to learn as much as possible about this world which is very new to me. I got more and more emotionally connected and physically involved in the situation Actually, Israel is very good at sugarcoating, so you need to look a bit further to understand the the depth of the of the repression seen here. At first, I lived in Tel Aviv. Now, I have been living in the West Bank for the past nine months. I do not really stay at a certain point longer than a couple of days. I am moving from different villages to different villages.
Was there any moment that served as a spur for you to decide to cover the West Bank?
There were there were moments of my political awakening. However, some moments pushed me more towards action. One of them is October 7th, when this whole situation blew up. You cannot build a system of such repression and expect that it's not gonna blow up. There will be a response to to oppression and colonialism. It didn't come out of nowhere. After the seventh of October, Israel launched its offensive in Gaza and accelerated landing of the West Bank. I had already lived through something similar with Russia Ukraine when like the political situation suddenly changes a war starts and then you whole world is turned upside down, so it was easier for me to figure out how to manage my own collapse within this collapsing system. I immediately went to the West Bank, because we knew that everything would escalate. I went to the village of Rashash, where i spent a month in a half. Trying to prevent attacks and recording them were our purpose in the area. Frankly speaking, there have been a lot of places we suddenly found ourselves powerless, Me and my friends have been attacked, tied up, tortured, and held in a building by soldiers. In the following May, my lease on the apartment that I was staying in Tel Aviv was running out. Consequently, I decided to stay for a couple of months in the West Bank to protect the presence.
As i infer from your last answer, Israelis can freely enter Palestine. However, Palestinians cannot enter the State of Israel. Am i wrong?
It is complicated than that. There are different levels of the apartheid. There are enough Jewish Israelis who are kind of at the top of the food chain, who can live almost anywhere, have a complete freedom of movements. They possess state supports and freedom of movements and protection. On the other hand, there are some Palestinians with Israeli IDs, who faces various discriminations. For instance, there are places where only Jews are allowed to buy land and rent apartments. For Bedouins, but a very similar apartheid system to the West Bank. Additionally, Palestinians of East Jerusalem live without citizenship at all. Israel considers them Jordanian and Jordan considers them Palestinian, but neither the country considers them citizens. Thus, it is a bit more complicated than like these these people can live there and those people who cannot live there. However, in terms of freedom of movements, Palestinians of the West Bank are deprived of the ability to move in to move around. Sometimes they they are unable to live to leave their own villages. I was stuck in the village of a few days ago because the army set up like just closed the gates, and then they just locked the entire community and and we couldn't do anything about that.
Can you elaborate on the police’s attitude towards assault cases in the region?
The settlers come and just assault Palestinian soil and Palestinians as well. This is a recurring case; I've seen happen over and over again in the West Bank. When the police arrive, they arrest the Palestinians who were attacked. I've been assaulted and arrested on charges of assault. The police here are worse, because they do not enforce any specific system. The police can do whatever they want just like a mafia system. A person in Masafer Yatta, Jibrin Abu Aram, was attacked by settlers a few days ago. Then the army arrested him and he was placed in called detention facility. Yesterday they extended his arrest by six days. I have many Palestinian friends who were arrested, tortured, beaten, also held for no reason with no charges, with no access to, um to lawyers, with no access to any kind of rights. They were deprived food and water during their arrest. After arrest they were just thrown on the side of the road.
Can you describe to us how does it feel to be a journalist in that area?
Well, journalists any journalistic report that covers the crimes of the occupation is suppressed pretty heavily. There is a difference between conditions of Israeli journalists and Palestinian journalists. Palestinians get arrested, detained. As for international journalists, they are detained and deported from the country. As to Israeli journalists, it is way easier. Because we are on the correct side of the apartheid. As an Israeli citizen, i was arrested, tortured, and beaten. Sometimes repressions reached such a ridiculous level that I was even arrested just for existing. I have received thousands of death threats from far-right Israeli people because of my reports.
Can you explain the current conditions in the West Bank to us?
The genocide in Gaza seems to have been stopped. There is a ceasefire, and there are people coming back to their destroyed homes in Gaza. Both Palestinian and Israeli hostages are being released, but Israel seems to move war from Gaza to the West Bank. It seems like they intend to destroy refugee camps. At the same time, there is a wave of massive programs against Palestinian villages. There was Settler gangs with support of the occupation forces. Settler gangs are invading Palestinian villages, beating people up, setting fire to houses and cars and so on. This is happening practically on a daily basis, even several times a day. Before, it was not happening this often. Will they like fully move their genocide from Gaza to the west Bank? It is unclear. We're in the very unclear position.
(twitter: @the.andrey.x)
