27 August 2010
The West Bank village of Bil’in has become a symbol of the wider popular resistance movement in Palestine. Abdallah Abu Rahmah, head of Bi’in’s Popular Committee, is one of many key organizers of peaceful resistance that Israel has used legal means to persecute. He was convicted on Tuesday of two out of four charges in an Israeli military court and faces up to ten years in jail. The facts of his case – and what you can do to help put pressure on Israel – are set out below.
Name: Abdallah Abu Rahma
Age: 39 years old.
Incarcerated: in Ofer military prison.
Job: Abdallah worked as a high school teacher at the Latin Patriarchate school in Birzeit near Ramallah until he was jailed. He also owned a chicken farm.
Family: Abdallah is married to Majida and they have three children — seven year-old Luma, five year-old Lian and eight month-old baby Laith.
Why is he imprisoned?
As coordinator of Bili’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, Abdallah is seen as a threat by Israel because of his prominent role in the nonviolent struggle which has attracted international support. He is being legally persecuted because of the successes of the grassroots nonviolent resistance movement which has been growing steadily for the last 5 years.
EU representatives attended all court hearings over the last 8 months and they did not fail to notice the politically motivated nature of the prosecution. Catherine Ashton, European Union High Representative, said yesterday that the EU views Abdallah as “a human rights defender committed to non-violent protest” and that the EU was “deeply concerned that the possible imprisonment of Mr Abu Rahmah is intended to prevent him and other Palestinians from exercising their legitimate right to protest”.
How and when was he arrested?
At 2am on Thursday 10th December 2009 (International Human Rights Day and exactly one year after receiving the Carl Von Ossietzky Medal from the International League for Human Rights) Abdallah was arrested by Israeli forces.
Several military jeeps surrounded his home the West Bank city of Ramallah. Israeli soldiers broke the door down, extracted Abdallah from his bed, blindfolded him and took him away.
What crime does Israel say he has committed?
Abdallah faced 4 charges. He was kept in prison for 8 months during the trial. On August 24th he was found not guilty of stone-throwing and possession of arms (the latter absurd charge brought by the military prosecution, was based on a collection of spent munitions fired at peaceful protesters by the Israeli army, and displaying by Abdallah to demonstrate the disproportionate violence used to disperse demonstrations in Bil’in.).
But he was convicted of organizing “illegal” demonstrations and of “incitement”.
Abdallah was convicted based only on the forced testimonies of minors who were arrested from their beds at the middle of the night and denied their right to legal counsel – not a single piece of material evidence was presented during the entire trial, despite the fact that the military film every demonstration.
The trial:
Under military law, incitement is defined as “The attempt, verbally or otherwise, to influence public opinion in the Area in a way that may disturb the public peace or public order” (section 7(a) of the Order Concerning Prohibition of Activities of Incitement and Hostile Propaganda (no.101), 1967), and carries a 10 years maximal sentence.
Abu Rahmah’s case was the first time the prosecution had used the organizing and participating in illegal demonstrations since the first Intifada. Military law defines illegal assembly in a much stricter way than Israeli law does, and in practice forbids any assembly of more than 10 people without receiving a permit from the military commander.
Diplomats from France, Malta, Germany, Spain and the UK, as well as a representative of the European Union were in attendance to observe the trial. The EU have criticized the conviction. The complete verdict of the Israeli military court can be read online. Click here to read it in Hebrew. It is currently being translated into English and will be available online soon.
Abdallah is likely to be sentenced in the next few weeks – he faces up to ten years in jail. The prosecution is expected to call for a jail term exceeding two years.
Help us send the message that Abdallah Abu Rahmah and the other prisoners of the popular struggle must be protected.
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ACT NOW FOR ABDALLAH:
Abdallah’s outrageous conviction will be followed by a sentence in the coming weeks. The amount of pressure we will be able to generate in this time could influence Abdallah’s sentence, but will also make clear to Israeli authorities that the repression of the popular struggle does have a political price.
Please use the below template letters prepared by the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee to ask your Minister of Foreign Affairs to send an official inquiry to the Israeli government about Abdallah. Demand that your country apply pressure on Israeli officials to release Abdallah Abu Rahmah and stop targeting popular struggle.
USA | UK | GERMANY | ITALY | PORTUGAL | SWEDEN | CZECH REPUBLIC | NETHERLANDS | SPAIN
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Additional information
Abdallah’s history of organizing:
Abdallah has been a member of the Bil’in Popular Committee since its conception in 2004. As coordinator, Abu Rahmah not only regularly organized and attended the weekly Friday demonstrations but also did the media work for the Bil’in struggle.
Abdallah Abu Rahmah (right) with Ela Bhatt, Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tute, Fernando H Cardoso, Mary Robinson and Gro Brundtland of the Elders during a visit to Bil'in in August 2009
Abdallah represented the village in engagements around the world to further Bil’in’s cause. He traveled to Montreal in June 2009 to participate in a speaking tour and for the village’s legal case against two Canadian companies building settlements on Bil’in’s land. In December 2008, he participated in a speaking tour in France and traveled to Germany to accept the the Carl von Ossietzky Medal for outstanding service in the realization of basic and human rights, awarded by the board of trustees of the International League for Human Rights on behalf of Bil’in.
In August 2009 he met with internationally renowned human rights defenders like Nobel Peace prize winner Desmond Tutu and former US President Jimmy Carter, as part of a visit by The Elders to Bil’in village.
Treatment in prison:
A previous raid targeting Abu Rahmah, on 15th September 2009, was executed with such exceptional violence that a soldier was subsequently indicted for assault.
Abdallah has written that the Ofer prison consists of a collection of tents enclosed by razor wire and an electrical fence, with 22 prisoners in each tent. In winter, he says, wind and rain comes in through cracks in the tent and prisoners are not provided with sufficient blankets, clothes, or other basic necessities. They are also not given enough food, he states.
Abdallah was arrested in his slippers in the middle of the night on 10th December 2009, and wrote on 17th February 2010 that he had still not been provided with proper shoes, nor were his family given permission to supply him with shoes. After repeated requests, he writes, his watch was returned.
The Israeli authorities allow family visits extremely infrequently. The families of prisoners are viewed as security threats. For more on the treatment of prisoners see Adameer, Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association.
Abdallah’s words:
The afternoon before his arrest on 10th December 2009, Abdallah prepared a speech to be delivered on his behalf at the World Association for Human Rights awards ceremony in Berlin. In his speech, Abdallah wrote:
“Unlike Israel, we have no nuclear weapons, and no army, but we do not want or need those things, because of the justice of our cause, we have your support and with it we know that ultimately we will bring down Israel’s Apartheid Wall.”
On 6th January 2010 Abdallah wrote:
“The price I and many others pay in freedom does not deter us. I wish that my two young daughters and baby son would not have to pay this price together with me. But for my son and daughters, for their future, we must continue our struggle for freedom…”
Also, read “A Letter from My Holding Cell”, written by Abdallah from Ofer Military Detention Camp and detailing the conditions in prison and stating:
“From the confines of my imprisonment it becomes so clear that our struggle is far bigger than justice for only Bil’in or even Palestine. We are engaged in an international fight against oppression. I know this to be true when I remember all of you from around the world who have joined the movement to stop the wall and settlements. Ordinary people enraged by the occupation have made our struggle their own, and joined us in solidarity. We will surely join together to struggle for justice in other places when Palestine is finally free.”
Bil’in’s struggle:
Perhaps the greatest irony of Abdallah’s case is that he has been found guilty of organizing supposedly “illegal” protests against Israel’s separation wall which itself has been declared illegal by the International Court of Justice and even by Israel’s own High Court in the case of the route it takes through the village of Bil’in.
26 August 2010 | Wadi Hilweh Information Center
Violence has swept through Wadi Hilweh again as Israeli settler security guards attempted to storm the neighborhood mosque last night, in what marks the third time such an attack has been launched on the local religious site. Settler guards fired live ammunition at Palestinian residents in the ensuing clashes that erupted.
Police claim that stones were thrown at the occupied home of Khader al-Qaq in Wadi Hilweh last night. Three hours later a group of armed Elad settler guards attempted to storm the Wadi Hilweh mosque, using a fire extinguisher to try and break through the door. As the mosque’s emergency call sounded out from the minarets, the guards attempted to flee the scene. Palestinians of Wadi Hilweh flocked to the site of the attack to defend their mosque, where skirmishes soon broke out between residents and settler guards. Shots were fired by armed settler guards at Palestinian residents during the clashes.
Wadi Hilweh resident Mohammad Qaraeen stated that when he tried to alert the police to the attack, the police officer on duty hung up on him. When he tried to call a second time, the police did not arrive until several hours afterwards.
The area was invaded soon after by a large force of Israeli military and Border Police, stationed in the nearby suburb of Baten el-Hawa. The invading forces immediately began firing rounds of tear gas projectiles at crowds of Palestinian residents, causing widespread suffocation as a result of gas inhalation. A fire was started by a group of angry youths at the entrance to Aid el-Hamra, an area under control of the Elad tourism-settlement project “City of David”, in response to the secondary invasion of their community. Residents and journalists were then prevented from accessing the area by Israeli forces, who began firing rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas projectiles and sound bombs at the crowd, only adding to the widespread panic and confusion of the night.
Eyewitnesses report that Israeli soldiers attempted to arrest a Palestinian child during the clashes. The entire area of Wadi Hilweh was then cordoned off by the Israeli military, blocking all entrances to the neighborhood.
25 August 2010 | Popular Struggle
UPDATE: Baroness Ashton condemns Bil’in leader’s conviction; Attorney: “International community must take a tough stand on human rights defenders.”
Picture credit: Oren Ziv/ActiveStills
Abdallah Abu Rahmah, the coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee, was yesterday convicted of incitement and organizing illegal marches by an Israeli military court. The conviction concluded an eight months long political show trial, during which he was kept behind bars. Help us work for his release
Persecuted for his key role in organizing the successful grassroots campaign against the wall and Jewish-only settlement on Bil’in’s land, Abdallah was convicted based only on the forced testimonies of minors who were arrested from their beds at the middle of the night. not a single material evidence was presented during the entire trial.
Last year, on the night of International Human Right Day, Thursday December 10th, at 2am, Abdallah Abu Rahmah was arrested from his home in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Seven military jeeps surrounded his house, and Israeli soldiers broke the door, took Abdallah from his bed and, after briefly allowing him to say goodbye to his wife Majida and their three children — seven year-old Luma, five year-old Lian and eight month-old baby Laith — they blindfolded him and took him into custody.
Abu Rahmah did not find himself behind bars because he is a dangerous man. Abdallah, who is amongst the leaders of the Palestinian village of Bil’in, is viewed as a threat for his work in the five-year unarmed struggle to save the village’s land from Israel’s wall and expanding settlements.
As a member of the Popular Committee and its coordinator since it was formed in 2004, Abdallah has represented the village of Bil’in around the world. In June 2009, he attended the village’s precedent-setting legal case in Montreal against two Canadian companies illegally building settlements on Bil’in’s land; in December of 2008, he participated in a speaking tour in France, and on 10 December 2008, exactly a year before his arrest, Abdallah received the Carl Von Ossietzky Medal for Outstanding Service in the Realization of Basic Human Rights, awarded by the International League for Human Rights in Berlin.
Last summer Abdallah was standing shoulder to shoulder with Nobel Peace laureates and internationally renowned human rights activists, discussing Bil’in’s grassroots campaign for justice when The Elders visited his village. This summer, he may be sent to years in prison, exactly for his involvement in this campaign.
Abdallah’s outrageous conviction today will be followed by a sentence in the coming weeks. The amount of pressure we will be able to generate in this time could influence Abdallah’s sentence, but will also make clear to Israeli authorities that the repression of the popular struggle does have a political price.
Please use the below template letters prepared by the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee to ask your Minister of Foreign Affairs to send an official inquiry to the Israeli government about Abdallah. Demand that your country apply pressure on Israeli officials to release Abdallah Abu Rahmah and stop targeting popular struggle.
Three half-demolished shops in Izbet Tabib: the owners hope to stop any further bulldozers from the Israeli company Delek
24 August 2010 | ISM Media
In the small village of Izbet Tabib near Qalqiliya in the north of the West Bank, 27 of the 55 houses have received eviction orders from Israeli authorities. Located in Area C (following the Oslo Accords making it Israeli civilian and militarily controlled), the village has an extremely hard time getting building permits. Furthermore as it is situated near both the annexation wall and several illegal settlements, villagers experiences daily harassment and constant tension.
The wall has annexed large parts of Izbet Tabib’s farm land, and extremist Israeli settlers are in the habit of driving through the village and harassing the inhabitants by shooting in the air or setting olive trees on fire. Also, the Israeli Occupation Forces are almost always present, creating additional trouble and fear for the village. The Popular Committee and others attempting to resist the occupation are especially targeted by the Israeli authorities in an attempt to repress this resistance.
A case in point is that of the Mayor and Head of the Popular Committee, Bayian Tabib. He and his fifteen-year-old son, Thair Bayain Tabib, were arrested on Friday the 30th of July around 2 p.m. as they stepped out of the mosque after the Friday noon prayer. Both were accused of throwing stones at a main road near the settlement – both declared themselves innocent. Regardless of the complete lack of evidence, Israeli soldiers, after having detained the two men for about an hour, put them in a jeep and drove them to a secluded place slightly outside of the village. Here, the commander in charge demanded that Bayain Tabib keep the youngsters of the village completely away from the main road and threatened him with further arrests if he didn’t obey. The soldiers seized the identity cards of the two men unlawfully and finally released them after one hour and a half.
Episodes like this are not exceptional. Thair Tabib has been arrested a number of times, the first when he was thirteen years old, and is always accused of stone-throwing. His father, Bayain Tabib, was in prison for two months in 2002 during the second Intifada. As the head of the Popular Committee, Tabib receives special attention from the Israeli authorities. Israeli soldiers often park outside his home and point their machine guns at anyone coming or going in an attempt to intimidate Tabib, his wife, and his nine children.
The latest threat is to three shops in the village which were partially demolished on August 12th by a bulldozer owned by a private Israeli gas company, Delek. The firm wants to build a new gas station in the area for the roughly 5,000 Israeli settlers from Zufin and the many more who inhabit Alfei Menashe, the biggest illegal settlement nearby, as at present the only one nearby is Palestinian. The land was sold to them by a Palestinian collaborator with Israeli ID but the shopkeepers are resisting the demolition of their shops which would destroy their livelihood. ISM activists will be staying overnight together with the Mayor and owners of the shops in case a demolition bulldozer returns – they have come on the three previous Thursdays and are expected again this Thursday. According to the villagers court has issued a demolition order on the shops.
Meanwhile, despite the great pressure that Izbet Tabib is exposed to from both soldiers, settlers, the wall, eviction and demolition orders, the village has become an important and inspiring site for resistance against the occupation. What is particularly unique is that Izbet Tabib joins an extremely small number of villages that have succeeded in having the wall that used to cut deeply into their farm land physically removed and thus getting most of their stolen farm land back after a verdict that declared the original route of the wall illegal.
24 August 2010 | Popular Struggle
Protest organizer Abdallah Abu Rhamah from Bil’in was convicted of incitement and organizing illegal demonstrations today, after an eight months long military trial, during which he was kept behind bars. He was acquitted of a stone-throwing charge and a vindictive arms-possession charge.
Picture credit: Oren Ziv/ActiveStills
Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s verdict was read today in a packed military court room, concluding an eight months long politically motivated show-trial. Diplomats from France, Malta, Germany, Spain and the UK, as well as a representative of the European Union were in attendance to observe the trial. Many of his friends, supporters and family members showed up to send their support.
Abu Rahmah, the coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, was acquitted of two out of the four charges brought against him in the indictment – stone-throwing and a ridiculous and vindictive arms possession charge. According to the indictment, Abu Rahmah collected used tear-gas projectiles and bullet cases shot at demonstrators, with the intention of exhibiting them to show the violence used against demonstrators. This absurd charge is a clear example of how eager the military prosecution is to use legal procedures as a tool to silence and smear unarmed dissent.
The court did, however, find Abu Rahmah guilty of two of the most draconian anti-free speech articles in military legislation: incitement, and organizing and participating in illegal demonstrations. It did so based only on testimonies of minors who were arrested in the middle of the night and denied their right to legal counsel, and despite acknowledging significant ills in their questioning.
The court was also undeterred by the fact that the prosecution failed to provide any concrete evidence implicating Abu Rahmah in any way, despite the fact that all demonstrations in Bil’in are systematically filmed by the army.
Under military law, incitement is defined as “The attempt, verbally or otherwise, to influence public opinion in the Area in a way that may disturb the public peace or public order” (section 7(a) of the Order Concerning Prohibition of Activities of Incitement and Hostile Propaganda (no.101), 1967), and carries a 10 years maximal sentence.
Abu Rahmah’s case was the first time the prosecution had used the organizing and participating in illegal demonstrations since the first Intifada. Military law defines illegal assembly in a much stricter way than Israeli law does, and in practice forbids any assembly of more than 10 people without receiving a permit from the military commander.
Abu Rahmah’s sentencing will take place next month, and the prosecution is expected to ask for a sentence exceeding two years.
Click here for the complete verdict (Hebrew)
Background
Last year, on the night of International Human Right Day, Thursday December 10th, at 2am, Abdallah Abu Rahmah was arrested from his home in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Seven military jeeps surrounded his house, and Israeli soldiers broke the door, took Abdallah from his bed and, after briefly allowing him to say goodbye to his wife Majida and their three children — seven year-old Luma, five year-old Lian and eight month-old baby Laith — they blindfolded him and took him into custody.
Abu Rahmah did not find himself behind bars because he is a dangerous man. Abdallah, who is amongst the leaders of the Palestinian village of Bil’in, is viewed as a threat for his work in the five-year unarmed struggle to save the village’s land from Israel’s wall and expanding settlements.
As a member of the Popular Committee and its coordinator since it was formed in 2004, Abdallah has represented the village of Bil’in around the world. In June 2009, he attended the village’s precedent-setting legal case in Montreal against two Canadian companies illegally building settlements on Bil’in’s land; in December of 2008, he participated in a speaking tour in France, and on 10 December 2008, exactly a year before his arrest, Abdallah received the Carl Von Ossietzky Medal for Outstanding Service in the Realization of Basic Human Rights, awarded by the International League for Human Rights in Berlin.
Last summer Abdallah was standing shoulder to shoulder with Nobel Peace laureates and internationally renowned human rights activists, discussing Bil’in’s grassroots campaign for justice when The Elders visited his village. This summer, he may be sent to years in prison, exactly for his involvement in this campaign.
23 August 2010 | ISM Media
Today (23 August 2010) a demonstration was held in the Baqa’a Valley, east of Hebron, against the theft of water from the Palestinian population in the area. About 15 water trucks were parked along Road 60, the road that runs through the valley. The intention was to protest against the fact that the farmers don’t get access to the water reservoirs in Kyriat Arba, the illegal settlement outside Hebron city. The demonstration was also attended by local farmers, standing on the side of the road with the truck drivers. Israeli police and army came to the spot, but did not interfere during the hour-long demonstration.
The water situation in Baqa’a Valley is critical, as the population depends on their farmland to support themselves, and they get a very limited amount of water from the municipality. The settlements in the Hebron district are supported by the Israeli government with the majority of the water resources, originally sourced from Bethlehem, going to settlements. The water is cut off from the Palestinian areas, which receive only a tiny percentage from the Hebron municipality, while most of it is confiscated by the Israeli state and distributed to illegal settlements like Kyriat Arba and Harsina. According to B’Tselem figures from 2008, residents in the Hebron district use on average 56 litres per capita daily – the third lowest amount in the West Bank. In general, Israelis have access to three and a half times more water than Palestinians living in the West Bank.
Baqa’a Valley is the most fertile land in the Hebron district, and the residents are living in constant fear of losing their homes and land, as the area is included in the Israeli state’s plan of dividing the West Bank and expanding and connecting the surrounding settlements. About 35 houses in Baqa’a Valley, in the so-called Area C are now facing eviction orders. In addition the residents frequently face vandalism of crops and water pipes from settlers intent on sabotaging Palestinian residents’ livelihoods. The video below from Tayush shows a recent incident in which settlers attempted to destroy water pipes in the Hebron district.
Click here to view the embedded video.
The water shortage in the Occupied Territories is a major violation of the basic human rights of Palestinians. Israel’s control over and unequal distribution of water resources has been an increasingly harmful policy since 1967 as Palestinian consumption needs have increased with population but not been met due to both neglect of existing infrastructure and failure to construct new water infrastructure, especially in rural areas. There are also numerous restrictions placed on Palestinians right to access water for example by constructing wells. As well as deliberate sabotage by settlers, leakage from pipes due to defective maintenance means that one-third of the amount of the water supplied to the West Bank annually is lost.
Under international law (Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 which prohibits an occupying state from discriminating between residents of occupied territory) Israel’s clear discrimination in terms of quantity and regularity of water to supply to settlements as opposed to Palestinian areas is illegal. During the summer Palestinians’ water supplies are often reduced even further in order to meet increased demand from settlements.
http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Norway divests from companies illegally building Israeli settlements.
New York, NY – In a major victory for the international movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, the Norwegian government announced today that it has divested from Lev Leviev’s company Africa Israel Investments and its construction subsidiary Danya Cebus due to their construction of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The move followed a campaign of more than a year by affected Palestinian villages of Bil’in and Jayyous and by Norwegian, Palestinian, Israeli, and international activist groups, including Adalah-NY, calling on the Norwegian government to divest from Africa Israel.
The companies of Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev have been the target of a boycott campaign that led UNICEF and Oxfam to renounce donations from Leviev, the British government to sever business ties with Leviev, celebrities to seek distance from him, and divestment by other major investment firms.
Mohammed Khatib representing the West Bank village of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements commented,
We’ve achieved another major victory in our struggle of protests and boycotts against Israeli apartheid. On April 21st, 2009 we wrote the government of Norway calling for them to divest from Africa Israel because it is one company that built the settlement of Mattityahu East on Bil’in’s land, and they responded that they were investigating. It is victories like this that demonstrate our commitment to continue our struggle for justice, despite Israel’s efforts to crush it through a campaign of arrests and intimidation, targeting activists like Abdallah Abu Rahmah from Bil’in who will be sentenced tomorrow for being an organizer.
Palestinian protest and boycott organizers like Abu Rahmah, Khatib, Mohammad Othman from Jayyous and Jamal Juma’ have all been arrested recently by Israel for their nonviolent activities, and Israel’s Knesset is reviewing a bill to criminalize pro-boycott activities by Israeli citizens.
In addition to divesting from Africa Israel Investments and Danya Cebus, the Norwegian Government announced divestment from the Malaysian Company Samling Global over its forestry operations. The Norwegian government had previously divested from the Israeli company Elbit Systems, due to its role in building Israel’s wall in the Occupied West Bank in violation of international law. The Norwegian government is maintaining its holdings in another Africa Israel subsidiary, Africa Israel Properties, saying it is not directly involved in settlement construction.
Riham Barghouti from Adalah-NY explained,
I met with a senior advisor from Norway’s Council on Ethics at their Oslo offices in May, 2010 to encourage them to divest from Africa Israel. So I’m glad to see that the Norwegian government has upheld its commitment to international law, and we encourage them to continue reviewing and divesting from other companies in their portfolio that are complicit in Israeli apartheid, including Africa Israel Properties.
Jamal Juma’, the Coordinator of the Stop the Wall Campaign and a member of the Palestinian Boycott National Committee, noted,
We appreciate the Norwegian Finance Ministry’s commitment to upholding international law through continuing to divest from companies profiting from Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people. It is a significant milestone in the Palestinian-led BDS movement aimed at holding Israel accountable for its violations of international and humanitarian law. We hope that the Norwegian Pension fund will fully divest from Israeli crimes through severing links with all Israeli companies and international companies complicit with Israeli violations of international law, and hope that other governments follow the lead of Norway until Israel ends its oppression and occupation of the Palestinian people.
On April 21, 2009, Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements sent a letter to Norway’s Council on Ethics calling for Norway to divest from Africa Israel. The West Bank village of Jayyous where a different Leviev company, Leader Management and Development, is building the Zufim settlement, followed with a May 4th letter calling on Norway to divest. On May 11, 2009, eleven organizations from Norway, Europe, Palestine, Israel and the US sent a letter to Norway’s Council on Ethics supporting the letters from Bil’in and Jayyous.
Sharif Omar of Jayyous’ Land Defence Committee added,
We welcome this decision by the Norwegian government to divest from some of Leviev’s companies. But another Leviev company, Leader Management and Development, continues today to build settlements on Jayyous’ land. We call for additional international action to pressure these companies and the Israeli government to end construction and return our stolen farmland.
Bil’in: The weekly demonstration in the village of Bil’in this week saw protesters draw attention to the recently published photos of the abuse of Palestinian prisoners by the Israeli army. A handful of the protesters blindfolded and handcuffed themselves to draw attention to the mistreatment of prisoners and marched at the front of the demonstration. Two arrests were made, including one of these protesters, a Norwegian student, who was grabbed while still blindfolded and dragged away.
Israeli soldiers detaining a Norwegian protester who had blindfolded herself like a Palestinian prisoner
As well as local Palestinian residents, around 30 internationals and about 10 Israelis took part in the demonstration against the Apartheid Wall and the theft of land belonging to the residents of Bil’in. Despite it being the second Friday of Ramadan and a swelteringly hot day, the protesters chanted slogans against the occupation and called for the release of the village’s prisoners, as well as the prosecution of Israeli soldiers found to have been abusing prisoners in their custody. Many demonstrators carried reproductions of a photograph of Israeli soldiers posing by the body of a dead Palestinian man – an image they termed a “souvenir shot” which bears comparison to pictures of Iraq’s Abu Ghraib which shocked the world in 2004.
The protesters marched up to the soldiers and the blindfolded and cuffed ‘prisoners’ sat at their feet (to offer the soldiers an opportunity for photos they could later upload to facebook.) Without warning tear gas started to be fired and – while still blindfolded – a Norwegian citizen was forcefully arrested. She was later released but told to return to meet Israeli authorities on Sunday, when they admitted she could not have been aware of the fact that the area had been declare a ‘closed military zone’ but then accused her of being a member of the International Solidarity Movement and imposed conditions banning her from going to Bil’in for 15 days. An Israeli activist was also arrested but released later the same day.
The route of Israel’s separation wall in Bil’in cuts off villagers from large areas of their land. It was declared illegal in September 2007 by Israel’s own High Court, but despite this – and the International Court of Justice’s 2004 ruling that the wall in its entirety is illegal and should be dismantled – it remains in place. Bil’in have been holding weekly protests since March 2005 and the creativity and perseverance of the nonviolent struggle there has drawn international attention to the Palestinian resistance to occupation as a while.
Ni’lin
On Friday about 25 Palestinians were joined by a small group of internationals for the village of Ni’lin’s weekly protest against the Apartheid Wall. Five international and two Israeli protesters joined the demonstration which started after Friday prayers. The group marched to the wall which cuts off Palestinians from their farmland, annexing it to Israeli settlements like Modi’in Illit.
Perhaps due to the intense heat and it being the second Friday of Ramadan, the demonstration this week was fairly quiet. Despite huge aggression for the Israeli army in the past, they refrained for once from even using teargas or sound bombs against the unarmed protest so the situation remained peaceful. After the demonstration the internationals present were given a tour of the village and its small museum commemorating important events in the history of Ni’lin’s struggle.
An Nabi Saleh
Around 50 people took part in this Friday’s demonstration against the illegally built Halamish settlement encroaching on land belonging to the village of An Nabi Saleh, this Friday, and this number included approximately 15 Israeli and international human rights activists.
As usual the protest began after noon prayer, and continued until around four o’clock, despite the fact that the majority of the participants are currently fasting for Ramadan. The march down to the entrance of the village was once again met with a blockade, and after several attempts to gain access to the village’s main road, the protesters retreated back up the street to the centre of the village.
Soldiers later began throwing sound bombs and shooting tear gas projectiles directly at Palestinian children. The children stones at the soldiers’ armored jeeps. One of the children was hit in the leg by a ricocheting tear gas canister, but was not seriously injured.
Subsequent attempts to reason with the soldiers resulted in two international activists being detained in Halamish military base for several hours. Other attempted arrests were scuppered by fellow activists. A lot of teargas was fired at the houses nearby and a lot of people including children suffered from teargas inhalation, but the protesters declared the lack of serious injuries and spirited protest a success.
Al Ma’sara
Palestinians from Al Ma’sara and nine surrounding villages south of Bethlehem were joined on Friday by internationals and Israelis in solidarity with their cause. The weekly demonstration against the Apartheid Wall and illegal settlements reacted to the pictures of Palestinian prisoners humiliated by Israeli soldiers in ‘souvenir photos’ posted on Facebook – and so several protesters wore handcuffs and blindfolds while others carried enlarged photographs of the abuse.
Al Ma'sara protestors hold copies of photos showing captured, injured or killed Palestinians - posted on facebook by Israeli soldiers
Despite some suggestions that they are a one-off, the demonstrates hoped to make the point that in fact these images and such incidents are common and form part of the systematic abuse that goes hand in hand with Israel’s ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine. In chants and speeches, protesters called for an end to the continuing violations of the Geneva Accords and international law.
The protesters proceeded to the road that Israel illegally constructed on Palestinian land to connect the Jewish-only settlements of Gush Etzion but they were intercepted by the Israeli army. Sound bombs were thrown at the unarmed and nonviolent protesters who were denied the right to access their land once again. However, organizers stated that despite the soldiers’ violence they would continue their peaceful fight for freedom and justice which is their right.
Hebron
At 4:00 PM on Friday August 21, people began gathering in the Old City centre of Hebron. The resistance organized a peaceful march through the Old City markets. The purpose of the march was to thank the shopkeepers for their support of the demonstrations that take place on a weekly basis, calling for an end to the military occupation and settler violence – and to reiterate this call.
During the last few weeks, soldiers have been attacking peaceful protesters. Many Palestinians, internationals and Israelis have been assaulted and arrested by the Israeli army. Some of the Palestinians were also beaten in prison.
The soldiers have also threatened leaders of the movement with lengthy prison terms, up to 10 years. In addition to this, they have sent agents to threaten and intimidate shopkeepers. Three shops were forcefully closed down last week.
A young boy watches Israeli soldiers patrolling in occupied Hebron
In light of all of this repression, the leaders have decided to temporarily suspend the protests. The crowd met and marched through the Old City. Shopkeepers were given certificates thanking them for supporting the struggle.
There were soldiers watching the procession from the roofs, and six of them followed the people from behind. They did not try to interfere and in the end went back to their base. The group Youth Against Settlements will be organizing more events in the future to continue the struggle for justice in Hebron.
Iraq Burin
Yesterday in the small village of Iraq Burin, nonviolent demonstrators were attacked by the Israeli army and Border Police, who fired tear gas and sound bombs at the protestors. Since a flying checkpoint is regularly used to close the road into the village along the main road from Nablus, preventing access to internationals and media, and the young men of the village suspected of taking part in the demonstrations, a long hike across a valley leads up to the hill-top village. Demonstrations happen every Saturday, but tensions have been high since the murder of two young boys by an Israeli military sniper took place inside the village in March this year.
A large group of Palestinians gathered on the outskirts of the village and three internationals who had skirted the checkpoint were also present. The demonstration began with around thirty or more Palestinians attempting to scale the steep hill opposite the village, where Israeli soldiers were already in position. The soldiers responded to the demonstration by – illegally – firing teargas canisters directly at Palestinians and internationals, firing downhill at the upper body. At least two Palestinians received injuries from the canisters on the neck and shoulders, and one international was hit in the back although none were seriously hurt because each ricocheted off a rock first. Tear gas and sound bombs were also shot in the direction of the village and those not even taking part in the demonstration but watching from the opposite hill. The demonstration continued for approximately an hour, when Israeli Border police arrived and the demonstrators were forced to retreat. Thankfully, no live fire has been used since the murders but the isolation of the protest by the military creates a dangerous situation, as it is difficult for media and international volunteers to be present, increasing the chances that the Israeli army will use weapons with reckless disregard for human life.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Video of this week’s demonstration in Bili’in
21 August 2010 | The Guardian
Jewish-American Emily Henochowicz recalls how she lost an eye at a protest in Israel after the storming of the Gaza aid flotilla
As a student artist, Emily Henochowicz has always been fascinated by the way the brain processes visual signals to form images of the physical world around us. That has been a theme of her work at the prestigious New York art college, Cooper Union, which she joined three years ago.
In her first term she made a costume out of papier-mache for the inaugural freshman’s parade that neatly expressed that fascination. It was meant to be a monster cyclops, but the way it came out it resembled a giant eyeball with her arms and legs sticking out of it.
For more than a year she has used a photograph of that eyeball as the icon of her art blog, thirsty pixels. It is all too ironic, she laughs now. The irony is that in May Henochowicz became – in her own words – a cyclops. She lost her left eye as she was demonstrating against Israeli government policy in the Palestinian occupied territories.
With her loss, she became yet another casualty of the ongoing Israeli occupation. But what makes Henochowicz’s story singular was that her experiences were filtered through the lens, the eye, of an artist.
It was art that took her to the Middle East in the first place. She signed up to an animation course in Jerusalem that suited her passion for drawing.
Her choice of Jerusalem had little to do with the fact that she was the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, or that her father was born in Israel and that she herself was Jewish and an Israeli citizen. It had even less to do with any political beliefs she might have on either side of the Israeli-Palestinian divide, though she had been disturbed by Israel’s conduct in the Gaza war of 2008-9.
It was all about art. But a month after she arrived in Jerusalem, an Israeli friend and peace activist took her into Palestinian East Jerusalem. That day changed everything.
“It was a little bit shocking,” she says, recalling the event in a Manhattan cafe. “Suddenly a huge group of Hassidim came down the street. These little Palestinian kids – just five or six years old – linked arms and were standing in the middle of the street. The Hassidim were on the other side, singing prayers at them. It was such a powerful image for me: that line of children, so strong and defiant, this huge group of adults in front of them.”
The next day Henochowicz captured the moment in a dramatic painting that shows the children in front of a swirl of black-clad Jewish men. And then she acted on impulse – something that as an artist she says she is wont to do. She went to Ramallah on the West Bank and joined the protest campaign the International Solidarity Movement.
Over the next few weeks Henochowicz threw herself into the fray, protesting outside Israeli settlements in the West Bank and along the separation wall. She was aware of the dangers, not least because it was with the ISM that fellow-American Rachel Corrie had been demonstrating in 2003 when she was crushed to death by a bulldozer.
“I had a fear the whole time I was going to get hit with tear gas,” Henochowicz says. “I knew the way that it was used. Forget UN regulations, this is Israel, the rules don’t apply here – tear gas is fired directly into crowds.”
At first she kept what she was doing from her parents, certain that they would disapprove. But eventually she told them.
“They were incredibly upset, particularly my dad. He had been to Yeshiva, Jewish school, and speaks Hebrew.’ How could you do this to me?’ he said, but I wasn’t doing it to him.”
Paradoxically, shortly before the incident in which she lost her eye, Henochowicz decided, partly out of concern for her parents, that she would avoid demonstrations and dedicate herself instead to teaching art to Palestinian children. But on the morning of 31 May she awoke to the news that a Turkish flotilla attempting to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza had been raided and nine activists killed.
Mayhem and confusion ensued. She was swept along by the reaction, and found herself at a protest rally at the Qaladiya checkpoint, facing Israeli soldiers. “I was scared in a way I’d never been before.”
It was so quick, maybe just a minute from the first stones being thrown to the tear gas canister striking her in the face.
“I remember a weird crunch feeling and thinking, ‘Oh, I’ve been hit!’ Then there was the thought: ‘Hey guys, my brain’s ok! My brain’s ok!”
“And then I remember falling back and being held, and cameras rushing to me and clicking away and me thinking ‘Oh, I’ve become one of those images’.”
She was treated in a hospital in Ramallah and Jerusalem before returning to Maryland in the US. She has had multiple operations for a fractured skull as well as losing the eye.
The Israeli government has refused to pay thousands of dollars in medical costs, on the grounds that Henochowicz chose to put herself at risk and that she was hit by mistake by a ricochet.
“That’s preposterous,” she says. “A ricochet? From what wall? Where? How? This was no ricochet.”
Henochowicz is now preparing for term to start at Cooper Union. She wears a pair of glasses, the left lens of which she has painted with swirls to obscure the empty socket behind it.
She says she has adapted with amazing speed to the loss. “I go through a lot of my days not even thinking that I’m seeing only through one eye. I’m so fine in other ways, I’m perfectly healthy.”
She stresses how unfair she thinks it is that she gets so much attention, while Palestinians who are injured with depressing frequency go without notice. “I’m white, I’m Jewish, I’m an Israeli citizen and American. When I’m hit by tear gas there are articles, the Israeli government gets involved. When Palestinians are hit, who gives a shit?”
She doesn’t know what the longer-term impact will be on her art. She remembers telling the doctor who informed her she had lost an eye: “But I’m an artist, that’s not supposed to happen!”
“I’ve been sad because this is a moment in my life I can never escape, and that’s what gets me more than the loss of my eye,” she says. “Twenty years from now I will still carry this moment, and I desperately don’t want it to be the end of my story.”
20 August 2010
On Thursday 12 August 2010 Swedish peace activist Marcus Regnander’s legal battle with the Police Department of Hebron ended successfully. His appeal against a sentence which banned him from the West Bank for six months, after being convicted – despite the absence of any evidence – of assaulting a soldier, was filed at the District Court in Jerusalem.
Regnander, a nursing student from Gothenburg, was arrested at the Tel Rumedia checkpoint on the night of July 20th, accused of having assaulted a soldier during a demonstration nine days before. He maintained throughout that he was completely innocent of any crime and according to several witnesses the charges against him were completely fabricated. However he was taken to an Israeli jail where he spent three days.
During his imprisonment Regnander was not given any information about his own case, was not allowed to make or receive phone calls, and was never given the opportunity to present any evidence of his innocence. In all he spent three nights and a total of 60 hours in police custody, during which time he was given only two meals. Regnander said that he was not allowed to sleep properly because Israeli guards kept turning on lights, yelling and “pushing me in different directions”.
His first court appearance, within 24 hours of his arrest, saw the judge presiding over the trial at the Court of Peace in Jerusalem note the absence of evidence presented against him – but instead of throwing the case out, instead granted the police more time to investigate, ordering that Regnander be held in custody for a further 48 hours. Following the judge’s ruling he was led away in handcuffs and shackled at the ankles.
The second trial was held on July 23rd in a Hebrew-speaking court, with no translator provided. Israeli activists who came to the court to help translate were not let in. Regnander did not understand the proceedings and when he signed conditions stating that he could not be in the West Bank for 180 days or within 500 metres of a checkpoint “for the security of soldiers” he did so because he thought he had no choice.
On appeal, his lawyer Lymor Goldstein raised these judicial violations and before the case was heard Regnander accepted a new offer from the court that said he could return to the West Bank (but not to Area A or Area H2 in Hebron, or to attend any ‘illegal demonstrations’.) Regnander views this as a vindication of his innocence and a victory over the unjust Israeli justice system. He commented: “I’m glad to be back in the West Bank, but the most important thing about my appeal is that we broke the general trend. This success should prevent Israeli occupation forces arresting peace activists on fabricated charges again.”
ISM have launched an appeal for funds to help cover lawyers’ expenses for court cases as Israeli forces increasingly try to deter international activists by manipulating the legal system.
19 August 2010 | Haaretz
Humanitarian affairs office: Israel restricts entry to 17% of Gaza lands, 85% of beachfront zone, enforces restrictions with live fire.
Over the last ten years, the Israel Defense Forces have increasingly restricted Palestinian access to farmland on the Gazan side of the Israeli-Gaza border as well as to fishing zones along the Gaza beach, a United Nations report (link opens as pdf) revealed Thursday.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) wrote in the report, complied in cooperation with the World Food Program (WFP), that Israel’s justification for these restrictions was the prevention of attacks on Israel, including the firing of rockets.
The report was compiled in an effort to understand the extent of the restrictions as well as their effect on the Palestinians’ sense of personal security, their ability to make a living and their ability to access services. The report was based on more than 100 interviews and focus group meetings, as well as the analysis of data gathered from other sources.
According to the report, since 2008 the IDF has prevented access to land up to 1,500 meters outside the Green Line, and to naval zones up to 4.5 kilometers from the shore. All in all the IDF restricts access to 17 percent of Gaza’s territory. At sea, the fishermen are completely barred from 85 percent of the naval territory to which they are entitled under the Oslo Accords.
The report estimates that some 178,000 individuals are directly affected by these access restrictions.
According to OCHA, the IDF enforces uses life fire on individuals who enter restricted zones. Though in most cases the troops fire warning shots, 22 people have been killed and 146 have been wounded in such incidents since the end of Operation Cast Lead in January 2009. The report further argues that this method of enforcement violates international humanitarian law, and that the local Palestinian population was never informed by Israel of the exact nature of the restrictions.
The research conducted by OCHA also suggested that the IDF has leveled farmland and destroyed personal property situated in restricted areas in efforts to keep Palestinians out. The farmers who own the lands have tried to make up the lost income with alternate forms of farming, the report argues, but their ability to harvest their crops is limited and the profits from the alternate methods comprise a fraction of the income generated on the original land. OCHA estimated some $308 million in losses as a direct result of the Israeli restrictions.
Most of the farmers interviewed for the report said that since the expansion of the restricted zone they have lost more than two thirds of their income. Others reported that their income has been entirely eliminated. The same was true for Gaza fishermen, who have lost an estimated $26.5 million over the last five years.
Other effects of the restrictions include the deterioration in the quality of food consumed by Gazans, gradual changes in diet (from fresh produce and meat to carbohydrate-rich cheap items), decrease in school attendance and a decrease in the age of marriage for girls, the report maintained.
The IDF policy also affects access to schools, seven of which are inside restricted areas, the students’ and teachers’ security, the quality of education and academic achievements, the report argued.
OCHA called on Israel to lift the restrictions immediately and fulfill it international humanitarian obligation. The organization especially stressed its call on Israel to refrain from opening fire at civilians and destroying their personal property.
19 August 2010 | ISM Media
Al Buwayra /Al Baqa’a Valley
About 4 pm on 18 August 2010, a group of international activists witnessed an large number of Israeli settlers walking in groups up to “Hill 18” in Al Buwayra, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Hebron. Settlers there had made an outpost in the very heart of the village, and over the years they have repeatedly harassed and attacked the Palestinians living here. Said outpost was recently been demolished by the Israeli army, sparking settlers riots and vindictive attacks on people, property and farmland. The day after the demolition settlers began to rebuild the outpost, and this process is ongoing.
Yesterday afternoon about 100 settlers walked – or drove in minibuses – through the village, and along the road leading up to the outpost, connecting it to the illegal Harzina settlement; a road which it is forbidden for Palestinians to walk or drive on. The settlers were carrying posters with Hebrew writing on, and speaking on a megaphone. Some would stop by and tell the internationals to leave, curse them and threaten them with ‘God’s punishment’ for being present.
After gathering at the outpost, the settlers walked through the fields to Road 60, some climbing the hills almost up to three Palestinian houses on the top of the Al Baqa’a Valley. The settlers were seen to throw rocks at sheep owned by local Palestinian farmers. Down near Road 60, about 50 people gathered, made a fire, and held their posters aloft. Music was played, and some speeches were given through the megaphone.
The police and army had just arrived when the internationals got to the spot. The full attention of the police was focused on the international, and one policeman took the five activists’ passports, claiming he had to check them. While waiting on the opposite side of the road from the settlers, one policeman claimed ISM activists were not allowed to be in the area. Asked if it was a closed military zone, the police said “yes”, subsequently bringing two papers which they wouldn’t let the internationals look at properly to verify. The internationals were then asked to leave, which they naturally would not do without their passports (still held by the police).
After making a clear point that we were not the ones violating any law, and asking the police to remove the settlers from Palestinian land, activists were informed by police that “This is the land of Israel, and there is nothing named Palestinian land.” The police then stopped a few Palestinian cars, forced the drivers to get out, and searched the passengers and the vehicle. Six soldiers were observed walking up to the top of the valley, after the settlers had gone down to the road. Asked why they went there, the police responded: “To prevent anybody from getting hurt.”
The Internationals then left the area for about 20 minutes, then coming back to ask for the “closed military zone” paper, which, it seems, did not exist.
After about 2 hours settlers started to leave the area in minibuses. ISM activists then went into Buwayra and stayed overnight with a family who live close to the outpost, fearing another riot like the one seen on 6 August, when 100 setters attacked the Sultan family’s house with rocks. Nothing happened, and it seems that most of the settlers left Buwayra after their demonstration. The protest was, according to Hebrew speakers about marking the 4th anniversary of what the settlers claim was the murder of a settler on another, now demolished, outpost in Buwayra. The settlers’ demonstration comes after weeks of violence and harassment following the demolition of an Israeli outpost.
19 August 2010 | ISM Media
Al Baqa’a Valley
Atta Jabr is a farmer who lives with his family on a hill, near Road 60. They live in the Al-Baqa’a Valley, east of Hebron. They live close to Harsina settlement and an illegal outpost. At around 5:00am on Wednesday morning, 18 August 2010, Atta and his family were awoken by the sound of a shofar – a horn used in Jewish religious rituals.
Six settlers came down from the rocks where they were sitting, on land which is the property of the Jabr family. Atta and his pre-teen daughter came out to see what was going on. The settlers then ran down the hill and attacked them. Atta and his daughter were pushed around violently, but thankfully they managed to get inside the house and close the door. The settlers then began yelling a slew of insults and threats. They said that the land belonged to them and therefore they should own Atta’s house too. They screamed that they wanted to “f—“ everyone in the house and that they wanted to “f—-“ Atta’s daughter. One of Atta’s relatives, Jaoud, came running out of his house to see what was going on. When the settlers saw him they fled.
During the assault, Atta tried calling the police for help. Noone arrived for approximately 2 hours. It was only after activists called the police and announced that they were on their way, that the police responded.
The settlers were caught on tape by one of Atta’s daughters. (footage to follow).
This was just one incident in the ongoing history of settler attacks which has seen an escalation in the Hebron area in recent weeks.
Al Buwayra is a small village located on the outskirts of Hebron, with about 560 inhabitants. Most people are farmers, growing grapes and vegetables to support themselves. The situation in the village is critical, and villagers are repeatedly being attacked by settlers from the illegal Kyriat Arba and Harzina settlements which surround the village as well as several illegal outposts.
The road into the village is blocked by a gate and an earth mound set up by the Israeli army, forcing the villagers to either climb or drive a long way in order to enter their homes. Since the Israeli army began demolishing two of the five illegal outposts around Buwayra, settlers have carried out several attacks both on the villagers, their farmland and their animals. Daily life is a struggle with good reason to be constantly afraid. ISM, in close cooperation with CPT, has been going to Buwayra almost every day over the last 3 weeks, when the army removed the first illegal outpost and the settlers started to attack the Palestinians in response.
Thursday 5 August
Death threats towards two internationals, attack on Susan Sultan.
Early Thursday morning, around 6.30, soldiers from the Israeli army came to remove an illegal outpost near a settlement. ISM and CPT sent people there straight away to make sure the soldiers and settlers didn’t harass Palestinians. The settlers were really angry and the villagers feared that the settlers would retaliate against the Palestinians. The settlers set fire to a small piece of Palestinian farmland but luckily the Palestinians themselves were able to put out the fire. There were internationals present almost the whole day. Two internationals, one from Denmark and the other from England, received two death threats from settlers because of their presence in the area. The outpost was removed and the soldiers tried to block the way to outpost but after the soldiers left the settlers started on clearing the road and rebuilding the outpost.
Click here to view the embedded video.
On the evening of August 5th Suzan Jamil Sultan, 51, a university English teacher was in her car, with her three children aged 2, 3 and 8 in the backseat, driving towards her home, at around 21.30 at night. Near her home, which has an outpost located near to it, she saw a car parked across the narrow road, blocking it. She also saw a car with a blue light, and assumed it was a police car, and therefore thought it was safe to drive on. Suddenly at least ten settlers appeared, and they started throwing stones to her car. She was scared, and her children were crying. She tried to reverse the car, but was not able to move on the narrow road.
Suzan then got out of the car, as she wanted to protect the children from getting hurt. The settlers attacked her with stones, hitting her in the head, in her side and her hand. She remembers that she fell, and couldn’t hear or see for some minutes, and when she was able to see again the settlers were gone. She then saw that the blue light belonged to the settler’s security car, parked near where she was attacked. She then asked the driver: “Did you see what they did?” in English. The man answered that he doesn’t speak English. Suzan’s daughter then arrived and helped her and her children home. She had to go to hospital and needed three stitches on her hand. She was still suffering from pain in the head and side, and had a bandage on her hand when ISM activists spoke talked to her the following Monday and her whole family, she said, were scared to move around the open fields where they might encounter settlers.
Friday 6 August
Two internationals attacked. Three Palestinians arrested at night, while trying to defend a family from settler attack.
ISM sent two people to replace the people from CPT that had spent the night in Al Buwayra. The situation up until 12.00 was quiet
Canadian activist Peter Cunliffe after he was left with a broken nose following an attack by masked Israeli settlers in Al Buwayra
At 12.00 the two internationals were sitting in the shade under a tree when three masked settlers appeared out of nowhere and attacked. There carried wooden and metal sticks. The internationals were severely beaten. After the attack, which lasted only 2 minutes, the settlers ran towards the outpost. Family members from the Sultani house helped the internationals to stop the bleeding and protected them from further attacks. They were taken to Al Khalil hospital and one needed surgery on a broken nose and is still recovering from his injuries.
That night 100 settlers threw stones at the Sultans house because the Sultans helped the two internationals that were attacked. When soldiers arrive most of the settlers leave the crime scene but one settler stays back to tell the soldiers that it’s the Palestinians that have been attacking the settlers and not the other way around. Three Palestinians were arrested at night while they were trying to defend and protect the Sultan house from the settler attack. It is known that two of them have been released.
Saturday 7 August
Closed Military Zone. Settlers set fire to grape vines.
Early on Saturday morning six people from ISM went to Al Buwayra. At first things seemed calm but after a while, when sitting close to the outpost, activists were approached by soldiers who said the area was a closed military zone and that the internationals had to leave. They moved a little away.
At night the settlers set fire to a field of Palestinian grapevines and a fire truck was called. However, the Palestinians ended up putting out the fire themselves.
Sunday 8 August
In the morning internationals tried to go into Al Buwayra but were refused access by the soldiers saying once again that the village was a closed military zone and that the internationals could not go and visit families and take pictures of the damage caused by the settler attacks.
Later three internationals, one from CPT and two from ISM, go by car and enter the village. The border police spotted the internationals quickly but after a talk with the commander the internationals and the Palestinian driving the car were allowed to go and visit one family for half an hour. The family spoke about what it is like to live in constant danger and fear of the settlers. From the family house settlers could be seen walking in the hills close to the outpost.
Monday 9 August
On Monday internationals made it in to Al Buwayra. By taking the back way the internationals avoided being seen by the border police and were able to go and speak to different families. The internationals saw settlers walking around the outpost but overall things seemed to be calm. But the villagers live in constant fear. They have trouble sleeping because they never know when to expect a settler attack. They are really worried about the future and when things are quiet for a few days they know that this is only a brief respite before a new settler attack.
18 August 2010 | ISM Gaza
On Tuesday morning a demonstration in Gaza by Palestinian activists from Local Initiative Beit Hanoun, with four International Solidarity Movement volunteers and other international activists and journalists was met with live ammunition fired by the Israeli army.
Soldiers opened fire on protestors in the buffer zone in Beit Hanoun, near to the Erez crossing but the demonstration succeeded in moving a section of the barbed wire fence dividing land on the Gazan side of the border.
Saber Al Za’anin lead the chanting against the occupation, siege and attacks on Palestinian farmers in Beit Hanoun, accompanied by about thirty Palestinians, nine international activists and a press team. The crowd marched towards the wall around the Erez crossing and one of the watch towers was open, evidently monitoring as the group approached the wall at about 100 metres. The barren waste land all around was a result of forced neglect – the place has rendered out-of-bounds to Palestinian farmers due to the threat of Israeli snipers and shelling.
The buffer-zone is 300 metres wide and stretches along the entire border fence on the frontier with Israel. Violent attacks by the Israeli military on anyone in the area have recurred consistently – and frequently live ammunition has been used against peaceful demonstrators and even farmers harvesting crops. According to the Palestine Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) the violence of the ‘buffer zone’ enforcement makes over 30% of Gaza’s most useful arable land “useless or inaccessible”.
“This was the first time anyone has entered this area of Palestinian land since the beginning of the siege. Farmers had long ago given up working on it because of the dangers”, Saber told us. Ssoon after an attempt was made to remove the twisted barbed wire fence positioned by the Israel army to divide two Palestinian fields.
A sniper was stood on top of one of the checkpoint towers and once protestors started to move the fence, live bullets were fired within 5 – 10 metres of the demonstrators. Two further attempts were made to move the fence and the firing increased, dust clouds rising from the ground where bullets bounced around people’s feet. The men and women on the demonstration returned for cover, fortunately without casualties except for some minor scratches from dragging the fence.
History of Attacks
In recent years the land around the Erez border has seen frequent attacks.
Kamel Iswalim’s family and brothers’ families lived just 500 metres from the border, right next to where the demonstration began. There had always been regular incursions and every six month the families were corralled by the IDF and shut into one room for hours. In 2006, his brother’s small two-room house was demolished by bulldozers. In 2007, the whole area was shot at by tanks, and Kamel was hit in the leg. On 5th January 2009 during the bombardment and ground assault on Gaza that left over 1400 Palestinians dead, Kamel’s house was targeted.
Soldiers came to the front of the house at night, yelling in Hebrew that the family must leave the house within five minutes. They got shot at while coming out of their house, and they had no time to grab their belongings. Then they watched it being bulldozed, together with their five water wells and all of their trees. “Go to Gaza City and never come back again”, they were told by the soldiers. Kamel’s family lost everything they had and shortly after his father died from a heart attack from the ordeal. In total, there were ten houses destroyed in that area along with Gaza’s sole agricultural college. They are unable to farm any of the 13 dunums of land they lost – they cannot even enter it anymore, let alone rebuild their house despite it being further than 300 metres from the Israeli border.
“I have five sons and five daughters”, Kamel said. “I can’t offer them anything. I have two sons in college, and don’t know where to get the money from to enable them to finish their studies.” The whole family is now living in a hut on land which is one kilometer from the border, and it doesn’t belong to them. But farming this land gives them a salary of 50 dollars per month – 50 dollars for a family of twelve. “When we were last shot at?” Kamel laughs sadly. “We are shot at pretty much every day, even here, one kilometer from the border.” His neighbour Ab Dir Kadel Rahmed tried his luck and spent four years rebuilding his house, after it was destroyed in 2006. It lasted six months before the Israeli military demolished it again.
“I call the western governments to stand up and stop what’s going on here. It’s enough”, Kamel says. “Enough lives were destroyed, enough people were killed. It’s just enough.”
18 August 2010 | Vittorio Arrigoni, Electronic Intifada
Palestinian children in Gaza set the record for most kites flown simultaneously. (Photo: Vittorio Arrigoni)
Gaza’s kids truly are record-breakers. They survived Israel’s 2008-09 winter invasion and every day they put up with a state of war during a so-called ceasefire. Smeared in blood, they’ve crawled through the rubble of shelled buildings, taking care of younger siblings, and tending to languishing parents, often emerging from under the remains of their own beds.
More than half of Gaza’s population are children. Though none of them has ever voted for Hamas, they’re the designated targets of Israel’s military operations and more generally, of the siege imposed upon Gaza. They’re resilient children, standing up against a multitude of ailments and obstacles. According to a recent report of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, 52 percent of Gaza’s children are anemic and suffer from serious nutritional problems due to the insufficiency of phosphorous, calcium and zinc in their food. The rate of respiratory illnesses they suffer is also cause for concern.
Gaza’s children suffer from psychological disorders, the consequence of enduring Israel’s attacks and siege. Their memories of dismembered bodies and burning buildings are indelible traumas that make them anxious and depressed, insomniac or incontinent. They live in overcrowded spaces without recreational areas. In the same streets where they now play, they remember having seen live flesh burning or rotting bodies. Missiles, destruction and death are evoked in their drawings whenever you hand them a blank piece of paper.
If the right to play is a luxury here, the right to an education is denied. Besides toys and medicine, Israel has also blocked the entry of elementary school textbooks. Unlike the majority of Israeli children, Gaza’s children suffer from hunger and poverty. I see them every day pushing ploughs in the fields, or rummaging through the garbage bins, looking for recyclable material. In the unbearable heat of this damp summer, they sit atop mule-drawn carts, overloaded with bricks and stone blocks recycled from shelled buildings. Alternatively, you can find them at street crossings selling trinkets, their gazes like those of tired old men, unable to dream of green courtyards, soccer fields and ice cream vans.
It’s not hide-and-seek they’re playing when they disappear underground in the Rafah tunnels; risking being buried alive, they’re the workforce that’s most economically and physically viable to smuggle goods that would otherwise never make it onto the shelves of Gaza shops.
Jasmine Whitbread, Director General of Save the Children explained that “Gaza’s children are hungry on account of the considerable difficulties met by the entry of food into the area. They’re dying because they cannot leave Gaza and receive the medical attention they so urgently need. Hundreds of thousands of children are growing up without an adequate education because scholastic buildings were seriously damaged. Due to the restrictions on the access of building material, those buildings can’t even be fixed. Children pay the highest price for the siege.”
Besides advertising such neglected data, it’s worth drawing attention to the fact that the Gaza Strip’s children have just broken two Guinness book records in seven days. On Thursday, 22 July in the space occupied by the remnants of Gaza’s airport — destroyed by the Israeli Air Force in 2001 — the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) organized a summer camp for more than 7,200 children who each bounced a basketball simultaneously for five minutes. A few days later, on 29 July, Gaza’s children also registered the record of the greatest number of kites flown at the same time.
On the beach of Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza near the boundary with Israel, the sky was adorned by thousands of multicolored hexagons, a vivid metaphor of the freedom craved by Gaza’s youngest citizens. More than seven thousand children flew their kites, doubling last year’s official record.
At the end of the day, John Ging, UNRWA’s chief of operations in Gaza, said that “Breaking two world records in just one week is in itself an astonishing achievement. This is a demonstration of what Gaza’s children can do, if only they’re given the chance. These kids are exactly like all others the world over; they wish to live a normal life, far removed from the adversities they’re forced to face, day in, day out.” Ging concluded: “This day of celebration is an expression of a request for freedom on the children’s part.”
Unlike the basketballs used in Rafah, the kites flown over Beit Lahiya were not industrially produced, but handmade by those same children who then released them into the sky. Some were brightly decorated, while many proudly wore the colors of the Palestinian flag. It was like a scream of resistance in visual form, flying in front of the Israeli surveillance towers only a few hundred meters away.
After the kite flying event was officially registered as a new Guinness world record, an Israeli warship appeared on the horizon, slowly advancing towards the coast of Beit Lahiya. It was a cruel reminder that recreation time was over.
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Vittorio Arrigoni has worked as a human rights activist for more than a decade. He lived in Gaza until September 2009. As an activist with the International Solidarity Movement and freelance journalist with the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto he has provided eyewitness accounts for the world to read and is author of the book Gaza: Stay Human.
This essay was translated from Italian by Daniela Filippin.
17 August 2010 | Haaretz
A Jerusalem court on Monday held the state responsible for killing killing a 10-year-old Palestinian girl in January 2007.
In a civil suit, the court ruled that border guards had either been negligent or disobeyed orders in shooting Abir Aramin with a rubber bullet, calling the incident ‘totally unjustifiable’.
The judge ruled ordered the government to pay damages to the girl’s family, with the exact amount to be determined later.
Aramin was killed while walking home from school in the West Bank village of Anata with her sister and two of her friends. They had just left a shop where they had bought sweets when she was hit in the head by a rubber bullet.
She was taken to Mukassed Hospital in Jerusalem, where she was pronounced dead.
Police opened a criminal investigation but later decided against indicting the border guards who opened fire.
Aramin’s family and the human rights organization Yesh Din appealed the decision in the High Court. But judges there ruled that since it was possible the girl was killed by a rock thrown by rioters, there was no basis for a criminal trial.
In Monday’s civil ruling, Judge Orit Efal-Gabai dismissed the possibility that Aramin had been struck by an errant stone, determining gunfire as the cause of death.
“There is no debate over the conclusion that Abir was injured by a rubber bullet shot by border guards, which in turn leads to the conclusion that the shooting of Abir occurred out of negligence, or in violation of the rules of engagement,” Efal-Gabai said.
“We are not talking about injury by shots fired at a crowd of rioters and rock-throwers, near which a little girl just happened to be standing,”she said.
“Abir and her friends were walking down a street where there were no rock-throwers, therefore there was no reason to shoot in their direction. It is clear that Abir’s death, caused by a rubber bullet shot by border guards, was due to negligence by the defendant.”
Aramin’s father is one of the founders of Combatants for Peace, a group of former Israel Defense Forces soldiers and Palestinian gunmen that tour schools to foster coexistence.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/court-holds-state-responsible-for-shooting-of-palestinian-girl-1.308443An Nabi Saleh – 13/8/2010
On Friday around 35 Palestinians demonstrated against Hallamish settlement with around 15 Israeli and international peace activists in the village of An Nabi Salih. When the peaceful demonstration started, as usual after the noon prayer, the demonstrators went down to the entrance of the village where soldiers and border police were already aiting, blocking the road.
Click here to view the embedded video.
After pushing some Palestinians who were trying to walk down the street that leads to the settlement, the Israeli army started shooting low-flying teargas at the other side of the road, where some shebab where throwing stones at the jeeps. A lot of teargas was fired at the houses nearby and a lot of people including children suffered from teargas inhalation. More then two hours later, when the Palestinians just wanted to declare the demonstration over, the soldiers came across the fields shooting teargas at kids and people who were resting outside the house of one of the members of the popular committee. The demonstration ended around five – even though it was the first Friday of Ramadan – with no one arrested or injured.
Al Mas’ara – 13/8/2010
Six ISM activists joined Palestinians and some other internationals on the Al Ma’sara demonstration at 1pm on Friday 13th August. The whole demo took about half an hour from starting marching to the crowd dispersing; there were around 60 internationals and around a smaller number of Palestinians present. The demonstration was against the illegal apartheid wall – specifically how it is blocking the local farmers’ access to their land.
A large crowd of Catalonian activists were present, and waited until prayers had finished to set off with the rest. The group paraded through the village, with chanting, being led by a Palestinian man, but mainly in English (and Italian, with a few renditions of Bella Ciao). The Israeli army had cordoned off a section of road, and the group marched up to them. It was emphasized through the megaphone, and by lots of individual shouts, that this was an entirely non-violent demonstration. Calls of “Please don’t shoot” were also made. Soldiers pushed the Palestinian men on the front line of the group.
A demand was made for the soldiers to leave within three minutes, to allow access down the road and onto the fields. The soldiers remained impassive and maintained their blockade of the road, but then after a visit from their commanders, they threw five sound grenades at the crowd. The people scattered but noone was hurt. After this, the soldiers got back into their jeeps and drove away, much to the delight of the crowd.
Ni’lin – 13/8/2010
After many Palestinians participated in the noon prayer in the olive fields of Nil’in on Friday, the first demonstration during Ramadan of this year started. There were around 60 people including internationals and Israelis activists who were as always supporting Palestinians nonviolent resistance to call for the destruction of the Apartheid Wall which steals Palestinian land to expand settlement like Modi’in Ilit. and prevents farmer working their land.
As soon as the demonstration started, soldiers began shooting a lot of teargas that left dozens suffering from inhalation. Then, as they normally do, the Israeli army started coming t through gate and chasing demonstrators to try to arrest someone and kept shooting towards the village, with two kids aged 6 and 8 also hurt due to teargas inhalation. In about an hour the demonstration was over, with no arrests or serious injuries.
Bil’in – 13/8/2010
Around 20 Israeli activists and perhaps 40 or 50 internationals joined Palestinians in the Bil’in protest this Friday which commenced after Palestinians had prayed Jummah on the first Friday of Ramadan. The group marched holding Palestinian flags and also posters of shebab and members of the popular committee who are incarcerated in Israeli jails. Many of these political prisoners were arrested in the village during night raids. Some have been charged and sentenced for the “crime” of organizing peaceful resistance in the form of the popular struggle.
Click here to view the embedded video.
While marching towards the Apartheid Wall chanting slogans against land theft and the occupation the group held firm against the inevitable Israeli army attack. Once the first volley of tear gas was fired, several subsequent rounds followed immediately, forcing the demonstrators to retreat. The soldiers continued to shoot tear gas up the hill as the protesters backed off. One Israeli photographer was injured slightly by a hand grenade, and an Israeli woman was hit by a tear gas canister in her leg. Meanwhile, many suffered from gas inhalation, but despite the soldiers’ attempts, they managed to make no arrests.
The army also began shooting rubber coated steel bullets – a relatively rare occurrence at Bil’in. The demonstration lasted over an hour and a half however, and was declared a success considering that multiple protestors were fasting for Ramadan.
Beit Ommar – 14/8/2010
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About 30 Palestinians supported by 10 international and Israeli activists met in the village of Beit Ummar around 10:00 a.m on Friday. There were also about another 20 internationals observing but not demonstrating.
The group marched through the village’s olive groves towards the illegal Israeli settlement of Gush Etzion. The march was halted by Israeli soldiers and police in front of the gate, and the commander informed the demonstrators that the whole area, including the village’s olive groves, was a closed military zone. The demonstrators were given five minutes to leave or be arrested.
After a short speech about the history of the village and the illegal settlement, the group began to walk back to the village. The group stopped about fifty metres from the soldiers and continued the demonstration. After a few minutes some of the soldiers turned to leave and then the Palestinians decided the group should walk down again.
This was met with a hail of metal tear gas canisters, some narrowly missing the demonstrators they were aimed at. Some Palestinian youths began symbolically throwing stones while the rest of the demonstrators retreated towards the village to avoid the tear gas. Soldiers periodically ran towards the demonstrators, hoping to make an arrest, but they were unsuccessful.
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4Around 20 Israeli activists and perhaps 40 or 50 internationals joined Palestinians in the Bil’in protest this Friday which commenced after Palestinians had prayed Jummah on the first Friday of Ramadan. The group marched holding Palestinian flags and also posters of shebab and members of the popular committee who are incarcerated in Israeli jails. Many of these political prisoners were arrested in the village during night raids. Some have been charged and sentenced for the “crime” of organizing peaceful resistance in the form of the popular struggle.
While marching towards the Apartheid Wall chanting slogans against land theft and the occupation the group held firm against the inevitable Israeli army attack. Once the first volley of tear gas was fired, several subsequent rounds followed immediately, forcing the demonstrators to retreat. The soldiers continued to shoot tear gas up the hill as the protesters backed off. One Israeli photographer was injured slightly by a hand grenade, and an Israeli woman was hit by a tear gas canister in her leg. Meanwhile, many suffered from gas inhalation, but despite the soldiers’ attempts, they managed to make no arrests.
The army also began shooting rubber coated steel bullets – a relatively rare occurrence at Bil’in. The demonstration lasted over an hour and a half however, and was declared a success considering that multiple protestors were fasting for Ramadan.
17 August 2010 | PACBI
Occupied Ramallah, 15 August 2010
Once again, the Brand-Israel machine is in high gear, this time organizing a million-dollar international youth extravaganza in Eilat in September 2010 called “Funjoya.” This unabashed propaganda exercise is sponsored by the Israel Ministry of Tourism and the Israeli Student Union, among other official and semi-official bodies. The Ministry of Tourism explains one of the aims of the festival: “branding Israel as an attractive tourism destination for students, an improvement in Israel’s image among this target group and facilitating multi-cultural encounters for students from Israel and European countries.” [1]
There is no question that Israel is working hard to whitewash its crimes and to justify its occupation, colonization and system of apartheid. Since 2005, the official “Brand-Israel” campaign [2] has tried to present Israel in a new light, as a vibrant state promoting culture and the arts. However, Israel’s own actions make a mockery of this branding exercise, proving that no amount of re-branding will cover up the escalating agenda of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and violence against the Palestinian people, the last of which were the deadly assault on the Gaza Strip in the winter of 2008-2009, and the lethal attack on humanitarian aid workers aboard the Freedom Flotilla in Gaza in May 2010, which resulted in the murder of nine Turkish citizens. This viciousness is customary to Israel. The report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission led by Judge Richard Goldstone, released in September 2009, found strong evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza, and called for holding Israel accountable before international law.
We call upon students from around the world not to take part in this festival. We invite you to join the international movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel (BDS) until Israel respects international law [3]. As students, you should be aware that Palestinian students do not enjoy the rights taken for granted by many of you: Palestinian students’ freedom of movement is severely restricted by the Apartheid Wall, checkpoints and road blocks and hundreds are detained in Israeli jails for resisting the occupation. [4]
We urge you to heed the words of the Gaza-based Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel in their open letter to students a few days ago: “From under a most brutal siege humanity has witnessed during this modern age, we urge all students around the globe to boycott this festival We ask: will it speak about the cultural confiscation, the occupation of Palestinian history, the system of racial discrimination, home demolition, settlement expansion, settler colonialism and land expropriation? Will it tell of how apartheid Israel slices the West Bank into Bantustans separated by more than 600 checkpoints and a monstrous Apartheid Separation Wall preventing Palestinians from access to local hospitals, schools and universities, not to mention their families and relatives?” [5]
Don’t come to Eilat and honour the apartheid state! Support the Palestinian people in our struggle for self determination by boycotting “Funjoya” and exposing this vulgar Israeli hasbara effort!
PACBI
Notes
[1] http://www.thinkeilat.com/Tourism_Euk/Tourist+Information/Press+Releases/FunJoya+Student+Festival.htm; http://eu.mfa.gov.il/mfm/web/main/Print.asp?DocumentID=172430
[2] http://www.forward.com/articles/2070/. Jonathan Cook provides a comprehensive discussion of the brand-Israel effort in http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11093.shtml
[3] See the Unified Palestinian Call for BDS at http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/52
[4] For further information on the violation of students’ rights check: http://right2edu.birzeit.edu/
Sign the National Labor Committee’s petition demanding that apparel licensers step and facilitate an agreement that results in Bangladeshi workers be paid 41 cents an hour - link.
Sign the SweatFree Communities petition demanding the immediate release of Kalpona Akter - link.
YES! We need you to talk about sweatshop on Roberto Clemente Bridge on Saturday August 21! See you there at 5 PM.
YES! We need help following up on every aspect of the letter to Pittsburgh City Council posted below:
Kenneth Miller
Pittsburgh Anti Sweatshop Community Alliance
c/o Thomas Merton Center
5129 Penn Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
412-867-9213
nosweatshopsbucco@yahoo.com
