commentary from Israel & the West Bank
Facing annexation, the West Bank village of al-Walaja looks to ‘Budrus’ for inspiration
Jul 29th
In the cool summer evening air of the Jerusalem hills last Tuesday evening, hundreds of Palestinians and Israelis descended on the small village of al-Walaja for a screening of the critically acclaimed documentary Budrus. The screening was jointly organized by Israelis and Palestinians who are working to non-violently resist the construction of Israel’s separation barrier on the village’s land.The screening bore special significance for the people of al-Walaja as the film follows the story of a West Bank village’s unarmed struggle against the construction of Israel’s separation barrier on its farmland and its subsequent success in having the route of the wall changed.
The village of al-Walaja sits between Beit Jala and Jerusalem next to the settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo, both of which have been built on historic al-Walaja land. Since 1967, the village’s boundaries have been shrinking as subsequent Israeli governments have expanded the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem while trying to keep al-Walaja in Palestinian controlled territory. Recently, Israel has started to construct a portion of its separation wall on al-Walaja’s land. The wall will completely surround the village leaving only one entrance to be controlled by an Israeli military checkpoint which will isolate the village from Jerusalem, a main area of employment for many villagers. In some portions, the wall will be as close as five meters from houses of al-Walaja residents. Last Sunday, the Israeli High Court, on appeal from the residents of al-Walaja, decided to request a ‘full explanation’ from the state about the route of the wall. The state has forty five days to explain itself to the courtalthough work is allowed to continue during this time.
"Budrus" Screening in al-Walaja
On the heels of this important decision, the resemblance between the situation the people of Budrus faced during the time of the film and the threat al-Walaje is facing now made for an emotional screening. Budrus was one of first Palestinian villages to embrace a model of unarmed resistance to the creation of Israel’s separation barrier on its land. Due to the success of this model of resistance other villages such as Bi’linand Ni’lin have adapted similar tactics in confronting the theft of their valuable land.
During the screening, many in the audience were emotional as images of demonstrations in Budrus flashed before their eyes. Packed in a room of Israelis and Palestinians working together to protect a small village’s land from confiscation by Israel’s separation wall while watching the uplifting story of Budrus, it was hard not to be emotional. A key plot line of the film is the cooperation between Palestinian, Israeli and international in organizing and demonstrating against the wall. These demonstrations, which are documented in the film, often involved harsh Israeli repression in the form tear gas, sound bombs and the use of live fire against unarmed demonstrators.The residents of al-Walaja are accustomed to seeing the same type of violence from the Israeli army during their non-violent demonstrations.
Ayed Morrar, the Palestinian community organizer of Budrus and one of the film’s protagonists, was on hand in al-Walaja for questions after the screening. He appealed to Palestinians to ‘free themselves of traditional thinking’ in adopting new models of non-violent resistance to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. He argued that Palestinian woman, who make up half of Palestinian society, should play a greater role in organizing and demonstrating in non-violent demonstrations. He noted the similarities between Budrus and al-Walaja in their struggle against the wall and occupation.
Israeli activist, Yotam Wolfe, appealed to the Israeli members of the audience to keep attending the demonstrations in al-Walaja just as Israelis had done in Budrus. He reminded everyone that as Israelis with extreme privilege in society, it is a moral responsibility to help the people of al-Walaja in their struggle. One Israeli, writing on his blog in Hebrew, wrote about returning to Jerusalem after the screening; ‘I returned full of hope and anger, full of anger and pain, full of love…” I believe his statement captures the feeling that all of us had after viewing this incredible film in al-Walaja.
Seventeen Year Old Child Taken in Night Raid on Bi’ilin Now Facing Jail Time
Jul 25th
From Iyan Burnat of the Bi’ilin Popular Struggle Committee:
Bil’in was subjected to yet another Israeli Occupation Forces night raid when an unusually heavy number of Israeli soldiers entered the outskirts of the village to arrest a local youth; 17 year old Ahmad Abed Al-Fatah Burnat – who unfortunately was arrested.
Ahmad was taken by jeep to Ofer military prison located outside Ramallah, where arrestees from Bil’in are normally taken. His family witnessed their son and brother being taken away without knowing why. There is still uncertainty why the Israeli army came in 12 jeeps and stormed the family’s house kidnapping the 17 year old that night.
Ahmad has now been held for seven days in Ofer. What we know from experience is that the prisoners in Ofer, especially young boys are put under harsh conditions, with the intention of pressuring them to give information about other villagers. We know that many are denied food and water for extended periods of time and exposed to extreme cold or heat. This coupled with the uncertainty of when he is to be released makes the situation unbearable for his family. All this is done to make the prisoners confess false charges, or to falsely confess that they have witnessed other people i.e. throwing stones.
Today Ahmad was brought in front of a judge. The court’s decision is that the military has to bring evidence of any crime committed by Ahmad, which they haven’t been able to do so far. If none is presented within 37 hours from today’s court, Ahmad is to be released. The condition is that there must be paid a bail of 10,000 shekel. If this isn’t paid, Ahmad will remain in Ofer military prison indefinitely, while waiting for the next court decision.
The popular committee has seen hundreds of Bil’in residents being arrested over the years, and have been forced to pay a total of more than 300,000 NIS for bail. In addition, the costs for the trials are estimated to lie at around 2,800 NIS per person, per court appearance.
Israel Continues to Violently Repress Unarmed Demonstrations Against the Occupation
Jul 25th
This past weekend, just like the past weekends of recent years gone by, various unarmed demonstrations against the occupation took place throughout the West Bank. Palestinians joined by Israelis and International supporters held demonstrations in Wad Rahel, Masara, Nabi Salih, Ni’ilin, Bi’ilin, Hebron, Beit Umar and Beit Jala. The Israeli response to these demos has been violent repression using crowd dispersal methods. In Hebron, about 100 Palestinians and their international and Israeli supporters gathered next to the closed gates of the Israeli army blockade on Shuhada street in the Saturday demonstration of the “Open Shuhada Street” campaign in Hebron. After some chanting and speeches against the occupation and settlements and for freedom of movement in Hebron, the protesters headed towards one of the old city allies, blocked by Israeli soldiers. The soldiers violently attacked the demonstration and in the commotion that erupted have managed to grab into arrest 4 internationals and one Israeli protester. Due to the Israeli army’s determination to end the demo, the protesters sat on the ground in front of the soldiers, continuing the demo while sitting. After a while the demo was declared over and participants started going away from the soldiers, who kept going after the retrieting crowd. At a certain point one of the soldiers threw out a sound bomb. Below video by fil kaler.
David Reeb has uploaded a video of the demo in Nabi Salih this Friday in which one can clearly see IDF soldiers using tear gas projectiles as bullets. Towards the end of the video pay close attention to the angle of the tear gas as the soldiers discharge the projectile. Instead of firing at an arch in order to spread out the tear gas, which is IDF protocol in these demos, the soldiers fire them directly at Palestinian youth in the village. This has resulted in countless injuries and in some cases, deaths of Palestinian protesters.
Palestinian Children in West Bank Summer Camp: “Break the Silence, Break the Siege”
Jul 24th
This afternoon, I visited a Palestinian summer camp in the southern West Bank city of Beit Umar. The camp is named “The Freedom Flotilla Camp” and contains roughly one hundred youth aged 12 to 17 years old from the city. In addition to normal summer camp activities like swimming, playing football and general running around with friends, the children staged a festival titled “Break the Silence, Break the Siege.” The festival, which was organized by various popular struggle committees in the west Bank, included poetry about the occupation, plays about Palestinian interaction with settlers/soldiers and traditional ‘debka’ dances. The aim was to send a message to the international community that Palestine is unified and Gaza is not separate from the West Bank. The children wanted to express their concern about the silence of the international community over Israeli blockade of Gaza and the ongoing occupation of the West Bank.
The Freedom Flotilla Camp in Beit Umar
The event took place after the weekly demo in Beit Umar against the occupation. I attended the increasing violent demo this morning with fellow activist Kobi Snitz. After the army violently injured one Palestinian photojournalist and rained sound grenades/tear gas on the non violent demonstrators, Kobi and I were invited to attend the children’s festival to address them about Israeli activists supporting of the popular struggle. Below video provided by Fil Kaler.
As soon as we arrived to the camp complex, a customary mob of kids surrounded us asking “what is your name?” and “where are you from?” in broken English. When I explained that I was Israeli from Jerusalem, most took a puzzled looked which only lasted for a couple of seconds and quickly dissolved as they would grab me by the hand and introduce me to all their friends.
Israeli Activist Addressing Palestinian Children in Beit Umar
During the festival, one by one a kid or groups of kids would get on stage to perform a poem or song about Palestine or the occupation. Most of the poems were about the unity of Palestine and expressed solidarity with the people of Gaza. After a slew of performances, it was Kobi’s turn to address the crowd. As he explained that we come from Israel and support the popular struggle movements in the West Bank in his Hebrew accented Arabic, I wondered what it would take for an Israeli summer camp to invite a Palestinian to address their participants. I tried to picture a Palestinian from Beit Umar addressing rowdy youngsters in Herzilya. To be honest, the picture was hard to convince.
Former Vice President of European Parliament Arrested in Bil’in
Jul 23rd
From The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee website:
Israeli forces arrested Lusia Morgantini, the former Vice President of the European Parliament, and three others during the weekly anti-wall demonstration in the West Bank village of Bil’in earlier today. All were released once the soldiers realized who was in their hands.About 200 demonstrators, fifty of them from of an Italian delegation headed by Morgantini, were attacked with tear-gas as soon as the procession reached the path of the wall and with out any provocation. Some youth responded with stones, but the majority of demonstration remained peaceful despite the provocation.
The soldiers than continued to cross the gate in the wall and into the village. Morganitini and three others who refused to escape were detained by the soldiers and taken away through the wall. Less than an hour after her arrest, once the commanders had realized who they have arrested, Morgnatini was released. The soldiers also released those who were arrested together with, except for one Israeli activist who was taken to the police station. After her release Morgantini said that “I saw Palestinian protesting nonviolently attacked by the army for trying to defend their lands. I strongly encourage the EU to take strong action for the protection of Palestinians and the implementation of their rights.”
Fencing in the Streets of Europe and Stone Throwing in the West Bank
Jul 22nd
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, fencing was a popular past time in the central Europe. Early Zionist youth clubs such as Beitar participated in fencing events and based youth activities around the sport. Perhaps because of the popularity of fencing, street sword duals were a regular endeavor of pride. Young Jewish men were not alien to these duals. The yearbooks of early Zionist youth sport clubs contain many photos of men with a scars across their faces received in dual. These scars were worn with pride and honor. In some cases, duals would even break out between Jews affiliated with Zionist sport clubs and Jews affiliated with non Zionist sport clubs.
In Ni’ilin, I often think about the fencing and duels of early Zionist leaders as I watch the young Palestinian boys throw stones across the wall at Israeli soldiers. In a way, stone throwing carries the same weight of pride, honor and dignity for Palestinians as dueling in the streets carried for early Zionist leaders. It is a symbolic form of resistance treated with much respect in Palestinian society. However, Palestinian stone throwing is portrayed as a violent act which endangers the lives of Israeli soldiers. A Palestinian child who throws a stone is a target for arrest in the middle of the night, harsh interrogation, and ultimately jail time. Leaders of the popular struggle movements in the West Bank are routinely thrown in jail for long periods of time for encouraging youth stone throwing. Usually, these leaders are found guilty by Israeli military courts with coerced testimony gleaned from arrested children without lawyers or parents present.
A Palestinian Throws a Stone Over the Wall in Ni'ilin
Why is the IDF afraid of stone throwing in the first place? I believe that part of the answer lies with the logic of Zionist duals in Europe; one must always defend honor. The IDF, according to its own rules of conduct, will not allow acts of resistance such as stone throwing to go unanswered. If a stone is thrown at a military Jeep, the soldiers must respond in some way whether it be firing tear gas, chasing the stone thrower or firing a rubber bullet. The logic is clear, Palestinians must always be reminded who is boss in the West Bank. Any attempt to dishonor the IDF must never go unanswered.
As good Zionists, settlers never let acts of stone throwing go unanswered as well. Just as in the case of dueling on the streets of Prague or Budapest, settlers often throw stones at Palestinians. It is as a new form of dueling has taken shape in the West Bank. Below is a video that I shot last year in the West Bank village of Safa. Settlers from the extremist settlement of Bat Ayin, rained stones on Palestinian farmers and their Israeli supporters as a unit of the army watched on, sometimes standing right next to the Jewish stone throwers.
In the contemporary world of Zionist honor, the IDF has become the enabler of dangerous settler behavior. The duels of early Zionist leaders in Europe continue on in the stone throwing of Palestinians and settlers in the West Bank. It is a battle of honor.
Bi’ilin Popular Struggle Coordinator Abdallah Abu Rahmah Sentenced
Jul 21st
From The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee Website
Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s first trial from 2005 had reached conclusion yesterday, with his sentencing to two months of imprisonment and a six months suspended sentence for participating and organizing demonstrations and for walking the streets of his village during a curfew designed to prevent a demonstration. A verdict in Abu Rahmah’s main case for which he is already in jail since December is expected soon.
Bil’in Protest organizer Abdallah Abu Rahmah was sentenced to two months of imprisonment and to a six month suspended sentence, after a five year long trial on charges clearly related to freedom of speech.
Abu Rahmah was convicted of two counts of “activity against the public order”, simply for participating in demonstrations, in one count despite the fact that “No evidence of violence towards the security forces was provided”. Abu Rahmah was also convicted of “obstructing a soldier in the line of duty”, for shouting at a police officer and refusing to leave the scene of a demonstration, of “breaking curfew”, for being in the street in front of his house when the army declared curfew on Bil’in to suppress a demonstration, and of “incitement”, which under military law is defined as “The attempt, verbal or otherwise, to influence public opinion in the Area in a way that may disturb the public peace or public order”. Abu Rahmah was convicted of inciting others to “[…] continue advancing [to their lands during a demonstration in Bil'in], claiming that the land belongs to them.
Adv. Gaby Lasky, Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s lawyer said that “The military court threads a dangerous path of criminalizing legitimate protest in the West Bank. Abu Rahmah was arrested, prosecuted and sentenced with the clear intention of sending a message that the Palestinian struggle, even when of civic nature, will not be tolerated”.
Yesterday’s sentence joins a long line of recent military court decisions criminalizing Palestinian protest and effectively cracking down on the already limited Palestinian freedom of speech. The decisions are part of an Israeli campaign to suppress Palestinian grassroots resistance to the Occupation across the Occupied Territories.
One of the clearest examples of the legal persecution against protesters is that of Adeeb Abu Rahmah from Bil’in, who is still incarcerated, even after fully serving a ridiculously long 12 months sentence.
Mohammed Khatib of the Bil’in Popular Committee said that “In my village we learned that when we fight for our rights, when we expose what is being done to us, we can achieve victories, and indeed the path of the Wall is now being moved. Israeli is trying to intimidate us, to dissuade from fighting for our rights – but what other options do we have? Both the Wall and the settlements on our lands are built in contradiction of international law and even of Israeli law, but it is us that end up in jail”.
Small Jailcell, Lonely, and Freezing by Yossi Gurvitz
Jul 21st
The following is my English translation of Yossi Gurvitz’s latest post about the Shabak, the interrogation process, and the dying Israeli legal system. Haaretz has just published an article about the trials cited by Yossi here.
I asked myself a couple of days ago about the working methods of the Jewish units in the Shabak according to Haim Pearlman story. The Shabak arrested him and did not allow him to meet with a lawyer. The reason, briefly, why the Shabak did not allow him access to a lawyer was because he was between the ages of 17 and 23 when he was charged with attacking Palestinians in Jerusalem at the end of the last decade. He was responsible for killing four and injuring seven; Pearlman was suspected of having illegal weapons. Pearlman understood he was being arrested and he taped the Shabak interrogation of the Shabak and caught them trying to ask him to kill Sheikh Reid Salah and because of this all of the case details are problematic.
Recently a new development unfolded, the Shabak arrested another fellow, David Sitbon, who was suspected of breaking into private houses and military bases to steal weapons and fighting equipment for Pearlman. To increase the pressure on this suspect, the Shabak managed to refuse him from meeting a lawyer.
Pearlman, previously mentioned, was accused in a series of stabbings. Stabbing, usually occurs via with a sharp instrument- a knife is the preferred choice of nine out of ten stabbing murderers. The basic advantage of a knife for a future murder is that you can buy it easily without suspicion as long as you do not give yourself away or droll in front of the clerk. Purchasing a knife does not require registration as opposed to actual firearms. There is no black market for knifes. If Sitbon wanted knifes, he did not need to break into military bases. He could have gone to the nearest kitchen store.
So Sitbon probably was not involved in the murders. It might be that he was involved in a different accusation against Pearlman, carrying illegal weapons, which is less of a charge. This is where the question should be raised, why the hell was he prevented from access to a lawyer. Having a lawyer is a basic right which aims to protect the arrested from false admission of guilt in a crime that he did not commit; there is a desire of the police, all police, to close files quickly instead of putting in hard work to find the real criminal, but it is a requirement of the justice system to allow the accused, who are already in a bad situation, access to a lawyer.
Denial of a lawyer, which has lately become routine- see the Ma’houl and Omer said case- is rotten from the start. You may barely excuse this kind of action as ‘a immediate and clear risk’ (ED: The reason the Shabak denies them laqyers) but none of these cases fits this definition. What we see in all of these cases is a ‘coming together’ procedure which is becoming the normal right of the Shabak to investigate a person who has basically been kidnapped: the detainee is being held, isolated, in an investigation area without any assistance.There is however, a minimal legal precedent, which every now and then the court prolongs time of arrest and the time before one can access a lawyer, in order to make it seem like (the Shabka) did not “disappear” a suspect like in Chile or Argentina. Access to a lawyer, in the case of Ma’houl, occurs only after the Shabak already received a guilty plea probably under torture. This guilty plea is unrectractable in our rotten legal system. The relatives of Pearlman already complained that he is being held in a “refrigerator”, a simple torture device which does not leave marks on the body of the investigated and was very popular in the USSR. Its survivors in USSR compared it to a slow starvation. The Shabak obviously denies it usage. The Shabak always denies. Never has an Israeli court found that the Shabak lied, and never has an Israeli court found that a detainee has been tortured.
The Shabak does not need to freeze Pearlman. Since the guy is completely in their hands, the Shabak can use the much simpler technique of preventing sleep, which the Inquisition called tormentum insomnium: it does not leave marks and there is nothing like it, after a few days to convince a detainee to sign (an admission of guilt) is easily done. Afterwards, all that is left to do (for the Shabak) is to lie to the judge and to try to cover the smile.
The Shabak told us that it prevented a lawyer for Ma’houl because he is a dangerous spy. The Shabak told us there can be no lawyer for Pearlman because he is a dangerous murderer although his actions were done in the past. Now the Shabak tells us that he prevents a lawyer for a weapons dealer and we get used to it. Slowly, the Shabak is ripping our foundational rights from the few that the hand of the detainees.
I do not know if Pearlman and Sitbon are guilty or not. It might be that they are (although the story of the Shabak is very strange); it might be that they are guilty in only a few of the accusations; it might be that the both of them are innocent. I only know one thing for sure, the (our) rights are being wiped away as we speak, in almost complete silence of the media and the blogsphere. They are not called Anat Kam and they are not coming from the heart of the media branch however, who ever keeps silent while they prevent Pearlman and Sitbon their lawyers might be dragged away to a freezing cell, loseing his right to complain when the same thing happens to him.
Why is the Shin Bet Talking with Yonatan Shapira?
Jul 20th
Recently, famed Israeli peace activist and conscientious objector, Yonatan Shapira was summoned for a ‘conversation’ with the Shin Bet in Tel Aviv. These ‘conversations’ with the Shin Bet happen with some regularity to Israeli peace activists and usually consist of a number of questions and intimidation techniques designed to strike fear in the interviewee. One theory among Israeli leftists is that the Shin Bet wants to see how one deals with pressure in order to ascertain how one would deal with an invitation by a terrorist group to carry out an attack or something along those lines. Of course, this is crazy and these ‘conversations’ are tantamount to harassment. They are part of a great campaign of intimidation of the Israeli left which includes phone tapping, spying and arrest.
Yonatan Shapira
What the Shin Bet could be thinking in calling in Yonathan Shapira for a ‘conversation’ at this point is a baffling question. Shapira is easily one of the most visible figures on the Israeli left and has recently pulled a number of stunts which have gotten him international attention. It seems clear that calling him for a conversation who be playing right into his game by giving him yet another story to inform the media. Is the Shin Bet really that stupid or is there some other motive at work here? Is the Shin Bet trying to send a message about BDS to the activist community? It is unclear at this point, but Shapira’s ‘conversation’ has raised many questions.
Israel Continues to Place Settlers in East Jerusalem
Jul 30th
Posted by Joseph Dana in Villages
1 comment
Last night, Israeli settlers took over yet another house in East Jerusalem. This time the house is located in the Arab quarter of the Old City. The facts on the ground simply discredit Israeli rhetoric about peace. The government continues to demonstrate its willingness to put more and more Jewish settlers in highly contested areas despite official policy of wanting peace talks with the Palestinians.
Peace Now has posted the following video of the arrival of the settlers in the Old City:
The Associated Press is also covering the story here.