commentary from Israel & the West Bank
Villages
Nabi Saleh demo faced with military incursions; one protester arrested
Aug 29th
Soldiers responded to a peacful march with an incursion that resolted in a day of clashes and one arrested protester.
Residents of Nabi Saleh, supported by Palestinians from nearby villages, Israeli activists and international supporters – about 60 in number – participated in the weekly demonstration against the Occupation and annexation and destruction of a growing amounts of land and resources from the village by the adjacent Halamish settlement.
The march from the village’s center headed down towards the lands in a different path than the usual today, but was nevertheless impeded by the army minutes after. The soldiers, surprised by being forced to relocate from their regular positions, immediately began threatening the crowd with arrests.
Precluded from advancing any farther, some demonstrators climbed over a shut yellow military gate at a checkpoint at the entrance to the village, which was used to obstruct the march. After a while, protesters began marching back into the village, but were followed by the soldiers as a measure of provocation.
The army’s incursion successfully escalated the situation, with quickly developed into clashes with armed soldiers shooting tear-gas and rubber-coated bullets faced by youth hurling stones to stop the invasion. At some point, one Israeli protester was arrested as soldiers claimed she interrupted their work, but she was later released on restrictive conditions. The army kept its presence in the village until the evening, continuously driving in and out of the village’s built-up area, and literally taking over the streets for prolonged periods every time.
Demonstrator suffers moderate wounds in Bil’in
Aug 28th
One demonstrator was evacuated to the Ramallah hospital with moderate injuries, after a rubber coated bullet shot at him from a short distance lodged itself in his knee.
Protest against the apartheid wall, Bilin, Palestine, 8/1/2010. Photo by: Oren Ziv/ Activestills.org
This week’s demonstration in Bil’in commemorated the 9th anniversary to the assassination of PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustafa by a missile shot into his home by Israel. A large PFLP delegation as well as some fifty Israeli and international activists joined the people of Bil’in.
Demonstrators also denounced the recent conviction of Abdallah Abu Rahmah on charges of incitement ond organizing illegal demonstrations. Some protesters wore masks of Abdallah’s face, delivering the message that in imprisoning Abu Rahmah, Israel only strengthen the spirit of resistance he represents.
Demonstrators got only numbered minutes to protest, before the unprovoked salvo of tear-gas began. The continuous firing of tear-gas forced most of the demonstrators to retreat, leaving only a small number of youth, photographers, and a few older protesters preferred risking arrest over running into the thick clouds of gas.
When the soldiers saw that these last few demonstrators couldn’t be scared away, they invaded the village, chasing after the youth. The demonstrators were pushed further back by the gas, way beyond the area designated as a closed military zone. Following the invasion, limited confrontations began as local youth attempted to hold back the army from entering the village.
The soldiers escalated the violence and added the use of rubber-coated bullets to their arsenal. Just before the soldiers finally retreated, one youth was hit with a rubber bullet that lodged itself inside his knee. He was evacuated to the Ramallah hospital suffering moderate wounds.
Israeli troops fire on nonviolent anti-wall protest in Al Ma’sara (Video)
Aug 28th
Demonstration against the Wall in Al Ma'sara. 26.03.2010. Photo by:Anne Paq/Activestills.org
Yesterday, the village of al Ma’sara held a nonviolent protest against the Separation Wall and settlements. A group of Palestinian, Israeli and international protesters gathered in the afternoon and peacefully chanted ‘no to occupation’ and ‘no to settlements’. After a short time, Israeli soldiers began using sound bombs and tear gas as a means of riot dispersal against the protesters. During a brief intermission from the gas, a number of Israeli protesters attempted to approach the site of the demonstration only to be arrested. The following video shot by Mazin Qumsiyeh PhD clearly shows one Israeli protester being arrested for no reason what so ever.
The reaction to this protest coupled with the protests in Ni’ilin and Bil’in show the repression of nonviolent and unarmed struggle in the West Bank by the Israeli armed forces. Arresting unarmed protesters and medical crews demonstrates the fear which these protests cause in the minds of Israeli military planners. Despite the repression and against all odds, the movements continue to grow.
IDF arrests Red Crescent medical team during a demonstration in Ni’ilin
Aug 27th
The IDF arrested a Red Crescent medical team this afternoon in the West Bank city of Ni’ilin. The medical team was a part of the weekly protest against the separation wall and continued Israeli settlement expansion. Roughly thirty Palestinians accompanied by Israeli and international supporters approached the separation wall around one in the afternoon. Palestinians burned tires on one portion of the wall and the IDF responded with a volley of tear gas. Soldiers then entered the village farmlands with weapons drawn. The majority of the protesters were able to retreat into the village leaving only the Red Crescent medical team, one Israeli camerawoman from the human rights organization Btsleem and one Palestinian photographer. They were surrounded and detained.
Friday Protest in West Bank Village of Ni'ilin. 27 August 2010. Photo by Joseph Dana
As the events unfolded, I tweeted updates and photos from Ni’ilin. Perhaps in response to my tweet the IDF spokesman office began tweeting “riots in Judea and Samaria” and “7 rioters arrested in Ni’ilin”. How can a medical team and two photographers be considered ‘rioters’? After a couple of hours all of the detainees were released without charge. For the past couple of months, the IDF has declared that Ni’ilin and the neighboring village of Bil’in are ‘closed military zones’ on Fridays. This directive by the military governor of the West Bank is designed to intimidate the protest movement and can be used to arrest any protester simply for being in the said area on Friday. The order has recently expired, giving the IDF no grounds to hold the detainees from Ni’ilin today.However, the detainees were led by soldiers over the wall, and presented with a new closed military zone order, effective Friday, Aug 27th, from 10am to 10pm. The aerial photograph attached to the order encompassed a section of Ni’lin’s agricultural land adjacent to the wall, not as extensive as the area designated “closed military zone” in the six month military order that was imposed on Ni’lin and Bilin (and has since expired). The medics and camera people were in fact detained outside of the designated area.
Ni’ilin has been protesting the separation wall and confiscation of their agricultural land for the past two years. The International Court of Justice considers “the construction of the (separtion) wall, and its associated régime, contrary to international law”. Five Palestinians have been killed due to excessive Israeli repression measures and hundreds have been injured in the course of the unarmed protests. Many of the leaders of the popular struggle movement have been imprisoned for long sentenced in Israeli Kafkaesque military legal prison system in an effort to crush the unarmed struggle. The protest has continued weekly despite the repression. This is the second time in the recent months in which the IDF has arrested Red Crescent medics during the protest in Ni’ilin.
Friday Protest in West Bank Village of Ni'ilin. 27 August 2010. Photo by Joseph Dana
Throughout the West Bank demonstrations against the separation wall and settlements took place today. In Bil’in, a Palestinian protester was shot in the leg with a rubber bullet as hundreds of Palestinian, Israeli and international protesters attempted to approach the separation fence in the village. The injured Palestinian was evacuated to a Ramallah hospital for treatment. In the village of al-Masara, the army used tear gas and sound bombs to break up a non violent demonstration. One Israeli was arrested and taken to a local police station in the West Bank. In Nabi Salih, the largely non violent demonstration ended early with one Israeli arrested.
Criminalizing Peaceful Protest: Israel Jails Another Palestinian Gandhi
Aug 26th
Last year, on the night of International Human Rights Day at 2am, Abdallah Abu Rahmah was arrested from his home in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Abu Rahmah is the coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements and was arrested for coordinating the weekly unarmed protest against Israel’s separation barrier. During his arrest seven military jeeps surrounded his house as Israeli soldiers broke the door, and took Abdallah from his bed. After briefly allowing him to say goodbye to his wife Majida and their three children, he was blindfolded and taken to the Ofer military prison.
Bil’in has become an internationally recognized symbol of Palestinian unarmed and largely nonviolent resistance to Israel’s controversial separation wall and continued settlement expansion. Thousands of Israelis, Palestinians and international supporters including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Desmond Tutu and Naomi Klein have joined in Bilin’s weekly demonstrations since they began. The village’s struggle is the subject of a riveting documentary, “Bil’in, Habibti,” by Israeli filmmaker/activist Shai Pollak.
Israel has responded to the international attention on Bil’in with a campaign of repression which has included waves of arrests, daily night raids, repeated use of high velocity tear gas projectiles against protesters (resulting in the death of Bassam Abu Rahmah in 2009 and countless injuries) and the use of military courts to persecute the leaders of the popular committee against the wall. According to Adv. Gaby Lasky, Abu Rahmah’s lawyer, “Soldiers have killed and injured dozens and hundreds of protesters in the attempt to stop the Palestinian popular struggle, but have failed. They are now trying to illegitimately use the courts and the legal system in the same way. The international community must take a tough stand on this issue.”
Abdallah Abu Rahmah, along with another popular committee member Adeed Abu Ramha, is the latest nonviolent grassroots Palestinian leader to stand before Israel’s military court. Abu Ramha has represented the village of Bil’in around the world. On December 10th 2008, Abu Rahmah 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.
Since his arrest, Abdallah Abu Rahmah has not been able to see his wife or children. Israel considers the Ofer military prison, where he is being held, to be part of Israeli sovereign territory despite its location in the heart of the West Bank. In order to visit her husband, Abu Ramha’s wife is required to get an entry permit to Israel. She has been routinely denied this permit because her husband is considered a ‘security risk’. Abu Rahmah is not even permitted to make phone calls because of his security status.
To understand the absurdity of the charges brought against Abu Rahmah, consider that he was initially indicted for making an art exhibit out of used tear-gas projectiles and bullets. Who knew that a peace sign constructed out of instruments of repression could threaten Israeli security? This absurd arms possession 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.
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Documentary Film Maker Arrested in Bil’in for Filming the Demonstration
Aug 21st
David Reeb, a long time documentary film maker who joins various weekly protests through the West Bank was arrested yesterday in Bil’in as he was filming the non violent protest.
Despite the intense heat and high temperature, on the second Friday in Ramadan, a sizable march organized by the Popular Committee commenced from the center of the village right after the Friday prayers.
The protesters, consisting of many Palestinians and dozens of International and Israeli activists, called for the prosecution of the Israeli soldiers behind the recent Facebook scandal. Not only did one of the soldiers pose with bound and gagged prisoners, Eden Abergil, stated that she would “gladly kill Arabs – even slaughter them.”
As the protesters neared the separation wall and approached the soldiers with pictures of other Israeli soldiers posing and torturing prisoners, teargas was fired heavily at the protesters and journalists. Clashes continued for hours when the Israeli military attempted to advance into the village.
Journalist, Haitham Al-Khatib suffered minor injuries when the military attempted to arrest him.International activist, Evie, and David, were arrested while Evie was peacefully demonstrating against the occupation and David filming.
Revenge Of The Nerds: Partying With The Boys Of Im Tirtzu
Aug 20th
This piece was co-authored by Max Blumenthal
Tamir Kafri, Ben Gurion University campus coordinator for Im Tirtzu
Fresh off a campaign of nationwide intimidation against the New Israel Fund, countless damaging personal attacks against leftists and professors condemned as insufficiently Zionist, and anendorsement from Israeli Education Minister Gideon Saar, the self-proclaimed “moderate” student group Im Tirtzu gathered for a night of celebration. The venue was “Theodore,” a swanky bar in the wealthy Tel Aviv suburb of Herzilya named for the man who Im Tirtzu claims as the inspiration for its “Second Zionist Revolution:” Theodore Herzl. The evening’s agenda: to fire up the troops for the upcoming boycott targeting Ben Gurion University’s supposedly anti-Zionist faculty.
At the door of the bar stood a glowering young man munching on a slice of pizza. He was Erez Tadmor, Im Tirtzu’s director of media relations. Tadmor approached us and asked who we were. We described ourselves as clueless Jewish American tourists who were simply curious about his student group. “We just heard there was some kind of party here,” we said in English.
Without bothering to introduce himself, Tadmor discussed his man-size persecution complex. “At Hebrew University I did so much damage to the professors I can’t even walk around freely on campus anymore,” he remarked. “Most of the academics here are anti-Israel and anti-Zionist. They have the audacity to say that Israel is an apartheid state, that we’re colonizers, that we kill kids. And so we are simply trying to defend our Zionist values against what they’re doing.”
Despite the subversive culture on campus, Tadmor was confident he would crush the evil-doers: “The elites are on the losing side. They only represent like 3 percent of the population who are radical leftist. But we have 70 to 80 percent of the people on our side.”
Who is Tadmor? The scion of the only secular family in the fanatical Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, Tadmor now lives in the settlement of Efrat with his wife and two children. He made his name directing the student cell that fought the evacuation of the settlement Gush Katif, then turned his attention to assailing cultural critics of Israeli maximalism. “The [Oscar-nominated Israeli film] Waltz With Bashir is a vehicle to destroy Zionism,” Tadmor once declared. “The director should have made a film about Herzl in the place of this.”
In an interview with Maariv, a leading Israeli newspaper, Tadmor admitted to stealing small-scale explosives and ammunition magazines from the army during his service. Despite insisting that he needed the weapons for “personal security,” Tadmor was stripped of his rank and slapped with a 45-day prison sentence for “breaking the trust” of the army.
During Operation Cast Lead, Tadmor orchestrated a series of violent confrontations between Im Tirtzu activists and Palestinian Israeli students at Hebrew University. An Im Tirtzu banner warned the Arab students, “We will burn your villages and see you during our reserve duty.” Tadmor was implicated for physically attacking female students who called him a “Nazi.” The riots sparked by Tadmor and Im Tirtzu were only quelled when university administrators demanded the deployment of Border Police and special Yassam forces on campus.
Im Tirtzu's Tamir Kafri, presumably performing in a production of "Rocky Horror"
After chatting with Tadmor, two Im Tirtzu activists approached us to discuss campus politics in the United States. One of them, a chubby, slouching young man with a crew cut, asked, “Have you ever read ‘The Professors’ by David Horowitz? Horowitz was a former leftist so he knows the truth about the left in your country.” With his failed “Academic Bill of Rights” campaign, which would have allowed conservative students to sue their professors, and his annual “Islamofascism Awareness Week,” the ex-Stalinist Horowitz seemed like a natural role model for Im Tirtzu’s McCarthyite missions.
The other activist, Tamir Kafri, a bespectacled and chipper student with a long ponytail and newly budding facial hair, mentioned another American inspiration: “You should read the book, ‘Liberal Fascism,’” Tamir said, referring to neocon writer Jonah Goldberg’s screed linking American liberalism to Hitlerian fascists. “I’m not saying all liberals are fascists, but on campus here in Israel, the liberal professors really are.”
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Israeli Conveyor Belt Justice at the Ofer Military Court
Aug 19th
Early this week, in the middle of a extreme heat wave, I found myself sitting in the open air pen which is known as the waiting area of the Ofer military court in the West Bank. The Ofer military court is one of the main court facilities in the West Bank run by the Israeli military. It acts as a legal arm of the occupation dealing with many cases in connection with the Palestinian unarmed Resistance. Israeli citizens have the opportunity to witness trials there but few outside of a dedicated group of activists visit the facility. The court system does not operate efficiently or even on time. It operates as a symbol of the occupation complete with the soul crushing attitudes of prison guards and army officers that work there and the endless waiting which is a part of every visit. If one wanted a series of Eden Abergil photos, the Ofer military court would be the first place that I would send them.
On Tuesday morning, Adeeb abu Ramha had his appeal before the military court at Ofer. Usually, appeal trials begin two to three hours late but on this day it began only after a ten minute delay. Perhaps this was due to do with the fact that the British Council, Spanish government and European Union all sent representatives to oversee the Israeli ‘conveyor belt justice system’ at work in Ofer.
Adeeb abu Rahma is a taxi driver and father of nine from the village of Bi’ilin. On 9 July 2010 he was found guilty of incitement of violence against Israeli security forces due to his participation with the Popular Struggle committee against the wall in Bi’ilin . On the day of his sentence, abu Rahma had been in jail for exactly one year. Adeeb was sentenced to one year by the court. If the military court system worked according to legal precedent , Adeeb would have been released the same day as his verdict. However, the army appealed the decision in an attempt to keep him in jail for as well as possible.
The appeal hearing began with legal adv. Gabi Lasky attacking the court for using a bizarre understanding of the law which in reality had nothing to do with the legal system but was rather an instrument of occupation. During the course of four hours, Lasky systematicaly showed how the court allowed impermissible evidence in the conviction of abu Ramha (such as testimony gleaned from children held in horrible conditions in Israeli jails. See Amira Hess’s excellent report from yesterday’s Haaretz) and ignored previous court percents as well as soldier testimonies. The judge was dismissive of most claims brought up by Lasky and acted unsurprised when the military persecutors were unable to respond directly to claims of misconduct in the proceedings.
After the five hour hearing, the feeling among the defense lawyers was the abu Ramha would be charged with a sentence of fourteen months and released so that the army would maintain a semblance of fairness to the law. Nothing will be read about this trial in the mainstream media. Outside a few ‘activist’ websites, little will be discussed about how the Israeli occupation legal system just crushed another possible Palestinian Gandhi.
Violence in al-Walaja as the Weekly Protest Against the Wall Grows
Aug 14th
Israeli violence is growing in al-Walaja as the village continues to grow its resistance to the building of the Separation Wall on its land. Yesterday, Israeli forces attacked non-violent demonstrators with stones, sound bombs and tear gas. Two Palestinians were arrested violently and the protest was repressed with unnecessary violence. The following video captures the demo better than words.
Mazin Qumsiyeh PhD witnessed the events and wrote the following report of the demo:
On the first Friday of Ramadan, thousands of Palestinians tried to reach the Haram Al-Sharif in Jerusalem for prayers in Al-Aqsa mosque. But only some men above 50 and some women above 45 year old were allowed to enter through the checkpoints in the apartheid wall. Some of those left behind participated in demonstrations. Al-Walaja demonstration was particularly inspiring and faced the might of the apartheid system. The Apartheid wall here is being built to surround Al-Walaja on all sides. We marched from the mosque towards the village entrance and along the main road; here the wall facing Al-Walaja village is ugly concrete and the side of it facing the illegal colony of HarGilo is decorated with Jerusalem stone. We stopped at the village entrance as planned, beat drums and chanted things like “1234 Occupation no more… 5678 stop the stealing stop the hate”, several military and police vehicles and dozens of heavily armed apartheid warriers prepared to attack us. Ali chanted in Arabic, I spoke in English, and then Ali spoke in Hebrew. We addressed the gathering and the soldiers telling them this was a peaceful demonstration against land confiscation. We explained that this village lost 80% of its land in 1948 and is now about to lose the rest. The officers came and gave us five minutes to disperse but then started attacking us within five seconds with stun grenades and tear gas. They arrested Ali Al-Aaraj and then they ran into the nearby house and arrested his cousin Ma’moun (who was not participating in the demonstration) . Some colonial racist settlers showed up with an Israeli flag and waved uit and cheered their storm troops on. They also violently attacked people injuring several (I personally saw them toss a man down against a concrete wall injuring him in the leg). Those abducted were released a few hours later thanks to good legal support.
Would Israelis like things to be better?
Sep 1st
Posted by Joseph Dana in Villages
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Solidarity action with imprisoned Palestinian prisoners, Jerusalem 31.8.10
Based on the past months of popular struggle in the West Bank which have included countless demonstrations, arrests, house raids, injuries and trips to the military courts, I find myself asking whether Israelis would like things to be better. The question is simple enough: do people here want to create a change so that the political situation will become less tense and perhaps everyone will have a brighter future of coexistence and cohabitation? On the eve of another round of ‘mirage’ peace talks, it is hard to find elements in Israeli society that feel the pressing need to change the reality of relations vis a vie Palestinian neighbors. The left is small and effectively meaningless compared with the majority of centrist Israelis who have become accustomed to the status quo concerning the occupation and Israel’s position in the world.
The sad reality is that the occupation and its horrific maintenance exists far in the back of Israeli minds. The issues barely enter daily conversation in Israel. Real debate only gets going in Israel after events like last night or the flotilla. This is usually a defensive conversation surrounding on the fear complex which this country lives on. While Israelis have little or no debate, the rest of the world is moving forward with creative ways to attack Israeli militarism against the Palestinians. The growing popularity of BDS around the world is an example of the sea change currently underway. In fact, BDS is almost unheard of in mainstream Israeli society. The reason for this is simple, awareness brings responsibility. With change also comes responsibility and this requires the embrace of reality. The sad fact is that many in Israel prefer the status quo of continued occupation, occasional attacks on Israeli civilians and the repression of an entire people to the prospect of embracing reality. The following book by Israeli socialist Akiva Orr explores the historical foundations of the trends I am touching on here.
The current round of peace talks will have difficulty getting anywhere because Israelis do not want change. Part of the success of the Separation wall for Israeli society is that it has enabled the status quo to become entrenched. If Israel makes its own borders and builds a wall, the majority of people have little reason to embrace the reality of the occupation or the effects of the wall itself. In a way, it is the most profound manifestation of the Liberal Zionist call for a ethnically pure ‘Jewish and Democratic’ state. Israeli professor Gadi Taub in recent New York Times op-ed perfectly falls in line with this Liberal Zionist rationale as he argues to save Zionism. His simple refusal to understand the core ‘settler colonial’ component of political Zionism is yet another profound example of the unwillingness of Israelis to embrace reality and thus unwilling to make change. It is clear that Israelis do not want change because no one here is willing to take responsibility for our mistakes. Instead we prefer to hid behid our persecution complex and educate our children that the entire world hates us.