commentary from Israel & the West Bank
Villages
The Weekly Non Violent Protests Across the West Bank 28-5-2010
May 29th
In Nabi Salah, soldiers entered the village before the demonstration started. following this, confrontations ensued between the village youth and soldiers and border police officers that lasted till eight in the evening. the border police flooded the village streets with tear gas fired by a jeep-top launcher. two youths were injured, one was hit by a tear gas canister. both were evacuated to hospital.
The weekly demonstration in Ni’lin marked two years to the start of the village’s struggle against the theft of its land by the wall. the protesters marched carrying banners commemorating the five protesters killed by the army in the last two years, and the village’s prisoners who are incarcerated by israel for their participation in the demonstrations. the protest march reached the wall, and protested for a few minutes by the closed steel gate. Tear gas fired by the army forced the protesters to move along the route of the wall, where some of them threw stones at the soldiers. The protest ended within a couple of hours with no injuries recorded.
Al Ma’asara
“If you want to see the human rights violations in Palestine, you can come and see it…”
Sheikh Jarrah
The Israeli government has announced eviction orders for two more families in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah. They have 45 days to leave their house and make way for more Jewish settlers. Haaretz broke the story yesterday.
New Video of the Police Brutality in Sheikh Jarrah 14 May 2010
May 17th
Police brutality was used against protestors at SJ on May 14th 2010, Unnecessary force was exceeded to accomplish an unlawful political decission, by preventing entry to the area of the confiscated homes of the palestinian families. 14 arrested and brought to court after 32 hours, at the next night. Four were wounded with broken bones.
UPDATE:
The aftermath on Saturday Night
A Sheikh Jarrah Activist Speaks Truth to Power with Avi Cohen
May 16th
Below is an account of a conversation between an active Sheikh Jarrah activist and Avi Cohen, the head of the Shalem Police located in East Jerusalem. The conversation touches on many recent issues in Sheikh Jarrah including the police decision to serve the settlers on Jerusalem Day by allowing them to march in Sheikh Jarrah… something they have never let left demonstrations do:
On Saturday I went to a Nakba demo in East Jerusalem organized by Balad. The march started at the American Embassy and continued to SJ. When I arrived, Avi Cohen the head of the Shalem Police Station (located in East Jerusalem) called me and said “ ***, I arrest you and you shout insults at me in demonstrations, but thats no reason to not say good-morning”. I said good morning and was hoping to escape this event when he continued to ask me why the people who were arrested at SJ on Friday did not sign an agreement to stay away from SJ for two weeks and went home. I told him that its against our moral outlook and that we make decisions looking at the bigger picture. I told him that by allowing settlers to “celebrate” Jerusalem day in SJ (where we were never allowed to demonstrate), it has become obvious that the police is serving the settlers, and is selective and operating out of racist ideology in how they enforce the law. At this point I left and joined the demo.
Avi Cohen (Bald) Refusing Flowers from a SJ Protester
Latter when we arrived to the SJ garden (where we hold our weekly protests) I set aside with Salah. Avi Cohen came into the area and asked me why we don’t organize demo’s like the one we were present at, “peaceful and organized with people who monitor and make sure that things don’t get out of hand. You are a citizen, why don’t you respect the law?” I replied by saying that the laws that he protects are racist, and that he protects an apartheid system. That even with laws that are not discriminative, he makes the choices on how to enforce them, which is why so many Palestinian and Leftists are arrested while almost none of the settlers are ever detained although they break the law daily. He said that that is not true and invited me to come to his office at the police station and talk. I informed him that we are not friends, and that im not going to come and talk to him. He answered that we don’t need to be friends in order to sit down and talk to one another. At this point many Palestinians who noticed the event came and started shouting at him accusing him (rightly) of trying to make me into collaborator.
If someone was to come and tell me a couple of months ago that Avi Cohen would one day come and invite me to his office to talk, I would have started laughing. Cohen a couple of months ago was heard saying that “SJ will not become Bilin” and enforced a very violent rules and tactics against us. He can be heard in a video after a recent demo saying “ I want arrests! They fucked us over!”. This change of attitude I cannot explain.
Demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah, 26/3/2010
The Struggle in Sheikh Jarrah Continues
May 15th
Yesterday, Jerusalem Police arrested fourteen protesters during the weekly protest in the contested East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Over 350 Israeli protesters gathered for the weekly event that has been taking place since last summer. In recent months, the protest has been quiet in terms of arrests and many “celebrities” of the Israeli left have been paying visits of support including the author David Grossman, former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg and other intellectuals. Hopefully yesterday’s action will give the struggle in Sheikh Jarrah renewed life and the protests will once again occupy space in the Friday headlines.
David Grossman in Sheikh Jarrah: “You have to be totally blind to not see what is happening here”
Apr 10th
David Grossman addressed the protest in Sheikh Jarrah with an impassioned speech about the importance of the ongoing protests in the neighborhood. Below is video of the speech and protest.
The good people at Just Jerusalem have posted an English translation of Grossman’s speech. Here it is:
“[...] what took place during the last few hours. We came in advance, a group of people, and visited one of the homes here in Sheikh Jarrah… at 1 P.M. The owner told us about the long history of abuse by the settlers, the police, and the army that has been going on for years, about how they are being effectively forced out, about how their lives are being made intolerable day and night, that they are being told how to live, harrassed incessantly, violently attacked. Then we went out, the same group, about 30 people, and stood quietly with signs protesting what is happening in Sheikh Jarrah, condemning the persistent, planned takeover of this place and other places by settlers, by right-wing elements. After all, what’s happening here is only the tip of the iceberg. It’s only one example of what has been happening in the Occupied Territories for more than 40 years. I think that we are all beginning to grasp – even those who maybe don’t really want to – how 43 years ago, by turning a blind eye, by actively or passively cooperating, we actually cultivated a kind of carnivorous plant that is slowly devouring us, consuming every good part within us, making the country we live in a place that is not good to live in. Not good not only if you are an Arab citizen of Israel, and certainly if you are a Palestinian resident of the Territories – not good also for every Jewish Israeli person who wants to live here, who cherishes some hope to be in a place where humans are respected as humans, where your rights are treated as a given, where humanity, morality,and civil rights are not dirty words, not something from the bleeding-heart Left. No. These are the bread and water, the butter and milk of our lives, the stuff from which we will make our lives, and really make them lives worth living here.
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Ta’ayush in Sheikh Jarrah
Mar 27th
The weekly protest continues in Sheikh Jarrah. Video report from yesterday’s action:
In other news, Haaretz is reporting that the Jerusalem Police force have arrested Michael Solsberry for his role in planning the Sheikh Jarrah protests. This is a significant escalation which could have profound ramifications for the Israeli direct action left. We have seen the efforts of intimidation before with the ongoing harassment of Ezra Nawi. Time will tell in terms of the case against Michael Solsberry.
News from the Weekly Protests throughout the West Bank/Jerusalem
Mar 16th
Sheikh Jarrah
Around 200 protestors marched from Hamashbir square, without letting offensive and fascist remarks from passersby to interrupt them along the way. 50 others joined them when they got to Sheikh Jarrah. High presence of Yassam (Police Special Patrol Unit) in the area was noted. The protestors tried to make their way to the house of one of the evicted families, where they intended to hold a protest vigil. They were blocked by police-officers that decreed the protest illegal. After several minutes of negotiation, the officers, breaking supreme and district court rulings, started to forcefully shove the protestors to the other side of the road, arresting two of them in the process. Moving the demonstration to the garden didn’t suffice to the police officers, and they maintained their violent attacks on the protestors. Later on, small groups of demonstrators that made their way back to the family house, also were brutally dispersed, some of their members arrested, as well. In total, 11 activists were illegally arrested during the demonstration. After a few hours, all of them were released, after signing a restraining order for 15 days from the neighbourhood, which is currently under discussion in the district court.
Meanwhile in the neighbourhood, after the demonstration dispersed, settlers violently assaulted the Palestinian dwellers and Israeli activists that remained in place. The settlers threw stones at people and cars, some of which were damaged. Needless to say that none of them was detained or arrested.
Nil’in
Hundreds of people from the town and surrounding villages of Ni’lin gathered on the threatened land, where they affirmed the need to resist the aggressive policies of occupation. Villagers were accompanied by their animals, a symbol of their age old connection with the land that they have farmed for generations. Images and posters of Tristan Anderson were prevalent, the American ISM activist now in a coma after being struck with a tear gas canister during a demonstration.
Nil’in resident Salah Amira and an unnamed Israeli activist were arrested during clashes that lasted late into the afternoon. Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd, but no serious injuries were reported.
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Report from Sheikh Jarrah in the Rain and Cold
Mar 1st
Written by a Ta’ayush activist about the events in Sheikh Jarrah last week.
Friday February 24 in Sheikh Jarrah
Even in the rain and cold, the residents of Sheikh Jarrah and their supporters won’t give up. I arrived in Sheikh Jarrah at 10 am, equipped with hummus and 4 layers of clothing, leaping over puddles in a failed attempt to keep my socks dry. I quicken my pace turning off of Nablus Road, glancing up at the occupied Hanoun home and continuing down the left fork towards the Ghawi and El-Kurd houses.
Empty. Deserted. No police, no settlers, no tent even. It reminds me of the times, it must be half a year ago by now, before the evictions, before the tents (except for Umm Kamel’s), before the gatherings on the sidewalk instead of in the houses, the protests, arrests, violence, the pray-offs, the new ‘neighbors’. They were tense times, but hopeful ones. Mostly international but also many Israeli activists committing themselves to be handcuffed to the gates of the houses in case of eviction, others to shield them from the police’s inevitable blows. This situation, with an eviction constantly possible, stood over the Ghawi and Hanoun families for months. Both moved their furniture out so as not to lose it to the eviction (as had happened to the Hanouns during their first eviction several years ago). It’s unclear which situation was tougher on them, this one or that one.
Back to February 2010, and once again there is no tent. What’s happened to it? I’ve been out of town for several weeks, but I’d become accustomed to the blue tent with the bearded Sheikh Nasser al Ghawi, several playing children, several cigarette smoking middle-aged Palestinians and an inviting fire. Surely torn down by the police for the umpteenth time. Later I find out the police in recent weeks have been tearing it down every morning at nine o’clock. For a while, Nasser would take it down every morning. Then they would arrive at all times of day and night and take it down. He gave up and moved into the tent in the El-Kurd house courtyard. I walk in there, leaping over a particularly vibrant flow of water down towards the olive grove at the end of the street. Peeking into the tent, I spot two sleeping international activists. Sitting in the tent, I can’t help but notice how uncomfortable is the settler knocking on the front door to the occupied section of the El-Kurd house. He calls frantically on his phone, knocks every 5 seconds, peeks through the window. “What do you know, they aren’t home. They’ve been evicted already, in case you hadn’t heard,” I can’t help but mutter.
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Let’s Not Forget About the Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah
Jan 29th
Let us not forget what Sheikh Jarrah is all about on this weekly day of protest. Sheikh Jarrah is about the families that live on the streets because of Israeli actions to take over their homes in favor of extremist settlers, backed by American money, that want to derail any possibility for peaceful reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians. Sheikh Jarrah is about Palestinians.
Yet, over the past months, Sheikh Jarrah has become a symbol of the (failing) Israeli democractic system. The growing police repression, the crackdown on leftist views, the double standards that plague Israeli society and the breakdown of communication between Israelis courts and police are all on full display in Sheikh Jarrah. Because of the waves of arrests and clearly misguided treatment of Israeli protesters at the hands of the Israeli police, the objectives of the Sheikh Jarrah protest have changed. The media has entered the picture, deciding to document the treatment of Israelis in Sheikh Jarrah. Last week, high profile public figures like Yossi Sarid joined the protest. Did he meet with the Palestinian families that are homeless? Did they write articles about the situation that these Palestinians are facing? The answer is not that clear. He wrote about Israelis. He wrote about Israeli democracy and about the state conduct regarding Israelis. This is an important issue in Israeli society and I am personally happy that the debate has reached such high levels in the media discourse. But I am scared that we have lost sight of the big picture in Sheikh Jarrah. We need to reformulate our approach in order to place the emphasis on the Palestinian narrative of this story. If in the process, the weakness of Israeli democracy is shown, then that is great. But this cannot be the main focus of the protest.
Every week, when Israeli citizens go out and express non-violent opposition to Israeli policies, whether in Sheikh Jarrah, the South Hebron Hills or Bil’in, the Israeli government should be privately thanking them. This is the only positive PR to come out of Israel from inside Israel. Every week that Israelis give up their weekend to sit in jail cells in order to make a point abouable to expose the double standard regarding how the rule of law is applied and the discriminatory, repressive, aggressive policies.
It is these Israelis who are taking responsibility for their country’s actions; these Israelis who are shaping future relations in the region between Israelis and Palestinians; these Israelis who demonstrate the true meaning of what it means to take active part in their future. Because of this we need to make sure that the Palestinian perspective and narrative is on center stage in Sheikh Jarrah and not necessarily the problematic of (failing) Israeli democracy. It is crucial that we do not get caught up in the media games and lose sight of the big picture in Sheikh Jarrah.
Hundreds March Through Silwan Against Israeli Settlement Activity in East Jerusalem
Jun 26th
Posted by Joseph Dana in Villages
3 comments
Hundreds of Israeli, Palestinians and international activists marched through the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on Friday afternoon protesting increased Israeli settlement activity in the disputed area. The march was peaceful with only small occurrences of Israeli settler rock throwing reported. However, the march saw the addition of many new Israeli activists who have deiced that the time to protest the dangerous policies of Israel’s government is now. The march was one of the largest Israeli protests against settlements in East Jerusalem in recent history. Video provided by Israel Putermam. Photos by Joseph Dana.
Palestinian Boy in Silwan on Fridayb