commentary from Israel & the West Bank
Posts tagged occupation
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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Under cover of darkness, Ta’ayush activists expose the stealing of Palestinian land (UPDATE)
Aug 25th
Ta’ayush activists have uncovered information that the Southern West Bank settlement of Susya is illegal stealing Palestinian land to increase the production of their Carmel Wine. Last week, under cover of darkness, a group of Jerusalem activists went to explore the vineyards. What they found was that many settlers are in fact stealing land in order to produce wine. This is nothing new however it is important to keep pressure on the settler groups through the dissemination of video and press about their illegal actions. Below is a video of their journey from Jerusalem. While the video is not full of the same type of action as the Friday demonstration videos, it is amazing to see how much work Israel in the middle of the night. Most of the illegal settlement construction, the stealing of land and the creation of the Separation Wall happens in the darkness. What does this country have to hid?
Carmel Wines has responded in an email to Ta’ayush activists:
Thank you for seeking clarification.
1. It is and was our policy that no grapes from over the green line/ West Bank, are used in Yatir or Carmel wines.
2. No grapes from over the green line will appear in Yatir or Carmel wines, now or in the future.
3. There is an internal investigation concerning this particular issue, but even before any conclusions, I can confirm the above two points still apply, now more than ever.
On a point of correction: Harvesting of grapes for wine often takes place at night. Also, Carmel produces 15 million bottles a year and does not seek to increase production.
Regards,
Adam Montefiore
אדם ס. מונטיפיורי
מנהל המחלקה המקצועית ליין
Adam S. Montefiore
Wine Development Director
Tel +972 3–9488806 טל
Mobile +972 54–6458851 נייד
Fax +972 3–9663129 פקס
adam@carmelwines.co.i
A village in the South Hebron Hills finally gets connected to the electricity grid after nine years
Aug 24th
The Israeli government is actively depriving villages throughout the South West Bank of basic services such as water, electricity and gas. The IDF believes that this deprivation will lead to villagers abandoning their villages and moving to major population centers. Of course, the abandoned village land is taken over by settlements and becomes another piece of the Israeli occupation puzzle. Samuel Nicholas, an American activist with the Christian Peacemakers Team, has been living in the small village of At-Tuwani for the past two years. He has an interesting piece today on Electronic Intifada where he describes the village’s battle for electricity and their seeming victory.
The West Bank village of al-Tuwani, after nine years of actively fighting and lobbying, has been connected to the Palestinian electrical grid. The al-Tuwani Village Council originally petitioned the Israeli District Coordinating Office (DCO), responsible for the coordination of civilian affairs in the occupied territories, for access to electricity in 2001. After facing nearly a decade of non-responses, delays, requests for additional paperwork, confiscations and demolitions, the village of al-Tuwani has successfully obtained electricity.
The State of Israel has categorically denied the Palestinians of the South Hebron Hills where al-Tuwani is located all of the amenities which are automatically granted to Jewish settlements and outposts. The nearby settlement, Maon, and outpost, Havat Maon, have had an array of services since their inception. Havat Maon is home to convicted murderers affiliated with the Kach party, including Yehoshafat Tor, who was involved in a plot to blow up an Arab girls school in Jerusalem in 2002. In an interview with the American Public Broadcasting Service, Tor had this to say about the place of Arabs according to his understanding of the Torah and the Jewish tradition: “We are following our hearts. What we should be doing is all written in the Bible. We just read it in our weekly Torah portion: expel the Arabs. Kick them out!” (“Israel’s Next War,” Frontline, Public Broadcasting Service, 5 April 2005).
Yehoshafat Tor and his kin have access to these amenities while Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills are forced to truck in water, heat water with donated solar panels, burn their trash, dig cesspools, and rely on rainwater to nourish their crops. Remarkably, Israeli policies in Palestinian communities in Area C, including those communities in the South Hebron Hills, appear to have a similar motivation as the aforementioned Zionist settlers — that is, to expel the Arabs.
How long the electricity will be allowed to stay on is a big question. But it seems as though the small village of at Tuwani, without internationally watched protests, has won a major battle against the mechanisms of Israeli occupation.
A Demonstration Marking 43 Years of Occupation in the West Bank
Jun 5th
One hundred and fifty Israelis joined about a thousand Palestinian demonstrators to commemorate 43 years of occupation in New Beit Nuba Friday. Coordinated by the popular committees in the West Bank and the Coalition against the Occupation the demonstration focused on the right of return of the those internally displaced Palestinians from the villages of Yalu, Amuas and Beit Nuba, which were demolished to the ground by Israel in 1967, and on the demand to open the Apartheid Road 443 for Palestinians.
Following the noon prayer the demonstration marched towards the fence which separates New Beit Nuba from the lands of the demolished villages, on top of which now lay the illegal settlement of Mavo Horon and the Canada Park. Amongst the demonstrators was also MK Hanin Zoabi, who has just returned from the Free Gaza Flotilla. Once demonstrators reached the first fence, that protects the Separation Fence itself, they started decorating it with Palestinian flags, and chanted slogans against the fence and for the founding of true peace.
Several minutes later some demonstrators managed to break the gate in the fence and approach the Apartheid Fence itself, decorating it too with flags. At this point the twenty or so soldiers present attacked the demonstration with repeated rounds of tear gas. The greater part of the demonstration retreated, and few stayed an hour longer for a game of catch with stones and gas.
In the morning the Israeli Army detained several cars for half an hour at the entrance from 443 to Hirebta, when we were on the way to new Beit Nuba. The soldiers took IDs and took face photos, one by one, with an Apple IPhone. They probably also took pictures of the number of the vehicles. The soldiers warned us that we were allegedly doing something illegal by crossing the barrier, and warned us that we should not enter. There was also a sign there that says: “Israeli? You got here by mistake? Go back!” or something like that if I’m not mistaken, it is some sign to warn every Israeli to go back.
On the way back from the demo in the afternoon, those who did not continue to Jerusalem and returned to Tel Aviv saw that the barrier we came from was blocked, So we returned to Tel Aviv through the Ni’lin checkpoint. The soldiers detained us at Ni’lin after a car drove fast threw the checkpoint and refused to stop, apparently a settler who did not understand why the soldiers suddenly stop vehicles there. My car was followed and stopped by the soldiers. I told the soldier that we are stopping, not like that one. The soldier immediately asked: “Are you on our side or their side?” Apartheid law clearly.
I tried to explain to the soldier that we came from the settlement of Nili and visited friends there, but the soldier asked about the shirt I was wearing, a Flotilla solidarity shirt. The soldiers decided to detain my car and another vehicle at the checkpoint. The soldier who asked earlier “Are you on our side or their side?” insisted to question us about our political views, our opinions, and he asked in particular if we are for or against the rally. I told the soldier about visiting friends in the settlement of Nili and that we never heard of any demonstration. I tried to explain that all other day I pass through checkpoints and had never been stopped. He asked again about the shirt, so I told him it was from Tel-Aviv.
The soldier insisted that he suspected we were all in the demonstration areas and tried to get a confession out of us: “I just want to you tell me where you were? If you protested, say it, that’s all.” The soldier hinted that if we face it, he would free us. My car had another activist with a shirt: “Want peace? Stop supporting the Army Now!” the activist said to the soldier that he had no authority to detain us. One of the soldiers insisted that they have all the authority to hold us up and that they have much and many more power. The soldier said he had all the power here to do what he wants.
Things began to look grim, and it seemed like the soldiers were looking for an excuse to raise the level of violence with the activist detainees. The soldiers consulted among themselves and it seemed like they haven’t decided what to do with us. They did not say how long they will detain us, and I think they were looking for an excuse to take us aside and beat us up or something. When we saw the soldiers were not going to let us go, I told the officer that I work for the ministry of education in the Israeli court and also for an Attorneys office – and I demanded him to call police to handle us. The soldier did not answer, so I asked several times what about calling the police? The soldier ignored me and talked on the phone, so I asked him again: “Are you speaking with the police on the phone right now?” He said no, so I told him we are the ones who are going to call the police! Shortly after that the soldiers decided to release our car and another vehicle that they inhibited.
This non important little incident shows again that the fascist soldiers and police officers arrest people by the shirts they wear, according to their opinions, according to which side they are on, while trying to intimidate and deter anyone who has a different opinion. The deterrence in Israel is not for preventing the expression of opinions, but also by trying to prevent people from having a different belief. The violence today is terrible and I’m sure it will increase much more.
Palestinians out, Jews in
Aug 3rd
After receiving eviction notices last May, three Palestinian families constituting 53 people, including 20 children, were forcibly removed from their homes under High Court order at dawn on Sunday August 2. The Hanouns, the Rawis and the al-Ghawis, all families who fled their homes in West Jerusalem and became refugees during the 1948 War, have been living in their houses since 1956, when Jordan reached an agreement with UNRWA to resettle them.
They are now living on the streets, homeless. Just a week ago they were living inside their home and now there are Jewish settlers inside, exhibiting not the least bit of remorse for the homeless family just outside. The Hanoun family’s furniture was seized by Israeli forces and they are now responsible for paying the storage and mover fees. Meanwhile, the Jewish settlers are living with round-the-clock security, not allowing anyone near. At one house, the police actually had the nerve to tell us not to film too close, as we should respect the privacy of the new residents.
This is just one of several plans by various real estate groups such as Nahalat Shimon International and American businessmen such as Irving Moskowitz, to populate the areas surrounding the Old City with Jewish strongholds that sever Palestinian territorial contiguity in East Jerusalem. This prejudices any final resolution in which East Jerusalem would be the Palestinian capital. It is also in clear breach of Israel’s commitment under the Road Map. But these operations are backed by the Israel Lands Administration, the Jerusalem Municipality and the Israeli government, who are all working together to undermine any possibility for a two-state solution and are blatantly infringing on the basic human rights of the residents of what they deem to be the “united Jerusalem.”
Would Israelis like things to be better?
Sep 1st
Posted by Joseph Dana in Villages
No comments
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.