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

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

Video from Shiekh Jarrah by Yisrael Puternam

Video and report from Nil’in and Nabi Salih will be posted in next days as I am editing the footage now.

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.

We stood with the signs for two or three minutes and then the commander of the police announced sharply – even violently, I would say – he said: ‘You have two minutes to disperse.’ I think that even before those two minutes were up, they began pushing us away from there, shoving, knocking people over with unreasonable force. The people here did not come to create a confrontation, they came to express solidarity, to make their cry heard. The police lost its head, behaved in a way that actually proves a lack of confidence, an inability to control itself and the situation. Four of our people were arrested, four people who didn’t come here to get arrested, didn’t make any provocation and certainly not one that justifies arrest. Of course, all of us here protest that.

I’ll finish by saying that I wish that next week, there will be many many more people here. People who perhaps don’t understand [stops because of applause] that lack of action, indifference, and maybe fear and convenience, are allowing our future to be stolen away from us. They are stealing the country we want to live in, stealing every chance that we will ever have peace based on equality and mutual respect with our neighbours. Making any peace agreement almost impossible because of the places where the settlements are snaking in, taking root, which really make any future agreement almost impossible, and certainly make the peace that will be attained much more fragile. We have what to fight for and what to struggle for. [People] have to understand this and come here, because here is the place, more than any other place today, in protesting and confronting the source of the occupation, where you can identify with motives and with a just cause that can hardly be questioned. You have to be totally blind to not see what is happening here, and through that, perhaps, understand what is happening in all the areas of the occupation, and what is happening in all areas of our lives in Israel. Thank you, and Shabbat Shalom.”

Noam Sheizaf has more commentary on the days events on his blog.

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.

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.

Bil’in

Throughout the march and cheers the protesters were exposed to the traditional response of the Israeli military that included the use of rubber bullets. Two children were shot during the rally and sustained minor injuries. IDF forces made an active effort to detain one of the groups leaders in an effort to prevent media exposure of the event. Protests and reciprocating efforts have been seen in many cities and have even resulted in the death of Tristen Andersen, an American protester in support of the Palestinian people, who was shot in the head by Israeli forces who opened fire with rubber bullets at a similar protest in the town of Nilin. However, attempts to silence the cries for the basic human rights and respect for international laws were, and will continue to be, a moot exercise.

As Friday prayer let out from the mosque in the town of Bilin the wide array of international visitors were joined by the local Palestinian community for the weekly protest to the wall that had been erected by the Israeli occupying forces. Around 12:30 the crowd began their march and chants to the end of the town towards the IDF forces. It was quickly discovered that several soldiers were hiding within a small stone structure on the Palestinian side of the fence, intent on arresting some of the dissidents who continue to have the audacity to object to the theft of their land by the Israeli military. Having been found by a group of teenagers the soldiers were quickly chased back behind the fence.

Despite the almost immediate release of tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets the march continued to the end of the wall where protesters continued to stand strong despite the choking gas that was rapidly consuming the area. All the while chants for Palestinian freedom and the end of the apartheid state of affairs rang through the crowd as the protesters—including Palestinians, Israelis, and other international supporters—got a good look at the current, contentions relationship. A long standing affair that will continue to see the local community and its international supporters stand together in the pursuit of freedom and equality.

Nabi Saleh

The soldiers came early to Nabi Saleh this week. They came early and eager to fight – as if the shooting of fourteen year old Ehab Barghouthi last week only spurred them to be more aggressive this time. At noon, maybe slightly before, they came unprovoked to the street and took positions in it as if it was theirs to own. When villagers of the tiny hilltop community marched down the street from the mosque, accompanied by their Israeli and international supporters, the junction connecting the two main roads of Nabi Saleh was already occupied by dozens of soldiers.

A tempest of tear-gas and rubber-coated bullets took over the village as soldiers shot over sixty tear-gas canisters at once towards the demonstrators minutes after they started to march. When protesters regrouped, still inside the village, the same happened again.

Protest in the village was ignited about three months ago after settlers from the adjacent Jewish-only settlement of Halamish, abided by the Army, forcefully took over a natural spring belonging to residents of Nabi Saleh. Demonstrators eventually managed to march away from the village’s center in two main groups – one heading to the spring from the hill on the West, and the other through the valley on the south. Both groups were met by Border Police officers who barraged them with mass amounts tear-gas and rubber-coated bullets.

The thick clouds of teargas that filled the valley effectively prevented the group that struggled to cross to the spring through it from succeeding. However, the clashes that ensued near the valley between local youth and the Army served as cover for the group marching from the hills, which managed to reach another of the village’s springs, only to find settlers swimming in it. Soldiers who eventually got to the group politely ordered the settlers to leave, while attacking the demonstrators with tear-gas in order to push them back to the village.

A few hours after the demonstration had started, both groups regrouped at the village, where Border Police officers shot at demonstrators from behind the stone terraces that crosshatch the fields between the village and the settlement. As the hours progressed the Army slowly retreated towards the permanent military post at the entrance to the village, where clashes continued. At dark, when clashed finally ended, more than 25 injured protesters were counted, all of them from rubber-coated bullets.

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.

A couple of hours later, things start happening. The police and border police, decked out in head to foot waterproof jumpsuits, gather by the entrance to Simon the Righteous’ Tomb. Around 1 pm they set up three checkpoints along the street: one at the entrance, one just before the turnoff to the tomb, and the last one at the end of the street, by the olive grove. Non-residents (which seems to translates as people who don’t look visibly like religious Jews) are prevented from entering. The horrid weather continues, hours of rain followed by hail yielding to a moment of sun and then more fat, heavy, contemplative rain.
Wandering back out of the tent, I hear the drums and head out to the protest.

This week they have built papier mache dolls with signs like “Apartheid is here” and “Jerusalem will not be Hebron”. The dolls, many human size are protected by the remaining unbroken umbrellas. The feeling is carnivalesque, the drummers are pumped, and the police are in a circle across the street, surely cursing us for making them spend their Friday afternoon in the rain. The chants get louder and the rain harder. We are no more than 70 or 80 people, the square more than half empty. But the act itself is impressive; surely Friday afternoon in the worst storm of the year should be spent at home? Apparently not. Sahar thinks up: “With a coat and umbrella, we won’t stand for discrimination” (it rhymes in Hebrew, trust me on this one). I am recruited to help pass out flyers listing the violations of international law committed by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. Within minutes the stack is soaked, breaking apart and running ink.

A representative of J-Street (“pro-Israel and pro-peace”) is there. He wants to present the protesters with a list of signatures from their supporters in solidarity with our struggle in Sheikh Jarrah. His megaphone hardly works, the hail has returned, the umbrella being held over him is flopping wildly; we are all being soaked, and he continues with his prepared speech. At the end, he opens a scroll of some several thousand signatures, and someone pulls the other end, backing up. It is almost as long as the crowd trying to listen. The drummers return to action, the adrenaline flows, and the chanting becomes frantic, preposterous, joyful, wet. At some point “Whoever doesn’t jump is a policeman” gets going, and not a soul there can keep from smiling, let alone jumping.

After a relatively short time, we head home, people yelling out the number of seats left in their cars and where they are going. It is impossible after a protest like this to discount the importance of peaceful protest and opposition, if for no other reason than the very energy in moments like this one. It is hard for me to see how this kind of commitment can lose.

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.

A week after the arrest of high profile non violent protesters in the weekly Sheikh Jarrah protest, the remnants of the Israeli left joined the Friday afternoon display of direct action. Amongst the protesters on Friday were leftist leaders such as Hadash chairman MK Mohammed Barakeh, former Meretz chairman Yossi Sarid and former MK Avraham Burg.
Below is a video of the event from Yisrael Putermam, who is doing excellent work documenting the weekly events of direct action protest throughout Israel and the West Bank.

The Israeli news outlet Yediot Aharonot published various updates about the events in Sheikh Jarrah as they happened yesterday. Efrat Weiss, a staff reporter, wrote that protesters tried to break into “Jewish” homes in Sheikh Jarrah. Based on the video above does this look like what happen? Why are these people allowed to be employed as journalists? I am left asking these questions all too often. A shame.

Below is a report from one of the activists that attended the protest:

In Sheikh Jarrah this week the demonstration was even bigger than those of previous weeks. 350 demonstrators, amongst them former minister and Knesset Chair Avraham Burg, former minister Yossi Sarid, MK Muhamad Barak’e and former MK Uri Avneri, gathered in a park near the neighborhood to protest the racist evictions taking place there in spite of intensifying police oppression of the struggle (see last week’s report). Two demonstrators offered the police officer in charge, Avi Cohen, a big bouquet of flowers, thanking him for helping the struggle gain nationwide attention by arresting about 20 activists every week. Cohen refused to accept the flowers and they were left at his feet.

After about an hour of demonstrating in a tense atmosphere, demonstrators started marching towards the neighborhood. Border and Riot policemen stopped the march, while still allowing settlers and visitors of the Shimon Hat’sadik Tomb through. After a quarter of an hour police attacked the demonstration, arresting about 15 people and beating on others. The demonstration continued for another two and half hours, with police occasionally beating people and shoving them back, but attempting to avoid too many more arrests. The day ended with 22 arrested.

Sheikh Jarrah 22/1/2010

During the demonstration it became apparent that settlers were attacking Palestinians inside the neighborhood, and two residents required medial care. At the same time police raided Palestinian homes and arrested people who participated in the demonstration and then went home. The demonstrators’ protests outside against the police’s siding with the violent settlers were met with yet more police brutality.

AFP article can be found here as well as an article in the Independent.