This week, the struggle of the Anarchists Against the Wall initiative was mainly in the "trinity" of Bil'in, Ni'ilin, and Ma'asara. About 60 were mobilized with us - mainly from the Tel Aviv region. The frustrated Palestinian official leadership contemplated in public the expansion of the Bili'n and Ni'ilin stile of nonviolent struggle as a third Intifada in the whole occupied west bank. It seems, the Israeli secrete services who were aware on the contemplation of this option, were desperate enough to try during the last few months - with out success, to stop the Bil'in example with their series of night arrests of the main activists of the popular comity of village. The other struggles - like the refusnic front and that of Sheikh Jarrah transfer were less prominent.
BIL'IN
This Friday too we persisted in the nearly five years long chain of struggle against the separation fence and occupation in Bil'in. At noon, about 100 of us - including 35 Israelis, and a dozen or so international activists, marched from the center of the village towards the gate to the route of the separation fence.
The usual chants along the march included the mentioning of local activists arrested during the last few months - including the one arrested the day before.
At the gate, as usual, the state force did not wait long before starting to shower us with tear gas grenades. Like usual, some of the grenades were returned to them to enable them to "enjoy" their own "medicine".
As the wind was making it hard to evade the tear gas, we left there earlier than usual. Part of us converged for a while to challenge the state force at a near by section of the separation fence, before we returned to the village.
JERUSALEM
Weekly Protest March from Zion Square to Sheikh Jarrah
Join a march from West to East Jerusalem in protest of the injustice committed against the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. The march will end in Sheikh Jarrah with a protest against the settler enterprise in the neighborhood.
The march will start at Zion Square at 13:30, Friday 20.11
Every Friday settlers gather in the neighborhood to pray and make their presence known. Such gatherings have often led to attacks on the evicted families.
This Friday they will be joined by members of the radical right wing movement "Im Tirtzu"
Come to raise awareness and protest the settlers' attempt to take over East Jerusalem!
For further information or transportation from Tel Aviv: Maya
MA'ASARA
Some fifty Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators marched Friday noon from the center of Ma'asara village towards the route of the apartheid fence that is to be built on village lands. Like every other Friday, demonstrators were stopped by Israeli soldiers and boarded policemen who laid barbed wire on the main road leading to the fence, forcefully preventing the procession from proceeding. When asked if their actions had any legal basis, soldiers refused to answer.
Protesters then delivered speeches in Arabic, English and Hebrew, and called upon the soldiers to leave their weapons and join the non-violent struggle for two independent states and against war crimes committed by Israel. Slogans were chanted, and the joint drum band, made out of Israeli Qasamba drummers and the village children, played and cheered the demonstrators up.
During the demonstration several children managed to go around the barbed wire, but were pushed back by the soldiers. Some of them then tried to pull away the barbed wire fence with improvised ropes that were then cut by the soldiers. The children, however, did not give up, and eventually succeeded in tearing the fence apart, forcing the soldiers to step up and physically push the demonstrators and threaten demonstrators with arrests.
The demonstration was over within fifteen minutes.
NI'ILIN
200 protestors – Palestinian, Israeli & International, gathered today in the village of Niilin for the weekly protest against the wall. The demonstrators marched from the village to the wall – which grew some 500 meters longer in the last week. Apparently, the military finds it too hard to cope with the village youth's decisiveness. The extended wall joined the two-weeks policy of shooting live ammunition at the demonstrators revived after a few calmer months. As the demonstration reached the gate in the wall, the demonstrators addressed the soldiers that crowded together from its other side and verbally protested the occupation and the wall. It wasn't long before the soldiers dispersed the group with tear gas, answered with stones from some of the youth. Shortly after, a first injury from the 0.22 ammunition was listed. The demonstration went on for hours, counting two medium & one light injuries. The long wall didn't stop the soldiers from invading the village. The skillful youth managed to avoid injuries for this part of the demonstration, and after chasing the retreating soldiers back to the wall, the demonstration was declared over.
Ni'ilin Friday 13-11-09 video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqwE63tJzQo
Ni'ilin Friday 20.11.09 video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hppUAOyOYnA
REFUSENICS
Second Prison Term for Conscientious Objector Or Ben-David
http://www.newprofile.org/english/?p=247
Dear Friends,
After completing her first prison term, Or Ben-David, http://www.newprofile.org/english/?p=231 of the 2009-2010 high school seniors letter of refusal, http://www.shministim.com/ was sentenced earlier today (16 Nov.) to 20 more days in the military prison for women (no. 400) in Tzrifin. This is her second term in prison and the third time she has been tried and sentenced for her refusal to enlist. She is due to be released from prison on 3 December and is likely to be imprisoned again soon afterwards. Her address in prison is:
Or Ben-David
Military ID 6054025
Military Prison No. 400
Military Postal Code 02447, IDF
Israel
Fax: ++972-3-9579389
Since the prison authorities often block mail from reaching imprisoned objectors, we also recommend you to send them your letters of support and encouragement via e-mail to shministim10@gmail.com, and they will be printed out and delivered during visits.
A brief update also on the case of Walaa Kassem Naffaa. http://www.newprofile.org/english/?p=240 Wallaa has been released from prison on 4 Nov. and has not come back for another round in prison yet, but is likely to be imprisoned for the third time in the coming weeks. Also, we have obtained more accurate details about his two prison terms to date, so a correction to previously published information is due: he was first sentenced to 14 days in prison on 1 Oct., and again to 10 days on 27 Oct.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Palestine-Israel, The ongoing joint struggles against the separation fence and occupation
The struggle continue against transfer/evictions in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem. The struggle of the new wave of refusnics continue with lower level of state repression than of the previous year - shorter arrest terms... Though only the on going Friday demonstrations of Bil'in, Ni'ilin, and Ma'asara, persist, we get more and more invitations - even if non joined lately the heroic three. (This week the Anarchists Against the Wall were invited to Al Gussoun north of Tul Karem and to Karyut. We were also invited to: "On Monday 9 November a hundred Palestinians waving Palestinian flags and wearing fluorescent jackets saying "WE ARE GOING TO JERUSALEM" took down a piece of the concrete wall near Kalandia's airport.) The number of people who join us increase.
DEIR AL-GUSSOUN
Anouncement during the week:
There will be a demonstration in Deir alGussoun north of Tul Karem this Saturday at 10:30.
The village is north of Tul Karem, and years ago, there have been a few demonstrations there, but nothing recently.
The wall in the area, which was built in 2003, creeps into the village's lands leaving about 2500 dunams of the village's 13,000 west of the wall (on the "Israeli" side).
Please let me know if you'd like to go.
Press release 14 November 2009 - 18 Demonstrators arrested after a Gate in the Wall was Breached in Deir alGhussoun
The protesters were arrested as the demonstration was coming to an end, by soldiers who invaded the village and flanked them from the back.
Eighteen demonstrators were arrested today in the West Bank village of Deir alGhussoun, north of Tul Karem, after Israel's Separation Wall was breached by Palestinian, Israeli and international protesters. The protesters intended to march to village's lands that were left isolated behind the Wall, and managed to break open one of the barrier's gates.
The demonstrators managed to break the lock on the gate by rocking it back and forth, despite the presence of soldiers, but could not reach their lands, as they were being shot at with rubber-coated bullets and teargas . One demonstrator was lightly injured after being struck with a rubber-coated bullet in the leg.
As the demonstration was coming to an end, a large group of soldiers surprised a group of the protesters by closing in on them from the direction of the village, and arrested eighteen of the village's youth.
Today's demonstration was the opening salvo for a public campaign by the Deir elGhussoun municipality and the affected farmers, which will accompany an appeal the Israeli High Court of Justice to remove the already-built wall from the village's land. The said appeal is expected to be filed in the near future.
The wall in the area of the village cuts deep into West Bank land, leaving about 2,500 dunams (620 acres) of the village's land west of the wall (on the "Israeli" side), effecting 120 land owners, dozens of which do not receive permits from the Israeli army to even minimally tend to their lands.
In an advisory opinion issued in July 2004, the International Court of Justice in the Hague has declared the path of Israel's wall in the West Bank illegal in its entirety, and ordered its removal. To date, Israel continues to disregard international law, and continues to build the wall and expand settlements.
For more details: Jonathan Pollak (Hebrew and English):
MEDIA with picture http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3805014,00.html
IDF says demonstrators arrested after damaging gate; protestors say 18 held for questioning. Six protestors were detained Saturday during a demonstration against the West Bank security fence in a village near Tulkarem.
Dozens of Palestinians, Israelis, and foreign activists protested against what they claim is land confiscation in favor of the security fence. They also lamented the absence of permits for farmers seeking to work their land.
ALT. MEDIA with pictures: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=239847
.... The protesters said they intended to march to lands that were left isolated behind the wall in Deir Al-Ghusun, northeast of Tulkarem, and managed to break open one of the barrier's gates before Israeli soldiers invaded the village.
One demonstrator was lightly injured after being struck with a rubber-coated bullet in the leg, onlookers said.
"Today's demonstration was the opening salvo for a public campaign by the Deir Al-Ghusun municipality and the affected farmers," said Anarchists Against the Wall, an Israeli group, in a statement. "As the demonstration was coming to an end, a large group of soldiers surprised a group of the protesters by closing in on them from the direction of the village, and arrested 18 of the village's youth."
--- snip ---
Jonathan Pollak, one of the group's founders, told Ma'an that 18 demonstrators were originally detained, but added he was looking into the possibility that some were later released.
BIL'IN
"This Friday in Bil'in - This week the Bil'in demonstration usual suspects were joined by the Palestinian People's party and the Israeli-mostly-Palestinian Democratic Front (Hadash), including three of its Knesset members.
While waiting for the Democratic Front buses crossing from the Israeli side, the local organizers, Palestinian and Israeli politicians and Israeli and international activists made assertive speeches mentioning Arafat's 5th memorial, Barake's recent indictment for allegedly assaulting a policeman in a Bil'in demo a few years back, and the boycott.
Speeches were held by members of the Popular Committee, members of Knesset, activists from Israeli group Shministim (Refusniks) and members of Irak Veterans against the War from the United States.
The large number of demonstrators - some 300 - must have stressed the soldiers, who used large amounts of gas. In one of the stampedes away from the gas an American demonstrator tripped and hurt his head, requiring medical attention and a few stitches. As often happens, the army fired the multi gas canister cannon after the demonstration had been declared over, and the protesters were on their way back to the village. All participants won free Berlin-Bil'in T-shirts".
Friday 13.11.09 Bil'in video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FbfMDrVIMM
JERUSALEM
Sheikh Jarrah - Another expression of solidarity on Friday 13/11 in Sheikh Jarrah
We will gather at Zion square at 15:30 and will walk together to Sheikh Jarrah to express our support for the residents of the neighborhood.
Another meeting point: the Museum on the Seam at 16:00.
The settlers who are living in the homes of the evicted families have begun to harass Palestinian families in the neighborhood that are now living in the street. They have begun to gather near the Palestinian families on Friday evenings, making noise and scaring the families. Our presence there last week was important to the families and because of it the police prevented the settlers from coming near the houses.
For more information- M
KALANDIA
Kalandia wall taken down on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLI-SE3nEio
MA'ASARA
Few dozen Palestinians, internationals and Israelis joined the weekly demonstration against the wall and occupation in Al-Ma'sara. The demo was held as usual in front of some Israeli military soldiers who blocked it from continuing towards the Palestinian lands beyond the wall's route. The Israeli soldiers kept children from pulling a barbed wire that was put there by the soldiers. During the demo protestors chanted slogans against the Israeli apartheid wall, occupation and land theft. Speeches were carried in Arabic and English, and in them were mentioned the 5 anniversary to Arafaat's death and the Israeli continued reluctance to end the occupation and achieve peace. One Palestinian woman has managed to cross between the soldiers and pass through carrying a Palestinian flag. The demo ended with a promise to continue the struggle and weekly demos.
NI'ILIN
In Ni'ilin, some 150 demonstrators gathered after the prayer and marched to the fence. The demonstration opened with 20 minutes of slogan chanting near the gate. Peculiarly enough, the army did not retaliate. Soon after, some of the village youth began throwing stones at the fortifications hiding the soldiers. For long minutes, the army chose again not to retaliate. As more stone throwers joined the field, little by little the soldiers started using tear gas. But still, much less than usual. Knowing that this relative calmness from the soldiers is usually but a preparation to some fierce surprise, the experienced youth were not tempted to take heavy risks. As the demonstration continued, the military violence gradually increased and rising amounts of tear gas flooded the fields. All of the sudden, the gas was joined by live ammunition shot at the demonstrators. Ever since June 5, 2009 – when Akil Sadek Srur was murdered by this gun in a Ni'ilin demonstration, the soldiers have hesitantly used this weapon – and the following demonstrations "only" counted few wounded from these bullets. Today, the careful approach proved itself, and despite the military's thirst for blood only two light injuries were listed. The demonstration did not die, and many soldiers invaded the fields forcing it closer to the village. Luckily enough, although the soldiers attempted to carry out arrests and shot dozens of live bullets, neither injuries nor arrests were made. After re-gathering on a hilltop, the demonstrators decided to end the weekly protest. In a media release – the army announced that due to the severe damage inflicted to the wall in the prior demonstration, the shortly illegal firing of live ammunition at unarmed demonstrators is now "legal" again.
REFUSNICS
friends and anti-military activists demonstrate in support of Or Ben-David, a conscious objector in Israel http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/11/18628349.php
DEIR AL-GUSSOUN
Anouncement during the week:
There will be a demonstration in Deir alGussoun north of Tul Karem this Saturday at 10:30.
The village is north of Tul Karem, and years ago, there have been a few demonstrations there, but nothing recently.
The wall in the area, which was built in 2003, creeps into the village's lands leaving about 2500 dunams of the village's 13,000 west of the wall (on the "Israeli" side).
Please let me know if you'd like to go.
Press release 14 November 2009 - 18 Demonstrators arrested after a Gate in the Wall was Breached in Deir alGhussoun
The protesters were arrested as the demonstration was coming to an end, by soldiers who invaded the village and flanked them from the back.
Eighteen demonstrators were arrested today in the West Bank village of Deir alGhussoun, north of Tul Karem, after Israel's Separation Wall was breached by Palestinian, Israeli and international protesters. The protesters intended to march to village's lands that were left isolated behind the Wall, and managed to break open one of the barrier's gates.
The demonstrators managed to break the lock on the gate by rocking it back and forth, despite the presence of soldiers, but could not reach their lands, as they were being shot at with rubber-coated bullets and teargas . One demonstrator was lightly injured after being struck with a rubber-coated bullet in the leg.
As the demonstration was coming to an end, a large group of soldiers surprised a group of the protesters by closing in on them from the direction of the village, and arrested eighteen of the village's youth.
Today's demonstration was the opening salvo for a public campaign by the Deir elGhussoun municipality and the affected farmers, which will accompany an appeal the Israeli High Court of Justice to remove the already-built wall from the village's land. The said appeal is expected to be filed in the near future.
The wall in the area of the village cuts deep into West Bank land, leaving about 2,500 dunams (620 acres) of the village's land west of the wall (on the "Israeli" side), effecting 120 land owners, dozens of which do not receive permits from the Israeli army to even minimally tend to their lands.
In an advisory opinion issued in July 2004, the International Court of Justice in the Hague has declared the path of Israel's wall in the West Bank illegal in its entirety, and ordered its removal. To date, Israel continues to disregard international law, and continues to build the wall and expand settlements.
For more details: Jonathan Pollak (Hebrew and English):
MEDIA with picture http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3805014,00.html
IDF says demonstrators arrested after damaging gate; protestors say 18 held for questioning. Six protestors were detained Saturday during a demonstration against the West Bank security fence in a village near Tulkarem.
Dozens of Palestinians, Israelis, and foreign activists protested against what they claim is land confiscation in favor of the security fence. They also lamented the absence of permits for farmers seeking to work their land.
ALT. MEDIA with pictures: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=239847
.... The protesters said they intended to march to lands that were left isolated behind the wall in Deir Al-Ghusun, northeast of Tulkarem, and managed to break open one of the barrier's gates before Israeli soldiers invaded the village.
One demonstrator was lightly injured after being struck with a rubber-coated bullet in the leg, onlookers said.
"Today's demonstration was the opening salvo for a public campaign by the Deir Al-Ghusun municipality and the affected farmers," said Anarchists Against the Wall, an Israeli group, in a statement. "As the demonstration was coming to an end, a large group of soldiers surprised a group of the protesters by closing in on them from the direction of the village, and arrested 18 of the village's youth."
--- snip ---
Jonathan Pollak, one of the group's founders, told Ma'an that 18 demonstrators were originally detained, but added he was looking into the possibility that some were later released.
BIL'IN
"This Friday in Bil'in - This week the Bil'in demonstration usual suspects were joined by the Palestinian People's party and the Israeli-mostly-Palestinian Democratic Front (Hadash), including three of its Knesset members.
While waiting for the Democratic Front buses crossing from the Israeli side, the local organizers, Palestinian and Israeli politicians and Israeli and international activists made assertive speeches mentioning Arafat's 5th memorial, Barake's recent indictment for allegedly assaulting a policeman in a Bil'in demo a few years back, and the boycott.
Speeches were held by members of the Popular Committee, members of Knesset, activists from Israeli group Shministim (Refusniks) and members of Irak Veterans against the War from the United States.
The large number of demonstrators - some 300 - must have stressed the soldiers, who used large amounts of gas. In one of the stampedes away from the gas an American demonstrator tripped and hurt his head, requiring medical attention and a few stitches. As often happens, the army fired the multi gas canister cannon after the demonstration had been declared over, and the protesters were on their way back to the village. All participants won free Berlin-Bil'in T-shirts".
Friday 13.11.09 Bil'in video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FbfMDrVIMM
JERUSALEM
Sheikh Jarrah - Another expression of solidarity on Friday 13/11 in Sheikh Jarrah
We will gather at Zion square at 15:30 and will walk together to Sheikh Jarrah to express our support for the residents of the neighborhood.
Another meeting point: the Museum on the Seam at 16:00.
The settlers who are living in the homes of the evicted families have begun to harass Palestinian families in the neighborhood that are now living in the street. They have begun to gather near the Palestinian families on Friday evenings, making noise and scaring the families. Our presence there last week was important to the families and because of it the police prevented the settlers from coming near the houses.
For more information- M
KALANDIA
Kalandia wall taken down on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLI-SE3nEio
MA'ASARA
Few dozen Palestinians, internationals and Israelis joined the weekly demonstration against the wall and occupation in Al-Ma'sara. The demo was held as usual in front of some Israeli military soldiers who blocked it from continuing towards the Palestinian lands beyond the wall's route. The Israeli soldiers kept children from pulling a barbed wire that was put there by the soldiers. During the demo protestors chanted slogans against the Israeli apartheid wall, occupation and land theft. Speeches were carried in Arabic and English, and in them were mentioned the 5 anniversary to Arafaat's death and the Israeli continued reluctance to end the occupation and achieve peace. One Palestinian woman has managed to cross between the soldiers and pass through carrying a Palestinian flag. The demo ended with a promise to continue the struggle and weekly demos.
NI'ILIN
In Ni'ilin, some 150 demonstrators gathered after the prayer and marched to the fence. The demonstration opened with 20 minutes of slogan chanting near the gate. Peculiarly enough, the army did not retaliate. Soon after, some of the village youth began throwing stones at the fortifications hiding the soldiers. For long minutes, the army chose again not to retaliate. As more stone throwers joined the field, little by little the soldiers started using tear gas. But still, much less than usual. Knowing that this relative calmness from the soldiers is usually but a preparation to some fierce surprise, the experienced youth were not tempted to take heavy risks. As the demonstration continued, the military violence gradually increased and rising amounts of tear gas flooded the fields. All of the sudden, the gas was joined by live ammunition shot at the demonstrators. Ever since June 5, 2009 – when Akil Sadek Srur was murdered by this gun in a Ni'ilin demonstration, the soldiers have hesitantly used this weapon – and the following demonstrations "only" counted few wounded from these bullets. Today, the careful approach proved itself, and despite the military's thirst for blood only two light injuries were listed. The demonstration did not die, and many soldiers invaded the fields forcing it closer to the village. Luckily enough, although the soldiers attempted to carry out arrests and shot dozens of live bullets, neither injuries nor arrests were made. After re-gathering on a hilltop, the demonstrators decided to end the weekly protest. In a media release – the army announced that due to the severe damage inflicted to the wall in the prior demonstration, the shortly illegal firing of live ammunition at unarmed demonstrators is now "legal" again.
REFUSNICS
friends and anti-military activists demonstrate in support of Or Ben-David, a conscious objector in Israel http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/11/18628349.php
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Palestine-Israel, Joint struggle in the period of the nearing storm
The political storm collect momentum. It is expressed in processes initiated by Goldston report, by the escalation of international boycott and with threats of war crime courts for Israeli top officers... The activists of the Anarchists Against the Wall initiative are involved mainly in the local struggles both in Israel and the occupied Palestinian areas. The focus is still in the Friday demonstrations in Bil'in and the international aspects of it - visitors and media, and in Ni'ilin, and so is the struggle against eviction/transfer in the occupied East Jerusalem Sheikh Jarah neighborhood. Less attention got the struggles against road blocks, involving the high school graduates refusnics, the threats of expulsion of refugees and guest workers children, and the eviction of Bedouins.
BIL'IN
Some 40 internationals and 30 Israelis joined the weekly demo of several dozen Palestinians against the wall in Bil'in, this time commemorating 20 years to the collapse of the Berlin wall. While marching, the demonstrators carried posters demanding the release of Adeeb, the member of the village's popular committee still in the Israeli jail. Also was carried a large Styrofoam model of the wall, to the gate to the route of the separation fence, when we passed near the route located parallel to the road we encountered Shabab who were busily cutting through the fence. Covered by the smoke of a burning tire, two of them made impressive progress for quite a few minutes before the army noticed them.
When we arrived at the gate, the carriers of the model succeeded to enter it into the space between the main gate and the electronic fence. It took the soldiers a while before succeeding to removed it. A Belgian choir gave the demo a wonderfully surreal character, as they sang in harmony songs of resistance and struggle in various languages, while the army was throwing gas and shock grenades, and the shabab, enjoying the support of a very favorable wind, was returning to the soldiers many unexploded canisters of tear gas accompanied by stones forcing them to run away again and again.
Israel - Bil'in 6-1-09 - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOjcUR2cqUw
JERUSALEM
Urgent Support Vigil This Evening Tuesday 3-11-09 at Sheikh Jarrah. This morning, following a court dismissal, the Al-Kurd family of Sheikh Jarrah was forced out to the streets. 30 settlers accompanied by large numbers of police and border-police forcefully evicted the 30-people family out of their home. This is the 3rd eviction taking place in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood during the past 4 months.
Mote:
"With all the happening in Jerusalem: demolition of houses [of Palestinians], continuation of transfer from occupied Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, the expansion of colonial settlements and building of new ones... we are organizing a meeting to plan for future actions."
KARYUT
On Friday, November the 6, hundreds of members of the village of Karyut came together to protest the Israelis occupation and settlements and to move a roadblock put up by the Israeli Occupation Forces. Defying the Israeli military (who declared illegally the area a “close military zone”) and the local PA municipality and mayor (who did not support in any way this action) the protesters represented a new wave of resistance in Karyut that does not obey the Palestinian or the Israeli bureaucracy.
The road block is located on the only way to get to freeway 60. Palestinians from the Karyut area have to use side roads are forced to drive for hours longer to get to work or to visit family. This is one way that the Israeli military creates Jewish only roads and a system of apartheid.
Although the exact location and details of the this demo were only discussed on privet phones, the Israeli military is waiting for us. They present to us a closed military zone order. They are so used to copying and issuing that order every day that they forget to attach a map that shows the area that suppose to be closed. We notice that and inform them that their order is illegal. The military at first does not allow the residence of the village walk to the roadblock. Demonstrators yell at the soldiers and tell them that its their right to dismantle that roadblock. The military moves back eventually, and dismantling the roadblock begins - takes us a couple of hours.
Picture:
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2009/11/06/640_karyut_331.jpg
the roadblock is dismantled and the first car of an Israeli activists drives through.
Pictures and links to video at:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/06/18628013.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/06/18628023.php
MA'ASARAH
About 20 Israelis and internationals joined about 30 Palestinians in this Friday action.
The army prevented the demonstrators from protesting at the path of the wall.
The demonstrators marched from the center of the village chanting against the separation fence and occupation accompanied by a drummers troupe. As usual, in was blocked by a road block of spool of barbed wire and held back by soldiers. Demonstrators gave speeches in English and Arabic about the illegality of the Wall and Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. The children of the village succeeded in temporarily removing the barbwire and attempted to walk forward, the soldiers threatened the demonstrators with arrests and violently pushed the children back across the fence. As the demonstrators began marching back to the village, they were blocked by a military jeep that entered the village from the back and parked on the main road. Trapped between the soldiers by the barbwire on one side and the jeep on another, the demonstrators crowded around the military vehicle with singing, clapping, accompanied by an Israeli group of percussionists. The soldiers in the jeep made threats of arrests and eventually left the village, the protesters headed back to the village and the percussions group gave a drumming workshop to the children and youths of the village.
NA'ALIN
In Ni'ilin, demonstrators brought down a section of the eight meters tall concrete wall that cuts through the village's land. The soldiers, positioned at the other side of the wall, fired scores of live rounds at the demonstrators as well as tear gas, and sprayed them with the "skunk-bomb" (a foul-smelling liquid). This is the first time since Israel began the construction of the wall in 2002 that demonstrators succeeded in toppling down a part of the wall. One of the demonstrators, Moheeb Khawaja, said during the protest: "Twenty years ago no one had thought the monster that divided Berlin into two could be brought down, but in only two days in November, it did. Today we have proven that this can also be done here and now. It is our land beyond this wall, and we will not give up on it. We will win for a simple reason - justice is on our side."
MEDIA: Protesters breach West Bank separation barrier - Na'alin protest
The weekly demonstrations against the West Bank separation barrier in the towns of Bil'in and Na'alin, which take place every Friday, reached new heights this week when activists, seeking to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall, knocked a part of the barrier over.
Masked Palestinian youths breached the 8-meter high section of Israel's security wall that runs through Na'alin, while Israeli border guards fired tear gas and a foul-smelling spray from behind the high concrete barrier.
Protesters levered open a space under one the pre-cast panels and used a hydraulic car-jack to topple it out of position.
"No matter how tall, all walls fall," read one banner pasted onto the structure by Palestinian youths assisted by Israeli activists, who say the wall on Palestinian land and through Palestinian communities is simply a land grab by Israel.
The panel, cast in the same inverted T-shape as those erected by communist East German through Berlin in 1961, was tilted back close to tipping point onto the Israeli side, but did not fall completely.
The youths scattered when the Israeli guards behind the wall rushed to close the breach.
Thick black smoke from a stack of tires set alight by the youths mingled with white trails of tear gas against the blue sky. Clouds of Israeli "skunk" spray - smelling of corpses and feces - drenched the protesters' side of the skirmish.
Israel began building its barrier of fences and walls at the height of the Palestinian uprising that began in 2000, and it now runs along most of the West Bank border, encroaching at many points onto West Bank territory.
In a non-binding decision in 2004, the International Court of Justice said the barrier was illegal and should be taken down because it crossed occupied territory.
Active Stills - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xh4ouc8Lac
David - Friday 6.11.09 Ni'ilin video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syDriOhplOo
REFUSNICS
Demonstration in support of conscientious objector Or Ben David. On Saturday (7/11), at 15:00 we will meet in front of military prison No. 400 and protest against the imprisonment of CO Or Ben David, and in support of her actions.
BIL'IN
Some 40 internationals and 30 Israelis joined the weekly demo of several dozen Palestinians against the wall in Bil'in, this time commemorating 20 years to the collapse of the Berlin wall. While marching, the demonstrators carried posters demanding the release of Adeeb, the member of the village's popular committee still in the Israeli jail. Also was carried a large Styrofoam model of the wall, to the gate to the route of the separation fence, when we passed near the route located parallel to the road we encountered Shabab who were busily cutting through the fence. Covered by the smoke of a burning tire, two of them made impressive progress for quite a few minutes before the army noticed them.
When we arrived at the gate, the carriers of the model succeeded to enter it into the space between the main gate and the electronic fence. It took the soldiers a while before succeeding to removed it. A Belgian choir gave the demo a wonderfully surreal character, as they sang in harmony songs of resistance and struggle in various languages, while the army was throwing gas and shock grenades, and the shabab, enjoying the support of a very favorable wind, was returning to the soldiers many unexploded canisters of tear gas accompanied by stones forcing them to run away again and again.
Israel - Bil'in 6-1-09 - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOjcUR2cqUw
JERUSALEM
Urgent Support Vigil This Evening Tuesday 3-11-09 at Sheikh Jarrah. This morning, following a court dismissal, the Al-Kurd family of Sheikh Jarrah was forced out to the streets. 30 settlers accompanied by large numbers of police and border-police forcefully evicted the 30-people family out of their home. This is the 3rd eviction taking place in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood during the past 4 months.
Mote:
"With all the happening in Jerusalem: demolition of houses [of Palestinians], continuation of transfer from occupied Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, the expansion of colonial settlements and building of new ones... we are organizing a meeting to plan for future actions."
KARYUT
On Friday, November the 6, hundreds of members of the village of Karyut came together to protest the Israelis occupation and settlements and to move a roadblock put up by the Israeli Occupation Forces. Defying the Israeli military (who declared illegally the area a “close military zone”) and the local PA municipality and mayor (who did not support in any way this action) the protesters represented a new wave of resistance in Karyut that does not obey the Palestinian or the Israeli bureaucracy.
The road block is located on the only way to get to freeway 60. Palestinians from the Karyut area have to use side roads are forced to drive for hours longer to get to work or to visit family. This is one way that the Israeli military creates Jewish only roads and a system of apartheid.
Although the exact location and details of the this demo were only discussed on privet phones, the Israeli military is waiting for us. They present to us a closed military zone order. They are so used to copying and issuing that order every day that they forget to attach a map that shows the area that suppose to be closed. We notice that and inform them that their order is illegal. The military at first does not allow the residence of the village walk to the roadblock. Demonstrators yell at the soldiers and tell them that its their right to dismantle that roadblock. The military moves back eventually, and dismantling the roadblock begins - takes us a couple of hours.
Picture:
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2009/11/06/640_karyut_331.jpg
the roadblock is dismantled and the first car of an Israeli activists drives through.
Pictures and links to video at:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/06/18628013.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/06/18628023.php
MA'ASARAH
About 20 Israelis and internationals joined about 30 Palestinians in this Friday action.
The army prevented the demonstrators from protesting at the path of the wall.
The demonstrators marched from the center of the village chanting against the separation fence and occupation accompanied by a drummers troupe. As usual, in was blocked by a road block of spool of barbed wire and held back by soldiers. Demonstrators gave speeches in English and Arabic about the illegality of the Wall and Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. The children of the village succeeded in temporarily removing the barbwire and attempted to walk forward, the soldiers threatened the demonstrators with arrests and violently pushed the children back across the fence. As the demonstrators began marching back to the village, they were blocked by a military jeep that entered the village from the back and parked on the main road. Trapped between the soldiers by the barbwire on one side and the jeep on another, the demonstrators crowded around the military vehicle with singing, clapping, accompanied by an Israeli group of percussionists. The soldiers in the jeep made threats of arrests and eventually left the village, the protesters headed back to the village and the percussions group gave a drumming workshop to the children and youths of the village.
NA'ALIN
In Ni'ilin, demonstrators brought down a section of the eight meters tall concrete wall that cuts through the village's land. The soldiers, positioned at the other side of the wall, fired scores of live rounds at the demonstrators as well as tear gas, and sprayed them with the "skunk-bomb" (a foul-smelling liquid). This is the first time since Israel began the construction of the wall in 2002 that demonstrators succeeded in toppling down a part of the wall. One of the demonstrators, Moheeb Khawaja, said during the protest: "Twenty years ago no one had thought the monster that divided Berlin into two could be brought down, but in only two days in November, it did. Today we have proven that this can also be done here and now. It is our land beyond this wall, and we will not give up on it. We will win for a simple reason - justice is on our side."
MEDIA: Protesters breach West Bank separation barrier - Na'alin protest
The weekly demonstrations against the West Bank separation barrier in the towns of Bil'in and Na'alin, which take place every Friday, reached new heights this week when activists, seeking to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall, knocked a part of the barrier over.
Masked Palestinian youths breached the 8-meter high section of Israel's security wall that runs through Na'alin, while Israeli border guards fired tear gas and a foul-smelling spray from behind the high concrete barrier.
Protesters levered open a space under one the pre-cast panels and used a hydraulic car-jack to topple it out of position.
"No matter how tall, all walls fall," read one banner pasted onto the structure by Palestinian youths assisted by Israeli activists, who say the wall on Palestinian land and through Palestinian communities is simply a land grab by Israel.
The panel, cast in the same inverted T-shape as those erected by communist East German through Berlin in 1961, was tilted back close to tipping point onto the Israeli side, but did not fall completely.
The youths scattered when the Israeli guards behind the wall rushed to close the breach.
Thick black smoke from a stack of tires set alight by the youths mingled with white trails of tear gas against the blue sky. Clouds of Israeli "skunk" spray - smelling of corpses and feces - drenched the protesters' side of the skirmish.
Israel began building its barrier of fences and walls at the height of the Palestinian uprising that began in 2000, and it now runs along most of the West Bank border, encroaching at many points onto West Bank territory.
In a non-binding decision in 2004, the International Court of Justice said the barrier was illegal and should be taken down because it crossed occupied territory.
Active Stills - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xh4ouc8Lac
David - Friday 6.11.09 Ni'ilin video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syDriOhplOo
REFUSNICS
Demonstration in support of conscientious objector Or Ben David. On Saturday (7/11), at 15:00 we will meet in front of military prison No. 400 and protest against the imprisonment of CO Or Ben David, and in support of her actions.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Palestine-Israel, Small successes along the continuous struggle
This week, the state forces stopped the night rides harassing and arresting activists of the Bilin village. On the refugees and "guest workers" front, the expulsion of children born and raised in Israel and their parents deferred to the end of school next year. A n activists film "Refugees" was screened in the main TV channel. The struggle continued against transfer in Sheikh Jarrah (occupied Jerusalem) and with the Bedouins in the Israel south. The involvement with the olive picking continued, and with the new wave of high school seniors refusnics too. Friday on-going joint demonstrations of the Anarchists against the wall and the Palestinian villagers of Bil'in, Ni'ilin, Ma'asarah.
BIL'IN
In spite of stormy whether, bout 30 Israelis, Internationals, and people of Bil'in participated in the weekly Friday demonstration against the separation fence, the settlements, and occupation. This the demonstration was devoted to calling for the release of Abu Rahmah, as well as to protesting the ongoing attempts to eliminate the village’s resistance. Protesters marched on Friday wearing masks of Adeeb, declaring “We are all Adeeb Abu Rahmah”.
Adeeb Abu Rahmah, who has been detained for over three months, is not suspected of committing any violence, but was indicted with a blanket charge of "incitement to violence", which was very liberally interpreted in this case to include the organizing of grassroots demonstrations. A judge had initially ruled that Abu Rahmah is released with restrictive conditions, but an appeal filed by the military prosecution had the decision overturned, and he was remanded until the end of legal proceedings. Since the arrest, the defense has appealed this decision four times. Trials often last up to a year and Abu Rahmah is the sole provider for a family of eleven.
Abu Rahmah's arrest came amidst an Israeli arrest and intimidation campaign that began concurrently with preliminary hearings of a Bil’in lawsuit against two Canadian companies responsible for the construction in the settlement of Modiin Illit (built on lands robbed from Bil'in and neighboring Palestinian villages). In almost five years of protest, 75 Bil'in residents were arrested in connection to demonstrations against the Wall. Of them, 27 have been arrested in the recent, ongoing arrest campaign. Israeli forces have been regularly invading homes and forcefully searching for demonstration participants, targeting the leaders of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, as well as teenage boys accused of stone throwing. Sixteen currently remain in detention, nine of which are minors.
During the demonstration youngsters succeeded to enter the route of the separation fence through a breach in the external fence of the route - in spite of heavy shower of tear gas. The main body of the demonstration arrived as usual at the main gate to the other side of the fence and confronted there the state forces for nearly an hour - in spite of sporadic showers of tear gas grenades. Few of the grenades that were not activated the first time thrown, were returned to the soldiers to taste their own medicine.
MA'ASARA
Some 40 Palestinian demonstrators from the village of Ma'asara, joined by twenty internationals and four Israelis, marched from the village center towards the route of the Apartheid Wall. Demonstrators carried flags of many different nations which show solidarity with Palestine in order to remind Israel that the entire world demands the end of the occupation.
As usual, the march was stopped by occupation soldiers with barbed wire at the entrance to the village. While many of the demonstrators found cover from the rain under a huge Palestinian flag, a few daring activists stood in front of the soldiers in their T-shirts, waving the different flags. Speeches were then carried in Arabic, Hebrew and English, noting the insistence of the struggle to go on in all sorts of weather, and calling upon the soldiers to refuse and switch sides. In an attempt to help the soldiers do just that, some of the village kids stepped on the wire or tried to remove it all together. The soldiers, however, choose to maintain the separation between themselves and the demonstration, and pushed the children away.
After another half hour of slogan chanting in the pouring rain led to the end of the demonstration. Though none were arrested or wounded, some cases of a potential cold were noted amongst the soaking demonstrators.
NI'ILIN
Ni'lin's first winter protest was held under heavy rainfall. Consequently, the number of protesters was smaller thanusual, and consisted of a few dozen Ni'liners, ten israelis and a similar number of internationals. Some of the demonstraters set fire to a large pile of tires placed near the wall's concrete slabs. The combination of heat and humidity seemed to have cracked parts of the concrete. A number of protesters clashed with the soldiers guarding the fence, who fired volleys of tear gas and squirted the "Skunk" which was particularly potent in stench. No injuries were recorded aside from gas inhalation, and the protest ended earlier than usual.
Pictures at: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/31/18627278.php
Vudeo demo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLfLZH8gHHQ
OLIVE PICKING
Vigil for olive trees cut by settlers in the Hebron area http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/31/18627264.php
BIL'IN
In spite of stormy whether, bout 30 Israelis, Internationals, and people of Bil'in participated in the weekly Friday demonstration against the separation fence, the settlements, and occupation. This the demonstration was devoted to calling for the release of Abu Rahmah, as well as to protesting the ongoing attempts to eliminate the village’s resistance. Protesters marched on Friday wearing masks of Adeeb, declaring “We are all Adeeb Abu Rahmah”.
Adeeb Abu Rahmah, who has been detained for over three months, is not suspected of committing any violence, but was indicted with a blanket charge of "incitement to violence", which was very liberally interpreted in this case to include the organizing of grassroots demonstrations. A judge had initially ruled that Abu Rahmah is released with restrictive conditions, but an appeal filed by the military prosecution had the decision overturned, and he was remanded until the end of legal proceedings. Since the arrest, the defense has appealed this decision four times. Trials often last up to a year and Abu Rahmah is the sole provider for a family of eleven.
Abu Rahmah's arrest came amidst an Israeli arrest and intimidation campaign that began concurrently with preliminary hearings of a Bil’in lawsuit against two Canadian companies responsible for the construction in the settlement of Modiin Illit (built on lands robbed from Bil'in and neighboring Palestinian villages). In almost five years of protest, 75 Bil'in residents were arrested in connection to demonstrations against the Wall. Of them, 27 have been arrested in the recent, ongoing arrest campaign. Israeli forces have been regularly invading homes and forcefully searching for demonstration participants, targeting the leaders of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, as well as teenage boys accused of stone throwing. Sixteen currently remain in detention, nine of which are minors.
During the demonstration youngsters succeeded to enter the route of the separation fence through a breach in the external fence of the route - in spite of heavy shower of tear gas. The main body of the demonstration arrived as usual at the main gate to the other side of the fence and confronted there the state forces for nearly an hour - in spite of sporadic showers of tear gas grenades. Few of the grenades that were not activated the first time thrown, were returned to the soldiers to taste their own medicine.
MA'ASARA
Some 40 Palestinian demonstrators from the village of Ma'asara, joined by twenty internationals and four Israelis, marched from the village center towards the route of the Apartheid Wall. Demonstrators carried flags of many different nations which show solidarity with Palestine in order to remind Israel that the entire world demands the end of the occupation.
As usual, the march was stopped by occupation soldiers with barbed wire at the entrance to the village. While many of the demonstrators found cover from the rain under a huge Palestinian flag, a few daring activists stood in front of the soldiers in their T-shirts, waving the different flags. Speeches were then carried in Arabic, Hebrew and English, noting the insistence of the struggle to go on in all sorts of weather, and calling upon the soldiers to refuse and switch sides. In an attempt to help the soldiers do just that, some of the village kids stepped on the wire or tried to remove it all together. The soldiers, however, choose to maintain the separation between themselves and the demonstration, and pushed the children away.
After another half hour of slogan chanting in the pouring rain led to the end of the demonstration. Though none were arrested or wounded, some cases of a potential cold were noted amongst the soaking demonstrators.
NI'ILIN
Ni'lin's first winter protest was held under heavy rainfall. Consequently, the number of protesters was smaller thanusual, and consisted of a few dozen Ni'liners, ten israelis and a similar number of internationals. Some of the demonstraters set fire to a large pile of tires placed near the wall's concrete slabs. The combination of heat and humidity seemed to have cracked parts of the concrete. A number of protesters clashed with the soldiers guarding the fence, who fired volleys of tear gas and squirted the "Skunk" which was particularly potent in stench. No injuries were recorded aside from gas inhalation, and the protest ended earlier than usual.
Pictures at: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/31/18627278.php
Vudeo demo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLfLZH8gHHQ
OLIVE PICKING
Vigil for olive trees cut by settlers in the Hebron area http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/31/18627264.php
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle and the celebration of the new wave of High school seniors refusniks
This week joint struggle was focused on the new wave of the High school seniors refusniks. Both in Tel Aviv demo, the various activities connected with the arrests of the first two - Efi and Or, and in the Friday joint demonstrations at Bil'in, Ni'ilin, and Ma'asara. During the week the focus was on joining the olive picking struggles of the Saffa villagers, and the staying at nights in Bil'in - to help in the confrontation with Israel state forces persecuting the village activists who participate in the struggle against the separation fence. This week, the spectrum of struggles included also usual the activities against the transfer in East Jerusalem and the Israeli Bedouins of the south, and the struggles supporting the Guest workers and resisting the transfer of their children.
BILL'IN
Every day 17-21.10.09 there was a notice in our list: please sign up for Bil'in tonight.
There is a car leaving Haifa Thursday (21.10.09) late evening/night to Bil'in. We have 2-3 places available in the car, and we are more than willing to pick someone(s) up from Tel Aviv.
Friday
"About 40 Israelis and a similar number of internationals joined the weekly Palestinian demonstration against the wall and occupation in Bil'in. Prominent among the participants were the "shministim" (Israeli refuseniks, who had two of their members put in jail today), and retired PA workers, who led the demonstration with their original slogans and chanting. Demonstrators carried broken cardboard guns as a sign of the nonviolent struggle, while the shabab kept apart along the fence parallel to the route, throwing stones as a sign that their lives under occupation suck big time. One demonstrator brought a tennis racket to return the army's gas grenades. The racket proved less than useful, but some unexploded grenades were manually thrown back to the soldiers, who could share in the suffering of the Hashmonaim settlers, and smell some whiffs of gas. Some demonstrators made a special effort to cross the fence gate and place a Palestinian flag on the soldiers' side of the fence, and then an even more special effort to retrieve the flag in a cloud of gas - a success that marked the end of the demo. As usual, there was enough gas to bring some demonstrators down, panting and crying for a few minutes. Sound bombs also featured after a long pause in their use. When the demonstrators were on their way back, a French woman was hit directly by a gas grenade, and evacuated to a hospital for treatment."
This Friday 23-10-09 in Bil'in - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI9bZLeLoc0
MA'ASARA
In the village of Ma'asara some 70 Palestinians, Israelis and internationals demonstrated this Friday against the Apartheid Wall, commemorating three years of struggle in the village and 40 days since the death of Popular Committee member Qaher Ala-Din.
Demonstrators marched from the village towards their lands, and as usual were stopped by occupation forces, which placed barbed wire on the village's main road. Speeches were carried in Arabic, English, French and Hebrew, amongst other things reminding the soldiers the acceptance of the Goldstone report by the UNHRC and of the option they have to refuse their commanding officers, like the young Shministim who were sent to prison the day before.
After the speeches, and while most demonstrators were chanting slogans or beating drums, several village children tried to pull away the fence, but were stopped by the angry soldiers. Eventually the demonstration ended, with no injuries or arrests.
NI'ILIN
Ni'lin's weekly protest against the wall was held in solidarity with the Israeli youths who have signed the "Seniors Letter". This week the military has begun to draft them into imprisonment for their refusal to serve in an occupation force. The protesters, Palestinian and Israeli, with a larger than usual group of internationals, marched to the wall, chanting slogans against the occupation and for refusal. Some of the village youths threw stones and paint bottles at the soldiers and jeeps patrolling the fence. Soldiers fired tear gas grenades and plastic-coated steel bullets at protesters. 10 were injured, one moderately, who was evacuated to Hospital in Ramalla. 8 of them were hit by bullets, and 2 were struck with aluminum tear gas canisters that were fired directly at them.
The plastic-coated bullets that are increasingly used in Ni'lin are round and consist of a metal core the size and shape of a marble, surrounded by a thin (less than 1mm) layer of plastic. They are fired 16 at a time, from a launching cup attached to the barrel. The bullets fly and spread out in a sort of cone shape, thus rendering this weapon extremely inaccurate, and therefore even more dangerous. During one of their incursions over the wall, a soldier fired two live rounds, apparently in the air. The soldiers also used stun grenades and the smelly water canon.
The protest ended at around 5 pm, and demonstrators dispersed home. Some of those present spent a few moments contemplating the terrible suffering experienced by the settlers of Hashmonaim. As reported in this week's Haaretz, for those poor souls who built their enormous villas on Ni'lin's land, every Friday is an ordeal, as tear gas fired by soldiers drifts over the valley, into their homes, and the sound of army weapons disrupts their precious Friday afternoon naps.
Friday 23.10.09 Ni'ilin video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOS84cD5a4k
REFUSNICS
Efi Brenner and Or Ben-David from "The senior letter 2009-2010" is going to be
jailed in Thursday because they are refusing to enlist the army.
A march will come out from Dizingof square, this Wednesday (21.10) at 5:30PM.
The March will end at Magen David square.
Come to show your support with the conscience objectors and your resistance
People look like flowers at last youth demonstrate 21.10.09 in support of the high school seniors refusnics http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/22/18626365.php
Efi Brenner*, first Objector from New Refusal Letter in Prison
- Please distribute widely -
First prison term for Efi Brenner, the first among the signatories of the 2009-2010 Shministim (high school seniors) refusal letter to be sent to military prison. Full information and recommended action follow.
A new collective declaration of refusal by Israeli youths, the 2009-2010 high school seniors letter, went public last week. Today (22 Oct.), two of its signatories, Efi Brenner and Or Ben-David, came to the military induction base in Tel-Hashomer and there refused to enlist. Efi was indeed sent to prison, while Or has not yet been sentenced (she was told that the military prison for women was full), and will have to return to the induction base tomorrow, probably spend the weekend there and be sent to prison on Sunday. We will run a separate update on her case once she is in prison.
Efi Brenner, 18, from Rishon Le Zion (a suburb of Tel-Aviv), is a familiar figure among young anti-Occupation and animal rights activists in Israel. He was sentenced today to his first prison term of ten days (more terms in prison are likely to follow), which he serves in Military Prison no. 6 near Atlit. Following the media exposure that the Seniors’ Letter has received after it was made public, Efi was kicked out of home by his father, and spent the last days before imprisonment at a friend’s house. In prison he has already been transferred to the isolation ward for refusing to obey the military dressing code. In addition, the prison authorities decided (against all known regulations) not to allow him to take books with him into prison.
Efi has prepared the following statement upon entering prison:
I object to oppression, whether it is committed by a hierarchical organization, such as the military is, or whether it is committed by the human species against animals. The Israeli government and military conduct a policy of occupation and oppression against the Palestinian people since 1948. It began with the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in 1948, which continues to this day, and continued with the imposition of an oppressive military rule on Palestinians, with the restriction of the freedom of movement of all people, with roads for Israelis only, with administrative detentions, house demolitions, land thefts, etc. We must act in peaceful ways and refuse to take part in the crimes committed by the military. That is our true duty. All the things mentioned above stand against the basic values of freedom and justice in which I believe and for which I struggle. I therefore refuse to enlist to the Israeli military and indeed to any military force of any kind.
Efi Brenner is due to be released from prison on 30 October, but is likely to be imprisoned again soon afterwards. His address in prison is:
================================
* Antiauthoritarian Anticapitalist involved with the AAtW
SAFA
18.10.09 A car load from Tel Aviv joined some farmers from Saffa and several PSP activists in the lands of Saffa today. We picked olives without trouble with the army patrolling up near the settlement. After about two hours of that the army showed up and pushed us out. They said that they would allow the palestinians to remain but they chose to return with the rest of us.
More work in planned for later in the week if you can come on Tuesday please let me know.
Olive Harvesting at Saffa, Palestine, Usual Military Harassment
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/20/18626131.php
there are still more olives to be picked and army and settlers to deal with in Saffa. if you can come on Thursday please get in touch with me.
The olive picking today 22.10.09 went a little better but people are still needed for more olive picking next week.
After Harassment on Tuesday, Farmers, Activists Successfully Harvest in Saffa
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2009/10/23/after-harassment-on-tuesday-farmers-activists-successfully-harvest-in-saffa/
Posted on October 23rd, 2009.
"...The Abu Jabber and Hamad Soleiby families have not been allowed to work freely on their land without either Israeli settler attacks and/or Israeli military intervention, since March of this year. PSP, along with Israeli activists, have had an on-going campaign that has lasted over 5 months, accompanying the farmers to their land which lies in a valley in the Saffa area of Beit Ommar, just below the extreme right-wing Israeli settlement, Bat ‘Ayn. With the beginning of the national olive harvest, the Soleiby brothers have asked for support from solidarity activists in accessing their land freely and without fear of settler attack.
On Tuesday, after the group had managed to pick olives for about half an hour, Israeli civilian police stationed in the nearby settlement Kfar Etzion, arrived and told the group that the Israelis and internationals would have to leave. They also attempted to intimidate the group by demanding to see all of the participants’ ID cards (including the farmers and Palestinian activists), copying down their identification information. After a short deliberation, the entire group decided to leave; the Palestinian farmers fearing that, like other times in the recent past, once the solidarity activists were out of sight the police would leave and settlers would be allowed to attack them.
On Thursday, October 22, a larger group of approximately 25 international and Israeli solidarity activists, including volunteers from the YMCA, and a large representation of local media, accompanied the farmers again to their land. Though Israeli soldiers confronted the group early in the day, they were allowed to pick for over 2 hours without incident, demonstrating the effectiveness of the accompaniment program, when combined with pressure from local farmers to access their land freely as they choose. The organizations involved, particularly PSP, will continue the program in Saffa throughout the fall and winter, when they will replant the hundreds of trees destroyed by settlers over the last 6 months.
TEL AVIV
Few actions of anti expulsion of children of Guest workers born in Israel were carried during the month with divergent participants.
BILL'IN
Every day 17-21.10.09 there was a notice in our list: please sign up for Bil'in tonight.
There is a car leaving Haifa Thursday (21.10.09) late evening/night to Bil'in. We have 2-3 places available in the car, and we are more than willing to pick someone(s) up from Tel Aviv.
Friday
"About 40 Israelis and a similar number of internationals joined the weekly Palestinian demonstration against the wall and occupation in Bil'in. Prominent among the participants were the "shministim" (Israeli refuseniks, who had two of their members put in jail today), and retired PA workers, who led the demonstration with their original slogans and chanting. Demonstrators carried broken cardboard guns as a sign of the nonviolent struggle, while the shabab kept apart along the fence parallel to the route, throwing stones as a sign that their lives under occupation suck big time. One demonstrator brought a tennis racket to return the army's gas grenades. The racket proved less than useful, but some unexploded grenades were manually thrown back to the soldiers, who could share in the suffering of the Hashmonaim settlers, and smell some whiffs of gas. Some demonstrators made a special effort to cross the fence gate and place a Palestinian flag on the soldiers' side of the fence, and then an even more special effort to retrieve the flag in a cloud of gas - a success that marked the end of the demo. As usual, there was enough gas to bring some demonstrators down, panting and crying for a few minutes. Sound bombs also featured after a long pause in their use. When the demonstrators were on their way back, a French woman was hit directly by a gas grenade, and evacuated to a hospital for treatment."
This Friday 23-10-09 in Bil'in - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI9bZLeLoc0
MA'ASARA
In the village of Ma'asara some 70 Palestinians, Israelis and internationals demonstrated this Friday against the Apartheid Wall, commemorating three years of struggle in the village and 40 days since the death of Popular Committee member Qaher Ala-Din.
Demonstrators marched from the village towards their lands, and as usual were stopped by occupation forces, which placed barbed wire on the village's main road. Speeches were carried in Arabic, English, French and Hebrew, amongst other things reminding the soldiers the acceptance of the Goldstone report by the UNHRC and of the option they have to refuse their commanding officers, like the young Shministim who were sent to prison the day before.
After the speeches, and while most demonstrators were chanting slogans or beating drums, several village children tried to pull away the fence, but were stopped by the angry soldiers. Eventually the demonstration ended, with no injuries or arrests.
NI'ILIN
Ni'lin's weekly protest against the wall was held in solidarity with the Israeli youths who have signed the "Seniors Letter". This week the military has begun to draft them into imprisonment for their refusal to serve in an occupation force. The protesters, Palestinian and Israeli, with a larger than usual group of internationals, marched to the wall, chanting slogans against the occupation and for refusal. Some of the village youths threw stones and paint bottles at the soldiers and jeeps patrolling the fence. Soldiers fired tear gas grenades and plastic-coated steel bullets at protesters. 10 were injured, one moderately, who was evacuated to Hospital in Ramalla. 8 of them were hit by bullets, and 2 were struck with aluminum tear gas canisters that were fired directly at them.
The plastic-coated bullets that are increasingly used in Ni'lin are round and consist of a metal core the size and shape of a marble, surrounded by a thin (less than 1mm) layer of plastic. They are fired 16 at a time, from a launching cup attached to the barrel. The bullets fly and spread out in a sort of cone shape, thus rendering this weapon extremely inaccurate, and therefore even more dangerous. During one of their incursions over the wall, a soldier fired two live rounds, apparently in the air. The soldiers also used stun grenades and the smelly water canon.
The protest ended at around 5 pm, and demonstrators dispersed home. Some of those present spent a few moments contemplating the terrible suffering experienced by the settlers of Hashmonaim. As reported in this week's Haaretz, for those poor souls who built their enormous villas on Ni'lin's land, every Friday is an ordeal, as tear gas fired by soldiers drifts over the valley, into their homes, and the sound of army weapons disrupts their precious Friday afternoon naps.
Friday 23.10.09 Ni'ilin video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOS84cD5a4k
REFUSNICS
Efi Brenner and Or Ben-David from "The senior letter 2009-2010" is going to be
jailed in Thursday because they are refusing to enlist the army.
A march will come out from Dizingof square, this Wednesday (21.10) at 5:30PM.
The March will end at Magen David square.
Come to show your support with the conscience objectors and your resistance
People look like flowers at last youth demonstrate 21.10.09 in support of the high school seniors refusnics http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/22/18626365.php
Efi Brenner*, first Objector from New Refusal Letter in Prison
- Please distribute widely -
First prison term for Efi Brenner, the first among the signatories of the 2009-2010 Shministim (high school seniors) refusal letter to be sent to military prison. Full information and recommended action follow.
A new collective declaration of refusal by Israeli youths, the 2009-2010 high school seniors letter, went public last week. Today (22 Oct.), two of its signatories, Efi Brenner and Or Ben-David, came to the military induction base in Tel-Hashomer and there refused to enlist. Efi was indeed sent to prison, while Or has not yet been sentenced (she was told that the military prison for women was full), and will have to return to the induction base tomorrow, probably spend the weekend there and be sent to prison on Sunday. We will run a separate update on her case once she is in prison.
Efi Brenner, 18, from Rishon Le Zion (a suburb of Tel-Aviv), is a familiar figure among young anti-Occupation and animal rights activists in Israel. He was sentenced today to his first prison term of ten days (more terms in prison are likely to follow), which he serves in Military Prison no. 6 near Atlit. Following the media exposure that the Seniors’ Letter has received after it was made public, Efi was kicked out of home by his father, and spent the last days before imprisonment at a friend’s house. In prison he has already been transferred to the isolation ward for refusing to obey the military dressing code. In addition, the prison authorities decided (against all known regulations) not to allow him to take books with him into prison.
Efi has prepared the following statement upon entering prison:
I object to oppression, whether it is committed by a hierarchical organization, such as the military is, or whether it is committed by the human species against animals. The Israeli government and military conduct a policy of occupation and oppression against the Palestinian people since 1948. It began with the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in 1948, which continues to this day, and continued with the imposition of an oppressive military rule on Palestinians, with the restriction of the freedom of movement of all people, with roads for Israelis only, with administrative detentions, house demolitions, land thefts, etc. We must act in peaceful ways and refuse to take part in the crimes committed by the military. That is our true duty. All the things mentioned above stand against the basic values of freedom and justice in which I believe and for which I struggle. I therefore refuse to enlist to the Israeli military and indeed to any military force of any kind.
Efi Brenner is due to be released from prison on 30 October, but is likely to be imprisoned again soon afterwards. His address in prison is:
================================
* Antiauthoritarian Anticapitalist involved with the AAtW
SAFA
18.10.09 A car load from Tel Aviv joined some farmers from Saffa and several PSP activists in the lands of Saffa today. We picked olives without trouble with the army patrolling up near the settlement. After about two hours of that the army showed up and pushed us out. They said that they would allow the palestinians to remain but they chose to return with the rest of us.
More work in planned for later in the week if you can come on Tuesday please let me know.
Olive Harvesting at Saffa, Palestine, Usual Military Harassment
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/20/18626131.php
there are still more olives to be picked and army and settlers to deal with in Saffa. if you can come on Thursday please get in touch with me.
The olive picking today 22.10.09 went a little better but people are still needed for more olive picking next week.
After Harassment on Tuesday, Farmers, Activists Successfully Harvest in Saffa
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2009/10/23/after-harassment-on-tuesday-farmers-activists-successfully-harvest-in-saffa/
Posted on October 23rd, 2009.
"...The Abu Jabber and Hamad Soleiby families have not been allowed to work freely on their land without either Israeli settler attacks and/or Israeli military intervention, since March of this year. PSP, along with Israeli activists, have had an on-going campaign that has lasted over 5 months, accompanying the farmers to their land which lies in a valley in the Saffa area of Beit Ommar, just below the extreme right-wing Israeli settlement, Bat ‘Ayn. With the beginning of the national olive harvest, the Soleiby brothers have asked for support from solidarity activists in accessing their land freely and without fear of settler attack.
On Tuesday, after the group had managed to pick olives for about half an hour, Israeli civilian police stationed in the nearby settlement Kfar Etzion, arrived and told the group that the Israelis and internationals would have to leave. They also attempted to intimidate the group by demanding to see all of the participants’ ID cards (including the farmers and Palestinian activists), copying down their identification information. After a short deliberation, the entire group decided to leave; the Palestinian farmers fearing that, like other times in the recent past, once the solidarity activists were out of sight the police would leave and settlers would be allowed to attack them.
On Thursday, October 22, a larger group of approximately 25 international and Israeli solidarity activists, including volunteers from the YMCA, and a large representation of local media, accompanied the farmers again to their land. Though Israeli soldiers confronted the group early in the day, they were allowed to pick for over 2 hours without incident, demonstrating the effectiveness of the accompaniment program, when combined with pressure from local farmers to access their land freely as they choose. The organizations involved, particularly PSP, will continue the program in Saffa throughout the fall and winter, when they will replant the hundreds of trees destroyed by settlers over the last 6 months.
TEL AVIV
Few actions of anti expulsion of children of Guest workers born in Israel were carried during the month with divergent participants.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle of the direct actions of the AAtW and Palestinians escalate.
In Spite of the "competition" of other joint activities of wider circles (our comrades participate in), our initiative expand in scope and number of participants. Our activists involved this week with the African refugees in the struggle against deportation; With the Israeli Bedouins in the south who struggle against internal transfer from their lands;With the occupied Jerusalem Palestinians facing transfer steps; With Palestinian farmers suffering from harassment of settlers trying to rob their lands bordering the settlements; And of course the weekly demonstration against the separation fence in Bil'in, Ni'ilin, and Muasara (south of Bethlehem). Media reported on activists of the AAtW involved with world wide propaganda. (And we were invited to more actions than we were able to attend.)
BIL'IN
During the week nights AAtW comrades stayed in the village in order to confront Israeli
forces harassment of the popular comity members and others.
Some 30 Israelis and 40 internationals (including a large French delegation) joined local
Palestinians for the weekly demonstration against land theft and the violent oppression of
Bil'in's people. The procession was accompanied by an inspiring march-poem read by one of
the popular committee members and echoed by the marchers. When they arrived at the gate in
the fence, the demonstrators asked the soldiers to let people through to clear the land
behind the wall to prepare for the olive harvest. The soldiers responded with gas.
(However, due to the changing winds, an evident they had, and the returning of a tear gas
grenade, the soldiers had to taste "their own medicine...".)
Instead of olive picking, the demonstrators went on to harvest another kind of local
produce: the fallen gas and shock grenades littering the entire fence area. The soldiers
responded with gas. A couple of kids through a few stones at the soldiers. The soldiers
responded with gas. The demonstrators went on to harvest grenades somewhere else. The
soldiers responded with gas. Finally, with bags full of tear gas and sound grenades, the
demonstrators returned to the village. The soldiers responded with gas.
On the way back from Bil'in we could see in the West the "fire works" of the multi rockets
barrage of 32 tear gas grenades fired on the demonstrators against the separation fence and occupation in Ni'ilin.
Bil'in - 9-10-09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoK-lu9wJJ4
NI'ILIN
Ni'lin's weekly protest against the wall began as usual with a prayer and a march through the olive groves, to the route of the wall. This time, the 100 or so group of protesters chose to march to an area that has not seen demonstrations for a while, enabling them to utilize the absence of soldiers to cut the razor wire and a section of the actual fence. a few minutes later several military jeeps arrived at the scene, and soldiers began to fire various types of tear gas grenades at the demonstration, in some cases directly at protesters, in violation of the army's own regulations. Notably, the army has renewed the use of an aluminum tear gas canister, the front end of which is shaped like a cone. dozens of these were fired at protesters, and those who were hit by this type of canister in the past said that they are not as dangerous as the extended range canisters ("Saruch" in Arabic) but that a person hit by them might still be injured.
The protesters then moved to a western section of the wall, some of them throwing stones at the jeeps patrolling the route, while soldiers fired tear gas. In the afternoon, a group of soldiers and border police crossed the barrier, triggering a temporary withdrawal of protesters back to the village. When the soldiers returned to their station over the fence, so did a small group of demonstrators, who exhausted their remaining energy by throwing a few more stones at the soldiers. All protesters then returned to the village. No injuries were recorded, aside from some tear gas inhalation and red, sore eyes.
MUASARA
The demo in the village of Ma'asara a smaller than usual demonstration made its way after
the Friday prayer from the center of the village towards the agricultural lands on which
the Apartheid Wall is being built. Attended by some thirty Palestinians, including many
children, twenty internationals and eight Israelis, the procession was stopped by
occupation soldiers, who placed a razor wire fence on the road near the entrance to the
village.
Slogans were chanted and speeches carried in Arabic, English and Hebrew, explaining to the
soldiers the vital importance of the stolen lands to the Palestinian people, especially
now as the olive harvest season is coming up. After several non-violent attempts to go
around the fence failed, the demonstration ended with the promise to return next week, as
always.
This week's demonstration was painted in green, as the children of the village wore their
new T-shirts with the slogan "Beat drums, not people" (in English and Arabic). The
children wearing the shirts have recently been taking drumming lessons from the Israeli
Qassamba group of protest drummers.
===========================
Media:
Stop calling us haters of Israel by Yuval Ofir-Oron - one of the three Israeli refusnics
on tour in South-Africa
The Israeli army, which we were required to serve, controls the lives of 3.5 million
people in the occupied territories.Already many decades that Israel, with all arms,
sending Israeli youth to control the civilian population in the territories.We refused
to do so.
In recent years we have seen the sights of the Israeli occupation in the West Bank.We
saw the faces of children, women and men whom we are asked today to suppress.We can not
serve in the army that violates the values that we believe in, and without them we can not
survive as moral community.We refuse to take part in building a wall that takes land
from farmers, a wall that its whole purpose is to annex more land to the Jewish state and
expand illegal settlements.We refuse to build dirt conceit blocks roadblocks on
Palestinian villages roads and refuse to run checkpoints on land taken by force.We
refuse to uproot olive trees in Bidu.Refuse to invade the houses of families in Azoun.
Refuse to be guards of a one and a half million people in Gaza.Refuse to destroy houses
in East Jerusalem.Refuse to kill those who are fighting for freedom.Against these
crimes we can not close my eyes, we can not sit still.
We were invited to South Africa to tell our story.People want to hear about
conscientious objection in Israel, they want to know what is really happening in the
occupied territories.During our tour we met with high school pupils, students, workers,
pensioners, Jews, Muslims, other white and black people....We are here to bring the
voices of our partner - the Palestinians who are living under foreign occupation, and our
voices, Israeli Jews who will not take part in the Israeli occupation.
Israelis do not want to end the occupation
We're all young Israelis, part of Israeli society.We fight for the future where we
live, the future of our society.This struggle is for us, for our families and friends
and for those who live with us.Today we look around with aching hearts and fear of where
we arrived and more so - were we are going.
We believe that Israeli society has proved unable or not interested, to end the
occupation by its own initiative.Forces of nationalism, militarism, and racism just
strengthening in it. Most Israelis think that the crimes conducted by Israeli governments
are only subjects for in internal political controversy in Israeli society itself, but we
believe that these crimes relate all of human society, so we call upon world community to
demand publicly and firmly that the Israeli occupation will end.
State of Israel should pay a price for the occupation, war crimes, the harm to
innocents.Withdrawal of investments from Israel, severing business ties with wealthy
Israelis, and stopping economic cooperation with Israeli companies, with an emphasis on
companies that maintain relations with the Israeli army or who earns from the existence of
the settlements, all these are legitimate acts of nonviolence and pressure on the powerful
decision makers of Israel, with the goal to put end to the occupation.We join the
Palestinian call for a boycott of Israel, alongside millions of workers unions, and tens
of thousands of individuals around the world.It's time to stop calling Goldstone Anti
Semitic and us Israel-haters.The time already arrived to look directly at the reality we
have created, and to act to change it for our neighbors and for us.
BIL'IN
During the week nights AAtW comrades stayed in the village in order to confront Israeli
forces harassment of the popular comity members and others.
Some 30 Israelis and 40 internationals (including a large French delegation) joined local
Palestinians for the weekly demonstration against land theft and the violent oppression of
Bil'in's people. The procession was accompanied by an inspiring march-poem read by one of
the popular committee members and echoed by the marchers. When they arrived at the gate in
the fence, the demonstrators asked the soldiers to let people through to clear the land
behind the wall to prepare for the olive harvest. The soldiers responded with gas.
(However, due to the changing winds, an evident they had, and the returning of a tear gas
grenade, the soldiers had to taste "their own medicine...".)
Instead of olive picking, the demonstrators went on to harvest another kind of local
produce: the fallen gas and shock grenades littering the entire fence area. The soldiers
responded with gas. A couple of kids through a few stones at the soldiers. The soldiers
responded with gas. The demonstrators went on to harvest grenades somewhere else. The
soldiers responded with gas. Finally, with bags full of tear gas and sound grenades, the
demonstrators returned to the village. The soldiers responded with gas.
On the way back from Bil'in we could see in the West the "fire works" of the multi rockets
barrage of 32 tear gas grenades fired on the demonstrators against the separation fence and occupation in Ni'ilin.
Bil'in - 9-10-09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoK-lu9wJJ4
NI'ILIN
Ni'lin's weekly protest against the wall began as usual with a prayer and a march through the olive groves, to the route of the wall. This time, the 100 or so group of protesters chose to march to an area that has not seen demonstrations for a while, enabling them to utilize the absence of soldiers to cut the razor wire and a section of the actual fence. a few minutes later several military jeeps arrived at the scene, and soldiers began to fire various types of tear gas grenades at the demonstration, in some cases directly at protesters, in violation of the army's own regulations. Notably, the army has renewed the use of an aluminum tear gas canister, the front end of which is shaped like a cone. dozens of these were fired at protesters, and those who were hit by this type of canister in the past said that they are not as dangerous as the extended range canisters ("Saruch" in Arabic) but that a person hit by them might still be injured.
The protesters then moved to a western section of the wall, some of them throwing stones at the jeeps patrolling the route, while soldiers fired tear gas. In the afternoon, a group of soldiers and border police crossed the barrier, triggering a temporary withdrawal of protesters back to the village. When the soldiers returned to their station over the fence, so did a small group of demonstrators, who exhausted their remaining energy by throwing a few more stones at the soldiers. All protesters then returned to the village. No injuries were recorded, aside from some tear gas inhalation and red, sore eyes.
MUASARA
The demo in the village of Ma'asara a smaller than usual demonstration made its way after
the Friday prayer from the center of the village towards the agricultural lands on which
the Apartheid Wall is being built. Attended by some thirty Palestinians, including many
children, twenty internationals and eight Israelis, the procession was stopped by
occupation soldiers, who placed a razor wire fence on the road near the entrance to the
village.
Slogans were chanted and speeches carried in Arabic, English and Hebrew, explaining to the
soldiers the vital importance of the stolen lands to the Palestinian people, especially
now as the olive harvest season is coming up. After several non-violent attempts to go
around the fence failed, the demonstration ended with the promise to return next week, as
always.
This week's demonstration was painted in green, as the children of the village wore their
new T-shirts with the slogan "Beat drums, not people" (in English and Arabic). The
children wearing the shirts have recently been taking drumming lessons from the Israeli
Qassamba group of protest drummers.
===========================
Media:
Stop calling us haters of Israel by Yuval Ofir-Oron - one of the three Israeli refusnics
on tour in South-Africa
The Israeli army, which we were required to serve, controls the lives of 3.5 million
people in the occupied territories.Already many decades that Israel, with all arms,
sending Israeli youth to control the civilian population in the territories.We refused
to do so.
In recent years we have seen the sights of the Israeli occupation in the West Bank.We
saw the faces of children, women and men whom we are asked today to suppress.We can not
serve in the army that violates the values that we believe in, and without them we can not
survive as moral community.We refuse to take part in building a wall that takes land
from farmers, a wall that its whole purpose is to annex more land to the Jewish state and
expand illegal settlements.We refuse to build dirt conceit blocks roadblocks on
Palestinian villages roads and refuse to run checkpoints on land taken by force.We
refuse to uproot olive trees in Bidu.Refuse to invade the houses of families in Azoun.
Refuse to be guards of a one and a half million people in Gaza.Refuse to destroy houses
in East Jerusalem.Refuse to kill those who are fighting for freedom.Against these
crimes we can not close my eyes, we can not sit still.
We were invited to South Africa to tell our story.People want to hear about
conscientious objection in Israel, they want to know what is really happening in the
occupied territories.During our tour we met with high school pupils, students, workers,
pensioners, Jews, Muslims, other white and black people....We are here to bring the
voices of our partner - the Palestinians who are living under foreign occupation, and our
voices, Israeli Jews who will not take part in the Israeli occupation.
Israelis do not want to end the occupation
We're all young Israelis, part of Israeli society.We fight for the future where we
live, the future of our society.This struggle is for us, for our families and friends
and for those who live with us.Today we look around with aching hearts and fear of where
we arrived and more so - were we are going.
We believe that Israeli society has proved unable or not interested, to end the
occupation by its own initiative.Forces of nationalism, militarism, and racism just
strengthening in it. Most Israelis think that the crimes conducted by Israeli governments
are only subjects for in internal political controversy in Israeli society itself, but we
believe that these crimes relate all of human society, so we call upon world community to
demand publicly and firmly that the Israeli occupation will end.
State of Israel should pay a price for the occupation, war crimes, the harm to
innocents.Withdrawal of investments from Israel, severing business ties with wealthy
Israelis, and stopping economic cooperation with Israeli companies, with an emphasis on
companies that maintain relations with the Israeli army or who earns from the existence of
the settlements, all these are legitimate acts of nonviolence and pressure on the powerful
decision makers of Israel, with the goal to put end to the occupation.We join the
Palestinian call for a boycott of Israel, alongside millions of workers unions, and tens
of thousands of individuals around the world.It's time to stop calling Goldstone Anti
Semitic and us Israel-haters.The time already arrived to look directly at the reality we
have created, and to act to change it for our neighbors and for us.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
South-Africa, Media, Israeli refusnics* tour in Capetown - a call for BSD
The refusnics in Capetown - "There is a price for the occupation!!!!"
Quotations from speeches of the three Israeli refusnics who arrived last week in South Africa for a campaign against Israel and its army. On Tuesday they held a special meeting of a few hundred students (including local Jews) in Cape Town university (UCT). In their speech - which included a harsh attack on Israel - they called on South African students to join the struggle against the occupation and to help the boycott of Israel in the world. The three, Yuval O. (20), Omer G. (20) and Sahar V. (19), summarized the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1948, pointing out parallels between the decisions of Israeli governments and those of the South African racial apartheid ones.
"From Soweto to Ramallah, bullets flew and tear gas filled the streets in the efforts to strangle the resistance", said Omer in her description of the first Intifada.
The refusnics told the students about their political opinions and about the roots of their decisions to refuse to be recruited to the army.
Yuval told them about the first time he participated in a demonstration against the building of the separation fence in the Palestinian village of Ni'ilin, in which the Israeli soldiers "sprayed" unarmed demonstrators with rubber-coated bullets and tear gas:
"This experience, repeated afterwards many times, made me understand that this army I used to regard as a protector, is in fact attacking me, my friends, and all that I believe in. Yuval told them about an adult Palestinian friend [Bassem] killed by Israeli soldiers during a demonstration while calling at them to stop firing: "This unarmed struggle is a threat for the occupation forces".
"Old friends grow cold when you refuse to enlist"
Omer told them that when she had toured Cyprus during the second Lebanon war she was exposed for the first time to uncensored pictures of the war, and these caused her to understand how little she really knew about what is happening in Israel. "When it was clear that the Lebanon war was in vain, and no one in the Israeli government was admitting it, I not only lost my belief in the 'humanity' of the Israeli army, but started to doubt in the ability of this army - sent by this government, to defend me. I remember that after a demonstration in Tel Aviv against the government I told a friend: 'I am not going to take part in it... This government doesn't represent me any more. There must be another way".
Omer added: "The problem is that young Israelis are not exposed to the true reality. 99% of them have never been to the occupied territories or met Palestinians, and their first encounter with them is when they are in uniform and armed. As we (the refusnics) visited the occupied territories before enlisting, our eyes were opened to the reality. Once you saw it, there was no other way to take."
Omer described the hardship of life as a refusnic: "When you refuse to serve the society you live in or enlist, you involve your friends and family members in your decision, so there are a lot of outcomes to the choice of opposing that immoral act [of enlisting in the army of occupation]. Old friends grow colder, and sometimes the family does not show any support."
At the end of the assembly, the three called on the South African students to participate in the struggle against the occupation and to boycott Israel: "The international community must understand that the only way to save the Israelis and the Palestinians is to show the Israeli authorities that there is a price to pay for their unjust policy. There is a price for the occupation and for harming innocent people."
Yuval added that as in the time of apartheid, there is a need to boycott the Israeli academic establishment and companies, and more so those involved in military innovations and building in the colonial settlements. Omer added: "The occupation is corrupting Israel from within. It creates aggressive people and extreme chauvinism and makes people forget values such as solidarity and equality. The mandatory conscription to the IDF army is only the tip of the iceberg of that militarist state. Reservist service transforms Israel into a state in which each parent, teacher and employer continues to function as soldiers".
=================================
* The three refusnic activists were involved in the previous wave of high-school refusnics. All served a few months' time in prison, and participate in the Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall initiative.
Quotations from speeches of the three Israeli refusnics who arrived last week in South Africa for a campaign against Israel and its army. On Tuesday they held a special meeting of a few hundred students (including local Jews) in Cape Town university (UCT). In their speech - which included a harsh attack on Israel - they called on South African students to join the struggle against the occupation and to help the boycott of Israel in the world. The three, Yuval O. (20), Omer G. (20) and Sahar V. (19), summarized the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1948, pointing out parallels between the decisions of Israeli governments and those of the South African racial apartheid ones.
"From Soweto to Ramallah, bullets flew and tear gas filled the streets in the efforts to strangle the resistance", said Omer in her description of the first Intifada.
The refusnics told the students about their political opinions and about the roots of their decisions to refuse to be recruited to the army.
Yuval told them about the first time he participated in a demonstration against the building of the separation fence in the Palestinian village of Ni'ilin, in which the Israeli soldiers "sprayed" unarmed demonstrators with rubber-coated bullets and tear gas:
"This experience, repeated afterwards many times, made me understand that this army I used to regard as a protector, is in fact attacking me, my friends, and all that I believe in. Yuval told them about an adult Palestinian friend [Bassem] killed by Israeli soldiers during a demonstration while calling at them to stop firing: "This unarmed struggle is a threat for the occupation forces".
"Old friends grow cold when you refuse to enlist"
Omer told them that when she had toured Cyprus during the second Lebanon war she was exposed for the first time to uncensored pictures of the war, and these caused her to understand how little she really knew about what is happening in Israel. "When it was clear that the Lebanon war was in vain, and no one in the Israeli government was admitting it, I not only lost my belief in the 'humanity' of the Israeli army, but started to doubt in the ability of this army - sent by this government, to defend me. I remember that after a demonstration in Tel Aviv against the government I told a friend: 'I am not going to take part in it... This government doesn't represent me any more. There must be another way".
Omer added: "The problem is that young Israelis are not exposed to the true reality. 99% of them have never been to the occupied territories or met Palestinians, and their first encounter with them is when they are in uniform and armed. As we (the refusnics) visited the occupied territories before enlisting, our eyes were opened to the reality. Once you saw it, there was no other way to take."
Omer described the hardship of life as a refusnic: "When you refuse to serve the society you live in or enlist, you involve your friends and family members in your decision, so there are a lot of outcomes to the choice of opposing that immoral act [of enlisting in the army of occupation]. Old friends grow colder, and sometimes the family does not show any support."
At the end of the assembly, the three called on the South African students to participate in the struggle against the occupation and to boycott Israel: "The international community must understand that the only way to save the Israelis and the Palestinians is to show the Israeli authorities that there is a price to pay for their unjust policy. There is a price for the occupation and for harming innocent people."
Yuval added that as in the time of apartheid, there is a need to boycott the Israeli academic establishment and companies, and more so those involved in military innovations and building in the colonial settlements. Omer added: "The occupation is corrupting Israel from within. It creates aggressive people and extreme chauvinism and makes people forget values such as solidarity and equality. The mandatory conscription to the IDF army is only the tip of the iceberg of that militarist state. Reservist service transforms Israel into a state in which each parent, teacher and employer continues to function as soldiers".
=================================
* The three refusnic activists were involved in the previous wave of high-school refusnics. All served a few months' time in prison, and participate in the Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall initiative.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
