Another Friday demonstration in the persistent joint struggle against the separation and occupation. We started at noon a march from the center of village to the route of the separation fence - Palestinians from Bil'in and from the region, international activists and Israelis of the anarchists against the fence initiative. We chanted all the way to the route of the separation fence - seeing on the way the state force provocateurs at the fringe of the built area of the village - waiting for the stone thrower youngsters.
When we arrived at the blocked gate to the route of the separation fence and to the village lands beyond it we confronted verbally the guards. few comrades succeeded to move the spool of barbed wire and penetrate to the narrow pass between it and the first fence on the side of the rote. Gradually, the nonviolent demonstration moved along the route and more comrades succeeded to cross the spools of the barbed wire.
This tactic continued till we arrived near a better crossing an the tired state force stopped trying to prevent us from crossing the barbed wire spools. All along the demonstration we could hear the regular confrontation of stones versus shock and tear gas grenades, and shooting with rubber coated bullets, from the fringe of the built area of the village.
About an hour after we arrived at the fence, the demonstration ended and we returned to the village.... but the action continued. In a kind of a gesture towards the stone throwing youngsters (part of whom arrived with us to the fence, but refrained from disrupt the demo by stone throwing there - as they often do....), most of the returning demonstrators confronted the state forces engaged in confrontation with the stone throwers at the fringe of the village, trying to make them go away. At a certain point lot of activists were in the same not yet finished building with state force gendarmes, who refused to go away. It developed to a physical confrontation and few activists were injured. After state force reinforcement arrived, the nonviolent activists left the arena.
In the afternoon news program of the main public radio channel, they reported that 80 demonstrators confronted state force at the route of the fence, and two gendarmes were injured.
(Just the usual creative disinformation, that try to put together the nonviolent demonstration against the fence [guarded usually by soldiers] with the stone throwers which confront the border police gendarmes a kilometer away at the fringe of the built area of the village.)
Friday, December 29, 2006
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Israel-Palestine, Links to Media posts on activities israeli anarchists against the wall were involved in 24 Dec 2006
Renewed web site of the Israeli anarchists against the wall (and occupation too..) http://awalls.org
Link to Media posts on activities israeli anarchists against the wall were involved in since 29/07/2003
http://awalls.org/topics/press_clippings since 29/07/2003
Link to Media posts on activities israeli anarchists against the wall were involved in since 29/07/2003
http://awalls.org/topics/press_clippings since 29/07/2003
Friday, December 22, 2006
Palestine-Israel, 100th weekly Friday joint demonstration in Bil'in against the separation fence and occupation 22 Dec 2006
The Israeli state still do not like the joint Friday demonstrations against the separation fence and occupation, (as was expressed by the patrolling armored car who found us waiting to the car to Bil'in and declared the area as closed military zone and ordered us to return to the Israeli territory.. which we ignored). However they adopted a less belligerent pattern. As usual there were Palestinians from the village, from neighboring villages, and from Ramallah, and as usual ISM international (including this day a two dozen strong delegation from Spain), and of course the Israeli activists of the anarchists against the wall that never missed any of the demos in Bil'in.
As usual we started at noon the march from center of village to the route of the separation fence. As usual we carried a banner and placards, chanting all the way. As usual we seen the border police gendarmes on the roof of the last house and around it as provocation inviting the youngsters of the village to start the usual battle of stones against shock and tear gas grenades and rubber coated bullets. As usual we marched the one kilometer road through the olive grooves. As usual we found the gate to the route of the separation route blocked, with few soldiers in front of it.
As usual, there was the verbal confrontation and and low intensity physical pushing to - mainly from the soldiers side. As usual (but not the previous Friday), there was also the "hero" youngster who throe few stones behind our backs and quickly run away... but not as usual, the soldiers did not respond with the usual barge of shock grenades... and the nonviolent demo continued without the expected disruption
after a while we started to walk along the rote of the fence and in many points comrades pulled the barbed wire spools protecting the fence of the rote the electronic one is in its middle. The less belligerent mode of the soldiers was expressed by their refraining from throwing on us shock or tear gas grenades or arresting the most daring - they just approached the ones who pulled the barbed wire and pushed them away....
As usual, we heard all along the grenades and the shooting from the fringe of the village - though it seemed to be in lower intensity than usual. We were able to pass the "war zone" and return to the village without the need for a long detour with only the remnants of tear gas bothering us.
As usual we started at noon the march from center of village to the route of the separation fence. As usual we carried a banner and placards, chanting all the way. As usual we seen the border police gendarmes on the roof of the last house and around it as provocation inviting the youngsters of the village to start the usual battle of stones against shock and tear gas grenades and rubber coated bullets. As usual we marched the one kilometer road through the olive grooves. As usual we found the gate to the route of the separation route blocked, with few soldiers in front of it.
As usual, there was the verbal confrontation and and low intensity physical pushing to - mainly from the soldiers side. As usual (but not the previous Friday), there was also the "hero" youngster who throe few stones behind our backs and quickly run away... but not as usual, the soldiers did not respond with the usual barge of shock grenades... and the nonviolent demo continued without the expected disruption
after a while we started to walk along the rote of the fence and in many points comrades pulled the barbed wire spools protecting the fence of the rote the electronic one is in its middle. The less belligerent mode of the soldiers was expressed by their refraining from throwing on us shock or tear gas grenades or arresting the most daring - they just approached the ones who pulled the barbed wire and pushed them away....
As usual, we heard all along the grenades and the shooting from the fringe of the village - though it seemed to be in lower intensity than usual. We were able to pass the "war zone" and return to the village without the need for a long detour with only the remnants of tear gas bothering us.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, Another quite Friday demonstration against the separation fence and occupation 15 Dec 2006
It is probably the ninety ninth (99) Friday demonstration in a row (since February 2005) of the joint struggle of the Bil'in people and the Israeli anarchists against the wall initiative. Though the separation fence had already been built in the region, and in spite of the Israeli supreme court of "justice" approval of the robbery of most of the village lands on the west side of the separation fence, and even when lot of the village people do not support the Friday demonstrations any more - the struggle continue. There are still enough people of the village, of the Israelis anarchists against the wall, international activists, and Palestinians out of the village who persist. This Friday about 80 of us marched at noon from the village center on the road towards the route of the separation fence. Holding some flags and placards, and chanting all the way we arrived at the blocked gate to the other side of the fence. (When we exited the built area of the village we have seen on the two sides of it the Israeli state force waiting for the stone throwing youngsters who engage them with the stones against shock and tear gas grenades and rubber coated bullets each Friday - after the nonviolent demonstration is already out of the village.)
When we arrived at the blocked gate, we found that like the previous Friday, the spools of barbed wire were not "protecting" the gate and the "ritual" of pulling it with response of shock grenades - that characterized previous demonstrations, was not carried out. Thus after some verbal confrontation with the soldiers protecting the closed gate we started to march along the separation fence. As usual, Few officers and a platoon of soldiers accompanied us to prevent "assault" on the spool of the barbed wire that protect the fence that protect the route the electronic fence pass in its middle.
As in the previous demonstration some of us pooled a bit, but stopped when the soldiers insist... some of us succeeded to pass the barbed wire and stand along the fence bordering the route, before the soldiers blocked the points the passing was possible at.
And as usual, there was there the verbal confrontation with the state force personal - mostly privates serving the mandatory 3 year service of high school graduates and their officers.
After a while, we started to return to the village. However, it was not so simple, as the area around the entrance of the road to the village was the war zone the confrontation between the village youngsters and the state force was continuing. So we made a long detour around them and arrived back to the center of the village without casualties.
When we arrived at the blocked gate, we found that like the previous Friday, the spools of barbed wire were not "protecting" the gate and the "ritual" of pulling it with response of shock grenades - that characterized previous demonstrations, was not carried out. Thus after some verbal confrontation with the soldiers protecting the closed gate we started to march along the separation fence. As usual, Few officers and a platoon of soldiers accompanied us to prevent "assault" on the spool of the barbed wire that protect the fence that protect the route the electronic fence pass in its middle.
As in the previous demonstration some of us pooled a bit, but stopped when the soldiers insist... some of us succeeded to pass the barbed wire and stand along the fence bordering the route, before the soldiers blocked the points the passing was possible at.
And as usual, there was there the verbal confrontation with the state force personal - mostly privates serving the mandatory 3 year service of high school graduates and their officers.
After a while, we started to return to the village. However, it was not so simple, as the area around the entrance of the road to the village was the war zone the confrontation between the village youngsters and the state force was continuing. So we made a long detour around them and arrived back to the center of the village without casualties.
Friday, December 8, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, The quietest Friday demonstration ... 08 Dec 2006
Comrade think this Friday demonstration was so (relatively) peaceful because we had as "visitors" the top activists of the international amnesty.
At noon, we started the march to the route of the fence as usual - Palestinians, internationals and Israelis of the anarchist against the wall initiative. Chanting and carrying placards and a big banner. On the way we have seen the Israeli state force personnel on the roof of the house at the end of the village and around it - waiting/provoking for village youth stone throwing confrontation. When we arrived at the route of the fence we found it blocked as usual with the heavy gate, an armored car, and few soldiers, but without the spools of barbed wire (we used to pull the previous Fridays and receiving in return shock grenade). Thus the confrontation was mostly verbal and a baton of a soldiers was snatched as a trophy - without the usual punishment of thrown grenades....
As the state forces refrained from throwing grenades, the few kids that usually come with the nonviolent demonstrators, respond to that with stones and put end to the nonviolent demonstration, had no excuse for their act. Thus, after a while they left us and returned to the village with out causing their usual havoc.
The rest of us started to walk along the fence looking for low intensity confrontation with a platoon of soldiers who "accompanied" us to prevent any assault of us against the fence of the route.
After a prolonged verbal confrontation mainly, we returned to the village, passing through the usual "war zone" between the stone throwers and the Israeli state force shock and tear gas grenades and rubber coated bullets.
At noon, we started the march to the route of the fence as usual - Palestinians, internationals and Israelis of the anarchist against the wall initiative. Chanting and carrying placards and a big banner. On the way we have seen the Israeli state force personnel on the roof of the house at the end of the village and around it - waiting/provoking for village youth stone throwing confrontation. When we arrived at the route of the fence we found it blocked as usual with the heavy gate, an armored car, and few soldiers, but without the spools of barbed wire (we used to pull the previous Fridays and receiving in return shock grenade). Thus the confrontation was mostly verbal and a baton of a soldiers was snatched as a trophy - without the usual punishment of thrown grenades....
As the state forces refrained from throwing grenades, the few kids that usually come with the nonviolent demonstrators, respond to that with stones and put end to the nonviolent demonstration, had no excuse for their act. Thus, after a while they left us and returned to the village with out causing their usual havoc.
The rest of us started to walk along the fence looking for low intensity confrontation with a platoon of soldiers who "accompanied" us to prevent any assault of us against the fence of the route.
After a prolonged verbal confrontation mainly, we returned to the village, passing through the usual "war zone" between the stone throwers and the Israeli state force shock and tear gas grenades and rubber coated bullets.
Saturday, December 2, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in Friday demonstration still going on even when no light is seen in the end of the tunnel 02 Dec 2006
Just like every other Friday of the last 21 months, we had today too, for a while, in Bil'in, the joint struggle of Israeli anarchists against the wall, international activists, and people of Bil;in. The electronic separation fence is already completed in west of Bil'in. The Israeli higher court of "justice" already demonstrated again what is the NaZionist meaning of "justice" and threw away the Bil'in protest about the theft of Bil'in lands for the building of another quarter in the settler colonialist town Modi'in Ilit. It will probably do the same to the protest about the route of the separation fence that grab more lands of Bil'in... But the struggle continue. Every day and every act of resistance is part of the "Tsumud" = "persistence" refusing to give in to the huge transfer started 1948, continued all the year and increased in momentum in 1967 occupation and more so in 2002 project of the separation fence.
At noon, we started as most of previous Friday demonstrations from the center of the village on the road to the west - now cut by the separation fence and gate to the West which is always closed for us at Friday noon.
We marched with placard, and a tractor with a plow, chanting all the way to the route of the fence. Just living the built area of the village we have seen Israeli state force on the roof of one of the building and around it - waiting for the usual Friday confrontation with the youngsters of the village so they will be able to report to the media there was violent confrontation in Bil'in - and not just a non violent demonstration.
On our way to the rout of the fence, two youngsters who prefer to throw stones behind the back of the nonviolent demonstration accompanied us - leaving behind the more authentic stone throwing youngsters to confront the state force.
When we arrived at the blocked gate to the route of the fence and to the West of it, we started verbal confrontation with the state force guarding the gate and pulling the spools of the barbed wire "protecting" the gate.
From time to time the soldiers threw on us shock grenades that did not deter us any more. At some stage they even threw on us a tear gas canister that was thrown back to them to enjoy their own "medicine".
At that minute the two "brave" youngsters threw few stones on the soldiers behind our backs and run away. Due to our persistence and the "lenience" of the soldiers who only threw of us few shock grenades, they failed to disrupt the nonviolent demonstration that continued till we decided to return to the village.
Not long afterwards two officers tried to arrest one of us for "bad behavior", but due to the resistance of the comrades around, the needed more and reinforcement. When they were already 20, they did succeed to take him prisoner, to be released 2 hours later from the not far away police station in the Settlement Givat Ze'ev, on condition he will refrain from demonstrate in Bil'in for 15 days.
It seems that only three of the demonstrators were injured a bit in the confrontation.
At noon, we started as most of previous Friday demonstrations from the center of the village on the road to the west - now cut by the separation fence and gate to the West which is always closed for us at Friday noon.
We marched with placard, and a tractor with a plow, chanting all the way to the route of the fence. Just living the built area of the village we have seen Israeli state force on the roof of one of the building and around it - waiting for the usual Friday confrontation with the youngsters of the village so they will be able to report to the media there was violent confrontation in Bil'in - and not just a non violent demonstration.
On our way to the rout of the fence, two youngsters who prefer to throw stones behind the back of the nonviolent demonstration accompanied us - leaving behind the more authentic stone throwing youngsters to confront the state force.
When we arrived at the blocked gate to the route of the fence and to the West of it, we started verbal confrontation with the state force guarding the gate and pulling the spools of the barbed wire "protecting" the gate.
From time to time the soldiers threw on us shock grenades that did not deter us any more. At some stage they even threw on us a tear gas canister that was thrown back to them to enjoy their own "medicine".
At that minute the two "brave" youngsters threw few stones on the soldiers behind our backs and run away. Due to our persistence and the "lenience" of the soldiers who only threw of us few shock grenades, they failed to disrupt the nonviolent demonstration that continued till we decided to return to the village.
Not long afterwards two officers tried to arrest one of us for "bad behavior", but due to the resistance of the comrades around, the needed more and reinforcement. When they were already 20, they did succeed to take him prisoner, to be released 2 hours later from the not far away police station in the Settlement Givat Ze'ev, on condition he will refrain from demonstrate in Bil'in for 15 days.
It seems that only three of the demonstrators were injured a bit in the confrontation.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, 21 months of Fridays demonstrations against occupation and separation fence] 25 Nov 2006
This Friday was just another sunny day of the late Autumn. A contingent of Israeli activists of the anarchists against the wall from the Tel Aviv region and Jerusalem arrived in Bil'in at the late morning. There we met some of the local activists we have shaking hands and hugged for so many times - in Fridays and in week days of joint struggle. With a warm comrade gesture we were given the Palestinian newspaper AlKuds from the beginning of the week - where a large photograph of our Saturday direct action (near Gaza) was on the front page. At noon, a moderate size demonstration of Palestinians (mostly from Bil'in), international activists and Israelis started the march towards the route of the separation fence. At the front was a tractor which was lately prevented from passing the fence to its West side and plow there lands of the village.
Chanting all the way we arrived at the blocked gate to route of the fence and to the other side of it. There started the usual verbal confrontation with the soldiers blocking our way - behind the gate fortified with spools of barbed wire. One of the village activists who tried to pass the block was detained. many of the others started to pull the spools of barbed wire with short breaks when the disapproving state forces threw shock grenades...
When the spools were nearly removed, an action was started by about 5 "brave" stone throwers who accompanied the demonstration instead of confronting like the other stone throwers with the soldiers positioned at the outskirts of the village. They wanted to start stone throwing just when the demo arrived at the fence but were talked out of it along some 30 minutes till they defy requests and past agreement not to disrupt the nonviolent demonstration.
As expected, the state force responded with barrage of shock grenades and fire of live ammunition in the air. However, the nonviolent demonstrators who got used to the sporadic explosions of shock grenades during the spools pulling did not run far away as in previous cases. And as the "brave" stone throwers who found that our backs are not protecting them any more fled fast and faraway, allowing the nonviolent demonstrators to continue the pulling of the barbed wire spools and the low intensity confrontation with the state force.
At a point where the spool were nearly untangled, 4 officers of the state force - including two lieutenants and a captain, came forward to "protect" the closed gate and a stand still was arrived at.
This way we continued another hour in which the international activists and the media workers of various local and international channels were debriefed.
Then the demonstration was declared as finished and we started to return to the village. As usual, we had to leave the road to detour the road at the entrance to the village as it was as usual the war zone where lot of village youngsters confronted with stones a contingent of Israel state force who responded with tear gas and shock grenades and shooting bullets coated with rubber.
Here two one of the "brave" stone throwers sneaked behind our backs trying to use us as a shield while trowing stones... but was shamed into going away.
When I returned home in the late afternoon I heard the afternoon news of the main public channel reporting about the Bil'in demonstration - as they do so often on Fridays. (It reported about 100 participants and 6 injured, with out discerning between the nonviolent demonstration at the route of the fence (more than kilometer from the village buildings), and the stone throwing confrontation at the courtyards in the outskirt of the village.
Ilan S.
See:
http://awalls.org
http://matzpen.org
http://shalif.com/anarchy
Chanting all the way we arrived at the blocked gate to route of the fence and to the other side of it. There started the usual verbal confrontation with the soldiers blocking our way - behind the gate fortified with spools of barbed wire. One of the village activists who tried to pass the block was detained. many of the others started to pull the spools of barbed wire with short breaks when the disapproving state forces threw shock grenades...
When the spools were nearly removed, an action was started by about 5 "brave" stone throwers who accompanied the demonstration instead of confronting like the other stone throwers with the soldiers positioned at the outskirts of the village. They wanted to start stone throwing just when the demo arrived at the fence but were talked out of it along some 30 minutes till they defy requests and past agreement not to disrupt the nonviolent demonstration.
As expected, the state force responded with barrage of shock grenades and fire of live ammunition in the air. However, the nonviolent demonstrators who got used to the sporadic explosions of shock grenades during the spools pulling did not run far away as in previous cases. And as the "brave" stone throwers who found that our backs are not protecting them any more fled fast and faraway, allowing the nonviolent demonstrators to continue the pulling of the barbed wire spools and the low intensity confrontation with the state force.
At a point where the spool were nearly untangled, 4 officers of the state force - including two lieutenants and a captain, came forward to "protect" the closed gate and a stand still was arrived at.
This way we continued another hour in which the international activists and the media workers of various local and international channels were debriefed.
Then the demonstration was declared as finished and we started to return to the village. As usual, we had to leave the road to detour the road at the entrance to the village as it was as usual the war zone where lot of village youngsters confronted with stones a contingent of Israel state force who responded with tear gas and shock grenades and shooting bullets coated with rubber.
Here two one of the "brave" stone throwers sneaked behind our backs trying to use us as a shield while trowing stones... but was shamed into going away.
When I returned home in the late afternoon I heard the afternoon news of the main public channel reporting about the Bil'in demonstration - as they do so often on Fridays. (It reported about 100 participants and 6 injured, with out discerning between the nonviolent demonstration at the route of the fence (more than kilometer from the village buildings), and the stone throwing confrontation at the courtyards in the outskirt of the village.
Ilan S.
See:
http://awalls.org
http://matzpen.org
http://shalif.com/anarchy
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Italy: "Resistance, disobedience, solidarity" - report of an evening with an Israeli refusnik [it] 21 Nov 2006
On Monday 20th November 2006 at the Istituto Tecnico-Commerciale Battisti in Fano, eastern Italy, with Lior Volinytz, a 19-year-old Israeli refusnik and activist in the Anarchists Against the Wall initiative. Attendance was quite good, with around 60 people present, mostly young secondary school students. Lior spoke about how he became an anti-militarist, about his decision to refuse military service and finally about his decision to join the Anarchists Against he Wall initiative, an Israeli movement that supports the non-violent struggle of Palestinian villagers against the Wall, in particular in Bil'in where fore the past 20 months, every Friday the village's Popular Committee organizes a non-violent demonstration against the Wall with the cooperation of international activists, Israelis from Anarchists Against the Wall and others.
There was strong reaction from the slides that Lior showed and the videos of the demonstrations against Israel's militarist policies in Tel Aviv and against the Separation Wall at Bil'in in Palestine, where the IDF does not hesitate to use violent methods against non-violent demonstrators. Answering questions from the audience, Lior clearly illustrated the strategy of the Wall to isolate the Palestinians and to steal their land far beyond the 1967 Green Line, all with the vital support they receive from the colonist lobby, mostly fascists and religious fundamentalists, many of whom are sent into Palestinian territory from the Israeli government itself.
The initiative was organized by the "FuoriTempo" association together with other local groups, with the cooperation of the FdCA's Fano/Pesaro branch, in particular with regard to Italian-language material on the activities of Anarchists Against The Wall and the libertarian left in Israel.
D.R. Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici - Fano/Pesaro Branch http://www.fdca.it/fdcaen
From: Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici
There was strong reaction from the slides that Lior showed and the videos of the demonstrations against Israel's militarist policies in Tel Aviv and against the Separation Wall at Bil'in in Palestine, where the IDF does not hesitate to use violent methods against non-violent demonstrators. Answering questions from the audience, Lior clearly illustrated the strategy of the Wall to isolate the Palestinians and to steal their land far beyond the 1967 Green Line, all with the vital support they receive from the colonist lobby, mostly fascists and religious fundamentalists, many of whom are sent into Palestinian territory from the Israeli government itself.
The initiative was organized by the "FuoriTempo" association together with other local groups, with the cooperation of the FdCA's Fano/Pesaro branch, in particular with regard to Italian-language material on the activities of Anarchists Against The Wall and the libertarian left in Israel.
D.R. Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici - Fano/Pesaro Branch http://www.fdca.it/fdcaen
From: Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici
Friday, November 17, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, Just a regular act of joint struggle against the fence and occupation. 17 Nov 2006
For long we have already stopped to count the Friday demonstration and other direct actions we did together in Bil'in since February 2005 (more than hundred joint confrontations with the Israeli state forces, by the Bil'in villagers together with the Israeli activists of the anarchists against the wall and international activists. To day we started as usual at noon with the march on the road leading to the route of the separation fence. Chanting all the way to the blocked gate to the route and beyond. On the way we could see the Israeli soldiers standing near the last houses of the village, waiting in provocation for the stone thrower youth. Most of the youth dispersed on the two sides of the road waiting for the usual confrontation to start. About 5 of them "joined" the match towards the blocked gate to the route, to throw stones behind the backs of the non violent demonstration.
When we arrived at the blocked gate we seen that the state forces fortified it with lot of spools of barbed wire. The more daring demonstrators were not satisfied by merely verbal confrontation and started to pool the barbed wire so the gate will not be blocked.... From time to time, the state forces threw shock grenades, but the experienced demonstrators just moved a meter or so from grenades and continue pooling.
Standing on elevated ground near the gate I seen there the stone throwers contemplating when to start to throw the stone behind our backs. After a while, one of the started to count loudly and at three they threw a short shower of stones and run away - leaving the nonviolent demonstrators to receive the retaliation of the state forces to continue their throwing from a less dangerous distance.
The state forces used plenty of shock grenades, tear gas canisters and even shoot metal bullets covered by rubber.
On our way back we seen a group of soldiers who forced their way to the roof of a house in the outskirt of the village and was shooting and throwing grenades on the stone throwers and the returning demonstrators. Few Israelis and local comrades confronted them verbally and it took long time till they got down from the roof.
During the time of confrontation till we returned to Tel Aviv, one Palestinian was hit with a bullet to his head and was rushed to hospital. One Israeli comrade was hit a bit less seriously in her belly. Many had nasty experience with the tear gas.
When we arrived at the blocked gate we seen that the state forces fortified it with lot of spools of barbed wire. The more daring demonstrators were not satisfied by merely verbal confrontation and started to pool the barbed wire so the gate will not be blocked.... From time to time, the state forces threw shock grenades, but the experienced demonstrators just moved a meter or so from grenades and continue pooling.
Standing on elevated ground near the gate I seen there the stone throwers contemplating when to start to throw the stone behind our backs. After a while, one of the started to count loudly and at three they threw a short shower of stones and run away - leaving the nonviolent demonstrators to receive the retaliation of the state forces to continue their throwing from a less dangerous distance.
The state forces used plenty of shock grenades, tear gas canisters and even shoot metal bullets covered by rubber.
On our way back we seen a group of soldiers who forced their way to the roof of a house in the outskirt of the village and was shooting and throwing grenades on the stone throwers and the returning demonstrators. Few Israelis and local comrades confronted them verbally and it took long time till they got down from the roof.
During the time of confrontation till we returned to Tel Aviv, one Palestinian was hit with a bullet to his head and was rushed to hospital. One Israeli comrade was hit a bit less seriously in her belly. Many had nasty experience with the tear gas.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Palestine Israel, Azun Atme, A new front of joint struggle against the separation fence and occupation 16 Nov 2006
Azun Atme is a typical Palestinian village. Less than two thousands inhabitants, and many of his adults are working their land. In many ways it is not so typical as it has modern hothouse agriculture - in addition to the traditional olive grooves. It is also different as it is cut by the separation fence that pass on its East. About a month ago the village was notified that there will be built a separation fence that will encircle the village from all sides and will robe 4 thousand dunams (4 square kilometers) of its land. It will also encircle as separate entity a small part of the village on the the other side of the road that was built to serve the near by Israeli colonial settlements. A delegation of the anarchists against the wall initiative was invited to a meeting to discus the option for joint struggle and today was the first demonstration against the new separation fence that was already started to be built.
Around noon, a group of activists of the AATW joined two hundreds of Azun villagers (including few of its females and some old people) near the municipality house and started a long march towards the site of the works on the separation fence. The marchers held high lot of banners and flags.
When we were on our way from the intersection to the village and when we assembled near the municipality armored cars of the Israeli forces showed their presence. When we arrived near the fence building site few armed cars and a chain of soldiers blocked our way.
After half an hour nearly quiet stand still the commander declared the area behind the road block as closed military area threating to arrest any one who will cross that line. Then a belligerent sergeant started to harass some children and activists of AATW confronted him and made him stop.
After another hour the demonstration ended and every one returned home.
It was a strange experience to see and hear talking two inhabitants of a near by Israeli colonialist settlement who came to the demonstration in support to the objection to the new fence surrounding the Azun village.
Around noon, a group of activists of the AATW joined two hundreds of Azun villagers (including few of its females and some old people) near the municipality house and started a long march towards the site of the works on the separation fence. The marchers held high lot of banners and flags.
When we were on our way from the intersection to the village and when we assembled near the municipality armored cars of the Israeli forces showed their presence. When we arrived near the fence building site few armed cars and a chain of soldiers blocked our way.
After half an hour nearly quiet stand still the commander declared the area behind the road block as closed military area threating to arrest any one who will cross that line. Then a belligerent sergeant started to harass some children and activists of AATW confronted him and made him stop.
After another hour the demonstration ended and every one returned home.
It was a strange experience to see and hear talking two inhabitants of a near by Israeli colonialist settlement who came to the demonstration in support to the objection to the new fence surrounding the Azun village.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, Friday demonstration continue and draw supporters from all over the world. 10 Nov 2006
This Friday demonstration was following a Thursday meeting of the Bil'in popular comity for struggle against the separation fence and activists of the anarchists against the wall initiative. In the meeting we discussed the strategy for the near future struggle and today's demo. In this demo who started at noon from the village center towards the route of the separation fence participated the usual Bil'in villagers, Israeli anarchists against the wall, ISM internationalists and also a delegation of white haired old time activists from France, including the comrade injured in Bil'in last Friday by Israeli live amunition. We marched along the road chanting as usual, and to the sound drams with black ribos... We roused the memory of thr people murderd at Beit Hanun by Israeli artilery and the second year for the death of the late Yaser Arafat.
When we arrived at the route of the fence and the blocked entrance to it by the Israeli stae forces one of the marchers gave a speach. Then, we along the fence that border the route in the middle of it pass the electronic separation fence.
On our way we dragged from their place along the border of the route sections of the barbed wire spool. The soldiers did not like it and tried to deter us with shock grenades and even some tear gas canisters. We were not deterred by the noise of the shock grenades. We threw away or back to the soldiers tear gas canisters and suffered a bit the tear gas... but were not deterred.
After a protracted confrontation - including verbal, we reached a point where the fence bordering the route was less prohibiting. While the few soldiers following us tried to stop us, most of the demonstrators who were around, succeeded to enter the route and stay near the electronic fence and even touch it. At that point, lot of the soldiers who harried to block us just confronted physically the few of us who failed to enter the route of the fence.
After a long hour, we decided to return to the village taking a long route so we will evade the battle ground between the stone throwers and the state forces.
This Friday most of the stone throwers respected the agreement with the popular comity to do their acts not within the nonviolent demonstration. Few of them who did not respected it were driven away when they tried to disrupt our activity at the fence by stone throwing.
With the "music" of the shooting of rubber coated bullets and grenades from the battle ground, most of us returned for a meeting summing this Friday demo, some of us - mainly the photographers stayed behind to document the struggle between the state force and the stone throwers to supply some protection by deterring the use of live ammunition, as the soldiers did use last Friday demonstrations - injuring with it the neck of a 13 year old kid and the hand of a 69 year old participant of the France delegation of activists.
When we arrived at the route of the fence and the blocked entrance to it by the Israeli stae forces one of the marchers gave a speach. Then, we along the fence that border the route in the middle of it pass the electronic separation fence.
On our way we dragged from their place along the border of the route sections of the barbed wire spool. The soldiers did not like it and tried to deter us with shock grenades and even some tear gas canisters. We were not deterred by the noise of the shock grenades. We threw away or back to the soldiers tear gas canisters and suffered a bit the tear gas... but were not deterred.
After a protracted confrontation - including verbal, we reached a point where the fence bordering the route was less prohibiting. While the few soldiers following us tried to stop us, most of the demonstrators who were around, succeeded to enter the route and stay near the electronic fence and even touch it. At that point, lot of the soldiers who harried to block us just confronted physically the few of us who failed to enter the route of the fence.
After a long hour, we decided to return to the village taking a long route so we will evade the battle ground between the stone throwers and the state forces.
This Friday most of the stone throwers respected the agreement with the popular comity to do their acts not within the nonviolent demonstration. Few of them who did not respected it were driven away when they tried to disrupt our activity at the fence by stone throwing.
With the "music" of the shooting of rubber coated bullets and grenades from the battle ground, most of us returned for a meeting summing this Friday demo, some of us - mainly the photographers stayed behind to document the struggle between the state force and the stone throwers to supply some protection by deterring the use of live ammunition, as the soldiers did use last Friday demonstrations - injuring with it the neck of a 13 year old kid and the hand of a 69 year old participant of the France delegation of activists.
Friday, November 3, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, Israeli state forces shoot again live ammunition on demonstrators 03 Nov 2006
This friday demonstration was a relatively successful one. At noon, about 100 of us - Palestinians, internationals and Israelis of the anarchists against the wall initiative, started the 21 months in a row Friday demo. (About 100 and more joint actions of the village popular comity and Israeli anarchists against the wall - with international activists of the ISM mainly. This Friday we had two large contingents from Belgium and France. We marched as usual with chanting along the road leading to the route of the separation fence. (With two regular fences fortified with barbed wire spools on the two sides of the route and the erectric fence in its middle.)
As we do from time to time we did not continue to the blocked gate of the route, but went through the olive groove to a breach in the first fence and started to enter through it to the route. Surprised state forces tried to detere us with tear gas canisters and shock grenades, but many of us succeeded to enter and approached gates to the other side of the fence.
There the state forces gave a fight and moved reinforcemen so few of us who succeeded to pass had to retreat. We had a long low attrition verbal and physical attrition confrontation with the soldiers who blocked our free march within the route along the fence. Sometimes comrades threw away tear gas canister so the gas will not harm us once even throwing back tear gas canister which sofocated the soldiers who then were more restraint in tear gas canister throwing.... At some point, the soldiers yielded a bit and let the demonstrators who could not enter the fence route due to tear gas attack on the breach in the fence join us through the main gate....
After a long confrontation we decided toreturn to the village and the soldiers even cut for us the barbed wire that blocked the main gate from the route to the village.
As happen often lately, the youth who confront with stones the state forces engaged the contingents of gendarmes and soldiers who are sent to the outskirt of the village to provoke them. This way they respect the fragile agreement not to mix with us and not to throw stones behind our backs that give the state forces excuse to assoult us nonviolent demonstrators.
When we approached the fringe of the village we found our way blocked by a battle field between the stone throwers and the state forces. We even were witnesses to a police car entrupted for a while in a small alley by stone throwers. A bit later reinforcement of the state forces arrived and harased some of the demonstrators who failed to pass around the battle ground through the hills...
One of the Israelis was detained there for a while till she was released from the gendarm's car. The hand of an international activist age 69 was shoot at with live ammunition and was taken with ambulance to hospital in Ramalla, three Palestinians were injured less seriously. Lot of us suffered from non voluntary inhaling of tear gas of the new and more pungent strain tested last few weeks in Bil'in.
(It is well known and was even often in the Israeli media that the Israeli state forces using the assoults on the Bil'in Friday demonstrations as a test ground for various "nonlethal" means for dispersing crowds.)
The Israeli public radio channel and the main internet portals reported about the injured oldee activist and even brought our protest about the use of live ammunition that was shoot at him.
As we do from time to time we did not continue to the blocked gate of the route, but went through the olive groove to a breach in the first fence and started to enter through it to the route. Surprised state forces tried to detere us with tear gas canisters and shock grenades, but many of us succeeded to enter and approached gates to the other side of the fence.
There the state forces gave a fight and moved reinforcemen so few of us who succeeded to pass had to retreat. We had a long low attrition verbal and physical attrition confrontation with the soldiers who blocked our free march within the route along the fence. Sometimes comrades threw away tear gas canister so the gas will not harm us once even throwing back tear gas canister which sofocated the soldiers who then were more restraint in tear gas canister throwing.... At some point, the soldiers yielded a bit and let the demonstrators who could not enter the fence route due to tear gas attack on the breach in the fence join us through the main gate....
After a long confrontation we decided toreturn to the village and the soldiers even cut for us the barbed wire that blocked the main gate from the route to the village.
As happen often lately, the youth who confront with stones the state forces engaged the contingents of gendarmes and soldiers who are sent to the outskirt of the village to provoke them. This way they respect the fragile agreement not to mix with us and not to throw stones behind our backs that give the state forces excuse to assoult us nonviolent demonstrators.
When we approached the fringe of the village we found our way blocked by a battle field between the stone throwers and the state forces. We even were witnesses to a police car entrupted for a while in a small alley by stone throwers. A bit later reinforcement of the state forces arrived and harased some of the demonstrators who failed to pass around the battle ground through the hills...
One of the Israelis was detained there for a while till she was released from the gendarm's car. The hand of an international activist age 69 was shoot at with live ammunition and was taken with ambulance to hospital in Ramalla, three Palestinians were injured less seriously. Lot of us suffered from non voluntary inhaling of tear gas of the new and more pungent strain tested last few weeks in Bil'in.
(It is well known and was even often in the Israeli media that the Israeli state forces using the assoults on the Bil'in Friday demonstrations as a test ground for various "nonlethal" means for dispersing crowds.)
The Israeli public radio channel and the main internet portals reported about the injured oldee activist and even brought our protest about the use of live ammunition that was shoot at him.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Israel, Tel Aviv Demo at 15:00 today in front of the mexican embassy Mon, 30 Oct 2006
First the invitation sent this night to the mailing list of the radical left* and to the list of the anarchists against the wall (in both English and Hebrew URGENT: Demo at 15:00 today (12:00 GMT)in front of the Mexican embassy Mexican paramilitaries murdered 5 people in Oaxaca since Saturday in an attempt to break the teachers strike, and federal police forces are now moving in trying to occupy the city. The strikers are calling for mass demonstrations and resistance. Efforts are mostly centered around the university.
There has also been a call for international solidarity.
We'll hold a solidarity demonstration today (Monday) in front the Mexican embassy tomorrow at 15:00 - Hamered St 25 (near the carmel market) Bring signs if you can.
More info: http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/index.html
And we had our vigil in front of the building the Mexican embassy is located. We were about 20 people - one from the general radical left and 19 of the subscribers of the anarchists against the wall list (mostly anarchists).
We lighted candles and held placards with a relevant content and flags with the anarchist A in circle on them.
There were some educational talks with few passers by of the half deserted business street. passer by in cars and busses read our placards. A noise "orchestra" made the occasion less sad a bit.
Surprise surprise, in contradiction to the heavy police presence, a person of the Mexican embassy approach our vigil and invited a delegation to enter the embassy... which returned after half an hour with copies of a kind of apologetic text translated in the embassy into Hebrew.
=======================================
* ActLeft, action list in Israel-Palestine.
For international (outside of Israel-Palestine) networking about Israel-Palestine peace activities, see Encounter-EMEM:
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/Encounter-EMEM
Roughly 200 Israelis and Palestinians turned out for a protest march Saturday against the construction of a new West Bank viaduct that will be open to Israeli traffic only.
The viaduct will run along the existing Route 60 from the Etzion settlement bloc to El Arub.
Among the demonstrators were activists from all the Palestinian factions, including Fatah and Hamas, as well as members of Israeli organizations "Anarchists Against the Fence," "Ta'ayush," and "Fighters for Peace."
The demonstrators said the viaduct, which they termed an "apartheid road," not only discriminates on the basis of race but will also necessitate the expropriation of land from the Palestinian villages of Halhul, Beit Umar, and El Arub.
"This is a protest against the apartheid road that will be constructed," said Ta'ayush activist Avihai Sharon. "Route 60 will be for Palestinians, while above it a viaduct will be built for Jews only."
"The road will also steal land from Palestinian villages like Beit Umar and Halhul".
The march set out from Beit Umar and ended in the El Arub school. Cooperation between Hamas and Fatah activists was evident in the demonstration, despite the severe tensions between the two factions.
=============================
Published by Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz 23/12/2006
Copied from http://awalls.org
There has also been a call for international solidarity.
We'll hold a solidarity demonstration today (Monday) in front the Mexican embassy tomorrow at 15:00 - Hamered St 25 (near the carmel market) Bring signs if you can.
More info: http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/index.html
And we had our vigil in front of the building the Mexican embassy is located. We were about 20 people - one from the general radical left and 19 of the subscribers of the anarchists against the wall list (mostly anarchists).
We lighted candles and held placards with a relevant content and flags with the anarchist A in circle on them.
There were some educational talks with few passers by of the half deserted business street. passer by in cars and busses read our placards. A noise "orchestra" made the occasion less sad a bit.
Surprise surprise, in contradiction to the heavy police presence, a person of the Mexican embassy approach our vigil and invited a delegation to enter the embassy... which returned after half an hour with copies of a kind of apologetic text translated in the embassy into Hebrew.
=======================================
* ActLeft, action list in Israel-Palestine.
For international (outside of Israel-Palestine) networking about Israel-Palestine peace activities, see Encounter-EMEM:
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/Encounter-EMEM
Roughly 200 Israelis and Palestinians turned out for a protest march Saturday against the construction of a new West Bank viaduct that will be open to Israeli traffic only.
The viaduct will run along the existing Route 60 from the Etzion settlement bloc to El Arub.
Among the demonstrators were activists from all the Palestinian factions, including Fatah and Hamas, as well as members of Israeli organizations "Anarchists Against the Fence," "Ta'ayush," and "Fighters for Peace."
The demonstrators said the viaduct, which they termed an "apartheid road," not only discriminates on the basis of race but will also necessitate the expropriation of land from the Palestinian villages of Halhul, Beit Umar, and El Arub.
"This is a protest against the apartheid road that will be constructed," said Ta'ayush activist Avihai Sharon. "Route 60 will be for Palestinians, while above it a viaduct will be built for Jews only."
"The road will also steal land from Palestinian villages like Beit Umar and Halhul".
The march set out from Beit Umar and ended in the El Arub school. Cooperation between Hamas and Fatah activists was evident in the demonstration, despite the severe tensions between the two factions.
=============================
Published by Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz 23/12/2006
Copied from http://awalls.org
Friday, October 27, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, A big demonstration to celebrate 20 months of joint struggle 27 Oct 2006
THE INVITATION: Back to Bil'in - Mass Demo, This Friday, Oct. 27th This coming Friday, October 27th, a large demonstration will be held in Bil'in, for the first time in a long period. Please join us and come to support the people of Bil'in in their just struggle in this critical time. Together we shall call: No to the wall! No to separation No to land grab! Please sign up today to the demonstration:
INVITING: The Israeli-Palestinian Coalition Against the Fence:
The Popular Committees against the Wall and Settlements in the West Bank, The Poplar Committee-Bilin, Gush-Shalom, Ta’ayush, Women’s Coalition for Peace, Yesh Gvul, New Profile, Yesh Din, Balad, ICAHD, Hadash, Maki, Banki, The Student Coalition -Tel Aviv University, Anarchists Against Walls.
THE DEMONSTRATION:
At noon, we started... about 300 participants - Israelis (with part of us having to defy harassment of Israeli state forces on the way to Bil'in), Internationals, and Palestinians from the village and from out of it. We marched and chanted carrying few leaders, with Palestinian flags, and whistles and "drams".
When we arrived at the blocked gate to the route of the separation fence and the Bil'in lands West of it, the commander declared as usual that the area is a closed military zone.
While most of us challenged the state force verbally, few of us used the leaders to cross the ditch bordering the route of the separation fence and the barbed wire protecting the fence of the route, and put a ladder on the second line. The state forces expressed their objection to that act with sporadic shock grenade and from time to time even tear gas canisters - some of them were hurled back and prevented the soldiers from harsher measures.
After about half an hour of low level confrontation, the stone throwers decided that our nonviolent demonstration reached its end. Behind our backs which protected them from rubber coated bullets, they started to throw stones on the Israeli state force and the demonstrators who stood near them.
As usual, the state forces started to disperse the nonviolent demonstration with shock grenades and tear gas canisters. The village comity declared the demonstration as finished, and called the people to return to the village. The majority of us escaped from the gate to a not far away point on the road with some defying the state forces and staying behind.
The state forces continue to harass us even after the stone throwers fled and as the wind blew the tear gas towards us we had to return hastily to the village.
During the confrontation with the state forces few of demonstrators were injured (two of them more seriously) and two Israelis were detained and released about an hour after the end of the demonstration.
INVITING: The Israeli-Palestinian Coalition Against the Fence:
The Popular Committees against the Wall and Settlements in the West Bank, The Poplar Committee-Bilin, Gush-Shalom, Ta’ayush, Women’s Coalition for Peace, Yesh Gvul, New Profile, Yesh Din, Balad, ICAHD, Hadash, Maki, Banki, The Student Coalition -Tel Aviv University, Anarchists Against Walls.
THE DEMONSTRATION:
At noon, we started... about 300 participants - Israelis (with part of us having to defy harassment of Israeli state forces on the way to Bil'in), Internationals, and Palestinians from the village and from out of it. We marched and chanted carrying few leaders, with Palestinian flags, and whistles and "drams".
When we arrived at the blocked gate to the route of the separation fence and the Bil'in lands West of it, the commander declared as usual that the area is a closed military zone.
While most of us challenged the state force verbally, few of us used the leaders to cross the ditch bordering the route of the separation fence and the barbed wire protecting the fence of the route, and put a ladder on the second line. The state forces expressed their objection to that act with sporadic shock grenade and from time to time even tear gas canisters - some of them were hurled back and prevented the soldiers from harsher measures.
After about half an hour of low level confrontation, the stone throwers decided that our nonviolent demonstration reached its end. Behind our backs which protected them from rubber coated bullets, they started to throw stones on the Israeli state force and the demonstrators who stood near them.
As usual, the state forces started to disperse the nonviolent demonstration with shock grenades and tear gas canisters. The village comity declared the demonstration as finished, and called the people to return to the village. The majority of us escaped from the gate to a not far away point on the road with some defying the state forces and staying behind.
The state forces continue to harass us even after the stone throwers fled and as the wind blew the tear gas towards us we had to return hastily to the village.
During the confrontation with the state forces few of demonstrators were injured (two of them more seriously) and two Israelis were detained and released about an hour after the end of the demonstration.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, The provocative strategy of the Israeli state force was exposed in the Friday demonstration. 20 Oct 2006
This Friday demonstration we choose entirely new path towards the separation fence. At noon, Palestinians, Israelis of the anarchists against the wall initiative, and internationals started the march towards the separation fence. However, when we approached the last building of the village, we left the road leading to the route of the fence and marched among the olive trees towards a breach in the fence of the the route of the electronic separation fence.
As the main force of the state force was among the olive trees within the village busy in the provoking of stone throwers, our march on a deviant path was not attended by them. Thus, we reached unhindered the breach in the fence, then we passed an open gate in the electronic fence, and just as we approached the gate to the other side of the route, the soldiers there intercepted us.
They just made a line and prevented us from passing to the other side of the route so we could go to the structure of the Bil'in center for joint struggle for peace. There we had the usual chanting and verbal confrontation, while we were sitting on the road between the fences.
We could hear far away - in the village, the confrontation between the state force and the stone throwers - explosion of shock and tear gas grenades and shooting of rubber rubbed bullets.
We pointed to the force commander the absurdity of the presence of his force at the far away village while the nonviolent demonstration is at the route of the fence. It was clear for all to see that the delegating of state force to the fringe of the village have nothing to do with the demonstration against the separation fence. It was clear they just do their most to provoke stone throwers so they will able to claim to the media that there was violence in Bil'in.
After a long while, we decided to go back to the village but the state force "punished" us and forced us to go back the same path we came instead of using the near by main road to the village.
While we were returning to the village we had to pass through the area where the state force was confronting the stone throwers, and one of us was injured by a rubber coated bullet.
As the main force of the state force was among the olive trees within the village busy in the provoking of stone throwers, our march on a deviant path was not attended by them. Thus, we reached unhindered the breach in the fence, then we passed an open gate in the electronic fence, and just as we approached the gate to the other side of the route, the soldiers there intercepted us.
They just made a line and prevented us from passing to the other side of the route so we could go to the structure of the Bil'in center for joint struggle for peace. There we had the usual chanting and verbal confrontation, while we were sitting on the road between the fences.
We could hear far away - in the village, the confrontation between the state force and the stone throwers - explosion of shock and tear gas grenades and shooting of rubber rubbed bullets.
We pointed to the force commander the absurdity of the presence of his force at the far away village while the nonviolent demonstration is at the route of the fence. It was clear for all to see that the delegating of state force to the fringe of the village have nothing to do with the demonstration against the separation fence. It was clear they just do their most to provoke stone throwers so they will able to claim to the media that there was violence in Bil'in.
After a long while, we decided to go back to the village but the state force "punished" us and forced us to go back the same path we came instead of using the near by main road to the village.
While we were returning to the village we had to pass through the area where the state force was confronting the stone throwers, and one of us was injured by a rubber coated bullet.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, The Friday demonstration in solidarity with Imad. 13 Oct 2006
This friday demo in Bil'in was in solidarity with Imad, the local video photographer who persisted in recording the Friday demos in Bil'in. He was arrested and beaten last Friday when documenting the Israeli state force atrocities in the village few hours after the regular nonviolent demonstration. The frustrated Israeli state forces who fail to subdue the stone throwers and invaded the village. In the absence of Israeli and media video camera men they regarded Imad as the only obstacle to the free expression of their fury. Their charges against him were so unreasonable that the military judge refuted them. His verdict to release him was contested by a higher level judge who agreed with the lower level one about the absurd accusations of Imad, but find in the recording by Imad some suspicious remarks - justifying the continuation of his arrest.
As usual, we started at noon our march from the center of the village on the road towards the route of the separation fence. Palestinians, internationals, and people mobilized by the Israeli anarchists against the wall initiative we marched with placards and flags - chanting all the way up to the blocked gate to the route of the separation fence. On the way we have seen the soldiers of the state forces among the olive trees on the border of the building area of the village - inviting the stone thrower youth for the usual confrontation.
In a way, they just served our purpose as the confrontation between them was thus far away from the non violent demonstration. Thus, we could do our thing without being injured by the stone throwers or the retaliation of the state forces.
When we arrived at the blocked gate, the commander recited as on the previous cases that the route of the fence is a closed military zone, and the usual low intensity confrontation - mainly verbal continued.
As usual, the state forces left one meter opening not blocked by the armored cars and the gate, inviting physical confrontation. One palestinian comrade invaded the route starting an effort to detain him. In response, 5 Israelis forced their way to the route to prevent his arrest. At the end of the confrontation a 16 years old Israeli girl was the only detainee while The Palestinian comrade was dearrested, and so were the other 4 Israelis.
After a while, the village comity declared the end of the demonstration and we returned to the village, passing near the stone throwers - hearing from time to time shots of rubber coated bullets and the explosions of tear gas grenades.
Some time after the end of the demonstration the detained Israeli comrade was released in the near by intersection on the Israeli side of the green line.
As usual, we started at noon our march from the center of the village on the road towards the route of the separation fence. Palestinians, internationals, and people mobilized by the Israeli anarchists against the wall initiative we marched with placards and flags - chanting all the way up to the blocked gate to the route of the separation fence. On the way we have seen the soldiers of the state forces among the olive trees on the border of the building area of the village - inviting the stone thrower youth for the usual confrontation.
In a way, they just served our purpose as the confrontation between them was thus far away from the non violent demonstration. Thus, we could do our thing without being injured by the stone throwers or the retaliation of the state forces.
When we arrived at the blocked gate, the commander recited as on the previous cases that the route of the fence is a closed military zone, and the usual low intensity confrontation - mainly verbal continued.
As usual, the state forces left one meter opening not blocked by the armored cars and the gate, inviting physical confrontation. One palestinian comrade invaded the route starting an effort to detain him. In response, 5 Israelis forced their way to the route to prevent his arrest. At the end of the confrontation a 16 years old Israeli girl was the only detainee while The Palestinian comrade was dearrested, and so were the other 4 Israelis.
After a while, the village comity declared the end of the demonstration and we returned to the village, passing near the stone throwers - hearing from time to time shots of rubber coated bullets and the explosions of tear gas grenades.
Some time after the end of the demonstration the detained Israeli comrade was released in the near by intersection on the Israeli side of the green line.
Friday, October 6, 2006
Subject: (en) Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, the joint struggle still continur and kicking 06 Oct 2006
This Friday we kept the tradition of joint struggle against the separation fence and occupation demonstration in spite of the Ramadan fasting and hot whether. About 50 people - Palestinians, internationals and a dozen Israelis from the anarchist against the wall initiative. We marched at noon from the center of the village to the gate to the route of the separation fence - chanting the usual rimes. When we arrived at the blocked gate to the route we found that the state forces kept a narrow opening to enable - or better to lure us into a controlled physical confrontation. Few people tried to pass through the opening and two of them were roughly detained - to be released later.
After the usual (mostly verbal) confrontation with the state force gendarmes, just before ending the demonstration, the unruly youngsters started to throw stones at the gate keepers, which was surely in order to provoke them to harass the participants of the nonviolent demonstrators.
(This is one of the expressions of the prolonged conflict in the village between the supporters of the nonviolent joint struggle with the Israelis and the opponents find is the stone throwing on the Israeli state forces confronting the Friday nonviolent demonstrators. This usually give the state forces an excuse to attack the nonviolent demonstrators. It was a big surprise to day that they did not do so - they just restricting themselves to the confrontation with the stone throwers.
To evade the state force harassment we left the area near the gate and started to walk back to the village along the fence (instead of the road which was turned a war zone between the state force shooting rubber coated bullets and tear gas grenades and the stones throwing youngsters). However, this Friday the state forces tried again to force us to pass through the war zone by blocking our way with tear gas canisters... So we returned to the gate but this time we went back to the village the other way through the near by olive grove and evaded both the state force and the stone throwers.
See also: http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_eileen_f_061002_anarchist_or_prophet.htm
After the usual (mostly verbal) confrontation with the state force gendarmes, just before ending the demonstration, the unruly youngsters started to throw stones at the gate keepers, which was surely in order to provoke them to harass the participants of the nonviolent demonstrators.
(This is one of the expressions of the prolonged conflict in the village between the supporters of the nonviolent joint struggle with the Israelis and the opponents find is the stone throwing on the Israeli state forces confronting the Friday nonviolent demonstrators. This usually give the state forces an excuse to attack the nonviolent demonstrators. It was a big surprise to day that they did not do so - they just restricting themselves to the confrontation with the stone throwers.
To evade the state force harassment we left the area near the gate and started to walk back to the village along the fence (instead of the road which was turned a war zone between the state force shooting rubber coated bullets and tear gas grenades and the stones throwing youngsters). However, this Friday the state forces tried again to force us to pass through the war zone by blocking our way with tear gas canisters... So we returned to the gate but this time we went back to the village the other way through the near by olive grove and evaded both the state force and the stone throwers.
See also: http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_eileen_f_061002_anarchist_or_prophet.htm
Thursday, October 5, 2006
Italy: FdCA Press Release 05 Oct 2006
In Cremona, northern Italy, on Saturday 30th September and Sunday 1st October the Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici (Federation of Anarchist Communists - FdCA) celebrated it first 20 years of political activity and held its 7th National Congress, the highest decision-making body of the Federation.
On the Saturday, there was the celebration of our anniversary, with a review of anarchist communist political and organizational history, both leading up to the birth of the FdCA in 1986 and over the following twenty years of activity in support of self-managed and anti-authoritarian social, labour and cultural strugles. On the Sunday, instead, the FdCA's 7th National Congress successfully established a renewed, indispensable unity on certain areas of basic strategy such as the role of international capitalism and US imperialism today, and also initiated a process of reflection and theoretical development on the question of "the State". Congress also produced a final programmatic document with the aim of orienting the FdCA's political and social action over the coming years.
The FdCA would like to thank the comrades of the CSA Kavarna in Cremona for their generous hospitality and cooperation. We thank Carlo Ghirardato for his wonderful concert dedicated to the works and memory of Fabrizio De André, and also the many comrades (at least two generations of anarchist communist militants) who came from all over Italy to join in this event. We also take this opportunity to thank the individual and organizations who sent their greetings from abroad: the Workers Solidarity Alliance (WSA) of New York, Jose Maria Olaizola of Apoyo Mutuo in Spain, Ilan Shalif of Anarchists Against the Walls in Israel, Alternative Libertaire from France, the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation from southern Africa, the North-Eastern Federation of Anarchist Communists (NEFAC) from USA/Canada, the Organization of Anarchists of Greece (OAE), Anarchist Communist Initiative and the Tachanka Anarchist Communist Collective from Istanbul and Ankara respectively, the Coletivo pró Organização Anarquista em Goiás and the Fórum do Anarquismo Organizado (FAO) from Brazil, the Organisation Socialiste Libertaire (OSL) from Switzerland.
The support of our various comrades, the international solidarity, the collective vision that links all the members of the FdCA, all this is vital and the best encouragement to go on with what we have started, to continue growing stronger and spreading anarchist communist ideas in the social struggles and in the mass organization, in order to build the libertarian alternative.
4 ottobre 2006
FdCA-Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici
http://www.fdca.it/fdcaen
On the Saturday, there was the celebration of our anniversary, with a review of anarchist communist political and organizational history, both leading up to the birth of the FdCA in 1986 and over the following twenty years of activity in support of self-managed and anti-authoritarian social, labour and cultural strugles. On the Sunday, instead, the FdCA's 7th National Congress successfully established a renewed, indispensable unity on certain areas of basic strategy such as the role of international capitalism and US imperialism today, and also initiated a process of reflection and theoretical development on the question of "the State". Congress also produced a final programmatic document with the aim of orienting the FdCA's political and social action over the coming years.
The FdCA would like to thank the comrades of the CSA Kavarna in Cremona for their generous hospitality and cooperation. We thank Carlo Ghirardato for his wonderful concert dedicated to the works and memory of Fabrizio De André, and also the many comrades (at least two generations of anarchist communist militants) who came from all over Italy to join in this event. We also take this opportunity to thank the individual and organizations who sent their greetings from abroad: the Workers Solidarity Alliance (WSA) of New York, Jose Maria Olaizola of Apoyo Mutuo in Spain, Ilan Shalif of Anarchists Against the Walls in Israel, Alternative Libertaire from France, the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation from southern Africa, the North-Eastern Federation of Anarchist Communists (NEFAC) from USA/Canada, the Organization of Anarchists of Greece (OAE), Anarchist Communist Initiative and the Tachanka Anarchist Communist Collective from Istanbul and Ankara respectively, the Coletivo pró Organização Anarquista em Goiás and the Fórum do Anarquismo Organizado (FAO) from Brazil, the Organisation Socialiste Libertaire (OSL) from Switzerland.
The support of our various comrades, the international solidarity, the collective vision that links all the members of the FdCA, all this is vital and the best encouragement to go on with what we have started, to continue growing stronger and spreading anarchist communist ideas in the social struggles and in the mass organization, in order to build the libertarian alternative.
4 ottobre 2006
FdCA-Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici
http://www.fdca.it/fdcaen
Friday, September 29, 2006
Subject: (en) Palestine Israel, Bil'in, the joint struggle continue in spite of hot whether and Ramadan fasting 29 Sep 2006
This Friday demonstration was on both Muslim Ramadan (day hours fasting) and Jewish new year... and an exceptional early Autumn Hamsin (hot and dry whether) day. In spite of these the traditional Friday demonstration was not abolished. At noon, about 60 people - Palestinians, internationals and Israelis of the anarchists against the wall initiative started the march on the road towards the separation fence. In spite of the small number, the Ramadan fasting and very hot whether the marching was fast and was accompanied by chanting. When we reached the fence of the last house of the village we had a surprise: the Israeli state forces who confronted us there for the last month trying to put end to the Friday demonstrations with all means they had, were absent. We could see them far away at the entrance to the route of the fence. So, we continued marching not knowing what to expect.
When we arrived at the gate to the route of the separation fence, we still did not know what to expect. The "welcome" words of the commander of state forces was the declaration of the area as a closed military zone. However he immediately added that we can do there our demonstration as long as we do not try to force our way.
When few of us tried to push forward the commander ordered to arrest any one who will really cross the line, but as a matter of fact the half hearted push got a "gentle" counter push - no use of batons or arrests.
For a short while we stayed there telling the state forces what we think on them and afterwards started to return to the village.
On our way we could hear from the olive trees orchards on the two sides of the road the confrontation between teams of state forces sent to provoke the stone throwing youth, and the youth. We hear the shooting of the rubber coated bullets and seeing some of stone throwers in action.
Another week of joint struggle of Israelis and the people of Bil'in against the separation fence and occupation. It started Monday at a tract of land on the West of of the separation fence within the settler colonialist town. We erected there a sign board declaring the intended building of hotel Falastin. We did it on the exact piece of land the settler colonialists had to cover with earth and give back to the Bil'in villager owner - after building there a two lanes road and a square. See: http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/09/25/bilin-hotel/
When we arrived at the gate to the route of the separation fence, we still did not know what to expect. The "welcome" words of the commander of state forces was the declaration of the area as a closed military zone. However he immediately added that we can do there our demonstration as long as we do not try to force our way.
When few of us tried to push forward the commander ordered to arrest any one who will really cross the line, but as a matter of fact the half hearted push got a "gentle" counter push - no use of batons or arrests.
For a short while we stayed there telling the state forces what we think on them and afterwards started to return to the village.
On our way we could hear from the olive trees orchards on the two sides of the road the confrontation between teams of state forces sent to provoke the stone throwing youth, and the youth. We hear the shooting of the rubber coated bullets and seeing some of stone throwers in action.
Another week of joint struggle of Israelis and the people of Bil'in against the separation fence and occupation. It started Monday at a tract of land on the West of of the separation fence within the settler colonialist town. We erected there a sign board declaring the intended building of hotel Falastin. We did it on the exact piece of land the settler colonialists had to cover with earth and give back to the Bil'in villager owner - after building there a two lanes road and a square. See: http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/09/25/bilin-hotel/
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, A big demonstration to celebrate 20 months of joint struggle 27 Oct 2006
THE INVITATION: Back to Bil'in - Mass Demo, This Friday, Oct. 27th This coming Friday, October 27th, a large demonstration will be held in Bil'in, for the first time in a long period. Please join us and come to support the people of Bil'in in their just struggle in this critical time. Together we shall call: No to the wall! No to separation No to land grab! Please sign up today to the demonstration: INVITING: The Israeli-Palestinian Coalition Against the Fence: The Popular Committees against the Wall and Settlements in the West Bank, The Poplar Committee-Bilin, Gush-Shalom, Ta'ayush, Women's Coalition for Peace, Yesh Gvul, New Profile, Yesh Din, Balad, ICAHD, Hadash, Maki, Banki, The Student Coalition -Tel Aviv University, Anarchists Against Walls.
THE DEMONSTRATION: At noon, we started... about 300 participants - Israelis (with part of us having to defy harassment of Israeli state forces on the way to Bil'in), Internationals, and Palestinians from the village and from out of it. We marched and chanted carrying few leaders, with Palestinian flags, and whistles and "drams".
When we arrived at the blocked gate to the route of the separation fence and the Bil'in lands West of it, the commander declared as usual that the area is a closed military zone.
While most of us challenged the state force verbally, few of us used the leaders to cross the ditch bordering the route of the separation fence and the barbed wire protecting the fence of the route, and put a ladder on the second line. The state forces expressed their objection to that act with sporadic shock grenade and from time to time even tear gas canisters - some of them were hurled back and prevented the soldiers from harsher measures.
After about half an hour of low level confrontation, the stone throwers decided that our nonviolent demonstration reached its end. Behind our backs which protected them from rubber coated bullets, they started to throw stones on the Israeli state force and the demonstrators who stood near them.
As usual, the state forces started to disperse the nonviolent demonstration with shock grenades and tear gas canisters. The village comity declared the demonstration as finished, and called the people to return to the village. The majority of us escaped from the gate to a not far away point on the road with some defying the state forces and staying behind.
The state forces continue to harass us even after the stone throwers fled and as the wind blew the tear gas towards us we had to return hastily to the village.
During the confrontation with the state forces few of demonstrators were injured (two of them more seriously) and two Israelis were detained and released about an hour after the end of the demonstration.
THE DEMONSTRATION: At noon, we started... about 300 participants - Israelis (with part of us having to defy harassment of Israeli state forces on the way to Bil'in), Internationals, and Palestinians from the village and from out of it. We marched and chanted carrying few leaders, with Palestinian flags, and whistles and "drams".
When we arrived at the blocked gate to the route of the separation fence and the Bil'in lands West of it, the commander declared as usual that the area is a closed military zone.
While most of us challenged the state force verbally, few of us used the leaders to cross the ditch bordering the route of the separation fence and the barbed wire protecting the fence of the route, and put a ladder on the second line. The state forces expressed their objection to that act with sporadic shock grenade and from time to time even tear gas canisters - some of them were hurled back and prevented the soldiers from harsher measures.
After about half an hour of low level confrontation, the stone throwers decided that our nonviolent demonstration reached its end. Behind our backs which protected them from rubber coated bullets, they started to throw stones on the Israeli state force and the demonstrators who stood near them.
As usual, the state forces started to disperse the nonviolent demonstration with shock grenades and tear gas canisters. The village comity declared the demonstration as finished, and called the people to return to the village. The majority of us escaped from the gate to a not far away point on the road with some defying the state forces and staying behind.
The state forces continue to harass us even after the stone throwers fled and as the wind blew the tear gas towards us we had to return hastily to the village.
During the confrontation with the state forces few of demonstrators were injured (two of them more seriously) and two Israelis were detained and released about an hour after the end of the demonstration.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle in Bil'in overcome harasments of stae forces 23 Sep 2006
This Friday the demonstration against the separation fence and the occupation was a bit more lively. It seems it was because of the Wednesday "hafla" party at the outpost of Bil'in center for joint struggle for peace (built on the Bil'in lands the separation fence intend to rob). It was for celebrating Limor Goldstein out of hospital after the operation to extract the bullet shot to his brain about a month ago in the Friday demo in Bil'in. At noon, we started the usual march from the center of the village on the road leading to the route of the separation fence. We were about hundred people - Palestinians from the village and from the region, Israelis of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative, and internationals. It was the usual chanting and singing till we reached the outskirts of the built area of the village. There, we encountered the Israeli state force of border police gendarmes blocking the road. This time, like the previous one they did not declare the demo illegal or the area closed military zone for the out of village participants. It seems the media scandal and our refusing to yield forced a change in policy. As they were 20 meter inside the village built zone, the verbal confrontation with them even resulted in their retreat these 20 meters to the exact point in the road.
After a non friendly confrontation there with chanting and exchange of words with them the 30 minutes of the demo previously decided on ended. As the stone throwers were already in positions on the two sides of the road leading to the center of the village, we took a detour path around the village buildings. When we cleared the blocked road we could hear the commander of state force order his gendarmes to advance towards the village to confront the potential stone throwers. Their advance was responded with a barrage of stones one of them broke the jaw of one of them.
While the confrontation of stones versus shock and tear gas grenades and shots of rubber coated bullets continued, we completed our detour, but as the road was not free to pass some of us were accepted the invitation to sit in the shade adjacent to a hose near the road. The state forces - in a measure never taken before during the year and a half Friday demonstrations, forced us to leave the shade and tried to push us to the road leading to the center of the village as a live shield to them in their confrontation with the stone throwers. Though they threatened with arrests, pushed us and threatened with arrests and hit with their batons, we refused to yield to their wish. We "escaped" between the courtyards of the neighborhood on the side of the road, (except only one member of the village comity who was arrested and released after an hour or so). With the help of the members of the village popular comity for the nonviolent struggle against the separation fence and occupation we found our way through courtyards and fences. They made special efforts to help us two oldies (me 69 and S. 77) to find the easiest way and pass the fences.
The younger participants infiltrated back to the outskirts of the village confronting the state forces who were forced to retreat from the village.
Then, while the confrontation between the stone throwers and the state forces continued we took the transportation back to Tel Aviv.
After a non friendly confrontation there with chanting and exchange of words with them the 30 minutes of the demo previously decided on ended. As the stone throwers were already in positions on the two sides of the road leading to the center of the village, we took a detour path around the village buildings. When we cleared the blocked road we could hear the commander of state force order his gendarmes to advance towards the village to confront the potential stone throwers. Their advance was responded with a barrage of stones one of them broke the jaw of one of them.
While the confrontation of stones versus shock and tear gas grenades and shots of rubber coated bullets continued, we completed our detour, but as the road was not free to pass some of us were accepted the invitation to sit in the shade adjacent to a hose near the road. The state forces - in a measure never taken before during the year and a half Friday demonstrations, forced us to leave the shade and tried to push us to the road leading to the center of the village as a live shield to them in their confrontation with the stone throwers. Though they threatened with arrests, pushed us and threatened with arrests and hit with their batons, we refused to yield to their wish. We "escaped" between the courtyards of the neighborhood on the side of the road, (except only one member of the village comity who was arrested and released after an hour or so). With the help of the members of the village popular comity for the nonviolent struggle against the separation fence and occupation we found our way through courtyards and fences. They made special efforts to help us two oldies (me 69 and S. 77) to find the easiest way and pass the fences.
The younger participants infiltrated back to the outskirts of the village confronting the state forces who were forced to retreat from the village.
Then, while the confrontation between the stone throwers and the state forces continued we took the transportation back to Tel Aviv.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, The provocative strategy of the Israeli state force was exposed in the Friday demonstration. 20 Oct 2006
This Friday demonstration we choose entirely new path towards the separation fence. At noon, Palestinians, Israelis of the anarchists against the wall initiative, and internationals started the march towards the separation fence. However, when we approached the last building of the village, we left the road leading to the route of the fence and marched among the olive trees towards a breach in the fence of the the route of the electronic separation fence. As the main force of the state force was among the olive trees within the village busy in the provoking of stone throwers, our march on a deviant path was not attended by them. Thus, we reached unhindered the breach in the fence, then we passed an open gate in the electronic fence, and just as we approached the gate to the other side of the route, the soldiers there intercepted us.
They just made a line and prevented us from passing to the other side of the route so we could go to the structure of the Bil'in center for joint struggle for peace. There we had the usual chanting and verbal confrontation, while we were sitting on the road between the fences.
We could hear far away - in the village, the confrontation between the state force and the stone throwers - explosion of shock and tear gas grenades and shooting of rubber rubbed bullets.
We pointed to the force commander the absurdity of the presence of his force at the far away village while the nonviolent demonstration is at the route of the fence. It was clear for all to see that the delegating of state force to the fringe of the village have nothing to do with the demonstration against the separation fence. It was clear they just do their most to provoke stone throwers so they will able to claim to the media that there was violence in Bil'in.
After a long while, we decided to go back to the village but the state force "punished" us and forced us to go back the same path we came instead of using the near by main road to the village.
While we were returning to the village we had to pass through the area where the state force was confronting the stone throwers, and one of us was injured by a rubber coated bullet.
They just made a line and prevented us from passing to the other side of the route so we could go to the structure of the Bil'in center for joint struggle for peace. There we had the usual chanting and verbal confrontation, while we were sitting on the road between the fences.
We could hear far away - in the village, the confrontation between the state force and the stone throwers - explosion of shock and tear gas grenades and shooting of rubber rubbed bullets.
We pointed to the force commander the absurdity of the presence of his force at the far away village while the nonviolent demonstration is at the route of the fence. It was clear for all to see that the delegating of state force to the fringe of the village have nothing to do with the demonstration against the separation fence. It was clear they just do their most to provoke stone throwers so they will able to claim to the media that there was violence in Bil'in.
After a long while, we decided to go back to the village but the state force "punished" us and forced us to go back the same path we came instead of using the near by main road to the village.
While we were returning to the village we had to pass through the area where the state force was confronting the stone throwers, and one of us was injured by a rubber coated bullet.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Palestin-Israel, Bil'in, The joint struggle against the occupation and the separation fence nearly back to normal 15 Sep 2006
This Friday demonstration was influenced very much by the exposing of the border police brutality in the Israeli media, and the return to the agenda of the failure of the application of the naked force by Israeli state. May be the 5 minute clip about the brutality suppression of the demonstrations in Bil'in in the second TV channel did the trick. Any way after a month of efforts to abolish the weekly demonstrations in Bil'in, this friday the Israeli forces did not declare it illegal and did not try to disperse us. As usual, we started at noon the march from the village center on the road leading to the route of the separation fence - Palestinians from Bil'in and from the region, internationals, Israelis from the anarchists against the wall and others. We marched chanting and some time even singing till we reached the last house of the village.
There, we encountered border police troupe who blocked the road and forbidden us from continue to the route of the fence. As we refused to yield without struggle, there started an attrition struggle of pushing mainly. We advanced few meters, and most of us were pushed back few meters - like in previous times, though they succeeded after a while to push most of us to the line of last house, few of us remained behind their line. Though some of them threatened us with their batons, during the pushing, they had strict order not to hit us too hard. Never the less they were not too gentle and few comrades were hurt and some even slightly injured.
This time, the agreement with the stone throwers was respected by them. They did not throw stones were we demonstrated - not before the demonstrated declared ended, and even later they did not throw it on the retreating demonstrators. To be on the safe side when we ended the demonstration we returned in a round about route so not to pass through the stone war zone.
In spite of the provocation of the border police who sent small groups to the orchards on the side of the road, they could not start the stone throwing too early.
When we were returning to the center of the village we could hear the confrontation of the border police and the stone throwers as the police shoot rubber coated bullets.
There, we encountered border police troupe who blocked the road and forbidden us from continue to the route of the fence. As we refused to yield without struggle, there started an attrition struggle of pushing mainly. We advanced few meters, and most of us were pushed back few meters - like in previous times, though they succeeded after a while to push most of us to the line of last house, few of us remained behind their line. Though some of them threatened us with their batons, during the pushing, they had strict order not to hit us too hard. Never the less they were not too gentle and few comrades were hurt and some even slightly injured.
This time, the agreement with the stone throwers was respected by them. They did not throw stones were we demonstrated - not before the demonstrated declared ended, and even later they did not throw it on the retreating demonstrators. To be on the safe side when we ended the demonstration we returned in a round about route so not to pass through the stone war zone.
In spite of the provocation of the border police who sent small groups to the orchards on the side of the road, they could not start the stone throwing too early.
When we were returning to the center of the village we could hear the confrontation of the border police and the stone throwers as the police shoot rubber coated bullets.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, The Friday demonstration in solidarity with Imad. 13 Oct 2006
This friday demo in Bil'in was in solidarity with Imad, the local video photographer who persisted in recording the Friday demos in Bil'in. He was arrested and beaten last Friday when documenting the Israeli state force atrocities in the village few hours after the regular nonviolent demonstration. The frustrated Israeli state forces who fail to subdue the stone throwers and invaded the village. In the absence of Israeli and media video camera men they regarded Imad as the only obstacle to the free expression of their fury. Their charges against him were so unreasonable that the military judge refuted them. His verdict to release him was contested by a higher level judge who agreed with the lower level one about the absurd accusations of Imad, but find in the recording by Imad some suspicious remarks - justifying the continuation of his arrest.
As usual, we started at noon our march from the center of the village on the road towards the route of the separation fence. Palestinians, internationals, and people mobilized by the Israeli anarchists against the wall initiative we marched with placards and flags - chanting all the way up to the blocked gate to the route of the separation fence. On the way we have seen the soldiers of the state forces among the olive trees on the border of the building area of the village - inviting the stone thrower youth for the usual confrontation.
In a way, they just served our purpose as the confrontation between them was thus far away from the non violent demonstration. Thus, we could do our thing without being injured by the stone throwers or the retaliation of the state forces.
When we arrived at the blocked gate, the commander recited as on the previous cases that the route of the fence is a closed military zone, and the usual low intensity confrontation - mainly verbal continued.
As usual, the state forces left one meter opening not blocked by the armored cars and the gate, inviting physical confrontation. One palestinian comrade invaded the route starting an effort to detain him. In response, 5 Israelis forced their way to the route to prevent his arrest. At the end of the confrontation a 16 years old Israeli girl was the only detainee while The Palestinian comrade was dearrested, and so were the other 4 Israelis.
After a while, the village comity declared the end of the demonstration and we returned to the village, passing near the stone throwers - hearing from time to time shots of rubber coated bullets and the explosions of tear gas grenades.
Some time after the end of the demonstration the detained Israeli comrade was released in the near by intersection on the Israeli side of the green line.
As usual, we started at noon our march from the center of the village on the road towards the route of the separation fence. Palestinians, internationals, and people mobilized by the Israeli anarchists against the wall initiative we marched with placards and flags - chanting all the way up to the blocked gate to the route of the separation fence. On the way we have seen the soldiers of the state forces among the olive trees on the border of the building area of the village - inviting the stone thrower youth for the usual confrontation.
In a way, they just served our purpose as the confrontation between them was thus far away from the non violent demonstration. Thus, we could do our thing without being injured by the stone throwers or the retaliation of the state forces.
When we arrived at the blocked gate, the commander recited as on the previous cases that the route of the fence is a closed military zone, and the usual low intensity confrontation - mainly verbal continued.
As usual, the state forces left one meter opening not blocked by the armored cars and the gate, inviting physical confrontation. One palestinian comrade invaded the route starting an effort to detain him. In response, 5 Israelis forced their way to the route to prevent his arrest. At the end of the confrontation a 16 years old Israeli girl was the only detainee while The Palestinian comrade was dearrested, and so were the other 4 Israelis.
After a while, the village comity declared the end of the demonstration and we returned to the village, passing near the stone throwers - hearing from time to time shots of rubber coated bullets and the explosions of tear gas grenades.
Some time after the end of the demonstration the detained Israeli comrade was released in the near by intersection on the Israeli side of the green line.
Friday, September 8, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, The disruption of the Friday demonstrations of joint struggle fail again 08 Sep 2006
This Friday too the Israeli state forces tried to disrupt the joint struggle against the separation fence and the occupation. As usual we started the march on the road leading towards the route of the separation fence at noon, from the center of village. When we arrived at the last building of the village, the Israeli border police soldiers demanded that we will disperse and immediately tried to disperse us. As their instructions did not allow them to shoot us, they tried the "milder" measures - few shock grenades that only make noise, pushing, and hitting people legs with clubs. However, they were very few and low motivated with inept commander. They started to force people on the road back, but most of us just stepped to the side of the road.... After a while they found that most of us stayed behind so they retreated and tried to push the stray ones back to the road.
After a lot of back and forth about 15 of the more experienced stayed behind while the state forces trying hard to heard the others to the village. And when they arrived at the first intersection of the village, the demonstrators just cut contact with them living the soldiers alone in the middle of the road, exposed to the stone throwers who hit them hard.
At that point, the nonviolent demonstration ended - living the arena for the usual war of attrition between the armed soldiers with their new riffles of bean-bag ammunition and the stone throwers.
This friday only one of us was seriously hit with a club on his arm.
After a lot of back and forth about 15 of the more experienced stayed behind while the state forces trying hard to heard the others to the village. And when they arrived at the first intersection of the village, the demonstrators just cut contact with them living the soldiers alone in the middle of the road, exposed to the stone throwers who hit them hard.
At that point, the nonviolent demonstration ended - living the arena for the usual war of attrition between the armed soldiers with their new riffles of bean-bag ammunition and the stone throwers.
This friday only one of us was seriously hit with a club on his arm.
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, The disruption of the Friday demonstrations of joint struggle fail again 08 Sep 2006
This Friday too the Israeli state forces tried to disrupt the joint struggle against the separation fence and the occupation. As usual we started the march on the road leading towards the route of the separation fence at noon, from the center of village. When we arrived at the last building of the village, the Israeli border police soldiers demanded that we will disperse and immediately tried to disperse us. As their instructions did not allow them to shoot us, they tried the "milder" measures - few shock grenades that only make noise, pushing, and hitting people legs with clubs. However, they were very few and low motivated with inept commander. They started to force people on the road back, but most of us just stepped to the side of the road.... After a while they found that most of us stayed behind so they retreated and tried to push the stray ones back to the road.
After a lot of back and forth about 15 of the more experienced stayed behind while the state forces trying hard to heard the others to the village. And when they arrived at the first intersection of the village, the demonstrators just cut contact with them living the soldiers alone in the middle of the road, exposed to the stone throwers who hit them hard.
At that point, the nonviolent demonstration ended - living the arena for the usual war of attrition between the armed soldiers with their new riffles of bean-bag ammunition and the stone throwers.
This friday only one of us was seriously hit with a club on his arm.
After a lot of back and forth about 15 of the more experienced stayed behind while the state forces trying hard to heard the others to the village. And when they arrived at the first intersection of the village, the demonstrators just cut contact with them living the soldiers alone in the middle of the road, exposed to the stone throwers who hit them hard.
At that point, the nonviolent demonstration ended - living the arena for the usual war of attrition between the armed soldiers with their new riffles of bean-bag ammunition and the stone throwers.
This friday only one of us was seriously hit with a club on his arm.
Israel-Palestine, Media, On a recent casualty in the joint struggle against the separation fence 08 Sep 2006
[The struggle against the separation fence intended to promote annexation of occupied Palestinian lands have not started in Bil'in. However, as it continue without a break for 19 months already it became a symbol. The struggle in Bil'in was initiated by the local popular comity in cooperation with the Israeli Anarchists Against The Wall initiative - of anarchists and other direct action nonauthoritarian activists against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and suppression of their people. Gradually, other people and organizations joined the struggle, on both sides of the separation fence - Palestinians and Israelis and international activists. Lot of people were injured by the Israeli forces during the activities against the separation fence - mostly Palestinians as the Israeli state forces have different rules of suppression for Jews and for Palestinians. The first time the Israeli state forces shoot on purpose an Israeli at his leg - about 3 years ago, the army supreme commander came to visit him at hospital to apologize. Gradually, the public opinion in Israel got used to it a bit and the latest case of Limor Goldstein drew only limited amount of responses. I.S.]
> One blow to the brain By Dalia Karpel
On Friday, August 11th, when the end of the Lebanon War was on the horizon, after several weeks in which no more than token protests had taken place in Bil'in, the weekly demonstration against the separation fence began. Border Police troops, who were waiting, threw stun grenades and fired rubber-coated metal bullets at the demonstrators, even before they left the village to head toward the fence. Limor Goldstein, 28, was wounded in the head by gunfire from a Border Police officer. As documented on the video that was being shot at the time there, two hours elapsed from the time he was injured until he was brought by ambulance to the emergency room at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer.
The village of Bil'in, located near Ramallah, has become a symbol of the struggle against the separation fence and has been the focal point for more than a year and a half of joint Palestinian-Israeli demonstrations, held on Fridays. While the protests are intended to be nonviolent, there have been violent clashes with security forces.
Limor Goldstein, a lawyer who was born in Germany and who holds permanent residency in Israel, was wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet that penetrated his brain. Goldstein, who speaks eight languages, says he is not a member of any of the protesting organizations.
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"I have no problem cooperating with them and I admire their persistent action, but I don't belong to any political organization. I prefer to remain autonomous," he says now.
In his room at the Re'ut Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Goldstein talks about that day in Bil'in. He looks gaunt and pale. His head is shaven and the marks from the stitches are clearly visible above his right ear, where the bullet penetrated. In a soft voice, nearly a whisper, he says that he still suffers from intense headaches and from pain in his ears and at the place where the bullet struck.
"I have problems with balance. The bullet shattered my skull and entered my brain. The doctors removed it as well as the bone fragments that damaged the brain tissue. They also removed the parts of the brain tissue that were damaged. The part of my brain that was hurt is responsible for visual processing. I have damage to the optic nerve in the left eye and my right eye was also hurt. The long-term damage will be measured over time. In about two months, I'm supposed to have an operation where they'll implant plastic in the area where they removed the bone.
"I have memory damage. I don't remember the faces of the doctors who treated me, and I've lost details of the event itself. I have a problem with orientation and with my sense of time. It's hard for me to distinguish between dream and reality. I wake up in the morning and start crying. Sometimes I wake up feeling like I'm supposed to accomplish some task, because that's what I've dreamed, and then I can't do it and I panic. Sometimes I wake up terrified that I have missed a few antibiotic infusions and that my life is in danger. I usually wake up before dawn and it's not easy.
"I was in Tel Hashomer for about a week and then I was transferred here, but then the wound became infected and they were worried about meningitis. I was brought back to the operating room at Tel Hashomer and they did a revised procedure on the wound. They removed the patch that was supposed to protect the brain but had become infected, and now the area is open. One bullet penetrated the brain and there was another bullet that didn't penetrate, but grazed my neck.
"I'm not depressed, but I feel an ongoing helplessness and disorientation. I have nightmares in which I relive what happened and see the Border Police troops coming closer and firing at me, and the road I'm walking on is covered with thousands of bullet casings.
"I can't read. Everything gets mixed up and it's exhausting and gives me headaches. I can't watch television. I listen to music and friends read to me. Now they're reading to me 'Sons of Our Neighborhood' by Naguib Mahfouz. My friends and I are organizing a big demonstration in Tel Aviv against police violence and against political oppression. The meetings take place here on the balcony."
'You're in Lebanon'
"On Friday, August 11, we left our apartment in Neveh Tzedek, my two roommates and I, and drove in the car of Ilan Shalif, a psychologist, to the weekly demonstration in Bil'in. The demonstration usually starts out from the village after the prayer service, at around one in the afternoon.
"That day, over 50 demonstrators had come, including Israelis, leftist activists from the anarchists and human rights activists and others, alongside international activists from the International Solidarity Movement. They were joined by residents of Bil'in. It was another weekly protest against the construction of the separation fence, during which we march toward the route of the fence.
Sometimes new people join us and that Friday there were some who'd taken part in the Queeruption Festival, a gay and lesbian political festival in Tel Aviv." (At the last Queeruption, which took place last year in Barcelona, it was decided that the next, ninth celebration of the event would be held in Tel Aviv in August 2006, as part of the global struggle for freedom, justice and self-definition).
"Before the demonstration started, we explained to the guests from Queeruption that there aren't always confrontations with the army and that lately, because of the war, the demonstrations had been very brief, and we'd just approached the separation fence route and stopped. We told them about a recent demonstration in which we stood by the fence route for a minute of silence in memory of the victims in Lebanon, and then returned.
"On that day we set out from one of the houses in Bil'in and very soon saw that the army was trying to prevent the demonstration from leaving the village. For anyone who doesn't know, the main road in the village leads to the home of a woman named Zohra, and after that, there's a turn that leads to the fence route. We saw the army waiting in front of Zohra's house and the soldiers standing next to their jeeps, blocking the way and shooting. It's hard for me to say just how many protesters were with us. There was a column of marchers with spaces between them - spread out in a line - and the army couldn't have seen exactly how many people had come.
"When my friend Francesca [last name witheld on her request] and I were marching, the soldiers already started firing rubber bullets in all directions and tossing stun grenades. The army, like I said, was still inside the village, before the descent to where the fence route is. One of the first things I saw was a guy who was wounded. He sat on the ground and looked confused and terrified, which didn't stop the soldiers from continuing to toss more stun grenades in our direction. Francesca and I wanted to help the guy get up, to move him out of there. When we turned around with our back to the soldiers, we saw soldiers on the right, in the olive and fig orchards. On the left was a wall of stones and several demonstrators rushed to find cover there. We went over there while Border Police troops were approaching us with their weapons drawn and firing.
"Francesca and I got pretty close to the guy who was sitting on the ground, covering his ears with his hands, his leg bleeding from a rubber bullet. A stun grenade went off next to him, which made him disoriented. We pulled him to the side and Francesca escorted him to a house behind us, so he could rest there.
"The shooting continued, and the soldiers' commander, who can be seen on the video without a helmet and holding a megaphone, kept yelling while his soldiers, who were walking on either side of him, kept on shooting nonstop. He yelled: 'Get out of here! There won't be any demonstration today. Now you're in Lebanon.' The rubber bullets were flying all around and a lot of people got hit in the legs. Today I know that I wasn't the only one who was hit: 12 demonstrators were hit by rubber bullets and about 10 were beaten by Border Police officers. One of the demonstrators, a young woman from Denmark, suffered a skull fracture as a result of a Border Police officer hitting her on the head with a rifle butt.
"Several demonstrators called out to the soldiers to stop shooting, telling them there were Israeli civilians in this demonstration, but they ignored them and kept on. I was standing by the stone wall as the soldiers kept getting closer and the commander was shouting into the megaphone, 'Get out of here!' Meanwhile, Francesca returned. Cameraman Jonathan Massey, was facing the soldiers and walking backward. They beat him with batons and yelled at him to stop filming. He tried to jump back. Francesca and I turned around to head back and I saw that they were coming toward us. We ducked and then I saw that they were aiming at us. I felt a strong blow to the head and then to the neck and I collapsed. I immediately realized that I'd fallen in a bad way because I hit the stones and since there was a slope, my head somehow got caught in barbed wire that was there and my hair, which was long then, got tangled up in it."
'It was shocking'
Francesca: "Limor's head was lying on a rock beneath the barbed wire that hurt his face, and there was hardly any space between his face and the wires. I tried to lift the barbed wires, but I couldn't, because they were taut. Together with another woman, we managed to lift the wires and free Limor's head. I can say for certain that the shooting was aimed at Limor. They picked him. We were both already on the way back to the village and with our backs to the soldiers and they aimed at him, and they could have aimed at me, too."
Goldstein: "The pain was sharp and concentrated on the left side of my head. There was bleeding, but not like with Matan Cohen, who was shot in Beit Sira. I remembered the poster that was put up in Tel Aviv after Cohen was struck in the eye by a bullet. It showed him lying in a pool of blood. I remember that Francesca and others called for help and asked for an ambulance or an army medic."
Francesca: "The soldiers kept passing by us as if nothing was wrong. Limor was on the ground bleeding and the shooting was still going on. One of the international demonstrators, Jenny, a medic by profession, held Limor's head. We knew you had to do that with a head injury. Then [another friend] Michal came to help. We kept on shouting, 'Ambulance, ambulance, army medic! There's an Israeli wounded in the head' - and the soldiers who passed by there said, 'You call an ambulance. We'll call an ambulance to the war in Lebanon.' Finally, someone came who said he was an army medic."
Goldstein: "An army medic came up to me. I asked for a drink and got water poured on my head. He asked me to move my hands. I told him that I didn't feel good, that my head and neck hurt. My hands were stiff."
Francesca: "The medic asked Limor what his name was and then he asked, 'How do you feel?' And Limor said, 'Bad, I have pain in my head and neck.' 'Move your legs,' the medic said. Limor moved his legs a little and the medic turned around and left without saying a word. It was shocking."
Goldstein: "The pain kept getting worse and it was really hot. I was very scared, because this whole time that was I lying there, the soldiers kept on shooting and the explosions from the stun grenades were especially frightening. Francesca kept on calling for help and Michal, who had medical equipment, tried to come over to me, but was prevented from doing so. 'You shot an Israeli in the head,' Francesca yelled, and the soldiers answered, 'There's no ambulance.' I lay there writhing in pain and heard everything."
Francesca: "Stun grenades were still being thrown. We kept Limor in the shade, and he was quiet and pale, and only said that he was hot and in pain. His hands seemed frozen. The muscles stiffened in response to the shock. The whole time we held his head and moistened his lips. The cameraman Jonathan Massey called out to the soldiers, 'You shot someone,' and one of the soldiers gave him a bandage and left. We cleaned the wound on Limor's head and bandaged it. We believed that an ambulance was on the way."
Goldstein: "People came up and asked what happened. I replied that I'd been shot in the head. I never lost consciousness for a moment. For about an hour I lay on the ground and it felt like an eternity. I just wanted to get out of there and I couldn't understand why I wasn't being taken away and I felt angry at these crazy guys who shoot at people from short range for no reason."
New political awareness
"When I came out of the operating room, the doctors said that they weren't sure if I'd be able to see or to move my limbs," Goldstein continues. "Now it looks like I won't be able to renew my driver's license in Israel, with such a poor field of vision. The first thing my mother said, when she arrived in Israel from Germany and came right to the hospital, is that it's unbelievable that they could shoot at civilians like that for no reason.
"I was born in Bremen, in northern Germany, in 1978, and I have a sister who's two years older than me. My father, Sorin Goldstein, was born in Romania the same year, 1949, that my mother, Rivka, was born in Ukraine. Each of them came to Israel on his own in 1969. My mother, who came from a religious family, didn't serve in the army and earned a degree in biology from Bar-Ilan University. After my father got out of the army, they met in Tel Aviv. My father's brother lived and worked in Germany, and my father decided to try his luck there. Now he works in insurance for auto exporting and my mother runs a microbiology lab in Bremen.
"My parents didn't have a common language aside from Hebrew. I finished high school in Bremen and decided to return to Israel then. I earned a law degree from the Hebrew University in 2001. Then I went back to Europe. For about six months I traveled around Romania and tried to improve my Romanian. Afterward, I went back to Germany and lived in Berlin, which is where my political awareness blossomed and where I started to deal with immigration issues. My connection to Israel goes way back. Every year, since I was a little kid, we'd come to Israel for vacations and I have family here, so I had a close connection to the place and to the Hebrew language.
"I returned to Israel in 2004 and began my internship with attorney Smadar Ben-Natan. I thought of working for Kav La'oved [a nonprofit organization that promotes workers' rights], but it didn't work out. But I soon realized that immigrant rights in Israel were in a sorry state. Through my internship, I learned about and became familiar with the reality of the occupation.
"The Ben-Natan firm had several appeals against the fence and we had a few cases in the military courts, which are a shocking sight in themselves. The whole time I followed what was going on in Bil'in and other villages where there were demonstrations against the separation fence. In 2005 I finished my internship and started working in the office of attorney Dan Assan, who specializes in human rights, in legal damages for Palestinians from the first intifada, or prisoners who were tortured under interrogation."
Security forces respond
Francesca: "After a lot of time passed, some soldiers came with a stretcher and acted like they were doing us a favor. About five or six of us lifted him, including myself, Michal, Jenny and the soldiers, and then one of the soldiers, a reservist who was a bit older, said that he refused to evacuate Limor 'until everyone gets out of here.'
"We pleaded with him and finally he relented. We took Limor on the stretcher to the place where the military jeeps were. As we were walking, a reservist came up to me and pushed me aside, using his rifle to do it. I waited a little on the side and then I went back and joined the stretcher bearers. Jenny held Limor's head until we reached the pickup truck and then they would only let Michal stay with him. They told the rest of us to get lost."
Michal A., who is studying English literature at Tel Aviv University: "Next to the military pickup truck two soldiers came and helped to lift the stretcher into the vehicle, which was filled with riot shields. The two soldiers were supposed to hold the stretcher, because the vehicle was going up an incline. I held Limor's head. During the trip, more and more shields fell on Limor, who didn't say a word. I asked the soldiers to help me move the shields off him. I asked the driver to slow down. It was a nightmare. We finally reached the gate below and the soldiers took the stretcher off the vehicle and put it down on the ground in the sun.
"Two medics came. They looked and said that he didn't look so good, but they didn't even take the bandage off his head. One medic said that a civilian ambulance should be called and the other said, 'No, we'll call a military ambulance.' They went back and forth for another 20 minutes and meanwhile he's lying in the sun. Not saying anything. I wet his lips. I literally forced them to move him to the shade, and the whole time I was worried about his neck, which still wasn't immobilized.
"At last a military ambulance came, and it was packed with all kinds of stuff. The medic got out and said, 'What do we have here?' He took off the bandage and looked, and then he ordered the soldiers to empty the ambulance. 'But take your time,' he said. Finally we left. I sat with Limor in the back and two people sat up front and the ambulance bounced down a dirt road and I shouted for them to slow down because of his neck ... and they didn't seem to care at all. Finally we reached Kiryat Sefer in Upper Modi'in and a Magen David Adom ambulance was waiting there. They immobilized Limor's neck and we drove about another 300 meters where, before the Shilat junction, an ambulance with emergency equipment was waiting.
"We got to the hospital two hours after Limor was shot. He was calm and conscious and at the hospital he gave his name and his ID number, even though he was in terrible pain. Throughout this arduous trip, he only moaned and tried to touch his head. When we entered the emergency room, he vomited."
That day, the Israel Defense Forces spokesman said that the Border Police officers acted in response, after the demonstrators threw rocks at them. But the video clearly shows that the troops shot without any warning and without any rock-throwing or other aggressive or provocative behavior on the part of the protesters. The video shows a Border Police officer firing at Goldstein from very short range, about 15 meters, while Goldstein stood across the road.
In fact, today, Border Police spokesman Avi Moshe does not wish to repeat the claim of the IDF spokesman, and prefers to begin his response with a description of other incidents in Bil'in: "First, let's point out that for weeks demonstrators have been coming to the separation fence in the vicinity of the village of Bil'in, causing provocations and disturbing the peace by throwing rocks and various objects at the Border Police and IDF forces in that location. In most of the events, a number of Border Police officers were injured, and some were even sent to the hospital. Let's also point out that in one case, when those demonstrators requested to speak with a Border Police officer there, and the officer agreed and came to talk with them, as soon as the officer turned around to head back toward the forces that were standing on the other side, the demonstrators suddenly started to hurl rocks at him and they wounded him in the head."
Only after this lengthy introduction does the Border Police spokesman offer this laconic response to the shooting of Goldstein: "As for this specific incident, it is under investigation in the Judea and Samaria District and when conclusions are reached, we will act accordingly."
Asked about the name of the policeman who shot attorney Goldstein, Moshe says: "I won't give you his name. As I said, when the investigation is complete, we will act in accordance with whatever is deemed necessary."
Goldstein, meanwhile, has this to say: "My personal story isn't the important element in this story. Not the fact that I was born in Germany or who my parents are. What matters is the message of what's happening in Bil'in and in the villages along the fence route. People are being shot. Lands are being appropriated. As soon as I get well I'll go back to Bil'in to demonstrate."
> One blow to the brain By Dalia Karpel
On Friday, August 11th, when the end of the Lebanon War was on the horizon, after several weeks in which no more than token protests had taken place in Bil'in, the weekly demonstration against the separation fence began. Border Police troops, who were waiting, threw stun grenades and fired rubber-coated metal bullets at the demonstrators, even before they left the village to head toward the fence. Limor Goldstein, 28, was wounded in the head by gunfire from a Border Police officer. As documented on the video that was being shot at the time there, two hours elapsed from the time he was injured until he was brought by ambulance to the emergency room at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer.
The village of Bil'in, located near Ramallah, has become a symbol of the struggle against the separation fence and has been the focal point for more than a year and a half of joint Palestinian-Israeli demonstrations, held on Fridays. While the protests are intended to be nonviolent, there have been violent clashes with security forces.
Limor Goldstein, a lawyer who was born in Germany and who holds permanent residency in Israel, was wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet that penetrated his brain. Goldstein, who speaks eight languages, says he is not a member of any of the protesting organizations.
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"I have no problem cooperating with them and I admire their persistent action, but I don't belong to any political organization. I prefer to remain autonomous," he says now.
In his room at the Re'ut Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Goldstein talks about that day in Bil'in. He looks gaunt and pale. His head is shaven and the marks from the stitches are clearly visible above his right ear, where the bullet penetrated. In a soft voice, nearly a whisper, he says that he still suffers from intense headaches and from pain in his ears and at the place where the bullet struck.
"I have problems with balance. The bullet shattered my skull and entered my brain. The doctors removed it as well as the bone fragments that damaged the brain tissue. They also removed the parts of the brain tissue that were damaged. The part of my brain that was hurt is responsible for visual processing. I have damage to the optic nerve in the left eye and my right eye was also hurt. The long-term damage will be measured over time. In about two months, I'm supposed to have an operation where they'll implant plastic in the area where they removed the bone.
"I have memory damage. I don't remember the faces of the doctors who treated me, and I've lost details of the event itself. I have a problem with orientation and with my sense of time. It's hard for me to distinguish between dream and reality. I wake up in the morning and start crying. Sometimes I wake up feeling like I'm supposed to accomplish some task, because that's what I've dreamed, and then I can't do it and I panic. Sometimes I wake up terrified that I have missed a few antibiotic infusions and that my life is in danger. I usually wake up before dawn and it's not easy.
"I was in Tel Hashomer for about a week and then I was transferred here, but then the wound became infected and they were worried about meningitis. I was brought back to the operating room at Tel Hashomer and they did a revised procedure on the wound. They removed the patch that was supposed to protect the brain but had become infected, and now the area is open. One bullet penetrated the brain and there was another bullet that didn't penetrate, but grazed my neck.
"I'm not depressed, but I feel an ongoing helplessness and disorientation. I have nightmares in which I relive what happened and see the Border Police troops coming closer and firing at me, and the road I'm walking on is covered with thousands of bullet casings.
"I can't read. Everything gets mixed up and it's exhausting and gives me headaches. I can't watch television. I listen to music and friends read to me. Now they're reading to me 'Sons of Our Neighborhood' by Naguib Mahfouz. My friends and I are organizing a big demonstration in Tel Aviv against police violence and against political oppression. The meetings take place here on the balcony."
'You're in Lebanon'
"On Friday, August 11, we left our apartment in Neveh Tzedek, my two roommates and I, and drove in the car of Ilan Shalif, a psychologist, to the weekly demonstration in Bil'in. The demonstration usually starts out from the village after the prayer service, at around one in the afternoon.
"That day, over 50 demonstrators had come, including Israelis, leftist activists from the anarchists and human rights activists and others, alongside international activists from the International Solidarity Movement. They were joined by residents of Bil'in. It was another weekly protest against the construction of the separation fence, during which we march toward the route of the fence.
Sometimes new people join us and that Friday there were some who'd taken part in the Queeruption Festival, a gay and lesbian political festival in Tel Aviv." (At the last Queeruption, which took place last year in Barcelona, it was decided that the next, ninth celebration of the event would be held in Tel Aviv in August 2006, as part of the global struggle for freedom, justice and self-definition).
"Before the demonstration started, we explained to the guests from Queeruption that there aren't always confrontations with the army and that lately, because of the war, the demonstrations had been very brief, and we'd just approached the separation fence route and stopped. We told them about a recent demonstration in which we stood by the fence route for a minute of silence in memory of the victims in Lebanon, and then returned.
"On that day we set out from one of the houses in Bil'in and very soon saw that the army was trying to prevent the demonstration from leaving the village. For anyone who doesn't know, the main road in the village leads to the home of a woman named Zohra, and after that, there's a turn that leads to the fence route. We saw the army waiting in front of Zohra's house and the soldiers standing next to their jeeps, blocking the way and shooting. It's hard for me to say just how many protesters were with us. There was a column of marchers with spaces between them - spread out in a line - and the army couldn't have seen exactly how many people had come.
"When my friend Francesca [last name witheld on her request] and I were marching, the soldiers already started firing rubber bullets in all directions and tossing stun grenades. The army, like I said, was still inside the village, before the descent to where the fence route is. One of the first things I saw was a guy who was wounded. He sat on the ground and looked confused and terrified, which didn't stop the soldiers from continuing to toss more stun grenades in our direction. Francesca and I wanted to help the guy get up, to move him out of there. When we turned around with our back to the soldiers, we saw soldiers on the right, in the olive and fig orchards. On the left was a wall of stones and several demonstrators rushed to find cover there. We went over there while Border Police troops were approaching us with their weapons drawn and firing.
"Francesca and I got pretty close to the guy who was sitting on the ground, covering his ears with his hands, his leg bleeding from a rubber bullet. A stun grenade went off next to him, which made him disoriented. We pulled him to the side and Francesca escorted him to a house behind us, so he could rest there.
"The shooting continued, and the soldiers' commander, who can be seen on the video without a helmet and holding a megaphone, kept yelling while his soldiers, who were walking on either side of him, kept on shooting nonstop. He yelled: 'Get out of here! There won't be any demonstration today. Now you're in Lebanon.' The rubber bullets were flying all around and a lot of people got hit in the legs. Today I know that I wasn't the only one who was hit: 12 demonstrators were hit by rubber bullets and about 10 were beaten by Border Police officers. One of the demonstrators, a young woman from Denmark, suffered a skull fracture as a result of a Border Police officer hitting her on the head with a rifle butt.
"Several demonstrators called out to the soldiers to stop shooting, telling them there were Israeli civilians in this demonstration, but they ignored them and kept on. I was standing by the stone wall as the soldiers kept getting closer and the commander was shouting into the megaphone, 'Get out of here!' Meanwhile, Francesca returned. Cameraman Jonathan Massey, was facing the soldiers and walking backward. They beat him with batons and yelled at him to stop filming. He tried to jump back. Francesca and I turned around to head back and I saw that they were coming toward us. We ducked and then I saw that they were aiming at us. I felt a strong blow to the head and then to the neck and I collapsed. I immediately realized that I'd fallen in a bad way because I hit the stones and since there was a slope, my head somehow got caught in barbed wire that was there and my hair, which was long then, got tangled up in it."
'It was shocking'
Francesca: "Limor's head was lying on a rock beneath the barbed wire that hurt his face, and there was hardly any space between his face and the wires. I tried to lift the barbed wires, but I couldn't, because they were taut. Together with another woman, we managed to lift the wires and free Limor's head. I can say for certain that the shooting was aimed at Limor. They picked him. We were both already on the way back to the village and with our backs to the soldiers and they aimed at him, and they could have aimed at me, too."
Goldstein: "The pain was sharp and concentrated on the left side of my head. There was bleeding, but not like with Matan Cohen, who was shot in Beit Sira. I remembered the poster that was put up in Tel Aviv after Cohen was struck in the eye by a bullet. It showed him lying in a pool of blood. I remember that Francesca and others called for help and asked for an ambulance or an army medic."
Francesca: "The soldiers kept passing by us as if nothing was wrong. Limor was on the ground bleeding and the shooting was still going on. One of the international demonstrators, Jenny, a medic by profession, held Limor's head. We knew you had to do that with a head injury. Then [another friend] Michal came to help. We kept on shouting, 'Ambulance, ambulance, army medic! There's an Israeli wounded in the head' - and the soldiers who passed by there said, 'You call an ambulance. We'll call an ambulance to the war in Lebanon.' Finally, someone came who said he was an army medic."
Goldstein: "An army medic came up to me. I asked for a drink and got water poured on my head. He asked me to move my hands. I told him that I didn't feel good, that my head and neck hurt. My hands were stiff."
Francesca: "The medic asked Limor what his name was and then he asked, 'How do you feel?' And Limor said, 'Bad, I have pain in my head and neck.' 'Move your legs,' the medic said. Limor moved his legs a little and the medic turned around and left without saying a word. It was shocking."
Goldstein: "The pain kept getting worse and it was really hot. I was very scared, because this whole time that was I lying there, the soldiers kept on shooting and the explosions from the stun grenades were especially frightening. Francesca kept on calling for help and Michal, who had medical equipment, tried to come over to me, but was prevented from doing so. 'You shot an Israeli in the head,' Francesca yelled, and the soldiers answered, 'There's no ambulance.' I lay there writhing in pain and heard everything."
Francesca: "Stun grenades were still being thrown. We kept Limor in the shade, and he was quiet and pale, and only said that he was hot and in pain. His hands seemed frozen. The muscles stiffened in response to the shock. The whole time we held his head and moistened his lips. The cameraman Jonathan Massey called out to the soldiers, 'You shot someone,' and one of the soldiers gave him a bandage and left. We cleaned the wound on Limor's head and bandaged it. We believed that an ambulance was on the way."
Goldstein: "People came up and asked what happened. I replied that I'd been shot in the head. I never lost consciousness for a moment. For about an hour I lay on the ground and it felt like an eternity. I just wanted to get out of there and I couldn't understand why I wasn't being taken away and I felt angry at these crazy guys who shoot at people from short range for no reason."
New political awareness
"When I came out of the operating room, the doctors said that they weren't sure if I'd be able to see or to move my limbs," Goldstein continues. "Now it looks like I won't be able to renew my driver's license in Israel, with such a poor field of vision. The first thing my mother said, when she arrived in Israel from Germany and came right to the hospital, is that it's unbelievable that they could shoot at civilians like that for no reason.
"I was born in Bremen, in northern Germany, in 1978, and I have a sister who's two years older than me. My father, Sorin Goldstein, was born in Romania the same year, 1949, that my mother, Rivka, was born in Ukraine. Each of them came to Israel on his own in 1969. My mother, who came from a religious family, didn't serve in the army and earned a degree in biology from Bar-Ilan University. After my father got out of the army, they met in Tel Aviv. My father's brother lived and worked in Germany, and my father decided to try his luck there. Now he works in insurance for auto exporting and my mother runs a microbiology lab in Bremen.
"My parents didn't have a common language aside from Hebrew. I finished high school in Bremen and decided to return to Israel then. I earned a law degree from the Hebrew University in 2001. Then I went back to Europe. For about six months I traveled around Romania and tried to improve my Romanian. Afterward, I went back to Germany and lived in Berlin, which is where my political awareness blossomed and where I started to deal with immigration issues. My connection to Israel goes way back. Every year, since I was a little kid, we'd come to Israel for vacations and I have family here, so I had a close connection to the place and to the Hebrew language.
"I returned to Israel in 2004 and began my internship with attorney Smadar Ben-Natan. I thought of working for Kav La'oved [a nonprofit organization that promotes workers' rights], but it didn't work out. But I soon realized that immigrant rights in Israel were in a sorry state. Through my internship, I learned about and became familiar with the reality of the occupation.
"The Ben-Natan firm had several appeals against the fence and we had a few cases in the military courts, which are a shocking sight in themselves. The whole time I followed what was going on in Bil'in and other villages where there were demonstrations against the separation fence. In 2005 I finished my internship and started working in the office of attorney Dan Assan, who specializes in human rights, in legal damages for Palestinians from the first intifada, or prisoners who were tortured under interrogation."
Security forces respond
Francesca: "After a lot of time passed, some soldiers came with a stretcher and acted like they were doing us a favor. About five or six of us lifted him, including myself, Michal, Jenny and the soldiers, and then one of the soldiers, a reservist who was a bit older, said that he refused to evacuate Limor 'until everyone gets out of here.'
"We pleaded with him and finally he relented. We took Limor on the stretcher to the place where the military jeeps were. As we were walking, a reservist came up to me and pushed me aside, using his rifle to do it. I waited a little on the side and then I went back and joined the stretcher bearers. Jenny held Limor's head until we reached the pickup truck and then they would only let Michal stay with him. They told the rest of us to get lost."
Michal A., who is studying English literature at Tel Aviv University: "Next to the military pickup truck two soldiers came and helped to lift the stretcher into the vehicle, which was filled with riot shields. The two soldiers were supposed to hold the stretcher, because the vehicle was going up an incline. I held Limor's head. During the trip, more and more shields fell on Limor, who didn't say a word. I asked the soldiers to help me move the shields off him. I asked the driver to slow down. It was a nightmare. We finally reached the gate below and the soldiers took the stretcher off the vehicle and put it down on the ground in the sun.
"Two medics came. They looked and said that he didn't look so good, but they didn't even take the bandage off his head. One medic said that a civilian ambulance should be called and the other said, 'No, we'll call a military ambulance.' They went back and forth for another 20 minutes and meanwhile he's lying in the sun. Not saying anything. I wet his lips. I literally forced them to move him to the shade, and the whole time I was worried about his neck, which still wasn't immobilized.
"At last a military ambulance came, and it was packed with all kinds of stuff. The medic got out and said, 'What do we have here?' He took off the bandage and looked, and then he ordered the soldiers to empty the ambulance. 'But take your time,' he said. Finally we left. I sat with Limor in the back and two people sat up front and the ambulance bounced down a dirt road and I shouted for them to slow down because of his neck ... and they didn't seem to care at all. Finally we reached Kiryat Sefer in Upper Modi'in and a Magen David Adom ambulance was waiting there. They immobilized Limor's neck and we drove about another 300 meters where, before the Shilat junction, an ambulance with emergency equipment was waiting.
"We got to the hospital two hours after Limor was shot. He was calm and conscious and at the hospital he gave his name and his ID number, even though he was in terrible pain. Throughout this arduous trip, he only moaned and tried to touch his head. When we entered the emergency room, he vomited."
That day, the Israel Defense Forces spokesman said that the Border Police officers acted in response, after the demonstrators threw rocks at them. But the video clearly shows that the troops shot without any warning and without any rock-throwing or other aggressive or provocative behavior on the part of the protesters. The video shows a Border Police officer firing at Goldstein from very short range, about 15 meters, while Goldstein stood across the road.
In fact, today, Border Police spokesman Avi Moshe does not wish to repeat the claim of the IDF spokesman, and prefers to begin his response with a description of other incidents in Bil'in: "First, let's point out that for weeks demonstrators have been coming to the separation fence in the vicinity of the village of Bil'in, causing provocations and disturbing the peace by throwing rocks and various objects at the Border Police and IDF forces in that location. In most of the events, a number of Border Police officers were injured, and some were even sent to the hospital. Let's also point out that in one case, when those demonstrators requested to speak with a Border Police officer there, and the officer agreed and came to talk with them, as soon as the officer turned around to head back toward the forces that were standing on the other side, the demonstrators suddenly started to hurl rocks at him and they wounded him in the head."
Only after this lengthy introduction does the Border Police spokesman offer this laconic response to the shooting of Goldstein: "As for this specific incident, it is under investigation in the Judea and Samaria District and when conclusions are reached, we will act accordingly."
Asked about the name of the policeman who shot attorney Goldstein, Moshe says: "I won't give you his name. As I said, when the investigation is complete, we will act in accordance with whatever is deemed necessary."
Goldstein, meanwhile, has this to say: "My personal story isn't the important element in this story. Not the fact that I was born in Germany or who my parents are. What matters is the message of what's happening in Bil'in and in the villages along the fence route. People are being shot. Lands are being appropriated. As soon as I get well I'll go back to Bil'in to demonstrate."
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, the joint struggle still continur and kicking 06 Oct 2006
This Friday we kept the tradition of joint struggle against the separation fence and occupation demonstration in spite of the Ramadan fasting and hot whether. About 50 people - Palestinians, internationals and a dozen Israelis from the anarchist against the wall initiative. We marched at noon from the center of the village to the gate to the route of the separation fence - chanting the usual rimes. When we arrived at the blocked gate to the route we found that the state forces kept a narrow opening to enable - or better to lure us into a controlled physical confrontation. Few people tried to pass through the opening and two of them were roughly detained - to be released later. After the usual (mostly verbal) confrontation with the state force gendarmes, just before ending the demonstration, the unruly youngsters started to throw stones at the gate keepers, which was surely in order to provoke them to harass the participants of the nonviolent demonstrators.
(This is one of the expressions of the prolonged conflict in the village between the supporters of the nonviolent joint struggle with the Israelis and the opponents find is the stone throwing on the Israeli state forces confronting the Friday nonviolent demonstrators. This usually give the state forces an excuse to attack the nonviolent demonstrators. It was a big surprise to day that they did not do so - they just restricting themselves to the confrontation with the stone throwers.
To evade the state force harassment we left the area near the gate and started to walk back to the village along the fence (instead of the road which was turned a war zone between the state force shooting rubber coated bullets and tear gas grenades and the stones throwing youngsters). However, this Friday the state forces tried again to force us to pass through the war zone by blocking our way with tear gas canisters... So we returned to the gate but this time we went back to the village the other way through the near by olive grove and evaded both the state force and the stone throwers.
See also: http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_eileen_f_061002_anarchist_or_prophet.htm
(This is one of the expressions of the prolonged conflict in the village between the supporters of the nonviolent joint struggle with the Israelis and the opponents find is the stone throwing on the Israeli state forces confronting the Friday nonviolent demonstrators. This usually give the state forces an excuse to attack the nonviolent demonstrators. It was a big surprise to day that they did not do so - they just restricting themselves to the confrontation with the stone throwers.
To evade the state force harassment we left the area near the gate and started to walk back to the village along the fence (instead of the road which was turned a war zone between the state force shooting rubber coated bullets and tear gas grenades and the stones throwing youngsters). However, this Friday the state forces tried again to force us to pass through the war zone by blocking our way with tear gas canisters... So we returned to the gate but this time we went back to the village the other way through the near by olive grove and evaded both the state force and the stone throwers.
See also: http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_eileen_f_061002_anarchist_or_prophet.htm
Saturday, September 2, 2006
Palestuine-Israel, the joint struggle against the occupation and the separation fence continue. 02 Sep 2006
This week the joint struggle of the Bil'in popular comity and the Anarchists Against The Wall was not restricted to the Friday Demonstration. At the beginning of the week a meeting of the main activists of both Bil'in and the AATW discussed the special conditions of the joint struggle following the Lebanon war and the efforts of some reactionaries of the village to put end to it. It continued in the middle of the week when a joint vigil was presenting the joint struggle in Bil'in in Ramalla Mukat'ah when UN secretary Cofi Anan was visiting there. The Israeli secret services decided to teach the AATW activists a lesson and intimidate them. However, due to splitting before returning home, only two underage activists were caught and were subjected to 24 hours of interrogations before releasing without conditions.
The joint struggle reached its peak Friday - as usual, with the joint struggle against the separation fence and occupation. Like the previous Fridays the demo started at noon with a march from the center of the village on the road toward route of the separation fence. Like the previous Fridays of September, the Israeli state forces objected to the demonstration. When the march of Palestinians, internationals, and Israeli left the built are of the village - on the road to the route of the fence, they met the water cannon that started to disperse them. Whoever, after few minutes, the state forces changed to the usual routine of shooting and grenades - probably for testing the new bean gag riffles Israel bought lately from US. Few of the demonstrators were injured. One of them was observed as limping at the Saturday evening screening of the documentary about the Bil'in struggle at the Tel Aviv cinematec.
The joint struggle reached its peak Friday - as usual, with the joint struggle against the separation fence and occupation. Like the previous Fridays the demo started at noon with a march from the center of the village on the road toward route of the separation fence. Like the previous Fridays of September, the Israeli state forces objected to the demonstration. When the march of Palestinians, internationals, and Israeli left the built are of the village - on the road to the route of the fence, they met the water cannon that started to disperse them. Whoever, after few minutes, the state forces changed to the usual routine of shooting and grenades - probably for testing the new bean gag riffles Israel bought lately from US. Few of the demonstrators were injured. One of them was observed as limping at the Saturday evening screening of the documentary about the Bil'in struggle at the Tel Aviv cinematec.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Israel, new additions to the antiauthoritarian anticapitalist anti Zionist Matzpen site 30 Aug 2006
Though most of the texts on the website are still in Hebrew only, the http://www.matzpen.org/index.asp?p=other is in English and include important documents of matspen translated into English. Friends, You may wish to check the new additions to the Matzpen site (http://www.matzpen.org/index.asp), especially the adaptation of the contents of the entire book "The Other Israel" (in English) http://www.matzpen.org/index.asp?p=other Any comments, including technical problems encountered (even typos that may well be found), will be thankfully received. All the best,
E.
PS
The Anarchists Against The Wall initiative send to Europe a delegation for propaganda and fund rising - at the end of September.
If you can help see contact e-mail at http://awalls.org
I.
E.
PS
The Anarchists Against The Wall initiative send to Europe a delegation for propaganda and fund rising - at the end of September.
If you can help see contact e-mail at http://awalls.org
I.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Palestine-Israel, The state forces still forbide, but the joint struggle in Bil'in continue. 25 Aug 2006
This Friday too the Israeli state forces refused to let us do the Friday joint demonstration against the occupation and the separation fence. However, it seems the higher authorities told something to the new regiment commander responsible to the region Bil'in is part of. We started as usual from the village center at noon. About hundred people. Palestinians from Bil'in and from out of it - including high level persons of the national leadership, Internationals, and Israelis of the anarchists against the wall initiative and "guests", and about 5 teams of local and international media. We marched with 20 of us carrying the placards about the shooting that injured Limor at the demo in Bil'in two weeks ago (hundreds of which were hanged on Tel Aviv walls Wednesday night). Chanting as usual we exited the built are of the village.
When we approached the route of the separation fence, the state forces advanced towards us, declared the are closed military zone, and the demonstration as illegal. Disregarding that, we continued marching and when we met half way on the way up the hill, they started to shower us with shock grenades... and started pushing us back to the village. AS we put some passive resistance, some of the state force personnel used batons, hitting people legs mainly and injured of the demonstrators. After a while, most of the demonstrators were driven back towards the outskirts of the village where the stone throwers started the usual confrontation with the state forces who tested on them a new kind of an automatic riffle of rubber bullets.
Few of us - the more experienced and stubborn, resisted the pushing back and few engaged the state forces with angry speech about the role they play in the service of the building companies that robed the Bil'in lands and pushed the separation fence to protect them.
During that "conversation" was revealed the name of the new brigade commander David Menahem who decided to change the policy and forbid the demonstration near the fence.
During the angry conversation three Palestinians and one international activists were detained, and released only after the demonstration was ended and we returned to the village - leaving the arena for the confrontation between the stone throwers (young and not so young) and the state forces.
It seems the national leadership pressure on the stone throwers helped. They refrained from starting the stone throwing too early to disable the activity of the nonviolent demonstration, and even later they did not throw the stones on the demonstrators.
When we approached the route of the separation fence, the state forces advanced towards us, declared the are closed military zone, and the demonstration as illegal. Disregarding that, we continued marching and when we met half way on the way up the hill, they started to shower us with shock grenades... and started pushing us back to the village. AS we put some passive resistance, some of the state force personnel used batons, hitting people legs mainly and injured of the demonstrators. After a while, most of the demonstrators were driven back towards the outskirts of the village where the stone throwers started the usual confrontation with the state forces who tested on them a new kind of an automatic riffle of rubber bullets.
Few of us - the more experienced and stubborn, resisted the pushing back and few engaged the state forces with angry speech about the role they play in the service of the building companies that robed the Bil'in lands and pushed the separation fence to protect them.
During that "conversation" was revealed the name of the new brigade commander David Menahem who decided to change the policy and forbid the demonstration near the fence.
During the angry conversation three Palestinians and one international activists were detained, and released only after the demonstration was ended and we returned to the village - leaving the arena for the confrontation between the stone throwers (young and not so young) and the state forces.
It seems the national leadership pressure on the stone throwers helped. They refrained from starting the stone throwing too early to disable the activity of the nonviolent demonstration, and even later they did not throw the stones on the demonstrators.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Israel, Tel-Aviv, Poster action 23/8/06 about the injuring of Limor in last Friday demonstration in Bil'in 24 Aug 2006
Last night hundreds of posters were posted all around Tel Aviv city by activists of the anarchists against the wall initiative in an effort to raise awareness to the injury of an israeli demonstrator during a non-violent demonstration against the wall last weekend 11-08. (See report on the demo:
http://www.ainfos.ca/06/aug/ainfos00086.html This was a mean to bring back the subject to the public arena as it disappeared from the media after announcements in the media on the day of that demo and in the following Saturday. Limor, a 25 years old lawyer from Tel Aviv, was shot at his head and neck from a range of 10 meters. It occurred when he tried to find cover from the raving border police at the side of the road when the Israeli state forces started showering shock grenades and shooting rubber coated bullets on the demonstrators. They did it while the demonstrators approach them within the built area of the village, with out any provocation. Without even proper warning, and during pursuing the escaping demonstrators. (The shooting was disregarding the regulation that forbid shooting on demonstrators from too short distance, and to any part on the body other than the feet. People heard the commander shouting to the gendarmes: "shoot them - it is Lebanon".)
Since the shooting Limor is in hospital in serious condition as one of the bullet penetrated his head and when taken out, part of the brain tissue had to be taken out. The placard was a picture of Limor laying where he was injured written on it: Guilty of expression his opinions - punished with two bullets to his head.
picture at: https://israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/5210/index.php Pictures of the demo at Bil'in: www.activestills.org/bilin11.8.06.html
http://www.ainfos.ca/06/aug/ainfos00086.html This was a mean to bring back the subject to the public arena as it disappeared from the media after announcements in the media on the day of that demo and in the following Saturday. Limor, a 25 years old lawyer from Tel Aviv, was shot at his head and neck from a range of 10 meters. It occurred when he tried to find cover from the raving border police at the side of the road when the Israeli state forces started showering shock grenades and shooting rubber coated bullets on the demonstrators. They did it while the demonstrators approach them within the built area of the village, with out any provocation. Without even proper warning, and during pursuing the escaping demonstrators. (The shooting was disregarding the regulation that forbid shooting on demonstrators from too short distance, and to any part on the body other than the feet. People heard the commander shouting to the gendarmes: "shoot them - it is Lebanon".)
Since the shooting Limor is in hospital in serious condition as one of the bullet penetrated his head and when taken out, part of the brain tissue had to be taken out. The placard was a picture of Limor laying where he was injured written on it: Guilty of expression his opinions - punished with two bullets to his head.
picture at: https://israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/5210/index.php Pictures of the demo at Bil'in: www.activestills.org/bilin11.8.06.html
Friday, August 18, 2006
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, In spite of objections of local reactionaries the joint struggle continue. 18 Aug 2006
This Friday, we were after massive political activity to counter the reactionaries to put end to the joint struggle. Coincidentally (or not) it was in parallel to the new ban on the Friday demonstrations in bil'in issued last Friday. A delegate of the palestinian national comity came to the demo and gave a speech in support of the joint struggle with the Israelis in the name of the national leadership. A speech in the name of the local leadership was carried by a member of the local comity for joint struggle. An agreement was reached with the stone throwers that they will not sabotage the nonviolent demonstration, meaning they will start throwing stones only after the demonstration was declared ended by the comity or by brutal act of the Israeli armed forces. In spite of the warning at the morning of the Israeli regional commander to the activists of the village comity to refrain from doing the Friday demo, we did do it. After the speeches about hundred of us started to march towards the route of the separation fence.
Palestinians from Bil'in and from out of the village, international activists of the ISM, Israelis of the anarchists against the separation wall initiative, and some media workers. Chanting, and singing, and even sporadic dancing we advanced along the road to the route. About hundred meters after the last house of the village, an armed water canon car was blocking the road. Before it even started to attack us, activists of the village comity had to physically restrain a youth who wanted to start to throw stones in contradiction to the agreement.
Not long later, the water cannon started to work... Strong stream of water mixed most of the time with blue color and "paper" gas was sprayed on the demonstrators who were driven to all direction - some of them suffering from the sting of the pepper gas.
The stone throwers advanced around the water cannon and engaged with their usual confrontation with the Israeli state force, who used various "non lethal" grenades and rubber coated bullets. Most of the nonviolent demonstrators stayed on the blocked road and around it for a long while till the village comity declared the demonstration finished.
Both before the demonstration and after it we had talks about the demonstration strategy and explanations for these who are not acquainted with the struggle against the separation fence in Bil'in.
Palestinians from Bil'in and from out of the village, international activists of the ISM, Israelis of the anarchists against the separation wall initiative, and some media workers. Chanting, and singing, and even sporadic dancing we advanced along the road to the route. About hundred meters after the last house of the village, an armed water canon car was blocking the road. Before it even started to attack us, activists of the village comity had to physically restrain a youth who wanted to start to throw stones in contradiction to the agreement.
Not long later, the water cannon started to work... Strong stream of water mixed most of the time with blue color and "paper" gas was sprayed on the demonstrators who were driven to all direction - some of them suffering from the sting of the pepper gas.
The stone throwers advanced around the water cannon and engaged with their usual confrontation with the Israeli state force, who used various "non lethal" grenades and rubber coated bullets. Most of the nonviolent demonstrators stayed on the blocked road and around it for a long while till the village comity declared the demonstration finished.
Both before the demonstration and after it we had talks about the demonstration strategy and explanations for these who are not acquainted with the struggle against the separation fence in Bil'in.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Israel-Palestin, Media, Activist shot in head with rubber bullet at Bil'in By Haaretz Correspondent and AP, By Meron Rapoport* 13 Aug 2006
A Border Police soldier shot a rubber-tipped bullet at an Israeli demonstrator Friday at a protest in Bil'in against the separation fence. In violation of military regulations, the gun was fired at close range, from between ten and 20 meters, wounding attorney Lymor Goldstein in the head. The Israel Defense Forces prevented Goldstein's evacuation for more than an hour. He later underwent surgery to remove the bullet from his brain.
The shooting occurred during the weekly Friday afternoon anti-fence protest at Bil'in. On Friday the IDF Spokesman's Office said that Border Police forces threw stun grenades and fired rubber bullets after protesters threw rocks at them, but video footage of the incident clearly shows the Border Police commander instructing his soldiers to shoot rubber bullets with no warning and before any rocks were thrown at his forces.
The footage shows soldiers aiming their weapons at shoulder height and firing at the protesters. At one point a soldier can be seen pointing his gun at two protesters searching for cover and then firing at the head of one of them. IDF regulations permit the firing of rubber-tipped bullets only at a distance of at least 40 meters, and only at the legs of the target. What are called "rubber bullets" are actually plastic-coated lead bullets, and they can be deadly when fired at certain areas of the body.
"After they started shooting we tried to find cover," related the demonstrator who was next to Goldstein when he was hit. "I was standing with my back to them and then I saw Lymor fall. I'm trained as a medic so I tried to stop the bleeding from his head. I shouted at the soldiers that someone had a head wound but they kept going and paid no attention. One of them cursed us."
The video shows the soldiers walking past Goldstein without stopping. When demonstrators asked the commander to evacuate Goldstein, he responded, "I don't have an ambulance." One soldier said the injury was "unimportant." It took 15 minutes for a medic to arrive.
The demonstrator, who asked not to be identified, said that even after the medic arrived Goldstein's care was delayed and it took a long time before he was evacuated by an army truck. "Another medic, who went with him, told me she had to hold Lymor's head with her hands because of the rough ride. The IDF medic hadn't stabilized his head. The driver went really fast even though she begged him to slow down."
Goldstein was eventually evacuated to Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer. According to hospital officials he arrived at 3:30 P.M., almost two hours after he was shot. He was operated on Friday night. Yesterday Goldstein was awake and alert, but he may have sustained permanent damage to his vision or other faculties.
Jonathan Pollak of Anarchists Against the Wall says he is convinced that the decision to use rubber bullets Friday was aimed at taking advantage of the situation in Lebanon to silence the West Bank protests using force.
=================================
* see video clip:
http://mishtara.org/hingus/?p=70 * The TV 10 channel reported on the shooting including a simmilar video clip showing it at the main Saturday news program.
The shooting occurred during the weekly Friday afternoon anti-fence protest at Bil'in. On Friday the IDF Spokesman's Office said that Border Police forces threw stun grenades and fired rubber bullets after protesters threw rocks at them, but video footage of the incident clearly shows the Border Police commander instructing his soldiers to shoot rubber bullets with no warning and before any rocks were thrown at his forces.
The footage shows soldiers aiming their weapons at shoulder height and firing at the protesters. At one point a soldier can be seen pointing his gun at two protesters searching for cover and then firing at the head of one of them. IDF regulations permit the firing of rubber-tipped bullets only at a distance of at least 40 meters, and only at the legs of the target. What are called "rubber bullets" are actually plastic-coated lead bullets, and they can be deadly when fired at certain areas of the body.
"After they started shooting we tried to find cover," related the demonstrator who was next to Goldstein when he was hit. "I was standing with my back to them and then I saw Lymor fall. I'm trained as a medic so I tried to stop the bleeding from his head. I shouted at the soldiers that someone had a head wound but they kept going and paid no attention. One of them cursed us."
The video shows the soldiers walking past Goldstein without stopping. When demonstrators asked the commander to evacuate Goldstein, he responded, "I don't have an ambulance." One soldier said the injury was "unimportant." It took 15 minutes for a medic to arrive.
The demonstrator, who asked not to be identified, said that even after the medic arrived Goldstein's care was delayed and it took a long time before he was evacuated by an army truck. "Another medic, who went with him, told me she had to hold Lymor's head with her hands because of the rough ride. The IDF medic hadn't stabilized his head. The driver went really fast even though she begged him to slow down."
Goldstein was eventually evacuated to Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer. According to hospital officials he arrived at 3:30 P.M., almost two hours after he was shot. He was operated on Friday night. Yesterday Goldstein was awake and alert, but he may have sustained permanent damage to his vision or other faculties.
Jonathan Pollak of Anarchists Against the Wall says he is convinced that the decision to use rubber bullets Friday was aimed at taking advantage of the situation in Lebanon to silence the West Bank protests using force.
=================================
* see video clip:
http://mishtara.org/hingus/?p=70 * The TV 10 channel reported on the shooting including a simmilar video clip showing it at the main Saturday news program.
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