This week the focus was on the straggle against transfer in Seikh Jarrah, and a one year "aniversory" to the Israeli war crime onslout on the Gaza strip - the world largest concentration camp. In Sheikh Jarrah activists tried to help during the week - in addition to the Friday demonstration. For gaza, we both participated in the joint demonstration on Saturday evening in Jaffa and in Sunday walking on the Zikim beach towards Gaza. The usual Friday demonstrations in Bil'in and Ma'asera were adhered to. The Ni'ilin Friday demonstration was preceded with a second demo in Shukba.
BIL'IN
Some 30 Israelis and 15 internationals celebrated Xmas (and the 42nd anniversary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) in Bilin today. They joined the weekly local demonstrations against the wall with St. Nick and Mrs. Claus (how come she hasn't got her own name?) costumes and toys for the kids. The soldiers were offered a Xmas tree decorated with used gas canister baubles, and reciprocated with brand new gas canisters for the demonstrators and village youth. But since collecting and displaying used army projectiles is grounds for arrest and indictment (as shown by the case of Abdullah Abu Rahme), the good boys of the local shabab politely returned the army's spent (and some unspent ammo... Representatives of the the Fatah Party, including central committee member Abass Zaki, joined the march joint the demonstration to congratulate and show solidarity.... and inhaled tear gas like many of the other demonstrators. The demonstration ended with no casualties, and most Israelis continued to Sheikh Jarrah.
Haethm Alkateeb video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DGI2q-vfZg Christmas in Bil'in: http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=228&Itemid=1
Israel Puterman video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIg93xb6srk
On Tuesday, 29 /12/2009 at ten in the morning, a demonstration in solidarity with Abdullah Abu Rahme will be held outside Ofer Military Base and prison. Abdullah Abu Rahme is the imprisoned coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements. The demonstrators will demand the release of all political prisoners.
GAZA - Media
Police detain 16 leftists on Gaza border
Activists marking one year since launch of IDF offensive protest Israeli blockade, prevented from entering Strip. Israel continues to perpetuate destruction, suffering,' one of them says
Police detained 16 left-wing activists as they were trying to cross into Gaza on Sunday to mark the one year anniversary of Operation Cast Lead.
Chief Superintendent Simon Nahmani, commander of the Sderot police station, said the leftists held a rally without prior authorization.
"We detained them and had to employ a reasonable amount of force, but we didn’t beat anyone," he said. "They are currently being interrogated at the station, and may be charged with entering a closed military zone without a permit and holding an illegal demonstration."
Several dozen left-wing activists took part in the protest against the Israeli blockade on the Hamas-ruled territory, claiming it was hindering Gaza's rehabilitation.
Adar Grievsky of the "Anarchist against the Wall" group said, "We began walking southward on the beach towards Gaza, but near Zikim large police and IDF forces prevented us from crossing (into Gaza).
"A year after Israel killed 1,400 people during the Cast Lead war, Israel continues to perpetuate destruction and suffering by preventing rehabilitation and denying the transfer of construction materials to Gaza," said the activist.
According to Grievsky, the purpose of the march was to "convey the message that as citizens living in this country, we find the situation intolerable and we must resist it."
One of the protestors claimed that one of the leftists was beaten by police.
Afternoon, all 16 were released.
David Reeb: Demonstration against Gaza siege at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irlTe2tFlvc
JAFFA - GAZA
The (Palestinian) popular comity of Jaffa called for a demonstration on Saturday evening 26.12 to commemorate the Israeli war crime assault a year ago and the on going siege that keep Gaza as a huge jail. About 500 people participated including a big anarchist block. We marched through the main Palestinian neighborhood and at its end we held a meeting and both speeches and political cultural happening.
KIFEL HARETH
The people of Kifel Hareth near Ariel, where the grave of Yehoshua Ben Nun is considered to be, will be put under curfew tomorrow night so that settlers can hold a ceremony there.
A request has been made for people to stay there for that time, with a video camera, and document.
MA'ASARA
Some 80 demonstrators marched in this Friday's Christmas demonstration in Ma'asara, which focused on solidarity with Bil'in's arrested popular committee member Abdallah Abu-Rahma. Kids, adults and Santa Clauses were handed out used tear-gas and stun grenades, and hung them as decoration on the holiday tree.
The tree-carrying procession reached the regular military road block, where some of the children choose to decorate even the soldiers' barbed wired fence with some grenades. Santa Clauses were waving flags, slogans where chanted, and speeches were carried in Arabic, English and Hebrew. One of the prominent speakers was Palestinians MP Dr. Mustapha Barghouti.
The demonstration's jolly Christmas spirit did not catch the soldiers and border policemen, who jumped nervously at any sight of someone touching their fence. At some point five policemen crossed the fence and tried to arrest one of the village youth, but failed and had to face some heavy mocking while returning to their unlawful place behind the fence.
The demonstration ended peacefully and with season's greetings to all present.
MEDIA
Danger: Popular struggle: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1137056.html
Haaretz editorial: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1137613.html (against state forces harassments in Bil'in, Ni'ilin, and Sheikh Jarrah)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3825182,00.html (About this Friday Sheikh Jarrah)
NI'ILIN - SHUKBA
Tomorrow, Friday, December 24 - another demonstration will be held in Shuqba.
In the village of Shukba, close to Ni'lin, several Israelis joined tens of Palestinians in their second Friday demonstration. The villagers are protesting against a local illegal Israeli settler-quarry, using local natural resources in contrast to international law (see more here).
The procession was met by a group of soldiers, who after short negotiations allowed it to proceed towards the quarry, by a road surrounded with barbed wired fence and a deep valley that would not allow access to the quarry itself. A second group of soldiers, waiting at the quarry, saw the marching demonstrators and violated the agreement by shooting tear gas at them. As a response parts of the barbed wire were dismantled and some stones were thrown.
SHEIKH JARRAH
Sheikh Jarrah. Dec. 18 - 2009 Nisim's movie of the latest protest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhB8PwBdrvQ
There were repeated attack against a Palestinian families at Sheikh Jarah during the week, and some activist try to help them.
-----------
One of the invitations to the previous Saturday solidarity "street party" at the Saturday late evening hearing at court of the previous Friday demo:
let's meet today at 19:00 in levinsky garden - bring a car if you can.
if there won't be room for all, the rest will take a service taxi.
We were about 200 participant in the happening from 20:00 till 24:00 - when the last of the Israeli detainees were released (many of them were of the AAtW initiative residents of Tel Aviv region and Jerusalem. One international activist was taken by the immigration police.
Stop the deportation of Ryan Olander; USA citizen arrested in Sheikh Jarrah
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=233789839016
http://twincities.indymedia.org/2009/dec/american-citizen-be-deported-following-his-arrest-occupied-east-jerusalem
--------------------------------
There were repeated attack against a Palestinian families at Sheikh Jarah during the week, and some Israeli and international activists try to help them.
Invitations for this Friday demo:
Every Friday for the past few weeks, there has been a march to Sheikh Jarrah to protest the eviction of Palestinian residents from their homes. During the last two weeks, the police attempted to violently disperse the demonstrations and arrested 50. The protest is growing and every week many more join the march and demonstration in the neighborhood. The settler attacks in the neighborhood are continuing and are becoming common occurrences. We must not remain silent in the face of settler violence and the suppression of the Palestinian protest!
Friday demonstration:
More than 400 Israelis and Palestinians converged Friday afternoon in Sheikh Jarrah - near the entrance to the street the settlers are trying to take over. Most of them marched in a demonstration along the streets from the Israeli part of Jerusalem, many came directly to the neighborhood from Tel Aviv region. So did Anarchists Against the Wall activists who came after the end of Bil'in and Ma'asara Friday demos against the separation fence and occupation.
Five People were arrested in this weekly Demo for violating bogus charge of not complying with bail conditions not to come for a period to Sheikh Jarrah - after arrested two weeks before in the Friday Sheikh Jarrah demo. Four were released at the police station with "apology" as the district court had already removed the said restriction, one stayed in jail for attempting to de-arrest them... to be brought before judge Saturday evening.
Alas, after second thoughts the police expected embarrassment in court and released him Saturday evening without bringing him before a judge.
"Some were released after a couple of hours, since the police were unaware of the appeal decision of Wednesday, allowing all those arrested in SJ in the past to come back.
The police used violence and undercover cops to made the arrests. The police who did allow anyone from the demo to actually enter the street of the stolen houses allowed settlers to do their usual "prayer" (aka intimidation and abuse). There was a fight in the Al-Kurd family house. Once again the police is using illegal tactics to end and discourage those who want to protest."
Israel Puterman video of this Friday demo in Sheikh Jarrah - Some 500 demonstrators gathered at the top of the street that Jewish settlers are taking over in Sheikh Jarakh in East Jerusalem. The demonstrators organized march from West Jerusalem, sang songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSaG8m0ymmI
--------------------------
Following the stone throwing and violence on Friday night by settlers- which was "punishment" for the afternoon demo, the settlers attacked the families in Sheikh Jarrah on Saturday again.
About 50 settlers entered the neighborhood during the day and threw stones at Palestinians. 2 children were injured and sent to the hospital, and several adults were lightly injured. The police that were summoned to the area detained several settlers. As a continuation of the persecution of internationals in the neighborhood, the police also detained an international activist for no reason.
"...As the violence is becoming more severe we could use reinforcements for day and night shifts. We will be happy if you sign up for a shift- Maya"
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle focused on Sheikh Jarah (Jerusalem) transfer
The struggle in Sheikh Jarah during the week intensify and number of participants in Friday demonstration there more than doubled... in spite of rainy whether. Other villages like Krayut, Nizaam, and Shuqba, invite us to join their struggles against aspects of the occupation. Bil'in, the prominent flag of the non violent popular struggle still suffer along the week "visits" and harassments of the various Israeli occupation forces. Ma'asara, and Ni'ilin still persist in struggle. Refusnics struggle continued too. The "hungry" settler colonialist aspect of Zionism backed by Israeli High court of "justice" protection of land ownership of pre 1948 era in Sheikh Jarah, put back on the focus of the agenda the theft of Palestinian parts and Jerusalem neighborhoods at 1948.
BIL'IN
Bil'in Raid December 18, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9woGNUOd1M&feature=player_embedded
Friday demo 18-12-2009
About 25 with the Anarchists Against the Wall initiative, and about dozen or so internationals, joined Bil'iners, and Palestinian guests, for the nearly five years ongoing and never broken chain of Friday demonstrations against the separation fence and occupation.
After a protracted confrontation with the Israeli state force who tried to disperse us, the majority of the Israelis traveled (like the previous week) to the demonstration against the transfer in Sheikh Jarrah
Video clips:
by Haitham al Katib - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyeDvIyXmi8&feature=player_embedded
by David Reeb - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukbrI9I5gDE
Bil'in 18.12.2009 video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukbrI9I5gDE
19.12.09 05:58 AM - hi Two houses raided in Bilin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-StkkQjxeD8&feature=player_embedded
KRAYUT
If anyone is interested in going to Krayut tomorrow 16/12/2009 to secure and help farmers while they work their land, please contact R. we are planing on leaving at 6am from Jerusalem.
there are four spots available from Tel Aviv, and maybe a small bus from Jerusalem (depend on how many people come).
M
Krayut, "settlers attack Palestinian, Police arrests the victim and offers me to become an informer http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/12/17/18632858.php"
MA'ASARA
"All of us are Abdallah Abu Rahmah" the Friday 11-12-09 weekly demo in Al-Ma'sara village
At 12:00 the villagers of Al-Ma'sara gathered in a protest along with Israeli and international activists. In their weekly demonstration in solidarity with the coordinator of the popular committee in Bil'in village Abdallah Abu Rahmah was was arrested two nights ago from his house in Ramallah
The protesters raised Palestinian flags and banners in solidarity with Abdallah Abu Rahamah. This protest came in the 42 memory of the Palestinian organization DFLP
The demonstrators chanted against the discriminatory policies of the occupation and called for a national unity among the Palestinians,. When the protest reached the fences that the army put on the main road of the village the protesters tried to remove it and then the solders dealt violently with the protesters.
A speech of Mohammed Banat a member of the popular community against the wall in the village talked about the Israeli behavior against the Palestinians specially these days were people living the international day of human rights.
This Friday
About 70 Palestinians, Israelis and foreigners marched in this week's demonstration against the wall in Ma'asara, in spite of hostile weather conditions. This week's protest was joined by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who came to show their solidarity with the popular struggle.
Leaving the village towards the route of the wall demonstrators were met by soldiers and border policemen, who blocked the road with barbed wire as usual. The occupiers did not present any warrant to justify their actions, and were quite determined not to talk to the demonstrators, even while these were explaining to them in three languages about the wrongs of the occupation and the alternative options they have – those of refusal and joint action.
A few children tried to pull at the barbed wire. This week the soldiers did not use much violence, and in stead simply crossed the wire and formed a line to protect it for harm. The picture was an occupation classic: soldiers protecting a fence that protects other soldiers who protect a fence. Guns and fences are all they can offer us.
The demonstration went on for another half hour, and eventually dispersed peacefully.
NI'ILIN
Ni'lin and Shuqba, 11/12/09
Around 200 men and youths from Shuqba village, fortified with activists from nearby Budrus and Ni’lin, and five Israeli activists, marched through the hilly countryside from the village center to the site of the enormous quarry built by Israel on its land. About two dozen youths entered the quarry, and manifested their discontent with the theft of the village’s resources for the benefit of the Israel’s settlement project. A small number of soldiers fired a few teargas canisters at the protesters, and called reinforcements. Approximately 10 minutes later, several army and border police jeeps arrived and the soldiers proceeded to clear the protesters off of the quarry site, and remove the flag hung by protesters on the heavy equipment in the site. A small number of the village youths, who withdrew to the hillside overlooking the quarry threw some stones at the jeeps. Soldiers fired more tear gas at the protesters, including at least one “extended range” canister, of the type that killed a demonstrator and severely injured others. The demonstration ended with no injuries recorded.
In Ni’lin, a few dozen protesters participated in the weekly protest against the wall. One protester was lightly injured by a 0.22 caliber bullet in his leg.
Mid week harassment and detention of Arafat Amira http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3821061,00.html
Regarding the raid that was in Ni'ilin yesterday (16-12-09)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmOBnE3TYnQ&feature=player_embedded
NIZAAM
The people of Dir Nizaam (near halamish) ask for people to come and join them in a demonstration and planting trees on their lands, next to the settlement of halamish
the planting will be an act against the frequent harassments by the settlers and their attempt to take over parts of the village land
the demonstration will take place at 9 am
K.
REFUSNICS
34 Days in Prison for CO Or Ben-David
Or Ben-David returns to prison after being sentenced for 34 days. This is her 3rd prison term in a row. Further information and recommended action follows.
After completing a second prison term, Or Ben-David, of the 2009-2010 high school seniors letter of refusal, was sentenced earlier today, Dec. 15th, to 34 days in prison. She will serve her sentence in the military prison for women (no. 400) in Tzrifin/Sarafand.
Or is expected to be released on Jan. 21st and is likely to be imprisoned again soon afterwards.
SHEIKH JARAH
Free the Sheikh Jarrah Six! A somewhat personal account of the Friday 11-12-09 demo
On Friday more then 150 people marched to Sheikh Jarrah, to show support and solidarity with the families who has been evicted from their houses, and those facing evictions. Upon arriving at the neighborhood, the protesters continued to the Al-Kurd’s home where settlers have taken over parts of the house, making the Al-Kurd lives a living hell.
The marchers chanted and spoke against the settlers and the protection they receive from the Israeli courts in their attempt to remove all Palestinians from East Jerusalem. Not surprisingly, the police and Israeli soldiers protected the settlers and expressed their banal and blunt opposition to the protesters in words ( “why are we suppose to be around those who are against Jews?”) and later in actions.
After an Israeli flag which represents colonialism and more then 60 year of apartheid and ethnic cleansing was removed from the stolen settler house window, the police charged the protesters, beating and arresting 23 people, three of them internationals.
Requests by some arrestees for medical attention after being pepper- sprayed and beaten were ignored by the police immediately after the arrests. While one person was lying on the ground, calling for help and expressing deep pain at the police station, the cops were watching videos taken at the protest, and talking casually between themselves. After an hour the police officers finally agreed to call an ambulance, but refused to allow medical personal to evocate the wounded person (although a medics insistence on it). He was allowed to be taken to a hospital only after the intervention of lawyers.
All the protesters were eventually taken to the main police station in Jerusalem, where they were left to stand outside in the cold night for hours. Six protesters were signaled out by the cops, deeming them to be the “leaders” and the instigators of the demonstration. Many request to see lawyers were ignored and silenced (at one point as a direct order of the police personal in charged of the investigation), and all of the arrested protesters were charged of attacking police personal, rioting, and refusing to dispersed.
The five women who were arrested were taken to the general population in a women prison and requests by one of them for medical attention were also ignored. The eighteen men were taken to the police detention center in Jerusalem. Although it is illegal to arrest a person for more then 24 hours without a judge decision, the arrestees were held for more then 36 hours before seeing a judge (and more then 12 hours without being fed). The six person who were singled out by the police at first were charged with rioting and for “putting the public at risk” with their actions. As their statement the six express their concerns at the police action and at the persecution request that they will not be allowed to enter the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood for three month. The judge who behaved very annoyingly all through the procedure, not allowing the defense lawyers to speak freely, ruled that all the six are not to enter Sheikh Jarrah for the next thirty days. While he was speaking the chants and yelling of tens of activists were heard from a demonstration held outside of the court.
The 12 persons arrested were not charged with anything, but were also ordered not to enter Sheikh Jarrah for 30 days. The three internationals were taken by the immigration police, prompting the lawyers to quit from representing their clients for the illegality of treating the three international activists differently from the rest of the arrestees (I’m not very familiar with what happened around that).
Although the police actions, supported by the court ruling were designed to discourage those who participate (or those who are planning to participate in the future) in solidarity activities, the opposite has been achieved. The police and military were exposed again for their violence and protection of Israel’s racist policies against Palestinians, and the Israeli court was exposed for its criminalization of those challenging those policies. One activist was heard yelling leaving the court “next week we will meet again in Sheikh Jarrah”. Upon their release from the police detention (some only at 4am, hours after the trial ended), the arrestees all express their intention to come back and support the just struggle of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah.
Free the Sheikh Jarrah six!
Support the Palestinian struggle in Sheikh Jarrah against forced removal!
Unity in struggle,
M
Video of 11-12-09 demo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWxulvckyAI
Another video from last week in Sheikh Jarrah http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm6VAYllFEA
A huge thank you for all the people that came and stood all these long hours in the freezing cold outside of the police station .
It meant so much to hear you all singing and making noise and even better was to sit in court and see the judge shivering every time you shouted : "The Fascism shell not pass " . It's just made the long hours so much easier.
Thank you again B.
Media: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1135709.html
This Friday
Around 300 protesters participated in yesterday's demo in Sheikh Jarah, marching from Hamashbir Plaza towards the neighborhood.
As early as the initial gathering, the police began to arrest demonstrators, claiming that the event is illegal, and by the end of the demonstration 27 people were detained. None of those detained resisted arrest. Quite a few of them were arrested when they were simply drumming or performing as dressed up clowns.
In spite of our legal team's attempt to have the detainees brought to an immediate hearing to set terms for their release, the police has decided to punish the detainees to the extent permitted by the law. Therefore, they will be brought to the hearing only after the end of Sabbath.
The detainees will probably be brought at 19:00 to Hashalom court in the Russian compound, where we will be demonstrating in solidarity with them starting at 20:00. According to last week's detainees, we know for a fact that our calls and our chanting penetrate the walls of the court, and can encourage and empower the detainees after long hours in their detention cells. Please make an effort to be there.
Seikh Jarah Friday demo - 18-12-09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIsvt4W4nGU
MEDIA
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/1136103.html
25 leftists arrested in east Jerusalem --- Police forces detain activists for refusing to end rally against Jews inhabiting houses in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. One of protestors tells Ynet, 'The police's conduct resembles a military regime. This neighborhood cannot be under Jewish control' ---- The police arrested twenty-five Palestinians and left-wing activists in Sheikh Jarrah on Friday afternoon for refusing to end a rally against Jews inhabiting houses in the east Jerusalem neighborhood. The protestors were removed from the area with the help of mounted policemen.
Time table:
14:43 So far about 30 people arrested in sheikh jarrah, and counting.
almost all the drummers of the Samba circle were arrested + all the clowns... of the clowns troupe.
17:35 Hi, just on break from the police station at Migrash Hrosim. 30 people arrested, some even before reaching SJ. police tried to prevent people from coming, block all the entrances to the SJ street. people managed to get in anyway. police used violence.
we had about 350-400 people at the demo. right now we have about fifty people outside of the police station. many left back to SJ b/c 100 settlers are right now at SJ doing their Friday prayer.
listen to the radio, it said that a demo of Anarchists and leftist activists was dispersed by the police. M.
Final numbers:
27 people arrested. All will be held for 24 hours. We managed to pass some food and warm clothing to some of them. They will be brought before judge tomorrow evening.
We will hold a solidarity demonstration by the court. 20:00 at the Russians compound!
2 kids injured by stones thrown by settlers, after the demonstration, and taken to the hospital by ambulance.
there is going to be a demo tomorrow (Saturday) at 8pm at the same spot that it was last week.
27 people were arrested in another attempt by the Israeli police and military to shot down the demos in sheikh jarah.
please come,
M
BIL'IN
Bil'in Raid December 18, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9woGNUOd1M&feature=player_embedded
Friday demo 18-12-2009
About 25 with the Anarchists Against the Wall initiative, and about dozen or so internationals, joined Bil'iners, and Palestinian guests, for the nearly five years ongoing and never broken chain of Friday demonstrations against the separation fence and occupation.
After a protracted confrontation with the Israeli state force who tried to disperse us, the majority of the Israelis traveled (like the previous week) to the demonstration against the transfer in Sheikh Jarrah
Video clips:
by Haitham al Katib - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyeDvIyXmi8&feature=player_embedded
by David Reeb - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukbrI9I5gDE
Bil'in 18.12.2009 video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukbrI9I5gDE
19.12.09 05:58 AM - hi Two houses raided in Bilin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-StkkQjxeD8&feature=player_embedded
KRAYUT
If anyone is interested in going to Krayut tomorrow 16/12/2009 to secure and help farmers while they work their land, please contact R. we are planing on leaving at 6am from Jerusalem.
there are four spots available from Tel Aviv, and maybe a small bus from Jerusalem (depend on how many people come).
M
Krayut, "settlers attack Palestinian, Police arrests the victim and offers me to become an informer http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/12/17/18632858.php"
MA'ASARA
"All of us are Abdallah Abu Rahmah" the Friday 11-12-09 weekly demo in Al-Ma'sara village
At 12:00 the villagers of Al-Ma'sara gathered in a protest along with Israeli and international activists. In their weekly demonstration in solidarity with the coordinator of the popular committee in Bil'in village Abdallah Abu Rahmah was was arrested two nights ago from his house in Ramallah
The protesters raised Palestinian flags and banners in solidarity with Abdallah Abu Rahamah. This protest came in the 42 memory of the Palestinian organization DFLP
The demonstrators chanted against the discriminatory policies of the occupation and called for a national unity among the Palestinians,. When the protest reached the fences that the army put on the main road of the village the protesters tried to remove it and then the solders dealt violently with the protesters.
A speech of Mohammed Banat a member of the popular community against the wall in the village talked about the Israeli behavior against the Palestinians specially these days were people living the international day of human rights.
This Friday
About 70 Palestinians, Israelis and foreigners marched in this week's demonstration against the wall in Ma'asara, in spite of hostile weather conditions. This week's protest was joined by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who came to show their solidarity with the popular struggle.
Leaving the village towards the route of the wall demonstrators were met by soldiers and border policemen, who blocked the road with barbed wire as usual. The occupiers did not present any warrant to justify their actions, and were quite determined not to talk to the demonstrators, even while these were explaining to them in three languages about the wrongs of the occupation and the alternative options they have – those of refusal and joint action.
A few children tried to pull at the barbed wire. This week the soldiers did not use much violence, and in stead simply crossed the wire and formed a line to protect it for harm. The picture was an occupation classic: soldiers protecting a fence that protects other soldiers who protect a fence. Guns and fences are all they can offer us.
The demonstration went on for another half hour, and eventually dispersed peacefully.
NI'ILIN
Ni'lin and Shuqba, 11/12/09
Around 200 men and youths from Shuqba village, fortified with activists from nearby Budrus and Ni’lin, and five Israeli activists, marched through the hilly countryside from the village center to the site of the enormous quarry built by Israel on its land. About two dozen youths entered the quarry, and manifested their discontent with the theft of the village’s resources for the benefit of the Israel’s settlement project. A small number of soldiers fired a few teargas canisters at the protesters, and called reinforcements. Approximately 10 minutes later, several army and border police jeeps arrived and the soldiers proceeded to clear the protesters off of the quarry site, and remove the flag hung by protesters on the heavy equipment in the site. A small number of the village youths, who withdrew to the hillside overlooking the quarry threw some stones at the jeeps. Soldiers fired more tear gas at the protesters, including at least one “extended range” canister, of the type that killed a demonstrator and severely injured others. The demonstration ended with no injuries recorded.
In Ni’lin, a few dozen protesters participated in the weekly protest against the wall. One protester was lightly injured by a 0.22 caliber bullet in his leg.
Mid week harassment and detention of Arafat Amira http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3821061,00.html
Regarding the raid that was in Ni'ilin yesterday (16-12-09)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmOBnE3TYnQ&feature=player_embedded
NIZAAM
The people of Dir Nizaam (near halamish) ask for people to come and join them in a demonstration and planting trees on their lands, next to the settlement of halamish
the planting will be an act against the frequent harassments by the settlers and their attempt to take over parts of the village land
the demonstration will take place at 9 am
K.
REFUSNICS
34 Days in Prison for CO Or Ben-David
Or Ben-David returns to prison after being sentenced for 34 days. This is her 3rd prison term in a row. Further information and recommended action follows.
After completing a second prison term, Or Ben-David, of the 2009-2010 high school seniors letter of refusal, was sentenced earlier today, Dec. 15th, to 34 days in prison. She will serve her sentence in the military prison for women (no. 400) in Tzrifin/Sarafand.
Or is expected to be released on Jan. 21st and is likely to be imprisoned again soon afterwards.
SHEIKH JARAH
Free the Sheikh Jarrah Six! A somewhat personal account of the Friday 11-12-09 demo
On Friday more then 150 people marched to Sheikh Jarrah, to show support and solidarity with the families who has been evicted from their houses, and those facing evictions. Upon arriving at the neighborhood, the protesters continued to the Al-Kurd’s home where settlers have taken over parts of the house, making the Al-Kurd lives a living hell.
The marchers chanted and spoke against the settlers and the protection they receive from the Israeli courts in their attempt to remove all Palestinians from East Jerusalem. Not surprisingly, the police and Israeli soldiers protected the settlers and expressed their banal and blunt opposition to the protesters in words ( “why are we suppose to be around those who are against Jews?”) and later in actions.
After an Israeli flag which represents colonialism and more then 60 year of apartheid and ethnic cleansing was removed from the stolen settler house window, the police charged the protesters, beating and arresting 23 people, three of them internationals.
Requests by some arrestees for medical attention after being pepper- sprayed and beaten were ignored by the police immediately after the arrests. While one person was lying on the ground, calling for help and expressing deep pain at the police station, the cops were watching videos taken at the protest, and talking casually between themselves. After an hour the police officers finally agreed to call an ambulance, but refused to allow medical personal to evocate the wounded person (although a medics insistence on it). He was allowed to be taken to a hospital only after the intervention of lawyers.
All the protesters were eventually taken to the main police station in Jerusalem, where they were left to stand outside in the cold night for hours. Six protesters were signaled out by the cops, deeming them to be the “leaders” and the instigators of the demonstration. Many request to see lawyers were ignored and silenced (at one point as a direct order of the police personal in charged of the investigation), and all of the arrested protesters were charged of attacking police personal, rioting, and refusing to dispersed.
The five women who were arrested were taken to the general population in a women prison and requests by one of them for medical attention were also ignored. The eighteen men were taken to the police detention center in Jerusalem. Although it is illegal to arrest a person for more then 24 hours without a judge decision, the arrestees were held for more then 36 hours before seeing a judge (and more then 12 hours without being fed). The six person who were singled out by the police at first were charged with rioting and for “putting the public at risk” with their actions. As their statement the six express their concerns at the police action and at the persecution request that they will not be allowed to enter the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood for three month. The judge who behaved very annoyingly all through the procedure, not allowing the defense lawyers to speak freely, ruled that all the six are not to enter Sheikh Jarrah for the next thirty days. While he was speaking the chants and yelling of tens of activists were heard from a demonstration held outside of the court.
The 12 persons arrested were not charged with anything, but were also ordered not to enter Sheikh Jarrah for 30 days. The three internationals were taken by the immigration police, prompting the lawyers to quit from representing their clients for the illegality of treating the three international activists differently from the rest of the arrestees (I’m not very familiar with what happened around that).
Although the police actions, supported by the court ruling were designed to discourage those who participate (or those who are planning to participate in the future) in solidarity activities, the opposite has been achieved. The police and military were exposed again for their violence and protection of Israel’s racist policies against Palestinians, and the Israeli court was exposed for its criminalization of those challenging those policies. One activist was heard yelling leaving the court “next week we will meet again in Sheikh Jarrah”. Upon their release from the police detention (some only at 4am, hours after the trial ended), the arrestees all express their intention to come back and support the just struggle of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah.
Free the Sheikh Jarrah six!
Support the Palestinian struggle in Sheikh Jarrah against forced removal!
Unity in struggle,
M
Video of 11-12-09 demo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWxulvckyAI
Another video from last week in Sheikh Jarrah http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm6VAYllFEA
A huge thank you for all the people that came and stood all these long hours in the freezing cold outside of the police station .
It meant so much to hear you all singing and making noise and even better was to sit in court and see the judge shivering every time you shouted : "The Fascism shell not pass " . It's just made the long hours so much easier.
Thank you again B.
Media: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1135709.html
This Friday
Around 300 protesters participated in yesterday's demo in Sheikh Jarah, marching from Hamashbir Plaza towards the neighborhood.
As early as the initial gathering, the police began to arrest demonstrators, claiming that the event is illegal, and by the end of the demonstration 27 people were detained. None of those detained resisted arrest. Quite a few of them were arrested when they were simply drumming or performing as dressed up clowns.
In spite of our legal team's attempt to have the detainees brought to an immediate hearing to set terms for their release, the police has decided to punish the detainees to the extent permitted by the law. Therefore, they will be brought to the hearing only after the end of Sabbath.
The detainees will probably be brought at 19:00 to Hashalom court in the Russian compound, where we will be demonstrating in solidarity with them starting at 20:00. According to last week's detainees, we know for a fact that our calls and our chanting penetrate the walls of the court, and can encourage and empower the detainees after long hours in their detention cells. Please make an effort to be there.
Seikh Jarah Friday demo - 18-12-09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIsvt4W4nGU
MEDIA
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/1136103.html
25 leftists arrested in east Jerusalem --- Police forces detain activists for refusing to end rally against Jews inhabiting houses in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. One of protestors tells Ynet, 'The police's conduct resembles a military regime. This neighborhood cannot be under Jewish control' ---- The police arrested twenty-five Palestinians and left-wing activists in Sheikh Jarrah on Friday afternoon for refusing to end a rally against Jews inhabiting houses in the east Jerusalem neighborhood. The protestors were removed from the area with the help of mounted policemen.
Time table:
14:43 So far about 30 people arrested in sheikh jarrah, and counting.
almost all the drummers of the Samba circle were arrested + all the clowns... of the clowns troupe.
17:35 Hi, just on break from the police station at Migrash Hrosim. 30 people arrested, some even before reaching SJ. police tried to prevent people from coming, block all the entrances to the SJ street. people managed to get in anyway. police used violence.
we had about 350-400 people at the demo. right now we have about fifty people outside of the police station. many left back to SJ b/c 100 settlers are right now at SJ doing their Friday prayer.
listen to the radio, it said that a demo of Anarchists and leftist activists was dispersed by the police. M.
Final numbers:
27 people arrested. All will be held for 24 hours. We managed to pass some food and warm clothing to some of them. They will be brought before judge tomorrow evening.
We will hold a solidarity demonstration by the court. 20:00 at the Russians compound!
2 kids injured by stones thrown by settlers, after the demonstration, and taken to the hospital by ambulance.
there is going to be a demo tomorrow (Saturday) at 8pm at the same spot that it was last week.
27 people were arrested in another attempt by the Israeli police and military to shot down the demos in sheikh jarah.
please come,
M
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle against the separation fence, occupation, and transfer expand.
This week the struggle around the transfer from Sheikh Jarrad neighborhood (east Jerusalem) become more intensive and got lot of media attention. Activists from Tel Aviv reinforced during the week Jerusalem comrades and internationals. On Friday the mobilization to Sheikh Jarrah involved in addition to activists of Jerusalem, comrades attending an hour earlier demonstrations in Bil'in, Ma'asara, and human rights demo in Tel Aviv. The Wednesday struggle in Ni'ilin, was a bit less intense after a high concrete wall was built along the main part of the separation fence. It was the first time state forces did not use shooting of bullets and used only tear gas. In Bil'in, in spite of the arrest of the head of the popular comity (we demonstrated against it on Thursday in TA) we had Friday demonstration and tear gas as usual.
BIL'IN
10th December, Abdullah abu-Rahme from Bil'in was arrested early this morning by soldiers in Ramallah. He is being held for questioning. More to follow.
Invitation to Thursday evening demonstration
End political repression – long live the popular struggle
Last night, at 2 am, the Israeli army arrested Abdullah abu-Rahmeh, one of the leaders of the popular struggle in the village of Bil’in. Abdullah’s arrest is the latest in a long line of arrests, accompanied by violent nightly invasions the army has been conducting in order to repress Bil’ins popular struggle.
‘Adib abu-Rahmeh, another member of the popular committee, has been detained for the past five months at ‘Ofer prison, in addition to 15 Bil’in youths. Their only crime is popular resistance of the occupation, demanding justice and freedom.
This is the Israeli apartheid regime: leaders and participants in the popular struggle are imprisoned, while war criminals walk free, and the separation wall built on Bil’in’s land still stands, although it has been ruled illegal even by Israel’s high court.
If the people of Bil’in, Ni’lin, Ma’asara and Shekih Jarrah are wanted by the army we shall all be wanted. Together, we shall stand against the persecution. Together, we shall continue the resistance.
Protest tonight, Thursday, 10th Dec, 18:30
Meeting: Sderot Ben-Zion, Corner of King George and marching to the Ministry of defense, the Kiriya, Tel Aviv
Media report on the demo http://news.walla.co.il/?w=//1620855&m=1&mid=80116
..."A protest was held in Tel Aviv Thursday night against the arrest hand in hand with marking International Human Rights Day. At the event, which was attended by some 150 people, banners were waved with slogans such as: "If Abu Rahma is a wanted man, so are we" and "We won't let popular resistance be put to death."
Adar Grievsky from the group "Anarchist against the Wall," said, "In recent months 31 people have been arrested in Bilin during night raids. It must be remembered that these are popular protests that take place every week. They are not violent or armed, and every democratic regime must allow them. When Israel acts violently against non-violent people, it shows that it has something to earn from armed struggle.
"The protest is both an outcry against the occupation and oppression of such outcries against it. It is International Human Rights Day, and it is important to emphasize to all Israelis that human rights are violated in the territories on a daily basis, and every time basic rights are violated there that need to be granted to every person whoever they are."
Friday report:
"A total of about 25 Israelis and internationals joined the Palestinians of Bil'in for a relatively small demonstration against the wall. The focus of the protest was the arrest of Abdullah Abu Rahme, a member of the popular committee, whose prominent presence in demonstrations and attempts to curb the use of stones and gas canisters made him such a dangerous person, that the Israeli army had to break into Ramallah in the middle of the night to abduct and arrest him. The new border police soldiers were very eager to spend gas canisters, and the wind made it difficult to maintain steady presence near the gate, which was nevertheless opened by the demonstrators. Many suffered from gas inhalations, some were bruised, and some went on to get arrested in the demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah, just in time for the lighting of the first Hanukka candle. May the occupiers be defeated as was the evil king Antiochus."
Bil'in Friday 11.12.2009 video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycimo0lpbsQ
NI'ILIN
Weekly Demonstration Against the Wall in Ni'ilin-06/12/2009
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/12/07/18631667.php
22nd aniversary to the First Intifada - Demonstration in Ni'ilin
The coming Wednesday, December 9th (noon time) - a demonstration commemorating the outbreak of the First Intifada will be held in Ni'ilin on Wednesday.
It was a relatively small demonstration as it was in a working day early afternoon.
About 10 Israelis, the village main activists against the separation fence, and few others, and lot of media workers participated.
There was surprisingly minor suppression of Israeli state forces who did not shoot at us with any thing more than tear gas canisters.
SHEIKH JARAH
Occupation of Al-Kurd home, 1st December, Sheikh Jarrah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NqjXLVc81s
Update on Sheikh Jarrah, 12/08/2009
I just came back from Sheikh Jarrah. Talked to some people and following a fight from last week a bunch of Palestinians were sentenced to forty days of a house arrest out of Sheikh Jarrah. The police officer asked the judge for that particular sentence saying that the Jerusalem police is planning to evict another two families in the next couple of weeks and they would prefer it if those subversive element will not be around for that action.
While there, three times a groups of settlers harassed the Palestinians in different ways. One of them by painting over a beautiful moral on a Palestinian house an Israeli flag. obviously, the police or the military did not do anything to stop them. Yesterday, some settlers were seen covering their faces as if they were trying to hide their identity, before attacking someone.
So once again our presence is very much needed in Sheikh Jarrah. I will try to do a couple of hours a day, and I hope that others can join me. For those who are coming from Tel Aviv by a service taxi, the walk from Kikar Zion to Sheikh Jarrah takes about 10 minutes.
Invitation for the Friday demonstration
The settlers in Sheikh Jarrah are harassing the Palestinian residents, especially the Al-Kurd family. Ever since they moved into a section of their house, the settlers are threatening the family members, preventing them from sleeping at night, painting Israeli flags on their walls, and even throwing stones at them.
Our presence is still needed in the neighborhood, and there are no volunteers for the weekend yet. In order to ensure activist presence at all times, we created a schedule of shifts. If you can come for a few hours, please sign up in advance and join a day/night shift – M.
The weekly marches are growing and receiving significant public attention. Last week we were 130. Let us grow in numbers!
Join a march from West to East Jerusalem in protest of the injustice committed against the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. The march will end in Sheikh Jarrah with a protest against the settler enterprise in the neighborhood.
The march will start at the center of west Jerusalem - Mashbir plaza, on the corner of King George and Ben Yehudah on Friday 11.12 at 13:30
For transportation from Tel Aviv: K.
----------------------------------------------
Activist from Jerusalem came to the late morning "human rights" mass demonstration in Tel Aviv to distribute fliers about the struggle in Sheikh Jarrah and invitation to join this Friday demonstration in Jerusalem.
------------------------------
After the police attack on the demo today, and the arrests, there is a big need for presence there. please go to the place if you can come.
s.
First details:
In the weekly Friday demonstration, when the people reached the neighborhood, they encountered big presence of police. The police assaulted the demonstrators on the false accusation that they intended to forcibly invade apartments settlers occupied with the blessing Israely courts. The police officers were super violent and used peper spray and batons.
24 comrades were arrested - many of them activists of the AAtW initiative. 24 of them were brought to the Russian compound police station for interogation and one taken for hospital.
There are supporting lawyer with the comrades, and it is expected that part of the arrested will stay in jail and wil be brought before judge at the end of Saturday.
However, after the end of the interogation all were cept in jail to appear before judge the next late evening charged with "assaulting an officer".
----------------------
A call for solidarity demonstration Saturday evening in front of the Jerusalem courthouse was issued:
Every Friday for the past few weeks, there has been a march to Sheikh Jarrah to protest the eviction of Palestinian residents from their homes. During the demonstration yesterday, the police stormed the crowd with unprecedented force, wounding ten demonstrators and arresting twenty-four. The detainees spent the night in the Russian Compound, and will be brought before a judge to be arraigned this evening. The harsh police response seems planned in advance in order to suppress the mounting protests and to silence the public opposition to the policy of judaizing East Jerusalem. Brutal suppression of legal and nonviolent demonstrations will not silence the opposition.
We will not be silent.
We will not stand by while the Sheikh Jarrah residents are evicted and their protest silenced. Tonight at 7:00 PM Demonstration in front of the magistrate court.
------------------------------------------------
Media report with link to video clip at: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1134512.html
------------------------------------------------
Towards midnight, first group of 6 appeared before the judge. The prosecution asked for their detention till the trial, but judge released them on bail - conditioned on 30 days refraining from coming near Sheikh Jarrah/
Around 03:50 - Sunday early morning all the Israelis were released. The three internationals who were kidnapped by the immigration police in spite of the physical resistance of the comrades at the hearing, were released later.
BIL'IN
10th December, Abdullah abu-Rahme from Bil'in was arrested early this morning by soldiers in Ramallah. He is being held for questioning. More to follow.
Invitation to Thursday evening demonstration
End political repression – long live the popular struggle
Last night, at 2 am, the Israeli army arrested Abdullah abu-Rahmeh, one of the leaders of the popular struggle in the village of Bil’in. Abdullah’s arrest is the latest in a long line of arrests, accompanied by violent nightly invasions the army has been conducting in order to repress Bil’ins popular struggle.
‘Adib abu-Rahmeh, another member of the popular committee, has been detained for the past five months at ‘Ofer prison, in addition to 15 Bil’in youths. Their only crime is popular resistance of the occupation, demanding justice and freedom.
This is the Israeli apartheid regime: leaders and participants in the popular struggle are imprisoned, while war criminals walk free, and the separation wall built on Bil’in’s land still stands, although it has been ruled illegal even by Israel’s high court.
If the people of Bil’in, Ni’lin, Ma’asara and Shekih Jarrah are wanted by the army we shall all be wanted. Together, we shall stand against the persecution. Together, we shall continue the resistance.
Protest tonight, Thursday, 10th Dec, 18:30
Meeting: Sderot Ben-Zion, Corner of King George and marching to the Ministry of defense, the Kiriya, Tel Aviv
Media report on the demo http://news.walla.co.il/?w=//1620855&m=1&mid=80116
..."A protest was held in Tel Aviv Thursday night against the arrest hand in hand with marking International Human Rights Day. At the event, which was attended by some 150 people, banners were waved with slogans such as: "If Abu Rahma is a wanted man, so are we" and "We won't let popular resistance be put to death."
Adar Grievsky from the group "Anarchist against the Wall," said, "In recent months 31 people have been arrested in Bilin during night raids. It must be remembered that these are popular protests that take place every week. They are not violent or armed, and every democratic regime must allow them. When Israel acts violently against non-violent people, it shows that it has something to earn from armed struggle.
"The protest is both an outcry against the occupation and oppression of such outcries against it. It is International Human Rights Day, and it is important to emphasize to all Israelis that human rights are violated in the territories on a daily basis, and every time basic rights are violated there that need to be granted to every person whoever they are."
Friday report:
"A total of about 25 Israelis and internationals joined the Palestinians of Bil'in for a relatively small demonstration against the wall. The focus of the protest was the arrest of Abdullah Abu Rahme, a member of the popular committee, whose prominent presence in demonstrations and attempts to curb the use of stones and gas canisters made him such a dangerous person, that the Israeli army had to break into Ramallah in the middle of the night to abduct and arrest him. The new border police soldiers were very eager to spend gas canisters, and the wind made it difficult to maintain steady presence near the gate, which was nevertheless opened by the demonstrators. Many suffered from gas inhalations, some were bruised, and some went on to get arrested in the demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah, just in time for the lighting of the first Hanukka candle. May the occupiers be defeated as was the evil king Antiochus."
Bil'in Friday 11.12.2009 video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycimo0lpbsQ
NI'ILIN
Weekly Demonstration Against the Wall in Ni'ilin-06/12/2009
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/12/07/18631667.php
22nd aniversary to the First Intifada - Demonstration in Ni'ilin
The coming Wednesday, December 9th (noon time) - a demonstration commemorating the outbreak of the First Intifada will be held in Ni'ilin on Wednesday.
It was a relatively small demonstration as it was in a working day early afternoon.
About 10 Israelis, the village main activists against the separation fence, and few others, and lot of media workers participated.
There was surprisingly minor suppression of Israeli state forces who did not shoot at us with any thing more than tear gas canisters.
SHEIKH JARAH
Occupation of Al-Kurd home, 1st December, Sheikh Jarrah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NqjXLVc81s
Update on Sheikh Jarrah, 12/08/2009
I just came back from Sheikh Jarrah. Talked to some people and following a fight from last week a bunch of Palestinians were sentenced to forty days of a house arrest out of Sheikh Jarrah. The police officer asked the judge for that particular sentence saying that the Jerusalem police is planning to evict another two families in the next couple of weeks and they would prefer it if those subversive element will not be around for that action.
While there, three times a groups of settlers harassed the Palestinians in different ways. One of them by painting over a beautiful moral on a Palestinian house an Israeli flag. obviously, the police or the military did not do anything to stop them. Yesterday, some settlers were seen covering their faces as if they were trying to hide their identity, before attacking someone.
So once again our presence is very much needed in Sheikh Jarrah. I will try to do a couple of hours a day, and I hope that others can join me. For those who are coming from Tel Aviv by a service taxi, the walk from Kikar Zion to Sheikh Jarrah takes about 10 minutes.
Invitation for the Friday demonstration
The settlers in Sheikh Jarrah are harassing the Palestinian residents, especially the Al-Kurd family. Ever since they moved into a section of their house, the settlers are threatening the family members, preventing them from sleeping at night, painting Israeli flags on their walls, and even throwing stones at them.
Our presence is still needed in the neighborhood, and there are no volunteers for the weekend yet. In order to ensure activist presence at all times, we created a schedule of shifts. If you can come for a few hours, please sign up in advance and join a day/night shift – M.
The weekly marches are growing and receiving significant public attention. Last week we were 130. Let us grow in numbers!
Join a march from West to East Jerusalem in protest of the injustice committed against the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. The march will end in Sheikh Jarrah with a protest against the settler enterprise in the neighborhood.
The march will start at the center of west Jerusalem - Mashbir plaza, on the corner of King George and Ben Yehudah on Friday 11.12 at 13:30
For transportation from Tel Aviv: K.
----------------------------------------------
Activist from Jerusalem came to the late morning "human rights" mass demonstration in Tel Aviv to distribute fliers about the struggle in Sheikh Jarrah and invitation to join this Friday demonstration in Jerusalem.
------------------------------
After the police attack on the demo today, and the arrests, there is a big need for presence there. please go to the place if you can come.
s.
First details:
In the weekly Friday demonstration, when the people reached the neighborhood, they encountered big presence of police. The police assaulted the demonstrators on the false accusation that they intended to forcibly invade apartments settlers occupied with the blessing Israely courts. The police officers were super violent and used peper spray and batons.
24 comrades were arrested - many of them activists of the AAtW initiative. 24 of them were brought to the Russian compound police station for interogation and one taken for hospital.
There are supporting lawyer with the comrades, and it is expected that part of the arrested will stay in jail and wil be brought before judge at the end of Saturday.
However, after the end of the interogation all were cept in jail to appear before judge the next late evening charged with "assaulting an officer".
----------------------
A call for solidarity demonstration Saturday evening in front of the Jerusalem courthouse was issued:
Every Friday for the past few weeks, there has been a march to Sheikh Jarrah to protest the eviction of Palestinian residents from their homes. During the demonstration yesterday, the police stormed the crowd with unprecedented force, wounding ten demonstrators and arresting twenty-four. The detainees spent the night in the Russian Compound, and will be brought before a judge to be arraigned this evening. The harsh police response seems planned in advance in order to suppress the mounting protests and to silence the public opposition to the policy of judaizing East Jerusalem. Brutal suppression of legal and nonviolent demonstrations will not silence the opposition.
We will not be silent.
We will not stand by while the Sheikh Jarrah residents are evicted and their protest silenced. Tonight at 7:00 PM Demonstration in front of the magistrate court.
------------------------------------------------
Media report with link to video clip at: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1134512.html
------------------------------------------------
Towards midnight, first group of 6 appeared before the judge. The prosecution asked for their detention till the trial, but judge released them on bail - conditioned on 30 days refraining from coming near Sheikh Jarrah/
Around 03:50 - Sunday early morning all the Israelis were released. The three internationals who were kidnapped by the immigration police in spite of the physical resistance of the comrades at the hearing, were released later.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle continue "as usual" in Bil'in, Jerusalem, Ma'asara and Ni'ilin
More than 60 activists were involved with the Anarchists Against the Wall initiative at the Friday demonstrations (in addition to the week day on going struggles. Friday demonstration were as usual in Bil'in and Ni'ilin (west of Ramalla), Ma'asara (south of Bethlehem), and Sheikh Jarrah (occupied east Jerusalem).
BIL'IN
Over 20 Israelis and about 20 internationals joined the weekly demonstration against the Israeli stranglehold of Bil'in and the Palestinian people. The procession marched on chanting merrily, waving a bunch of new Palestinian flags and sporting banners protesting European and corporate support of the occupation. The wind, however, was unilaterally pro-Israeli, and made it difficult for demonstrators to hold their stance against the clouds of gas slowly flowing down the path in endless abundance courtesy of Israeli and American tax payer's money. The shabab was very restrained and refused to use force in order to disperse the soldiers from the gate area. It was only at the very end of the demonstration that they used their free and eco-friendly means for dispersing armed oppression.
Bil'in 27-11-09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3oPCxzsB0s
MA'ASARA
Invitation to the demo: "there's a car going to ma'asara demo and from there to seih jarah demo tomorrow"
In Ma'asara some 50 Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators marched on Friday in protest against the Apartheid Wall. Soldiers and Border Policemen waited for the march just outside the village, laying razor wire on the road in a location closer to the village that the usual. Demonstrators aliened themselves opposite the occupation forces, and within three minutes police charged and grabbed one of the village youth, arresting him with no reason at all.
The demonstration proceeded, and speeches were carried in Arabic, English and Hebrew. The joint Palestinian-Israeli drumming band played to the rhythm of the slogans chanted, and some of the village children challenged the soldiers by pulling at the razor wire. Meanwhile, some of the Israeli activists presented the soldiers with a map of the West Bank and the Wall and with a specially drawn map of the area of the demonstration so that they know how far away they (and the fence) are from Israel's border.
After half an hour a deal was struck with the police that the demonstration will retreat ten meters, and the detainee be released. Surprisingly enough, the police did not keep their end of the deal. The demonstration went on for another hour, with people drumming, playing football and proceeding with geography lessons to the soldiers. Eventually the detained youth was made to sign a promise not to return to the demonstrations for two weeks and was then released. Back with the crowd, he told his friends how he had been beaten inside the police car once out of sight.
http://www.youtube.com/v/pKs6D_OSmqw
http://awalls.org/files/images/Masara1.JPG
NI'ILIN
Protester Shot With Live Bullet During Demonstration Against the Wall in Ni'ilin
This Friday in Ni'ilin, some 150 Palestinian, International, and Israeli protesters, gathered in a demonstration against the annexation of the village's land and the wall surrounding it. The protesters marched toward the gate in the wall (through which soldiers enter when raiding the village), and urged the soldiers on the other side to refuse to serve, reminding them that they are standing on a stolen land. In response, the soldiers shot tear gas at the protesters, as well as 0.22 live bullets (two-two), hitting one protester in the hip. The protester required immediate medical attention and was later transferred to a hospital. http://awalls.org/files/images/Niilin1.jpg
Retreating from the scores of tear gas and live bullets shot at them, the protesters moved towards an uncostructed area of the wall. A group of soldiers, escorted with three jeeps, crossed the gate and started advancing in the fields while shooting tear gas. Two soldiers, hiding in the many olive trees that surround Niilin, tried to hunt and aim at the protesters. Once the soldiers retreated back behind the wall, a group of the village youths followed them back and confronted them there.
SHEIKH JARRAH
In early November the Al-Kurd family was evicted from a section of their house. On Tuesday 1.12 the settlers moved into it. When settlers lived in the other Al-Kurd family house in the neighborhood, they terrorized the family for months, until they obtained ownership over the entire house. This led to the eviction of the family a year ago. This will be the fifth house taken over by settlers in Karm Al Ja'ouni.
Weekly Protest March from the Mashbir plaza to Sheikh Jarrah
Join a march from West to East Jerusalem in protest of the injustice committed against the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. The march will end in Sheikh Jarrah with a protest against the settler enterprise in the neighborhood.
The march will start at the Mashbir plaza on Friday 4.12 at 13:30
For further information or transportation from Tel Aviv: M
The situation in Sheikh Jarrah is very explosive right now. The last three days were filled with violent outbreaks, confrontations with the settlers and the police, and the tent of the Gawi family was demolished once more. Yesterday the Al-Kurd family lost the appeal they submitted requesting the settlers to be removed from the new section of their house. Earlier today (Thursday) morning, police and secret service forces entered the neighborhood and arrested three Palestinians. Two of them were not found at home and were summoned to the police. There are large police forces in the neighborhood at the moment. International presence is insufficient, and there is a lack of cameras.
We need greater presence in the neighborhood in the next few days.
for coordination or further information M
Occupation of Al-Kurd home, 1st December, Sheikh Jarrah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NqjXLVc81s
-----------------------------------
Boycott Israel in Paris http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfK7Yal64S0
BIL'IN
Over 20 Israelis and about 20 internationals joined the weekly demonstration against the Israeli stranglehold of Bil'in and the Palestinian people. The procession marched on chanting merrily, waving a bunch of new Palestinian flags and sporting banners protesting European and corporate support of the occupation. The wind, however, was unilaterally pro-Israeli, and made it difficult for demonstrators to hold their stance against the clouds of gas slowly flowing down the path in endless abundance courtesy of Israeli and American tax payer's money. The shabab was very restrained and refused to use force in order to disperse the soldiers from the gate area. It was only at the very end of the demonstration that they used their free and eco-friendly means for dispersing armed oppression.
Bil'in 27-11-09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3oPCxzsB0s
MA'ASARA
Invitation to the demo: "there's a car going to ma'asara demo and from there to seih jarah demo tomorrow"
In Ma'asara some 50 Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators marched on Friday in protest against the Apartheid Wall. Soldiers and Border Policemen waited for the march just outside the village, laying razor wire on the road in a location closer to the village that the usual. Demonstrators aliened themselves opposite the occupation forces, and within three minutes police charged and grabbed one of the village youth, arresting him with no reason at all.
The demonstration proceeded, and speeches were carried in Arabic, English and Hebrew. The joint Palestinian-Israeli drumming band played to the rhythm of the slogans chanted, and some of the village children challenged the soldiers by pulling at the razor wire. Meanwhile, some of the Israeli activists presented the soldiers with a map of the West Bank and the Wall and with a specially drawn map of the area of the demonstration so that they know how far away they (and the fence) are from Israel's border.
After half an hour a deal was struck with the police that the demonstration will retreat ten meters, and the detainee be released. Surprisingly enough, the police did not keep their end of the deal. The demonstration went on for another hour, with people drumming, playing football and proceeding with geography lessons to the soldiers. Eventually the detained youth was made to sign a promise not to return to the demonstrations for two weeks and was then released. Back with the crowd, he told his friends how he had been beaten inside the police car once out of sight.
http://www.youtube.com/v/pKs6D_OSmqw
http://awalls.org/files/images/Masara1.JPG
NI'ILIN
Protester Shot With Live Bullet During Demonstration Against the Wall in Ni'ilin
This Friday in Ni'ilin, some 150 Palestinian, International, and Israeli protesters, gathered in a demonstration against the annexation of the village's land and the wall surrounding it. The protesters marched toward the gate in the wall (through which soldiers enter when raiding the village), and urged the soldiers on the other side to refuse to serve, reminding them that they are standing on a stolen land. In response, the soldiers shot tear gas at the protesters, as well as 0.22 live bullets (two-two), hitting one protester in the hip. The protester required immediate medical attention and was later transferred to a hospital. http://awalls.org/files/images/Niilin1.jpg
Retreating from the scores of tear gas and live bullets shot at them, the protesters moved towards an uncostructed area of the wall. A group of soldiers, escorted with three jeeps, crossed the gate and started advancing in the fields while shooting tear gas. Two soldiers, hiding in the many olive trees that surround Niilin, tried to hunt and aim at the protesters. Once the soldiers retreated back behind the wall, a group of the village youths followed them back and confronted them there.
SHEIKH JARRAH
In early November the Al-Kurd family was evicted from a section of their house. On Tuesday 1.12 the settlers moved into it. When settlers lived in the other Al-Kurd family house in the neighborhood, they terrorized the family for months, until they obtained ownership over the entire house. This led to the eviction of the family a year ago. This will be the fifth house taken over by settlers in Karm Al Ja'ouni.
Weekly Protest March from the Mashbir plaza to Sheikh Jarrah
Join a march from West to East Jerusalem in protest of the injustice committed against the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. The march will end in Sheikh Jarrah with a protest against the settler enterprise in the neighborhood.
The march will start at the Mashbir plaza on Friday 4.12 at 13:30
For further information or transportation from Tel Aviv: M
The situation in Sheikh Jarrah is very explosive right now. The last three days were filled with violent outbreaks, confrontations with the settlers and the police, and the tent of the Gawi family was demolished once more. Yesterday the Al-Kurd family lost the appeal they submitted requesting the settlers to be removed from the new section of their house. Earlier today (Thursday) morning, police and secret service forces entered the neighborhood and arrested three Palestinians. Two of them were not found at home and were summoned to the police. There are large police forces in the neighborhood at the moment. International presence is insufficient, and there is a lack of cameras.
We need greater presence in the neighborhood in the next few days.
for coordination or further information M
Occupation of Al-Kurd home, 1st December, Sheikh Jarrah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NqjXLVc81s
-----------------------------------
Boycott Israel in Paris http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfK7Yal64S0
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Palestine-Israel, the joint struggle continue... not only in Bil'in
Because of the Muslim holy day of Id al Adha, the regular Friday joint demonstrations against the separation fence and occupation in the village Ni'ilin (west of Bil'in) and Ma'asara (south of Bethlehem) were canceled. However, in Bil'in, the nearly five years chain was never broken... The Israeli state efforts to transfer Palestinian from the occupied east Jerusalem never stop and so was the joint demonstration against the escalation of transfer steps. The refusnics struggle and that of the "guest workers" were less prominent this week.
Some 30 Israelis and 25 internationals joined the people of Bil'in for the Id al Adha demonstration against the wall. Demonstrators marched with Palestinian flag colored balloons, chanting slogans and imbued with holiday spirit. The army didn't let the relatively small number of demonstrators confuse them. After a formal holiday greeting, they immediately started throwing gas canisters. The wind, possibly not in solidarity with the villagers, blew directly in the demonstrators' faces, and made it difficult for them to maintain their stance. Demonstration leaders were seen scolding soldiers for their crimes while simultaneously scolding shabab for their disobedience to the no-stone-throwing-at-the-gate policy. Several demonstrators suffered direct hits by gas canisters, and some expensive holiday outfits were permanently scarred by the black soot of the struggle.
Bil'in, 27.11.09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT077JME1X0
Bil'in Friday 27.11.09 video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKMzu6bM3xk
Friday 20.11.09 al-ma3sara video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYcmu8WyWZ0
Ni'ilin-weekly demo November 20 http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/23/18630128.php
SHEIKH JARRAH
he settlers living in the neighborhood are harassing the evicted Palestinian families, who now live on the street. Threats and stone throwing have become common occurrences, especially before the Sabbath.
Weekly Protest March from the Mashbir plaza to Sheikh Jarrah
Join a march from West to East Jerusalem in protest of the injustice committed against the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. The march will end in Sheikh Jarrah with a protest against the settler enterprise in the neighborhood.
The march will start at the Mashbir plaza on Friday 27.11 at 13:30
Come to raise awareness and protest the settlers' attempt to take over East Jerusalem!
For further information or transportation from Tel Aviv: M
------------------------------
Yesterday in the early morning settlers invaded the Al-Kurd home in Sheikh Jarrah. They threatened the family members and beat some of them, until they were stopped by the police. We need volunteers to sleep in the families' homes Thursday through Saturday night.
Tomorrow, in the weekly Friday demonstration, significant presence will be very important for the families. We leave from the Mashbir Plaza on King George st. at 13:30, or meet at Sheikh Jarrah at 15:00.
For further information- M
demo against the settlements in Sheikh Jarrah
Http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/24/18630396.php
also a very good report about Bir al-Id:
http://villagesgroup.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/palestinians-return-to-bir-al-id/
See previous reports at:
http://ilanisagainstwalls.blogspot.com
Some 30 Israelis and 25 internationals joined the people of Bil'in for the Id al Adha demonstration against the wall. Demonstrators marched with Palestinian flag colored balloons, chanting slogans and imbued with holiday spirit. The army didn't let the relatively small number of demonstrators confuse them. After a formal holiday greeting, they immediately started throwing gas canisters. The wind, possibly not in solidarity with the villagers, blew directly in the demonstrators' faces, and made it difficult for them to maintain their stance. Demonstration leaders were seen scolding soldiers for their crimes while simultaneously scolding shabab for their disobedience to the no-stone-throwing-at-the-gate policy. Several demonstrators suffered direct hits by gas canisters, and some expensive holiday outfits were permanently scarred by the black soot of the struggle.
Bil'in, 27.11.09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT077JME1X0
Bil'in Friday 27.11.09 video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKMzu6bM3xk
Friday 20.11.09 al-ma3sara video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYcmu8WyWZ0
Ni'ilin-weekly demo November 20 http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/23/18630128.php
SHEIKH JARRAH
he settlers living in the neighborhood are harassing the evicted Palestinian families, who now live on the street. Threats and stone throwing have become common occurrences, especially before the Sabbath.
Weekly Protest March from the Mashbir plaza to Sheikh Jarrah
Join a march from West to East Jerusalem in protest of the injustice committed against the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. The march will end in Sheikh Jarrah with a protest against the settler enterprise in the neighborhood.
The march will start at the Mashbir plaza on Friday 27.11 at 13:30
Come to raise awareness and protest the settlers' attempt to take over East Jerusalem!
For further information or transportation from Tel Aviv: M
------------------------------
Yesterday in the early morning settlers invaded the Al-Kurd home in Sheikh Jarrah. They threatened the family members and beat some of them, until they were stopped by the police. We need volunteers to sleep in the families' homes Thursday through Saturday night.
Tomorrow, in the weekly Friday demonstration, significant presence will be very important for the families. We leave from the Mashbir Plaza on King George st. at 13:30, or meet at Sheikh Jarrah at 15:00.
For further information- M
demo against the settlements in Sheikh Jarrah
Http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/24/18630396.php
also a very good report about Bir al-Id:
http://villagesgroup.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/palestinians-return-to-bir-al-id/
See previous reports at:
http://ilanisagainstwalls.blogspot.com
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle against the occupation and the separation fence to be expanded
This week, the struggle of the Anarchists Against the Wall initiative was mainly in the "trinity" of Bil'in, Ni'ilin, and Ma'asara. About 60 were mobilized with us - mainly from the Tel Aviv region. The frustrated Palestinian official leadership contemplated in public the expansion of the Bili'n and Ni'ilin stile of nonviolent struggle as a third Intifada in the whole occupied west bank. It seems, the Israeli secrete services who were aware on the contemplation of this option, were desperate enough to try during the last few months - with out success, to stop the Bil'in example with their series of night arrests of the main activists of the popular comity of village. The other struggles - like the refusnic front and that of Sheikh Jarrah transfer were less prominent.
BIL'IN
This Friday too we persisted in the nearly five years long chain of struggle against the separation fence and occupation in Bil'in. At noon, about 100 of us - including 35 Israelis, and a dozen or so international activists, marched from the center of the village towards the gate to the route of the separation fence.
The usual chants along the march included the mentioning of local activists arrested during the last few months - including the one arrested the day before.
At the gate, as usual, the state force did not wait long before starting to shower us with tear gas grenades. Like usual, some of the grenades were returned to them to enable them to "enjoy" their own "medicine".
As the wind was making it hard to evade the tear gas, we left there earlier than usual. Part of us converged for a while to challenge the state force at a near by section of the separation fence, before we returned to the village.
JERUSALEM
Weekly Protest March from Zion Square to Sheikh Jarrah
Join a march from West to East Jerusalem in protest of the injustice committed against the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. The march will end in Sheikh Jarrah with a protest against the settler enterprise in the neighborhood.
The march will start at Zion Square at 13:30, Friday 20.11
Every Friday settlers gather in the neighborhood to pray and make their presence known. Such gatherings have often led to attacks on the evicted families.
This Friday they will be joined by members of the radical right wing movement "Im Tirtzu"
Come to raise awareness and protest the settlers' attempt to take over East Jerusalem!
For further information or transportation from Tel Aviv: Maya
MA'ASARA
Some fifty Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators marched Friday noon from the center of Ma'asara village towards the route of the apartheid fence that is to be built on village lands. Like every other Friday, demonstrators were stopped by Israeli soldiers and boarded policemen who laid barbed wire on the main road leading to the fence, forcefully preventing the procession from proceeding. When asked if their actions had any legal basis, soldiers refused to answer.
Protesters then delivered speeches in Arabic, English and Hebrew, and called upon the soldiers to leave their weapons and join the non-violent struggle for two independent states and against war crimes committed by Israel. Slogans were chanted, and the joint drum band, made out of Israeli Qasamba drummers and the village children, played and cheered the demonstrators up.
During the demonstration several children managed to go around the barbed wire, but were pushed back by the soldiers. Some of them then tried to pull away the barbed wire fence with improvised ropes that were then cut by the soldiers. The children, however, did not give up, and eventually succeeded in tearing the fence apart, forcing the soldiers to step up and physically push the demonstrators and threaten demonstrators with arrests.
The demonstration was over within fifteen minutes.
NI'ILIN
200 protestors – Palestinian, Israeli & International, gathered today in the village of Niilin for the weekly protest against the wall. The demonstrators marched from the village to the wall – which grew some 500 meters longer in the last week. Apparently, the military finds it too hard to cope with the village youth's decisiveness. The extended wall joined the two-weeks policy of shooting live ammunition at the demonstrators revived after a few calmer months. As the demonstration reached the gate in the wall, the demonstrators addressed the soldiers that crowded together from its other side and verbally protested the occupation and the wall. It wasn't long before the soldiers dispersed the group with tear gas, answered with stones from some of the youth. Shortly after, a first injury from the 0.22 ammunition was listed. The demonstration went on for hours, counting two medium & one light injuries. The long wall didn't stop the soldiers from invading the village. The skillful youth managed to avoid injuries for this part of the demonstration, and after chasing the retreating soldiers back to the wall, the demonstration was declared over.
Ni'ilin Friday 13-11-09 video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqwE63tJzQo
Ni'ilin Friday 20.11.09 video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hppUAOyOYnA
REFUSENICS
Second Prison Term for Conscientious Objector Or Ben-David
http://www.newprofile.org/english/?p=247
Dear Friends,
After completing her first prison term, Or Ben-David, http://www.newprofile.org/english/?p=231 of the 2009-2010 high school seniors letter of refusal, http://www.shministim.com/ was sentenced earlier today (16 Nov.) to 20 more days in the military prison for women (no. 400) in Tzrifin. This is her second term in prison and the third time she has been tried and sentenced for her refusal to enlist. She is due to be released from prison on 3 December and is likely to be imprisoned again soon afterwards. Her address in prison is:
Or Ben-David
Military ID 6054025
Military Prison No. 400
Military Postal Code 02447, IDF
Israel
Fax: ++972-3-9579389
Since the prison authorities often block mail from reaching imprisoned objectors, we also recommend you to send them your letters of support and encouragement via e-mail to shministim10@gmail.com, and they will be printed out and delivered during visits.
A brief update also on the case of Walaa Kassem Naffaa. http://www.newprofile.org/english/?p=240 Wallaa has been released from prison on 4 Nov. and has not come back for another round in prison yet, but is likely to be imprisoned for the third time in the coming weeks. Also, we have obtained more accurate details about his two prison terms to date, so a correction to previously published information is due: he was first sentenced to 14 days in prison on 1 Oct., and again to 10 days on 27 Oct.
BIL'IN
This Friday too we persisted in the nearly five years long chain of struggle against the separation fence and occupation in Bil'in. At noon, about 100 of us - including 35 Israelis, and a dozen or so international activists, marched from the center of the village towards the gate to the route of the separation fence.
The usual chants along the march included the mentioning of local activists arrested during the last few months - including the one arrested the day before.
At the gate, as usual, the state force did not wait long before starting to shower us with tear gas grenades. Like usual, some of the grenades were returned to them to enable them to "enjoy" their own "medicine".
As the wind was making it hard to evade the tear gas, we left there earlier than usual. Part of us converged for a while to challenge the state force at a near by section of the separation fence, before we returned to the village.
JERUSALEM
Weekly Protest March from Zion Square to Sheikh Jarrah
Join a march from West to East Jerusalem in protest of the injustice committed against the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. The march will end in Sheikh Jarrah with a protest against the settler enterprise in the neighborhood.
The march will start at Zion Square at 13:30, Friday 20.11
Every Friday settlers gather in the neighborhood to pray and make their presence known. Such gatherings have often led to attacks on the evicted families.
This Friday they will be joined by members of the radical right wing movement "Im Tirtzu"
Come to raise awareness and protest the settlers' attempt to take over East Jerusalem!
For further information or transportation from Tel Aviv: Maya
MA'ASARA
Some fifty Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators marched Friday noon from the center of Ma'asara village towards the route of the apartheid fence that is to be built on village lands. Like every other Friday, demonstrators were stopped by Israeli soldiers and boarded policemen who laid barbed wire on the main road leading to the fence, forcefully preventing the procession from proceeding. When asked if their actions had any legal basis, soldiers refused to answer.
Protesters then delivered speeches in Arabic, English and Hebrew, and called upon the soldiers to leave their weapons and join the non-violent struggle for two independent states and against war crimes committed by Israel. Slogans were chanted, and the joint drum band, made out of Israeli Qasamba drummers and the village children, played and cheered the demonstrators up.
During the demonstration several children managed to go around the barbed wire, but were pushed back by the soldiers. Some of them then tried to pull away the barbed wire fence with improvised ropes that were then cut by the soldiers. The children, however, did not give up, and eventually succeeded in tearing the fence apart, forcing the soldiers to step up and physically push the demonstrators and threaten demonstrators with arrests.
The demonstration was over within fifteen minutes.
NI'ILIN
200 protestors – Palestinian, Israeli & International, gathered today in the village of Niilin for the weekly protest against the wall. The demonstrators marched from the village to the wall – which grew some 500 meters longer in the last week. Apparently, the military finds it too hard to cope with the village youth's decisiveness. The extended wall joined the two-weeks policy of shooting live ammunition at the demonstrators revived after a few calmer months. As the demonstration reached the gate in the wall, the demonstrators addressed the soldiers that crowded together from its other side and verbally protested the occupation and the wall. It wasn't long before the soldiers dispersed the group with tear gas, answered with stones from some of the youth. Shortly after, a first injury from the 0.22 ammunition was listed. The demonstration went on for hours, counting two medium & one light injuries. The long wall didn't stop the soldiers from invading the village. The skillful youth managed to avoid injuries for this part of the demonstration, and after chasing the retreating soldiers back to the wall, the demonstration was declared over.
Ni'ilin Friday 13-11-09 video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqwE63tJzQo
Ni'ilin Friday 20.11.09 video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hppUAOyOYnA
REFUSENICS
Second Prison Term for Conscientious Objector Or Ben-David
http://www.newprofile.org/english/?p=247
Dear Friends,
After completing her first prison term, Or Ben-David, http://www.newprofile.org/english/?p=231 of the 2009-2010 high school seniors letter of refusal, http://www.shministim.com/ was sentenced earlier today (16 Nov.) to 20 more days in the military prison for women (no. 400) in Tzrifin. This is her second term in prison and the third time she has been tried and sentenced for her refusal to enlist. She is due to be released from prison on 3 December and is likely to be imprisoned again soon afterwards. Her address in prison is:
Or Ben-David
Military ID 6054025
Military Prison No. 400
Military Postal Code 02447, IDF
Israel
Fax: ++972-3-9579389
Since the prison authorities often block mail from reaching imprisoned objectors, we also recommend you to send them your letters of support and encouragement via e-mail to shministim10@gmail.com, and they will be printed out and delivered during visits.
A brief update also on the case of Walaa Kassem Naffaa. http://www.newprofile.org/english/?p=240 Wallaa has been released from prison on 4 Nov. and has not come back for another round in prison yet, but is likely to be imprisoned for the third time in the coming weeks. Also, we have obtained more accurate details about his two prison terms to date, so a correction to previously published information is due: he was first sentenced to 14 days in prison on 1 Oct., and again to 10 days on 27 Oct.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Palestine-Israel, The ongoing joint struggles against the separation fence and occupation
The struggle continue against transfer/evictions in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem. The struggle of the new wave of refusnics continue with lower level of state repression than of the previous year - shorter arrest terms... Though only the on going Friday demonstrations of Bil'in, Ni'ilin, and Ma'asara, persist, we get more and more invitations - even if non joined lately the heroic three. (This week the Anarchists Against the Wall were invited to Al Gussoun north of Tul Karem and to Karyut. We were also invited to: "On Monday 9 November a hundred Palestinians waving Palestinian flags and wearing fluorescent jackets saying "WE ARE GOING TO JERUSALEM" took down a piece of the concrete wall near Kalandia's airport.) The number of people who join us increase.
DEIR AL-GUSSOUN
Anouncement during the week:
There will be a demonstration in Deir alGussoun north of Tul Karem this Saturday at 10:30.
The village is north of Tul Karem, and years ago, there have been a few demonstrations there, but nothing recently.
The wall in the area, which was built in 2003, creeps into the village's lands leaving about 2500 dunams of the village's 13,000 west of the wall (on the "Israeli" side).
Please let me know if you'd like to go.
Press release 14 November 2009 - 18 Demonstrators arrested after a Gate in the Wall was Breached in Deir alGhussoun
The protesters were arrested as the demonstration was coming to an end, by soldiers who invaded the village and flanked them from the back.
Eighteen demonstrators were arrested today in the West Bank village of Deir alGhussoun, north of Tul Karem, after Israel's Separation Wall was breached by Palestinian, Israeli and international protesters. The protesters intended to march to village's lands that were left isolated behind the Wall, and managed to break open one of the barrier's gates.
The demonstrators managed to break the lock on the gate by rocking it back and forth, despite the presence of soldiers, but could not reach their lands, as they were being shot at with rubber-coated bullets and teargas . One demonstrator was lightly injured after being struck with a rubber-coated bullet in the leg.
As the demonstration was coming to an end, a large group of soldiers surprised a group of the protesters by closing in on them from the direction of the village, and arrested eighteen of the village's youth.
Today's demonstration was the opening salvo for a public campaign by the Deir elGhussoun municipality and the affected farmers, which will accompany an appeal the Israeli High Court of Justice to remove the already-built wall from the village's land. The said appeal is expected to be filed in the near future.
The wall in the area of the village cuts deep into West Bank land, leaving about 2,500 dunams (620 acres) of the village's land west of the wall (on the "Israeli" side), effecting 120 land owners, dozens of which do not receive permits from the Israeli army to even minimally tend to their lands.
In an advisory opinion issued in July 2004, the International Court of Justice in the Hague has declared the path of Israel's wall in the West Bank illegal in its entirety, and ordered its removal. To date, Israel continues to disregard international law, and continues to build the wall and expand settlements.
For more details: Jonathan Pollak (Hebrew and English):
MEDIA with picture http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3805014,00.html
IDF says demonstrators arrested after damaging gate; protestors say 18 held for questioning. Six protestors were detained Saturday during a demonstration against the West Bank security fence in a village near Tulkarem.
Dozens of Palestinians, Israelis, and foreign activists protested against what they claim is land confiscation in favor of the security fence. They also lamented the absence of permits for farmers seeking to work their land.
ALT. MEDIA with pictures: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=239847
.... The protesters said they intended to march to lands that were left isolated behind the wall in Deir Al-Ghusun, northeast of Tulkarem, and managed to break open one of the barrier's gates before Israeli soldiers invaded the village.
One demonstrator was lightly injured after being struck with a rubber-coated bullet in the leg, onlookers said.
"Today's demonstration was the opening salvo for a public campaign by the Deir Al-Ghusun municipality and the affected farmers," said Anarchists Against the Wall, an Israeli group, in a statement. "As the demonstration was coming to an end, a large group of soldiers surprised a group of the protesters by closing in on them from the direction of the village, and arrested 18 of the village's youth."
--- snip ---
Jonathan Pollak, one of the group's founders, told Ma'an that 18 demonstrators were originally detained, but added he was looking into the possibility that some were later released.
BIL'IN
"This Friday in Bil'in - This week the Bil'in demonstration usual suspects were joined by the Palestinian People's party and the Israeli-mostly-Palestinian Democratic Front (Hadash), including three of its Knesset members.
While waiting for the Democratic Front buses crossing from the Israeli side, the local organizers, Palestinian and Israeli politicians and Israeli and international activists made assertive speeches mentioning Arafat's 5th memorial, Barake's recent indictment for allegedly assaulting a policeman in a Bil'in demo a few years back, and the boycott.
Speeches were held by members of the Popular Committee, members of Knesset, activists from Israeli group Shministim (Refusniks) and members of Irak Veterans against the War from the United States.
The large number of demonstrators - some 300 - must have stressed the soldiers, who used large amounts of gas. In one of the stampedes away from the gas an American demonstrator tripped and hurt his head, requiring medical attention and a few stitches. As often happens, the army fired the multi gas canister cannon after the demonstration had been declared over, and the protesters were on their way back to the village. All participants won free Berlin-Bil'in T-shirts".
Friday 13.11.09 Bil'in video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FbfMDrVIMM
JERUSALEM
Sheikh Jarrah - Another expression of solidarity on Friday 13/11 in Sheikh Jarrah
We will gather at Zion square at 15:30 and will walk together to Sheikh Jarrah to express our support for the residents of the neighborhood.
Another meeting point: the Museum on the Seam at 16:00.
The settlers who are living in the homes of the evicted families have begun to harass Palestinian families in the neighborhood that are now living in the street. They have begun to gather near the Palestinian families on Friday evenings, making noise and scaring the families. Our presence there last week was important to the families and because of it the police prevented the settlers from coming near the houses.
For more information- M
KALANDIA
Kalandia wall taken down on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLI-SE3nEio
MA'ASARA
Few dozen Palestinians, internationals and Israelis joined the weekly demonstration against the wall and occupation in Al-Ma'sara. The demo was held as usual in front of some Israeli military soldiers who blocked it from continuing towards the Palestinian lands beyond the wall's route. The Israeli soldiers kept children from pulling a barbed wire that was put there by the soldiers. During the demo protestors chanted slogans against the Israeli apartheid wall, occupation and land theft. Speeches were carried in Arabic and English, and in them were mentioned the 5 anniversary to Arafaat's death and the Israeli continued reluctance to end the occupation and achieve peace. One Palestinian woman has managed to cross between the soldiers and pass through carrying a Palestinian flag. The demo ended with a promise to continue the struggle and weekly demos.
NI'ILIN
In Ni'ilin, some 150 demonstrators gathered after the prayer and marched to the fence. The demonstration opened with 20 minutes of slogan chanting near the gate. Peculiarly enough, the army did not retaliate. Soon after, some of the village youth began throwing stones at the fortifications hiding the soldiers. For long minutes, the army chose again not to retaliate. As more stone throwers joined the field, little by little the soldiers started using tear gas. But still, much less than usual. Knowing that this relative calmness from the soldiers is usually but a preparation to some fierce surprise, the experienced youth were not tempted to take heavy risks. As the demonstration continued, the military violence gradually increased and rising amounts of tear gas flooded the fields. All of the sudden, the gas was joined by live ammunition shot at the demonstrators. Ever since June 5, 2009 – when Akil Sadek Srur was murdered by this gun in a Ni'ilin demonstration, the soldiers have hesitantly used this weapon – and the following demonstrations "only" counted few wounded from these bullets. Today, the careful approach proved itself, and despite the military's thirst for blood only two light injuries were listed. The demonstration did not die, and many soldiers invaded the fields forcing it closer to the village. Luckily enough, although the soldiers attempted to carry out arrests and shot dozens of live bullets, neither injuries nor arrests were made. After re-gathering on a hilltop, the demonstrators decided to end the weekly protest. In a media release – the army announced that due to the severe damage inflicted to the wall in the prior demonstration, the shortly illegal firing of live ammunition at unarmed demonstrators is now "legal" again.
REFUSNICS
friends and anti-military activists demonstrate in support of Or Ben-David, a conscious objector in Israel http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/11/18628349.php
DEIR AL-GUSSOUN
Anouncement during the week:
There will be a demonstration in Deir alGussoun north of Tul Karem this Saturday at 10:30.
The village is north of Tul Karem, and years ago, there have been a few demonstrations there, but nothing recently.
The wall in the area, which was built in 2003, creeps into the village's lands leaving about 2500 dunams of the village's 13,000 west of the wall (on the "Israeli" side).
Please let me know if you'd like to go.
Press release 14 November 2009 - 18 Demonstrators arrested after a Gate in the Wall was Breached in Deir alGhussoun
The protesters were arrested as the demonstration was coming to an end, by soldiers who invaded the village and flanked them from the back.
Eighteen demonstrators were arrested today in the West Bank village of Deir alGhussoun, north of Tul Karem, after Israel's Separation Wall was breached by Palestinian, Israeli and international protesters. The protesters intended to march to village's lands that were left isolated behind the Wall, and managed to break open one of the barrier's gates.
The demonstrators managed to break the lock on the gate by rocking it back and forth, despite the presence of soldiers, but could not reach their lands, as they were being shot at with rubber-coated bullets and teargas . One demonstrator was lightly injured after being struck with a rubber-coated bullet in the leg.
As the demonstration was coming to an end, a large group of soldiers surprised a group of the protesters by closing in on them from the direction of the village, and arrested eighteen of the village's youth.
Today's demonstration was the opening salvo for a public campaign by the Deir elGhussoun municipality and the affected farmers, which will accompany an appeal the Israeli High Court of Justice to remove the already-built wall from the village's land. The said appeal is expected to be filed in the near future.
The wall in the area of the village cuts deep into West Bank land, leaving about 2,500 dunams (620 acres) of the village's land west of the wall (on the "Israeli" side), effecting 120 land owners, dozens of which do not receive permits from the Israeli army to even minimally tend to their lands.
In an advisory opinion issued in July 2004, the International Court of Justice in the Hague has declared the path of Israel's wall in the West Bank illegal in its entirety, and ordered its removal. To date, Israel continues to disregard international law, and continues to build the wall and expand settlements.
For more details: Jonathan Pollak (Hebrew and English):
MEDIA with picture http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3805014,00.html
IDF says demonstrators arrested after damaging gate; protestors say 18 held for questioning. Six protestors were detained Saturday during a demonstration against the West Bank security fence in a village near Tulkarem.
Dozens of Palestinians, Israelis, and foreign activists protested against what they claim is land confiscation in favor of the security fence. They also lamented the absence of permits for farmers seeking to work their land.
ALT. MEDIA with pictures: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=239847
.... The protesters said they intended to march to lands that were left isolated behind the wall in Deir Al-Ghusun, northeast of Tulkarem, and managed to break open one of the barrier's gates before Israeli soldiers invaded the village.
One demonstrator was lightly injured after being struck with a rubber-coated bullet in the leg, onlookers said.
"Today's demonstration was the opening salvo for a public campaign by the Deir Al-Ghusun municipality and the affected farmers," said Anarchists Against the Wall, an Israeli group, in a statement. "As the demonstration was coming to an end, a large group of soldiers surprised a group of the protesters by closing in on them from the direction of the village, and arrested 18 of the village's youth."
--- snip ---
Jonathan Pollak, one of the group's founders, told Ma'an that 18 demonstrators were originally detained, but added he was looking into the possibility that some were later released.
BIL'IN
"This Friday in Bil'in - This week the Bil'in demonstration usual suspects were joined by the Palestinian People's party and the Israeli-mostly-Palestinian Democratic Front (Hadash), including three of its Knesset members.
While waiting for the Democratic Front buses crossing from the Israeli side, the local organizers, Palestinian and Israeli politicians and Israeli and international activists made assertive speeches mentioning Arafat's 5th memorial, Barake's recent indictment for allegedly assaulting a policeman in a Bil'in demo a few years back, and the boycott.
Speeches were held by members of the Popular Committee, members of Knesset, activists from Israeli group Shministim (Refusniks) and members of Irak Veterans against the War from the United States.
The large number of demonstrators - some 300 - must have stressed the soldiers, who used large amounts of gas. In one of the stampedes away from the gas an American demonstrator tripped and hurt his head, requiring medical attention and a few stitches. As often happens, the army fired the multi gas canister cannon after the demonstration had been declared over, and the protesters were on their way back to the village. All participants won free Berlin-Bil'in T-shirts".
Friday 13.11.09 Bil'in video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FbfMDrVIMM
JERUSALEM
Sheikh Jarrah - Another expression of solidarity on Friday 13/11 in Sheikh Jarrah
We will gather at Zion square at 15:30 and will walk together to Sheikh Jarrah to express our support for the residents of the neighborhood.
Another meeting point: the Museum on the Seam at 16:00.
The settlers who are living in the homes of the evicted families have begun to harass Palestinian families in the neighborhood that are now living in the street. They have begun to gather near the Palestinian families on Friday evenings, making noise and scaring the families. Our presence there last week was important to the families and because of it the police prevented the settlers from coming near the houses.
For more information- M
KALANDIA
Kalandia wall taken down on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLI-SE3nEio
MA'ASARA
Few dozen Palestinians, internationals and Israelis joined the weekly demonstration against the wall and occupation in Al-Ma'sara. The demo was held as usual in front of some Israeli military soldiers who blocked it from continuing towards the Palestinian lands beyond the wall's route. The Israeli soldiers kept children from pulling a barbed wire that was put there by the soldiers. During the demo protestors chanted slogans against the Israeli apartheid wall, occupation and land theft. Speeches were carried in Arabic and English, and in them were mentioned the 5 anniversary to Arafaat's death and the Israeli continued reluctance to end the occupation and achieve peace. One Palestinian woman has managed to cross between the soldiers and pass through carrying a Palestinian flag. The demo ended with a promise to continue the struggle and weekly demos.
NI'ILIN
In Ni'ilin, some 150 demonstrators gathered after the prayer and marched to the fence. The demonstration opened with 20 minutes of slogan chanting near the gate. Peculiarly enough, the army did not retaliate. Soon after, some of the village youth began throwing stones at the fortifications hiding the soldiers. For long minutes, the army chose again not to retaliate. As more stone throwers joined the field, little by little the soldiers started using tear gas. But still, much less than usual. Knowing that this relative calmness from the soldiers is usually but a preparation to some fierce surprise, the experienced youth were not tempted to take heavy risks. As the demonstration continued, the military violence gradually increased and rising amounts of tear gas flooded the fields. All of the sudden, the gas was joined by live ammunition shot at the demonstrators. Ever since June 5, 2009 – when Akil Sadek Srur was murdered by this gun in a Ni'ilin demonstration, the soldiers have hesitantly used this weapon – and the following demonstrations "only" counted few wounded from these bullets. Today, the careful approach proved itself, and despite the military's thirst for blood only two light injuries were listed. The demonstration did not die, and many soldiers invaded the fields forcing it closer to the village. Luckily enough, although the soldiers attempted to carry out arrests and shot dozens of live bullets, neither injuries nor arrests were made. After re-gathering on a hilltop, the demonstrators decided to end the weekly protest. In a media release – the army announced that due to the severe damage inflicted to the wall in the prior demonstration, the shortly illegal firing of live ammunition at unarmed demonstrators is now "legal" again.
REFUSNICS
friends and anti-military activists demonstrate in support of Or Ben-David, a conscious objector in Israel http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/11/18628349.php
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Palestine-Israel, Joint struggle in the period of the nearing storm
The political storm collect momentum. It is expressed in processes initiated by Goldston report, by the escalation of international boycott and with threats of war crime courts for Israeli top officers... The activists of the Anarchists Against the Wall initiative are involved mainly in the local struggles both in Israel and the occupied Palestinian areas. The focus is still in the Friday demonstrations in Bil'in and the international aspects of it - visitors and media, and in Ni'ilin, and so is the struggle against eviction/transfer in the occupied East Jerusalem Sheikh Jarah neighborhood. Less attention got the struggles against road blocks, involving the high school graduates refusnics, the threats of expulsion of refugees and guest workers children, and the eviction of Bedouins.
BIL'IN
Some 40 internationals and 30 Israelis joined the weekly demo of several dozen Palestinians against the wall in Bil'in, this time commemorating 20 years to the collapse of the Berlin wall. While marching, the demonstrators carried posters demanding the release of Adeeb, the member of the village's popular committee still in the Israeli jail. Also was carried a large Styrofoam model of the wall, to the gate to the route of the separation fence, when we passed near the route located parallel to the road we encountered Shabab who were busily cutting through the fence. Covered by the smoke of a burning tire, two of them made impressive progress for quite a few minutes before the army noticed them.
When we arrived at the gate, the carriers of the model succeeded to enter it into the space between the main gate and the electronic fence. It took the soldiers a while before succeeding to removed it. A Belgian choir gave the demo a wonderfully surreal character, as they sang in harmony songs of resistance and struggle in various languages, while the army was throwing gas and shock grenades, and the shabab, enjoying the support of a very favorable wind, was returning to the soldiers many unexploded canisters of tear gas accompanied by stones forcing them to run away again and again.
Israel - Bil'in 6-1-09 - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOjcUR2cqUw
JERUSALEM
Urgent Support Vigil This Evening Tuesday 3-11-09 at Sheikh Jarrah. This morning, following a court dismissal, the Al-Kurd family of Sheikh Jarrah was forced out to the streets. 30 settlers accompanied by large numbers of police and border-police forcefully evicted the 30-people family out of their home. This is the 3rd eviction taking place in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood during the past 4 months.
Mote:
"With all the happening in Jerusalem: demolition of houses [of Palestinians], continuation of transfer from occupied Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, the expansion of colonial settlements and building of new ones... we are organizing a meeting to plan for future actions."
KARYUT
On Friday, November the 6, hundreds of members of the village of Karyut came together to protest the Israelis occupation and settlements and to move a roadblock put up by the Israeli Occupation Forces. Defying the Israeli military (who declared illegally the area a “close military zone”) and the local PA municipality and mayor (who did not support in any way this action) the protesters represented a new wave of resistance in Karyut that does not obey the Palestinian or the Israeli bureaucracy.
The road block is located on the only way to get to freeway 60. Palestinians from the Karyut area have to use side roads are forced to drive for hours longer to get to work or to visit family. This is one way that the Israeli military creates Jewish only roads and a system of apartheid.
Although the exact location and details of the this demo were only discussed on privet phones, the Israeli military is waiting for us. They present to us a closed military zone order. They are so used to copying and issuing that order every day that they forget to attach a map that shows the area that suppose to be closed. We notice that and inform them that their order is illegal. The military at first does not allow the residence of the village walk to the roadblock. Demonstrators yell at the soldiers and tell them that its their right to dismantle that roadblock. The military moves back eventually, and dismantling the roadblock begins - takes us a couple of hours.
Picture:
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2009/11/06/640_karyut_331.jpg
the roadblock is dismantled and the first car of an Israeli activists drives through.
Pictures and links to video at:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/06/18628013.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/06/18628023.php
MA'ASARAH
About 20 Israelis and internationals joined about 30 Palestinians in this Friday action.
The army prevented the demonstrators from protesting at the path of the wall.
The demonstrators marched from the center of the village chanting against the separation fence and occupation accompanied by a drummers troupe. As usual, in was blocked by a road block of spool of barbed wire and held back by soldiers. Demonstrators gave speeches in English and Arabic about the illegality of the Wall and Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. The children of the village succeeded in temporarily removing the barbwire and attempted to walk forward, the soldiers threatened the demonstrators with arrests and violently pushed the children back across the fence. As the demonstrators began marching back to the village, they were blocked by a military jeep that entered the village from the back and parked on the main road. Trapped between the soldiers by the barbwire on one side and the jeep on another, the demonstrators crowded around the military vehicle with singing, clapping, accompanied by an Israeli group of percussionists. The soldiers in the jeep made threats of arrests and eventually left the village, the protesters headed back to the village and the percussions group gave a drumming workshop to the children and youths of the village.
NA'ALIN
In Ni'ilin, demonstrators brought down a section of the eight meters tall concrete wall that cuts through the village's land. The soldiers, positioned at the other side of the wall, fired scores of live rounds at the demonstrators as well as tear gas, and sprayed them with the "skunk-bomb" (a foul-smelling liquid). This is the first time since Israel began the construction of the wall in 2002 that demonstrators succeeded in toppling down a part of the wall. One of the demonstrators, Moheeb Khawaja, said during the protest: "Twenty years ago no one had thought the monster that divided Berlin into two could be brought down, but in only two days in November, it did. Today we have proven that this can also be done here and now. It is our land beyond this wall, and we will not give up on it. We will win for a simple reason - justice is on our side."
MEDIA: Protesters breach West Bank separation barrier - Na'alin protest
The weekly demonstrations against the West Bank separation barrier in the towns of Bil'in and Na'alin, which take place every Friday, reached new heights this week when activists, seeking to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall, knocked a part of the barrier over.
Masked Palestinian youths breached the 8-meter high section of Israel's security wall that runs through Na'alin, while Israeli border guards fired tear gas and a foul-smelling spray from behind the high concrete barrier.
Protesters levered open a space under one the pre-cast panels and used a hydraulic car-jack to topple it out of position.
"No matter how tall, all walls fall," read one banner pasted onto the structure by Palestinian youths assisted by Israeli activists, who say the wall on Palestinian land and through Palestinian communities is simply a land grab by Israel.
The panel, cast in the same inverted T-shape as those erected by communist East German through Berlin in 1961, was tilted back close to tipping point onto the Israeli side, but did not fall completely.
The youths scattered when the Israeli guards behind the wall rushed to close the breach.
Thick black smoke from a stack of tires set alight by the youths mingled with white trails of tear gas against the blue sky. Clouds of Israeli "skunk" spray - smelling of corpses and feces - drenched the protesters' side of the skirmish.
Israel began building its barrier of fences and walls at the height of the Palestinian uprising that began in 2000, and it now runs along most of the West Bank border, encroaching at many points onto West Bank territory.
In a non-binding decision in 2004, the International Court of Justice said the barrier was illegal and should be taken down because it crossed occupied territory.
Active Stills - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xh4ouc8Lac
David - Friday 6.11.09 Ni'ilin video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syDriOhplOo
REFUSNICS
Demonstration in support of conscientious objector Or Ben David. On Saturday (7/11), at 15:00 we will meet in front of military prison No. 400 and protest against the imprisonment of CO Or Ben David, and in support of her actions.
BIL'IN
Some 40 internationals and 30 Israelis joined the weekly demo of several dozen Palestinians against the wall in Bil'in, this time commemorating 20 years to the collapse of the Berlin wall. While marching, the demonstrators carried posters demanding the release of Adeeb, the member of the village's popular committee still in the Israeli jail. Also was carried a large Styrofoam model of the wall, to the gate to the route of the separation fence, when we passed near the route located parallel to the road we encountered Shabab who were busily cutting through the fence. Covered by the smoke of a burning tire, two of them made impressive progress for quite a few minutes before the army noticed them.
When we arrived at the gate, the carriers of the model succeeded to enter it into the space between the main gate and the electronic fence. It took the soldiers a while before succeeding to removed it. A Belgian choir gave the demo a wonderfully surreal character, as they sang in harmony songs of resistance and struggle in various languages, while the army was throwing gas and shock grenades, and the shabab, enjoying the support of a very favorable wind, was returning to the soldiers many unexploded canisters of tear gas accompanied by stones forcing them to run away again and again.
Israel - Bil'in 6-1-09 - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOjcUR2cqUw
JERUSALEM
Urgent Support Vigil This Evening Tuesday 3-11-09 at Sheikh Jarrah. This morning, following a court dismissal, the Al-Kurd family of Sheikh Jarrah was forced out to the streets. 30 settlers accompanied by large numbers of police and border-police forcefully evicted the 30-people family out of their home. This is the 3rd eviction taking place in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood during the past 4 months.
Mote:
"With all the happening in Jerusalem: demolition of houses [of Palestinians], continuation of transfer from occupied Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, the expansion of colonial settlements and building of new ones... we are organizing a meeting to plan for future actions."
KARYUT
On Friday, November the 6, hundreds of members of the village of Karyut came together to protest the Israelis occupation and settlements and to move a roadblock put up by the Israeli Occupation Forces. Defying the Israeli military (who declared illegally the area a “close military zone”) and the local PA municipality and mayor (who did not support in any way this action) the protesters represented a new wave of resistance in Karyut that does not obey the Palestinian or the Israeli bureaucracy.
The road block is located on the only way to get to freeway 60. Palestinians from the Karyut area have to use side roads are forced to drive for hours longer to get to work or to visit family. This is one way that the Israeli military creates Jewish only roads and a system of apartheid.
Although the exact location and details of the this demo were only discussed on privet phones, the Israeli military is waiting for us. They present to us a closed military zone order. They are so used to copying and issuing that order every day that they forget to attach a map that shows the area that suppose to be closed. We notice that and inform them that their order is illegal. The military at first does not allow the residence of the village walk to the roadblock. Demonstrators yell at the soldiers and tell them that its their right to dismantle that roadblock. The military moves back eventually, and dismantling the roadblock begins - takes us a couple of hours.
Picture:
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2009/11/06/640_karyut_331.jpg
the roadblock is dismantled and the first car of an Israeli activists drives through.
Pictures and links to video at:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/06/18628013.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/06/18628023.php
MA'ASARAH
About 20 Israelis and internationals joined about 30 Palestinians in this Friday action.
The army prevented the demonstrators from protesting at the path of the wall.
The demonstrators marched from the center of the village chanting against the separation fence and occupation accompanied by a drummers troupe. As usual, in was blocked by a road block of spool of barbed wire and held back by soldiers. Demonstrators gave speeches in English and Arabic about the illegality of the Wall and Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. The children of the village succeeded in temporarily removing the barbwire and attempted to walk forward, the soldiers threatened the demonstrators with arrests and violently pushed the children back across the fence. As the demonstrators began marching back to the village, they were blocked by a military jeep that entered the village from the back and parked on the main road. Trapped between the soldiers by the barbwire on one side and the jeep on another, the demonstrators crowded around the military vehicle with singing, clapping, accompanied by an Israeli group of percussionists. The soldiers in the jeep made threats of arrests and eventually left the village, the protesters headed back to the village and the percussions group gave a drumming workshop to the children and youths of the village.
NA'ALIN
In Ni'ilin, demonstrators brought down a section of the eight meters tall concrete wall that cuts through the village's land. The soldiers, positioned at the other side of the wall, fired scores of live rounds at the demonstrators as well as tear gas, and sprayed them with the "skunk-bomb" (a foul-smelling liquid). This is the first time since Israel began the construction of the wall in 2002 that demonstrators succeeded in toppling down a part of the wall. One of the demonstrators, Moheeb Khawaja, said during the protest: "Twenty years ago no one had thought the monster that divided Berlin into two could be brought down, but in only two days in November, it did. Today we have proven that this can also be done here and now. It is our land beyond this wall, and we will not give up on it. We will win for a simple reason - justice is on our side."
MEDIA: Protesters breach West Bank separation barrier - Na'alin protest
The weekly demonstrations against the West Bank separation barrier in the towns of Bil'in and Na'alin, which take place every Friday, reached new heights this week when activists, seeking to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall, knocked a part of the barrier over.
Masked Palestinian youths breached the 8-meter high section of Israel's security wall that runs through Na'alin, while Israeli border guards fired tear gas and a foul-smelling spray from behind the high concrete barrier.
Protesters levered open a space under one the pre-cast panels and used a hydraulic car-jack to topple it out of position.
"No matter how tall, all walls fall," read one banner pasted onto the structure by Palestinian youths assisted by Israeli activists, who say the wall on Palestinian land and through Palestinian communities is simply a land grab by Israel.
The panel, cast in the same inverted T-shape as those erected by communist East German through Berlin in 1961, was tilted back close to tipping point onto the Israeli side, but did not fall completely.
The youths scattered when the Israeli guards behind the wall rushed to close the breach.
Thick black smoke from a stack of tires set alight by the youths mingled with white trails of tear gas against the blue sky. Clouds of Israeli "skunk" spray - smelling of corpses and feces - drenched the protesters' side of the skirmish.
Israel began building its barrier of fences and walls at the height of the Palestinian uprising that began in 2000, and it now runs along most of the West Bank border, encroaching at many points onto West Bank territory.
In a non-binding decision in 2004, the International Court of Justice said the barrier was illegal and should be taken down because it crossed occupied territory.
Active Stills - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xh4ouc8Lac
David - Friday 6.11.09 Ni'ilin video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syDriOhplOo
REFUSNICS
Demonstration in support of conscientious objector Or Ben David. On Saturday (7/11), at 15:00 we will meet in front of military prison No. 400 and protest against the imprisonment of CO Or Ben David, and in support of her actions.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Palestine-Israel, Small successes along the continuous struggle
This week, the state forces stopped the night rides harassing and arresting activists of the Bilin village. On the refugees and "guest workers" front, the expulsion of children born and raised in Israel and their parents deferred to the end of school next year. A n activists film "Refugees" was screened in the main TV channel. The struggle continued against transfer in Sheikh Jarrah (occupied Jerusalem) and with the Bedouins in the Israel south. The involvement with the olive picking continued, and with the new wave of high school seniors refusnics too. Friday on-going joint demonstrations of the Anarchists against the wall and the Palestinian villagers of Bil'in, Ni'ilin, Ma'asarah.
BIL'IN
In spite of stormy whether, bout 30 Israelis, Internationals, and people of Bil'in participated in the weekly Friday demonstration against the separation fence, the settlements, and occupation. This the demonstration was devoted to calling for the release of Abu Rahmah, as well as to protesting the ongoing attempts to eliminate the village’s resistance. Protesters marched on Friday wearing masks of Adeeb, declaring “We are all Adeeb Abu Rahmah”.
Adeeb Abu Rahmah, who has been detained for over three months, is not suspected of committing any violence, but was indicted with a blanket charge of "incitement to violence", which was very liberally interpreted in this case to include the organizing of grassroots demonstrations. A judge had initially ruled that Abu Rahmah is released with restrictive conditions, but an appeal filed by the military prosecution had the decision overturned, and he was remanded until the end of legal proceedings. Since the arrest, the defense has appealed this decision four times. Trials often last up to a year and Abu Rahmah is the sole provider for a family of eleven.
Abu Rahmah's arrest came amidst an Israeli arrest and intimidation campaign that began concurrently with preliminary hearings of a Bil’in lawsuit against two Canadian companies responsible for the construction in the settlement of Modiin Illit (built on lands robbed from Bil'in and neighboring Palestinian villages). In almost five years of protest, 75 Bil'in residents were arrested in connection to demonstrations against the Wall. Of them, 27 have been arrested in the recent, ongoing arrest campaign. Israeli forces have been regularly invading homes and forcefully searching for demonstration participants, targeting the leaders of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, as well as teenage boys accused of stone throwing. Sixteen currently remain in detention, nine of which are minors.
During the demonstration youngsters succeeded to enter the route of the separation fence through a breach in the external fence of the route - in spite of heavy shower of tear gas. The main body of the demonstration arrived as usual at the main gate to the other side of the fence and confronted there the state forces for nearly an hour - in spite of sporadic showers of tear gas grenades. Few of the grenades that were not activated the first time thrown, were returned to the soldiers to taste their own medicine.
MA'ASARA
Some 40 Palestinian demonstrators from the village of Ma'asara, joined by twenty internationals and four Israelis, marched from the village center towards the route of the Apartheid Wall. Demonstrators carried flags of many different nations which show solidarity with Palestine in order to remind Israel that the entire world demands the end of the occupation.
As usual, the march was stopped by occupation soldiers with barbed wire at the entrance to the village. While many of the demonstrators found cover from the rain under a huge Palestinian flag, a few daring activists stood in front of the soldiers in their T-shirts, waving the different flags. Speeches were then carried in Arabic, Hebrew and English, noting the insistence of the struggle to go on in all sorts of weather, and calling upon the soldiers to refuse and switch sides. In an attempt to help the soldiers do just that, some of the village kids stepped on the wire or tried to remove it all together. The soldiers, however, choose to maintain the separation between themselves and the demonstration, and pushed the children away.
After another half hour of slogan chanting in the pouring rain led to the end of the demonstration. Though none were arrested or wounded, some cases of a potential cold were noted amongst the soaking demonstrators.
NI'ILIN
Ni'lin's first winter protest was held under heavy rainfall. Consequently, the number of protesters was smaller thanusual, and consisted of a few dozen Ni'liners, ten israelis and a similar number of internationals. Some of the demonstraters set fire to a large pile of tires placed near the wall's concrete slabs. The combination of heat and humidity seemed to have cracked parts of the concrete. A number of protesters clashed with the soldiers guarding the fence, who fired volleys of tear gas and squirted the "Skunk" which was particularly potent in stench. No injuries were recorded aside from gas inhalation, and the protest ended earlier than usual.
Pictures at: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/31/18627278.php
Vudeo demo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLfLZH8gHHQ
OLIVE PICKING
Vigil for olive trees cut by settlers in the Hebron area http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/31/18627264.php
BIL'IN
In spite of stormy whether, bout 30 Israelis, Internationals, and people of Bil'in participated in the weekly Friday demonstration against the separation fence, the settlements, and occupation. This the demonstration was devoted to calling for the release of Abu Rahmah, as well as to protesting the ongoing attempts to eliminate the village’s resistance. Protesters marched on Friday wearing masks of Adeeb, declaring “We are all Adeeb Abu Rahmah”.
Adeeb Abu Rahmah, who has been detained for over three months, is not suspected of committing any violence, but was indicted with a blanket charge of "incitement to violence", which was very liberally interpreted in this case to include the organizing of grassroots demonstrations. A judge had initially ruled that Abu Rahmah is released with restrictive conditions, but an appeal filed by the military prosecution had the decision overturned, and he was remanded until the end of legal proceedings. Since the arrest, the defense has appealed this decision four times. Trials often last up to a year and Abu Rahmah is the sole provider for a family of eleven.
Abu Rahmah's arrest came amidst an Israeli arrest and intimidation campaign that began concurrently with preliminary hearings of a Bil’in lawsuit against two Canadian companies responsible for the construction in the settlement of Modiin Illit (built on lands robbed from Bil'in and neighboring Palestinian villages). In almost five years of protest, 75 Bil'in residents were arrested in connection to demonstrations against the Wall. Of them, 27 have been arrested in the recent, ongoing arrest campaign. Israeli forces have been regularly invading homes and forcefully searching for demonstration participants, targeting the leaders of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, as well as teenage boys accused of stone throwing. Sixteen currently remain in detention, nine of which are minors.
During the demonstration youngsters succeeded to enter the route of the separation fence through a breach in the external fence of the route - in spite of heavy shower of tear gas. The main body of the demonstration arrived as usual at the main gate to the other side of the fence and confronted there the state forces for nearly an hour - in spite of sporadic showers of tear gas grenades. Few of the grenades that were not activated the first time thrown, were returned to the soldiers to taste their own medicine.
MA'ASARA
Some 40 Palestinian demonstrators from the village of Ma'asara, joined by twenty internationals and four Israelis, marched from the village center towards the route of the Apartheid Wall. Demonstrators carried flags of many different nations which show solidarity with Palestine in order to remind Israel that the entire world demands the end of the occupation.
As usual, the march was stopped by occupation soldiers with barbed wire at the entrance to the village. While many of the demonstrators found cover from the rain under a huge Palestinian flag, a few daring activists stood in front of the soldiers in their T-shirts, waving the different flags. Speeches were then carried in Arabic, Hebrew and English, noting the insistence of the struggle to go on in all sorts of weather, and calling upon the soldiers to refuse and switch sides. In an attempt to help the soldiers do just that, some of the village kids stepped on the wire or tried to remove it all together. The soldiers, however, choose to maintain the separation between themselves and the demonstration, and pushed the children away.
After another half hour of slogan chanting in the pouring rain led to the end of the demonstration. Though none were arrested or wounded, some cases of a potential cold were noted amongst the soaking demonstrators.
NI'ILIN
Ni'lin's first winter protest was held under heavy rainfall. Consequently, the number of protesters was smaller thanusual, and consisted of a few dozen Ni'liners, ten israelis and a similar number of internationals. Some of the demonstraters set fire to a large pile of tires placed near the wall's concrete slabs. The combination of heat and humidity seemed to have cracked parts of the concrete. A number of protesters clashed with the soldiers guarding the fence, who fired volleys of tear gas and squirted the "Skunk" which was particularly potent in stench. No injuries were recorded aside from gas inhalation, and the protest ended earlier than usual.
Pictures at: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/31/18627278.php
Vudeo demo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLfLZH8gHHQ
OLIVE PICKING
Vigil for olive trees cut by settlers in the Hebron area http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/31/18627264.php
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle and the celebration of the new wave of High school seniors refusniks
This week joint struggle was focused on the new wave of the High school seniors refusniks. Both in Tel Aviv demo, the various activities connected with the arrests of the first two - Efi and Or, and in the Friday joint demonstrations at Bil'in, Ni'ilin, and Ma'asara. During the week the focus was on joining the olive picking struggles of the Saffa villagers, and the staying at nights in Bil'in - to help in the confrontation with Israel state forces persecuting the village activists who participate in the struggle against the separation fence. This week, the spectrum of struggles included also usual the activities against the transfer in East Jerusalem and the Israeli Bedouins of the south, and the struggles supporting the Guest workers and resisting the transfer of their children.
BILL'IN
Every day 17-21.10.09 there was a notice in our list: please sign up for Bil'in tonight.
There is a car leaving Haifa Thursday (21.10.09) late evening/night to Bil'in. We have 2-3 places available in the car, and we are more than willing to pick someone(s) up from Tel Aviv.
Friday
"About 40 Israelis and a similar number of internationals joined the weekly Palestinian demonstration against the wall and occupation in Bil'in. Prominent among the participants were the "shministim" (Israeli refuseniks, who had two of their members put in jail today), and retired PA workers, who led the demonstration with their original slogans and chanting. Demonstrators carried broken cardboard guns as a sign of the nonviolent struggle, while the shabab kept apart along the fence parallel to the route, throwing stones as a sign that their lives under occupation suck big time. One demonstrator brought a tennis racket to return the army's gas grenades. The racket proved less than useful, but some unexploded grenades were manually thrown back to the soldiers, who could share in the suffering of the Hashmonaim settlers, and smell some whiffs of gas. Some demonstrators made a special effort to cross the fence gate and place a Palestinian flag on the soldiers' side of the fence, and then an even more special effort to retrieve the flag in a cloud of gas - a success that marked the end of the demo. As usual, there was enough gas to bring some demonstrators down, panting and crying for a few minutes. Sound bombs also featured after a long pause in their use. When the demonstrators were on their way back, a French woman was hit directly by a gas grenade, and evacuated to a hospital for treatment."
This Friday 23-10-09 in Bil'in - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI9bZLeLoc0
MA'ASARA
In the village of Ma'asara some 70 Palestinians, Israelis and internationals demonstrated this Friday against the Apartheid Wall, commemorating three years of struggle in the village and 40 days since the death of Popular Committee member Qaher Ala-Din.
Demonstrators marched from the village towards their lands, and as usual were stopped by occupation forces, which placed barbed wire on the village's main road. Speeches were carried in Arabic, English, French and Hebrew, amongst other things reminding the soldiers the acceptance of the Goldstone report by the UNHRC and of the option they have to refuse their commanding officers, like the young Shministim who were sent to prison the day before.
After the speeches, and while most demonstrators were chanting slogans or beating drums, several village children tried to pull away the fence, but were stopped by the angry soldiers. Eventually the demonstration ended, with no injuries or arrests.
NI'ILIN
Ni'lin's weekly protest against the wall was held in solidarity with the Israeli youths who have signed the "Seniors Letter". This week the military has begun to draft them into imprisonment for their refusal to serve in an occupation force. The protesters, Palestinian and Israeli, with a larger than usual group of internationals, marched to the wall, chanting slogans against the occupation and for refusal. Some of the village youths threw stones and paint bottles at the soldiers and jeeps patrolling the fence. Soldiers fired tear gas grenades and plastic-coated steel bullets at protesters. 10 were injured, one moderately, who was evacuated to Hospital in Ramalla. 8 of them were hit by bullets, and 2 were struck with aluminum tear gas canisters that were fired directly at them.
The plastic-coated bullets that are increasingly used in Ni'lin are round and consist of a metal core the size and shape of a marble, surrounded by a thin (less than 1mm) layer of plastic. They are fired 16 at a time, from a launching cup attached to the barrel. The bullets fly and spread out in a sort of cone shape, thus rendering this weapon extremely inaccurate, and therefore even more dangerous. During one of their incursions over the wall, a soldier fired two live rounds, apparently in the air. The soldiers also used stun grenades and the smelly water canon.
The protest ended at around 5 pm, and demonstrators dispersed home. Some of those present spent a few moments contemplating the terrible suffering experienced by the settlers of Hashmonaim. As reported in this week's Haaretz, for those poor souls who built their enormous villas on Ni'lin's land, every Friday is an ordeal, as tear gas fired by soldiers drifts over the valley, into their homes, and the sound of army weapons disrupts their precious Friday afternoon naps.
Friday 23.10.09 Ni'ilin video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOS84cD5a4k
REFUSNICS
Efi Brenner and Or Ben-David from "The senior letter 2009-2010" is going to be
jailed in Thursday because they are refusing to enlist the army.
A march will come out from Dizingof square, this Wednesday (21.10) at 5:30PM.
The March will end at Magen David square.
Come to show your support with the conscience objectors and your resistance
People look like flowers at last youth demonstrate 21.10.09 in support of the high school seniors refusnics http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/22/18626365.php
Efi Brenner*, first Objector from New Refusal Letter in Prison
- Please distribute widely -
First prison term for Efi Brenner, the first among the signatories of the 2009-2010 Shministim (high school seniors) refusal letter to be sent to military prison. Full information and recommended action follow.
A new collective declaration of refusal by Israeli youths, the 2009-2010 high school seniors letter, went public last week. Today (22 Oct.), two of its signatories, Efi Brenner and Or Ben-David, came to the military induction base in Tel-Hashomer and there refused to enlist. Efi was indeed sent to prison, while Or has not yet been sentenced (she was told that the military prison for women was full), and will have to return to the induction base tomorrow, probably spend the weekend there and be sent to prison on Sunday. We will run a separate update on her case once she is in prison.
Efi Brenner, 18, from Rishon Le Zion (a suburb of Tel-Aviv), is a familiar figure among young anti-Occupation and animal rights activists in Israel. He was sentenced today to his first prison term of ten days (more terms in prison are likely to follow), which he serves in Military Prison no. 6 near Atlit. Following the media exposure that the Seniors’ Letter has received after it was made public, Efi was kicked out of home by his father, and spent the last days before imprisonment at a friend’s house. In prison he has already been transferred to the isolation ward for refusing to obey the military dressing code. In addition, the prison authorities decided (against all known regulations) not to allow him to take books with him into prison.
Efi has prepared the following statement upon entering prison:
I object to oppression, whether it is committed by a hierarchical organization, such as the military is, or whether it is committed by the human species against animals. The Israeli government and military conduct a policy of occupation and oppression against the Palestinian people since 1948. It began with the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in 1948, which continues to this day, and continued with the imposition of an oppressive military rule on Palestinians, with the restriction of the freedom of movement of all people, with roads for Israelis only, with administrative detentions, house demolitions, land thefts, etc. We must act in peaceful ways and refuse to take part in the crimes committed by the military. That is our true duty. All the things mentioned above stand against the basic values of freedom and justice in which I believe and for which I struggle. I therefore refuse to enlist to the Israeli military and indeed to any military force of any kind.
Efi Brenner is due to be released from prison on 30 October, but is likely to be imprisoned again soon afterwards. His address in prison is:
================================
* Antiauthoritarian Anticapitalist involved with the AAtW
SAFA
18.10.09 A car load from Tel Aviv joined some farmers from Saffa and several PSP activists in the lands of Saffa today. We picked olives without trouble with the army patrolling up near the settlement. After about two hours of that the army showed up and pushed us out. They said that they would allow the palestinians to remain but they chose to return with the rest of us.
More work in planned for later in the week if you can come on Tuesday please let me know.
Olive Harvesting at Saffa, Palestine, Usual Military Harassment
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/20/18626131.php
there are still more olives to be picked and army and settlers to deal with in Saffa. if you can come on Thursday please get in touch with me.
The olive picking today 22.10.09 went a little better but people are still needed for more olive picking next week.
After Harassment on Tuesday, Farmers, Activists Successfully Harvest in Saffa
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2009/10/23/after-harassment-on-tuesday-farmers-activists-successfully-harvest-in-saffa/
Posted on October 23rd, 2009.
"...The Abu Jabber and Hamad Soleiby families have not been allowed to work freely on their land without either Israeli settler attacks and/or Israeli military intervention, since March of this year. PSP, along with Israeli activists, have had an on-going campaign that has lasted over 5 months, accompanying the farmers to their land which lies in a valley in the Saffa area of Beit Ommar, just below the extreme right-wing Israeli settlement, Bat ‘Ayn. With the beginning of the national olive harvest, the Soleiby brothers have asked for support from solidarity activists in accessing their land freely and without fear of settler attack.
On Tuesday, after the group had managed to pick olives for about half an hour, Israeli civilian police stationed in the nearby settlement Kfar Etzion, arrived and told the group that the Israelis and internationals would have to leave. They also attempted to intimidate the group by demanding to see all of the participants’ ID cards (including the farmers and Palestinian activists), copying down their identification information. After a short deliberation, the entire group decided to leave; the Palestinian farmers fearing that, like other times in the recent past, once the solidarity activists were out of sight the police would leave and settlers would be allowed to attack them.
On Thursday, October 22, a larger group of approximately 25 international and Israeli solidarity activists, including volunteers from the YMCA, and a large representation of local media, accompanied the farmers again to their land. Though Israeli soldiers confronted the group early in the day, they were allowed to pick for over 2 hours without incident, demonstrating the effectiveness of the accompaniment program, when combined with pressure from local farmers to access their land freely as they choose. The organizations involved, particularly PSP, will continue the program in Saffa throughout the fall and winter, when they will replant the hundreds of trees destroyed by settlers over the last 6 months.
TEL AVIV
Few actions of anti expulsion of children of Guest workers born in Israel were carried during the month with divergent participants.
BILL'IN
Every day 17-21.10.09 there was a notice in our list: please sign up for Bil'in tonight.
There is a car leaving Haifa Thursday (21.10.09) late evening/night to Bil'in. We have 2-3 places available in the car, and we are more than willing to pick someone(s) up from Tel Aviv.
Friday
"About 40 Israelis and a similar number of internationals joined the weekly Palestinian demonstration against the wall and occupation in Bil'in. Prominent among the participants were the "shministim" (Israeli refuseniks, who had two of their members put in jail today), and retired PA workers, who led the demonstration with their original slogans and chanting. Demonstrators carried broken cardboard guns as a sign of the nonviolent struggle, while the shabab kept apart along the fence parallel to the route, throwing stones as a sign that their lives under occupation suck big time. One demonstrator brought a tennis racket to return the army's gas grenades. The racket proved less than useful, but some unexploded grenades were manually thrown back to the soldiers, who could share in the suffering of the Hashmonaim settlers, and smell some whiffs of gas. Some demonstrators made a special effort to cross the fence gate and place a Palestinian flag on the soldiers' side of the fence, and then an even more special effort to retrieve the flag in a cloud of gas - a success that marked the end of the demo. As usual, there was enough gas to bring some demonstrators down, panting and crying for a few minutes. Sound bombs also featured after a long pause in their use. When the demonstrators were on their way back, a French woman was hit directly by a gas grenade, and evacuated to a hospital for treatment."
This Friday 23-10-09 in Bil'in - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI9bZLeLoc0
MA'ASARA
In the village of Ma'asara some 70 Palestinians, Israelis and internationals demonstrated this Friday against the Apartheid Wall, commemorating three years of struggle in the village and 40 days since the death of Popular Committee member Qaher Ala-Din.
Demonstrators marched from the village towards their lands, and as usual were stopped by occupation forces, which placed barbed wire on the village's main road. Speeches were carried in Arabic, English, French and Hebrew, amongst other things reminding the soldiers the acceptance of the Goldstone report by the UNHRC and of the option they have to refuse their commanding officers, like the young Shministim who were sent to prison the day before.
After the speeches, and while most demonstrators were chanting slogans or beating drums, several village children tried to pull away the fence, but were stopped by the angry soldiers. Eventually the demonstration ended, with no injuries or arrests.
NI'ILIN
Ni'lin's weekly protest against the wall was held in solidarity with the Israeli youths who have signed the "Seniors Letter". This week the military has begun to draft them into imprisonment for their refusal to serve in an occupation force. The protesters, Palestinian and Israeli, with a larger than usual group of internationals, marched to the wall, chanting slogans against the occupation and for refusal. Some of the village youths threw stones and paint bottles at the soldiers and jeeps patrolling the fence. Soldiers fired tear gas grenades and plastic-coated steel bullets at protesters. 10 were injured, one moderately, who was evacuated to Hospital in Ramalla. 8 of them were hit by bullets, and 2 were struck with aluminum tear gas canisters that were fired directly at them.
The plastic-coated bullets that are increasingly used in Ni'lin are round and consist of a metal core the size and shape of a marble, surrounded by a thin (less than 1mm) layer of plastic. They are fired 16 at a time, from a launching cup attached to the barrel. The bullets fly and spread out in a sort of cone shape, thus rendering this weapon extremely inaccurate, and therefore even more dangerous. During one of their incursions over the wall, a soldier fired two live rounds, apparently in the air. The soldiers also used stun grenades and the smelly water canon.
The protest ended at around 5 pm, and demonstrators dispersed home. Some of those present spent a few moments contemplating the terrible suffering experienced by the settlers of Hashmonaim. As reported in this week's Haaretz, for those poor souls who built their enormous villas on Ni'lin's land, every Friday is an ordeal, as tear gas fired by soldiers drifts over the valley, into their homes, and the sound of army weapons disrupts their precious Friday afternoon naps.
Friday 23.10.09 Ni'ilin video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOS84cD5a4k
REFUSNICS
Efi Brenner and Or Ben-David from "The senior letter 2009-2010" is going to be
jailed in Thursday because they are refusing to enlist the army.
A march will come out from Dizingof square, this Wednesday (21.10) at 5:30PM.
The March will end at Magen David square.
Come to show your support with the conscience objectors and your resistance
People look like flowers at last youth demonstrate 21.10.09 in support of the high school seniors refusnics http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/22/18626365.php
Efi Brenner*, first Objector from New Refusal Letter in Prison
- Please distribute widely -
First prison term for Efi Brenner, the first among the signatories of the 2009-2010 Shministim (high school seniors) refusal letter to be sent to military prison. Full information and recommended action follow.
A new collective declaration of refusal by Israeli youths, the 2009-2010 high school seniors letter, went public last week. Today (22 Oct.), two of its signatories, Efi Brenner and Or Ben-David, came to the military induction base in Tel-Hashomer and there refused to enlist. Efi was indeed sent to prison, while Or has not yet been sentenced (she was told that the military prison for women was full), and will have to return to the induction base tomorrow, probably spend the weekend there and be sent to prison on Sunday. We will run a separate update on her case once she is in prison.
Efi Brenner, 18, from Rishon Le Zion (a suburb of Tel-Aviv), is a familiar figure among young anti-Occupation and animal rights activists in Israel. He was sentenced today to his first prison term of ten days (more terms in prison are likely to follow), which he serves in Military Prison no. 6 near Atlit. Following the media exposure that the Seniors’ Letter has received after it was made public, Efi was kicked out of home by his father, and spent the last days before imprisonment at a friend’s house. In prison he has already been transferred to the isolation ward for refusing to obey the military dressing code. In addition, the prison authorities decided (against all known regulations) not to allow him to take books with him into prison.
Efi has prepared the following statement upon entering prison:
I object to oppression, whether it is committed by a hierarchical organization, such as the military is, or whether it is committed by the human species against animals. The Israeli government and military conduct a policy of occupation and oppression against the Palestinian people since 1948. It began with the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in 1948, which continues to this day, and continued with the imposition of an oppressive military rule on Palestinians, with the restriction of the freedom of movement of all people, with roads for Israelis only, with administrative detentions, house demolitions, land thefts, etc. We must act in peaceful ways and refuse to take part in the crimes committed by the military. That is our true duty. All the things mentioned above stand against the basic values of freedom and justice in which I believe and for which I struggle. I therefore refuse to enlist to the Israeli military and indeed to any military force of any kind.
Efi Brenner is due to be released from prison on 30 October, but is likely to be imprisoned again soon afterwards. His address in prison is:
================================
* Antiauthoritarian Anticapitalist involved with the AAtW
SAFA
18.10.09 A car load from Tel Aviv joined some farmers from Saffa and several PSP activists in the lands of Saffa today. We picked olives without trouble with the army patrolling up near the settlement. After about two hours of that the army showed up and pushed us out. They said that they would allow the palestinians to remain but they chose to return with the rest of us.
More work in planned for later in the week if you can come on Tuesday please let me know.
Olive Harvesting at Saffa, Palestine, Usual Military Harassment
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/20/18626131.php
there are still more olives to be picked and army and settlers to deal with in Saffa. if you can come on Thursday please get in touch with me.
The olive picking today 22.10.09 went a little better but people are still needed for more olive picking next week.
After Harassment on Tuesday, Farmers, Activists Successfully Harvest in Saffa
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2009/10/23/after-harassment-on-tuesday-farmers-activists-successfully-harvest-in-saffa/
Posted on October 23rd, 2009.
"...The Abu Jabber and Hamad Soleiby families have not been allowed to work freely on their land without either Israeli settler attacks and/or Israeli military intervention, since March of this year. PSP, along with Israeli activists, have had an on-going campaign that has lasted over 5 months, accompanying the farmers to their land which lies in a valley in the Saffa area of Beit Ommar, just below the extreme right-wing Israeli settlement, Bat ‘Ayn. With the beginning of the national olive harvest, the Soleiby brothers have asked for support from solidarity activists in accessing their land freely and without fear of settler attack.
On Tuesday, after the group had managed to pick olives for about half an hour, Israeli civilian police stationed in the nearby settlement Kfar Etzion, arrived and told the group that the Israelis and internationals would have to leave. They also attempted to intimidate the group by demanding to see all of the participants’ ID cards (including the farmers and Palestinian activists), copying down their identification information. After a short deliberation, the entire group decided to leave; the Palestinian farmers fearing that, like other times in the recent past, once the solidarity activists were out of sight the police would leave and settlers would be allowed to attack them.
On Thursday, October 22, a larger group of approximately 25 international and Israeli solidarity activists, including volunteers from the YMCA, and a large representation of local media, accompanied the farmers again to their land. Though Israeli soldiers confronted the group early in the day, they were allowed to pick for over 2 hours without incident, demonstrating the effectiveness of the accompaniment program, when combined with pressure from local farmers to access their land freely as they choose. The organizations involved, particularly PSP, will continue the program in Saffa throughout the fall and winter, when they will replant the hundreds of trees destroyed by settlers over the last 6 months.
TEL AVIV
Few actions of anti expulsion of children of Guest workers born in Israel were carried during the month with divergent participants.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle of the direct actions of the AAtW and Palestinians escalate.
In Spite of the "competition" of other joint activities of wider circles (our comrades participate in), our initiative expand in scope and number of participants. Our activists involved this week with the African refugees in the struggle against deportation; With the Israeli Bedouins in the south who struggle against internal transfer from their lands;With the occupied Jerusalem Palestinians facing transfer steps; With Palestinian farmers suffering from harassment of settlers trying to rob their lands bordering the settlements; And of course the weekly demonstration against the separation fence in Bil'in, Ni'ilin, and Muasara (south of Bethlehem). Media reported on activists of the AAtW involved with world wide propaganda. (And we were invited to more actions than we were able to attend.)
BIL'IN
During the week nights AAtW comrades stayed in the village in order to confront Israeli
forces harassment of the popular comity members and others.
Some 30 Israelis and 40 internationals (including a large French delegation) joined local
Palestinians for the weekly demonstration against land theft and the violent oppression of
Bil'in's people. The procession was accompanied by an inspiring march-poem read by one of
the popular committee members and echoed by the marchers. When they arrived at the gate in
the fence, the demonstrators asked the soldiers to let people through to clear the land
behind the wall to prepare for the olive harvest. The soldiers responded with gas.
(However, due to the changing winds, an evident they had, and the returning of a tear gas
grenade, the soldiers had to taste "their own medicine...".)
Instead of olive picking, the demonstrators went on to harvest another kind of local
produce: the fallen gas and shock grenades littering the entire fence area. The soldiers
responded with gas. A couple of kids through a few stones at the soldiers. The soldiers
responded with gas. The demonstrators went on to harvest grenades somewhere else. The
soldiers responded with gas. Finally, with bags full of tear gas and sound grenades, the
demonstrators returned to the village. The soldiers responded with gas.
On the way back from Bil'in we could see in the West the "fire works" of the multi rockets
barrage of 32 tear gas grenades fired on the demonstrators against the separation fence and occupation in Ni'ilin.
Bil'in - 9-10-09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoK-lu9wJJ4
NI'ILIN
Ni'lin's weekly protest against the wall began as usual with a prayer and a march through the olive groves, to the route of the wall. This time, the 100 or so group of protesters chose to march to an area that has not seen demonstrations for a while, enabling them to utilize the absence of soldiers to cut the razor wire and a section of the actual fence. a few minutes later several military jeeps arrived at the scene, and soldiers began to fire various types of tear gas grenades at the demonstration, in some cases directly at protesters, in violation of the army's own regulations. Notably, the army has renewed the use of an aluminum tear gas canister, the front end of which is shaped like a cone. dozens of these were fired at protesters, and those who were hit by this type of canister in the past said that they are not as dangerous as the extended range canisters ("Saruch" in Arabic) but that a person hit by them might still be injured.
The protesters then moved to a western section of the wall, some of them throwing stones at the jeeps patrolling the route, while soldiers fired tear gas. In the afternoon, a group of soldiers and border police crossed the barrier, triggering a temporary withdrawal of protesters back to the village. When the soldiers returned to their station over the fence, so did a small group of demonstrators, who exhausted their remaining energy by throwing a few more stones at the soldiers. All protesters then returned to the village. No injuries were recorded, aside from some tear gas inhalation and red, sore eyes.
MUASARA
The demo in the village of Ma'asara a smaller than usual demonstration made its way after
the Friday prayer from the center of the village towards the agricultural lands on which
the Apartheid Wall is being built. Attended by some thirty Palestinians, including many
children, twenty internationals and eight Israelis, the procession was stopped by
occupation soldiers, who placed a razor wire fence on the road near the entrance to the
village.
Slogans were chanted and speeches carried in Arabic, English and Hebrew, explaining to the
soldiers the vital importance of the stolen lands to the Palestinian people, especially
now as the olive harvest season is coming up. After several non-violent attempts to go
around the fence failed, the demonstration ended with the promise to return next week, as
always.
This week's demonstration was painted in green, as the children of the village wore their
new T-shirts with the slogan "Beat drums, not people" (in English and Arabic). The
children wearing the shirts have recently been taking drumming lessons from the Israeli
Qassamba group of protest drummers.
===========================
Media:
Stop calling us haters of Israel by Yuval Ofir-Oron - one of the three Israeli refusnics
on tour in South-Africa
The Israeli army, which we were required to serve, controls the lives of 3.5 million
people in the occupied territories.Already many decades that Israel, with all arms,
sending Israeli youth to control the civilian population in the territories.We refused
to do so.
In recent years we have seen the sights of the Israeli occupation in the West Bank.We
saw the faces of children, women and men whom we are asked today to suppress.We can not
serve in the army that violates the values that we believe in, and without them we can not
survive as moral community.We refuse to take part in building a wall that takes land
from farmers, a wall that its whole purpose is to annex more land to the Jewish state and
expand illegal settlements.We refuse to build dirt conceit blocks roadblocks on
Palestinian villages roads and refuse to run checkpoints on land taken by force.We
refuse to uproot olive trees in Bidu.Refuse to invade the houses of families in Azoun.
Refuse to be guards of a one and a half million people in Gaza.Refuse to destroy houses
in East Jerusalem.Refuse to kill those who are fighting for freedom.Against these
crimes we can not close my eyes, we can not sit still.
We were invited to South Africa to tell our story.People want to hear about
conscientious objection in Israel, they want to know what is really happening in the
occupied territories.During our tour we met with high school pupils, students, workers,
pensioners, Jews, Muslims, other white and black people....We are here to bring the
voices of our partner - the Palestinians who are living under foreign occupation, and our
voices, Israeli Jews who will not take part in the Israeli occupation.
Israelis do not want to end the occupation
We're all young Israelis, part of Israeli society.We fight for the future where we
live, the future of our society.This struggle is for us, for our families and friends
and for those who live with us.Today we look around with aching hearts and fear of where
we arrived and more so - were we are going.
We believe that Israeli society has proved unable or not interested, to end the
occupation by its own initiative.Forces of nationalism, militarism, and racism just
strengthening in it. Most Israelis think that the crimes conducted by Israeli governments
are only subjects for in internal political controversy in Israeli society itself, but we
believe that these crimes relate all of human society, so we call upon world community to
demand publicly and firmly that the Israeli occupation will end.
State of Israel should pay a price for the occupation, war crimes, the harm to
innocents.Withdrawal of investments from Israel, severing business ties with wealthy
Israelis, and stopping economic cooperation with Israeli companies, with an emphasis on
companies that maintain relations with the Israeli army or who earns from the existence of
the settlements, all these are legitimate acts of nonviolence and pressure on the powerful
decision makers of Israel, with the goal to put end to the occupation.We join the
Palestinian call for a boycott of Israel, alongside millions of workers unions, and tens
of thousands of individuals around the world.It's time to stop calling Goldstone Anti
Semitic and us Israel-haters.The time already arrived to look directly at the reality we
have created, and to act to change it for our neighbors and for us.
BIL'IN
During the week nights AAtW comrades stayed in the village in order to confront Israeli
forces harassment of the popular comity members and others.
Some 30 Israelis and 40 internationals (including a large French delegation) joined local
Palestinians for the weekly demonstration against land theft and the violent oppression of
Bil'in's people. The procession was accompanied by an inspiring march-poem read by one of
the popular committee members and echoed by the marchers. When they arrived at the gate in
the fence, the demonstrators asked the soldiers to let people through to clear the land
behind the wall to prepare for the olive harvest. The soldiers responded with gas.
(However, due to the changing winds, an evident they had, and the returning of a tear gas
grenade, the soldiers had to taste "their own medicine...".)
Instead of olive picking, the demonstrators went on to harvest another kind of local
produce: the fallen gas and shock grenades littering the entire fence area. The soldiers
responded with gas. A couple of kids through a few stones at the soldiers. The soldiers
responded with gas. The demonstrators went on to harvest grenades somewhere else. The
soldiers responded with gas. Finally, with bags full of tear gas and sound grenades, the
demonstrators returned to the village. The soldiers responded with gas.
On the way back from Bil'in we could see in the West the "fire works" of the multi rockets
barrage of 32 tear gas grenades fired on the demonstrators against the separation fence and occupation in Ni'ilin.
Bil'in - 9-10-09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoK-lu9wJJ4
NI'ILIN
Ni'lin's weekly protest against the wall began as usual with a prayer and a march through the olive groves, to the route of the wall. This time, the 100 or so group of protesters chose to march to an area that has not seen demonstrations for a while, enabling them to utilize the absence of soldiers to cut the razor wire and a section of the actual fence. a few minutes later several military jeeps arrived at the scene, and soldiers began to fire various types of tear gas grenades at the demonstration, in some cases directly at protesters, in violation of the army's own regulations. Notably, the army has renewed the use of an aluminum tear gas canister, the front end of which is shaped like a cone. dozens of these were fired at protesters, and those who were hit by this type of canister in the past said that they are not as dangerous as the extended range canisters ("Saruch" in Arabic) but that a person hit by them might still be injured.
The protesters then moved to a western section of the wall, some of them throwing stones at the jeeps patrolling the route, while soldiers fired tear gas. In the afternoon, a group of soldiers and border police crossed the barrier, triggering a temporary withdrawal of protesters back to the village. When the soldiers returned to their station over the fence, so did a small group of demonstrators, who exhausted their remaining energy by throwing a few more stones at the soldiers. All protesters then returned to the village. No injuries were recorded, aside from some tear gas inhalation and red, sore eyes.
MUASARA
The demo in the village of Ma'asara a smaller than usual demonstration made its way after
the Friday prayer from the center of the village towards the agricultural lands on which
the Apartheid Wall is being built. Attended by some thirty Palestinians, including many
children, twenty internationals and eight Israelis, the procession was stopped by
occupation soldiers, who placed a razor wire fence on the road near the entrance to the
village.
Slogans were chanted and speeches carried in Arabic, English and Hebrew, explaining to the
soldiers the vital importance of the stolen lands to the Palestinian people, especially
now as the olive harvest season is coming up. After several non-violent attempts to go
around the fence failed, the demonstration ended with the promise to return next week, as
always.
This week's demonstration was painted in green, as the children of the village wore their
new T-shirts with the slogan "Beat drums, not people" (in English and Arabic). The
children wearing the shirts have recently been taking drumming lessons from the Israeli
Qassamba group of protest drummers.
===========================
Media:
Stop calling us haters of Israel by Yuval Ofir-Oron - one of the three Israeli refusnics
on tour in South-Africa
The Israeli army, which we were required to serve, controls the lives of 3.5 million
people in the occupied territories.Already many decades that Israel, with all arms,
sending Israeli youth to control the civilian population in the territories.We refused
to do so.
In recent years we have seen the sights of the Israeli occupation in the West Bank.We
saw the faces of children, women and men whom we are asked today to suppress.We can not
serve in the army that violates the values that we believe in, and without them we can not
survive as moral community.We refuse to take part in building a wall that takes land
from farmers, a wall that its whole purpose is to annex more land to the Jewish state and
expand illegal settlements.We refuse to build dirt conceit blocks roadblocks on
Palestinian villages roads and refuse to run checkpoints on land taken by force.We
refuse to uproot olive trees in Bidu.Refuse to invade the houses of families in Azoun.
Refuse to be guards of a one and a half million people in Gaza.Refuse to destroy houses
in East Jerusalem.Refuse to kill those who are fighting for freedom.Against these
crimes we can not close my eyes, we can not sit still.
We were invited to South Africa to tell our story.People want to hear about
conscientious objection in Israel, they want to know what is really happening in the
occupied territories.During our tour we met with high school pupils, students, workers,
pensioners, Jews, Muslims, other white and black people....We are here to bring the
voices of our partner - the Palestinians who are living under foreign occupation, and our
voices, Israeli Jews who will not take part in the Israeli occupation.
Israelis do not want to end the occupation
We're all young Israelis, part of Israeli society.We fight for the future where we
live, the future of our society.This struggle is for us, for our families and friends
and for those who live with us.Today we look around with aching hearts and fear of where
we arrived and more so - were we are going.
We believe that Israeli society has proved unable or not interested, to end the
occupation by its own initiative.Forces of nationalism, militarism, and racism just
strengthening in it. Most Israelis think that the crimes conducted by Israeli governments
are only subjects for in internal political controversy in Israeli society itself, but we
believe that these crimes relate all of human society, so we call upon world community to
demand publicly and firmly that the Israeli occupation will end.
State of Israel should pay a price for the occupation, war crimes, the harm to
innocents.Withdrawal of investments from Israel, severing business ties with wealthy
Israelis, and stopping economic cooperation with Israeli companies, with an emphasis on
companies that maintain relations with the Israeli army or who earns from the existence of
the settlements, all these are legitimate acts of nonviolence and pressure on the powerful
decision makers of Israel, with the goal to put end to the occupation.We join the
Palestinian call for a boycott of Israel, alongside millions of workers unions, and tens
of thousands of individuals around the world.It's time to stop calling Goldstone Anti
Semitic and us Israel-haters.The time already arrived to look directly at the reality we
have created, and to act to change it for our neighbors and for us.
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