Like the other Friday noons of the last few months, tear gas and shock grenades - was the lot of few hundreds demonstrators who came for a nonviolent protest against the building of the separation fence on the lands of the village Bil'in. To day, 29th of July 2005, few hundred people of Bil'in and about 100 of the Israelis Against The Wall initiative and others (including internationals) a demonstration against the robbery of more than half of the lands of Bil'in for the settlement Kiriat Sefer and the separation fence was carried. This was on the background of intensified confrontation in the Media between the demonstrators and the spoke persons of the Israeli army and border police on the other side. They do lot of efforts to demonize the demonstrators. They claims that state forces are "forced" to use means for dispersing demonstrations (tear gas, shock grenades, rubber bullets and their like) because the demonstrators in Bil'in are "ruthless" and through stones on soldiers.... But they fail to convince even the state and other public media.
For these who still needed, this day demonstration proved again that the violent starts from the army and border police.
Today demonstration had two main motives:
The first, reminding people the fact that under cover of the mist of disengagement (in Gaza Strip) continue, and with full intensity the project of colonial settlement in the West bank of the Jordan. This subject was represented with a special model of a house of settlers transported from Gaza to the West bank, while part of the demonstrators around it had Sharon masques on their faces.
The second, was a solidarity act with Abdallah Abu-Rahma, the chairman of the popular comity of Bil'in already two weeks jailed in the concentration camp Ofer, after he was falsely accused of attacking a border policeman. (Previous week the military judge had to release him from jail after a similar accusation was refuted. The present military judge - probably under higher level orders, refuse to release him in spite clear evidence.)
Amongst the hundreds of demonstrators - including the 80 Israelis, many had on their shirts the slogan: "I am Abdallah Abu-Rahma" in Hebrew, English, Arabic, Russian, France, and Spanish.
The march from the center of the village was orderly as usual, till we arrived to the fringe of the village built area. There, as usual in the last few Fridays, the army put a portable barbed wire fence and a placard on it stating it is a closed military zone, with a map including in it all the region up to the Jerusalem-Modiin road.
When we arrived there we stopped with the soldiers on one side of the portable fence and us on the other. No stone was thrown and no shooting occurred yet - just the usual declaration of the army commander on the illegality of the demo and the presence of Israelis.
Few minutes after the model of the "house" was moved to the side of the road, without passing the line, the army started an intensive shooting of shock and tear gas grenades, folded the portable fence and invaded the village - pursuing the part of the demonstrators who run for it. At this assault three demonstrators were detained... to be released a bit later.
These of us on the front refused to disperse, sat down, and confronted the soldiers with words about their unprovoked assault.
We continued the demonstration for a while till the demonstration was officially finished and we started to regroup to the village.
At this stage, the army provocation succeeded to provoke the 50 or so youngsters who refrained till that moment from being provoked, and the usual attrition war of stones versus rubber bullets and tear gas continued for an hour or so.
At the end, the Israelis and international had a meeting with the village comity to discuss the demonstration.
It seems that the exposure in the media of the deceitful behavior of the usual border police unit (company 22) resulted in its replacement with another army unit. Last Friday made it clear that they only mildly differed from the older unit (less unprovoked assaults, less arrests, less injuries, less false accusations).
Free translation of Nir report "they shoot without reason"
Pictures:
https://israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/3553/index.php
Thursday, Media, Confrontation between the (Israeli) security forces and demonstrators at Bil'in
The army and border police are clashing with Palestinians and activists of the Anarchists Against Fences in the Bil'in village. The spokesperson of the Israeli army say that demonstrators entered a closed military region and thus means for dispersing demonstrations were applied against them.
Palestinians: 6 hurt in anti-fence protest
Palestinian sources say six people sustained light injuries during the demonstration against the continued construction of the West Bank security fence in the village of Bil'in, west of Ramallah.
Protesters claim soldiers had sprayed them with tear gas and fired rubber bullets at them without provocation. (Ali Waked)
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, Media*, Border Police `lie about violence at fence protests' By Jonathan Lis 28 Jul
For more than six months, dozens of Israelis** and hundreds of Palestinians have been demonstrating every weekend against the construction of the separation fence near the West Bank village of Bil'in. These demonstrations, defined by participants as peaceful, frequently turn into violent clashes with the Border Police's Company 22, assigned to disperse the demonstrations. An investigation by Haaretz has found that policemen from that company have made false accusations against demonstrators and even made arrests on the basis of those accusations. Palestinians thus detained can be held for eight days before being brought before a judge.
In other cases, soldiers gave false testimony about rock throwing and other violence when most of the protests were peaceful. However, there were instances in which Border Police were hurt by rocks thrown by demonstrators at Bil'in.
In recent weeks, three judges harshly criticized troops after watching videotapes that nullified their allegations. In at least two cases the judges questioned the excessive force used against peaceful and restrained protesters. Footage taken by Shai Caremeli-Polack, who documents the demonstrations for the organization Anarchists Against the Wall, was presented in the various court hearings and contradicted the claims of Border policemen that the conduct of demonstrators had compelled them to use batons, kick and fire tear gas directly at the demonstrators.
In the wake of one of these incidents, police officials this week harshly criticized the behavior of Company 22.
Two of the cases examined by the courts or the police's Internal Affairs Department (IAD) are detailed here. Last Friday, Bil'in residents demonstrated with Israeli and overseas human rights activists. Border Policemen arrested a Beit Lakia resident (name withheld). The troops transferred the suspect to the Judea and Samaria Police for questioning, on the grounds that he had assaulted a policeman.
Anarchists Against the Wall activists rushed to the station and showed investigators their complete documentation of the incident. The videotape, which Haaretz has also obtained, clearly shows the Border policemen violently attacking the man and kicking him after they had subdued him and held him prone on the ground. "After the investigator saw the film, he immediately decided to release the detainee and transferred the case file to IAD to review the Border Policemen's conduct," a police officer said yesterday.
On July 20, Border Police arrested two Israeli demonstrators at Bil'in - Shaul Berger Mugrabi and Moshe Robas, claiming they had participated in an illegal assembly, assaulted a policeman and interfered with police work. Jerusalem Magistrate's Court Judge Yoel Tzur watched the videotape of the incident and lambasted the police: "The Border policemen who were involved in the incident are indeed framing the two respondents, yet I cannot shake off the impression created by the tape that shows distinctly that it was Border Policemen who used force against the respondents."
The Border Police responded: "The protesters against the fence construction knowingly break the law in entering a closed military zone, with their objective being to thwart the construction of the security fence. These cases are not about the right to demonstrate and freedom of expression, since the demonstrations in question are not authorized and illegal."
According to the Border Police, "in contrast to the claims of protesters that these are peaceful demonstrations, for two and a half years, almost daily, IDF soldiers and Border Police fighters have been contending with demonstrations characterized by serious violence, hurled rocks*** and Molotov cocktails that endanger the fighters' lives. In recent months, IDF soldiers and Border Police fighters have been severely and moderately wounded during demonstrations in Bil'in [...] The videotapes handed to the reporter are one-sided and do not reflect the complete picture and the violent conduct of the demonstrators. The police has tapes which in most of the cases proves precisely the opposite."
=========================
* From the English Haaretz.com online edition of the Israeli Daily Haaretz.
** Israelis participation is organized by the village comity together with the people of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative and is joined by wider spectrum of Israelis.
*** In Bil'in Friday demonstrations I participate, the stone throwing - no rocks or Molotov cocktails, starts regularly by the youngsters ONLY AFTER the peaceful demonstrations are brutally dispersed by the Israeli state forces.
In other cases, soldiers gave false testimony about rock throwing and other violence when most of the protests were peaceful. However, there were instances in which Border Police were hurt by rocks thrown by demonstrators at Bil'in.
In recent weeks, three judges harshly criticized troops after watching videotapes that nullified their allegations. In at least two cases the judges questioned the excessive force used against peaceful and restrained protesters. Footage taken by Shai Caremeli-Polack, who documents the demonstrations for the organization Anarchists Against the Wall, was presented in the various court hearings and contradicted the claims of Border policemen that the conduct of demonstrators had compelled them to use batons, kick and fire tear gas directly at the demonstrators.
In the wake of one of these incidents, police officials this week harshly criticized the behavior of Company 22.
Two of the cases examined by the courts or the police's Internal Affairs Department (IAD) are detailed here. Last Friday, Bil'in residents demonstrated with Israeli and overseas human rights activists. Border Policemen arrested a Beit Lakia resident (name withheld). The troops transferred the suspect to the Judea and Samaria Police for questioning, on the grounds that he had assaulted a policeman.
Anarchists Against the Wall activists rushed to the station and showed investigators their complete documentation of the incident. The videotape, which Haaretz has also obtained, clearly shows the Border policemen violently attacking the man and kicking him after they had subdued him and held him prone on the ground. "After the investigator saw the film, he immediately decided to release the detainee and transferred the case file to IAD to review the Border Policemen's conduct," a police officer said yesterday.
On July 20, Border Police arrested two Israeli demonstrators at Bil'in - Shaul Berger Mugrabi and Moshe Robas, claiming they had participated in an illegal assembly, assaulted a policeman and interfered with police work. Jerusalem Magistrate's Court Judge Yoel Tzur watched the videotape of the incident and lambasted the police: "The Border policemen who were involved in the incident are indeed framing the two respondents, yet I cannot shake off the impression created by the tape that shows distinctly that it was Border Policemen who used force against the respondents."
The Border Police responded: "The protesters against the fence construction knowingly break the law in entering a closed military zone, with their objective being to thwart the construction of the security fence. These cases are not about the right to demonstrate and freedom of expression, since the demonstrations in question are not authorized and illegal."
According to the Border Police, "in contrast to the claims of protesters that these are peaceful demonstrations, for two and a half years, almost daily, IDF soldiers and Border Police fighters have been contending with demonstrations characterized by serious violence, hurled rocks*** and Molotov cocktails that endanger the fighters' lives. In recent months, IDF soldiers and Border Police fighters have been severely and moderately wounded during demonstrations in Bil'in [...] The videotapes handed to the reporter are one-sided and do not reflect the complete picture and the violent conduct of the demonstrators. The police has tapes which in most of the cases proves precisely the opposite."
=========================
* From the English Haaretz.com online edition of the Israeli Daily Haaretz.
** Israelis participation is organized by the village comity together with the people of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative and is joined by wider spectrum of Israelis.
*** In Bil'in Friday demonstrations I participate, the stone throwing - no rocks or Molotov cocktails, starts regularly by the youngsters ONLY AFTER the peaceful demonstrations are brutally dispersed by the Israeli state forces.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, repression of joint struggle continue 23 Jul
Like every Friday of the last few months, international and Israeli activists (mostly of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative) joined the small village Bil'in activists in the Friday demonstration against the separation fence that annex to Israel most of the lands of the village. This week, the Israeli state forces tried harder to prevent us - the Tel Aviv activists from arriving to Bil'in. The forces were waiting for us at main points... but we got out of the bus in an unexpected point and made our way through the hills to the road of the neighboring village Safa. State forces succeeded to intercept only about third of us, and the rest found transportation to Bil'in. There, we joined the preparation for the demo - including putting on white shirts with relevant content printed on and masks of Cundelica Rice and her president Bush.
We started to march from the center of the village towards the fence building site (which is not really active Fridays) to the confrontation with the Israeli state forces - army, border police and special police forces who wait for us lately at the last buildings of the village.
When we arrived there, the barbed wire blocking and the announcement of closed military zone (for non local people) was as usual. So we all set down (except the people photographing the confrontation) and heard the commander repeat the statement that the demonstration is illegal, that it is a closed military area, and that we had 10 minute till arrests will start... and he kept his words.
In escalation from previous demonstrations, the border police started at first with kicking and hitting people with batons before starting to lift us and arrest us one by one - including people who were only documenting the conflict with their cameras {usually not arrested on previous times. They took and detained about 40 of us at a near by building in construction. Part of the escalation was a gradual handcuffing of most of the detained people till only few of us remained uncuffed.
The rest of the demonstrators were dispersed by teargas and shock grenades mostly, with rubber bullet shooting on the few tens of youngsters who as usual, responded with stones to the dispersing of the demonstration.
As we were been taken to the fence building site for further procession a higher commander arrived. He decided to de-escalate the conflict a bit and the 10 or so of us not yet handcuffed were released at the unfinished building while the rest - about 30 were taken to the fence site.
The main internet website of the daily newspapers reported on the confrontation - including report on injured demonstrators.
One of them reported:
In the demonstration participated about 400 people, among them Israeli citizens and international activists. Participant put on masks with the faces of Bush and Cundelica Rais with an orange ribbon (similar to that of the Israeli settlers) - "as protest of the blindness brought by the separation plan and the overlooking of Israel activities in the West bank."
Another report in the Media:
"... One of the Israeli demonstrators - Jonathan Polak claim that he was hit by a border policeman who also broke his leg."
[Later found the bone was not broken..]
The Media brought also the police lies:
"The police said that there are about 100 people demonstrating in the village, 8 of them detained for interrogation. No knowledge about injured demonstrators.
Another report of Haaretz daily on the Internet:
"Five injured and five detained for interrogation in Bil'in. In the demonstration held every Friday, participated hundreds of people - Palestinians, internationals, and Israelis. Demonstrators claim the soldiers shoot tear gas and rubber bullets."
As background they added:
The demonstrations in Bil'in are carried for few months as protest to the fact that the separation fence is built on the lands of the village and will separate them from from most of their fields [mostly olive orchards]. At this place, every Friday demonstrate people of the village together with Israel leftist activists, Israeli Arab parliament members and Palestinian parliament members [a bit of exaggeration as these dignitaries do not come too often...]. At these demonstrations, were the first times that people of the [Palestinian Muslim] Hamas, headed by Yusef Hasan, their top leader in the West bank demonstrated side by side with Israeli activists.
Another report - about a two hours later confrontation between the stone throwing youngsters that confront the Israeli state forces after they disperse the nonviolent demonstration: "The confrontation in Bil'in resumed.
Two were seriously injured.
The Palestinians report that two Palestinian youngsters were seriously injured with rubber bullets - one in his head and one in his belly.
The two were taken to an hospital in Ramalla.
And Bil'in is not alone. This Friday, people of the Israeli Anarchists Against The Wall initiative were invited to a joint struggle in a Northern village. "Seven activists of the left were arrested while trying to enter a 'military closed region'.
The Summeria region police arrested seven Israeli activists of the left that entered the village Asira Akhbaliya traveling in Palestinian cabs into a closed military zone. The seven were taken for interrogation to the Ariel police station. [The declaration of temporary 'closed military zone' is the way to block Israelis to participate in joint demonstration with Palestinians. This is done regularly (with partial success) because the presence of Israelis in joint demonstrations with Palestinians force the army to use 'milder' ways of repression.]
Another report in the internet site of the daily:
The vice-brigadir commander hit video photographer documenting the hitting of demonstrators.
The channel 8 documentary director Shai Carmely-Polack who works on documenting the the demonstrations of Bil'in claim that he was hit yesterday (Friday) by Shai Malka - the vice regiment commander of the Macabim regiment, while trying to document the beating of detainees in the place where they were brought to.
... When the the vice regiment commander arrived at the compound he released Shai Carmely-Polack who was detained earlier for the absent of official reporter card [confiscated from him in a previous demonstration]. However, as he resumed photographing the beating of detainees in the compound, the commander himself jumped on him from behind and strangulate him to stop the documenting.
Reporter:
"Army response has not arrived yet".
"Polack's photographs caused lately the release of a Palestinian brought to military court as they exposed the lies of the border police witness."
--------------------------------------
Follow up:
At the end of the day, no one stayed the night in jail. From the 30 people handcuffed and taken to temporary detention point, only three were taken to the Givat Ze'ev police station - One Palestinian and two Israelis. The two Israelis were processed and released on bail conditioned on refraining from returning to the fence in Bil'in for two weeks.
Surprisingly, as the video photographs were presented during the procession of the Palestinian, he was released too.
The two injured Palestinian youngsters taken to Hospital, were treated and are out of serious trouble.
The rest of the bruises will probably heal till next Friday demo in Bil'in.
We started to march from the center of the village towards the fence building site (which is not really active Fridays) to the confrontation with the Israeli state forces - army, border police and special police forces who wait for us lately at the last buildings of the village.
When we arrived there, the barbed wire blocking and the announcement of closed military zone (for non local people) was as usual. So we all set down (except the people photographing the confrontation) and heard the commander repeat the statement that the demonstration is illegal, that it is a closed military area, and that we had 10 minute till arrests will start... and he kept his words.
In escalation from previous demonstrations, the border police started at first with kicking and hitting people with batons before starting to lift us and arrest us one by one - including people who were only documenting the conflict with their cameras {usually not arrested on previous times. They took and detained about 40 of us at a near by building in construction. Part of the escalation was a gradual handcuffing of most of the detained people till only few of us remained uncuffed.
The rest of the demonstrators were dispersed by teargas and shock grenades mostly, with rubber bullet shooting on the few tens of youngsters who as usual, responded with stones to the dispersing of the demonstration.
As we were been taken to the fence building site for further procession a higher commander arrived. He decided to de-escalate the conflict a bit and the 10 or so of us not yet handcuffed were released at the unfinished building while the rest - about 30 were taken to the fence site.
The main internet website of the daily newspapers reported on the confrontation - including report on injured demonstrators.
One of them reported:
In the demonstration participated about 400 people, among them Israeli citizens and international activists. Participant put on masks with the faces of Bush and Cundelica Rais with an orange ribbon (similar to that of the Israeli settlers) - "as protest of the blindness brought by the separation plan and the overlooking of Israel activities in the West bank."
Another report in the Media:
"... One of the Israeli demonstrators - Jonathan Polak claim that he was hit by a border policeman who also broke his leg."
[Later found the bone was not broken..]
The Media brought also the police lies:
"The police said that there are about 100 people demonstrating in the village, 8 of them detained for interrogation. No knowledge about injured demonstrators.
Another report of Haaretz daily on the Internet:
"Five injured and five detained for interrogation in Bil'in. In the demonstration held every Friday, participated hundreds of people - Palestinians, internationals, and Israelis. Demonstrators claim the soldiers shoot tear gas and rubber bullets."
As background they added:
The demonstrations in Bil'in are carried for few months as protest to the fact that the separation fence is built on the lands of the village and will separate them from from most of their fields [mostly olive orchards]. At this place, every Friday demonstrate people of the village together with Israel leftist activists, Israeli Arab parliament members and Palestinian parliament members [a bit of exaggeration as these dignitaries do not come too often...]. At these demonstrations, were the first times that people of the [Palestinian Muslim] Hamas, headed by Yusef Hasan, their top leader in the West bank demonstrated side by side with Israeli activists.
Another report - about a two hours later confrontation between the stone throwing youngsters that confront the Israeli state forces after they disperse the nonviolent demonstration: "The confrontation in Bil'in resumed.
Two were seriously injured.
The Palestinians report that two Palestinian youngsters were seriously injured with rubber bullets - one in his head and one in his belly.
The two were taken to an hospital in Ramalla.
And Bil'in is not alone. This Friday, people of the Israeli Anarchists Against The Wall initiative were invited to a joint struggle in a Northern village. "Seven activists of the left were arrested while trying to enter a 'military closed region'.
The Summeria region police arrested seven Israeli activists of the left that entered the village Asira Akhbaliya traveling in Palestinian cabs into a closed military zone. The seven were taken for interrogation to the Ariel police station. [The declaration of temporary 'closed military zone' is the way to block Israelis to participate in joint demonstration with Palestinians. This is done regularly (with partial success) because the presence of Israelis in joint demonstrations with Palestinians force the army to use 'milder' ways of repression.]
Another report in the internet site of the daily:
The vice-brigadir commander hit video photographer documenting the hitting of demonstrators.
The channel 8 documentary director Shai Carmely-Polack who works on documenting the the demonstrations of Bil'in claim that he was hit yesterday (Friday) by Shai Malka - the vice regiment commander of the Macabim regiment, while trying to document the beating of detainees in the place where they were brought to.
... When the the vice regiment commander arrived at the compound he released Shai Carmely-Polack who was detained earlier for the absent of official reporter card [confiscated from him in a previous demonstration]. However, as he resumed photographing the beating of detainees in the compound, the commander himself jumped on him from behind and strangulate him to stop the documenting.
Reporter:
"Army response has not arrived yet".
"Polack's photographs caused lately the release of a Palestinian brought to military court as they exposed the lies of the border police witness."
--------------------------------------
Follow up:
At the end of the day, no one stayed the night in jail. From the 30 people handcuffed and taken to temporary detention point, only three were taken to the Givat Ze'ev police station - One Palestinian and two Israelis. The two Israelis were processed and released on bail conditioned on refraining from returning to the fence in Bil'in for two weeks.
Surprisingly, as the video photographs were presented during the procession of the Palestinian, he was released too.
The two injured Palestinian youngsters taken to Hospital, were treated and are out of serious trouble.
The rest of the bruises will probably heal till next Friday demo in Bil'in.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, Seven activists arrested in a middle of the week early morning action 21 Jul
The army come to guard the rote of the fence in building only when work day start. This enable early morning actions involving special metal structures that prevent quick dispersal by the Israeli state forces - see pictures at. https://israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/3524/index.php Seven were arrested in Wednesday morning demonstration against the fence. It is already five months that the struggle of the people of Bil'in against the expansion of the Israeli settlements Kiryat Sefer and Matityahu on their lands, and against the building of the separation fence on the lands they work on. 2.3 million square meter of their 4 million (1000 acres) arable land were confiscated. The Israeli state forces - army, gendarmes and police continue all that period to suppress the nonviolent demonstrations of the villagers [to whom join regularly international activists, Israelis of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative and others] Suppression done with lot of means at demonstrations and in other times at other day and nights hours in the village in response to demonstrations and other actions.
Prolonged arrest times of villagers activists with absurd claims are the norm. Three of them are arrested these days with clearly fictitious claims.
At demonstrations, in addition to physical harassment the Israeli state forces add shooting of massive amounts of tear gas and shock grenades, and various kinds of "rubber bullets". https://israel.indymedia.org/usermedia/image/1/large/13_1.jpg
Wednesday morning people of the village went out to one of the midweek early morning protest activities with a special metal structure welded for this demonstration. Within it "fortified" themselves one Palestinian, four internationals, and two Israelis of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative.
Muhamad Hatib, from the organizers of the village people committee: "The joint fortification was intended to symbolize the fact that fences an walls will not succeed to prevent the joint activity for peace. We added the flags of the various Palestinian parties in order to call all the parties to stop the internal confrontations and to invest the energy in the struggle against the occupation and the fence".
The metal construction with was placed on the fence works route at 05:00 wit 7 activists in it. When the bulldozers arrived at 06:00 they were prevented from continuing the destruction of the lands of Bil'in. Only after an hour the forces of the border police succeeded to dismantle the construction, and using violence arrested all those fortifying in it with bogus claim of "assaulting policeman". The included pictures show clearly the nonviolent mode of the protest.
https://israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/3524/index.php Original of L.P. in Hebrew was enlarged a bit....
Addition: The Police blame the arrested with assault on policeman. They claim that while fortified in the metal structure, the demonstrators kicked the belies of the border police gendarmes who came to take them away. If you look at the pictures you will see how absurd is this claim - as the whole bodies of the 7 demonstrators is within the structure - fact that prevent them from kicking outside it even if they wanted. [So said the Judge the two Israelis were brought before him...]
The officer on duty at Givat Ze'ev police station wanted to release the four internationals on condition they will not return to the "scene of crime", the Israelis were brought before a judge, the decision about the treatment of the Palestinians was delayed... And the internationals refused to sign the releasing papers commitments of distancing them till the the release of the Palestinian activist.
The two Israelis:
"So, we were brought before a judge that after looking at the pictures gave a verdict of one month of ban from the route of the fence at Bil'in for participation in a forbidden assembly. As for the assault on policemen he wrote: "It can be seen clearly that it was the the border policemen that applied force against the defendants.... In the case before us there are substantial doubts as for the assault on policeman and interference in policeman activity...".
At the time of the report:
The Palestinian was transferred to the Ofer concentration camp for Palestinians. The four internationals got 15 days ban from visiting the route of the fence in Bil'in, but they still have not decided if to sign the commitment as they may stay put in solidarity with the Palestinian comrade.
In numbers:
6 at the morning, 7 arrested (4 internationals, 2 Israelis, 1 Palestinian), about 20 state hooligans with batons, lot of bruises (faces, backs, and other places), 12 hours of detention and 30 days ban from the location (for the Israelis)... and one occupation.
Prolonged arrest times of villagers activists with absurd claims are the norm. Three of them are arrested these days with clearly fictitious claims.
At demonstrations, in addition to physical harassment the Israeli state forces add shooting of massive amounts of tear gas and shock grenades, and various kinds of "rubber bullets". https://israel.indymedia.org/usermedia/image/1/large/13_1.jpg
Wednesday morning people of the village went out to one of the midweek early morning protest activities with a special metal structure welded for this demonstration. Within it "fortified" themselves one Palestinian, four internationals, and two Israelis of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative.
Muhamad Hatib, from the organizers of the village people committee: "The joint fortification was intended to symbolize the fact that fences an walls will not succeed to prevent the joint activity for peace. We added the flags of the various Palestinian parties in order to call all the parties to stop the internal confrontations and to invest the energy in the struggle against the occupation and the fence".
The metal construction with was placed on the fence works route at 05:00 wit 7 activists in it. When the bulldozers arrived at 06:00 they were prevented from continuing the destruction of the lands of Bil'in. Only after an hour the forces of the border police succeeded to dismantle the construction, and using violence arrested all those fortifying in it with bogus claim of "assaulting policeman". The included pictures show clearly the nonviolent mode of the protest.
https://israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/3524/index.php Original of L.P. in Hebrew was enlarged a bit....
Addition: The Police blame the arrested with assault on policeman. They claim that while fortified in the metal structure, the demonstrators kicked the belies of the border police gendarmes who came to take them away. If you look at the pictures you will see how absurd is this claim - as the whole bodies of the 7 demonstrators is within the structure - fact that prevent them from kicking outside it even if they wanted. [So said the Judge the two Israelis were brought before him...]
The officer on duty at Givat Ze'ev police station wanted to release the four internationals on condition they will not return to the "scene of crime", the Israelis were brought before a judge, the decision about the treatment of the Palestinians was delayed... And the internationals refused to sign the releasing papers commitments of distancing them till the the release of the Palestinian activist.
The two Israelis:
"So, we were brought before a judge that after looking at the pictures gave a verdict of one month of ban from the route of the fence at Bil'in for participation in a forbidden assembly. As for the assault on policemen he wrote: "It can be seen clearly that it was the the border policemen that applied force against the defendants.... In the case before us there are substantial doubts as for the assault on policeman and interference in policeman activity...".
At the time of the report:
The Palestinian was transferred to the Ofer concentration camp for Palestinians. The four internationals got 15 days ban from visiting the route of the fence in Bil'in, but they still have not decided if to sign the commitment as they may stay put in solidarity with the Palestinian comrade.
In numbers:
6 at the morning, 7 arrested (4 internationals, 2 Israelis, 1 Palestinian), about 20 state hooligans with batons, lot of bruises (faces, backs, and other places), 12 hours of detention and 30 days ban from the location (for the Israelis)... and one occupation.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Egyptian Media: Beyond the wall - Something is astir in Bilin: mass Palestinian demonstrations based on non-violence and Israeli participation. 18 Jul
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established by Graham Usher Protesters in the West Bank village of Azoon near Qalqilya scuffle with Israeli soldiers during a demonstration, on 9 July, against the ongoing construction of Israel's apartheid wall. This week marked the one-year anniversary of the World Court's decision that the wall is illegal and should be dismantled Sheikh Taysir Al-Tammimi, one of the leading Islamic clerics in the West Bank, gently pulls away the barbed wire that has been laid before him. He then spreads out his prayer mat, facing Mecca. A hundred or so Palestinians cross the imaginary line that once demarcated the coiled border and kneel behind him. Fifty Israeli soldiers stand and look. As the prayer ends, two hundred people quietly applaud, some of them foreign activists from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), most of them Israeli Jews, from different parts of the Israeli peace camp. It is an act of non-violent protest of almost Gandhian simplicity. For the moment, it works. Israel's military phalanx, its iron wall, is rendered politically and morally mute.
We are in Bilin, a minuscule Palestinian village two and a half miles east of the Green Line. Before the demonstrators -- behind the Israeli soldiers -- is a scar of freshly razed white earth, the preliminary ruptures for the next section of the West Bank wall. Behind that is the vast, sprawling settlement metropolis of Modin Illit, which the wall "defends" by devouring 600 of Bilin's 1,000 acres of land.
Since February, Bilin's 1,600 residents have mounted 50 demonstrations against the wall. Two principles govern them. One is non- violence. One day they chain themselves to olive trees, demonstrating that the wall not only steals their land but their lifeblood. Another day they give out letters to the troops, explaining in Hebrew that the struggle is "not against Israel as a state but against Israel as an occupation".
This week they are commemorating the first anniversary of the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) ruling on the wall: that it and the settlements it "effectively annexes" are illegal under every tenet of international law and must be dismantled. A mock up "scales of injustice" has been erected on the back of a truck. On one weight, the lesser one, hangs the world; on the other, the heavier, hangs Israel. Uncle Sam holds the balance. It tells much of what you need to know about the dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The army has not responded in kind. Since the protests began over 100 Palestinians, Israelis and other have been injured from teargas, beatings, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition. Dozens have been arrested, including, in June, two of Bilin's brothers, Abdullah and Rateb Abu Rahme, allegedly for throwing stones. An Israeli military judge dismissed the charge after the army's own videotapes showed it to be spurious. The prayers too were eventually dispersed in an explosion of tear gas and rubber bullets, leaving 14 injured, four arrested and an ambulance struck by gunfire.
But the iron fist has not quelled the protests. On the contrary, they have grown -- which brings us to the second principle.
All of the demonstrations have been joint actions by Palestinians and Israelis, backed by the ISM. They march together, plan together, organise together and in some cases live together, with Israelis maintaining a vigil in the village to monitor the army's arrest raids, which usually come the night after the demonstrations.
Together with like demonstrations in the neighbouring villages of Budrus and Biddu, Bilin represents the most concerted joint Palestinian-Israeli protest since the Intifada began and consigned the two peoples to their ghettos:
ideological in the case of the Israelis, physical in the case of the Palestinians. This is as significant as the ICJ ruling and the non-violence, says Israeli peace activist, Adam Keller.
"In many ways the wall is a physical manifestation of what has happened to the two peoples ideologically. The demonstrations in Bilin and elsewhere challenge this segregation. By joining the struggle here Israelis are signalling they want to integrate, not only with the Palestinians, but with the region -- which is the ultimate precondition for peace," he says.
No one would argue (least of all Keller) that the Israelis who come to Bilin are representative of Israeli opinion. They are its radical fringes. But as a veteran of the protests of the Lebanese and the first Intifada he knows that what was once deemed heretical can become the heritage. "We know these demonstrations won't become mainstream today, but they can become the catalyst for the mainstream in the future," says Shaul Moghrabi-Bergen from Anarchists Against the Wall, the most active Israeli group in Bilin.
Is a similar catalyst being formed on the Palestinian side, beyond the confines of Bilin, Budrus and Biddu? The first row of worshippers behind Al-Tammimi comprised representatives from all the PLO factions, including (like Keller) veterans from the Lebanese war and first Intifada. But they were joined by delegations from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
This is new. For years the Islamists adjured non-violent protest in favour of the armed struggle. They also refused all joint activities with Israelis as an implicit recognition of the "Zionist enemy". Today they are marching alongside the Anarchists Against the Wall. "We are not against these demonstrations," says Hassan Youssef, Hamas's West Bank spokesman. "Hamas, like all the Palestinian people, is giving Israel a chance."
The chance is based on two considerations. The first is the only road from ICJ ruling to enforcement is through international public opinion, including, critically, Israeli opinion. It is only when the Israeli peace camp as a whole supports the Palestinian struggle on the bases of international law that it will shed its implicitly racist notions of demographic separation in favour of a genuinely anti-colonial sentiment. The second is that critical breach in Israeli opinion is more likely to be wrought through non-violent struggle than violent and uncoordinated resistance. "When we demonstrate non-violently the world at least is with us. When we resist violently, it isn't," says Bilin resident Samir Banar, beneath the skewed scales of injustice.
We are in Bilin, a minuscule Palestinian village two and a half miles east of the Green Line. Before the demonstrators -- behind the Israeli soldiers -- is a scar of freshly razed white earth, the preliminary ruptures for the next section of the West Bank wall. Behind that is the vast, sprawling settlement metropolis of Modin Illit, which the wall "defends" by devouring 600 of Bilin's 1,000 acres of land.
Since February, Bilin's 1,600 residents have mounted 50 demonstrations against the wall. Two principles govern them. One is non- violence. One day they chain themselves to olive trees, demonstrating that the wall not only steals their land but their lifeblood. Another day they give out letters to the troops, explaining in Hebrew that the struggle is "not against Israel as a state but against Israel as an occupation".
This week they are commemorating the first anniversary of the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) ruling on the wall: that it and the settlements it "effectively annexes" are illegal under every tenet of international law and must be dismantled. A mock up "scales of injustice" has been erected on the back of a truck. On one weight, the lesser one, hangs the world; on the other, the heavier, hangs Israel. Uncle Sam holds the balance. It tells much of what you need to know about the dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The army has not responded in kind. Since the protests began over 100 Palestinians, Israelis and other have been injured from teargas, beatings, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition. Dozens have been arrested, including, in June, two of Bilin's brothers, Abdullah and Rateb Abu Rahme, allegedly for throwing stones. An Israeli military judge dismissed the charge after the army's own videotapes showed it to be spurious. The prayers too were eventually dispersed in an explosion of tear gas and rubber bullets, leaving 14 injured, four arrested and an ambulance struck by gunfire.
But the iron fist has not quelled the protests. On the contrary, they have grown -- which brings us to the second principle.
All of the demonstrations have been joint actions by Palestinians and Israelis, backed by the ISM. They march together, plan together, organise together and in some cases live together, with Israelis maintaining a vigil in the village to monitor the army's arrest raids, which usually come the night after the demonstrations.
Together with like demonstrations in the neighbouring villages of Budrus and Biddu, Bilin represents the most concerted joint Palestinian-Israeli protest since the Intifada began and consigned the two peoples to their ghettos:
ideological in the case of the Israelis, physical in the case of the Palestinians. This is as significant as the ICJ ruling and the non-violence, says Israeli peace activist, Adam Keller.
"In many ways the wall is a physical manifestation of what has happened to the two peoples ideologically. The demonstrations in Bilin and elsewhere challenge this segregation. By joining the struggle here Israelis are signalling they want to integrate, not only with the Palestinians, but with the region -- which is the ultimate precondition for peace," he says.
No one would argue (least of all Keller) that the Israelis who come to Bilin are representative of Israeli opinion. They are its radical fringes. But as a veteran of the protests of the Lebanese and the first Intifada he knows that what was once deemed heretical can become the heritage. "We know these demonstrations won't become mainstream today, but they can become the catalyst for the mainstream in the future," says Shaul Moghrabi-Bergen from Anarchists Against the Wall, the most active Israeli group in Bilin.
Is a similar catalyst being formed on the Palestinian side, beyond the confines of Bilin, Budrus and Biddu? The first row of worshippers behind Al-Tammimi comprised representatives from all the PLO factions, including (like Keller) veterans from the Lebanese war and first Intifada. But they were joined by delegations from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
This is new. For years the Islamists adjured non-violent protest in favour of the armed struggle. They also refused all joint activities with Israelis as an implicit recognition of the "Zionist enemy". Today they are marching alongside the Anarchists Against the Wall. "We are not against these demonstrations," says Hassan Youssef, Hamas's West Bank spokesman. "Hamas, like all the Palestinian people, is giving Israel a chance."
The chance is based on two considerations. The first is the only road from ICJ ruling to enforcement is through international public opinion, including, critically, Israeli opinion. It is only when the Israeli peace camp as a whole supports the Palestinian struggle on the bases of international law that it will shed its implicitly racist notions of demographic separation in favour of a genuinely anti-colonial sentiment. The second is that critical breach in Israeli opinion is more likely to be wrought through non-violent struggle than violent and uncoordinated resistance. "When we demonstrate non-violently the world at least is with us. When we resist violently, it isn't," says Bilin resident Samir Banar, beneath the skewed scales of injustice.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Palestine-Israel-US, Ramalla-Tel_Aviv-New_York: Three Cities Against the Wall 16 Jul
TO OPEN NOVEMBER 9, 2005 - Art Exhibition in Three Cities - Showcase Work of PALESTINIAN, ISRAELI, AND AMERICAN ARTISTS OPPOSED TO ISRAEL'S SEPARATION WALL NEW YORK Artists from three separate but vitally interconnected communities will participate for the first time in a one-of-a-kind art show that opens Nov. 9, 2005, in Ramallah, Palestine; Tel Aviv, Israel; and New York City. Three Cities Against the Wall brings together 56 painters, sculptors, filmmakers, and graphic artists united in opposition to the “Separation Wall” that Israel is constructing in the Occupied Territories of Palestine.
Participating artists, many of them internationally recognized, have contributed a wide range of works that movingly convey the conditions imposed by the Wall and the emotions and visceral responses it provokes. Some participants, Palestinian and Israeli, live daily with the conditions imposed by the Wall. Others have traveled extensively in Israel and occupied Palestine, absorbing the reality of the Wall and its disastrous impact on hundreds of thousands of Palestinians' lives. Three Cities Against the Wall also represents a hopeful development for the future of the Palestinian and Israeli peoples. Each artist has contributed three works to the show, one to be displayed in each city. In the two years they have been planning the exhibition, the artists and activists involved have built networks and created relationships that will sustain a long-term cultural network that opposes Israel's oppression of the Palestinian people.
In New York, Three Cities Against the Wall is organized through ABC No Rio, a community center for the arts on the Lower East Side, by a committee of artists and activists. In Ramallah, Tayseer Barakat, founder of the League of Palestinian Artists and curator of the Gallery Barakat, and Suliman Mansour, director of the Wasiti Art Center in Jerusalem, are organizing the exhibition. And in Tel Aviv, the project is organized by a group of artists and activists associated with the Israeli Coalition Against the Wall, Ta'ayush, and Anarchists Against the Wall.
Three Cities Against the Wall will run for one month in all three locations. For more information, visit the Three Cities Web site at http://www.abcnorio.org/againstthewall/.
QUICK FACTS... Who is participating? Fifty-six Palestinian, Israeli, and North American artists, united in their opposition to Israel's “Separation Wall.” Internationally known artists who will be participating in the show include, from the U.S., painters Nancy Spero and the late Leon Golub and cartoonist Seth Tobocman; from Palestine, the painter-sculptors Tayseer Barakat and Suliman Mansour; and from Israel, video artist Galit Eilat, director of the Israeli Center for Digital Art, and the late cartoonist Dudu Geva. Each artist will be represented by work in all three locations. Why and how did Three Cities Against the Wall come about?
Two years of contacts and networking between artists and activists in all three cities created this show. Its purpose is fourfold: To united our voices in demonstrating our opposition to the Separation Wall; to better inform people about the true nature of the catastrophic situation created by the Wall; to demonstrate that within the Israeli and American publics there is opposition to the Wall; and to lay the foundation for a community of artists across borders.
When? Three Cities Against the Wall will open in Ramallah, Tel Aviv, and New York on Thursday, November 9, 2005, and run for one month in all three locations.
Where? In Ramallah, at Gallery Barakat; in Tel Aviv, at a location to be announced shortly; and in New York, at the art center ABC No Rio.
What kind of works will be featured?
Works will include paintings, carvings and sculpture, film, video installations, graphic works on paper, and photography. Will a catalog be available?
A full-color catalog, produced collaboratively by artists and designers in all three cities, will be available upon the opening of Three Cities Against the Wall. It will include essays by well-known Palestinian, Israeli, and American writers about the origins of the show, about the Wall and its impact, and about the role of the U.S. in creating and sustaining the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
How can I get involved or contribute to Three Cities Against the Wall? If you are located in the U.S., contact Steven Englander at ABC No Rio, (212) 254-3697.
OUR VISION: A WORLD WITHOUT BORDERS
In the process of creating Three Cities Against the Wall, the organizers and participating artists are building networks and creating relationships between their respective communities to oppose both Israel's oppression of the Palestinian people and the Wall as a symbol of that oppression.
Yet while American, Palestinian, and Israeli artists are showing their work together in this exhibition, we understand that the relationship amongst them is not one of equality. The relationship between Palestinians and Israelis has been compared to that between prisoners and guards, with U.S. cittizens as the patrons of this prison. Americans finance Israel through their tax dollars; some also finance Israel through contributions to Zionist organizations. The Wall is horrifying because it casts these relationships in concrete, making Palestinian imprisonment more thorough and more permanent.
Ironically, there is also an opportunity created by the Wall: this physical barrier makes the oppression of Palestinians more visible. Artists can use the Wall as a metaphor to educate the public. We are working together because we understand that, by uniting our voices, we are more likely to be heard and will therefore be better able to inform the public of the true nature of this catastrophic situation. We also want to demonstrate that within the Israeli and the American public there is opposition to the Wall.
We are laying the foundation for building a community of artists across borders, and will demonstrate, through combined effort, our opposition to injustice and oppression on moral and ethical grounds, and because injustice and oppression engender a separation between peoples, preventing normal human communication between them.
We believe that the world of the future is a world without borders. We support the right of a Turk to work in Germany, of a Haitian to seek refuge in the United States, of a Croat to live peacefully in Serbia. Thus we also support the right of a Palestinian, a Jew, or anyone else to live in the city of their choice, to enjoy all the privileges of citizenship there, and to travel freely to and from their chosen place of residence. This is not a radical demand but a natural human expectation. The attempts of 20th century governments to control demographics through genocide, forced transfer and other coercive means have been a disaster and such policies must be discarded. It is tragic that at a time when governments in Europe are discussing the possibility of open borders, Israel is building a border of cement and steel. We oppose the Wall because it is a wall against the future.
Information and Resources About the Wall:
Direct Action Palestine
DAP is a New York-based group that works in solidarity with Palestinian non-violent resistance to end the Israeli occupation. We mobilize, train, support and fund activists to travel to Israel/Palestine and to bring their stories home. http://www.dapnyc.org/
International Solidarity Movement
International Solidarity Movement, (ISM), a Palestinian-led movement of Palestinian and International activists working to raise awareness of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to Israeli occupation. ISM utilizes nonviolent, direct-action methods of resistance to confront and challenge the Israeli occupation.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/
International Women's Peace Service
IWPS Palestine is an international team of 16 women based in Hares, a village in the Salfit Governorate of Occupied Palestine's West Bank. IWPS joins Palestinians in acts of non-violent direct action to oppose human rights abuses and the confiscation and destruction of land and property of Palestinian people.
http://www.womenspeacepalestine.org/wall_campaign.htm
Jews Against the Occupation
JATO is an organization of progressive, secular and religious Jews of all ages throughout the New York City area advocating peace through justice for Palestine and Israel.
http://www.jatonyc.org/
Middle East Children's Alliance
MECA is a non-governmental organization, working for peace and justice in the Middle East; focusing on Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Iraq. Its programs emphasize the need to educate North Americans about the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy, and to support projects that aid and empower communities.
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/
The Palestine Children's Welfare Fund
PCWF was established by individuals whose goals are to improve the living standards of the children of Palestine in the refugee camps inside Palestine. The group aims to provide the children of the refugee camps with better educational opportunities, health facilities and a bright future without violence, hatred and discrimination.
http://www.pcwf.org/index.html
Al-Awda - The Palestine Right to Return Coalition Fact sheets on the Wall
http://www.al-awda.org/apartheidwall/ Electronic Intifada: News and views on the Wall http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/apartheidwall.shtml Gush Shalom - The Israeli Peace Bloc Maps and other materials on the "Separation Wall"
http://www.gush-shalom.org/thewall/index.html Indymedia Israel
https://israel.indymedia.org/
Palestine News Network
http://www.palestinenet.org/english/ The Palestinian Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PENGON)
http://www.pengon.org/wall/wall.html
Stop the Wall: The Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
http://www.stopthewall.org/
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs http://www.wrmea.com
Participating artists, many of them internationally recognized, have contributed a wide range of works that movingly convey the conditions imposed by the Wall and the emotions and visceral responses it provokes. Some participants, Palestinian and Israeli, live daily with the conditions imposed by the Wall. Others have traveled extensively in Israel and occupied Palestine, absorbing the reality of the Wall and its disastrous impact on hundreds of thousands of Palestinians' lives. Three Cities Against the Wall also represents a hopeful development for the future of the Palestinian and Israeli peoples. Each artist has contributed three works to the show, one to be displayed in each city. In the two years they have been planning the exhibition, the artists and activists involved have built networks and created relationships that will sustain a long-term cultural network that opposes Israel's oppression of the Palestinian people.
In New York, Three Cities Against the Wall is organized through ABC No Rio, a community center for the arts on the Lower East Side, by a committee of artists and activists. In Ramallah, Tayseer Barakat, founder of the League of Palestinian Artists and curator of the Gallery Barakat, and Suliman Mansour, director of the Wasiti Art Center in Jerusalem, are organizing the exhibition. And in Tel Aviv, the project is organized by a group of artists and activists associated with the Israeli Coalition Against the Wall, Ta'ayush, and Anarchists Against the Wall.
Three Cities Against the Wall will run for one month in all three locations. For more information, visit the Three Cities Web site at http://www.abcnorio.org/againstthewall/.
QUICK FACTS... Who is participating? Fifty-six Palestinian, Israeli, and North American artists, united in their opposition to Israel's “Separation Wall.” Internationally known artists who will be participating in the show include, from the U.S., painters Nancy Spero and the late Leon Golub and cartoonist Seth Tobocman; from Palestine, the painter-sculptors Tayseer Barakat and Suliman Mansour; and from Israel, video artist Galit Eilat, director of the Israeli Center for Digital Art, and the late cartoonist Dudu Geva. Each artist will be represented by work in all three locations. Why and how did Three Cities Against the Wall come about?
Two years of contacts and networking between artists and activists in all three cities created this show. Its purpose is fourfold: To united our voices in demonstrating our opposition to the Separation Wall; to better inform people about the true nature of the catastrophic situation created by the Wall; to demonstrate that within the Israeli and American publics there is opposition to the Wall; and to lay the foundation for a community of artists across borders.
When? Three Cities Against the Wall will open in Ramallah, Tel Aviv, and New York on Thursday, November 9, 2005, and run for one month in all three locations.
Where? In Ramallah, at Gallery Barakat; in Tel Aviv, at a location to be announced shortly; and in New York, at the art center ABC No Rio.
What kind of works will be featured?
Works will include paintings, carvings and sculpture, film, video installations, graphic works on paper, and photography. Will a catalog be available?
A full-color catalog, produced collaboratively by artists and designers in all three cities, will be available upon the opening of Three Cities Against the Wall. It will include essays by well-known Palestinian, Israeli, and American writers about the origins of the show, about the Wall and its impact, and about the role of the U.S. in creating and sustaining the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
How can I get involved or contribute to Three Cities Against the Wall? If you are located in the U.S., contact Steven Englander at ABC No Rio, (212) 254-3697.
OUR VISION: A WORLD WITHOUT BORDERS
In the process of creating Three Cities Against the Wall, the organizers and participating artists are building networks and creating relationships between their respective communities to oppose both Israel's oppression of the Palestinian people and the Wall as a symbol of that oppression.
Yet while American, Palestinian, and Israeli artists are showing their work together in this exhibition, we understand that the relationship amongst them is not one of equality. The relationship between Palestinians and Israelis has been compared to that between prisoners and guards, with U.S. cittizens as the patrons of this prison. Americans finance Israel through their tax dollars; some also finance Israel through contributions to Zionist organizations. The Wall is horrifying because it casts these relationships in concrete, making Palestinian imprisonment more thorough and more permanent.
Ironically, there is also an opportunity created by the Wall: this physical barrier makes the oppression of Palestinians more visible. Artists can use the Wall as a metaphor to educate the public. We are working together because we understand that, by uniting our voices, we are more likely to be heard and will therefore be better able to inform the public of the true nature of this catastrophic situation. We also want to demonstrate that within the Israeli and the American public there is opposition to the Wall.
We are laying the foundation for building a community of artists across borders, and will demonstrate, through combined effort, our opposition to injustice and oppression on moral and ethical grounds, and because injustice and oppression engender a separation between peoples, preventing normal human communication between them.
We believe that the world of the future is a world without borders. We support the right of a Turk to work in Germany, of a Haitian to seek refuge in the United States, of a Croat to live peacefully in Serbia. Thus we also support the right of a Palestinian, a Jew, or anyone else to live in the city of their choice, to enjoy all the privileges of citizenship there, and to travel freely to and from their chosen place of residence. This is not a radical demand but a natural human expectation. The attempts of 20th century governments to control demographics through genocide, forced transfer and other coercive means have been a disaster and such policies must be discarded. It is tragic that at a time when governments in Europe are discussing the possibility of open borders, Israel is building a border of cement and steel. We oppose the Wall because it is a wall against the future.
Information and Resources About the Wall:
Direct Action Palestine
DAP is a New York-based group that works in solidarity with Palestinian non-violent resistance to end the Israeli occupation. We mobilize, train, support and fund activists to travel to Israel/Palestine and to bring their stories home. http://www.dapnyc.org/
International Solidarity Movement
International Solidarity Movement, (ISM), a Palestinian-led movement of Palestinian and International activists working to raise awareness of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to Israeli occupation. ISM utilizes nonviolent, direct-action methods of resistance to confront and challenge the Israeli occupation.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/
International Women's Peace Service
IWPS Palestine is an international team of 16 women based in Hares, a village in the Salfit Governorate of Occupied Palestine's West Bank. IWPS joins Palestinians in acts of non-violent direct action to oppose human rights abuses and the confiscation and destruction of land and property of Palestinian people.
http://www.womenspeacepalestine.org/wall_campaign.htm
Jews Against the Occupation
JATO is an organization of progressive, secular and religious Jews of all ages throughout the New York City area advocating peace through justice for Palestine and Israel.
http://www.jatonyc.org/
Middle East Children's Alliance
MECA is a non-governmental organization, working for peace and justice in the Middle East; focusing on Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Iraq. Its programs emphasize the need to educate North Americans about the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy, and to support projects that aid and empower communities.
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/
The Palestine Children's Welfare Fund
PCWF was established by individuals whose goals are to improve the living standards of the children of Palestine in the refugee camps inside Palestine. The group aims to provide the children of the refugee camps with better educational opportunities, health facilities and a bright future without violence, hatred and discrimination.
http://www.pcwf.org/index.html
Al-Awda - The Palestine Right to Return Coalition Fact sheets on the Wall
http://www.al-awda.org/apartheidwall/ Electronic Intifada: News and views on the Wall http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/apartheidwall.shtml Gush Shalom - The Israeli Peace Bloc Maps and other materials on the "Separation Wall"
http://www.gush-shalom.org/thewall/index.html Indymedia Israel
https://israel.indymedia.org/
Palestine News Network
http://www.palestinenet.org/english/ The Palestinian Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PENGON)
http://www.pengon.org/wall/wall.html
Stop the Wall: The Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
http://www.stopthewall.org/
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs http://www.wrmea.com
Friday, July 15, 2005
Palestine-Israel, Another joint demonstration in Bil'in - two waves 15 Jul
It started as usual Friday demonstration. About 150 people: Palestinians, 40 of Israelis (Against The Wall initiative and others from the coalition against the wall), and 30 internationals. We started with a 10 people within a structure symbolizing bridge, behind them few rows of people locking hands. We went on the road leading to the fence with slogans. When we reached the last houses of the village the barbed wire blocking the road and the state forces were waiting for us. First thing they declared the demonstration illegal... Than they added that was closed military zone for Israelis... And there was a stand steal for a while.
We declared it is nonviolent demo and no reason for them to attack. And they replied that as long as we do not make violation the let us stay there.
After a while we moved to the side of the road and advanced one meter beyond their red line, and still there was just physical blocking us. When we moved a gain one meter more they assaulted us physically and both destroyed our nice bridge and arrested a Palestinian activist who was in the structure. Two Israeli females and a Palestinian who tried to prevent the arrest were arrested too... And as 15 of us insisted not to go away - demanding the release of the 4 arrested they took by force the additional 15 of us - Israelis and internationals.
After dispersing the demonstration, as the youngsters still did not start to throw stones, a force of soldiers was sent to intrude the village to provoke them so they will define the demo as violent.
And the youngsters convinced not to start throwing stones till the demonstration was dispersed responded in kind...
While the soldiers confronting the youngsters, the police persons took us by cars to a location on the other side of the route of the fence, under the shade of an olive tree for a field procession - taking our pictures and identity details. All that time we told the police persons and the reserve soldiers who guarded us what we think on their activity.
After about two hours they released 15 of us and took the 4 arrested - two Palestinian and two Israelis to the near by police station. As the 15 of us were highly outnumbered our try to block the car failed.
So the state forces went away and we marched back to were about 50 demonstrators were waiting us and regrouped.
As the soldiers confronting the youngsters were not retreating fast enough, we started to march back to the route of the fence building... but all state forces gone - even the soldiers confronting the youngsters.
It was so ridiculous that even when a military car patrolled the deserted route was barraged by stones - they just passed twice on the route and gone....
So all of us just returned to the village and the people from out of the village went away.
It seems that only one or two of us were seriously suffered from the rough treatment of the state forces.
At the police station, the 4 arrested were accused for obstruction policeman and resisting arrest and the two palestinian even blamed for violence.. In spite of witnesses and video documentary showing the truth, based on a fabricated testimony the two Palestinians were taken to military jail to appear before a judge after the weekend, and the two Israelis released on bail and two weeks ban from returning to the region.
We declared it is nonviolent demo and no reason for them to attack. And they replied that as long as we do not make violation the let us stay there.
After a while we moved to the side of the road and advanced one meter beyond their red line, and still there was just physical blocking us. When we moved a gain one meter more they assaulted us physically and both destroyed our nice bridge and arrested a Palestinian activist who was in the structure. Two Israeli females and a Palestinian who tried to prevent the arrest were arrested too... And as 15 of us insisted not to go away - demanding the release of the 4 arrested they took by force the additional 15 of us - Israelis and internationals.
After dispersing the demonstration, as the youngsters still did not start to throw stones, a force of soldiers was sent to intrude the village to provoke them so they will define the demo as violent.
And the youngsters convinced not to start throwing stones till the demonstration was dispersed responded in kind...
While the soldiers confronting the youngsters, the police persons took us by cars to a location on the other side of the route of the fence, under the shade of an olive tree for a field procession - taking our pictures and identity details. All that time we told the police persons and the reserve soldiers who guarded us what we think on their activity.
After about two hours they released 15 of us and took the 4 arrested - two Palestinian and two Israelis to the near by police station. As the 15 of us were highly outnumbered our try to block the car failed.
So the state forces went away and we marched back to were about 50 demonstrators were waiting us and regrouped.
As the soldiers confronting the youngsters were not retreating fast enough, we started to march back to the route of the fence building... but all state forces gone - even the soldiers confronting the youngsters.
It was so ridiculous that even when a military car patrolled the deserted route was barraged by stones - they just passed twice on the route and gone....
So all of us just returned to the village and the people from out of the village went away.
It seems that only one or two of us were seriously suffered from the rough treatment of the state forces.
At the police station, the 4 arrested were accused for obstruction policeman and resisting arrest and the two palestinian even blamed for violence.. In spite of witnesses and video documentary showing the truth, based on a fabricated testimony the two Palestinians were taken to military jail to appear before a judge after the weekend, and the two Israelis released on bail and two weeks ban from returning to the region.
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