Settlers aren't the only ones building outposts in the West Bank: Palestinians from the village of Bil'in, near Ramallah, on Wednesday set up a caravan on land isolated from the village by the separation fence. Israel Defense Forces troops are gearing up to evacuate the caravan, military sources say. Dozens of Bil'in residents, accompanied by Israeli* and international activists, set out Wednesday morning to place the caravan on land adjacent to the settlement of Upper Modi'in.
Mohammed Khateb, a member of Bil'in's Popular Committee Against the Wall, said that the container was placed on land belonging to a village resident and comes with a building permit from Bil'in village council.
The fence cuts village residents from approximately half of their lands.
Khateb also said that the committee intends to establish a "center for the joint struggle for peace," where the caravan stands.
Bil'in has become the symbol of the struggle against the separation fence, serving as the site of dozens of joint Palestinian-Israeli demonstrations in the past year. Some of the demonstrations have ended in violent altercations with security forces.
Dealing with the caravan is liable to be an embarrassment for the IDF and the Civil Administration. The container is adjacent to the Matityahu East neighborhood of Upper Modi'in, where hundreds of illegal housing units have recently been constructed.
Akiva Eldar of Haaretz recently exposed the Civil Administration's admission that 750 housing units had been built illegally with no permits whatsoever. The caravan, which arrived Wednesday from inside Israel, is standing approximately 100 meters away from the Matityahu East construction site.
According to the law, the Civil Administration can take down the container within a month of its placement with no need for legal proceedings. But the IDF is well aware that if this is done, the Palestinians will formally accuse the Civil Administration of discrimination in hurrying to dismantle a lone Palestinian caravan while ignoring hundreds of illegal units in an adjacent Jewish neighborhood.
"Private Palestinian land is in question here, not state land. The village council approved setting up a caravan and thus this is a legal structure," said attorney Michael Sfard, who represents the village residents.
"This will be blatant proof of the fact that there is selective law enforcement if they deal with the poor caravan before the hundreds of housing units built illegally in Upper Modi'in," he added.
Sfard submitted a letter in the name of Peace Now to the Civil Administration demanding a halt to the construction within a week. At the end of this time, Sepharad writes in the letter, he will turn to the Supreme Court.
Civil Administration sources said that the construction in Upper Modi'in is indeed illegal and "the head of the Administration is examining its options to address the situation."
As for the caravan, military sources say the army has no intention of violently struggling with the residents, but say that the container will be taken down.
The same sources say that they are aware that as soon as the caravan is dismantled, they will need to explain to the court why they are rushing to act against illegal Palestinian construction while taking their time in dealing with unlawful building by settlers.
============================
* The caravan placement is part of the intensified activity of the joint struggle of the Bil'in's Popular Committee Against the Wall and the Israeli Anarchists Against The Wall against the separation fence in the region, against the building of settler colonialist out posts and against occupation. The activity is intensified as preparation for the Israeli highest court verdict on Bil'in chalenge of the route of the separation fence due at the 1st of February.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle in Bi'in continue. 21-12-05
The joint struggle of the Bil'in village commity against the separation fence and the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative continue... and escalate towards the Israeli highest court of "justice" that supposed to give a verdict at February 1st, 2006. Today at 8 am in the morning the center of bil'in to joint struggle for peace was established in a caravan that is now on the lands of bil'in, in the middle of the illegal contraction of the settlement modiin elit. At the center, at the moment are people from the village, israeli activists and international activists who plan to stay in the place for a long term. The police and the army are now checking the legal status of the issue. If staying will be relevant we will be happy for people that will volunteer to stay in the center. If you can come please contact mijal, or elad.
Anyway, during the first hours we want to be sure that the caravan won't be removed, for that we ask you to come only with previous coordination
See u soon,
Last information: the forces left the area.
Electronic media (walla.co.il, nrg.co.il, and ynet.co.il) reported on the struggle.
It reported that the caravan was placed adjacent to the illegal construction area of the settler city Modi'in Elit (on the lands of Bil'in - the separation fence help to rob).
It add that the activists showed the state force a permit for the caravan issued by the Bil'in municipality the area is still formally under its jurisdiction....
The Israeli state forces demanded the evacuation of the caravan... but went away after they were sown the permit and heard the demand to stop of the illegal building on Bil'in lands as was promised by the "Israeli occupation civilian authority" a week ago.
It quoted Abdallah Abu-Rahma of the village popular committee: This is Palestinian land, and in this caravan we will place in the future a Palestinian family".
As link to this on-line report, it put the following information:
"A soldier of the border police had falsely accused a Palestinian to justify shooting"
It is related to a post from months ago in which a soldier shoot Palestinian participant in the joint Friday demos, with a rubber bullet claiming as a justification the said person threw stones....
As many of the Israeli activists video the demonstration, they supplied clips that contradict the soldier.
The Palestinian comrade was acquitted, and the "policemen investigation section" claimed the soldier will be taken to court....
Anyway, during the first hours we want to be sure that the caravan won't be removed, for that we ask you to come only with previous coordination
See u soon,
Last information: the forces left the area.
Electronic media (walla.co.il, nrg.co.il, and ynet.co.il) reported on the struggle.
It reported that the caravan was placed adjacent to the illegal construction area of the settler city Modi'in Elit (on the lands of Bil'in - the separation fence help to rob).
It add that the activists showed the state force a permit for the caravan issued by the Bil'in municipality the area is still formally under its jurisdiction....
The Israeli state forces demanded the evacuation of the caravan... but went away after they were sown the permit and heard the demand to stop of the illegal building on Bil'in lands as was promised by the "Israeli occupation civilian authority" a week ago.
It quoted Abdallah Abu-Rahma of the village popular committee: This is Palestinian land, and in this caravan we will place in the future a Palestinian family".
As link to this on-line report, it put the following information:
"A soldier of the border police had falsely accused a Palestinian to justify shooting"
It is related to a post from months ago in which a soldier shoot Palestinian participant in the joint Friday demos, with a rubber bullet claiming as a justification the said person threw stones....
As many of the Israeli activists video the demonstration, they supplied clips that contradict the soldier.
The Palestinian comrade was acquitted, and the "policemen investigation section" claimed the soldier will be taken to court....
Friday, December 16, 2005
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in, 16-12-05, Joint struggle against the robbery of lands using the separation fence
The armed forces of the state of Israel tried on Thursday evening to prevent the meeting of the Anarchists Against The Wall activists with the village activists of the comity for nonviolent struggle against the separation fence... but in vain. All that they achieved was to cause some of us to use round about roads, and to detain two young teenagers for 3 hours and causing them to arrive only the next day. In the meeting - like others we do from time to time, we discussed the joint struggle against the separation fence in Bil'in which serves as means to rob lands for the building of the settler town of Modi'in Elit, as part of the general struggle against the separation fence and occupation. The back ground to this meeting was the entrance of the struggle in Bil'in to the main media channels - including the mentioning the fact that the route of the fence was chosen, in order to enable large expansion of the settler town and enrich the construction companies. In addition, there is a hearing of the case of Bil'in in the Israeli supreme court in six weeks time....
Next day, the theme of the Friday demo was the robbery of the lands of Bil'in people for the enlargement of the settlement town Modi'in Elit. We prepared few scores of signs - each in the three "official" languages of the Friday demos - Arabic, Hebrew and English. On each sign was written: "This land belongs to: .
At noon, we started the usual march from the center of the village on the road leading to the separation fence and the olive orchards located behind it. We were about 150 people - mainly Bil'in citizens, but also Palestinians from neighboring villages and from the Bir-Zeit university, about 20 international activists, and of course activists of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative and other Israelis.
Many of the participant carried signs in with their names were printed or names of one of their family members. And as usual, along the road we chanted and sang.. with sporadic dancing too. When we neared the route of the fence in construction, we turned from the road to a near by section of the route, through the olive orchards. The unprepared state forces tried in vain to block our way to the route and prevent us from crossing it to the near by robbed olive orchard. However, they succeeded to block our way to the other olive orchards, and we could not put there the rest of the signs.
The frustrated state forces could not shower on us tear gas canisters as they did the previous week in their failed efforts to block us from approaching the fence route due to very bad media exposure of that during the week. They refrained from mass arrest of Israelis as they not long ago, for entering a closed military zone, as that was criticized in both media and courts they brought us too. They were not in the position of arresting Bil'in villagers too, as similar cases in the last times brought criticism even in the military courts they brought them to...
They could not even justify any shooting of gas and shock grenades or rubber bullets as the village youth refrained this week from stone throwing... So they just try to frighten us by threats of arrests or by weaving their batons... they just had to use rough pushing with their hands or with the batons.
Due to their rough pushing, few of us were injured and treated by the medics of the ambulance and two were taken to the hospital to the near by Ramallah hospital for treatment.
During the demonstration the armed forces tried to arrest various demonstrators. Few of them we succeeded to unarrest. Two Palestinians they succeeded to arrest, but had to release during the demonstration as they had nothing to blame them that would stick. Three of the Israelis were taken to a near by police station to be released at late evening on sighing a bail and commitment of two weeks out of Bil'in demos.
After the demo, we held a meeting with the village comity for summing the action to the first time participants.
Next day, the theme of the Friday demo was the robbery of the lands of Bil'in people for the enlargement of the settlement town Modi'in Elit. We prepared few scores of signs - each in the three "official" languages of the Friday demos - Arabic, Hebrew and English. On each sign was written: "This land belongs to: .
At noon, we started the usual march from the center of the village on the road leading to the separation fence and the olive orchards located behind it. We were about 150 people - mainly Bil'in citizens, but also Palestinians from neighboring villages and from the Bir-Zeit university, about 20 international activists, and of course activists of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative and other Israelis.
Many of the participant carried signs in with their names were printed or names of one of their family members. And as usual, along the road we chanted and sang.. with sporadic dancing too. When we neared the route of the fence in construction, we turned from the road to a near by section of the route, through the olive orchards. The unprepared state forces tried in vain to block our way to the route and prevent us from crossing it to the near by robbed olive orchard. However, they succeeded to block our way to the other olive orchards, and we could not put there the rest of the signs.
The frustrated state forces could not shower on us tear gas canisters as they did the previous week in their failed efforts to block us from approaching the fence route due to very bad media exposure of that during the week. They refrained from mass arrest of Israelis as they not long ago, for entering a closed military zone, as that was criticized in both media and courts they brought us too. They were not in the position of arresting Bil'in villagers too, as similar cases in the last times brought criticism even in the military courts they brought them to...
They could not even justify any shooting of gas and shock grenades or rubber bullets as the village youth refrained this week from stone throwing... So they just try to frighten us by threats of arrests or by weaving their batons... they just had to use rough pushing with their hands or with the batons.
Due to their rough pushing, few of us were injured and treated by the medics of the ambulance and two were taken to the hospital to the near by Ramallah hospital for treatment.
During the demonstration the armed forces tried to arrest various demonstrators. Few of them we succeeded to unarrest. Two Palestinians they succeeded to arrest, but had to release during the demonstration as they had nothing to blame them that would stick. Three of the Israelis were taken to a near by police station to be released at late evening on sighing a bail and commitment of two weeks out of Bil'in demos.
After the demo, we held a meeting with the village comity for summing the action to the first time participants.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Palestine-Israel, Media: State turns blind eye to illegal construction at ultra-Orthodox West Bank settlement on Bil'in lands 14 Dec
Because of international and internal conciderations, Israel state colonial settler projects are often done "unofficially" and often in an "illagal means" - by state officials of all levels. Most of these steps are usually out of the focus of the media or out of the media at all. The case of Bil'in is different. It is so because the joint struggle of the local comity for nonviolent struggle against the fence with the Israeli activists of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative. The insistance on at least a joint Friday demonstration against the fence in Bil'in every week, with lot of creativity and publicity work did a difference. Just do a google search on Bil'in - and you will get "about 252,000 English pages for Bil'in" and a google search on "Bil'in or Bilin" + "Anarchists Against The Wall" will show about 46,300 English pages for "Anarchists Against The Wall" -Bil'in -Bilin.
I.S.
State turns blind eye to illegal construction at ultra-Orthodox West Bank settlement By Akiva Eldar
In the past year, the Palestinian village of Bil'in has gained worldwide publicity due to the resolute protest mounted by village residents and Israeli and international peace activists against the separation fence, which is tearing the village away from its lands.
Every Friday, Border Policemen face off against the demonstrators. The policemen violently disperse the gathering. But the demonstrators and policemen do not know that a few meters away, on the western side of the fence route in a new section of the settlement of Upper Modi'in, building violations on a colossal scale are being committed in broad daylight. This description is not an excerpt from a Peace Now press release. Rather, it is a verbatim quote from a letter by attorney Gilad Rogel, the legal counselor of the Upper Modi'in Local Council, in reference to the new neighborhood called Matityahu East.
This quote comes from an exchange of letters that tells the story of the largest settlement outpost established in recent years in the territories. The letters expose an affair of "hast thou stolen and also inherited" that is being played out in the shadow of the fence, behind the smokescreen of the security of Israeli citizens and under the nose of enforcement authorities. Even the severe report on settlement outposts drafted by attorney Talia Sasson contains nothing that could compare with a case in which the state constructs a fence along a route that is intended to annex an entire settlement built without permits. If that were not enough, the settlement/neighborhood is located in disregard of an explicit commitment by Israel to the United States to avoid construction outside the jurisdiction of existing settlements.
This time, representatives of the legal authorities themselves revealed their nakedness, on official stationary. However, they did not take into account that the damning evidence would find its way to the neighbors in Bil'in. The State Prosecutor's Office was certainly surprised to find the Upper Modi'in legal counselor's document appended to a letter that it received last week from attorney Michael Sfard, the Bil'in residents' attorney. Sfard began the letter he sent to attorney Aner Helman, who is representing the state in the Bil'in case (High Court of Justice 8614/05) with a quote from the state's response to the Bil'in residents' petition: "Based on developers' reports, which the Civil Administration are incapable of verifying (the words `which the Civil Administration are incapable of verifying' are boldfaced), in the western tract of Plan 210/8, which has already been developed, there are about 750 housing units, of which some 520 have been sold." Further down, it is stated that since the construction is being carried out in accordance with an invalid plan, "this is partly unlawful construction." Straight and straightforward.
One has to read it a few times to believe it. A representative of the attorney general, the supreme law enforcement authority in Israel, is informing the Supreme Court that the Civil Administration, the body that is by law responsible for the construction of every porch in the territories, "cannot verify" the construction of 750 housing units, of which about 520 have already been sold. "Do I understand from what you say that the State of Israel officially admits that it has lost not only its ability to enforce the law on the settlers," asks Sfard, but also "the ability to reach the construction sites and gather data?" If the prosecution were to ask this of the policemen who are sent each Friday to the site, they would have no problem verifying that the construction is continuing apace. They could even disclose that the developers have uprooted hundreds of olive trees in an area that was not even supposed to be part of the neighborhood/settlement outpost.
In the same letter about the violation on a colossal scale, which began in March of this year, relating to a building site of the Green Park construction firm, Upper Modi'in legal counselor Rogel wrote to the local council's engineer, Aryeh Pe'er, that he was astonished to learn that additional developers were also building "entire buildings without a permit, and all of this with your full knowledge and with planning and legal lawlessness with which I do not have the words to describe." Rogel announced that since he cannot contend alone with "lawlessness in such dimensions," he had decided to transfer the handling of this "sore evil" to the highest levels.
Pe'er does not deny the facts. He confirms that the construction is not lawful, and puts the blame on "the bureaucracy." He contends that Rogel took part in meetings of the planning committee that issued a warning to the construction firm, and that now he is pretending that he didn't know a thing about it.
The local council's comptroller, Shmuel Heisler, was expecting this response from the engineer. In a letter that he sent to members of the local council, Heisler wrote that it could be assumed that Pe'er would suggest to the legal counselor and to the council head Yaakov Guterman that they "wipe the cobwebs from their eyes" - for after all, everyone was a partner throughout the entire period of construction in the settlement. "On December 31, 2004, I wrote a detailed report in which I reiterated my comments about how the council's planning committee was being run, about the unlawful construction and the granting of construction permits by the head of the council and the council's engineer in violation of the law," writes Heisler.
In a report on the operation of the council, drafted earlier this year at the request of the management of the Interior Ministry's municipal division, Heisler wrote, "Most serious of all the projects approved by the authorization authority [the head of the council and the engineer of the council] was the Matityahu East project, in contravention of the approved Taba urban construction plan. The deviations are significant." Heisler quotes from a letter by the head of the Planning Authority in the Judea and Samaria Civil Administration, who supported his comments. He relates that in the wake of the report, the head of the council halted the activity of the council's oversight committee.
In response, the Justice Ministry stated: "In the case of the handling of the petition on fence construction in the area, the State Prosecutor's Office learned that unlawful construction had evidently been carried out in the settlement of Upper Modi'in. The Civil Administration, through the office of the Judea and Samaria district attorney general, was asked by the prosecutor handling the case to render his opinion of the matter. This opinion has not yet been received by the prosecution, and the Justice Ministry will continue to track developments. Since the information has not yet been submitted to the Justice Ministry, it is obvious that the information has not been brought to the attention of the attorney general, either. In any event, the attorney general has not yet taken up the matter."
I.S.
State turns blind eye to illegal construction at ultra-Orthodox West Bank settlement By Akiva Eldar
In the past year, the Palestinian village of Bil'in has gained worldwide publicity due to the resolute protest mounted by village residents and Israeli and international peace activists against the separation fence, which is tearing the village away from its lands.
Every Friday, Border Policemen face off against the demonstrators. The policemen violently disperse the gathering. But the demonstrators and policemen do not know that a few meters away, on the western side of the fence route in a new section of the settlement of Upper Modi'in, building violations on a colossal scale are being committed in broad daylight. This description is not an excerpt from a Peace Now press release. Rather, it is a verbatim quote from a letter by attorney Gilad Rogel, the legal counselor of the Upper Modi'in Local Council, in reference to the new neighborhood called Matityahu East.
This quote comes from an exchange of letters that tells the story of the largest settlement outpost established in recent years in the territories. The letters expose an affair of "hast thou stolen and also inherited" that is being played out in the shadow of the fence, behind the smokescreen of the security of Israeli citizens and under the nose of enforcement authorities. Even the severe report on settlement outposts drafted by attorney Talia Sasson contains nothing that could compare with a case in which the state constructs a fence along a route that is intended to annex an entire settlement built without permits. If that were not enough, the settlement/neighborhood is located in disregard of an explicit commitment by Israel to the United States to avoid construction outside the jurisdiction of existing settlements.
This time, representatives of the legal authorities themselves revealed their nakedness, on official stationary. However, they did not take into account that the damning evidence would find its way to the neighbors in Bil'in. The State Prosecutor's Office was certainly surprised to find the Upper Modi'in legal counselor's document appended to a letter that it received last week from attorney Michael Sfard, the Bil'in residents' attorney. Sfard began the letter he sent to attorney Aner Helman, who is representing the state in the Bil'in case (High Court of Justice 8614/05) with a quote from the state's response to the Bil'in residents' petition: "Based on developers' reports, which the Civil Administration are incapable of verifying (the words `which the Civil Administration are incapable of verifying' are boldfaced), in the western tract of Plan 210/8, which has already been developed, there are about 750 housing units, of which some 520 have been sold." Further down, it is stated that since the construction is being carried out in accordance with an invalid plan, "this is partly unlawful construction." Straight and straightforward.
One has to read it a few times to believe it. A representative of the attorney general, the supreme law enforcement authority in Israel, is informing the Supreme Court that the Civil Administration, the body that is by law responsible for the construction of every porch in the territories, "cannot verify" the construction of 750 housing units, of which about 520 have already been sold. "Do I understand from what you say that the State of Israel officially admits that it has lost not only its ability to enforce the law on the settlers," asks Sfard, but also "the ability to reach the construction sites and gather data?" If the prosecution were to ask this of the policemen who are sent each Friday to the site, they would have no problem verifying that the construction is continuing apace. They could even disclose that the developers have uprooted hundreds of olive trees in an area that was not even supposed to be part of the neighborhood/settlement outpost.
In the same letter about the violation on a colossal scale, which began in March of this year, relating to a building site of the Green Park construction firm, Upper Modi'in legal counselor Rogel wrote to the local council's engineer, Aryeh Pe'er, that he was astonished to learn that additional developers were also building "entire buildings without a permit, and all of this with your full knowledge and with planning and legal lawlessness with which I do not have the words to describe." Rogel announced that since he cannot contend alone with "lawlessness in such dimensions," he had decided to transfer the handling of this "sore evil" to the highest levels.
Pe'er does not deny the facts. He confirms that the construction is not lawful, and puts the blame on "the bureaucracy." He contends that Rogel took part in meetings of the planning committee that issued a warning to the construction firm, and that now he is pretending that he didn't know a thing about it.
The local council's comptroller, Shmuel Heisler, was expecting this response from the engineer. In a letter that he sent to members of the local council, Heisler wrote that it could be assumed that Pe'er would suggest to the legal counselor and to the council head Yaakov Guterman that they "wipe the cobwebs from their eyes" - for after all, everyone was a partner throughout the entire period of construction in the settlement. "On December 31, 2004, I wrote a detailed report in which I reiterated my comments about how the council's planning committee was being run, about the unlawful construction and the granting of construction permits by the head of the council and the council's engineer in violation of the law," writes Heisler.
In a report on the operation of the council, drafted earlier this year at the request of the management of the Interior Ministry's municipal division, Heisler wrote, "Most serious of all the projects approved by the authorization authority [the head of the council and the engineer of the council] was the Matityahu East project, in contravention of the approved Taba urban construction plan. The deviations are significant." Heisler quotes from a letter by the head of the Planning Authority in the Judea and Samaria Civil Administration, who supported his comments. He relates that in the wake of the report, the head of the council halted the activity of the council's oversight committee.
In response, the Justice Ministry stated: "In the case of the handling of the petition on fence construction in the area, the State Prosecutor's Office learned that unlawful construction had evidently been carried out in the settlement of Upper Modi'in. The Civil Administration, through the office of the Judea and Samaria district attorney general, was asked by the prosecutor handling the case to render his opinion of the matter. This opinion has not yet been received by the prosecution, and the Justice Ministry will continue to track developments. Since the information has not yet been submitted to the Justice Ministry, it is obvious that the information has not been brought to the attention of the attorney general, either. In any event, the attorney general has not yet taken up the matter."
Friday, December 9, 2005
Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle against the separation fence in Bil'in and Al-Jib 9-12-05
The two themes of this Friday demonstration were the planting of olive trees saplings to replace the olive trees robed by the companies building the big Modi'in Elit settlement on the lands of Bil'in, and the call for the release of the two peace activists kidnapped in Iraq who were previously active in our region against the separation fence.
As usual, the demonstration started at noon with a march from the center of the village towards the route of the separation fence in building. Participated in it about 100 people. About 50 activists of the Bil'in village, about ten people from other villages and students of the Bir-Zeit university, about twenty international activists, and 30 Israelis from the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative and others (other activists of our initiative and some internationals participated in a parallel demonstration against the separation fence together with 150 villagers of the Al-Jib village).
In the march from the center of Bil'in, in addition to the placards and the usual chants, we carried with us saplings of olive trees and working tools for their planting. When we neared the route of the fence, we got off the road and through the olive orchards we marched towards the destroyed orchards where the olive trees of Bil'in villagers were robed by the settlement construction companies.
The armed forces of the Israeli state did not like our ideas. When they discovered our change of course the showered us with tear gas canisters - some of them were shot directly at demonstrators and two of them hit comrades. In spite the shower of tear gas significant part of us succeeded to reach the fence route, and when the cloud of gas cleared, the rest of us joined them.
As the armed forces prevented us from passing to the other side of the fence - where the olive trees were robed, we had to plant the sapling at the side of the route where they blocked us. They did not like the idea at all. They detained one of us at the start of the planting - reported by the afternoon news programs of the main radio stations that he was accused for planting an olive tree in a closed military zone - as reported by the army spoke man.
The planting of the last sapling aroused fierce objection of some of the state force who tried to grab the sapling and the working tool and prevent the digging in the ground. However, after a stubborn struggle the last sapling was planted too. After a while part of us tried again to pass to the other side of the route. This brought on them the harsh attack of soldiers who even arrested a Palestinian youngster. The comrades around objected to this and de-arrested him. As revenge, the soldiers drove them away by physical force and some gas towards the village.
After a while the village struggle comity announced the end of the demonstration and we returned to the village.
In parallel to the nonviolent demonstration, youngsters of the village who were driven away by the first shower of tear gas started a bit later the usual attrition war of stones throwing versus tear gas of the soldiers.
In the news program the reported on two injured among the youth.
They have not reported about the number of our people injured by the rough treatment of the soldiers or the tear gas canisters.
As usual, the demonstration started at noon with a march from the center of the village towards the route of the separation fence in building. Participated in it about 100 people. About 50 activists of the Bil'in village, about ten people from other villages and students of the Bir-Zeit university, about twenty international activists, and 30 Israelis from the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative and others (other activists of our initiative and some internationals participated in a parallel demonstration against the separation fence together with 150 villagers of the Al-Jib village).
In the march from the center of Bil'in, in addition to the placards and the usual chants, we carried with us saplings of olive trees and working tools for their planting. When we neared the route of the fence, we got off the road and through the olive orchards we marched towards the destroyed orchards where the olive trees of Bil'in villagers were robed by the settlement construction companies.
The armed forces of the Israeli state did not like our ideas. When they discovered our change of course the showered us with tear gas canisters - some of them were shot directly at demonstrators and two of them hit comrades. In spite the shower of tear gas significant part of us succeeded to reach the fence route, and when the cloud of gas cleared, the rest of us joined them.
As the armed forces prevented us from passing to the other side of the fence - where the olive trees were robed, we had to plant the sapling at the side of the route where they blocked us. They did not like the idea at all. They detained one of us at the start of the planting - reported by the afternoon news programs of the main radio stations that he was accused for planting an olive tree in a closed military zone - as reported by the army spoke man.
The planting of the last sapling aroused fierce objection of some of the state force who tried to grab the sapling and the working tool and prevent the digging in the ground. However, after a stubborn struggle the last sapling was planted too. After a while part of us tried again to pass to the other side of the route. This brought on them the harsh attack of soldiers who even arrested a Palestinian youngster. The comrades around objected to this and de-arrested him. As revenge, the soldiers drove them away by physical force and some gas towards the village.
After a while the village struggle comity announced the end of the demonstration and we returned to the village.
In parallel to the nonviolent demonstration, youngsters of the village who were driven away by the first shower of tear gas started a bit later the usual attrition war of stones throwing versus tear gas of the soldiers.
In the news program the reported on two injured among the youth.
They have not reported about the number of our people injured by the rough treatment of the soldiers or the tear gas canisters.
Israel, Tel-Aviv, a vigil in support of the Turkish anarchist refusnic Mehmet Tarhan 09 Dec
As part of the internationanl day of solidarity with Mehmet Tarhan jailed for total refusing of military servic, participated 25 people. In the vigil that was called by the "Profile Hadash" initiative that support Israeli refusnics participated also local anarchists.
Friday, December 2, 2005
Palestine-Israel, Bil'in and Abud - the Friday demonstrations against the separation fence and the ocupation of 2-12-05
As usual in Bil'in for the last 10 months and Abud the last weeks, we did the parallel Friday demonstrations against the separation fence used to rob the lands of the villages and against the occupation. As usual, the efforts of the Israeli army to prevent the arrival of Israeli activists - whose participation prevent the army from using harsher measures to harass the participants and suppress the demonstrations, failed... they only succeeded to delay the arrival of ten activists from Jerusalem so they missed the first few minutes of the demonstration in Bil'in. The theme of this Friday demonstration in Bil'in was the colonialist settlements built on the lands of Bil'in and neighboring villages' At the head of the demonstration we carried models with the names of these settlement and aseptically a big on with the name of the settler city Modi'in Elite.
In addition to the models, few placard who were previously carried by activists from Bil'in at the of the week joint demonstration of solidarity with peace activists in the occupied Iraq done by the local popular comities of the region in the region city Ramalla.
In the demonstration that started at noon from the center of the Bil'in village participated only about 120 people.
35 Israelis of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative and others (other 20 0f our activists were in the demo at Abud), 15 internationals, 10 students of the Palestinian university Bir-Zeit, and about 60 people of the village (only 10% of the adult males of the appropriate age).
During the demo that started at noon from the center of the village we chanted the usual replicas, in addition, there were new chants regarding the parallel demo at the not so far away village Abud.
Some time after we arrived at the point on the road near the route of the separation fence where the Israeli armed forces block our way, we started to try to get down from the road to the sides in order to reach the fence route itself. The state forces responded in rough pushes and due to our small numbers succeeded to block our way to the fence. However, after some confrontations, they got very angry, and under the pretext that youngsters not participating in the nonviolent demonstration are throwing stones declared they will force us to return to the village.
This Friday, the attrition confrontation between the Israeli state forces teargas and rubber bullets and the stone throwing youngsters in the near by olive orchards was less intense, and the youngsters did it far away from the nonviolent demo... and did not injure any of us like they do often when they try to hit near by state forces.
And they pushed and pushed, and they succeeded to push many of the participants (with many of us staying behind) the few hundreds meters to the village... and even took 2 Israelis and one Palestinian as prisoners.
This brought on them the rage of a contingent of ten female relatives of the Palestinian villager who were joined by the just pushed demonstrators who returned together with us who stayed behind to the previous point near the fence route while the tired border police could not block the new human wave.
There, there was a noisy confrontation between the women contingent and the state commanders we did not fail to join... and as result there was a bargain and a declaration of the state commander that if we retreat about hundred meters the Palestinian comrade will be released and the Israelis will be released as usual 10 minutes after the end of the demonstration.
So we retreated first 100 meters and when the Palestinian comrade was released we returned to the village. After a short talk we often do at end of demos, the released two Israelis arrived and we departed from the village activists and Israeli comrades with "see you in Bil'in next Friday".
And as usual, all afternoon the radio channels included in the news references to our twine demonstrations against the separation fence, and at least one TV news program included a short clip of a demo.
In addition to the models, few placard who were previously carried by activists from Bil'in at the of the week joint demonstration of solidarity with peace activists in the occupied Iraq done by the local popular comities of the region in the region city Ramalla.
In the demonstration that started at noon from the center of the Bil'in village participated only about 120 people.
35 Israelis of the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative and others (other 20 0f our activists were in the demo at Abud), 15 internationals, 10 students of the Palestinian university Bir-Zeit, and about 60 people of the village (only 10% of the adult males of the appropriate age).
During the demo that started at noon from the center of the village we chanted the usual replicas, in addition, there were new chants regarding the parallel demo at the not so far away village Abud.
Some time after we arrived at the point on the road near the route of the separation fence where the Israeli armed forces block our way, we started to try to get down from the road to the sides in order to reach the fence route itself. The state forces responded in rough pushes and due to our small numbers succeeded to block our way to the fence. However, after some confrontations, they got very angry, and under the pretext that youngsters not participating in the nonviolent demonstration are throwing stones declared they will force us to return to the village.
This Friday, the attrition confrontation between the Israeli state forces teargas and rubber bullets and the stone throwing youngsters in the near by olive orchards was less intense, and the youngsters did it far away from the nonviolent demo... and did not injure any of us like they do often when they try to hit near by state forces.
And they pushed and pushed, and they succeeded to push many of the participants (with many of us staying behind) the few hundreds meters to the village... and even took 2 Israelis and one Palestinian as prisoners.
This brought on them the rage of a contingent of ten female relatives of the Palestinian villager who were joined by the just pushed demonstrators who returned together with us who stayed behind to the previous point near the fence route while the tired border police could not block the new human wave.
There, there was a noisy confrontation between the women contingent and the state commanders we did not fail to join... and as result there was a bargain and a declaration of the state commander that if we retreat about hundred meters the Palestinian comrade will be released and the Israelis will be released as usual 10 minutes after the end of the demonstration.
So we retreated first 100 meters and when the Palestinian comrade was released we returned to the village. After a short talk we often do at end of demos, the released two Israelis arrived and we departed from the village activists and Israeli comrades with "see you in Bil'in next Friday".
And as usual, all afternoon the radio channels included in the news references to our twine demonstrations against the separation fence, and at least one TV news program included a short clip of a demo.
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