Remembering Vik

Jeff Halper | Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

Less than two weeks after losing another friend and comrade, Juliano Mer-Khamis, I now have to mourn and remember my fellow Free Gaza shipmate Vittorio (Vik) Arrigoni, who was brutally murdered last night by religious extremists in Gaza (and who actually resembled Juliano, physically, in his buoyant personality and in his insistence on “being there” when the oppressed needed him).

Vik was truly a person greater than life. He was so filled with energy, a mixture of joy, camaraderie and impatience with the confines of boats and prisons like Gaza, … Continue reading

Mourning Juliano Mer-Khamis

Jeff Halper | Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

The ICAHD family mourns the tragic slaying of Juliano Mer-Khamis

The ICAHD family mourns the tragic slaying by masked gunmen of our friend and comrade Juliano Mer-Khamis in Jenin. Juliano was a major figure in the struggle for a just peace and the forging of a new multi-cultural society in Palestine/Israel based on human rights, freedom, equality and, not least, creative, critical expression.

Juliano, filmmaker, actor, and the co-founder and director of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, supported the work of ICAHD and frequently attended our summer rebuilding camp in the West … Continue reading

May Is About Memories

Mohammed Tooman and Hammad Awadallah, Nakba survivors from Isdud, share memories of their destroyed village. / Credit:Eva Bartlett/IPS

Eva Bartlett | Inter Press Service

25 May 2010

This is the month for Palestinians to remember their Nakba, or “catastrophe”, in which more than 700,000 women, men and children were pushed off their land and rendered homeless refugees by the Zionist attacks before, during and after the founding of Israel in 1948.

Isdud, a farming community to … Continue reading

Settlers take over a Palestinian house in Sheikh Jarrah

Israeli Coalition Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)

27 July 2009

On July 26th a group of settlers led by Arie king took over a Palestinian house in Sheikh Jarrah to which they where given custody of in a very controversial decision of the Israeli court. While trying to prevent the settlers from taking over the house and demolishing it, 11 activists (three Palestinians, seven internationals and one Israeli) where arrested.

At about 11:30, with the support of police and army units, settlers came to demolish a home whose owner passed away recently. This is part of the settler organization’s larger campaign to … Continue reading

Zero Palestinian Evictions, now!

The inhabitants’ associations, international networks, voluntary groups, NGOs, public agencies, citizens of the world, express their indignation at and denounce Israel’s continual policies of eviction and demolition carried out against the Palestinian people, both Palestinians ’48 (citizens of Israel) and Palestinians ’67 (in the Occupied Palestinian Territory).

The Israeli Ministry of the Interior demolishes hundreds of homes of its own Palestinian citizens every year due to zoning and planning schemes intentionally insufficient for the needs of the communities. There are, in addition, dozens of villages not recognized by the government whose residents live in the constant instability that comes with pending … Continue reading

Municipality of Jerusalem to ‘blow up’ houses

Tsipi Malkuv | Yediot Yerushaliyim

6 April 2009

English Translation: Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

THERE WILL BE AS BLAST   by Tsipi Malkuv

The policy of demolishing homes will continue at an increased rate

The Jerusalem municipality continues to demonstrate determination in carrying out its policy of demolishing homes, despite the strong international opposition. This week it decided to bring a new instrument into play: the blowing up of homes instead of their demolition by bulldozers.

Two weeks ago it was made public that the municipality intends to spend 1.2 million shekels on aerial photographing to track building offenders, in the … Continue reading

ICAHD: “Where shall I go now?”

A wave of house demolitions in East Jerusalem
Lucia and Angela of The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (www.icahd.org)

Again yesterday, houses were demolished in East Jerusalem. In the early morning the bulldozers moved into the neighborhood of Isawiyya, where they demolished a gas station. Then, they moved towards the neighborhood of Tel al Ful in Beit Hanina, were volunteers and staff from ICAHD where present at the site of the houses of Bassam Ramlawi and Nur al Din Damiri. At 9 a.m., dozens of police jeeps and ambulances appeared on top of the hill, and started to move down toward … Continue reading