12 February 2010
Tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and rocks: It must be Friday afternoon in the West Bank village of Bil’in.
It’s billed as a nonviolent protest against what Israel calls its security barrier, what the Palestinians call the apartheid separation wall.
The barrier separates the villagers from their farmlands. Protesters come from all over the world to support the Palestinian cause.
A few Palestinian youths covering their faces with scarves throw stones … Continue reading
Benjamin Joffe-Walt | The Media Line
14 January 2010
A prominent West Bank activist said by Palestinian groups to be the first Palestinian imprisoned for promoting an international boycott of Israel has been released after being detained by Israel for over 100 days without charge.
Mohammad Othman, a 34 year old resident of the West Bank village of Jayyous, was released Wednesday after 113 days in Israeli custody.
Palestinian advocacy groups believe Othman to be the first Palestinian imprisoned solely for advocacy of the international boycott movement against Israel.
“I was interrogated every single day for 75 days from 8am until 6.30pm and sometimes … Continue reading
Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
10 January 2010
For immediate release:
Abdallah Abu Rahmah, coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall, was remanded until the end of legal proceedings today in an Israeli military court. Abu Rahmah is charged with incitement, stone-throwing and a ridiculous arms possession charge for collecting and displaying used tear gas canisters shot at demonstrators in Bil’in by the army.
A judge in the Ofer military court has ordered the remand of Abdallah Abu Rahmah until the end of legal procedures against him. Abu Rahmah, a high school teacher and the coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall … Continue reading
Alison Weir | Counterpunch
8 January 2010
Dear Bono,
In your recent column in the New York Times, “Ten for the Next Ten,” you wrote: “I’ll place my hopes on the possibility — however remote at the moment — that…people in places filled with rage and despair, places like the Palestinian territories, will in the days ahead find among them their Gandhi, their King, their Aung San Suu Kyi.”
Your hope has already been fulfilled in the Palestinian territories.
Unfortunately, these Palestinian Gandhis and Kings are being killed and imprisoned.
On the day that your op-ed appeared hoping for such leaders, three were languishing … Continue reading
30 December 2009
Addameer * Al-Haq * Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights * Al Dameer Association for Human Rights * BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights * DCI – Palestine Section * ENSAN Center * Jerusalem Legal Aid Center * Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling
Israel has for too long been allowed to violate the rights of human rights defenders and activists. As an occupying power and State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Israel is obliged to respect the … Continue reading
29 December 2009
The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee and the Palestinian Society Prisoners’ Club called for a demonstration on Tuesday, 29 December 2009, to protest the closure of the Beituniya checkpoint, the only access route for many families and lawyers of prisoners held at Ofer military prison. All visitors must now go through the Qalandiya checkpoint, which however requires a permit to enter Israel. These permits are frequently denied to family members of political prisoners as well as their lawyers.
Jad Qudamani, director of the legal department of the Palestinian Society Prisoners’ Club, said: “Our lawyers, for many of whom the … Continue reading
Amira Hass | Haaretz
23 December 2009
There is an internal document that has not been leaked, or perhaps has not even been written, but all the forces are acting according to its inspiration: the Shin Bet, Israel Defense Forces, Border Police, police, and civil and military judges. They have found the true enemy who refuses to whither away: The popular struggle against the occupation.
Over the past few months, the efforts to suppress the struggle have increased. The target: Palestinians and Jewish Israelis unwilling to give up their right to resist reign of demographic separation and Jewish supremacy. The means: … Continue reading
On December 10, 2009 at 2am, the Israeli military surrounded the Ramallah home of Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a high school teacher and the Coordinator of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, and arrested him. Abu Rahmah is among the leaders of the West Bank village of Bil’in’s nearly five-year nonviolent struggle of protests, lawsuits and boycotts aiming to save the village’s land from Israel’s wall and expanding settlements. Abdallah Abu Rahmah joins Mohammed Othman from the village of Jayyous, Adeeb Abu Rahmah from Bil’in and many other Palestinians who are currently jailed by Israel … Continue reading
19 December 2009
For immediate release:
New York, NY, December 19, 2009 – On a snowy Saturday afternoon, forty-five human rights carolers serenaded Madison Avenue shoppers with familiar holiday tunes outside the storefront of Israeli diamond and settlement mogul Lev Leviev, but their lyrics called for the boycott of Leviev’s companies. The New York protest took place against the backdrop of a growing arrest campaign by the Israeli military against Palestinian protest and boycott activists from West Bank villages where Leviev has built settlements.
Ethan Heitner from Adalah-NY commented, “Today in New … Continue reading
Ellen Cantarow | Huffington Post
8 December 2009
At no time since its 1967 West Bank occupation have Israel’s seizures of Palestinian land and water resources seemed as shocking as the ones attending its construction of “the wall,” begun in 2002. Vast, complex, and shifting in form, the wall appears most dramatically as 25-foot-high concrete slabs punctuated by militarized watch towers, supplemented by electronically monitored electrified fences stretching over vast distances.
In 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared the wall illegal, but Israel ignored the ruling. Now, it undulates through the West Bank for over 280 kilometers, clasping Israel’s major … Continue reading
