Author: ISM Media Group

Non-violent Demonstration in Tuba

Tuba

On the 1st of December about 200 people demonstrated against the settler violence and the isolation of the Palestinian village Tuba in the very south of the West Bank. Local Palestinians, joined by many Israeli peace activists and internationals, walked from the neighboring village At Tuwani to Tuba on a path that villagers normally can not use because of constant violent attacks from neighboring settlers. Today there is no vehicle access at all to Tuba because of the illegal Israeli settlement Maon which blocks the only road to the village. This isolation is a huge problem, all transports must be made by foot or by donkeys, including fuel, important for generating electricity.

The villagers have been suffering a lot of violent attacks from the illegal settlers over the years. The children of Tuba have to pass the illegal settlement every day on their way to school in At Tuwani. After numerous violent attacks on the schoolchildren and their international accompaniment the army has been forced to escort the children to and from school every day. But this does not guarantee a safe walk for the kids. Once when the soldiers actually tried to defend the children from attacking settlers, the soldiers were later punished by the army for their actions.

The Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) is planning to make the whole area, including the villages of Tuba, At Tuwani and Susiya, into a closed military zone, something that would force all the Palestinian inhabitants to abandon their homes where they have lived for generations. Today almost all the houses in the villages are threatened to be demolished by the army, not even the new mosque is spared. Making an area into a closed military zone is usually a step towards further illegal annexation and colonialization of the land. The villagers are fighting for their rights to live in their own homes in their own village and today’s demonstration showed that many Israelis support their struggle.

Second in a Series of Non-Violent Demonstrations Against Huwwara Checkpoint Near Nablus

Today saw the second in a series of non-violent demonstrations against Huwwara checkpoint, just south of the West Bank city of Nablus. Palestinians, joined by internationals, delivered a message to the Israeli army: We have had enough of the seven years of curfew that have been imposed on Nablus.

About forty protestors arrived at the checkpoint around 11.30am carrying signs saying ‘No Movement, No Life’ and ‘Stop the Occupation’. As the demonstrators approached the barrier the Israeli army fired live ammunition into the air to attempt to move the protestors back. One Human Rights Worker was detained, and was later released after the demonstration had ended, at approximately 12.30pm.

Nablus is surrounded by a system of checkpoints controlling all movement out of the city. The checkpoints are routinely closed, and when open the queues can be incredibly long. Even during winter, or the peak of summer, people can be stranded in the elements for hours. Many people have even died at the checkpoints as a result of delays in receiving medical attention. The most recent case was Taysir Mahmoud Ibrahim Qaysi, a cancer patient who was in a car without a permit, and was not allowed through Huwwara checkpoint. He died while waiting for car with a permit to get to him.

The lack of free movement of people and goods has had a devastating effect on the local economy. Unemployment rose 45% from 1999 to 2006 and continues to rise sharply, especially in the refugee camps within Nablus.

This isolation is not unique to Nablus, but is found throughout the West Bank. The system of closures, Israeli only roads and the wall serve to split the West Bank into isolated enclaves. Traveling between the enclaves can be difficult or impossible. There are 561 closures in the West Bank, only 14 of these fall on the green line. Security cannot justify 547 closures within Palestinian territory. As with Nablus, the closures have had a massive impact on the Palestinian economy as people find it increasingly difficult to get to work: unemployment is now well above 40%. The closures collectively punish 2.5 million ordinary Palestinians for the actions of a few combatants, and serve no extra security function.

CounterPunch: The One State Declaration

For the original article, click here:
http://www.counterpunch.org/onestate.html

November 29, 2007

For decades, efforts to bring about a two-state solution in historic Palestine have failed to provide justice and peace for the Palestinian and Israeli Jewish peoples, or to offer a genuine process leading towards them.

The two-state solution ignores the physical and political realities on the ground, and presumes a false parity in power and moral claims between a colonized and occupied people on the one hand and a colonizing state and military occupier on the other. It is predicated on the unjust premise that peace can be achieved by granting limited national rights to Palestinians living in the areas occupied in 1967, while denying the rights of Palestinians inside the 1948 borders and in the Diaspora. Thus, the two-state solution condemns Palestinian citizens of Israel to permanent second-class status within their homeland, in a racist state that denies their rights by enacting laws that privilege Jews constitutionally, legally, politically, socially and culturally. Moreover, the two-state solution denies Palestinian refugees their internationally recognized right of return.

The two-state solution entrenches and formalizes a policy of unequal separation on a land that has become ever more integrated territorially and economically. All the international efforts to implement a two-state solution cannot conceal the fact that a Palestinian state is not viable, and that Palestinian and Israeli Jewish independence in separate states cannot resolve fundamental injustices, the acknowledgment and redress of which are at the core of any just solution.

In light of these stark realities, we affirm our commitment to a democratic solution that will offer a just, and thus enduring, peace in a single state based on the following principles:

– The historic land of Palestine belongs to all who live in it and to those who were expelled or exiled from it since 1948, regardless of religion, ethnicity, national origin or current citizenship status;

– Any system of government must be founded on the principle of equality in civil, political, social and cultural rights for all citizens. Power must be exercised with rigorous impartiality on behalf of all people in the diversity of their identities;

– There must be just redress for the devastating effects of decades of Zionist colonization in the pre- and post-state period, including the abrogation of all laws, and ending all policies, practices and systems of military and civil control that oppress and discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, religion or national origin;

– The recognition of the diverse character of the society, encompassing distinct religious, linguistic and cultural traditions, and national experiences;

– The creation of a non-sectarian state that does not privilege the rights of one ethnic or religious group over another and that respects the separation of state from all organized religion;

– The implementation of the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees in accordance with UN Resolution 194 is a fundamental requirement for justice, and a benchmark of the respect for equality.

– The creation of a transparent and nondiscriminatory immigration policy;

– The recognition of the historic connections between the diverse communities inside the new, democratic state and their respective fellow communities outside;

– In articulating the specific contours of such a solution, those who have been historically excluded from decision-making — especially the Palestinian Diaspora and its refugees, and Palestinians inside Israel — must play a central role;

– The establishment of legal and institutional frameworks for justice and reconciliation.

The struggle for justice and liberation must be accompanied by a clear, compelling and moral vision of the destination ­ a solution in which all people who share a belief in equality can see a future for themselves and others. We call for the widest possible discussion, research and action to advance a unitary, democratic solution and bring it to fruition.

Madrid and London, 2007

Signed:

Ali Abunimah

Naseer Aruri

Omar Barghouti

Oren Ben-Dor

George Bisharat

Haim Bresheeth

Jonathan Cook

Ghazi Falah

Leila Farsakh

Islah Jad

Joseph Massad

Ilan Pappe

Carlos Prieto del Campo

Nadim Rouhana

The London One State Group

Marda placed under curfew during yet another invasion

The village of Marda, in the Salfit region of the West Bank, was again placed under curfew on Friday 30th November. Israeli soldiers invaded the village at approximately 2pm, with four jeeps shooting sound bombs, tear gas, and live ammunition to force the villagers off the streets.

One youth was randomly abducted as he attempted to make his way home at the announcement of the curfew. Soldiers handcuffed him and held him in a jeep for one hour, before releasing him. Hammed, aged 16, and a student at the Lutheran High School in Jerusalem, was home to visit his family for the first time in three weeks. Before releasing him, soldiers took his permit to enter Jerusalem to attend school and destroyed it – tearing it into pieces. Hammed is unsure as to how long it will take to acquire another permit, or if indeed it will be possible at all. In the mean time he will be unable to pass through the checkpoint at Qalandia, and as such unable to attend school.

Marda, home to 2400 Palestinians, is subject to such curfews and random abductions of young men at least once a week, residents explained – sometimes as many as two or three times per week, and lasting from a few hours to a few days. Incidents of soldiers invading homes and shooting once inside, as well as shooting tear gas and sound booms inside homes are not uncommon. Residents also report Israeli soldiers breaking windows of homes with rocks and uprooting olive trees on Marda land, with over 1000 olive trees destroyed.

Residents were forced to remain in their homes for three hours, as Israeli jeeps patrolled the streets. Others were stuck outside the village gate, such as a local teacher who was forced to wait at the gate for two hours, unable to enter even on foot. Preparations for the children’s festival, held by the Marda Development Charity Society were interrupted, as soldiers forced all volunteers in the centre to return home. The festival for small children is being held to ameliorate the angst and sadness caused by the invasions and arrests.

The official excuse given for these invasions is that boys are throwing stones at the Israeli road that passes to the North of the village, meaning that the curfews constitute acts of collective punishment – illegal under international law. Residents deny the stone-throwing allegations, and evidence is rarely presented. Instead, youths aged between twelve and seventeen years are routinely abducted and detained for a few hours, usually beaten and often driven out of the village before being released without charge. Some residents suspect their village is being used as a training ground for Israeli troops – a documented practice within the Salfit region and a clear violation of international law.

Marda, situated in the shadow of the enormous Israeli settlement of Ariel, is enclosed by Israeli fences, now with only one vehicular entrance upon which an Israeli road gate is mounted, making closure of the village simple and instantaneous. As one resident remarked “easily it becomes a jail”.

Azzoun Under Curfew Again as IOF Invade

Wednesday night, the village of Azzoun once again was set under military curfew. Around 7pm the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) entered the village with approximately five vehicles, forcing the shops to close early and the people to evacuate the streets. Military vehicles drove up and down the streets, announcing their presence by firing sound bombs and flares as they declared over loudspeakers that the village was under curfew.

Earlier the same day, villagers spontaneously removed the concrete roadblock by the main village entrance. With the help of a truck, villagers pushed and laboured to move one of the many stone blocks, with the end result that for about one hour they were able to enter and exit the village as they wished, a novelty in a region which suffers regular roadblocks at the various exits from the villages.

On Thursday many of the villagers seemed to conclude that the removal of the roadblock was used this time as the pretext for the IOF to invade and collectively punish the village. Yet, the people of Azzoun concede that if it wasn’t for the removal of the roadblock, the IOF would have then come up with another excuse to continue on their path of collective punishment.

A partial roadblock removal at neighbouring Izbat at Tabib the same day was met with IOF aggression in the form of sound bombs and the threat of further army violence. Israeli soldiers later replaced the portion of the roadblock which had been moved, further fortifying the blockade with more dirt and gravel. An elderly man crossing over the mound asked the same question villagers of Izbat at Tabib and other like blocked-off villages: “Why do they block our roads? Why do they block access to our villages?” Long accustomed to such impediments, the villagers nonetheless are determined to resist being caged in their villages and pledge to continue removing the roadblocks.